Russia continues to back rebels, US officials say - USA TODAY
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The UK has announced that they will investigate the 2006 death of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Max Foster reports.
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Russia continues to back rebels, US officials say
USA TODAY WASHINGTON — Russia has shown no sign of backing off its shipments of arms to separatists in Ukraine despite allegations that the rebels shot down a civilian airline with weapons provided by Russia, according to three senior intelligence officials. US intel officials: Russia created 'conditions' that led to plane downingFox News Ukrainians, Awaiting International Action After Crash, Fear ComplacencyNew York Times Train carrying MH17 bodies on final journey reaches Ukraine cityReuters Los Angeles Times - Washington Post- Sydney Morning Herald all 5,398 news articles » |
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CNN's Barbara Starr reports on the evidence the U.S. says it has that implicates Russia in the MH17 plane crash.
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Op-Ed Contributor: Putin’s Crime, Europe’s Cowardiceby By BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY
Will the West do nothing to hold Russia to account for 298 innocent souls?
- US says no evidence of Russias direct involvement
- Eyewitnesses tell the Guardian of likely Buk system in Torez
- EU foreign ministers line up new sanctions on Russians
- International teams receive trains carrying bodies in Kharkiv
- Heavy fighting roils on near Donetsk and Luhansk
Updated July 22, 2014 11:45 p.m. ET
Western leaders have steadily turned up the heat on Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines3786.KU -2.17% Malaysian Airline System Bhd Malaysia RM0.23 -0.01 -2.17% July 23, 2014 4:59 pmVolume (Delayed 15m) : 180.16M P/E Ratio N/A Market Cap RM3.34 Billion Dividend Yield N/A Rev. per Employee N/A 0.240.230.220.2110a11a12p1p2p3p4p 07/23/14 Morning MoneyBeat: Old Tech He... 07/23/14 Malaysia Setting Path to Prose... 07/23/14 OSCE: Malaysians Get 'Unfetter... More quote details and news » 3786.KU in 
Your Value Your Change Short position Flight 17, but two of the most powerful voices in the international chorus—the leaders of Germany and the U.S.—have been careful to keep open lines of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Your Value Your Change Short position Flight 17, but two of the most powerful voices in the international chorus—the leaders of Germany and the U.S.—have been careful to keep open lines of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has largely kept a poker face in public as the crisis has unfolded.
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about Ukraine at the White House on Monday. Reuters
Behind the scenes, she has worked the phones to help coordinate an international effort to put more pressure on the Kremlin. (Follow the latest updates on the Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine.)
But she also has kept communication open to Mr. Putin. She spoke with him Saturday and Sunday, insisting both times, said her spokesman, that he use his leverage on the separatists to get them to negotiate a cease-fire with Kiev. (By Sunday, Ms. Merkel was "urgently" demanding Mr. Putin take such a step, according to descriptions of the calls provided by her office.)
Similarly, President Barack Obama has, in his public remarks, sounded an increasingly tough tone, pinning more blame on Russia for its support of the Russian separatists believed to have shot down the Malaysian plane and for the separatists' handling of the crash scene, which has sparked public outrage.
At the same time, though, he has avoided harshly condemning Mr. Putin personally. In a White House statement on Monday, for instance, he said of the separatists: "Russia has urged them on. Russia has trained them. We know that Russia has armed them with military equipment and weapons, including antiaircraft weapons."
But his words were more measured when talking about Mr. Putin personally: "President Putin says that he supports a full and fair investigation. And I appreciate those words, but they have to be supported by actions."
Mr. Obama's United Nations ambassador, Samantha Power, on the same day was more pointed in criticizing Mr. Putin for failing to do more to change the behavior of the Russian-backed separatists at the crash scene.
The careful calibration by Ms. Merkel and Mr. Obama serves several purposes.
It appears to be part of a good-cop, bad-cop division among Western leaders, in which British Prime Minister David Cameron and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott have been tougher in their rhetoric.
Mr. Abbott has been an outspoken critic of Russia's support for the rebels and took the lead in a United Nations effort Monday to pass a resolution demanding that the separatists allow international access to the crash site.
