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July 31, 2012 | | NO BACKBONE After this week’s Newsweek cover story questioned whether he could fit in among the manliest presidents, Romney’s defenders say his combative remarks in Israel prove he’s no wimp. What they really show is the same cowardly deference to the right that has inspired countless flip-flops, Michael Tomasky writes. BLACKOUT More than half of India is still without power two days after the country’s northern, then eastern electrical grid collapsed. The blackout, one of the world’s biggest, has left 600 million people in the dark and heat. India’s eastern grid went down one day after the northern grid, sparking discussion over whether India’s infrastructure is outdated and what the government needs to do to be able to feed the country’s need for energy, especially in the summer. New Delhi’s metro system, which serves about 1.8 million people daily, and traffic have stalled, leaving commuters and drivers stranded. The latest failure, of the eastern grid, affected more people than live in the entire European Union. OLYMPIC WOES Favorite Jordyn Wieber was ruled out of the all-around final because of an inane rule, but at least she’s in good company. Tricia Romano on the legends who never won the gold—and some forgettable winners. OIL AND GAS BP investors will not be heartened by the unexpectedly severe loss Europe’s second-largest oil company experienced over the three-month period that ended June 30, as the company had already been lacking performance-wise lately. BP reported a loss of $1.4 billion, which it chalked up to a delayed Alaska project, the United States’ taking advantage of its shale gas assets, and $4.8 billion in write-downs on some of their refineries. “This is a very, very disappointing set of results; they missed across all fronts by a wide margin,” said one London oil analyst. BP’s CEO, Bob Dudley, is struggling to perform under the weight of problems he inherited from predecessor Tony Hayward after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. STANDING THEIR GROUND Syrian rebels attempt to hold their ground as the government’s military forces step up efforts to get them out of Aleppo. Opposition fighters have vowed to turn Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial center, into the “regime's grave.” The government declared its forces have recaptured southwest Aleppo’s Salaheddine district, though rebels deny this, and heavy machine-gun fighting was heard coming from helicopters over the eastern part of Aleppo for the first time in a few days. “Some days we get around 30, 40 people, not including bodies,” said a young medic in one of the make-shift clinics that have been set up in the eastern neighborhoods held by rebels. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group, more than 100 people—the majority civilians—were killed on Monday in the beleaguered country. | | 
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