Obama takes a break at Camp David

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will be taking a break for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

He'll travel to Camp David in western Maryland Friday afternoon, following some morning meetings.

Daughter Malia has a holiday birthday. She'll turn 13 on Monday.

How to Bench with Proper Form

Let me start by saying that I believe in lowering the weight to my chest. I prefer to touch-and-go with most exercises, and I’ve never experienced any negative repercussions using that protocol. Using touch-and-go is the only way to be sure you are lowering the weight to the same spot each time.

When you use proper form, there is no reason for you to feel discomfort in your shoulders.
If benching is causing you shoulder issues it is likely due to at least one of the following possible reasons:
* You have weak rotator cuff muscles. To fix this, read about how to avoid rotator cuff injury.
* You are benching too wide. Extreme wide grip bench pressing is not advised if you want to save your shoulders.
To find the right grip for proper bench pressing form, follow these tips for for proper arm placement:
1. Lay down on a bench (or stand up if you want).
2. Put your arms in the bench press position with elbows bent at a 90 degree angle between forearms and biceps, and another 90 degree angle at the arm pits, between the upper arms and the back. This is how NOT to bench press.
3. Now decrease the arm pit angle to only 45 degrees. This will increase the tension on the triceps and decrease the tension on the shoulders. Over time your shoulders will experience less strain and your triceps will get much stronger.
4. Grasp the bar with your hands directly over your elbows, with thumbs 2-3 inches outside of the shoulders.
5. Elbows should stay under the hands through the descent and should flare out when pressing the bar through lockout.
Although you will keep your elbows in at a 45 degree angle, this is not a close grip bench by any means.
* The path from the top of the press to your chest is too long. You want the shortest path possible from the bottom to the top of the rep in order to save energy.
As you lay on the bench to begin your set, be sure to use these tips for proper bench posture:
1. Puff your chest out by elevating your rib cage like you are about to strut your stuff in front of the super-sexy girl next door.
2. Retract your shoulder blades by pulling your shoulders and elbows back.
3. Push your traps and upper back into the bench while keep those shoulder blades back and in.
4. Only your head, upper back, and buttocks should actually be touching the bench, but you should NOT have an exaggerated curve in your lower spine (the lumbar curve).
5. Finally, attempt to flare or flex the lats. This will give you a wider surface area on the bench and will help when pushing the weight out of the hole. That is why elite powerlifters will tell you that you need a big back to have a big bench.
* You set up too far away from the bar. When you unrack the bar, it should be nearly in pressing position. Lay down so that your shoulders are only an inch or two forward of the unracked bar. Pull the bar forward off the rack rather than lifting it up and over.
* You are not using your feet properly. For maximum strength and stability, you want your feet to stay planted on the floor directly underneath your legs at all times. Your feet should not jump around during the set, and in fact you should drive through your heels to generate additional force when pressing.
This does NOT mean that your butt should leave the bench at any time during your lift, or that you should exaggerate that lumbar curve we were talking about earlier.
* You are not using your triceps properly. Once the bar passes the half-way point in a rep, you want to try to break the bar in half, which activates the triceps to assist in locking the bar out at the top.

Natural Tinnitus Remedies You Can Use For Fast Relief of Tinnitus Symptoms

The diet of a Ringing in the ear patient should consist of zinc and vitamins A, B, and E and stress causing things such as cigarettes, alcohol, and coffee should be avoided. These things are stimulants and contribute to the complexity of the problem. Following a balanced dietary and exercise program make things easy for the patient and the disease does not aggravate further. Since these are natural treatments for tinnitus, they take some time to show an improvement. So, a good deal of patience is required from the suffering person.

There are other treatments for ringing in the ear as well. These include acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbs, homeopathy, sound therapy, and relaxation therapy. All these therapies, except for homeopathy, can be followed along with allopathic medications. Acupuncture is one of the oldest treatments for tinnitus and is prevalent in China since four thousand years. However, it is fast gaining popularity in the western countries also. In this therapy, the balance between ying and yang is restored which helps in healing the disease.

