時機不可能更糟了，就在全球正努力從大蕭條（Great Depression）以來最嚴重經濟衰退中復甦時，聖嬰現象似乎正在成形。11年前，聖嬰現象也正好發生在攪亂金融市場的亞洲金融風暴之際。
澳洲氣象局（Bureau of Meteorology）首席氣象分析師瓊斯（David Jones）表示，「聖嬰現象有點類似衰退：在你意識到它之前，你已經置身其中。如果持續這樣發展下去，歷史學家將會說，聖嬰現象已從5月開始。」他說， 他們可能會在數週內宣布出現聖嬰現象。
聖嬰現象發生時，赤道太平洋一帶的海水溫度異常溫暖，攪亂亞太地區與其他地區的氣候型態。去年則發生海水變冷的反聖嬰現象。
1998年時，與聖嬰現象有關的暴風雨、洪水、龍捲風與土石坍方造成超過2000人死亡，作物、基礎設施與礦產損失高達數十億美元。
如果這種嚴重異常現象再度重現，亞洲乾旱可能會導致穀物價格上揚，而由於供應不足，穀物價格幾乎已攀升到歷史新高。與此同時，可能會擾亂墨西哥灣（Gulf of Mexico）原油生產的颶風，則可能減少。
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures tumbled more than 3% Monday, falling to their lowest level in nearly six weeks as heightened worries over the timing of a recovery in the global economy weighed on the sentiment of energy investors.
Light sweet crude for August delivery fell $2.22, or 3.3%, to $64.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier, the contract hit an intraday low of $63.40, the lowest level for a front-month contract since May 27.
"Today's crude weakness is not surprising and we do feel it shall continue over the near term," said Tariq Zahir, managing member of Tyche Capital Advisors. "Fundamentals are finally starting to come into focus."
"Inventories are at multi year highs along with weaker demand for all crude products globally," he added.
Monday's losses followed oil's 3.5% decline last week, as data showed continuing weakness in the U.S. labor market. Energy Department data also indicated petroleum demand remained week in the U.S., and inventories stood at high levels.
Also in energy trading, August reformulated gasoline fell 3.29 cents, or 1.8%, to $1.7579 a gallon and August heating oil dropped 4.12 cents, or 2.4%, to $1.6602 a gallon.
August natural gas futures dropped 10.6 cents, or 2.9%, to $3.509 per million British thermal units.
"The normal summer time lull in trading may put some pressure and profit taking into the market, as traders take some money off the table for the next 30 to 45 days," said Kevin Kerr, president of Kerr Trading International.
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Gold futures fell Monday, dropping to their lowest level in two weeks as tumbling oil prices and a stronger dollar curbed the metal's appeal as an inflation hedge and an alternative investment.
Crude oil futures dropped more than 4%, pressured by escalating worries over the timing of a recovery in the global economy. Jitters over impending second-quarter corporate earnings left investors less eager to hold risky assets, helping the dollar move higher.
On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, August gold futures fell $8.50, or 0.9%, to $922.50 an ounce. It fell to $920.30 earlier, the lowest level for a front-month contract since June 23.
"A firmer U.S. dollar and falling oil prices are undermining gold's role as a hedge against currency and inflation risks, so higher risk aversion and falling equity markets are not having much of an impact at present," Commerzbank analysts led by Barbara Lambrecht wrote in a note.
"The dollar will remain the key determinant for gold prices," they added.
The London afternoon gold fixing, a benchmark for gold's spot trading, stood at $924.50 an ounce Monday, down $8 from the previous session.
Gold ended last week's trading down 1.1%. The metal had risen near $990 an ounce early June, but has since declined about 7%.
"Gold is vulnerable to a deeper correction in the short to medium-term, and will need to come lower to stimulate renewed institutional level investment demand as well as interest from the physical sector," said James Moore, a precious metals analyst at TheBullionDeks.com.
Gold's losses on Monday followed broad declines in commodities and equities. Crude tumbled to its lowest level since May 27.Asian equity markets ended mostly lower Monday in quiet trading after a U.S. holiday Friday, with some caution creeping in as the U.S. corporate earnings season drew closer.
Indian stocks were hammered in the afternoon as investors expressed disappointment after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented an expansionary budget that was projected to further stretch the country's fiscal deficit.
The Sensex staged a sharp retreat from early gains after Mr. Mukherjee proposed a major rural spending thrust that he said would widen the federal government's fiscal deficit to a wider-than-expected 6.8% of gross domestic product. The 30-stock benchmark index ended down 5.8% at 14043.40.
"It's a big letdown. Markets were expecting that there would be a roadmap for bringing down the fiscal deficit gradually, details of disinvestment and deregulation of oil prices," said Vinod K. Sharma, director for research at Anagram Securities. "There's nothing for investors to look forward to in this budget."
Financials suffered sharp declines, ICICI Bank tumbling 10.1%, while mortgage financier Housing Development Finance Corp. shed 9%.
Oil, mining and shipping stocks paced losses elsewhere in the region in the wake of sharp declines in commodity prices.
But South Korean shares were lifted by Samsung Electronics after the electronics manufacturer made some reassuring comments on its second quarter performance.
Japan's Nikkei 225 slid 1.4% to 9680.87 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gave up 1.2% to 17979.41.
China's Shanghai Composite advanced 1.2% to stretch its winning-run to a fourth straight session, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.2%, Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.2%, New Zealand's NZX 50 slid 0.7% and Singapore's Straits Times shrank 1.5%.
"Sentiment isn't great at the moment. The market may have run a bit hard in the second quarter. This is just a retracement and not unexpected," said Macquarie Private Wealth senior private client adviser Marcus Droga.
Front-month Nymex crude-oil futures, meanwhile, dropped $2.72 to $64.01 a barrel, while spot gold prices lost $6.30 to $925.50 a troy ounce.
