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How about listener Orlando’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II: 404 emblem?

(Credit:
Orlando S.)

On today’s show we’re welcoming Dan Chiappini from GameSpot Australia along with 404 veteran Scott Stein. We’ll briefly recap Scott’s time down at
WWDC but then get right into some more E3 talk where we make Scott feel jealous about missing what was probably the biggest E3 in something like seven years. Dan think he knows why Nintendo refuses to open its “vault” of games and we all wonder how the company can rebound from a bleak E3 showing.

We’re also chatting about the mundane abundance of shooters at
E3, the lack of innovation, and which games actually piqued our interest.

And be sure to enter CNET’s awesome “From Old School to Tech Cool” contest that’s currently underway on our Facebook page!

–Follow our new buddy Dan Chiappini on Twitter

– Make sure to do the same for 404 veteran Scott Stein

– Catch up on Scott’s and the rest of CNET’s WWDC coverage

– Give CNET’s E3 2013 page one last skim

Episode 1286

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Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/zd6j6RqWBy4/

The giant asteroid Vesta as captured by the Dawn spacecraft.

(Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA/MPS/DLR/IDA)

Are you up for a challenge? How about a Grand Challenge? NASA on Tuesday issued a Grand Challenge aimed at locating all asteroid threats to Earth and figuring out what to do about them.

It seems the asteroid threat has really picked up steam lately. We’ve had some close fly-bys. Some scientists have suggested nuking asteroids if they get too near. NASA has an initiative to lasso an asteroid for closer study. It’s been asteroid fever around the planet lately.

You don’t have to have a string of initials behind your name or a place on the roster of a science agency to participate in this challenge. It’s open to all, including citizen scientists.

“NASA already is working to find asteroids that might be a threat to our planet, and while we have found 95 percent of the large asteroids near the Earth’s orbit, we need to find all those that might be a threat to Earth,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver in an announcement.

Along with the challenge, NASA issued a request for information for ideas on locating, redirecting, and exploring asteroids. If you or your organization has been spending some of brain power on the asteroid problem, then now is the time to share your thoughts.

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/pRza/~3/SlNQtqdIp0k/

Washington (CNN) — A series of blog posts on Monday purportedly by Edward Snowden said he leaked classified details about U.S. surveillance programs because President Barack Obama worsened “abusive” practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a candidate.

In 90 minutes of live online chatting, the person identified as Snowden by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and website insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.

While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws. Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

“This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men,” he posted. “He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

Obama: NSA programs are transparent

Snowden: Hong Kong easiest answer

Snowden: The NSA has your content

Releasing NSA leaks: A public service?

Asked Monday if the NSA was following the online chat, the agency’s press office had no immediate comment.

Obama, top legislators and national security officials defend the surveillance programs as necessary to combat terrorism, arguing that some privacy must be sacrificed in a balanced approach.

They say the law allows collection of metadata, such as the time and numbers of phone calls, and that a special federal court must approve accessing the content — listening to the call itself.

In the blog posts on Monday, the writer identified as Snowden contended the government’s overbroad collection of information violated rights of innocent Americans who have no links to suspicious activity.

Referring to a program that permits broader access to foreign communications than is allowed for domestic monitoring, the writer said authorities sidestep regulations. For example, a phone call from overseas can mean automatic inclusion of a U.S. number in the record-keeping, according to the writer.

“The reality is that … Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” one Snowden post said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Another post warned that restrictions against unauthorized access to the content of communications — such as listening to phone calls or reading e-mails — were based on policy rather than technology and therefore “can change at any time.”

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Columnist: NSA leak sparked debates

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Rep.: NSA isn’t listening to your calls

Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker

The U.S. government “predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home” by “openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Snowden said.

Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong, also wrote that the truth about surveillance programs he disclosed will come out, and “the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me.”

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

Washington (CNN) — A series of blog posts on Monday purportedly by Edward Snowden said he leaked classified details about U.S. surveillance programs because President Barack Obama worsened “abusive” practices instead of curtailing them as he promised as a candidate.

In 90 minutes of live online chatting, the person identified as Snowden by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and website insisted that U.S. authorities have access to phone calls, e-mails and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds.

While he said legal restrictions can be easily skirted by analysts at the National Security Agency, FBI and CIA, Snowden stopped short of accusing authorities of violating specific laws. Instead, he said toothless regulations and policies were to blame for what he called “suspicionless surveillance,” and he warned that policies can be changed to allow further abuses.

“This disclosure provides Obama an opportunity to appeal for a return to sanity, constitutional policy, and the rule of law rather than men,” he posted. “He still has plenty of time to go down in history as the president who looked into the abyss and stepped back, rather than leaping forward into it.”

Obama bristles at suggestion he’s shifted on snooping

Obama: NSA programs are transparent

Snowden: Hong Kong easiest answer

Snowden: The NSA has your content

Releasing NSA leaks: A public service?

Asked Monday if the NSA was following the online chat, the agency’s press office had no immediate comment.

Obama, top legislators and national security officials defend the surveillance programs as necessary to combat terrorism, arguing that some privacy must be sacrificed in a balanced approach.

They say the law allows collection of metadata, such as the time and numbers of phone calls, and that a special federal court must approve accessing the content — listening to the call itself.

In the blog posts on Monday, the writer identified as Snowden contended the government’s overbroad collection of information violated rights of innocent Americans who have no links to suspicious activity.

Referring to a program that permits broader access to foreign communications than is allowed for domestic monitoring, the writer said authorities sidestep regulations. For example, a phone call from overseas can mean automatic inclusion of a U.S. number in the record-keeping, according to the writer.

“The reality is that … Americans’ communications are collected and viewed on a daily basis on the certification of an analyst rather than a warrant,” one Snowden post said. “They excuse this as ‘incidental’ collection, but at the end of the day, someone at NSA still has the content of your communications.”

Another post warned that restrictions against unauthorized access to the content of communications — such as listening to phone calls or reading e-mails — were based on policy rather than technology and therefore “can change at any time.”

CNN poll: Obama numbers plunge into generation gap

Snowden said he leaked details of the surveillance programs because Obama campaigned for the presidency on a platform of ending abuses.

However, Obama “closed the door on investigating systemic violations of law, deepened and expanded several abusive programs, and refused to spend the political capital to end the kind of human rights violations like we see in Guantanamo, where men still sit without charge,” a blog post said.

Snowden also said that he had to get out of the United States before the leaks were published by the Guardian and Washington Post to avoid being targeted by the government.

Columnist: NSA leak sparked debates

Spying on G-20 delegates?

Rep.: NSA isn’t listening to your calls

Hong Kong rallies to support NSA leaker

The U.S. government “predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home” by “openly declaring me guilty of treason,” Snowden said.

Snowden, who is believed to be in Hong Kong, also wrote that the truth about surveillance programs he disclosed will come out, and “the U.S. government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me.”

Details on NSA-thwarted plots coming, lawmaker says

The blog post rejected accusations that he had or might provide classified information to China, saying he only leaked to journalists and calling such a charge a smear tactic intended to turn public opinion against his effort to provide Americans with full information about how their government monitors them.

A CNN/ORC International poll released Monday showed 54% of respondents didn’t approve of Snowden’s admitted actions, while 44% backed the leaks.

Snowden’s father told Fox News that he hoped and prayed his son “will not release any secrets that could constitute treason.”

