ABC: Blind Surfers Hang Ten With Help From Surf For All
Guiliana is one of more than dozen visually impaired teenagers receiving instruction this sun-splashed day from a Long Beach, N.Y., organization called Surf For All.
Some of the teens, including Guiliana, live in a world of total darkness, unable even to sense light. Others have limited sight, such as tunnel vision. All are getting an opportunity that once would have seemed unthinkable.
"If you told these kids two weeks ago, before they knew they were coming here, that they were going to surf, they probably couldn't fathom it. They would be like, 'No Way,'" says Will Skudin, a world-class surfer and a co-founder of Surf For All.
"To come out here and to not only just try surfing but to be successful at it -- I mean, it's got to lift them up to think how much more they can accomplish," Skudin said.
CNN: White House, congressional leaders reach debt deal
Two days before the deadline for a possible U.S. government default, President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reached agreement Sunday on a legislative package that would extend the federal debt ceiling while cutting spending and guaranteeing further deficit-reduction steps.
The proposed deal, which still requires congressional approval, brought some immediate relief to global markets closely watching the situation play out and to a nation filled with anger and frustration over partisan political wrangling that threatened further economic harm to an already struggling recovery.
However, there is no guarantee the plan will win enough support to pass both chambers of Congress.
Democratic and Republican leaders in both the House and Senate were briefing their caucuses about the agreement on Sunday night or Monday.
BBC: Syria unrest: Barack Obama condemns 'brutal' Hama raid
US President Barack Obama has condemned the Syrian authorities crackdown on protesters on Sunday, which activists say has left more than 130 dead.
Mr Obama said he was appalled by the government's use of brutality against its own people and promised to work to isolate President Bashar al-Assad.
Security forces killed dozens in the city of Hama, the hardest-hit area.
The government said troops were sent to Hama to remove barricades erected by the protesters.
Guardian: Nobel chairman warns Europe's leaders over 'inflaming far-right sentiment'
Europe's leaders, including David Cameron, have been warned to adopt a more "cautious" approach when discussing multiculturalism. The Norwegian chairman of the Nobel peace prize committee has told them they risk inflaming far-right and anti-Muslim sentiment.
Thorbjørn Jagland, a former prime minister of his country, said leaders such as the British premier would be "playing with fire" if they continued to use rhetoric that could be exploited by extremists.
Four months ago in Munich, Cameron declared that state multiculturalism had failed in Britain, a view immediately praised by Nick Griffin, leader of the BNP, as "a further huge leap for our ideas into the political mainstream". Marine Le Pen, vice-president of the far-right National Front party in France, also endorsed Cameron's view of multiculturalism, claiming that it corroborated her own party's line.
Jagland's comments come in the wake of the Oslo bomb and the massacre on Utøya Island that left 77 people dead. The killer, Anders Behring Breivik, said he was inspired by the right-wing English Defence League. Breivik sent his manifesto, published online hours before the attacks, to about 250 British members of the BNP, the EDL and the Stop Islamisation of Europe group.
Guardian: Syria: 100 die in crackdown as Assad sends in his tanks
Syria's uprising faced one of its defining moments when President Bashar al-Assad followed in his father's footsteps and sent in tanks to crush protests in the central city of Hama, killing up to 100 people and triggering a new wave of international outrage.
The National Organisation for Human Rights said in total 136 people had been killed in Hama and three other towns.
Activists described a massacre after armoured units ended a month-long siege to smash through makeshift barricades around the city just after dawn on the eve of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
International media are still largely banned from Syria but citizen journalists ensured that the scale and brutality of the crackdown was visible to the outside world. Video clips posed on YouTube showed unarmed civilians taking cover from shelling and heavy machinegun fire as hospitals struggled to cope with 200 casualties by mid-morning.
New York Times: China Imposes Blackout on Train Wreck Coverage
After days of growing public fury over last month’s high-speed train crash and the government’s reaction, Chinese authorities have enacted a virtual news blackout on the disaster except for positive stories or information officially released by the government.
The sudden order from the Communist Party’s publicity department, handed down late Friday, forced newspaper editors to frantically tear up pages of their Saturday editions, replacing investigative articles and commentaries about the accident that killed 40 people in eastern China with cartoons or unrelated features. Major Internet portals removed links to news reports or videos related to the crash near Wenzhou in Zhejiang Province, in which 192 people were also injured.
The government’s decision to muzzle the media followed a remarkable week of outpouring of online criticism of the government over the July 23 accident. For many in China, the train wreck has crystallized concerns about whether the government is sacrificing people’s lives and safety in pursuit of breakneck development and is cloaking its failures in secrecy or propaganda.