Ahead of the vote Australian envoys worked through the night negotiating on the wording with Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, agreeing to amend text saying the plane was "shot down" to merely "downed." Russia also wanted to excise a role for Ukraine in the investigation.
Ultimately, Russia agreed, under mounting pressure from other nations, to vote for the U.N. resolution after winning a minor wording change to make it clear that the Ukrainian government that Russia opposes wouldn't be leading the investigation.
At the same time, Ms. Merkel and Mr. Obama appear to be trying to avoid personalizing the conflict in a way that would make it difficult for Mr. Putin to find a face-saving way to back away from his support for the separatists.
U.S. officials hold out some hope that Mr. Putin may be so embarrassed by the airliner disaster, and so fearful of more pain from economic sanctions, that he will decide to change course in Ukraine.
If Mr. Putin is indeed looking for an "exit ramp" from his current strategy, they say, they want to leave a lane open for discussions about finding that ramp.
Similarly, Ms. Merkel has worked to keep open lines to the Kremlin.
A person close to her said one concern was the risk of alienating Mr. Putin, who has been willing to talk to Ms. Merkel throughout the crisis.
So far, though, there is little sign that Mr. Putin or the Kremlin are ready to cut off the separatists in Ukraine.
Doing so would cost Moscow leverage it seeks over Ukraine's government moving forward. Indeed, it has been trying to force Ukrainian leaders in Kiev to recognize the separatist leaders as legitimate representatives of eastern Ukraine.
—Gregory L. White and Rob Taylor contributed to this article.
Write to Anton Troianovski at anton.troianovski@wsj.com and William Mauldin atwilliam.mauldin@wsj.com
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Western leaders have steadily turned up the heat on Russia over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but the leaders of Germany and the U.S. have been careful to keep open lines of communication with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has been warned by U.S. officials to expect a enormous wave of deportations from the United States, he told TIME in an interview at the presidential palace in the Honduran capital on July 17. “They have said they want to send them on a massive scale,” he said.
Before another planned visit to the United States beginning Thursday, Hernández said his country is preparing to receive the returnees but the United States needs to support him in building security in this Central American nation. He took power in January to confront what may be the biggest migration crisis in his country’s history, with tens of thousands of unaccompanied Central American children captured on the border in the United States.
Honduras has suffered with the world’s worst murder rate in any country outside a war zone, as street gangs known as maras have become increasingly linked to drug traffickers moving cocaine from the Andes region to the Unites States. Hernández said his government has worked hard to reduce this murder rate in his first months in office, but said violence is still a major problem driving the youth migration.
To combat the criminals, Hernández calls for a security plan with U.S. support, akin to Plan Colombia in which U.S. aid helped the South American nation battle drug traffickers and cocaine-funded guerrillas. The United States has a responsibility to help Honduras, Hernández says, because U.S. drug consumption is driving the violence.
The following exchange has been edited for brevity.
The wave of migration has generated a strong debate in the United States. How do explain this rapid rise in child migrants?
I believe there is a combination of factors. One is the lack of opportunities in Central America and we have to build opportunities here more quickly. Two is the issue of violence, because if you look, you will see that in the case of Honduras, the highest level of migration is in the places with the most conflict, particularly in the neighborhoods where the street gangs have become the armed wing of drug traffickers and kill each other for territorial control. . . . But the other factor, that we shouldn’t forget, is the lack of clarity of U.S. immigration policy. When the immigration debate goes on, disgracefully, the coyotes [the human smugglers] come and say, “Now is when you can bring your child from Central America.” . . . So my call to the United States is that it defines these rules with clarity.
The violence in Honduras is complex. What drives it more, drug cartels or street gangs?
What is happening in Honduras is that drug traffickers partnered with the street gangs so that the gangs did the violent work of extortion and kidnapping. What happened? When the huge packages of drugs arrived at the coast or landed in a plane, the drug traffickers said to Hondurans, “Move these drugs to Guatemala or Mexico, but I am going to pay you with drugs and you finance the operation.” So the street gangs carried out extortion and sold the drugs, contaminating society.