Oil, shipping and steel stocks retreated for another session. "The market is now aware that its economic recovery expectations had been too high," said Yumi Nishimura, a market analyst at Daiwa Securities SMBC.
Inpex Corp. lost 3% and Nippon Yusen K.K. dropped 3.4% in Tokyo, BHP Billiton shed 2.4% and Santos gave up 4% in Sydney, and Cnooc and PetroChina Co. both shrank 2.2% in Hong Kong.
Rio Tinto shares also fell 2.2% in Sydney, after the Anglo-Australian miner said it would sell its Alcan Packaging Food Americas division to Bemis Co. for $1.2 billion.
Adding to the gloom, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were lower before the opening bell. The U.S. earnings season kicks off on Tuesday, with Alcoa reporting its second-quarter results.
"Some of our clients have become a bit more risk-adverse in recent days. They have either been selling or not buying," said ABN Amro head of Asia research Daphne Roth in Singapore.
Blue-chip exporter stocks were lower in Tokyo on the yen's strength, with Sony off 1.2% and Honda Motor down 1.5%.
Samsung Electronics jumped 5.5% in Seoul. The world's biggest memory-chip maker by revenue said it expected second-quarter sales to come in higher than a year earlier, while its operating profit was expected to be between 2.2 trillion Korean won and 2.6 trillion won.
Samsung Engineering added 1.8% on news it had signed a $2.6 billion, three-year contract with Algerian state-owned Sonatrach to modernize an oil refinery.
Chinese property stocks added to their recent gains amid reports on an improving demand outlook, with China Vanke Co. shares rising 1.2% in Shenzhen, while China Resources Land rose 1.5% and Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. added 1.1% in Hong Kong.
Taiwan construction stocks were supported by a report in the Commercial Times the government would speed up its urban renewal plans. Founding Construction & Development rose by its daily 7% limit.
Malaysian shares lost 0.6%, with Indonesian shares off 1.9% and Philippine shares up 0.7%.
Trading was choppy in the currency markets after the U.S. holiday, with the Japanese yen making some gains as regional stock markets fell.
The euro was at $1.3901, from $1.3985 late in North America on Friday, and at ¥132.49, from ¥134.25. The U.S. dollar was at ¥95.29, from ¥95.99.
Traders were looking ahead to the week's meeting in Italy of the Group of Eight leading nations and for any further discussion on the U.S. dollar's status as the main global reserve currency.
Analysts at Calyon said "we doubt the G8 meeting will conclude with anything that is destabilizing to the U.S. dollar over the short term, even if the longer term role of the dollar is at risk. We look for the dollar to maintain a firmer bias in a generally lethargic market environment this week."
Brown Brothers Harriman added "the bottom line is a new international reserve currency cannot be artificially created overnight, or even in a decade."
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Police said at least 828 other people were injured in violence that began Sunday in Urumqi, Xinjiang's capital. Witnesses said the conflicts pitted security forces against demonstrators, and members of the region's Turkic-speaking Uighur ethnic group against members of the country's Han Chinese majority. Many among the predominantly Muslim Uighurs have chafed at Chinese government rule.
The official tally of dead and injured increased Monday as more information came out of Urumqi through the state-run Xinhua news agency, although it appeared that most or all of the violence had ended by the early hours of Monday.
Xinhua quoted Liu Yaohua, a senior police official in Xinjiang, as saying that rioters had burned 261 vehicles, including 190 buses and two police cars, several of which were still ablaze as of Monday morning. Mr. Liu said the death toll of 140 "would still be climbing."
As evening fell in Urumqi Monday, witnesses said that paramilitary troops of the People's Armed Police, backed by armored personnel carriers, were patrolling largely calm city streets. Many businesses remained shuttered and gates of the city's central bazaar, which was the scene of unrest Sunday night, were closed.
Police said they were still searching for dozens of people suspected of fanning the violence. Several hundred people have already been arrested in connection with the riot, police said, and the government said it was bringing "ethnic officials" from nearby areas to help with interrogations.
Uighur activists said hundreds of Uighurs, many of them students, had gathered Sunday to protest racial discrimination and call for government action against the perpetrators of an attack last month on Uighur migrant workers at a toy factory in southern China. In that incident, a group of Han Chinese broke into a factory dormitory housing Uighur workers. State media reported that two people were killed. Uighur groups say the death toll may have been higher.
The protests appear to have spun out of control late Sunday, with clashes between protestors and police as well as ethnic violence around the city. Xinhua's report Monday said that 57 dead bodies had been "retrieved from Urumqi's streets and lanes," while the remaining fatalities were confirmed dead at hospitals.
An official in the nursing department of one of Urumqi's largest hospitals, the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region People's Hospital, said the hospital received 291 people injured in the unrest. Seventeen of them died, and more than 20 others were in critical condition on Monday night.
The official said that 233 of the injured were Han Chinese, 39 were Uighurs and the rest belonged to other ethnic minority groups. Seven of the injured had gunshot wounds, she said.
Uighurs have long complained about restrictions on their civil liberties and religious practices imposed by a Chinese government fearful of political dissent in strategically important Xinjiang, which covers one-sixth of China's territory and is also an important oil-and-gas-producing region.
Many Uighurs resent what they see as economic and social discrimination by the majority Han Chinese, who have migrated to Xinjiang in growing numbers. Some Uighurs, seeking independence from China, have waged sporadic and at times violent campaigns against the government.
Pictures said to be of the Sunday's protests distributed by the Washington-based Uyghur American Association showed young Uighurs marching in Urumqi, in some cases carrying the Chinese flag. Pictures also showed phalanxes of helmeted police in riot gear, with shields and batons.
Demonstrators clashed with the police, witnesses said, and rioters smashed shops and attacked buses. "Most were young Uighurs. They were smashing everything on the street," said one Han Chinese man who works as a driver.
