Photos by Paolo Pellegrin, Magnum:
Israel has told the world that it is targeting only Hezbollah, not civilians, and that is true to a degree, but day after day the bombing continues. As of August 14, 2006 over 1000 Lebanese civilians have been killed.
These photographs were taken in Southern Lebanon in late July/early August 2006.
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PDN:
Photojournalist Paolo Pellegrin of Magnum Photos was one of several people injured in an Aug. 6 missile attack in southern Lebanon.
Pellegrin and reporter Scott Anderson were traveling together in Tyre on assignment for The New York Times Magazine. They were treated for their injuries and now are back at work in Lebanon.
“They’re in Beirut. They’re fine,” says Kathy Ryan, director of photography for Times magazine.
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Featuring the work of Clark James Mishler, Wal-Mart Intervention Project, adam stoves, Matt MWM, Melissa Lyttle, Claudio Parentela, William Greiner, Chris Detrick.
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Guardian:
Welcome to Eritrea, Africa’s most paranoid state. Talk about the football, talk about the 30p beer and 10p cappuccinos in the capital Asmara, but if you want to talk about the government, do it over the internet.
Behind locked doors, and in hushed tones, Asmarinos trace the beginning of real paranoia to 2001, when 15 senior politicians were jailed for suggesting that President Isaias Afewerki was not a democrat. Eleven of them have not been seen since. Shortly afterwards, the independent media was shut down. At least 13 journalists remain in prison. Only North Korea has a worse record on press freedom.
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WFMU:
PATRIOTIC AMERICAN COMIN’ THRU! You f*n’ c*sucker. Boy I’d like to hang every one of you motherf*rs. We Love You. F*n’ Brownshirts. Weeeeee Loooove Yoooooou! F*n’ Terrorist. CIRCLE! CIRCLE! CIRCLE! WE!! LOVE!! YOU!!!!!
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The man behind the ‘Girls Gone Wild’ soft-porn empire lets Claire Hoffman into his world, for
better or worse
LA Times:
Ignoring the two policemen who hovered a few yards away, he tiptoed past them to stand over me. He rubbed my shoulder. His gestures were oddly gentle—even fond. I felt sick.
“I’m sorry,” he said, reaching over to tousle my hair. “We love our little reporter. Don’t we guys? We love our little reporter.”
I stared down at the dirt as he whispered in my ear, “I’m sorry, baby, give me a kiss. Give me a kiss.”
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Hawthorne Heights, via PunkNews:
Tony is a man whose greed knows no bounds. After selling more than 1.2 million copies of The Silence In Black and White and If Only You Were Lonely, we have never seen a single dollar in artist royalties from Victory Records. Tony will claim that we have not “recouped,” a term used by those in the music business which means the label has spent more money in advertising than has been made by CD sales. In fact questionable accounting practices are the culprit and we are in fact owed substantial amounts of money much like audits from Taking Back Sunday, Thursday and Atreyu have uncovered.
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Guardian:
Reuters began an immediate enquiry into Hajj’s other work and today found that a second photograph, of an Israeli F-16 fighter over Nabatiyeh, southern Lebanon and dated August 2, had been doctored to increase the number of flares dropped by the plane from one to three.
“Manipulating photographs in this way is entirely unacceptable and contrary to all the principles consistently held by Reuters throughout its long and distinguished history,” Mr Szlukovenyi said.
“It undermines not only our reputation but also the good name of all our photographers.” He added that the mere fact that Hajj had altered two of his photographs meant none of his work for Reuters could be trusted either by the news service or its users.
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DigitalJournalist:
I had never met Catherine Leroy before doing the interviews for my book Shooting Under Fire in 2002. I had heard the legends, of course; how she arrived in Vietnam in 1966 with one Leica, no experience and even less money; how she parachuted with the 173rd Airborne in a combat operation; how she lived like a Marine and swore like one too; how she was wounded, only a shattered camera around her neck saving her life. Of course I knew the photographs she had taken, the anguished picture of a Navy Corpsman unable to save the life of his Marine buddy, the first photographs of the North Vietnamese Army in action, and many others, not only from Southeast Asia but from Lebanon and Northern Ireland as well. It wasn’t until I opened the front door of my New York apartment that I let in this whirlwind that blew in and out of my life until the end of hers.
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ynet:
Johnson added: “Smoke simply does not contain repeating symmetrical patterns like this, and you can see the repetition in both plumes of smoke. There’s really no question about it.”
Speaking to Ynetnews, Johnson said: “This has to cast doubt not only on the photographer who did the alterations, but on Reuters’ entire review process. If they could let such an obvious fake get through to publication, how many more faked or ‘enhanced’ photos have not been caught?”