For this reason, I call for the principle of shared responsibility between those who produce [drugs] and those who consume them in the North. In the United States, many officials see the drug problem as basically one of health, as how much it costs to treat an addict and stop them getting involved. But for us it is life and death. That is the difference. . . .
I want to remind the North American people what happened before Mayor Giuliani in New York, how drugs, among other factors, combined to make a very difficult security situation. This happened in Los Angeles when the street gangs also moved drugs; it happened in Miami. But the fight against it was successful. [Americans] have suffered violence in their territory from drug trafficking. Well, now it is happening to us, but in much higher rates. Never in Central America, particularly in the northern triangle and in Honduras has there been so much loss of life as in this decade. Never. Never in history. And look, disgracefully, this is a not an issue that originates in Honduras.
If in the United States, there is a move to change the law to deport a minor without a court hearing would you oppose it?
I would like to ask congressmen and senators and those who make political decisions in the United States that they think first in the interest of the child, because the child as well being a human being, is more vulnerable than the adult. But also they [children] go with the very human, very natural desire to be with their parents. . . .
On the other side, if there is a child without a family member in the United States, and the law says they have to return, we are working with this. Like never before in Honduras, we are investing resources to warmly receive our countrymen, with psychologists, doctors, giving them different options that we have for job opportunities, or farming financing. We are also guiding them spiritually, because they are families that are destroyed inside. They sold everything before leaving, and they arrive frustrated. We have to reintegrate them. We are making this effort.
What has the U.S. government said to you about the issue of migration? Have they told you they are going to deport many more people?
Yes, they have said they want to send them on a massive scale. We told them that number one, we have to respect the principle of giving priority to the child. Two, in the case that a family has children that don’t have relatives in the United States, that they don’t deport them along with adults that have committed crimes there. We don’t want them to be mixed. They [U.S. officials] have understood that part, and we, knowing there are large quantities, more than usual, have had to prepare ourselves to receive our countrymen.
Are you optimistic this is the start of something better, or will it be a long, dark difficult time ahead?
It is a difficult situation. It is a humanitarian crisis that the world needs to see. How long will it last? Will it get more complicated? This depends on support from countries such as the United States and Mexico. In Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras we are working hard.
If they help us, because this is a problem they generate, I repeat, because of the connection between the drugs they consume in enormous quantities in the United States that are produced in the south and pass through Central America, generating violence, generating this migratory flow—if they help us I am sure we will be on the route to resolves this in a short time.
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Australian reporter Peter Greste and colleagues accused of taking 'advantage of the noble profession of journalism
An Egyptian court that jailed three al-Jazeera journalists for alleged ties with Islamists said on Tuesday that "the devil guided" the group to spread false news defaming the country.
Australian journalist Peter Greste, Egyptian-Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed were convicted in June of aiding the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood and spreading false news that portrayed Egypt as being in a state of "civil war".
Continue reading...What will MH17 investigators look for? by CNNInternational
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CNN aviation analyst David Soucie details what investigators will be looking for when examining MH17 debris.
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 Politico |
In Seattle, Barack Obama talks of unease about world
Politico BELLEVUE, Wash. — People don't tend to vote on foreign policy. But reflecting on the crises in Ukraine, Gaza, Syria and Iraq that followed him as he headed to the West Coast for a fundraising swing, President Barack Obama acknowledged that they're ... and more » |
Britain to Formally Investigate Former Russian Spy's Deathby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Britain said it would launch a formal inquiry into the death seven years ago of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, but they said it has nothing to do with suspected Russian involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in Ukraine last week. Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said there is "no link whatsoever" between flight MH17 and Tuesday's announcement. Litvinenko was a former Russian spy who died after drinking radioactive polonium-210 in his...
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Dozens of Turkish police officers were detained on Tuesday and accused of spying on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his top aides.