Another Han Chinese man, who owns a shop in the city's central bazaar, said he saw Uighurs "with big knives stabbing people" on the street. He said crowds of Hans and Uighurs were fleeing the violence. "They were targeting Han, mostly," he added. "We need to hide inside for a few more days."
The government blamed the unrest on a prominent exiled Uighur leader, Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uyghur Congress, an activist group. Sunday's demonstration was "instigated and directed from abroad," according to a government statement cited by Xinhua.
Alim Seytoff, vice president of the Uyghur American Association, dismissed the government's claim, saying, "Every time something happens, they blame Ms. Kadeer." He added: "It's really the Chinese government's heavy-handed policies that create such protests and unrest."
Unrest in Xinjiang mounted last year, as some Uighurs sought to emulate widespread antigovernment demonstrations in Tibetan areas. There were several violent incidents around the time of last summer's Beijing Olympics, including an attack on a border-police unit that left 16 dead. Ten militants died after another attack with improvised explosives in a Xinjiang city on the first weekend of the Games.
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印度今天宣佈新一年度（2009年4月至2010年3月）財政預算案，財政部長穆克吉（Pranab Mukherjee）表示，財政赤字將擴大，比重恐攀升至6.8%，由於這個數字是1994年以來的新高，且高於市場預期的6.5%，引發市場賣壓湧現。
印度股匯市同步下挫，印股終場下跌5.83%，收在14043.40點，創下3月底以來的最大跌幅，印度盧比兌美元也貶值1.3%。
摩根富林明投信新興市場產品經理劉念華指出，由印度政府發表的聲明看出，現階段執政重點仍放在維持經濟成長和民生議題，特別是提出範圍極廣的減稅措施，來達成促進民生穩定的目標。
然而，外資期望較大的項目並未看到明確的回應，應是造成今天印度股市湧現失望性賣壓的原因。
匯豐金磚動力基金經理人許倍禎表示，印度股市因為預算案公佈而下跌，並不是新鮮事，事實上，這次的股市修正也在預期中。
他說，統計自1991年以來，在預算案公佈前一個月，印度股市的正報酬與負報酬的機率各半，而在預算案公佈後的一個月，由於預算案優於預期的比例偏低，指數平均報酬率為「-2.1%」，正報酬機率僅22.2%。
許倍禎表示，市場憂心赤字的擴大恐將導致印度信評被調降，加上印度股市選後大漲，近期則欠缺明顯利多激勵，無法為市場提供有力支撐，也讓財政赤字的負面影響成為市場關注的焦點。
他表示，印股重挫主要是因為獲利了結壓力，加上7月是印度雨季高峰，為經濟埋下不確定因子，近期震盪整理的可能性極高。
不過，他也指出，新政府未來仍有利多可期，例如對公共建設的投資可能擴大、可望提高外資投資印度保險業的上限，降低政府對銀行持股等，都可能吸引外資流入。
劉念華也認為，印度股市從低點至今漲幅約達90%，難免因為風吹草動而牽連股市表現，加上近期印度雨季降雨量較原先預估為差，也不利市場投資信心，短期內恐會維持區間整理格局。
他表示，雖然印度政府並未就外資感興趣的議題提出明確回應，但未來不排出仍會就金融自由化再做說明，且在稅改部分確立GST（商品服務稅，原為各區域分別執行，未來將統一徵收）的實施。
劉念華表示，印度長期結構性的赤字問題仍有改善可能，加上近期印度出口等基本面表現持續轉佳，沒有看壞印度市場的理由。
奧迪專為中國市場打造的A4車款大受歡迎，6月共賣出逾1萬3000輛，銷量躍增28%。
奧迪公司負責銷售的董事蕭紳博（PeterSchwarzenbauer）在聲明中表示：「奧迪A4L車款締造創紀錄銷售，肯定了我們的中國市場策略。」
日前，台灣立法院訪問團拜會國台辦，有委員向國台辦表示，中國應該撤除指向台灣的1千多枚導彈，隨後國台辦主任王毅以"雙方應先建立軍事互信"為由搪塞，王毅並進一步要求台灣開放海峽中線。
國防部強調，中共始終不放棄武力犯台及調整軍事部署存在的事實，海峽中線對台空防安全關係極為重大，兩岸空運直航仍應維持現行南、北航路，以兼顧國家經濟發展及國防安全。
對於中共提議開放海峽中線，總統馬英九日前出訪中美洲期間已在巴拿馬與媒體茶敘時強調，過去已非常明確告訴中國大陸，海峽中線是空軍演訓場所，實在無法開放。
國防部軍事室發言人強調，開放兩岸直航應以國家安全為首要考量，海峽中線對台空防安全關係極為重大，在中共未完全放棄武力犯台及調整軍事部署前，兩岸空運直航仍應維持現行南、北航路，以兼顧國家經濟發展及國防安全。
國防部軍事發言人室指出，台灣本島空域縱深短淺，空軍主要訓練空域位於海峽中線以東，因此，兩岸空運直航的航線設計，是以定點、定時、定線、定航高模式，以不穿越海峽中線為原則，希望有效掌握管制航機動態、確保飛航安全，並維持國軍整體訓練空域完整。
報導並未透露其他細節。先前報導表示，僅一些人在烏魯木齊的大規模暴動中死亡。這起暴動及稍早的示威抗議中，維吾爾族少數民族與安全部隊爆發衝突。
新華社引述新疆公安廳報導，警方已逮捕數百名參與暴動者，包括10餘名煽動暴動的核心人物。報導指出，警方仍在烏魯木齊搜索另外約90人。
報導指出，新疆維吾爾自治區主席努爾·白克力6日凌晨發表電視談話表示，5日晚烏魯木齊發生打砸搶奪暴力犯罪是一件典型的境外指揮、境內行動，有預謀、有組織的打砸搶事件，三股勢力的的煽動襲擊一定會遭到各族人民的唾棄，敵人的分裂活動將徹底失敗。
報 導指出，事件導火線是6/26日廣東省韶關市一家玩具廠部分新疆籍員工與其他員工發生衝突，數百人參與鬥毆，導致120人受傷，其中新疆籍員工89人，2 名經搶救無效死亡。事件發生後，境外三股勢力大肆炒作，藉機對中國進行攻擊，煽動上街進行遊行示威，境內敵對勢力與其遙相呼應。
一位安全當局官員分析說，總的來說，此次發射與以往挑釁相比，其意圖和訊息都模糊不清，簡直「毫無厘頭!」
官員說，北韓如果是要嗆美國獨立紀念日吸引美國的關注，應該發射射程覆蓋美國的遠程導彈，而北韓「亮牌」的只不過是中、短程導彈。韓國安全問題研究所理事長金熙相指出，白宮和國務院過了24個小時也沒有官方表態，令外界摸不著頭緒。
過去，北韓經常選擇政治、外交上的適當時間發起核和導彈挑釁，並取得了有意義的成果。2006年的美國獨立紀念日，北韓在7/4日發射遠程導彈後，10月進行了第一次核試驗，成功將美國拉到談判桌前。
第一次核危機爆發的1993年5月，北韓發射了蘆洞1號，第二次核危機高漲的2003年2月，北韓發射了地對艦導彈，都製造「危機效果」。另外，2000年3月至4月和2005年5月份別在重新啟動核設施和更換核燃料棒之際，北韓發射短程導彈，令周邊國家的危機感倍增。
北韓5月進行核試驗後，又發射了數枚中、短程導彈。由於這些導彈的射程都未覆蓋美國，因此看不出北韓大規模發射了一枚價值100萬美元以上的導彈，外交上的訊息是什麼？
有 人分析說，在推進接班程序的過程中，軍方的地位不斷提高，在對外政策方面，軍方的強硬聲音蓋過了金正日和外務省的政務、外交判斷，因此出現了這種「非政務 性決定」。青瓦台一位官員表示，如果是為了控制體制和讓軍方滿意的內部目的而大規模發射導彈，那麼這種行為本身反而證明北韓內部局勢不穩定。
新華社報導，貴州省夏蓉高速公路第6標段項目部因為取土填地基，引發布依族苗族自治州貴定縣昌明鎮秀河村村民不滿。5日下午，村民與施工人員爭執並出現衝突，雙方各有200多人，造成11人受傷，部分財物受損。
事件發生後，貴定縣委書記劉建明、縣長廖小明立即趕往現場處置，並成立了處置昌明鎮「7．5」群體性事件指揮部，至當晚12時左右，現場群眾已疏散。目前當地政府有關部門正在對事件進行進一步調查。
President Obama begins a week-long trip abroad beginning in Moscow. (Photo: Getty Images)