The father, Lon Snowden, also said he wanted his son to return to the United States “and face this,” adding “I love my son.”

Snowden, 29, worked for the NSA through a private contractor firm until May, when he decamped to Hong Kong. He went public earlier this month as the source of articles by the newspapers, saying the agency’s efforts pose “an existential threat to democracy.”

The revelations about the NSA’s collection of millions of records from U.S. telecommunications and technology firms have led to a furious debate within the United States about the scale and scope of surveillance programs that date from the days after the 2001 al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington.

Opinion: Did NSA snooping stop ‘dozens’ of terrorist attacks?

Defenders say the programs — approved by Congress after a warrantless surveillance effort under the Bush administration was revealed in 2005 — have protected American lives by helping agents break up terrorism plots. And they argue that the program is under close oversight by all three branches of government, including the congressional intelligence committees and a court set up under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that hears cases in secret.

But Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian columnist who broke Snowden’s story and moderated the chat, said the safeguards placed on the program is “a very symbolic and empty oversight that really ought not to give the assurances to anybody that these powers aren’t being abused.”

“They go once every six months to the FISA court,” he said. “The FISA court rubber-stamps these vague guidelines that the NSA says they’re using to make sure they’re complying with the law. And once that happens, the NSA can force telecoms and Internet companies to give them whatever they demand under the guise that the FISA court has blessed their guidelines.”

Bigger threat: Snowden or NSA?

Critics call the programs an unconstitutional overreach of authority under the Patriot Act, the law that authorized increased government surveillance in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

In a new development, the Guardian reported Sunday that Britain’s electronic intelligence agency monitored delegates’ phones and tried to capture their passwords during an economic summit held there in 2009.

Targets included British allies such as Turkey and South Africa, the newspaper reported. The Guardian cited documents provided by Snowden.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the British “signals intelligence” agency GCHQ used “ground-breaking intelligence capabilities” to intercept calls made by members of the G-20 conference delegations at meetings in London.

Facebook, Microsoft disclose information on user data requests

Analysts received round-the-clock summaries of calls that were being made, and GCHQ set up Internet cafes for delegates in hopes of intercepting e-mails and capturing keystrokes, the Guardian reported.

One briefing slide explained the intercepts would give intelligence agencies the ability to read delegates’ e-mails “before/as they do,” providing “sustained intelligence options against them even after (the) conference has finished.”

GCHQ is Britain’s equivalent of the secretive NSA in the United States.

The Guardian reported that the NSA had attempted to eavesdrop on then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during the conference as his phone calls passed through satellite links to Moscow and briefed its British counterparts on the effects.

The latest report was published on the eve of a smaller economic summit hosted by the British government — the Group of Eight gathering in Northern Ireland.

Shawn Turner, a spokesman for the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said Sunday he was aware of the Guardian’s latest report but declined to comment on it.

“What we should be focused on is how irresponsible and egregious these recent leaks are,” he told CNN. “It’s impossible to know exactly how much damage is being done by these disclosures, but they will have an effect on our counterterrorism efforts.”

Cheney defends NSA, calls Obama’s credibility ‘nonexistent’

Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former NSA director, said on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS” that what the agency collects are “essentially billing records” that detail the time, duration and phone numbers involved in a call.

The records are added to a database that agents can query in cases involving a terror investigation overseas, and agents can’t eavesdrop on Americans’ calls without an order from a secret court that handles intelligence matters, he said.

If a phone number related to an investigation has links to a domestic phone number, “We’ve got to go back to the court,” he said.

GOP tries to keep focus on IRS targeting scandal

However, critics such as Sen. Mark Udall, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, had raised questions about the scale of the program even before Snowden’s leak.

Udall said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that he doesn’t believe the program is making Americans any safer, “and I think it’s ultimately, perhaps, a violation of the Fourth Amendment.”

“I think we owe it to the American people to have a fulsome debate in the open about the extent of these programs,” said Udall, a Colorado Democrat. “You have a law that’s been interpreted secretly by a secret court that then issues secret orders to generate a secret program. I just don’t think this is an American approach to a world in which we have great threats.”

Obama does not feel that he has violated the privacy of any American, his chief of staff, Denis McDonough, said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

McDonough said the president will be discussing the need to “find the right balance, especially in this new situation where we find ourselves with all of us reliant on Internet, on e-mail, on texting.”

Hong Kong rallies in the rain for Edward Snowden

CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, Matt Smith and Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/17/politics/nsa-leaks/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/pawhVe9nuso/snowden-answers-reader-questions

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The Panama canal is being upgraded at a cost of $5.25 billion to ensure it is capable of handling the ever-increasing size of the world’s biggest cargo ships.

Giant locks — measuring 1,400-feet-long, 160-foot-wide and 80-foot-deep — are being installed at either end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean development that will connect railway lines on either side of Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

A 0.9-mile section of the tunnel will delve deep beneath the waters of the Bosphorus, which separate continental Asia and Europe, carrying an estimated 150,000 passengers every hour.

Beijing’s new international airport will be among the the busiest and the biggest airports in the world when it comes online in 2017, with the capacity to cater for some 130 million passengers every year.

Beijing Capital International (pictured) is currently the busiest airport in China — servicing 80 million passengers every year — but will be nearing its operating capacity by the time the new facility is open for business.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, costing a cool $11 billion and enhancing freight and passenger transport infrastructure across the country.

Developers hope the tracks will eventually join up with an international Gulf rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

An artist’s impression of the new $2.1 billion Hyderabad Metro system which aims to provide a new mode of daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017.

Developers say the 72-kilometer long track will improve journey times and reduce traffic on the city’s congested roads.

Presidents (left to right) Salva Kiir of South Sudan, (former president) Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia celebrate following the ground breaking ceremony of the Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) in March 2012.

Costs for the project are expected to come in at around $20 billion although concerns remain over the development’s impact on the likes of the Lamu Port area (pictured), which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Crossrail construction workers stand near to one of the projects mammoth 1,000-ton tunnel boring machines. The $23 billion development will connect London from east to west, improving access to Heathrow Airport as well as the city’s suburban and satellite towns.

More than 8,000 people are involved in the Crossrail development working across 40 separate construction sites.

An artists rendering of the New International Trade Crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The $950 million project aims to increase opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S.

The nearby Ambassador Bridge — whose owners have logged legal challenges to construction of the NITC — is responsible for 25% of all trade between Canada and the U.S., according to the bridge operator’s website.

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The Gateway goes behind the scenes of the world’s major transport hubs, revealing the logistics that keep goods and people moving. This month, the show is in Singapore.

(CNN) — Austerity, spending cuts and deficit reduction.

With all the talk of fiscal restraint, it’s easy to assume there’s little in the coffers for the sort of vast infrastructure projects we’ve seen over the last century.

True, the EU has reduced its transport infrastructure budget through 2020, while groups like the American Society of Engineers have stated that too little is being put aside to fund the big projects of tomorrow — but it’s not all doom and gloom.

In many emerging nations transport spending is speeding ahead at breakneck pace, while in the developed world large projects have continued despite the rumbling aftershocks of the 2008 financial crash.

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest, most important and spectacular transport infrastructure developments currently in the works around the world.