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100 days: Three bets being made on the midterms
USA TODAY WASHINGTON — In 100 days or so, Democrats and Republicans will know whether the bets they're placing for the November midterm elections pay off — or don't. Republicans are hammering President Obama, the officeholder not on any ballot who GOP ... Democrats Limit Border Funds, Oppose Deportation DemandBusinessweek Plan for Young Migrants at Impasse in CongressNew York Times Senate Democrats cut $1 billion from Obama border fund planPittsburgh Post-Gazette Press Herald-ABC News all 207 news articles » |
StubHub Hit by Cyber Fraud Ring; Arrests to Come Wednesdayby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
eBay Inc.'s StubHub online ticket resale service said it was the victim of a massive international cyber fraud ring, the details of which authorities plan to disclose on Wednesday as they announce arrests in the case. Cyber thieves got into more than 1,000 StubHub customers' accounts and fraudulently bought tickets for events through the online ticket reseller, a law enforcement official and the company said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. StubHub's head of...
The opposition leader has charted a course that is neither old nor New Labour his strategy makes him suited to the top job
Ask Labour MPs to identify Ed Milibands greatest achievement and they usually point to something that hasnt happened: the party has not fallen apart.
Conventional Westminster wisdom sees this as a fragile unity bought with indecision the rickety vehicle stays on the road because Miliband doesnt drive fast. There is truth in that view, but it also does a disservice to the leader of the opposition.
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Malaysia Airlines Wreckage 'Significantly Altered'
ABC News Wreckage from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine has been “significantly altered,” international monitors told ABC News today, as remains of the victims arrived in territory held by the Ukrainian government. Major pieces of the front of the plane ... Flight MH17 Families Face Long Wait for Return of VictimsBusinessweek US intel officials: Russia created 'conditions' that led to plane downingFox News Once again, tough talk followed by soft action against Vladimir PutinTelegraph.co.uk Hindustan Times -RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty- Reuters all 5,552 news articles » |
Iraq: Islamic State Financing Caliphate by Smuggling Oilby webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Islamic State militants seized four small oilfields when they swept through north Iraq last month and are now selling crude oil and gasoline from them to finance their newly declared “caliphate.” Near the northern city of Mosul, the Islamic State has taken over the Najma and Qayara fields, while further south near Tikrit it overran the Himreen and Ajil fields during its two-day sweep through northern Iraq in mid-June. The oilfields in Islamic State hands are modest compared to...
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ABC News |
Malaysia Airlines Wreckage 'Significantly Altered'
ABC News Wreckage from the downed Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine has been “significantly altered,” international monitors told ABC News today, as remains of the victims arrived in territory held by the Ukrainian government. Major pieces of the front of the plane ... US intel officials: Russia created 'conditions' that led to plane downingFox News MH17 shootdown may have been a 'mistake' by pro-Russian rebels: USHindustan Times Lupica: President Obama needs to take the lead and 'man up' against Russia ...New York Daily News The Hindu-Businessweek-Times of India all 5,506 news articles » |
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton paid tribute to Australia's efforts to persuade the United Nations Security Council to agree to a resolution condemning the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and urged other countries not to back down.
Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam review by Christopher de Bellaigue
Innes Bowen's study reveals how the government's attitude towards British Muslims has been defined in part by ignorance
Along with the "Trojan Horse" controversy about the imposition of a strict Islamic ethos on a number of Birmingham schools, the disclosure that several hundred Britons have been to Syria and Iraq to fight with the jihadis has fired up those who believe that Islam represents an urgent threat to this country. Amid the hype some of it justifiable, much not nuance has inevitably been lost.
It is significant that the British jihadis have chosen to realise their fantasies not here but in Mesopotamia. From a theological point of view, a caliphate can only be set up in Muslim lands. Britain would be a poor choice even for a pilot scheme it has a substantial opposing majority and a competent intelligence service. As for the Birmingham "conspiracy", that, too, is more complicated than it seems: while there have undoubtedly been moves to Islamise the schools' curricula and atmosphere, much of the pressure in this direction has come from parents.
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China's Xi Praises Close Ties with Cubaby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
The head of China's Communist Party hailed the common socialist bond between his country and Cuba as he kicked off a state visit in Havana. President Xi Jinping was welcomed Tuesday by a military guard of honor at the Palace of the Revolution, where he met with Cuban President Raul Castro. Castro said his country's ties with China are "at their best in history." Xi also praised the multi-faceted relationship. "I feel that as socialist countries, China and...