And when in Rome? Obama will go to the Vatican to see Pope Benedict XVI for their first meeting.
Obama's weeklong trip - he leaves Sunday night for Moscow - typifies the pace of his first-year agenda.
Capitalizing on his popularity and his party's hold on power in Washington, Obama is moving quickly and broadly on foreign policy. That often means overturning George W. Bush's policies or mending relations that Obama contends went adrift under his Republican predecessor.
Familiar foes may shadow Obama and his plans.
Iran and North Korea are defiantly pursuing nuclear weapons programs despite international penalties. Iran has taken a hard and deadly line against postelection protesters, while North Korea fired seven ballistic missiles off its eastern coast on America's Independence Day. The North also has raised the prospect of a long-range missile launch, possibly toward Hawaii. The U.S. has positioned more missile defenses around the state.
Obama's trip is anchored around a yearly meeting of leaders from the world's industrial powers, set for Italy. The Group of Eight countries - the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia - will try to make progress on climate change. Negotiations for a new international agreement to reduce greenhouse gases get under way in Denmark in December.
Before the Italy meeting, Obama holds a nuclear-arms-focused summit in the Russian capital. The final leg of the trip brings the first black U.S. president to Africa, home to Obama's late Kenyan-born father.
Obama set a tone for the Moscow meeting by saying in an Associated Press interview Thursday that he was off to a good start with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. But, Obama added, Vladimir Putin - Medvedev's predecessor and the current prime minister - "still has a lot of sway in Russia."
Obama has separate meetings with them.
"I think Putin has one foot in the old ways of doing business and one foot in the new," Obama said in the interview. Putin responded Friday by poking fun at Obama's imagery and saying the new U.S. president is wrong about him. A Putin spokesman said Obama would change his mind after meeting Putin."Putin knows that, given Medvedev's position, he's the guy who deals with foreign leaders," said Stephen Sestanovich, a Russian expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "But Putin wants to find ways of reminding everybody who's really in charge. And I don't doubt that he will find ways of doing that."
The rhetoric leading up to the summit reflects the complex relationship between the countries. Putting down a friendly marker of his own before Obama shows up, Medvedev noted that conditions had worsened in recent years but now there is "only one road to follow - the road of agreement."
Obama expects to emerge from Moscow with a framework for how the U.S. and Russia will go about reducing their stockpile of nuclear warheads. He and Medvedev stated their intentions toward that goal in April during a London meeting that had both leaders talking of a fresh start.
Any tangible progress now will be held up as proof of better U.S.-Russia ties, and a step toward broader cooperation on ridding the world of nuclear arms.
Yet there is harder work ahead to determine how many weapons both sides will give up and how those steps will be verified. Both sides hope to have a final deal in place before a current treaty expires in December. And still unclear is whether Russia will insist on linking its weapons reduction to an issue it says is related - U.S. plans to build a missile defense system in Europe.Obama plans to give a major address on U.S.-Russia relations and meet with a range of civic leaders, hoping to turn around Russian attitudes of the U.S.
"I think that there have been times over the last several years where U.S.-Russian relations were not as strong as they should be," Obama told state-owned Russia TV. "What I have said coming in is I want to press the restart button on relations between the United states and Russia."
