De Jong, Vlaar train for Netherlands

SAO PAULO: Nigel de Jong and Ron Vlaar gave Netherlands a sizeable boost Tuesday by returning to training on the eve of their World Cup semi-final against Argentina in Sao Paulo.

De Jong, the 29-year-old AC Milan midfielder, has not played since tearing a groin muscle during his side's 2-1 victory over Mexico in the last 16 on June 29...........Read more

Hamas: All Israelis are targets

GAZA CITY: Hamas said Tuesday that "all Israelis" would be targeted after a deadly strike on a house in the southern city of Khan Younis killed seven people, among them two teenagers.

"The Khan Yunis massacre... of children is a horrendous war crime, and all Israelis have now become legitimate targets for the resistance," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement, without elaborating.

Medics said another 25 people were wounded in the strike.

Witnesses said a drone launched a warning flare, prompting relatives and neighbors to gather at the house as a human shield, but shortly afterwards an F-16 fired a missile which leveled the building.

Two teenage boys were among those killed, emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Jordan army launches recruitment drive

AMMAN: Jordan's army launched a recruitment drive Tuesday to address "a general shortage," following last month's advances by jihadist militants in neighboring Iraq.

"The Jordan Armed Forces announces the need to recruit a number of males due to a general shortage. All those born after January 1, 1987 can apply," it said in an advertisement in newspapers and on the army's website.

A Jordanian government official said it was a "routine" procedure.......Read more

Desire

We , human being,

Know our life span,

some interesting places

some interesting places 

In the 1950s, Matera, a town carved from the earth in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, was declared la vergogna nazionale: the shame ofItaly. At the time, some 16,000 residents lived in Matera’s sassi, districts distinguished by their ancient, rock-cut dwellings, some of which were accessible only by a trapdoor and ladder. Whole families shared the cramped, unlit spaces with sheep, pigs and goats; starvation was rampant. Declared unsafe and unsanitary, the sassi were evacuated in 1952...................more detail