The tall ships are back! For more on the Festival of Sail in San Francisco, please visit Festival of Sail.

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Via the UK Guardian:

Russia is said to be considering the use of bases in Cuba as a refuelling point for its nuclear bombers, in a move reminiscent of the 1962 missile crisis.

The move would be in retaliation for the Bush administration’s plan to site a missile defence shield in Europe. Russia says America’s proposal for the shield in Poland and the Czech Republic poses a direct threat to its security.

Citing a “highly placed military source”, a report in Monday’s Izvestiya said the Kremlin wanted to use Cuba as a base for its long-range Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic nuclear bombers. “While they are deploying the anti-missile systems in Poland and the Czech Republic, our long-range strategic aircraft already will be landing in Cuba,” the source told the paper. No final decision on landing bombers in Cuba had been taken, it added.

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A Quinnipiac poll of four battleground states shows that the race has tighted in three of the four states. The Quinnipac poll showed McCain pulling ahead of Obama in Colorado and closing the gaps in Michigan and Minnesota. Only in Wisconsin did Obama maintain a wide lead. This poll, it should be noted, in Minnesota contradicts Rasmussen Reports poll from earlier in the week that had Obama leading 49% to 37% in Minnesota.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has inched ahead of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama in Colorado; come within inches in Minnesota and narrowed the gap in Michigan and Wisconsin, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states, conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today.

Voters in each state say energy policy is more important than the war in Iraq. And by margins of 22 to 31 percentage points, voters in each state support offshore oil drilling, and by seven to 12-point margins, drilling in the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge.

Sen. McCain has picked up support in almost every group in every state, especially among independent voters and men voters. The Republican now leads Obama among independent voters in Michigan and Minnesota.

Overall results show:
Colorado: McCain is up by a nose 46 – 44 percent, compared to a 49 – 44 percent Obama lead June 26;

Michigan: Obama tops McCain 46 – 42 percent, compared to a 48 – 42 percent lead last time;

Minnesota: Obama edges ahead 46 – 44 percent, compared to a 54 – 37 percent Obama lead;

Wisconsin: Obama leads McCain 50 – 39 percent, compared to 52 – 39 percent.

“Sen. Barack Obama’s post-primary bubble hasn’t burst, but it is leaking a bit. It’s been a good month for Sen. John McCain. His movement in these key states, not large except for Minnesota, jibes with the tightening we are seeing in the national polls,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“The good news for McCain is that he has improved his standing in Colorado and Michigan, two states that are critical to each man’s strategy. Obama wants to break through in the Rocky Mountain and Southwestern states that have been going Republican for decades. McCain sees recently Democratic Michigan as his top takeaway target,” Brown added.

“One reason for McCain’s progress may be the energy issue. The results show increased support for additional drilling – which McCain supports and Obama opposes. Roughly one in ten voters say they have changed their minds and now favor drilling because of the jump in energy prices. They support Obama, but with voters saying that the energy issue is now more important to their presidential vote than is the war in Iraq, this group represents an opportunity for the Republican.

“Voters are even more closely divided when it comes to which candidate’s spouse best fits the image of a First Lady than they are in their vote for president.”

President Bush’s approval ratings are:
31 – 62 percent in Colorado;
25 – 69 percent in Michigan;
28 – 66 percent in Minnesota;
26 – 68 percent in Wisconsin.

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Captured FARC Guerrilla near Caloto, Cauca

The Colombian army pressed its military offensive in the southwestern part of Colombia by striking at a FARC camp near Corinto, Cauca. The strike began with an aerial bombardment and followed with an encirclement of the area. Twenty guerrillas were killed and one female guerrilla was captured. In addition to destroying the base camp, a nearby training facility was also destroyed. Weapons, ammunition and other supplies were also seized. The camp was part of VI Front of the FARC under the command of Miguel Ángel Pascuas. The names of the dead guerrillas have not yet been released.

In other news, the FARC released eight of 18 hostages that had been kidnapped last week in the Chocó to the Red Cross. More from Al Jazeera.

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Mauritania is an Islamic state in north west Africa trying to confront a rape crisis. Often the victims are young girls. Statistics are hard to come by since rapes have largely gone unreported though that is beginning to change. Prior to 2003, survivors of rape in Mauritania were thrown in jail while the perpetrators went free. Hardly the environment where you would want to report a rape.