In Italy, the G-8 site was moved from a deluxe seaside resort in Sardinia to a military school in L'Aquila, where an earthquake in April killed 300 and displaced tens of thousands. Italy shifted the summit there to draw attention to the plight of the victims. Obama is expected to get a personal look at some of the damage.
A powerful aftershock hit the town Friday, just days ahead of the leaders' arrival.
The international summit will center on the recession but is expected to produce more of a recovery progress report than new policy. Iran, climate change, food security in Africa, Middle East peace and trade also are on the agenda.Obama will meet the pope on Friday. The president said he has a policy agenda in mind, including such matters as global poverty, but made clear that "having a meeting with the Holy Father is a great honor, and something that I'm very much looking forward to."
The president caps the trip in Ghana, a West African country that has emerged as a standout example of democracy in a region beset by coups. He will speak to parliament, emphasizing the promise of democratic governance, and tour a castle that once served as a hub of slave trading.
As he embarks on this fifth foreign trip of his presidency, Obama's approval rating hovers around a strong 60 percent. Awaiting him upon his return will be the start of Senate hearings on his Supreme Court nominee, Sonia Sotomayor, and intensifying legislative debate over his push to overhaul health care.
（中國‧北京）中國廣西、江西、湖南、貴州及廣東等長江南部數省（自治區），近日連續遭到暴雨襲擊，引發洪澇災害，已有逾千萬人受災，至少75人死亡，13人失蹤。
廣西卡馬水庫或垮壩
廣西災情進一步加劇，5市28個縣共超過145萬人受災。卡馬水庫一帶持續大雨，水位急劇上漲，水庫局部崩塌，垮壩險情仍未排除。
同時，廣西融水縣和睦鎮中學約300名學生受困在學校，缺水缺糧，當局緊急運送食水糧食救助。
陸姓官員說，不清楚這批年齡介於13至15歲的學生，已受困在校內多久。
融江潰堤逾7萬人疏散
融水縣80%地區浸水，融江潰堤，迫使逾7萬人疏散，融水縣一條主要商業大道的水淹深達2.5公尺。這是融水縣10年來積水最高的洪災。
針對華南多省的暴雨洪水災害，財政部及民政部決定向災區緊急下撥人民幣1億2600萬元（約馬幣6500萬令吉）救災，並緊急調撥救災帳篷，幫助緊急疏散的災民。
民政部也已對湖南、湖北、江西、廣西等4個省啟動了4級應急響應。重災區廣西更已提昇至2級。
中國之聲電台週日（7月5日）早上報導，由於連日暴雨，廣西羅城的卡馬水庫水量驟然增加，導致水庫壩底被洪水擊穿。
水庫下游羅城縣和宜州市超過1萬5000人要安全轉移。
工作人員在水庫搶險，又在水庫側邊開挖一條闊十多米的排水道泄洪；一段10米長的水壩有碎石崩塌，不排除有垮壩危險。
專家指出，目前正設法加大水庫排洪，儘量降低水庫存水；但亦只能夠減低潰壩的可能，未能排除危險。
損失130億元人民幣
此外，各地旅遊業也大受影響，其中灕江一度封航；桂林等知名景區也因洪水而停業。災區因災直接經濟損失約人民幣130億元。
看崑曲《牡丹亭》中途離場
溫家寶督促搶險救災
廣西卡馬水庫潰壩險情，令到上週五（7月3日）晚正在北京國家大劇院內觀賞崑曲《牡丹亭》的總理溫家寶臨時離場，他親自上網查看廣西水災災情，並致電廣西官員，敦促做好搶險工作。
據消息人士透露，溫家寶當晚到國家大劇院欣賞白先勇改編的青春版崑曲《牡丹亭》。至9時中場休 息時，溫家寶在數名隨從的陪同下穿過大廳離開，在下半場演出開始後，沒有再出現，直至終場他原本所坐的第4排多個位置都空著。相信是溫家寶得知廣西水災嚴 重及卡馬水庫出現險情的消息後，臨時取消觀看演出。
據廣西《河池網》上週六（7月4日）報導，“3日晚，溫家寶在互聯網上看到卡馬水庫出現險情的新聞，專門打電話向廣西自治區主席瞭解情況，要求全力做好搶險工作，確保群眾生命安全。”上週六凌晨4時，馬飆趕到羅城縣，與先期抵達的自治區其他官員緊急開會，指揮搶險。
貨品載客起價數十倍
商店船家搶發“大水財”
從上週五晚開始，廣西融水縣城區被淹地段開始斷電，隨後，自來水供應中斷。約5萬人在漆黑中度 過難眠之夜，這些居民只能依靠災前囤積的水和糧食度日。商店裡的蠟燭開始脫銷，記者在一家商店看到，不少居民前來購買，價格由原來的每支0.3元（人民 幣，下同）漲到1元仍然供不應求。
