Clarice Starling: You see a lot, Doctor. But are you strong enough to point that high-powered perception at yourself? What about it? Why don't you - why don't you look at yourself and write down what you see? Or maybe you're afraid to.
Hannibal Lecter: A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.
HYPERLINKS MAY REQUIRE AN EMAIL:
USA
July 12, Health IT Security – (Texas) Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital reports data breach. Patients admitted to Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth between 1980 and 1990 were notified after the hospital discovered a portion of a microfiche that contained the patient’s personal information and was meant to be destroyed by its paper-shredding vendor, Shred-It, was found in a park. As a result, the hospital changed its paper destruction vendors.
Source: http://healthitsecurity.com/2013/07/12/texas-health-harris-methodist-hospital- reports-data-breach/
EUROPE
German Chancellor Merkel urges better data protection rules
Chancellor Merkel made her comments during her annual summer interview with Germany's public broadcaster
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to push for tougher European laws to protect personal information on the internet.
In a TV interview with the public broadcaster ARD, she said Germany wanted internet companies "to tell us in Europe who they are giving data to".
Her comments follow revelations about a US spying operation that collects users' data from internet companies.
Mrs Merkel also said she expected the US to abide by German law.
Tensions have been running high between the two countries following reports that the US has been eavesdropping on EU and German officials.
"I expect a clear commitment from the US government that in future they will stick to German law," she said...
Poland: An EU Success Story Hits Troubled Times
ASIA
Japan's Elections Set the Stage for Reforms
India Declares 5,748 Missing in Himalayan Floods
Britain to offer military training to Burma to help end ethnic conflicts
Britain will offer Burma military training and official assistance to tackle its internal conflicts during a groundbreaking official visit by President Thein Sein to meet David Cameron that was due to begin on Sunday night.
Japan: Chinese Naval Fleet Spotted Off Northern Coast, Defense Ministry Says July 14, 2013
A Chinese naval fleet was spotted July 14 sailing through the Soya Strait from the Sea of Japan to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Japanese Defense Ministry said, AFP reported, citing Kyodo. Chinese ships had never been seen in the strait, which narrowly separates the Russian island of Sakhalin and the northernmost Japanese island of Hokkaido. The fleet included two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship that took part in joint naval exercises with Russia off the coast of Vladivostok from July 5 to July 12, according to the ministry. Two other Chinese ships that also took part in the drills were seen moving into the East China Sea on a typical route farther from the Japanese coast. The reason for the passage through the strait is unknown, an unnamed ministry official said.
AFRICA
Three killed in attack on bus in Egypt’s Sinai
At least three people were killed and 17 wounded when suspected militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at a bus carrying workers in Egypt’s North Sinai province early on Monday, security and medical sources said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/three-killed-in-attack-on-bus-in-egypts-sinai/article13215432/
CHINA
Urban Investment in Inland China
China economic growth slows, partly on purpose
Although it's a 'painful process,' China's leaders seem willing to sacrifice rapid economic expansion for stable growth that creates jobs with higher salaries.
BEIJING — China's economy is slowing fast. And that may be a very good thing.
Falling exports and tighter credit cooled China's growth in the second quarter to 7.5% from a year earlier, officials said Monday. Growth in the first quarter was 7.7% and many analysts now predict the nation's gross domestic product will expand 7.5% — or even less — for the year.
Although that's a blistering pace compared with those of the U.S. and many other Western nations, it would be a drop from China's 7.8% rate last year and the country's slowest growth since 1990 after nearly two decades of double-digit annual expansion.
Although some of the deceleration is linked to global economic factors — such as continued weakness in Europe and the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the U.S. — a portion seems to be the result of deliberate policy choices by the new Chinese leaders who took office in the spring.
In the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, Chinese authorities unleashed a flood of stimulus to keep the economy going while the rest of the world slowed, and they kept the spigots on until this year. But much of the cheap money ended up circulating in financial markets or being plowed into real estate ventures and infrastructure projects rather than being used to expand and improve businesses...
RUSSIA
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
IRAN
Hassan Rouhani, Iran President-Elect, Criticizes Ahmadinejad For Misleading Economic Data
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's president-elect on Monday leveled his first criticism of the outgoing administration since June's election, saying it has mismanaged the country's economy.