Aromatherapy, another effective treatment for tinnitus, uses four kind oils extracted from rose, lemon, cypress, rosemary to stimulate blood circulation, which in turn, helps in faster healing of Ringing in the ear. For more effective results, best available oils should be used. Herbal treatment is one of the most common treatments for ringing in the ear. Under this therapy, three kinds of herbal leaf extracts are utilized for treating Ringing in the ear. These are Hawthorn, Black Cohosh, and Ginkgo. Apart from these three herbs, another non-herbal supplement Melatonin is given to the patients to induce sleep, which is very necessary for such patients.

Some homoeopathic remedies including kali carbonicum, graphites, cimicifuga, cinchona officinalis, carbo vegetabilis, and calcarea carbonica are known to provide relief from Ringing in the ear. Since there is a direct co-relation between Ringing in the ear and stress, relaxation therapies such biofeedback, cranial sacral work, rub, yoga, and meditation are found to be useful as they help in reducing tension and stress.

If you suffer from a Tinnitus, then you know that finding an effective Tinnitus treatment would be tantamount to finding a pot of gold. The condition can bring you to the point where seemingly all you want out of life itself is a few shining moments of blissful, peaceful silence.

The one problem? It seems most Tinnitus treatments are pretty hit and miss. Of course, every person's body is different, so all treatments are going to have a certain element of "your mileage may vary" built into them. However, each of the top ten treatments do have their group of supporters who say that it was this method that was able to finally give them that blessed silence.

Let's take a look at what the top ten treatments for Tinnitus are:

1) White Noise - In some peoples' experience, white noise can block out the ringing effects of tinnitus, effectively canceling it out, so to speak. The problem with this approach is that, even if it works as promised, it's a logistical impossibility to feed white noise into your consciousness 24 hours a day.

2) Homeopathic Remedies - There are a variety of organic, or homeopathic, powders and mixtures which can be purchased at vegetarian markets and independent health stores. The reported success rates are mixed at best, but if you do go down this road, make sure that what you purchase and ingest is safe.

Israeli security chiefs differ on Gaza flotilla's potential danger

JERUSALEM, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel's security establishment is at odds over the scope of threat posed by an aid flotilla that had planned to set sail to the Gaza Strip in coming days, and over predictions that violence will ensue if Israel tries to block it.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has played down military assessments in recent days that pro-Palestinian activists are gearing up for violent clashes with Israeli navy troops to be dispatched to intercept the 10-vessel flotilla.
In an interview with local Channel 2 television news Wednesday night, Barak said there is "high probability" that the upcoming flotilla will be "calmer" than the previous one last May, when nine members were killed in a confrontation with the Israeli naval commandos.
In contradiction to Barak's attempt to lower the flames, however, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon said he is convinced that the flotilla activists are planning to assault the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops with "lethal force."
"We received information in the last few days that the elements will be violent," Ya'alon told Israel Radio Wednesday night, adding that he has no doubt regarding the credibility of the intelligence.
The minister dismissed the flotilla organizers' claim that their intentions are peaceful, saying that they had "presented themselves as pensioners and innocents in the previous flotilla, but our forces encountered fundamentalist Muslim extremists."
Hundreds of activists from a host of nations are on standby in European ports for the flotilla to embark on its voyage. However, a series of technical and bureaucratic obstacles have delayed the departure, which was originally scheduled for Tuesday.
One vessel anchored in Greece and another in a Turkish port are being repaired after their propellers were damaged earlier this week. A Canadian vessel underwent several inspections for seaworthiness, and an American ship has not yet been cleared to sail. The flotilla's organizers said Israel was responsible for the delays.
On Monday night, Israeli army spokesmen briefed foreign media outlets on the intelligence information received by the military, which showed that activists participating in the flotilla have stockpiled sacks of flammable chemicals, including sulfur, to counter Israeli troops in case a raid is ordered.
The briefing came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opined that the flotilla poses a minimal risk, strengthening Barak's contention.
"I assume that there is substantial information that one of the ships is carrying chemical pesticides," the defense minister said Wednesday, "but there is a certain distance between that and concrete preparations to harm Israel Defense Forces troops with these materials."
"No one knows or can foresee that there will not be a small group on one of the ships that will try to violently resist the troops," according to Barak, who added that the navy is prepared to counter a host of scenarios, from passive resistance to live gunfire.
The defense minister reiterated the government's decision to stop the flotilla with force if it disregards the navy's instructions to have its cargo inspected. The activists said they are only carrying letters of support for Gazans.
Earlier this week, Israel said the flotilla has the option of docking either at the Egyptian port of El-Arish or at the country' s southern port Ashdod, where the letters, and any humanitarian relief, would be inspected and then transferred overland to Gaza.