Panama Canal

Already an engineering wonder, the 99-year-old Panama Canal is being upgraded to cater for the ever increasing heft of the world’s merchant shipping fleet. Construction was approved in 2006 and is due for completion in 2014.

See also: 7 of the world’s most entertaining airports

The $5.25 billion project will add three 1,400-foot-long, 180 foot wide and 60-foot-deep locks to each end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This enhanced capability will enable the canal to cater for more of the giant container vessels that are increasingly favored by the world’s largest shipping companies.

A few hundred miles to the north meanwhile, early plans are afoot to build a new canal in Nicaragua with even greater capacity at a cost of $40 billion.

Marmaray Project

A city straddling two continents, Istanbul has long been a strategic gateway between Europe and Asia.

Now, construction of one of the world’s deepest submerged transport tunnels is pulling east and west even closer together. The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean railway development that will ferry travelers under a 1.4-km (0.9-mile) section of the Bosphorus Strait and connect busy railway lines on either side of the historic waterway.

The project began in 2004 and is due to be completed towards the end of 2013, later than originally planned due to delays caused by the archaeological sensitivity of the surrounding area.

Beijing’s new international airport

Playing host to eight runways and with the capabilities to cater for 130 million passengers every year, Beijing’s new international airport will be among the world’s largest and busiest when it is slated to come online in 2017 (although Istanbul’s recently announced third airport will trump it with a 150 million capacity when it opens in 2018).

See also: Could drones replace roads?

Air travel has expanded rapidly in China in recent years in line with the country’s booming economy. In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to increase the total number of airports in the country from 175 to 230 by 2015 to cope with demand.

Beijing alone is set to handle between 450 and 500 million passengers every year by then, meaning the city’s existing airports need assistance to cope with the expected rise in demand. Construction of the new airport, which will be situated in the city’s Daxing district, was confirmed in January 2013 and is due to begin in early 2014, according to local media.

Etihad Rail Network

In a land brimming with ostentatious development projects, the nitty-gritty of rail infrastructure pales when compared to the world’s tallest building or man-made luxury islands — but it shouldn’t.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, from the border of Saudi Arabia in the west to the frontiers of Oman in the east.

Costing $11 billion and taking in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and all of the Northern Emirates, developers hope the freight and passenger project will eventually join up with an international rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

Hyderabad Metro

Towering high above chaotic din of inner-city traffic, the Hyderabad Metro system is expected to provide daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017, according to the regional government.

The $2.1 billion project will provide 72 kilometers of elevated track with stations every one kilometer. Developers say the system will improve journey times, reduce traffic on roads and provide an eco-friendly mass transport alternative to polluting car or bus journeys.

The LAPSSET Project

In 2012 the presidents of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan came together to launch the ambitious LAPSSET (Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor) project.

The plans include an oil refinery, pipelines from South Sudan, transportation hubs for rail, road and air vehicles, plus a giant port for oil tankers. A number of tourist resort cities are also expected along the development’s path.

See also: The tiny nation with a big economic punch

Costs are set to come in at around $25 billion although concerns remain over the impact on the local environment. Lamu Port is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the surrounding area is home to protected marine reserves and forests.

The Kenyan government has set aside $23 million for the Lamu section of the project while Reuters reported that a Chinese company had won the first tender to build three berths at the port in April this year.

London Crossrail

What the Hyderabad Metro does 20 meters above ground, London’s Crossrail project will seek to do beneath the British capital’s bustling streets and out into its sprawling suburbs.

A $23 billion development, the 73-mile rail project will connect London from East to West, improving access to Heathrow Airport, central London as well as city’s surrounding towns and suburbs.

Work began in 2009 and the first trains could be in operation as early as 2018. More than 8,000 people are involved in the project working across 40 separate construction sites.

NITC Bridge

Although not the most expensive infrastructure project in the pipeline, the $950 million New International Trade Crossing bridge — which will connect Windsor, Ontario in Canada and Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. — could well be one of the most impactful as far as international trade is concerned.

The NITC’s stated aims are to increase commerce capacity, reduce traffic bottlenecks and improve opportunities for businesses in both countries by providing a state-of-the-art, publicly operated border crossing.

See also: Is Danube Romania’s ‘blue motorway?’

Roughly 25% of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States — one of the world’s largest bi-lateral trade partnerships — currently cross over the Detroit River via the nearby (privately run) Ambassador Bridge, according to the bridge operator’s website.

Barack Obama ordered a presidential decree to construct the NITC in March this year, however the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have logged legal challenges against the project.

They have also announced plans to expand the existing capacity of their own facility which originally opened in 1929.

What exciting projects did we miss on our list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/business/world-spectacular-infrastructure-projects/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/h1ju111UpQc/8-spectacular-transport-projects

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The Panama canal is being upgraded at a cost of $5.25 billion to ensure it is capable of handling the ever-increasing size of the world’s biggest cargo ships.

Giant locks — measuring 1,400-feet-long, 160-foot-wide and 80-foot-deep — are being installed at either end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean development that will connect railway lines on either side of Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait.

A 0.9-mile section of the tunnel will delve deep beneath the waters of the Bosphorus, which separate continental Asia and Europe, carrying an estimated 150,000 passengers every hour.

Beijing’s new international airport will be among the the busiest and the biggest airports in the world when it comes online in 2017, with the capacity to cater for some 130 million passengers every year.

Beijing Capital International (pictured) is currently the busiest airport in China — servicing 80 million passengers every year — but will be nearing its operating capacity by the time the new facility is open for business.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, costing a cool $11 billion and enhancing freight and passenger transport infrastructure across the country.

Developers hope the tracks will eventually join up with an international Gulf rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

An artist’s impression of the new $2.1 billion Hyderabad Metro system which aims to provide a new mode of daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017.

Developers say the 72-kilometer long track will improve journey times and reduce traffic on the city’s congested roads.

Presidents (left to right) Salva Kiir of South Sudan, (former president) Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia celebrate following the ground breaking ceremony of the Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor (LAPSSET) in March 2012.

Costs for the project are expected to come in at around $20 billion although concerns remain over the development’s impact on the likes of the Lamu Port area (pictured), which is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Crossrail construction workers stand near to one of the projects mammoth 1,000-ton tunnel boring machines. The $23 billion development will connect London from east to west, improving access to Heathrow Airport as well as the city’s suburban and satellite towns.

More than 8,000 people are involved in the Crossrail development working across 40 separate construction sites.

An artists rendering of the New International Trade Crossing between Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan. The $950 million project aims to increase opportunities for businesses and entrepreneurs in both Canada and the U.S.

The nearby Ambassador Bridge — whose owners have logged legal challenges to construction of the NITC — is responsible for 25% of all trade between Canada and the U.S., according to the bridge operator’s website.

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The Gateway goes behind the scenes of the world’s major transport hubs, revealing the logistics that keep goods and people moving. This month, the show is in Singapore.

(CNN) — Austerity, spending cuts and deficit reduction.

With all the talk of fiscal restraint, it’s easy to assume there’s little in the coffers for the sort of vast infrastructure projects we’ve seen over the last century.

True, the EU has reduced its transport infrastructure budget through 2020, while groups like the American Society of Engineers have stated that too little is being put aside to fund the big projects of tomorrow — but it’s not all doom and gloom.

In many emerging nations transport spending is speeding ahead at breakneck pace, while in the developed world large projects have continued despite the rumbling aftershocks of the 2008 financial crash.

