Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• Henry Hitchings on Proper English : The New Yorker

  For a long time, many English speakers have felt that the language was going to the dogs. All around them, people were talking about “parameters” and “life styles,” saying “disinterested” when they meant “uninterested,” “fulsome” when they meant “full.” To the pained listeners, it seemed that they were no longer part of this language group. To others, the complainers were fogies and snobs. The usages they objected to were cause not for grief but for celebration. They were pulsings of our linguistic lifeblood, proof that English was large, contained multitudes.

• BBC News - Sonic device deployed in London during Olympics

  The Ministry of Defence has confirmed a sonic device will be deployed in London during the Olympics. The American-made Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) can be used to send verbal warnings over a long distance or emit a beam of pain-inducing tones. The equipment was spotted fixed to a landing craft on the Thames at Westminster this week.

• Saudi Arabia keen on African farm investments - Banking & Finance - ArabianBusiness.com

  Saudi Arabia is encouraging companies to invest in farms in Africa as the kingdom seeks to secure supplies of food imports to replace local production, said Agriculture Minister Fahd Balghunaim.

• The Politics Of Spite - The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan - The Daily Beast

  Remember how meretricious this assault on gay couples was. They are already banned by state law from marrying. Now their own state constitution bans them from any civil rights as couples whatsoever: no domestic partnerships, no civil unions, nothing. It's an act of pure punishment of citizens who are gay, a deliberate psychological blow to their self-esteem, their sense of citizenship, their core equality as human beings. A 60 percent majority decided that 2 percent of their fellow citizens are and must remain inferior in law

• China Expels Al Jazeera English-Language Channel - NYTimes.com

  Al Jazeera, the satellite broadcasting network, was forced by the Chinese authorities to close its China news operations of its English-language channel on Monday, the first such action in almost 14 years and the strongest sign yet of fraying relations between the ruling Communist Party and the overseas journalists who cover it.

• Self-sufficiency in fish production is the goal - Arab News

  The Saudi Agricultural Development Fund (SADF) is leading an initiative with other government and private establishments aimed at attaining self-sufficiency in the production of fish to satisfy local needs and export the surplus during the coming decade, business daily Al-Eqtisadiah reported yesterday quoting an informed source.

• No Longer Just ‘Adult-Onset’ - NYTimes.com

  A study of diabetes in overweight and obese youngsters bears an ominous warning about future health care trends in this country. It found that Type 2 diabetes, a new scourge among young people, progresses faster and is harder to treat in youngsters than in adults. The toll on their health as they grow older could be devastating.

• Israel PM Netanyahu calls for early elections - The National

  TEL AVIV // Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, announced yesterday that he would dissolve parliament and called for new elections in September. The ballot would be the first in decades not to focus on pledges and ideas of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, partly because the peace process has been deadlocked since September 2010, analysts said.

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