Syria’s past – as well as its present - is being threatened, says Robert Fisk in The Independent. We also discover pictures of a long-awaited Mars landing. And what better way to celebrate Jamaican independence than to see Usain Bolt win a gold medal at the Olympics – even if Jamaicans had to worry about a tropical storm interrupting TV coverage.
The death toll in Syria is reported to be nearing 20,000. The papers report on the ongoing carnage. But the Independent’s Robert Fisk also asks how the more than 1,000 years of heritage will be affected – crusader castles, the citadel of al Mudiq, and the Roman mosaics of Apamea. The past must be protected, he says, so future generations may learn to avoid such bloodshed in the future.
It has landed! Mars Science Laboratory, known as Curiosity, took eight months to travel 567 million kms to Mars. The Atlantic says the dune buggy with tools,’ including two cameras – one that fires lasers into rocks to find out what they’re made of.
Today is the 50th anniversary of Jamaican independence. Global Post reports on the tropical storm that made it tricky for Jamaicans to watch Usain Bolt win the Olympic gold in the 100-metre race.
And Time magazine interviews Jamaica’s Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who explains why she thinks it’s time to become a republic, and see off the Queen.