Israel-Gaza conflict: Secret report helps Israelis to hide facts
World View: The slickness of Israel’s spokesmen is rooted in directions set down by pollster Frank Luntz
PATRICK COCKBURN Sunday 27 July 2014
Israeli spokesmen have their work cut out explaining how they have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them civilians, compared with just three civilians killed in Israel by Hamas rocket and mortar fire. But on television and radio and in newspapers, Israeli government spokesmen such as Mark Regev appear slicker and less aggressive than their predecessors, who were often visibly indifferent to how many Palestinians were killed.
There is a reason for this enhancement of the PR skills of Israeli spokesmen. Going by what they say, the playbook they are using is a professional, well-researched and confidential study on how to influence the media and public opinion in America and Europe. Written by the expert Republican pollster and political strategist Dr Frank Luntz, the study was commissioned five years ago by a group called The Israel Project, with offices in the US and Israel, for use by those “who are on the front lines of fighting the media war for Israel”.
Worldwide rhino horn trade continues unabated
More rhinos were killed by poachers last year in Africa than ever before. In 2014 the dubious record looks set to be broken again. The black market price for rhino horn is now considerably higher than cocaine.
DW
Poachers from Mozambique’s poorest villages sneak into South Africa, heavily armed under the cover of darkness. They are here to hunt rhinos. The money they make from just one rhino horn is enough to feed their families for months. It’s a payoff worth risking their lives for.
Between 1990 and 2007 poachers killed on average 14 rhinos a year in South Africa. Last year it was more than one thousand and this year a new record could be reached. By mid-July 558 rhinos had perished already in South Africa, killed for their horns which are then re-sold in Asia. Despite long term efforts to increase the white and black rhino population, their survival is still endangered.
China’s military muscle-flexing ensnarls air traffic
July 27, 2014 – 4:06PM
Philip Wen China correspondent for Fairfax Media
Beijing: China will conduct a series of live-fire military training drills in the East China Sea from Tuesday, coinciding with the announcement of massive flight cancellations due to separate wide-scale military exercises on land.Though live-fire drills in the bitterly contested East China Sea are not uncommon, the scale and sustained length of the various coordinated military exercises are unprecedented.
The drills – which disrupt civilian airspace creating long delays for travellers – come during a period of sensitive anniversaries in the tension-filled region.
Nigeria on red alert after first Ebola death
The virus has claimed its first victim in Nigeria, prompting officials to deploy health workers to all entry points and seek out suspected cases
26 JUL 2014 17:10 OLA AWONIYI
Nigeria was on alert against the possible spread of Ebola on Saturday, a day after the first confirmed death from the virus in Lagos, Africa’s biggest city and the country’s financial capital.The health ministry said on Friday that a 40-year-old Liberian man had died at a private hospital in Lagos from the disease, which has now killed more than 660 people in four West African countries since January – the deadliest outbreak in history.
The victim, who worked for the Liberian government, collapsed at Lagos international airport after arriving on a flight from Monrovia via the Togolese capital of Lome on Tuesday, according to the Nigerian government.
Donetsk residents flee fighting; Russians report spike in Ukrainian refugees
By Laura Smith-Spark and Ingrid Formanek, CNN
Long lines of cars jammed the roads leading south out of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine Saturday, as residents attempted to flee the city center after a night of heavy shelling on the city’s northern outskirts.
Hundreds of vehicles were caught in heavy traffic, and trains are no longer running in and out of the city, which is a stronghold for the pro-Russia rebels.
There was heavy shelling and antiaircraft fire on the outskirts of the city to the north throughout the night. There has been sustained fighting in the area for weeks, but it appeared more intense overnight than in recent days.
Hundreds of human skeletons found in Bolivian mining city
La Paz (AFP)
Construction workers in Bolivia have stumbled upon a mass grave with the remains of hundreds of likely indigenous miners during the Spanish colonial era, a researcher said Saturday.The workers found the remains this week as they started construction on a new building in the “El Minero” district of Potosi, located high up in the Andes.
“We are talking about a common grave found at about 1.8 meters (5.9 feet), and the human remains are scattered over an area of four by four meters,” said Sergio Fidel, a researcher at a museum belonging to Tomas Frias University.