Through the efforts of four mid-wives who began speaking out after hearing repeated stories of sexual assault and abuse, Mauritania has been forced to confront the issue of rape. With United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) support, the first statistics on sexual violence in Mauritania are now being collected, and a centre was established to respond to the multiple needs of survivors. Breaking the taboos surrounding the discussion of rape was the first step in addressing the problem. Local imams lent their support to the effort, convincing government officials, judges, the police and members of the community that protecting women and easing the suffering of those who are most vulnerable was a religious obligation. In the last year in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, the number of reported sexual assaults tripled. It is believed, or at least hoped, that is more from an increase in reporting than from an increase in rape but without proper statistics, it is hard to tell.

From All Africa:

The Mauritanian government says it is trying to increase prosecutions of rape cases but poorly trained judges working with murky, outdated legal texts make for slow progress.

The penal code, which is heavily based on Sharia or Islamic law, does not give a precise definition of sexual violence, said lawyer Bilal Ould Dik, so a judge’s personal point of view can strongly sway his conviction decision.

“Rape convictions are very rare [in Mauritania] because we are working with such unclear legal texts,” he told IRIN. As a result, “rapes often just end with a settlement between the family of the perpetrator and the victim”.

And, according to Dik, many judges automatically label sexual abuses as voluntary sexual relations occurring outside of marriage, known as the crime of ‘zina’ in Mauritania.

“For many judges, the rape victim is 50 percent responsible for what has happened to them,” said Zeinebou mint Taleb Moussam, chairwoman of non-governmental organisation (NGO) Mauritanian association for the health of mothers and children (AMSME).

While the number of reported rapes in the capital Nouakchott has tripled from 25 to 75 in the past year, according to Ahmed Seyfer head of child protection for UNICEF, next to none of the perpetrators were punished.

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The Minnesota Senate race is certainly one of the more interesting US Senate races this political season pitting incumbent Republican Norm Coleman against the challenger Democratic-Farm Labour candidate Al Franken.

Above are two ads, one from each campaign each set in a bowling alley. I’m guessing bowling is popular in Minnesota. The top ad from the Coleman campaign was the opening salvo. The second ad is the response from the Franken campaign. Funny stuff up in Minnesota. It should be interesting to see this race develop. It’s likely to be bitter and personal.

Rasmussen Reports has a new poll out showing the race in dead heat.

The United States Senate race in Minnesota remains a toss-up. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Minnesota voters shows Republican incumbent Norm Coleman attracting 44% of the vote and challenger Al Franken earning 43%. Two weeks ago, it was Franken by two. A month ago, it was Coleman by three.

Franken’s support has stayed between 43% and 45% in five straight polls. Coleman’s support had been in the 46% to 50% range for five straight polls conducted from February through June. However, his support has been lower in a pair of July polls.

When leaners are included in the current poll, it’s Franken with a slight edge, 49% to 46%. Leaners are survey participants who initially don’t support either candidate but express a preference for one candidate during a follow-up question.

Earlier this month, the buzz around this race all focused on former Governor Jesse Ventura who very publicly flirted with the idea of making it a three-man race. Waiting until the very last moment—the night before the filing deadline–Ventura announced on the Larry King Show that he will not enter the campaign.

Coleman was first elected to the Senate six years ago, with just under 50% of the vote. He came in second to Ventura in a three-way race for governor in 1998.

In the Presidential race, Obama leads McCain by twelve percentage points in Minnesota 49% to 37%. Two weeks ago, Obama led by 18 points.

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In the realm of better late than never, though to be fair Paul Krugman spend months reviewing the health care plans of all the candidates, the New York Times has now taken the time to scrutinize Obama’s health care proposals.

It is one of the most audacious promises in a campaign that has been thick with them.

In speech after speech, Senator Barack Obama has vowed that he will lower the country’s health care costs enough to “bring down premiums by $2,500 for the typical family.” Moreover, Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has promised that his health plan will be in place “by the end of my first term as president of the United States.”

Whether Mr. Obama can deliver is a matter of considerable dispute among health analysts and economists. While there is consensus that the American health care system is bloated with waste, eliminating enough to save $2,500 per family would require simultaneous and synergistic solutions to a host of problems that have proved intractable for decades.

Even if the next president and Congress can muster the political will, analysts question whether significant savings would materialize in as little as four years, or even in 10. But as Mr. Obama confronts an electorate that is deeply unsettled by escalating health costs, he is offering a precise “chicken in every pot” guarantee based on numbers that are largely unknowable. Furthermore, it is not completely clear what he is promising.