Several newspapers quoted Hasan Rouhani as saying his team of experts see the government's economic assessments as sugar-coated, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as having left much work to be done.
"We asked current officials about the situation of the country but their reports and those of our teams were very far from each other," he said in remarks published by the pro-reform Shargh daily.
Despite Ahmadinejad's claims of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs, he added, only an average 14,000 were created annually over the 2006 to 2012 period.
Inflation, he said, actually stands at 42 percent and not the officially reported 32 percent. On Sunday, the central bank put the rate at nearly 36 percent....
Iran's New President Hints At Easing Internet Controls
Iran's President-elect Hasan Rowhani has already called for less filtering of the Internet, saying Iran must maintain its principles, but also needs to engage with the wider world.
"We should rectify our relations with the world," Rowhani said in remarks carried by Iran's Press TV. "Gone are the days when a wall could be built around the country.... Today there are no more walls."
There are certainly walls in Iran's cyberspace today – thousands of sites are blocked as dangerous or offensive, and technology to circumvent government filters is banned. An aggressive cyber-police corps actively hunts for those trying to get around state controls....
IRAQ
Series of bomb attacks in Iraq kill at least 42
BAGHDAD (AP) — A series of evening bombings near markets in and around Baghdad and other blasts north of the capital killed at least 42 people and wounded dozens of others Monday in the latest eruption of bloodshed to rock Iraq.
The attacks were the latest in a wave of violence that has claimed more than 2,000 lives since the beginning of April. Militants, building on Sunni discontent with the Shiite-led government, appear to be growing stronger in central and northern Iraq.
ISRAEL
Israel, U.S.: Joint Aerial Drill Launched July 21, 2013
The U.S. and Israeli launched a joint drill July 21 at Isreal's Uvda Base in the southern Negev Desert, according to an Israeli military statement, Xinhua reported. The two-week-long drills will involve an undisclosed number of F-15 and F-16 fighter jets, with pilots practicing air-to-air combat maneuvers, mid-air refueling, bombing runs and other missions. The exercise is designed to improve the interoperability and cooperation between the two forces, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said.
Israeli PM threatens to strike Iran
Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel may have to act against Tehran unilaterally to curb it from achieving its nuclear goal.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran is moving "closer and closer" to building a nuclear weapon and warned that his country may have to act against Tehran to curb it from achieving its goal before the United States does.
"They're edging up to the red line. They haven't crossed it yet," Netanyahu said on Sunday on CBS News's "Face the Nation."
"They're getting closer and closer to the bomb. And they have to be told in no uncertain terms that that will not be allowed to happen."
Netanyahu went on to say that Israel had a more narrow timetable than Washington, implying it may have to take unilateral action to halt Iran's controversial nuclear programme...
Turkey: Israel Did Not Use Turkish Base To Launch Syria Attack - Foreign Minister July 15, 2013
Turkey did not let Israel use a Turkish military base or its air space to launch an attack on Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said July 15, Hurriyet reported. The attack in question was a reported July 5 airstrike to eliminate Russian Yakhont missiles in Latakia, Syria. Turkey supports the Syrian rebels in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al Assad, but will not risk a military intervention as long as the United States continues its restrained policy toward Syria.
AFGHANISTAN
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
MIDDLE EAST
The Pakistani Taliban's Dubious Syrian Claims
Report: Egypt opens criminal investigation against Morsi
Morsi, who comes from the Muslim Brotherhood, continues to be detained in what the military has called a "safe place."
CAIRO — Egypt announced a criminal investigation Saturday against the nation's first democratically elected leader, in a move that could lead to charges, Reuters reported.
Prosecutors — who have received complaints against ousted leader Mohammed Morsi and eight other Islamist figures, among others — are examining complaints of inciting violence, destroying the economy and spying, Reuters said, citing a statement from the public prosecutor's office....
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
A Dispute Within Mercosur
Mexico: Will Los Zetas Unravel Without Their Leader?
MISC
Geopolitical Calendar: Week of July 15, 2013
Except where noted courtesy STRATFOR.COM
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