青菜甚至不稱斤賣，一把5元，價格是平時的20倍。
洪災讓整個縣城宛如江南水鄉，大街上儼然成了繁華的碼頭，無數船家爭先恐後搶發“大水財”。
被洪水圍困的居民出行全憑小舟，於是這些有船的人家就做起載客生意。乘一艘小船到相隔30米的一個街區，船家就要收取10元的費用。
南雨北熱
天氣極端
華南地區連日出現今年入汛以來範圍最廣、強度最大的豪雨，已造成部份災情，但北方大部份地區熱浪仍舊持續，氣溫保持在攝氏35度左右，部份地區達37度以上。
新華社報導，廣西壯族自治區從7月1日開始的強降雨自南向北逐漸擴大，多條河流超過警戒水位，加之部份地區大雨仍將持續，防洪形勢嚴峻。
與此同時，廣西柳州市防汛抗旱指揮部指出，柳江柳州水文站於週日凌晨2時迎來連日來最高89.64米的水位洪峰，超過警戒水位。隨後水位平穩下降，至此，這次20年一遇的洪峰順利通過柳州。
福建5死18萬人受災
另外，福建省連日遭遇暴雨，目前全省18萬多人受災，5人死亡，2人失蹤，2萬2200人被迫疏散，造成直接經濟總損失2億4200萬人民幣。
湖南省自北向南發生今年入汛以來最強的豪雨，許多地方山洪爆發，過去1週以來，湖南全省平均降雨量達90毫米。
江西省也歷史上首次發出暴雨最高級別預警。
然而，北方大部地區卻仍持續高溫。北京市氣象台上週五發佈今夏第3個高溫橙色預警，創下自2004年北京氣象災害預警發佈史紀錄。
（越南‧河內）越南政府週日（7月5日）指出，傾盆大雨造成越南北部水災，引發山泥傾瀉，導致至少15人喪生，房屋及主要公路被毀。
越南之聲廣播電台透露，週日清晨發生的山泥傾瀉事件造成北滸省13人喪生，另有1人失蹤。
據報導，水患也造成高平省及河江省兩名居民喪生，3人失蹤。失蹤者包括被水沖走的兩名兒童，至今還未被尋獲。
逾300人被迫撤離被山泥淹埋的房屋。當地的主要公路均告中斷，這3個省的稻田、玉米田及木薯田全都被摧毀。當局預測大雨將會持續。
（中國‧北京）中國廣西省仍受到西南季候風影響，雨帶逐漸南移，暴雨受災範圍在擴大，各地災情繼續加重，目前多條河流超過警戒水位。
中國國家主席胡錦濤和副總理、國家防總總指揮回良玉先後批示：要把確保人民生命安全作為首要任務，加強抗洪搶險救援工作。
毀10萬房屋殃及4000萬人
官方新華社報導，南方12省市自6月底起遭受今年以來最嚴重暴雨侵襲，截至週日（7月5日）下午，已造成75人死亡，13人失蹤，近4000萬人受災，超過10萬房屋倒塌。直接經濟損失130.2億元人民幣。
撥逾億人民幣救災
中央政府決定向受災嚴重的廣西、江西、湖南、湖北、貴州和重慶6個省市自治區緊急下撥救災資金1億2600萬人民幣和其他救濟物資。
廣西洪峰已轉移至下游，西江沿岸的廣東德慶、高要水位上升，加上連綿暴雨、天文潮汐，廣東省週二（7月7日）將出現一場較大洪水，現時粵西、粵北已經進入戒備狀態。
據廣西梧州市防汛抗旱指揮部最新通報，西江梧州站已經超過警戒水位，西江洪峰比原預告抵達梧州的時間將提前，當局已啟動第4級應急響應。
另外，封開、英德、南雄等已有多個縣市局度受災，5萬多畝農田被淹，大批民眾要疏散，暴雨造成廣東省2人死亡、9人受傷。
3次開壩泄洪緩解險情
另據報導，被洪水圍困的融水縣一所中學的300名住校生的缺水、缺食物的困難已經得到解決，學校情況趨於穩定。
此外，因水位上漲而面臨嚴重險情的廣西河池市羅城的卡馬水庫，在經過3次開壩泄洪後，險情得到緩解，但仍未徹底解決。
不過，卡馬水庫下游學校的2800多名學生，已全部撤離到安全地方，未有學生傷亡。
成昆鐵路部份路段停運
遭受這次暴雨洪澇侵襲的有江蘇、浙江、安徽、江西、湖北、湖南、廣西、重慶、四川、貴州、雲南、福建。
新華社報導，湖南省有8人死亡、14萬人被迫撤離。福建省東南部有5人死亡、另2人失蹤、2萬2000人及時疏散。
江西省也有5人死亡，23萬人被迫搬遷。
廣東省方面，雨水滲透導致瓦牆坍塌，2名建築工人因此而喪命。
昆明鐵路局說，成昆線昆明路段遭遇泥石流衝擊。雖經過搶修後恢復通車，但為保障旅客安全，從週日起，成昆鐵路部份路段暫時停運。
著名的“旅遊黃金水道”桂林江早前出現自1998年年以來的最高水位。當地雨量減少，漓江航區水位下降，週日已恢復通航。
公安部消防局已下發緊急通知，要求各級公安消防部隊充份發揮應急救援的骨幹作用，在抗洪搶險救援工作中，始終把人民群眾的生命安全放在第一位。
（英國‧倫敦）英國切斯特動物園內30隻黑猩猩週日（7月5日）集體“出逃”覓食，迫使5000多名遊客緊急疏散。
動物園方面指出，這些黑猩猩當天午飯時間逃離園內“黑猩猩島”，闖入為它們準備食物的飼養員所在區域覓食。
管理員立即將黑猩猩圍捕。為確保遊客安全，當時在園內參觀遊覽的5000多人緊急疏散。
動物園發表聲明稱，黑猩猩出逃沒有造成遊客或工作人員受傷。園方向遊客表示道歉，承諾將退還門票費用或提供免費遊園服務。
切斯特動物園位於英格蘭西北部利物浦附近，被《福布斯》雜誌評為全球15家最佳動物園之一。園內現有7000多只動物，每年吸引遊客超過130萬人次。
（新加坡）日本空運到新加坡的方形西瓜，現以特價每個199元（約馬幣478令吉）出售。
獅城連鎖霸級市場家樂福（Carrefour）今日（週一，7月6日）開始至19日，將在獅城大廈（PlazaS i n g a p u r a）的一樓室內廣場，舉辦日本食品展。
家樂福也在各大報章刊登了廣告，列出了14樣打折商品，吸引顧客前去獅城大廈。
其中最引人注目的要屬從日本進口的方形西瓜。
日本的方形西瓜的原價是每個220元，現在經打折後，每個方形西瓜只需199元。
甜度與普通西瓜不同
據家樂福店員說，日本方形西瓜打折後的售價仍屬高價位的原因在於︰方形西瓜形狀獨特，而且方形西瓜是季節性的水果，並不是全年都有的，因此售價較高。
另外，店員也說，方形西瓜的果肉雖然是和普通西瓜一樣是紅色的，可是甜度卻不一樣。
“嘗過的人都知道，方形西瓜的味道和普通西瓜味道不太一樣，是絕對比較好吃的西瓜。”
店員說，一個方形西瓜平均重達9至10公斤，這也是造成方形西瓜售價較高的原因。
家樂福的日本食品展在獅城大廈舉行，營業時間是每天早上10點開始至晚上10點30分。
The agency’s monitoring of domestic e-mail messages, in particular, has posed longstanding legal and logistical difficulties, the officials said.
