July 31 Photo Brief: U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the Middle East, soccer ball stitching programs, bull racing in India
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on a five-day trip to the Middle-East, Pakistan’s military launches a soccer ball stitching program in the town of Chaghmalai, bull racing in India and more in today’s daily brief.
- A young great grey owl enjoys a mouse in the owls’ enclosure at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin on July 31, 2012. Five female great grey owls hatched at the zoo on May 18, 2012. The great grey owl chicks, their parents and conspecifics living at the zoo eat up to 30 mouses every day. In the wild, the animals live in the Northern Hemisphere and have lemmings and voles on their menu. (Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images)
- U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta tours the North Africa American Cemetery where 2,841 U.S. soldiers killed in World War II are buried, in Tunis July 30, 2012. Panetta is on a five-day trip to the Middle-East with stops in Tunisia, Egypt, Israel and Jordan before returning to Washington. (Mark Wilson/Reuters)
- This picture taken on July 30, 2012 shows Chinese troops demonstrates an explosion during a joint military, police and other emergency services exercise, codenamed “Miao 12” held in Kaili, southwest China’s Guizhou province. The shifting relationship between China’s one-party government and the military is a “risk management issue” for Japan, Tokyo warned in its annual defence report. (AFP/Getty Images)
- A supporter of female punk band “Pussy Riot” waits outside the court where three members of the band are on trial in Moscow July 30, 2012. Three women who protested against Vladimir Putin in a “punk prayer” on the altar of Russia’s main cathedral went on trial on Monday in a case seen as a test of the long-time leader’s treatment of dissent during a new presidential term. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
- A farmer with his bulls takes part in the 21st Bull Race at a paddy field in Canning village, in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal July 29, 2012. (Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)
- Rescuers carry a body of a victim after a landslide hit an iron ore mine in Xinyuan county of Kazak Autonomous Prefecture of Ili, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region July 31, 2012. Seven people have been confirmed dead while around 21 remained missing after a mudslide hit northwest China’s Xinjiang Uighur autonomous region Tuesday morning, the local government said, Xinhua News Agency reported. (China Daily/Reuters)
- A resident works in a soccer ball stitching center at Chaghmalai town in south Waziristan during a military-organised media trip July 26, 2012. Pakistan’s military has launched a soccer ball stitching program in the town of Chaghmalai in an attempt to create jobs for impoverished villagers and help South Waziristan rid itself of its reputation as a haven for militant groups. About half of the 500,000 people living in South Waziristan fled the area when the military launched an operation in 2009 to drive out the Taliban. According to the U.N., an estimated 40,000 people have returned to South Waziristan. Picture taken July 26, 2012. (Mustansar Baloch/Reuters)
- Visitors walk in a labyrinth installation made up of 250,000 books titled “aMAZEme” by Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo at the Royal Festival Hall in central London July 31, 2012. (Olivia Harris/Reuters)
- Yarsagumba, a fungus valued as an aphrodisiac, is seen after its harvest in Dolpa, in this undated handout picture. For decades Yarsagumba has been a source of income for poor villagers in Nepal’s remote Himalayan foothills. Men, women and children stream into high meadows every year to harvest Yarsagumba, which grows from dead moth larvae. High quality specimens fetch thousands of dollars a kilo. (Uttam babu Shrestha/Handout/Reuters)
- U.S. Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife Ann and Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz (L) visit the Warsaw Uprising Monument in Warsaw, July 31, 2012. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters)
- Romania’s suspended President Traian Basescu addresses media after a referendum for his impeachment in Bucharest July 30, 2012. Romania’s President Basescu survived a referendum on his impeachment on Sunday after the voter turnout fell short of the required level and derailed an effort by his opponents to oust him from office. (Bogdan Cristel/Reuters)
- A Great Pyrenees dog surveys a flock of sheep near Les Diablerets July 31, 2012. Great Pyrenees are used to prevent attacks by wolves on their cattle by Swiss farmers. In early 2012, the Swiss Federal Office for Environment counted five wolves have entered the country out of the 70 to 200 that live in France and Italy. (Denis Balibouse/Reuters)
- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and his wife Ri Sol-Ju arrive at an auditorium to enjoy a performance given by the Moranbong Band to celebrate the 59th anniversary of “the victory” of 1950-53 Korean War in Pyongyang in this picture (KCNA/Reuters)
- A woman carries an idol of Hindu goddess Dashama on the banks of the river Sabarmati, in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad July 29, 2012. Hindu devotees keep the idols in their house for 10 days for the Dashama festival, before immersing them in the Sabarmati river on the tenth night. (Amit Dave/Reuters)
- Hindu devotees bathe in the Bagmati River for Shravan festivities before heading towards the Pashupatinath Temple to offer prayers to Lord Shiva, Hindu god of destruction, in Sundarijal on the outskirts of Kathmandu on July 30, 2012. According to the Nepali calendar, Shravan is considered the holiest month of the year with each Monday of the month – known as Shravan Somvar – is when worshippers offer prayers for a happy and prosperous life. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images)
- Paraguay’s ousted President Fernando Lugo arrives at the Public Prosecutor’s office to testify before Prosecutor Mary Stella Cano in Asuncion July 30, 2012. Lugo was presented as a witness in an investigation that seeks to clarify the intent of a meeting between Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and military leaders of Paraguay that took place during Lugo’s impeachment proceedings. (Jorge Adorno/Reuters)
- A rescued baby pangolin is released in the forest by government wildlife and conservation officer in Karo district located in North Sumatra province on July 31, 2012 after Indonesian police intercepted 85 endangered pangolins, most of them alive despite being stuffed into sacks by suspected smugglers. The animals, also known as scaly anteaters and prized mostly in China and Vietnam as food and medicine, were crammed into 14 sacks when they were seized at a bus station in the city of Medan in North Sumatra province on July 28, 2012, said Yoris Marzuki, chief detective of the local police. (AFP/Getty Images)
- Syrian rebel fighters celebrate on top of a tank captured from the Syrian government forces at a checkpoint in the village of Anadan, about five kilometres (3.8 miles) northwest of Aleppo, on July 30 2012, after a 10-hour battle. The strategic checkpoint of Anadan secures the rebel fighters free movement between the northern city of Aleppo and Turkey, a Free Syrian Army commander and an AFP journalist said. (Iskandar Kat/AFP/Getty Images)
- A passenger looks through the window of a train as he waits for electricity to be restored at a railway station in New Delhi July 31, 2012. Grid failure hit India for a second day on Tuesday, cutting power to hundreds of millions of people in the populous northern and eastern states including the capital Delhi and major cities such as Kolkata. (Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
- A young zebra walks beside its mother in their enclosure at the Zoologischer Garten zoo in Berlin on July 31, 2012. In the wild, zebras live in central and southern parts of Africa. (Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images)
Related Reading
Second India blackout in two days cuts power to 670 million
Frank Jack Daniel
Reuters
9:42 a.m. EDT, July 31, 2012
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Grids supplying electricity to half of India’s 1.2 billion people collapsed on Tuesday, trapping coal miners, stranding train travelers and plunging hospitals into darkness in the second major blackout in as many days.
Stretching from Assam, near China, to the Himalayas and the northwestern deserts of Rajasthan, the outage was the worst to hit India in more than a decade and embarrassed the government, which has failed to build up enough power capacity to meet soaring demand.
“Even before we could figure out the reason for yesterday’s failure, we had more grid failures today,” said R. N. Nayak, chairman of the state-run Power Grid Corporation.
Obama’s chaotic approach to the Middle East – Washington Post (blog) | Financial News
Jul 31, 2012 @ 19:08:21
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