Here, we take a look at some of the biggest, most important and spectacular transport infrastructure developments currently in the works around the world.

Panama Canal

Already an engineering wonder, the 99-year-old Panama Canal is being upgraded to cater for the ever increasing heft of the world’s merchant shipping fleet. Construction was approved in 2006 and is due for completion in 2014.

See also: 7 of the world’s most entertaining airports

The $5.25 billion project will add three 1,400-foot-long, 180 foot wide and 60-foot-deep locks to each end of the 51-mile aquatic passageway that links the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. This enhanced capability will enable the canal to cater for more of the giant container vessels that are increasingly favored by the world’s largest shipping companies.

A few hundred miles to the north meanwhile, early plans are afoot to build a new canal in Nicaragua with even greater capacity at a cost of $40 billion.

Marmaray Project

A city straddling two continents, Istanbul has long been a strategic gateway between Europe and Asia.

Now, construction of one of the world’s deepest submerged transport tunnels is pulling east and west even closer together. The Marmaray Project is a 76-kilometer (47.2-mile) subterranean railway development that will ferry travelers under a 1.4-km (0.9-mile) section of the Bosphorus Strait and connect busy railway lines on either side of the historic waterway.

The project began in 2004 and is due to be completed towards the end of 2013, later than originally planned due to delays caused by the archaeological sensitivity of the surrounding area.

Beijing’s new international airport

Playing host to eight runways and with the capabilities to cater for 130 million passengers every year, Beijing’s new international airport will be among the world’s largest and busiest when it is slated to come online in 2017 (although Istanbul’s recently announced third airport will trump it with a 150 million capacity when it opens in 2018).

See also: Could drones replace roads?

Air travel has expanded rapidly in China in recent years in line with the country’s booming economy. In 2011, the Chinese government announced plans to increase the total number of airports in the country from 175 to 230 by 2015 to cope with demand.

Beijing alone is set to handle between 450 and 500 million passengers every year by then, meaning the city’s existing airports need assistance to cope with the expected rise in demand. Construction of the new airport, which will be situated in the city’s Daxing district, was confirmed in January 2013 and is due to begin in early 2014, according to local media.

Etihad Rail Network

In a land brimming with ostentatious development projects, the nitty-gritty of rail infrastructure pales when compared to the world’s tallest building or man-made luxury islands — but it shouldn’t.

The 1,200 kilometer Etihad Rail network will extend across the desert hinterland of the United Arab Emirates, from the border of Saudi Arabia in the west to the frontiers of Oman in the east.

Costing $11 billion and taking in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and all of the Northern Emirates, developers hope the freight and passenger project will eventually join up with an international rail network covering Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar.

Hyderabad Metro

Towering high above chaotic din of inner-city traffic, the Hyderabad Metro system is expected to provide daily transport for up to 1.7 million of the southern Indian city’s residents by 2017, according to the regional government.

The $2.1 billion project will provide 72 kilometers of elevated track with stations every one kilometer. Developers say the system will improve journey times, reduce traffic on roads and provide an eco-friendly mass transport alternative to polluting car or bus journeys.

The LAPSSET Project

In 2012 the presidents of Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan came together to launch the ambitious LAPSSET (Lamu Port–South Sudan–Ethiopia Transport Corridor) project.

The plans include an oil refinery, pipelines from South Sudan, transportation hubs for rail, road and air vehicles, plus a giant port for oil tankers. A number of tourist resort cities are also expected along the development’s path.

See also: The tiny nation with a big economic punch

Costs are set to come in at around $25 billion although concerns remain over the impact on the local environment. Lamu Port is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and the surrounding area is home to protected marine reserves and forests.

The Kenyan government has set aside $23 million for the Lamu section of the project while Reuters reported that a Chinese company had won the first tender to build three berths at the port in April this year.

London Crossrail

What the Hyderabad Metro does 20 meters above ground, London’s Crossrail project will seek to do beneath the British capital’s bustling streets and out into its sprawling suburbs.

A $23 billion development, the 73-mile rail project will connect London from East to West, improving access to Heathrow Airport, central London as well as city’s surrounding towns and suburbs.

Work began in 2009 and the first trains could be in operation as early as 2018. More than 8,000 people are involved in the project working across 40 separate construction sites.

NITC Bridge

Although not the most expensive infrastructure project in the pipeline, the $950 million New International Trade Crossing bridge — which will connect Windsor, Ontario in Canada and Detroit, Michigan in the U.S. — could well be one of the most impactful as far as international trade is concerned.

The NITC’s stated aims are to increase commerce capacity, reduce traffic bottlenecks and improve opportunities for businesses in both countries by providing a state-of-the-art, publicly operated border crossing.

See also: Is Danube Romania’s ‘blue motorway?’

Roughly 25% of all merchandise trade between Canada and the United States — one of the world’s largest bi-lateral trade partnerships — currently cross over the Detroit River via the nearby (privately run) Ambassador Bridge, according to the bridge operator’s website.

Barack Obama ordered a presidential decree to construct the NITC in March this year, however the owners of the Ambassador Bridge have logged legal challenges against the project.

They have also announced plans to expand the existing capacity of their own facility which originally opened in 1929.

What exciting projects did we miss on our list? Let us know in the comments section below.

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/business/world-spectacular-infrastructure-projects/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/h1ju111UpQc/8-spectacular-transport-projects

Beijing (CNN) — A dolphin who died in the southern Chinese city of Sanya Monday has sparked nationwide anger after pictures surfaced of tourists near the shore mistreating and posing with the dying animal were spread on Weibo, China’s most popular social network site.

The dolphin died off the shore in Dadonghai, a resort in Hainan Province, due to injuries to its tail, likely from a collision with a fishing boat, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The injured dolphin was found on a beach Sunday. A witness surnamed He said the animal was still alive when tourists start to take pictures with it, according to local portal news hinews.cn.

Photos on China’s microblogs showed that tourists — instead of helping the dolphin — were lifting and mistreating it before rescuers arrived. One of the pictures showed a man flexing his muscles in front of a group of swimmers holding up the dolphin soon went viral on the social network sites.

Irritated netizens criticized harshly for the tourists’ cruelty. A writer posting by the name @Justin_joe called the tourists “a group of animals.”

Netizen outrage after Chinese tourist defaces Egyptian temple

“China is now filled with people lacking moral values, ignorance, and decreasing civility of the citizens,” added @Jiangxiangsiyi.

While many showed their anger, others say Chinese netizens have overreacted to the incident.

“I think people have focused on the wrong thing. They don’t care when people die, but to care about dolphin,” wrote @Woaijialin.

China instructs its citizen on how to behave abroad

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/china-dolphin-controversy/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/y-_QlFqH-7w/dolphin-abuse-sparks-china-outrage

Beijing (CNN) — A dolphin who died in the southern Chinese city of Sanya Monday has sparked nationwide anger after pictures surfaced of tourists near the shore mistreating and posing with the dying animal were spread on Weibo, China’s most popular social network site.

The dolphin died off the shore in Dadonghai, a resort in Hainan Province, due to injuries to its tail, likely from a collision with a fishing boat, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The injured dolphin was found on a beach Sunday. A witness surnamed He said the animal was still alive when tourists start to take pictures with it, according to local portal news hinews.cn.