Japanese gov't, DPJ agrees on doubling consumption tax by mid-2010s

TOKYO, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) agreed Thursday on social security and tax reform plans that would lead to consumption tax hikes in mid-2010s, local media reported.
The agreement came after the government made some concessions to the DPJ related to wording concerning the timing of tax increases. The compromise plan said Japan will double the sales tax rate in stages to 10 percent by the mid-2010s, Kyodo News said.
Kan told a government meeting that this is "a historic decision " and based on the plans he wanted opposition parties to take part in national debate on Japan's future social security and tax systems.
The news agency quoted economy and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano as saying that the sensitive consumption tax hike to 10 percent from the current 5 percent will be realized between 2014 and 2016.
Concessions made by Yosano paved the way for the last-minute agreement. Yosano earlier refused to accept changing the wording on when to raise the consumption tax, saying any shift in the " essential part" of the plans could hurt the credibility of the reform package itself.
The doubling of the consumption tax will help secure funds to cover swelling welfare costs amid the country's aging population.
Some DPJ members had also been opposed to specifying when to raise the sales tax, apparently taking into account a negative impact on voters.
The situation has also been complicated by Kan's recent announcement of his readiness to resign under certain conditions. Some DPJ lawmakers said that the party should discuss the tax hike plan from scratch under a new leader.

Iraqi president says MKO camp to be closed by end of 2011

TEHRAN, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani reiterated Saturday that his country will close an Iranian exiled anti-government group Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO)'s camp in Iraq by the end of 2011.
"A committee has been formed to shut down Ashraf Camp in order to help establish security," Talabani said in a speech during an international conference against terrorism in Tehran, pointing out that the committee was formed by Iraq, Iran and the International Red Cross.
"The government of Iraq will do all it can to prevent terrorism. We should attempt to close down MKO terrorists' Ashraf Camp and we would remove all of its members. Those who are willing, will go back to Iran, others will go wherever they want to," said Talabani.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari also said during a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi earlier that the camp would be shut down and its members would leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
Iraqi government announced on April 12 that the camp will be closed and the Iranian dissidents must leave by the end of the year, after two clashes erupted between Iraqi soldiers and some Iranian exiles of the camp on April 8, killing at least one person and wounding 25 others.
The MKO, also known as the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), is a self-claimed Marxist and Islamic movement. It was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and subsequently fought to oust the Islamic regime which took power in the 1979 revolution. The group fled to Iraq in 1986, and set up Ashraf Camp near the Iranian border. The camp contains more than 3, 000 Iranians and their families.
After the MKO fighters were disarmed following the U.S.-led invasion in Iraq, the camp remained under the protection of the U. S. military police for five years before the Iraqi government took over the security responsibility in the camp.
The organization has long been a problem for the Shiite- dominated Iraqi government because of its close ties with Iran.
The Iranian government says the MKO is "an organized grouplet which has never denied using weapons and arms." It has been blacklisted by the U.S. and some other countries as a terrorist group.