MH17: grim task ahead for DNA experts as they sift remains to identify bodiesby Amanda Holpuch in New York, and Oliver Milman in Melbourne
DNA analysis should allow investigators to put a name to victims so they can be repatriated
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The refloated hulk of the doomed liner will be towed to Genoa, more than two and a half years after it hit rocks and capsized.
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Costa Concordia finally headed for scrapyard after massive salvage operation
The Globe and Mail Maneuvers began early on Wednesday to remove the rusty hulk of the Costa Concordia cruise liner from the Italian island where it struck rocks and capsized two years ago, killing 32 people. A convoy of 14 vessels, led by the tug boat Blizzard, will start to tow ... and more » |
US intelligence officials are taking the unusual step of briefing media on evidence they believe ties the crash to a missile fired by pro-Russian militants
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More on MH17: http://bit.ly/1gDdBlB Subscribe here: http://bit.ly/1bmWO8h The first victims of downed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 are set to arrive back in the Netherlands from the crash...
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DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Wednesday nuclear talks with six world powers would resume in early September, according to state television, after both sides agreed to continue talking for four more months to try to reach a final agreement on Tehran's nuclear program.
A new report claims an 'epidemic' in class A drug use in the early 1990s - made famous in the book and film Trainspotting - was a huge driver in the rise of acquisitive crime.
Costa Concordia says goodbye to Giglio as it embarks on final voyage by Lizzy Davies in Giglio
Salvage operation engineers rotate refloated cruise ship for its voyage to Genoa, where it will be broken up for scrap
The Italian port of Giglio echoed with the sound of sirens and applause on Wednesday as the rusting hulk of the Costa Concordia left for its final voyage, two and a half years after its disastrous sinking in which 32 people died.
Locals, tourists and journalists packed on to the jetty leading out to sea from the picturesque Tuscan port as technicians coordinating the final stage of the most ambitious maritime salvage operation in history began rotating the cruise ship to prepare for departure.
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Islamic State militants claimed responsibility on Wednesday for an overnight suicide bombing in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad which killed 33 people, one of the deadliest recent attacks in the Iraqi capital.
DUBAI (Reuters) - In hiding, targeted by drone strikes and unable to land a blow in the West, al Qaeda's ageing leaders are losing a power struggle with ultra-radical young militants in Iraq and Syria who see themselves as the true successors to Osama bin Laden.
Iraqi officials say the death toll from a late night suicide attack targeting a police checkpoint in Baghdad has climbed to 31 people, most of them civilians.
Crimea by AFP news agency
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Russia announced Wednesday that it had begun expanding and modernising its Black Sea fleet based in Crimea with new ships and submarines, just months after annexing the peninsula from Ukraine.VIDEO...
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 Irish Independent |
Concordia set for final voyage
Irish Independent The stricken ship, rotated by tugboats, is set to be towed from Giglio Island, off the coast of Tuscany in Italy, where it struck a reef and capsized in January 2012, killing 32 people. The tugs and a dozen other boats will guide it on a journey of about five days to ... and more » |
The bloodshed in Gaza changed little throughout Tuesday evening as the Israeli offensive into the Palestinian coastal strip entered its third week.
The Israel Defense Forces said 30 “terrorists” had been killed in the past 24 hours, while Hamas fired barrages of rockets back into Israel.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 650 Palestinian fatalities, of which 77% were civilians, according to the latest figures from the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). At least 30 Israelis have been killed during the conflict, the majority of which are soldiers. Two Israeli soldiers were killed during Tuesday evening’s operations.
An additional 135,000 Palestinians are currently displaced across the Gaza Strip.
“There is literally no safe place for civilians,” OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told reporters in Geneva.
However, analysts say the IDF’s continued onslaught targeting Hamas is unlikely to alter Gazans’ feelings toward the Islamist organization.