Photos on China’s microblogs showed that tourists — instead of helping the dolphin — were lifting and mistreating it before rescuers arrived. One of the pictures showed a man flexing his muscles in front of a group of swimmers holding up the dolphin soon went viral on the social network sites.

Irritated netizens criticized harshly for the tourists’ cruelty. A writer posting by the name @Justin_joe called the tourists “a group of animals.”

Netizen outrage after Chinese tourist defaces Egyptian temple

“China is now filled with people lacking moral values, ignorance, and decreasing civility of the citizens,” added @Jiangxiangsiyi.

While many showed their anger, others say Chinese netizens have overreacted to the incident.

“I think people have focused on the wrong thing. They don’t care when people die, but to care about dolphin,” wrote @Woaijialin.

China instructs its citizen on how to behave abroad

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/world/asia/china-dolphin-controversy/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/y-_QlFqH-7w/dolphin-abuse-sparks-china-outrage

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Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.

Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.

Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.

Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.

Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.

The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.

Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.

Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.

Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.

Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.

Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.

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(CNN) — Yael Lee-Weiss shakes her head the moment the words “boycott” and “Beitar Jerusalem” are uttered in her direction.

With the football world’s attention on Israel as it hosts the European Under-21 Championship Finals, the country’s image and politics are both very much to the fore.

For a woman who spends each and every moment combating racism and discrimination, last February’s incident when Beitar fans burnt down the club’s administrative offices in protest at the signing of two Chechen Muslims still rankles.

Beitar, a club with fiercely right-wing fans, is infamous for its racist attitude towards Arab players, but the severity of the attack still caused surprise.

“It’s about education and showing these people that their views will not be tolerated,” she told CNN in Tel Aviv.

World Sport Presents: Racism in Football

Platini outlines UEFA’s racism reforms

Platini outlines UEFA’s racism reforms

“It’s why I do what I do. It’s why Mifalot is here.”

Action

Mifalot, an initiative backed by one of the biggest club sides in Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv, brings together children from all backgrounds — not just across Israel and the Palestinian territories, but from countries across the world.

The non-governmental organization, which has a center at Hapoel’s training ground, runs over 300 projects across the globe including Angola, Benin, India, Rwanda, Cameroon and Haiti.

Backed by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, and funded by a host of charities from around the world, Mifalot uses the power of football to educate the next generation.

It offers a civil service program for those who are not able — or allowed — to enter the Israeli Army at the age of 18, instead giving them the opportunity to earn a qualification as a sports coach and secure employment.

Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, Druze all take part, while there is a program dedicated to those members with special needs.

The scheme has won great acclaim and has given hope to those who grew up when the idea of such a scheme would have seemed like a far-fetched dream.

Time for change

“I think the younger generation wants to make a change,” Lee-Weiss said.

Tackling racism in the stands

How Abedi Pele became a football pioneer

Balotelli: Racism makes me feel alone

“From a very young age, they have an open mind and they don’t have any inhibitions. Sometimes, they are coming from a background where they need this scheme.

“We just capture the power of football and the love that children and adults have for the sport, and we are trying to educate them and give them values. They are very curious about knowing each other. We are neighbors, Arabs and Jews. The kids are curious because they hear a lot of things but they haven’t always met an Arab or a Jew and seen things with their own eyes.

“They might not have spoken to people outside of their circle but when they get to know each other, they just speak in a non-formal way without any thoughts which we see elsewhere in society.”

Another example of integration is Israel’s national Under-21 team. While it failed to progress from the group stage of the international tournament — the final of which was to be contested by Spain and Italy on Tuesday — its impact off the field should not be underestimated.

A squad including five Israeli-Arab players, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin brought attention to how, in even the most volatile regions, sport can break through barriers.

Several Arab players have represented Israel in the past, with the likes of Rifaat Turk, Walid Badir, Zahi Armeli and — perhaps most famously due to his goal in a 2006 World Cup qualifier — Abbas Suan having all worn the blue shirt.

While Arab players do not sing the Israeli national anthem, essentially an ode to the Jewish homeland, they also refrain from speaking in their native tongue during training to avoid dividing the group.

Great honor

Israel’s hosting of the U21 tournament has been mired in controversy, with protests against the country’s treatment of Palestinians.

But while the politics are debated off the pitch and around the world, the players appear happy with the progress being made.

FIFA Congress tackles racism and reform

FIFA pass racism reforms

Grooming Ghana’s next football stars

“It’s a great honor for me to represent Israel,” Munas Dabbur, an Israeli Arab striker who plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv, told CNN.

“I always felt that I was proud to be invited to the team and I want it to continue.

“I think this tournament can be really important for football in Israel. It’s the first time we’ve had games like this in the country and there’s been a huge push. I hope that this will continue in the future.”

It is a sentiment echoed by his Jewish teammates.

Omri Altman, 19, plays his football in England with Premier League club Fulham and says the pictures he sees on television bear little resemblance to the country he calls “home.”

“My friends at Fulham think, ‘ Israel, oh, it’s very scary.’ They don’t want to come here to visit because they hear in the news about the things which happen here,” Altman said.

“But it’s different. You come here, it’s very quiet in most of the areas. So when teams come to play here, I hope the whole world will see that.

“I think it’s very important that the tournament has come to Israel.

“In our team, we’re all friends and everybody is the same. We are all people, it doesn’t matter where we come from and who we are. We come to play football and that’s the most important thing.”

Next generation

These words would have been noted by the next generation of talent, young hopefuls who have been watching an international football tournament in their own backyard for the very first time.

While Altman and Dabur were busy on the pitch, hundreds of young children were given free tickets to watch the games.

Some of those were from Mifalot. They hope that the example set by their nation’s young footballers can spread a message beyond the country’s borders.

While the U21 players were busy playing in modern stadiums, hundreds of others were running around fields, concrete courts and dirt tracks pretending to be an international footballer.

“I think that this project is great,” said Nasser, a Palestinian coordinator in Sussiya, in the West Bank.

“The activities and interaction greatly helped the kids get to know others who are different and to play together as one group.

“I hear the kids talking and they really enjoyed themselves.”

Another group bringing communities together is the New Israel Fund (NIF), which works alongside the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

Founded in 2003, the NIF’s Kick Racism and Violence out of Soccer scheme has flourished, with the charity supporting civil society organizations working towards social justice, women’s rights and environmentalism.

Back in 2007, a survey it carried out concluded that 60% of Israelis believed more needed to be done to tackle racism in football, while 37% said they would attend more games if the situation improved.

Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”

The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.

All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.

The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.

Carlos Alberto, captain of the 1970 team, lifts the Jules Rimet trophy which Brazil was allowed to keep after becoming the first nation to win the World Cup three times. The former fullback thinks next year’s World Cup will come too soon for Brazil’s inexperienced team.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.

England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.

Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.

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Brazil’s most painful moment

Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.

The spark for a raft of racism reforms from the game’s power brokers came when AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off in a match with Italian lower league side Pro Patria in January after their fans abused him with monkey noises. The game was abandoned and his protest made headline news the world over.

CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”

Boateng’s AC Milan teammate Mario Balotelli has been the subject of racial abuse over a number of years. He and Boateng were abused by AS Roma fans during a match at the San Siro in May that was briefly suspended by the officials as a result. A public address announcement implored visiting supporters to stop their chants.

Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.

Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”

Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.