Yemen detains prison director over al-Qaida escape

ADEN, Yemen, June 25 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's security authorities detained Saturday the central prison director along with his deputy and a number of guards for investigations and questioning over the escape of 63 al-Qaida prisoners earlier this week in the southeastern province of Hadramout, the country's Defense Ministry said.
Earlier this week, 63 al-Qaida prisoners escaped from a central jail in al-Muakala city, the provincial capital of the southeastern province of Hadramout, through the 35-meter-long tunnel they dug in 25 days, official Saba news agency said.
They attacked the prison guards, killing one soldier and injuring two others before they escape, Saba added.
Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) intensified their activities in southern provinces of Yemen as its government was in the grip of five-month-long protests demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Petraeus confirmed as new CIA chief

WASHINGTON, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed General David Petraeus as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The Senate voted 94-0 to approve the nomination of Petraeus, who has been in charge of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan since June 2010. His predecessor Leon Panetta has been confirmed unanimously by the Senate as secretary of defense to succeed Robert Gates, who officially retired Thursday.
Petraeus has gained great esteem for successfully leading multinational forces in Iraq. He was one of the architects for a plan President Barack Obama announced late 2009 which called for a significant troop surge in the country before phased drawdown.
However, the general did not seem to fully agree with Obama on the newly unveiled plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, though he said he endorsed the president's decision.
"The ultimate decision was a more aggressive formulation, if you will, in terms of the timeline than what we had recommended," Petraeus said at his Senate confirmation hearing last week.

20 civilians killed in southwest Afghanistan

KABUL, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Altogether 20 civilians were killed on Thursday afternoon in a mine explosion in southwestern Afghan province, Nimroz, Afghan police officer told Xinhua.
The explosion broke out when a bus ran over a landmine on Thursday afternoon in Khash Rod District, in the north of Nimroz Province with Zaranj as its provincial capital, some 790 km southwest of Afghan capital Kabul.
"The ill-fated passenger bus hit a mine in Khash Rod District in the afternoon, leaving 20 dead and the driver injured," Mohammed Musa Rasuli, deputy police chief of Nimroz Provice told Xinhua reporter on Friday night.
"It is Taliban who planted the landmine," the deputy police chief said. Afghan Taliban are frequently engaged in IED ( Improvised Explosive Device) attack, always in the forms of suicide bombing and roadside bombing.
However, Taliban are not availble to make any comment over the incident so far.
The incident follows another roadside bombing in Marja district in southern Afghan province Helmand on Thursday morning in which six civilians were killed. Helmond provincial government later in a statement blamed the enemies of Afghanistan, a term used referring for Taliban insurgents for planting the bomb on the road and responsible for the attack in the province, some 555 km south of capital of Kabul.
The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since the militant group announced to launch spring offensive from May 1 against Afghan and NATO-led troops stationed in Afghanistan.
A total of 368 civilians were killed in conflicts and Taliban- led insurgency in May this year, the deadliest month for Afghan civilians since 2007, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a statement earlier in June.

Libya's opposition leader appeals for urgent foreign aid

VIENNA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Libya's opposition leader said here on Thursday that the anti-Gaddafi camp need urgent and large amount of foreign aid, in order to overcome financial difficulties.
Mahmoud Jebril, Chairman of the Executive Board of Libya's opposition National Transition Concil(NTC), made the plea at a press conference after holding talks with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger.
The NTC is in a very difficult financial situation, said Jebril, calling for the international community to provide help by allowing the NTC to use overseas deposit funds belonging to the Libyan government.
"The NTC need money for food, medicine and education, as well as for restoration and construction of infrastructures. But we have no money," he said.
Jebril further explained that Libya's oil production facilities have been severely damaged in the conflict. As a result, the NTC could not get funds from crude oils sales.
He also defended the rebel's acquisition of weapons from other countries as an act of forced self-defense.
At the press conference, Spindelegger said Austria will explore the possibility of unfreezing Libya's overseas assets in his country.
He also announced that his government will soon deliver 20 tons of material aid to Libya, including food, medicine and water purification chemicals.
Meanwhile, some Austrian enterprises have shown interest in rebuilding Libya, he added.
Since the fighting against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi broke out in mid-February, the rebels have been lobbying the international community for support.
The NTC has so far been recognized as Libya's official representative by 17 countries, including France, Italy, Britain, Germany and Austria.