“Every time Israel engages in an over-the-top reaction to assaults by Hamas, the more the people in Gaza rally around Hamas and become more sympathetic to it,” Lina Khatib, the director of the Carnegie Middle East Center, tells TIME. “When civilians are attacked by Israel, the sense of resentment amongst the population in Gaza grows and Hamas can capitalize on the sense of grievance.”
Despite the acceleration of diplomatic initiatives across the region, the conflict showed little sign of ebbing as of Wednesday.
Israel continues to support a cease-fire proposal tabled by Cairo earlier this month, but Hamas has refused to accept a truce until the crippling, seven-year blockade on the Strip is lifted.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Israel’s position to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and chided Hamas’ refusal to sign an agreement.
“In the face of such wanton terrorism, no country could sit idly by,” said Netanyahu. “We did not seek this escalation, Mr. Secretary.”
Ban, who has been traveling across the Middle East for three days attempting to rally support for an armistice, remained unequivocal in his stance.
“My message to Palestinians and Israelis is the same: stop fighting, start talking and take on the root causes of the conflict so we are not back to the same situation in another six months or a year,” he said. “I urge you to demonstrate fortitude by exercising maximum restraint. Recovery and reconstruction are more needed than ever.”
On Wednesday morning, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Tel Aviv to kick off another round of meetings with Netanyahu, the Palestinian Authority and the U.N. chief, in an attempt to broker some sort of deal, according to the Associated Press.
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Central America didn't always have a gang epidemic. We exported that
Visiting El Salvador over the past year, it was hard not to think the country's number-one job is standing around outside with a gun. In the region from which child migrants are fleeing to the US, personal security is largely a question of what you can afford to pay. El Salvador has, by one estimate, 25,000 private guards in a country with 20,000 police officers. In Honduras, which boasts the highest murder rate in the world and has seen the largest exodus of young people to the American border this year, guards outnumber cops five to one.
Wealthy Salvadorans can retreat to residential compounds that resemble a militarized version of a Palm Beach retirement community, complete with golf carts. Behind high walls and even higher voltage wires, one economist gushed to me: "This place has everything we never have to go outside!" For the rest, those who stay and those who get sent back, gangland drama is a fact of life.
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US intelligence community believes tanks and rocket launchers have been transferred from a Russian military facility to separatists in Ukraine
Expert says 'forensic services' could allow access to personal data, but there is no proof these have been used for surveillance
A researcher has revealed what he claims to be previously undiscovered ways that users can be surveilled through their iPhone.
Research released by iOS exploitation expert Jonathan Zdziarski at the Hackers On Planet Earth conference in New York last week showed there were a number of previously undocumented forensic services and surveillance mechanisms within iOS.
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A glance at the countries the UK's heavily subsidised weapon industry sells to Russia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt should rid you of any illusions about our foreign policy
Kaye Stearman: This year's DSEI arms fair needs to be the last
Kaye Stearman: This year's DSEI arms fair needs to be the last
Attention is focusing on British-made weapons being sent to Moscow, and understandably so. Vladimir Putin was once a friend of Britain, given cover by Tony Blair as he razed Chechnya to the ground, but now in the typically Orwellian manner of British foreign policy he has been transformed into enemy number one. And yet David Cameron's definitive claims that an absolute arms embargo has been put in place against Russia have been torpedoed: according to a cross-party group of MPs, there are more than 200 licences in place to sell arms to Putin's government.
If you have even a shaky belief in British foreign policy as a force for democracy, even a cursory glance at the list of destinations for British arms should swiftly lead you to part with your illusions. Israel has now killed close to 600 people in Gaza, including 149 children; its land-grabbing settlements place it in violation of international law. Other countries might be deemed pariah states for such actions, but not Israel, which Britain has supplied with parts for sniper rifles, military aircraft, unmanned drones and small arms.
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 Reuters |
Deutsche Bank Drops on Report NY Fed Faulted Oversight
Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) dropped in Frankfurt trading after the Wall Street Journal said that bank overseers faulted some of the firm's U.S. businesses last year for “inaccurate and unreliable” financial reports. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York review of the ... Deutsche Bank Shares TumbleWall Street Journal all 52 news articles » |
The Costa Concordia set out to complete the voyage to Italy's northwest coast that got cut short 30 months ago when the massive cruise ship sank near this Tuscan island.
