Geneva, 5 July 2010  – The Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) announced today that during the first six months of the year from January to the end of June 59 journalists were killed in 25 countries which constitute an increase of 10% in the number of killed journalists as compared to the same period in 2009.

The controversial Rolling Stone profile of General Stanley McChrystal didn't just expose poor judgment on the part of the US military's key leader in Afghanistan. It also illustrates one of the most persistent shortcomings of American corporate journalism.

The Ayn Rand Institute boasts that sales of Atlas Shrugged have tripled in the last year. Internet sites with names like aynrandteaparty.blogspot.com are popping up across the web. If the Tea Partiers have a guru, her name is Ayn Rand. So who is she, and why has she captured the spirit of rebellion amongst the populist right?

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan, New Patriotic Alliance) condemns in the strongest terms possible the barbaric killings of at least 19 aid workers belonging to the Freedom Flotilla which sought to bring much needed humanitarian aid to Gaza. The six ships had civilians on board, including Nobel laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire of Northern Ireland, European legislators and Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 85 according to reports.

There are times in world politics when a relatively small incident can trigger a major chain of events, depending on circumstances. Another way of expressing this is contained in the ancient Chinese proverb, “A single spark can start a prairie fire” — particularly when conditions include a warm gusty wind and the grassland is dry.