The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”

Blatter’s new-found vigor to tackle racism was at odds with his sentiments in a 2011 interview with CNN when he expressed his belief that there was no on-field racism in football and that players who think they have been abused should simply say “this is a game.” He later said his comments had been misinterpreted.

One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.

Former England captain John Terry was found not guilty in a criminal court of racially abusing rival footballer Anton Ferdinand but was banned for four-matches by the Football Association. He accepted the charge, a £220,000 fine and apologized, saying: “I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life.”

The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.

Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.

European football’s governing body, UEFA also passed new laws on racism. They introduced a minimum 10-match ban for racist abuse by players or officials and escalating measures for clubs including fines and stadium closures for repeat offenders.

Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.

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Racism in football

Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.

Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.

Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”

The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.

DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.

Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.

Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village.

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Remembering the Holocaust: Germany in Israel

Through the work of the NIF, the IFA began to punish clubs with fines for racist abuse.

Breakthrough

Suan was a founding member of the Kick Racism and Violence out of Football organization, and he says sport can be the vehicle which unites people in one of the world’s most troubled regions.

As one of the few Arab players to wear the Israeli soccer shirt at the time, Suan says he suffered abuse every time he touched the ball until a groundbreaking moment.

In the final minute of a qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup, Suan unleashed an astonishing effort which clinched a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland, and etched his name into Israeli folklore.

That goal on March 27, 2005, represented a fundamental change for Suan. He says it was a day Israeli society finally began to realize the significance of Arab players.

“I am a Palestinian because I have a lot of brothers and cousins in the Arab countries,” he said. “And I am Israeli because I live here and don’t go out of my lands.

“I never felt discriminated against in anything that had to do with football. I didn’t let anyone do it to me. Everywhere I went, I felt not merely at home, but like the boss.

“I have a lot of Jewish friends and they are like brothers to me. But I do feel discriminated against when it comes to infrastructure and development in the Arab sector.

“But when my children have a sports lesson in a courtyard without a pitch, that’s discrimination. It makes my blood boil. It’s unacceptable that in a city like Sakhnin, there is not one tennis or basketball court worthy of the name.”

Suan’s case has been featured in two documentaries — “After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United” and “Divided Nation” — both of which focus on Arab citizens in Israel.

Now head of youth at Bnei Sakhnin, one of Israel’s top Arab football clubs, he lectures against racism and violence in the game, drawing on the experiences of his difficult road to the top.

“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he added.

“I pursued my career to represent the community and to bring the two peoples closer together. I paid a great personal price, but I’m satisfied.”

The scheme has also embraced the Bedouin community, where the likes of Israel international Mohammad Ghadir and under-21 player Ahad Azzam learned their trade.

But in a society where female participation is frowned upon, there is one woman who refuses to be denied.

Female Maradona

Meet Miriam Abu-Ghanem — the one they call the “female Maradona” in her town of Tel Sheva in southern Israel.

“I came out of my mother’s stomach with a ball at my feet,” she said.

“Our girls don’t play sport because they think it’s shameful. We suffer from this. I come from a supportive home, without violence or repression, but many other women suffer at home.

“There are still families where the women don’t go out to learn at all, or who suffer in marriage.”

After establishing the first women’s football league in her town and becoming the first Bedouin player in the Be’er Sheva women’s league, injury prevented her from going further.

Instead, two bachelors degrees in physical education and special education, as well as a masters in educational management, have allowed her to become the first PE teacher in the Bedouin community.

“A woman doesn’t need to request equality from anyone and doesn’t need to receive the rights of a man, but the universal rights of human beings as human beings,” she added.

“I always believed in my own capabilities … I worked very hard. I refused to stand to the side and be the forlorn girl. Now here I am.”

It is stories such as these from Suan and Abu-Ghanem which gives hope that sport can unite people — even in the most troubled of times.

Back in Tel Aviv, sitting in her office surrounded by application forms from prospective members, Yael Lee-Weiss, the international development officer, sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It gives me hope,” she said. “They are the future and I know we won’t make the biggest changes to our world and bring about peace in one day, but we do give those children a way out and something good to look for.

“The changes will take a few years but those children are growing up.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/sport/football/football-israel-palestine-peace/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/G3aIGDkjokw/israeli-palestinian-peace-by-soccer

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Palestinian children play football in front of the Israeli security fence in the West Bank village of Abu Dis, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Organizations such as Mifalot help bring Palestinian and Israeli kids together through the power of football.

Mifalot is a non-government organization in Israel which brings together children from all sections of society and provides education and training through football.

Mifalot operates over 300 programs across the world working with Israelis and Palestinians as well as leading projects in Cameroon, Rwanda, Angola, Benin, Germany, India and Haiti.

Mifalot works with local schools and youth clubs to provide facilities and finance for local children to get degrees in sports coaching and helps them find work after finishing their education.

Children with mental and physical difficulties are given the care and support they need to succeed in sport. Several have gone on to become qualified coaches and lead sessions for the next set of kids coming through.

The charity prides itself on integrating children, youth and young adults with special needs into wider society.

Last January, Mifalot held its first joint Palestinian-Israeli tournament under the banner of “Neighbors United” — a venture backed by the European Union Partnership for Peace Program. Five teams took part, with two of those made up of Israeli and Palestinian girls only.

Last year, a team of nine Palestinians and nine Israelis traveled to Los Angeles where they met players of Spanish club Real Madrid and L.A. Galaxy. The children played in front of 27,000 fans during the halftime interval as part of the Children United Initiative.

Kids work their way through the years until they’re 18, when most Jewish youths go into the Israeli Army. The scheme offers a voluntary civil service for Israeli-Arabs, ultra-orthodox Jews and those who are unsuitable for the army, which is a two-year course helping them attain employment.

Abbas Suan, one of the finest Israeli Arab players to have played for the country, believes his dramatic late goal in the 2006 World Cup qualifier against Ireland helped change perceptions within Israeli society.

Israel’s Jewish player Eran Zahavi (L) and Muslim player Beram Kayal (R) pray before the start of a Euro 2012 qualifier in 2011. The Under-21 squad which competed in this year’s European Championship Finals included five Israel-Arabs, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin.

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(CNN) — Yael Lee-Weiss shakes her head the moment the words “boycott” and “Beitar Jerusalem” are uttered in her direction.

With the football world’s attention on Israel as it hosts the European Under-21 Championship Finals, the country’s image and politics are both very much to the fore.

For a woman who spends each and every moment combating racism and discrimination, last February’s incident when Beitar fans burnt down the club’s administrative offices in protest at the signing of two Chechen Muslims still rankles.

Beitar, a club with fiercely right-wing fans, is infamous for its racist attitude towards Arab players, but the severity of the attack still caused surprise.

“It’s about education and showing these people that their views will not be tolerated,” she told CNN in Tel Aviv.

World Sport Presents: Racism in Football

Platini outlines UEFA’s racism reforms

Platini outlines UEFA’s racism reforms

“It’s why I do what I do. It’s why Mifalot is here.”

Action

Mifalot, an initiative backed by one of the biggest club sides in Israel, Hapoel Tel Aviv, brings together children from all backgrounds — not just across Israel and the Palestinian territories, but from countries across the world.

The non-governmental organization, which has a center at Hapoel’s training ground, runs over 300 projects across the globe including Angola, Benin, India, Rwanda, Cameroon and Haiti.