Keen competition ahead of Sarkozy for 2012 election

PARIS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy is facing keen competition in next year's presidential election as rivals from different parties announce for candidacy to meet the entry deadline in the year end.
The Socialists, the biggest opposite party, have set a two-round primary in coming October to pick a candidate to challenge Sarkozy. Among them are current party Secretary General Martin Aubry, legislator Francois Hollande and his former partner Segolene Royal.
Aubry, 60, has been the mayor of northern city Lille since 2001, succeeded Hollande as the party's secretary general in November 2008. She was also the former labour minister who best known for creating France's 35-hour working week. In her speech announcing the candidacy on Tuesday, she stressed the importance of making France a more equal place and showed firmness in leading the country.
Hollande, 56, currently runs the southern provincial government of Correze, where former President Jacques Chirac resides. The latter has shown his willingness to vote for Hollande, who had run the Socialist Party for 11 years. Hollande is more a centrist in his own party, able to unite voters for the centre-wing, but has never worked as a ministry of the country.
Hollande's ex-partner, 57-year-old Royal is still ambitious to win the presidency despite of her failure to beat Sarkozy in May 2007.
Had there been not the sex scandal of ex-IMF-director general and French socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn (DSK) in May this year, he would have easily defeated Sarkozy, according to many opinion polls and political analysts. He is facing allegedly attempted rape charges in the United States.
As DSK belongs to the "right-wing of the leftists," now Sarkozy may slightly benefit from this small group.
Critics also said none of the other Socialist candidates has the same domestic and international influence as DSK, and it is not clear if anyone of them can draw in centrist voters as appealing as him. For the moment critics see not much difference among these potential Socialist candidates.
IFOP poll in mid June showed among the Socialist Party, Hollande gathered support of 44 percent, Aubry gained 36 percent, while Royal shared only 10 percent.
The Socialists still have their risk, several candidates from the environmental Green Party to the far left could share the votes too. This might cause the Socialist candidate falling into the third at the first round, as what happened in 2002.
As for President Sarkozy, to win a second five-year term is not certain yet. Opinion polls keep on showing him in a weak position, Hollande and Aubry would probably beat him in the second round of next year's election, while Royal could come close.
According to the internet poll conducted by Harris Interactive in early June, Hollande would take 60 percent of the second round votes, while Sarkozy got only 40 percent. Even if it were Aubry to run the second round, she could still obtain 58 percent.
What is more, polls show far-right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen would score 21 to 22 percent in the first round, with Sarkozy gaining 23 to 24 percent. This means Le Pen has a good chance to beat him in the first round and enter the final one, as her father Jean-Marie Le Pen had achieved in 2002.
Centrist politician and ex-environmental minister Jean-Louis Borloo left the cabinet last year during the government reshuffle. He and his fellow politicians participating in the presidential candidacy would mean sharing the votes from the president.
Sarkozy's popularity has dropped from 62 percent when newly elected as the state's head, to the present 28 percent. His people are not satisfied with his work on tackling the economic crisis, high unemployment rate and degrading law and order.
However, his leadership in the war against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and the success of G8 summit in Deauville caused 2-point increase in his popularity.
The next French presidential election will start its first round on April 22 and runoff on May 6 next year.

Putin hints Russia faces "dirty" elections in 2012

MOSCOW, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday that after the 2012 presidential elections he would immediately take a bath.
"I shall go and have a wash, in the hygienic sense of the word, but also in the political sense," he told a regional conference of the ruling United Russia party in Yekaterinburg after being asked what he would do immediately after the election.
"After all, the campaigns which we will have to go through, we will need to busy ourselves with hygiene," Putin was quoted by local media as saying.
RIA Novosti news agency said the remark was Putin's cryptic hint on his possible participation in the elections.
Under the Russian constitution, Putin, who served two consecutive presidential terms in 2000-2008, will become eligible to run for a new term in March 2012.
Both Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev have indicated that one of them, but not both, will run in the election.