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A survey of more than 50,000 Europeans found British gentleman, like Daniel Craig, are now seen as the third most attractive nationality, ahead of the French in fourth
GLAAD study says only 17 of 102 major studio films last year featured gay characters, with the majority of them offensive
A study by the US gay rights campaigning organisation GLAAD has found that only 17 of the 102 movies from major studios in 2013 featured LGBT characters, and of those 17, the majority were offensive and defamatory portrayals.
"The lack of substantial LGBT characters in mainstream film, in addition to the outdated humour and stereotypes, suggests large Hollywood studios may be doing more harm than good when it comes to worldwide understanding of the LGBT community," said GLAAD CEO and president Sarah Kate Ellis. "These studios have the eyes and ears of millions of audience members and should reflect the true fabric of our society rather than feed into the hatred and prejudice against LGBT people too often seen around the globe."
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Max Steinberg was from Los Angeles. Nissim Sean Carmeli was from South Padre Island, Texas. Jordan Bensemhoun came to Israel on his own from Lyon, France.
Each of the young men left his country of origin to join the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and each was killed in action this weekend in the Gaza Strip, where Israel is more than two weeks into Operation Protective Edge, a military campaign against the Palestinian militant group Hamas. That campaign incorporated a ground invasion as of Thursday night that Israeli leaders say is helping to destroy Hamas’ ability to fire rockets – some 2,160 of which have been fired toward Israel since the latest round of hostilities began July 7 – as well as a network of tunnels that burrow deep into Israeli territory, allowing militants to attack. However effective that strategy might be, it exposes Israel’s soldiers to a higher risk of injury and death than bombardment from afar. The campaign has so far left 29 Israeli soldiers dead, as well as some 650 Palestinians.
Sgt. Steinberg, 24, was buried Wednesday in a funeral in Jerusalem that attracted some 30,000 mourners, including his parents, who are taking their first trip to Israel to bury their son. He was what people in the organized American-Jewish community would consider an Israel success story. He came to Israel with his sister in 2012 on Birthright, a program which brings loosely affiliated Jews from around the world – the U.S. and Europe in particular – on a free 10-day trip to Israel. By the end of the program, he was smitten. After a short time back in the U.S., he decided to join the IDF, and lobbied his superiors to be placed in a combat unit. One of the good friends he met along the way was England-born Josh Grant, who like Steinberg, came here as what Israelis refer to as a “hayal boded,” or lone soldier.
“He was a jobnik for a few months,” says Grant, using the slightly derogatory Israeli slang for someone who has a desk job in the army, “but all he wanted to do was combat. They said no way, but he convinced them.” Grant, who moved to Israel on his own from the city of Birmingham in England shortly after high school, went through intensive Hebrew-language classes with Steinberg as well as a basic training program for soldiers who may not be native Israelis but still want to serve.
Steinberg had to have back surgery this year that forced him to take a few months off from his service, and he was behind the curve of many of his cohort when he came back. While others finished their service in June, he had been due to finish in November. Many of his closest army buddies returned to their home countries weeks ago and “felt guilty,” as one of them put it, for not being around for their fallen comrade. Steinberg himself planned to go back to the U.S. after he finished his service (a fact confirmed by Steinberg’s family) and didn’t have a long-term plan to move to Israel permanently.
“Just before the war started, we were out for the night, celebrating another friend who had finished,” Grant, who as an active combat engineer was not authorized to discuss his opinions about the war in Gaza, told TIME. “I can’t quite believe he’s gone. To lose a friend like Max is heartbreaking. But he didn’t have a boring life, he’s done something worthwhile.”
That desire to do something meaningful, it seems, is part of what motivates thousands of young Jewish people to come to Israel every year and volunteer for the army, many in the context of immigrating and trying to integrate into Israeli society. There are currently 5,100 immigrants from other countries who are serving in the IDF, says Oded Forer, the director general of Israel’s Ministry of Absorption. These soldiers get a small additional monthly stipend and other benefits, Forer tells TIME, to show they are valued and to help them survive without family support.