Backed by Avraham Burg, former speaker of the Israeli parliament, and funded by a host of charities from around the world, Mifalot uses the power of football to educate the next generation.

It offers a civil service program for those who are not able — or allowed — to enter the Israeli Army at the age of 18, instead giving them the opportunity to earn a qualification as a sports coach and secure employment.

Arabs, Jews, Bedouins, Druze all take part, while there is a program dedicated to those members with special needs.

The scheme has won great acclaim and has given hope to those who grew up when the idea of such a scheme would have seemed like a far-fetched dream.

Time for change

“I think the younger generation wants to make a change,” Lee-Weiss said.

Tackling racism in the stands

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Balotelli: Racism makes me feel alone

“From a very young age, they have an open mind and they don’t have any inhibitions. Sometimes, they are coming from a background where they need this scheme.

“We just capture the power of football and the love that children and adults have for the sport, and we are trying to educate them and give them values. They are very curious about knowing each other. We are neighbors, Arabs and Jews. The kids are curious because they hear a lot of things but they haven’t always met an Arab or a Jew and seen things with their own eyes.

“They might not have spoken to people outside of their circle but when they get to know each other, they just speak in a non-formal way without any thoughts which we see elsewhere in society.”

Another example of integration is Israel’s national Under-21 team. While it failed to progress from the group stage of the international tournament — the final of which was to be contested by Spain and Italy on Tuesday — its impact off the field should not be underestimated.

A squad including five Israeli-Arab players, two Ethiopians and a Bedouin brought attention to how, in even the most volatile regions, sport can break through barriers.

Several Arab players have represented Israel in the past, with the likes of Rifaat Turk, Walid Badir, Zahi Armeli and — perhaps most famously due to his goal in a 2006 World Cup qualifier — Abbas Suan having all worn the blue shirt.

While Arab players do not sing the Israeli national anthem, essentially an ode to the Jewish homeland, they also refrain from speaking in their native tongue during training to avoid dividing the group.

Great honor

Israel’s hosting of the U21 tournament has been mired in controversy, with protests against the country’s treatment of Palestinians.

But while the politics are debated off the pitch and around the world, the players appear happy with the progress being made.

FIFA Congress tackles racism and reform

FIFA pass racism reforms

Grooming Ghana’s next football stars

“It’s a great honor for me to represent Israel,” Munas Dabbur, an Israeli Arab striker who plays for Maccabi Tel Aviv, told CNN.

“I always felt that I was proud to be invited to the team and I want it to continue.

“I think this tournament can be really important for football in Israel. It’s the first time we’ve had games like this in the country and there’s been a huge push. I hope that this will continue in the future.”

It is a sentiment echoed by his Jewish teammates.

Omri Altman, 19, plays his football in England with Premier League club Fulham and says the pictures he sees on television bear little resemblance to the country he calls “home.”

“My friends at Fulham think, ‘ Israel, oh, it’s very scary.’ They don’t want to come here to visit because they hear in the news about the things which happen here,” Altman said.

“But it’s different. You come here, it’s very quiet in most of the areas. So when teams come to play here, I hope the whole world will see that.

“I think it’s very important that the tournament has come to Israel.

“In our team, we’re all friends and everybody is the same. We are all people, it doesn’t matter where we come from and who we are. We come to play football and that’s the most important thing.”

Next generation

These words would have been noted by the next generation of talent, young hopefuls who have been watching an international football tournament in their own backyard for the very first time.

While Altman and Dabur were busy on the pitch, hundreds of young children were given free tickets to watch the games.

Some of those were from Mifalot. They hope that the example set by their nation’s young footballers can spread a message beyond the country’s borders.

While the U21 players were busy playing in modern stadiums, hundreds of others were running around fields, concrete courts and dirt tracks pretending to be an international footballer.

“I think that this project is great,” said Nasser, a Palestinian coordinator in Sussiya, in the West Bank.

“The activities and interaction greatly helped the kids get to know others who are different and to play together as one group.

“I hear the kids talking and they really enjoyed themselves.”

Another group bringing communities together is the New Israel Fund (NIF), which works alongside the Israeli Football Association (IFA).

Founded in 2003, the NIF’s Kick Racism and Violence out of Soccer scheme has flourished, with the charity supporting civil society organizations working towards social justice, women’s rights and environmentalism.

Back in 2007, a survey it carried out concluded that 60% of Israelis believed more needed to be done to tackle racism in football, while 37% said they would attend more games if the situation improved.

Moacyr Barbosa Nascimento’s life was forever changed after the 1950 World Cup. With Brazil needing just a draw against Uruguay in its final game to lift the trophy for the first time, the team lost 2-1 and he was blamed for the second goal. The goalkeeper’s perceived mistake haunted him. Twenty years later he overheard a woman in a supermarket say to her son, “There is the man who made Brazil cry.”

The Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro was the venue for the 1950 final, with 200,000 spectators packed into the purpose-built arena. The stadium has been redeveloped and a crowd of 78,000 people will watch the final of 2014 World Cup at the iconic ground.

All eyes will be on Neymar during both June’s Confederations Cup and next year’s World Cup. The attacker, who recently signed for Barcelona in a deal reportedly worth in excess of $80 million, is Brazil’s star player and must perform to his best if “La Selecao” are to satisfy an expectant public.

The Brazil team of 1970, which beat Italy 4-1 in the World Cup final in Mexico, is widely regarded as the greatest of all time. Pele, a three-time World Cup winner seen here leaping on his teammates, says Brazil must recover from the failure of 63 years ago.

Carlos Alberto, captain of the 1970 team, lifts the Jules Rimet trophy which Brazil was allowed to keep after becoming the first nation to win the World Cup three times. The former fullback thinks next year’s World Cup will come too soon for Brazil’s inexperienced team.

Luiz Felipe Scolari was the coach of the last Brazil team to lift the World Cup, in Japan and South Korea in 2002. The veteran has been reappointed in a bid to inject life into an ailing Brazil team. His results have so far left much to be desired: two wins, one defeat and four draws since November 2012.

England was Brazil’s first opponent at a refurbished Maracana earlier this month. A half-volley from midfielder Paulinho, pictured, rescued a 2-2 draw for the 2014 World Cup host.

Brazil’s most recent match, the last before the Confederations Cup starts, ended in a comfortable 3-0 defeat of France. A penalty from Lucas Moura, right, completed the scoring.

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Brazil’s most painful moment

Racism has long been a stain on football but a resurgence of incidents in recent years has prompted soccer’s authorities to launch a renewed bid to rid the game of discrimination for good. Here a Fenerbahce fan holds a banana towards Galatasaray’s Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba during a Turkish league match in May 2013.

The spark for a raft of racism reforms from the game’s power brokers came when AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off in a match with Italian lower league side Pro Patria in January after their fans abused him with monkey noises. The game was abandoned and his protest made headline news the world over.

CNN’s Pedro Pinto stands on the spot where Boateng decided he’d had enough. He told the World Sport Presents Racism in Football documentary: “I decided to walk off the pitch because I said to myself, in this kind of environment, in this situation, I don’t want to play football anymore.”

Boateng’s AC Milan teammate Mario Balotelli has been the subject of racial abuse over a number of years. He and Boateng were abused by AS Roma fans during a match at the San Siro in May that was briefly suspended by the officials as a result. A public address announcement implored visiting supporters to stop their chants.