Since April, when it was disclosed that the intercepts of some private communications of Americans went beyond legal limits in late 2008 and early 2009, several Congressional committees have been investigating. Those inquiries have led to concerns in Congress about the agency’s ability to collect and read domestic e-mail messages of Americans on a widespread basis, officials said. Supporting that conclusion is the account of a former N.S.A. analyst who, in a series of interviews, described being trained in 2005 for a program in which the agency routinely examined large volumes of Americans’ e-mail messages without court warrants. Two intelligence officials confirmed that the program was still in operation.
Both the former analyst’s account and the rising concern among some members of Congress about the N.S.A.’s recent operation are raising fresh questions about the spy agency.
Representative Rush Holt, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, has been investigating the incidents and said he had become increasingly troubled by the agency’s handling of domestic communications.
In an interview, Mr. Holt disputed assertions by Justice Department and national security officials that the overcollection was inadvertent.
“Some actions are so flagrant that they can’t be accidental,” Mr. Holt said.
Other Congressional officials raised similar concerns but would not agree to be quoted for the record.
Mr. Holt added that few lawmakers could challenge the agency’s statements because so few understood the technical complexities of its surveillance operations. “The people making the policy,” he said, “don’t understand the technicalities.”
The inquiries and analyst’s account underscore how e-mail messages, more so than telephone calls, have proved to be a particularly vexing problem for the agency because of technological difficulties in distinguishing between e-mail messages by foreigners and by Americans. A new law enacted by Congress last year gave the N.S.A. greater legal leeway to collect the private communications of Americans so long as it was done only as the incidental byproduct of investigating individuals “reasonably believed” to be overseas.
But after closed-door hearings by three Congressional panels, some lawmakers are asking what the tolerable limits are for such incidental collection and whether the privacy of Americans is being adequately protected.
“For the Hill, the issue is a sense of scale, about how much domestic e-mail collection is acceptable,” a former intelligence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because N.S.A. operations are classified. “It’s a question of how many mistakes they can allow.”
While the extent of Congressional concerns about the N.S.A. has not been shared publicly, such concerns are among national security issues that the Obama administration has inherited from the Bush administration, including the use of brutal interrogation tactics, the fate of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and whether to block the release of photographs and documents that show abuse of detainees.
In each case, the administration has had to navigate the politics of continuing an aggressive intelligence operation while placating supporters who want an end to what they see as flagrant abuses of the Bush era.
The N.S.A. declined to comment for this article. Wendy Morigi, a spokeswoman for Dennis C. Blair, the national intelligence director, said that because of the complex nature of surveillance and the need to adhere to the rules of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the secret panel that oversees surveillance operation, and “other relevant laws and procedures, technical or inadvertent errors can occur.”
“When such errors are identified,” Ms. Morigi said, “they are reported to the appropriate officials, and corrective measures are taken.”Wonkette, if you have the good fortune of not knowing, is a left-liberal site that manages to consider itself cheeky and iconoclastic while endorsing only the most exquisitely conventional, establishment-approved opinions. If you’re not located somewhere along that fantastic spectrum of genius that ranges from Chuck Schumer to Arlen Specter, Wonkette will expose you to the world as the misanthropic imbecile you obviously are.
In order to remain as predictable as possible, Wonkette’s writers have decided they really don’t like Rep. Michele Bachmann, member of Congress from Minnesota. Of all the geniuses in Congress, they select for special ridicule one of the tiny handful who actually ask an interesting question now and again. By “interesting” I mean the kind of question no one at Newsweek, MSNBC, or, for that matter, Wonkette itself, would think to ask. That’s not because these questions are stupid; it’s because they’re not designed to flatter our overlords, portray them as indispensable, or show them the kind of reverence that Pravda once displayed for the Politburo.
Thus, for example, when 60 Minutes interviewed Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke several months ago, the questions were on the order of “What are the dangers now? What keeps you up at night?” Now there are some classic Wonkette questions. Instead of asking how this guy could have been so wrong about practically everything he’s said since 2006—e.g., there’s no housing bubble, lending standards are sound, the housing bust should be over by December 2008—the establishment left wants to know what is troubling our great overlord, and how he intends to use his potions and incantations to slay the evils that afflict us.
But back to Rep. Bachmann. One reason Wonkette doesn’t like her is that she once asked Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner where he got the constitutional authority to do the things he’s doing. You might think so-called “progressives” would be interested in that question. Once upon a time, progressives grew suspicious when government officials shoveled money to the richest people in the country, and had enough common sense not to accept the official rationales at face value. Surely this is an area in which the real left and the real right might join in happy concord, no? I mean, the left coined the phrase question authority, right?
As it turns out, they really meant question authority except the Treasury secretary in a Democratic administration, or the Fed chairman, or the Washington Post, or the bipartisan foreign-policy consensus, or the regulatory establishment, or Paul Krugman, or the SEC, or the medical establishment, or the central bank, or the Officially Approved Version of American History you were taught in fourth grade. These are wonderful people and institutions, citizen. They exist to protect you. Yes, yes, question authority and all that, but none of that applies to people and institutions that exist for your own good. You would have to be deranged and anti-social to oppose them. Why, you’re not deranged and anti-social, are you?