“We escort them towards their recruitment and help them afterwards,” Forer says, noting that his ministry dedicates 17 million shekels – close to $5 million – for that purpose every year. “We are an immigrant state at the end of the day, so naturally there will be situations like this. Everyone who is part of the people of Israel carries the burden of defending the country, and this has been part of the ethos since the founding of the state.”
Some 30 years ago, for example, Mike Meyerheim left New Jersey to come to Israel and serve in the IDF. His war was the one in Lebanon, starting with Israel’s invasion in 1982. Today he is the director of the Lone Soldier Center, which provides support to up to 6,000 soldiers, numbering among them immigrants and native-born Israelis with no family to rely on. In the past few weeks, they’ve been visiting soldiers on the Gaza border and providing them with things as mundane as clean socks, underwear and additional food. The Israeli army operates so close to home that many soldiers come back each weekend with a bag of laundry, expecting Mom to do it.
“We take care of people year round with the hope we don’t go to war, but when we’re in the situation that we’re in today, we do everything we can to make sure they’re safe and in good spirits,” Meyerheim told TIME.
One of the Lone Soldier Center’s volunteers, Nissim Slama, came to Israel 10 years ago from France, and found himself serving in what is referred to here as the Second Lebanon War, when Israel and Hizbollah went to war with each other in 2006. “The lone soldiers are paying a high price in Gaza for their motivation and dedication,” said Slama, who was on his way Tuesday to the funeral of Jordan Bensemhoun, the dual French-Israeli citizen, in the city of Ashkelon. “They come from abroad and want to defend Israel and ensure the state’s survival…but it’s always a harder life for them, being here without the usual level of family support.”
Bensemhoun came to Israel as a high school student and stayed on, leaving behind his family in southeastern France. He was recruited two years ago, and in February, posted a picture of his uniformed self on Facebook showing his wings and arm-patch of the elite Golani Brigades he had been inducted into, with the optimistic message: “I’ll be back in a few months!”
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Flight with MH17 Victims' Remains Leaves for Netherlands
Voice of America A Dutch military transport plane carrying the first 16 coffins with the remains of some victims of the downed Malaysian airliner took off on Wednesday from the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv for the Netherlands. The Dutch government declared a day of ... European Union imposes new sanctions against Russian officials following ...Fox News Why Putin can't back down nowThe Globe and Mail Lupica: President Obama needs to take the lead and 'man up' against Russia ...New York Daily News CBC.ca -CTV News -Irish Times all 7,993 news articles » |
Lubov Chernukhin made winning bid of £160,000 at Tory fundraising auction for match with mayor and David Cameron
Boris Johnson has indicated he could pull out of a tennis match that was bought at a Tory fundraising auction for £160,000 by the wife of a former minister in Vladimir Putin's government.
The London mayor is due to play a match with David Cameron and Lubov Chernukhin, the wife of Vladimir Chernukhin, who was deputy finance minister under Putin in 2000. She won the right to play the match last month when it was auctioned off as the star lot at the Conservative summer party at the Hurlingham Club in Fulham, west London.
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A pro-Russian separatist stands at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region
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Page 9
When the Costa Concordia and its salvage convoy finally depart Giglio, the residents of this picturesque Tuscan island will breathe a collective sigh of relief -- and shed a collective tear.
PC Lee Haworth visited Katrina Ianson-Hughes’s house in Oswaldtwistle for sex while on duty on April 5 last year, Liverpool Crown Court heard.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament postponed voting for the country's president on Wednesday, delaying the formation of a power-sharing government urgently needed to confront a Sunni uprising.
Russia's President Vladimir descends from his plane while arriving in the Volga River city of Samara 868 km (539 miles) southeast of Moscow, on July 21, 2014. US President Barack Obama said yesterday that Putin must prove "that he supports a full and fair investigation" of the Malaysian plane disaster. AFP PHOTO / RIA-NOVOSTI / POOL/ ALEXEI NIKOLSKYALEXEI NIKOLSKY/AFP/Getty Images
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