As it did in the last major scandal over health and safety, the tainted baby formula crisis of 2008, the government has moved aggressively to shut down an outcry that, if left unchecked, could spiral into social unrest beyond its control.
BBC: Russia: Nine drown as Moscow pleasure boat sinks
A pleasure boat has sunk on the Moscow River in Russia's capital, drowning nine people, officials say.
Seven of the 16 on board were rescued, they said. The boat is reported to have been hosting a birthday party and is suspected to have been overcrowded.
Reports say the boat, the Swallow, collided with a barge in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The accident comes three weeks after a tourist boat sank on the Volga river in Tatarstan, killing more than 100.
BBC: Mexico drug cartel suspect Acosta 'admits killings'
Police in Mexico say a suspected cartel leader they arrested on Friday has confessed to ordering the murder of 1,500 people in northern Chihuahua state.
Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, 33, is also suspected of masterminding the attack on a US consulate worker and her husband in Ciudad Juarez last year.
Officials say Mr Acosta Hernandez is a key figure in the Juarez cartel.
Juarez is Mexico's most violent city, with more than 3,000 murders in 2010.
CBS: Official: Taliban didn't kill Karzai's kin
A Western official says the powerful half-brother of President Hamid Karzai was gunned down by an associate over a personal issue, and was not assassinated by the Taliban.
The Taliban had claimed responsibility for the death of Ahmed Wali Karzai on July 12. That set off a power struggle and worries about stability in southern Afghanistan as attacks and assassinations continue.
The official, who spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence issues, said close review of the killing led authorities to conclude the Taliban claim was false.
Taliban involvement in the killing could have undercut the president's peace talks with insurgents, as U.S. and coalition allies begin to withdraw forces.
CNN: Attorney: Iranian court to rule within week in American hikers' case
An Iranian court is scheduled to issue a verdict within a week in the case of a group of American hikers detained in Iran, the hikers' lawyer said Sunday.
Attorney Masoud Shafiei, who represents Josh Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd, argued Sunday that his clients were innocent of charges of illegal entry and spying. Shourd was released last year due to medical reasons.
"We can still appeal this decision if we disagree with it. But I am hoping for the best," he said after Sunday's hearing, which was the last court proceeding in their trial.
"The trial of Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd has concluded and a verdict is expected within the coming week," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said in a statement.
New York Times: Judge Says TV Will Show Mubarak on Trial
The trial of former President Hosni Mubarak will be held in a large hall that can accommodate six times as many people as a regular courtroom, and will be broadcast on Egyptian state television, the judge who will preside over the trial said Sunday.
The judge, Ahmed Refaat, said the arrangements stemmed from the court’s “belief in the right of the people to be at ease.” Judge Refaat promised that the proceedings would be speedy, with “consecutive sessions” held to try the former president, his two sons, his former interior minister and other officials on charges including corruption and murder.
The announcement by Judge Refaat, made at a news conference where he took no questions, seemed intended to placate protesters who have complained about the slow pace of prosecution of former government officials and police officers accused of killing demonstrators during Egypt’s 18-day uprising, and the lack of public access to trials.
It was not clear whether the judge’s assurances would satisfy critics, and the judge did not answer one of the main questions about the trial: whether Mr. Mubarak will actually be present. The former president, a cancer survivor, has been held in custody in a hospital in Sharm el Sheikh since he suffered chest pains during his first interrogation; he has also repeatedly complained of other maladies. Last week he refused solid food, according to the doctors treating him, who said he was weak and losing weight.
CNN: Argentinian authorities: 2 French tourists 'viciously' killed
Police in Argentina are investigating the slaying of two French tourists who were found dead near a hiking trail, authorities said.
Other tourists found the bodies of the female victims, who were both around 30 years old, the state-run Telam news agency said. They were last seen in the hostel where they were staying on July 16.
The women were "viciously" killed, one shot in the head and the other in the back, Telam reported, citing Marcelo Baez, a spokesman for the judicial authority in Salta province.
Baez said authorities suspect they could have been held for several days before being killed. Their bodies were found Friday, the Salta government said in a statement.
ABC: Caribbean Airlines: NTSB Officials to Help in Crash Landing Probe
National Transportation Safety Board officials are expected to send a team to Guyana to help in the crash investigation of a Caribbean Airlines jet that split in two after hitting the runway.
The jet, which departed from New York, crashed in Guyana early Saturday morning. The plane broke in two just before reaching a 200-foot ravine. It was 1:30 a.m. and dark and rainy outside.
None of the 163 people on board were killed but about 100 people received medical attention for injuries, which included broken legs and scratches.
There appears to have been no fire after the crash, allowing passengers to exit the plane safely. People said they scrambled out through the emergency exit and over the wings.