Listen to Geithner’s answers for yourself. You can learn a lot about the Wonkette people by grasping that they consider these to be good answers, indeed so good that only a blockhead would be unsatisfied by them. Bachmann is asking where in the Constitution the authority comes from for the Treasury and the Fed to be taking over companies and engaging in the bailouts. Geithner replies that they are acting in accordance with legislation passed by Congress. Exactly how smart do you need to be to recognize that that is not even close to an answer to the question? Geithner then says something about “the laws of the land”—again, perfectly irrelevant. Where in the Constitution does this authority come from? An answer to that question is not even attempted.
So the Treasury secretary has no idea where the authority comes from to bail out some of the most reckless, idiotic, parasitic parties on Wall Street, and Wonkette thinks the person to condemn here is not the Treasury secretary himself but the member of Congress who corners him? Can you imagine the contempt in which a genuine progressive like Robert La Follette would have held these establishment hangers-on?
Wonkette also doesn’t like Rep. Bachmann because she’s interested in the Austrian School of economics, a subject about which they’ve collectively read half an entry at Wikipedia. That the Austrians predicted the current crisis at a time when Wonkette’s heroes were calling for the very policies that brought on the collapse (and yes, that includes Paul Krugman, his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding) impresses them not a whit. The Austrians, who constitute the oldest continuously existing school of economic thought in the world, are out of favor with the establishment, whose boots it refuses to lick, and that’s pretty much all Wonkette needs to know.
Even worse, and according to the article her worst offense, is that Rep. Bachmann has been learning this material recently, and other people have been glad that a member of Congress is showing interest in business cycle theory—a subject that is probably not at the very top of the reading lists of Chris Dodd or John McCain. Now you can understand Wonkette’s ridicule, right? She has attended lectures on the subject and read books. (What is that in your hand, citizen? A book?) We can’t have that—the most urgent need right now is for American congressmen to keep their present level of knowledge right where it is.
In particular, Rep. Bachmann has been reading my book Meltdown
Perhaps indicative of the intelligence of Wonkette readers are the comments that follow. One chap writes, “Is Austrian Economic theory the one where they march in wearing brownshirts and take all the businesses from the Jews? Laissez-faire, uber alles!” In case you think that’s a moronic remark that no conscious person would utter, or a stupid and blockheaded smear of an entire country, recall that people who live in Austria are Officially Designated Oppressors who can be smeared and insulted in perpetuity, without provoking the sensitivity sessions, candlelight vigils, and all-around tears and sorrow that accompany insults to other groups. Wonkette, natch, will decide for us which groups belong to which categories.
Piling on a bit, if I may, consider that the greatest of the Austrian economists, Ludwig von Mises, was a Jew who was forced to flee Nazi-controlled Europe, arriving in the United States in 1940 almost empty-handed and not speaking a word of English. The Nazis, who destroyed his library and papers, detested him because his message of freedom and the international division of labor was rather at odds with the autarkic, controlled economy of National Socialism. So the least we might say is that our friend’s Nazi joke doesn’t really work. He doesn’t strike me as the thirsting-for-knowledge sort, though, so I rather doubt he’ll one day come upon the truth and feel embarrassed.
The George W. Bush years were such an ordeal that I actually remember thinking that the left wasn’t all bad. With a few honorable exceptions, though, they are what they have always been: anti-intellectual apologists for the status quo masquerading as “agents of change.” They claim to be antiwar but make excuses for people who vote the funds for war. They claim to oppose the neoconservatives but happily applaud when their cult leader surrounds himself with them, and seem untroubled when Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol declares, in response to the president’s policy on Afghanistan, “All hail Obama!” And they’re all tears and pity for average Americans, while at the same time demonizing people who think there might be something a teensy weensy bit not-progressive about creating trillions of dollars and throwing it at the financial elite.
The Wonkette kids are like the popular group in high school that wanted to belong to the fashionable causes, since that’s what the other popular kids did, but made sure they weren’t too ostentatious in their devotion to those causes. We can’t be too different, you understand. Just cool. Just different enough to be able to sneer at the rest of mankind and its stupid, unenlightened opinions, but not so different that we won’t get invited to cocktail parties at the homes of people who matter.
Now imagine those people running a website, and you’ve got Wonkette.
（新加坡）恐怖份子襲擊聖淘沙，開機關鎗掃射海灘咖啡座，造成10死20傷的嚴重傷亡？
今日（週一，7月6日）早上，恐怖份子兵分4路襲擊新加坡，聖淘沙的一家咖啡座、市區兩家五星級酒店和烏節路的邵氏樓，遭喪心病狂的恐怖份子亂鎗掃射，死傷人數難以估計。
位於聖淘沙西樂索海灘的Cafe Del Mar咖啡座首當其衝，3名神秘男子騎著腳車悄然掩至，二話不說就對公眾開火，目前估計有10人遭射死，20人重傷。
媒體傾巢而出報導，刑事偵查局、法醫和警方特遣部隊，也在現場忙碌搜證、調查。
軍警各單位全面動員，集中火力圍剿恐怖份子，確保民眾安全。
但別緊張，這一切只是“北斗星7號”防恐演習所模擬的情況！
模擬去年11月孟買恐襲
由警方主導的“北斗星7號”防恐演習，目的是模擬去年11月的孟買恐怖襲擊，動員各方資源，在最緊急的情況下協調合作，應付恐怖襲擊所帶來的挑戰，體現新加坡的防恐決心和應戰準備。
這場演習在週一早上7時開始，歷時超過2小時。
演習動員了15個政府部門和私人機構，包括內政部、國防部、衛生部、外交部、警察部隊、運輸公司和報業控股等。
恐演習分成3天進行
有別於往年，這一回的防恐演習分成3天進行，全島將有10處遭襲擊。
第一階段的演習在今明2天舉行，總共9個地點會有“死傷”，第二階段演習將在7月15日舉行。
