N. Korea holds onto S. Korean fishermen (MSNBC) North Korea’s military said Friday that four South Korean fishermen seized a day earlier after their boat strayed into North Korean waters remained under investigation.
Cannes-honoured Philippine film gets censors’ nod (AFP via Yahoo! News) Censors here have belatedly approved a Philippine film honoured at the Cannes [...]

Anglo American, MTN, Standard Bank: South Africa Equity Preview (Bloomberg) July 31 (Bloomberg) — The following is a list of companies whose shares may have unusual price changes in South Africa. Stock symbols are in parentheses after company names and prices are from the last close.
Swine flu cases soar to 480 in South Africa [...]

Brazil provide details on boxer Gatti’s death (AP via Yahoo! News) Arturo Gatti hanged himself with a handbag strap from a staircase column more than seven feet off the ground, Brazilian police said Friday as they released new details about the boxer’s death.
San Jose’s Alvarez may make switch to El Salvador (tribalfootball.com) San Jose [...]

North Africa: African Sun May Light Up European Homes Twenty German companies have drawn up ambitious plans to meet at least 15 percent of the European electricity demand by 2020 from solar thermal power plants installed in the North African Maghreb region.
Africa: Continent Must Unite to Achieve Its [...]

Turkish navy commandos seize pirates off Somalia (Reuters via Yahoo!7 News) ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkish navy commandos taking part in a NATO mission to combat piracy off the coast of Somalia captured seven pirates Friday, the military staff said, in the second operation of its kind in a week.
Somali pirates shoot Turkish sailor: report [...]

People Power’s Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino, 1933-2009 (Time.com via Yahoo! News) At a critical time in her country’s history, the shy widow took up her charismatic husband’s legacy and led it through a valley of the shadow of death
Cambodian FM to visit Thailand in early August on border issues (People’s Daily) Cambodia and Thailand [...]

People Power’s Philippine Saint: Corazon Aquino, 1933-2009 (Time.com via Yahoo! News) At a critical time in her country’s history, the shy widow took up her charismatic husband’s legacy and led it through a valley of the shadow of death
Vietnam Central Bank: 1st Vietnamese Bank To Open In Cambodia Soon (Nasdaq) HANOI -(Dow Jones)- The [...]

Washington extends Lebanese warning (UPI) WASHINGTON, July 31 (UPI) — The United States reinstated a national emergency declaration warning of people and groups trying to undermine the sovereignty of Lebanon, the White House said.
Guiao agrees to let Team Pilipinas face Lebanon in tune-up match (GMA News) In what could be its final tune up [...]

Peace dances in the Philippines (Asia Times) Peace – of a different sort – comes dropping slow, as per the William Butler Yeats poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree . Were the poet alive today and composing from a southern Philippine island, Yeats’ muse might not be as placid – or introverted – as in [...]

Iran’s Ahmadinejad Denies Rift With Khamenei (Nasdaq) TEHRAN (AFP)–President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday that his relation with Iran’s supreme leader is similar to that of “father and son,” in his first comments since hardliners warned him to obey Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mehr news agency reported.
German Firm Withdraws Threat to Fire Employees in Iran – [...]