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Manowar fan film on YouTube. Do I have to mention that it’s hilarious?
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Dexter Filkins reviews Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 99/11, in the NYT Book Review:
The fateful struggle between the C.I.A. and F.B.I. in the months leading up to the attacks has been outlined before, but never in such detail. At meetings, C.I.A. analysts dangled photos of two of the eventual hijackers in front of F.B.I. agents, but wouldn’t tell them who they were. The F.B.I. agents could sense that the C.I.A. possessed crucial pieces of evidence about Islamic radicals they were investigating, but couldn’t tell what they were. The tension came to a head at a meeting in New York on June 11, exactly three months before the catastrophe, which ended with F.B.I. and C.I.A. agents shouting at each other across the room.
In one of the most remarkable scenes in the book, Ali Soufan, an F.B.I. agent assigned to Al Qaeda, was taken aside on Sept. 12 and finally shown the names and photos of the men the C.I.A. had known for more than a year and a half were in America. The planes had already struck. Soufan ran to the bathroom and retched.
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CJR:
The Israeli government said it bombed three sets of telecommunications towers deep in the Christian heartland to cripple Hezbollah cell phone communications. But the attacks, which killed one technician and injured another, came just days after Israeli helicopters rocketed the Beirut headquarters of al-Manar, the controversial Hezbollah television station, wounding seven people. At about the same time, a convoy of reporters from several Arab satellite channels was attacked by Israeli jets. “Their cars were clearly marked ‘Press’ and ‘TV,’” Nabil Khatib, executive editor of Dubai-based pan-Arab channel al-Arabiya, told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Israel says it was “targeting the roads because Hezbollah uses those roads.”
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Manowar:
MANOWAR is back with an October 2006 release of a new single “The Sons Of Odin” followed by a full length DVD containing the historic EarthShaker Fest 2005 performance this November.
Fans can soon expect more details about the release date of the new studio album entitled “Gods Of War.”
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ICG:
July 2006 was the grimmest month for conflict prevention around the world in three years. In 36 months of publishing CrisisWatch, the International Crisis Group has not recorded such severe deteriorations in so many conflict situations as in the past month, and several have significant regional and global implications.
The Middle East erupted with full-scale conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in south Lebanon, and there was a major escalation in Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza – both fronts threatening further regional destabilisation. Insecurity and sectarian violence surged in Iraq, claiming over 100 civilian lives daily, as the U.S. military reported a 40% increase in major attacks in Baghdad.
The Horn of Africa also showed ominous signs of breakdown. Somalia sits on the brink of all-out civil war, which is drawing in the wider region: Ethiopian troops entered Somalia to support the transitional federal government, and Eritrea is arming the opposing Union of Islamic Courts. In Sudan, implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement was at a standstill, with rebels split, and fighting, over the agreement.
In South Asia, the 11 July Mumbai bombings that killed over 200 had wider implications for the normalisation process between India and Pakistan, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of being soft on terrorism. Sri Lankan government troops launched a ground assault on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after four days of air strikes, considered by the LTTE to be an “act of war”.
Tensions rose dramatically on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang fired seven test missiles, which received unanimous condemnation from the global community. The situation also deteriorated in Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire and Haiti.
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PunkNews:
it is not with a heavy heart that we write these words but with a head held high. we wanted to collectively inform you that BOYSETSFIRE has decided to retire. thank you all for your support and belief in us over the last 12 years…please know it meant the world to us.
BOYSETSFIRE for us was always a vehicle for changing the world and we believe that change comes about by starting with yourself, so instead of awaiting certain things to come our way, as always we decided to take our destiny in our own hands. we’re not sure which path each of us will take from here on out, but we plan to continue following our dreams… we will play all the shows of our upcoming european tour and possibly one or two last shows on the east coast sometime this fall (we will keep you posted on this)
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SportsShooter:
Months after my trip to El Salvador with Give a Kid a Backpack Foundation, images still keep me awake at night.
I can’t get rid of the passionate embrace those kids gave me on the last day. I can still feel the tight hugs they gave me as they uttered “Thank you” over and over again.
They didn’t let me go then and I know that I still haven’t let go of them.
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NYT:
A few moments later, Amuri’s eyes rolled back in his head, his chest stilled and he was dead.
“Bring something for us to wrap the boy,” a nurse called out.
His mother, Maria Cheusi, realized that her son’s life had slipped away. He was the third child she would bury.
“Mama, mama,” she cried, collapsing to her knees in a contorted pose. “My only son, my only son.”
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