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AT&T Mobility Chief Executive Ralph de la Vega holds the new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone at a news conference in New York August 3, 2010. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Research in Motion unveiled its new smartphone, the Torch 9800 SMA, designed to compete more effectively against Apple’s iPhone and handsets based on Google’s Android software. The BlackBerry Torch will go on sale on August 12 for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement.

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WikiLeaks created a firestorm in Washington and Afghanistan last week when it leaked secret documents related to the war in Afghanistan.

The whistle-blowing website published tens of thousands of war records, a move the Pentagon said could cost lives and damage the trust of allies by exposing U.S. intelligence gathering methods and names of Afghan contacts. WikiLeaks is at least morally guilty over the release of the classified documents, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said his group held back 15,000 papers to protect innocent people from harm and was reviewing them at the rate of about 1,000 a day.

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The following is a guest column by Chris Ahearn, President, Media at Thomson Reuters.

Last summer, I published a blog post that laid out my feelings about the link economy and its positive contribution to the evolution of the business of journalism. One year later, Reuters.com continues to encourage linking to the rich content we offer and even pulling interesting excerpts for discussion in a different forum.   In exchange for that occasional use of our content, we ask others to respect the hard work our journalists put into their craft and in some cases risk their lives in doing so by offering prominent links and attribution.

We encourage bloggers and individuals to use a teaser and perhaps add their own perspective to enhance the online experience.  The RSS feeds on Reuters.com are designed to make this easy to do.

Recently, we engaged in a controlled experiment with Attributor to identify websites that republish complete or near complete versions of Reuters articles and have a commercial model, without a license or agreement. In many cases those websites utilize third party ad networks to monetize their audiences.  Some question why we object to websites posting full copies of our stories without a licensing agreement. The answer is simple – we believe it is neither fair nor legal nor ethical.

Our efforts to identify such environments are focused on opening up a conversation with these publishers to create a mutually beneficial relationship.  In the last few days, we received many emails about this experiment, varied in tone from humorous to helpful to downright nasty.  It seems, however, that some of the facts are being overlooked.

First, we absolutely respect and encourage people to discuss and debate breaking news, particularly when referencing our reporting.  We believe it makes societies stronger and are delighted when it happens.  Second, we expect websites and users to kindly respect how we wish our content is linked to and excerpted as opposed to copying and pasting (again, that is why we make our RSS feeds available and always welcome linking to the Reuters.com network).  Third, if websites are commercial in nature (i.e. take advertising) and want to post our full articles we should have a fair commercial relationship.

We have established commercial license agreements with some of the biggest brands in the world to utilize the work of our journalists, but we also have tailor made agreements for smaller publishers, bloggers and individuals to create a model that works well for all parties.

The way I see it, I prefer to resolve issues with our business development arm rather than through lawyers.  That way we can find new ways that respect each other’s hard work and make journalism prosper in the digital age.  Perhaps it is old fashioned, but to me that is doing unto others.

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Mike Dicks, chief economist and blogger at Barclays Wealth, has identified what he sees as the three biggest problems facing the global economy, and conveniently found that they are linked with three separate regions.

First, there is the risk that U.S., t consumers won’t increase spending. Dicks notes that the increase in U.S. consumption has been “extremely moderate” and far less than after previous recessions. His firm has lowered is U.S. GDP forecast for 2011 to 2.7 percent from a bit over 3 percent.

Next comes the euro zone. While the wealth manager is not looking for any immediate collapse in EMU, Dicks reckons that without the ability to devalue, Greece and other struggling countries won’t see any great improvement in competitiveness. Germany, in the meantime, has sped up plans to cut its own deficit.  It leaves the Barclays Wealth’s euro zone GDP forecast at just 1 percent for next year.

Finally, Asian growth is under threat from tightening policies. Dicks says this is the least problem of the three, but there are indications that powerhouse China needs a period of slower growth to get things under control.

So,  there are three problems — and a not very bright outlook. Are there any others? Or are these three all being overstated?

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Central banks in debt-strapped countries have a golden opportunity ahead of them, if you will excuse the pun, to help their countries’ finances by selling their yellow metal holdings.

At least, that is the message that Royal Bank of Scotland’s commodities chief Nick Moore has been giving in recent presentations — and he thinks it might happen.   The gist is that gold is now at a record price but banks have not come close to  meeting their sales allowance for the year.

Under the Central Bank Gold Agreement there is a quota of 400 tonnes that can be sold by central banks within a 12 month period and with only about three months to go in the latest period less than 39 tonnes has been sold.  At today’s price that remaining 361 tonnes is worth some $14 billion.

Moore believes that euro zone central banks in particular may increase their sales because of the record price and the deteriorating fiscal positions.  Furthermore, he reckons the price of gold will come down over the next 12 months as its  safe-haven appeal eases and inflation expectations fade.

Among the so-called PIGS — Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain — Italy is the major gold holder with qround 2450 tonnes. But Portugal has some 380 tonnes,  Spain 280 and  Greece 112.

Might current prices not tempt them to selling a  few billion euros worth over the next few months  to help balance the budget a bit?

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More than 70 days into the BP disaster and oil is still gushing from the broken well, leaving some to believe a nuclear explosion is the only solution left.

A nuclear fix to stop the leaking well has been touted online and in the occasional newspaper op-ed for weeks now. Washington has repeatedly dismissed the idea and BP execs say they are not considering an explosion — nuclear or otherwise.