Balotelli has had to deal with racism throughout his career. As far back as 2009, when he played for Inter, he was racially abused by opposing Juventus fans. Here, Inter’s fans hold up banners in support of the striker.

Balotelli told Pedro Pinto he was prepared to walk off if he receives more racial abuse: “After what happened to me in (the Roma) game, I felt a little bit alone when I was home. I always said that if that happened in the stadium, like if nobody said anything, I don’t care. But this time I think I changed my mind a little bit, and if it is going to happen one more time, I’m going to leave the pitch because it’s so stupid.”

Boateng’s walk-off prompted the game’s governing body to act and FIFA president Sepp Blatter invited the midfielder to sit on a task force dedicated to tackling racism in football. A raft of reforms have now been passed that could see teams relegated or expelled from competitions.

The head of FIFA’s racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, told CNN the new measures could be “a defining moment in the fight against racism and discrimination.” He labeled the recent abuse of Balotelli and Galatasaray striker Didier Drogba as “ignorant” and “unbelievable.”

Blatter’s new-found vigor to tackle racism was at odds with his sentiments in a 2011 interview with CNN when he expressed his belief that there was no on-field racism in football and that players who think they have been abused should simply say “this is a game.” He later said his comments had been misinterpreted.

One of the most high-profile incidents in England saw Liverpool striker Luis Suarez banned for eight-matches for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October 2011. Prior to the teams’ return fixture the following February, Suarez refused to shake Evra’s hand. Suarez subsequently apologized.

Former England captain John Terry was found not guilty in a criminal court of racially abusing rival footballer Anton Ferdinand but was banned for four-matches by the Football Association. He accepted the charge, a £220,000 fine and apologized, saying: “I accept that the language I used, regardless of the context, is not acceptable on the football field or indeed in any walk of life.”

The Serbian Football Association was hit with an $84,000 fine after a brawl between their under-21 team and England’s in the city of Krusevac in October 2012. England player Danny Rose (far right) said he had been subjected to monkey chants throughout the game. The Serbian FA insisted their fine was for the altercation.

Serbian fans are renowned for creating an intimidating atmosphere, as CNN discovered at the Belgrade derby in May. Despite previous incidents, there was no hint of racism in the match, though the Serbian Football Association’s technical director Savo Milosevic did reveal they have no program in place to tackle racism.

European football’s governing body, UEFA also passed new laws on racism. They introduced a minimum 10-match ban for racist abuse by players or officials and escalating measures for clubs including fines and stadium closures for repeat offenders.

Various initiatives across Europe’s leagues help to try and combat racism and offer opportunities to those communities that are under represented at the top of the game. The Asian Stars event, recently held at Chelsea’s training ground, aims to encourage participation among aspiring Asian players at all levels of football.

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Racism in football

Germany captain Lewis Holtby wears a specially made training shirt with the Israeli flag and the words “Feeling at home” embroidered on the front to thank the host fans for making the team welcome at the European Under-21 Championship.

Holtby and teammate Toni Jantschke lay a wreath during the visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum before March’s friendly game against Israel.

Germany striker Pierre-Michel Lasogga told CNN that his visit to the museum in Jerusalem was “extremely moving.”

The players take a moment to pause and reflect while surrounded by photos of those who were murdered in the Holocaust.

Head coach Rainer Adrion was particularly moved by his visit, taking his time to walk around the exhibits.

DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach (center), vice-president Rolf Hocke (right) and the German ambassador in Israel, Andreas Michaelis, lay a wreath during last week’s visit of the German delegation at Yad Vashem.

Lasogga signs autographs for local children at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village in Netanya.

Striker Peniel Mlapa hands out small German mascots to some of the children at the Youth Village.

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Remembering the Holocaust: Germany in Israel

Through the work of the NIF, the IFA began to punish clubs with fines for racist abuse.

Breakthrough

Suan was a founding member of the Kick Racism and Violence out of Football organization, and he says sport can be the vehicle which unites people in one of the world’s most troubled regions.

As one of the few Arab players to wear the Israeli soccer shirt at the time, Suan says he suffered abuse every time he touched the ball until a groundbreaking moment.

In the final minute of a qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup, Suan unleashed an astonishing effort which clinched a 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland, and etched his name into Israeli folklore.

That goal on March 27, 2005, represented a fundamental change for Suan. He says it was a day Israeli society finally began to realize the significance of Arab players.

“I am a Palestinian because I have a lot of brothers and cousins in the Arab countries,” he said. “And I am Israeli because I live here and don’t go out of my lands.

“I never felt discriminated against in anything that had to do with football. I didn’t let anyone do it to me. Everywhere I went, I felt not merely at home, but like the boss.

“I have a lot of Jewish friends and they are like brothers to me. But I do feel discriminated against when it comes to infrastructure and development in the Arab sector.

“But when my children have a sports lesson in a courtyard without a pitch, that’s discrimination. It makes my blood boil. It’s unacceptable that in a city like Sakhnin, there is not one tennis or basketball court worthy of the name.”

Suan’s case has been featured in two documentaries — “After the Cup: Sons of Sakhnin United” and “Divided Nation” — both of which focus on Arab citizens in Israel.

Now head of youth at Bnei Sakhnin, one of Israel’s top Arab football clubs, he lectures against racism and violence in the game, drawing on the experiences of his difficult road to the top.

“If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he added.

“I pursued my career to represent the community and to bring the two peoples closer together. I paid a great personal price, but I’m satisfied.”

The scheme has also embraced the Bedouin community, where the likes of Israel international Mohammad Ghadir and under-21 player Ahad Azzam learned their trade.

But in a society where female participation is frowned upon, there is one woman who refuses to be denied.

Female Maradona

Meet Miriam Abu-Ghanem — the one they call the “female Maradona” in her town of Tel Sheva in southern Israel.

“I came out of my mother’s stomach with a ball at my feet,” she said.

“Our girls don’t play sport because they think it’s shameful. We suffer from this. I come from a supportive home, without violence or repression, but many other women suffer at home.

“There are still families where the women don’t go out to learn at all, or who suffer in marriage.”

After establishing the first women’s football league in her town and becoming the first Bedouin player in the Be’er Sheva women’s league, injury prevented her from going further.

Instead, two bachelors degrees in physical education and special education, as well as a masters in educational management, have allowed her to become the first PE teacher in the Bedouin community.

“A woman doesn’t need to request equality from anyone and doesn’t need to receive the rights of a man, but the universal rights of human beings as human beings,” she added.

“I always believed in my own capabilities … I worked very hard. I refused to stand to the side and be the forlorn girl. Now here I am.”

It is stories such as these from Suan and Abu-Ghanem which gives hope that sport can unite people — even in the most troubled of times.

Back in Tel Aviv, sitting in her office surrounded by application forms from prospective members, Yael Lee-Weiss, the international development officer, sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel.

“It gives me hope,” she said. “They are the future and I know we won’t make the biggest changes to our world and bring about peace in one day, but we do give those children a way out and something good to look for.

“The changes will take a few years but those children are growing up.”

Article source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/18/sport/football/football-israel-palestine-peace/index.html?eref=edition

Article source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NewsRipplesWeb/~3/G3aIGDkjokw/israeli-palestinian-peace-by-soccer