First female IMF chief receives praise from former hometown of Chicago

CHICAGO, June 28 (Xinhua) -- French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde made history Tuesday by becoming the first female managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and her appointment received wide praise in Chicago, where she once served as chairman of one of the world's largest law firms.
At the same time, international finance experts agree Lagarde's leadership and financial skills will be immediately tested with the current crisis in Greece that is threatening to undermine Europe and the entire global economy.
"Christine was an effective leader who used her intellect, discipline and diplomacy to take our firm to new heights," the law firm Baker & McKenzie said in a statement to Xinhua. "As the first female chair of a global law firm, she inspired so many of us with her grace, humanity and consensus-building approach, leaving a lasting impact on our firm and on the legal profession."
Those skills would prove helpful as Lagarde navigates the turbulent current economic and political landscape, said Prof. Martin Eichenbaum, co-director of the Center for International Economics and Development at Chicago's Northwestern University.
"Christine Lagarde is a very distinguished figure with a lot of experience," Eichenbaum told Xinhua. "I think what she brings to the table is perhaps common sense and political expertise."
Eichenbaum, who also serves as a consultant at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, said Lagarde's most immediate task is to address the Greek fiscal problem, which is now degenerating into violence, while keeping a close eye on the continuing global imbalances.
"The number one priority, the number one crisis that we're all facing right now is Europe," he said. "We all have to have the European situation resolved."
"I hope she does well, and I actually think she has the financial skills to do well," Eichenbaum said.
Lagarde, 55, will officially take over the IMF post on July 5. But as the current finance minister of France and member of the influential G-20 ministers that coordinated the multi-billion dollars in bailouts around the world, she is familiar with the crises in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
With her victory, France maintains its 65-year stronghold of the IMF post. But it also followed controversy over the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on allegations that he sexually assaulted a hotel maid in New York.
"The IMF desperately needs a stable leadership," Eichenbaum said. "She really does face the extraordinary challenge of making the IMF less Euro-American-centric and more inclusive."
While her main background is in international law, holding the French finance portfolio gives her a "good deal of on-the-job economic training" to deal with bigger job responsibilities at the IMF, University of Michigan's Ross School of Business Prof. Marina Whitman told Xinhua.
"Under present circumstances, I think she is a good choice," Whitman said, pointing out that Lagarde has no time for a honeymoon as she needs "to put out fires," especially in Europe.

As the first female head of the IMF, Lagarde's victory is auspicious, especially after the sex scandal involving Strauss-Kahn, said Whitman, herself a former chief economist of General Motors Corporation.
"I don't for a minute want to suggest that [gender] somehow gave her an edge," Whitman said. "I think if she had been a man with the same qualifications, she still would have been a very strong candidate."
During her visit to Chicago on March 25 to receive the Global Woman Leader of the Year Award, Lagarde herself touched on the "imbalance" of leadership between men and women in many corporations around the world.
"Imbalance is what we deal with very much, and this balance between genders, this balance between men and women in society wherever we are, either at the top, in the middle or at the bottom is something that we need to improve," Lagarde told her audience in Chicago, where she worked from 1981 until she became France's trade minister in 2005.
She also touted her role in coordinating the global bailout package, the re-initiation of the financial systems and the prevention of protectionism and raising of tariffs by countries spooked by the economic crisis that started in 2007.
Meanwhile, Whitman also pointed out that with strong competition for the post by Bank of Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens, the "groundwork has been laid" in opening the IMF selection process to candidates coming from the world's emerging economies.
Whitman argued that the next time the leadership post of the IMF or the World Bank opens, it should be given to a representative from the emerging economies, not to yet another European or U.S. candidate.
Related:

IMF taps French Lagarde as new Managing Director

WASHINGTON, June 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced Tuesday that it has selected French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to serve as its next Managing Director.
The Executive Board of the IMF said it has picked Lagarde to serve as IMF Managing Director and Madame Chairman of the Executive Board for a five-year term starting on July 5, 2011, according to a statement of the Washington-based IMF, which lends to financially troubled member countries. Full Story

Lagarde faces a series of challenges

BEIJING, June 29 (Xinhuanet) --Indeed, newly-elected IMF chief, Christine Lagarde faces a series of challenges, such as confronting the European debt crisis and the reform of the IMF in her term.

Among the challenges, she will have to prod fellow Europeans to take painful steps to prevent a default by Greece. She'll also face pressure from developing nations that want a greater voice at the IMF. Full Story