But as a series of efforts to plug the 60,000 barrels of oil a day gushing from the sea floor have failed, talk of an extreme solution refuses to die.

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A boat passes through heavily oiled marsh near Pass a Loutre, Louisiana May 20, 2010. REUTERS/Lee Celano

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As one of the country’s worst environmental catastrophes unfolds on his watch, President Barack Obama is under increasing pressure from lawmakers and residents of the fouled Gulf coast to take over the oil disaster response.

The word at the White House is that Obama is frustrated at the delays BP has encountered in stopping the leak. “Plug the damn hole,” he has told senior government officials.

The most immediate concern is stopping the leak. The problem for the White House is that it has no real alternative except to rely on BP’s technology and expertise to do it.

That means Obama is forced into an uneasy alliance with BP — outraged that the leak took place but hopeful that the energy giant can stop it.

Has the Obama administrations’ response to the Gulf oil spill been enough? Take our poll and share your thoughts below.

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PHOTO: U.S. President Barack Obama talks after touring the Coast Guard Venice Center in the Gulf of Mexico region to view environmental damage caused by the sinking of BP’s oil and gas Deepwater Horizontal drilling rig while in Venice, Louisiana, May 2, 2010. REUTERS/Larry Downing

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The mascots for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, Wenlock and Mandeville, have been revealed and if you’re like me, you’re wondering what exactly are they?

What we know for sure: they’re metallic, have one eye each and no visible feet.

They also have an official website, and are on twitter — although with hands shaped like mittens, it could be difficult to tweet.

Organiser’s for the London Games say the mascots will be hit a with kids — and why not? Doesn’t every child crave a toy moulded from steel left over from the last girder on the Olympic stadium?

The question is, what do you think of Wenlock and Mandeville? How do they represent London, the UK or the Olympics in general?

The 2012 Olympic mascot Wenlock (L) and Paralympic mascot Mandeville pose for photographers in the playground at St. Paul’s primary school in London May 19, 2010. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

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Senior officials from the United States and China are due to meet in Beijing for Strategic and Economic Dialogue, an annual meeting to discuss broad economic, foreign policy and security concerns. The meeting comes on the heels of a tension filled year of relations between the two global powers.

Many U.S. lawmakers who believe that Beijing deliberately undervalues its currency for an unfair trade advantage are now looking for progress on that issue at the talks.

Economists say China’s currency is pegged to the dollar at a rate that is between 15 and 40 percent lower than the level markets would set if the yuan were freely traded. This has helped its economy weather the global recession at the expense, critics argue, of jobs everywhere else in the world.

Slamming the Chinese over its currency policy is politically appealing in an election year in which U.S. unemployment is near 10 percent and China’s trade surplus is expanding again.

Has the differences between the two powers affected Americans’ attitudes toward China? We invite you to take our polls and share your thoughts.

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PHOTO: National flags of U.S. and China wave in front of an international hotel in Beijing February 4, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Lee

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President Barack Obama nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan as successor to the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

If confirmed, Kagan would become the first justice in nearly 40 years who has never served as a judge . The former Harvard Law School dean has served only one year as solicitor general, a post in which she argues cases on behalf of the government before the Supreme Court.

The last two justices who had not been judges, William Rehnquist and Lewis Powell, joined the Supreme Court in 1972.

While no nomination is guaranteed to be approved by the Senate, Kagan is seen as having a good chance for confirmation.

But Republicans made clear they will not give her rubber-stamp approval. They called attention to her limited judicial experience and said she lacks real-world experience.

At her Senate confirmation hearing, Kagan could face vigorous questioning on hot-button issues such as her opposition to on-campus military recruiting at Harvard because of U.S. policy barring gays from serving openly in the armed forces.

Violent video games, protests at funerals for U.S. military members, a Swiss watch copyright dispute and vaccine-maker liability are among the cases that Solicitor General Elena Kagan would confront if approved for the U.S. Supreme Court.

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PHOTO: Solicitor General Elena Kagan delivers her remarks during her introduction as the Supreme Court nominee to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens in the East Room of the White House in Washington May 10, 2010. REUTERS/Larry Downing

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Arizona’s tough new law cracking down on illegal immigrants has unleashed a fiery debate over crime, racial profiling and policing that has reverberated far beyond the state’s borders.

The Arizona law requires state and local police to determine if people are in the country illegally, previously a function carried out by U.S. federal immigration police and some local forces. There are some 10.8 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States, an estimated 460,000 of them in Arizona. The state’s immigration law takes effect in late July.

Critics of the law argue it is unconstitutional and a mandate for racial profiling, and fear it will destroy trust between Hispanic communities and law enforcement in the border state.

Supporters say the law is needed to curb crime in Arizona, which is a busy entry point for Mexican cartels smuggling drugs to the U.S.

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“Drill baby, drill” was an enduring rally cry from Republicans in the 2008 presidential election. This past March, President Obama unveiled plans for a limited expansion of offshore oil drilling, in part to try to win GOP support for climate change legislation.

Then an undersea oil well ruptured in the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil spill that is threatening the coast of Louisiana has provided ammunition to critics of Obama’s proposal, and the White House sought to make clear there would be no new drilling authorized until the cause of the spill had been reviewed.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that he no longer will support a plan to expand drilling off California’s coast. Schwarzenegger said televised images of the oil slick moving toward the Gulf Coast prompted his change of heart.

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