His words about lowering “premiums” by $2,500 for the average family of four have been fairly consistent. But the health policy advisers who formulated the figure say it actually represents the average family’s share of savings not only in premiums paid by individuals, but also in premiums paid by employers and in tax-supported health programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

“What we’re trying to do,” said one of the advisers, David M. Cutler, in explaining the gap between Mr. Obama’s words and his intent, “is find a way to talk to people in a way they understand.”

The original arithmetic was somewhat basic. In May 2007, three Harvard professors who are unpaid advisers to the Obama campaign — Mr. Cutler, David Blumenthal and Jeffrey Liebman — produced a memorandum offering their “best guess” that a menu of changes would produce savings of at least $200 billion a year (it has since been revised to $214 billion). That would amount to about 8 percent of the $2.5 trillion in health care spending projected for 2009, when the next president takes office.

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Here is the Thursday, July 24th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

California Governor To Slash The Wages of 200,000 State Employees
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to help ease the state’s budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle. The Governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of nearly 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers. California’s fiscal year run July 1st to June 30th and the state has yet to pass a budget (last year it did not pass a budget until mid-August). Currently, California faces a $17 billion deficit. Here is a draft of the Executive Order (pdf.). I wonder if it includes the Governor’s salary but what does that matter, he’s a millionaire. Many state employees earn less than $40,000 a year. They are hardly in the position to absorb such a brutal pay cut even on a temporary basis. The measure is only valid until a budget is approved and state employees would receive their back once the budget is approved. That’s not expected until at least August. This is typical for California lately. The budget is so contentious and with the state facing declining revenues amidst a worsening economy, this year’s battle is expected to be at least as fierce as last year’s.

USGS Survey of Artic Oil Reserves
The Arctic may contain as much as a fifth of the world’s yet to-be-discovered oil and natural gas reserves, the United States Geological Survey said Wednesday as it unveiled the largest-ever survey of petroleum resources north of the Arctic Circle. Details in the New York Times.

Oxfam Warns that 14 Million At Risk of Hunger in East Africa
More than 14 million people in the east Africa region require urgent food aid due to drought and spiralling cereal and fuel prices, aid agencies say. In an emergency appeal launched today, Oxfam warns that millions of people in Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Djibouti and Kenya are fast being pushed “towards severe hunger and destitution”. Earlier this week the UN said it needed £200m to avert a humanitarian disaster. Details in the UK Guardian.

Al-Qaeda’s Afghan Strategy
Pepe Escobar of the Asia Times writes that:

Jihadis now assess that the new Afghan jihad – against the “infidel” US and NATO troops combined – is more important at the moment than Iraq. So in this sense, Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has got it right – Afghanistan, and not Iraq, is “the central front in the war on terror”.

But it’s much more complicated than that. The central front is actually in Pakistan. Al-Qaeda basically wants a pan-Islamic caliphate. The neo-Taliban, based in Pakistan, are not that ambitious. They already have their Islamic Emirate – it is in the Waziristan tribal areas on the border with Afghanistan. What they want most of all is to expand it. They also know they would never stand a chance of taking over the whole of Pakistan. A Pakistani expert on the tribal areas, currently in Washington, describes it as “a class struggle – almost like an evolving peasant revolution. Baitullah Mehsud [the neo-Pakistani Taliban leader] is but a peasant from a poor family.”

In effect, Escobar argues that Al-Qaeda actually wants to draw the US into a war in Afghanistan believing that will destablize Pakistan. It’s an interesting read but I am not sure if I agree with it.

Preah Vihear Temple Stand-Off Remains Tense
The Asia Sentinel reports on the Thai-Cambodia stand-off over the border demarcation in the area around the Preah Vihear Temple.

France Ends Its 35-Hour Work Week
The French parliament has passed a law that effectively ends the country’s compulsory 35-hour working week. The new law will allow companies to agree individual deals with employees and trade unions on working hours and overtime. The 35-hour week was introduced by the then-Socialist government in France 10 years ago as a way to combat unemployment. More from RTE News.

Argentine Cabinet Shake-Up
In the wake of the defeat of the export tax proposals, Argentine President Christina Fernández de Kitchner has replaced two ministers. More from the Miami Herald.

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