US Considers Opening Network of Bases in Iraq - Wall Street Journal
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US Considers Opening Network of Bases in Iraq
Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON—The Obama administration is considering opening a network of new bases in Iraq like the hub being established west of Baghdad, the nation's top military officer said, something that would deepen the U.S. role in the war against Islamic State. US plans to set up more bases in Iraq, says PentagonDAWN.com US to set up new military hubs in Iraq to spearhead Isil warIrish Independent 'Timid' Obama under fire The Times (subscription) Gawker-NBCNews.com -Reuters all 202 news articles » |
A French court is expected to deliver its verdict shortly on charges of “aggravated pimping” made against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the BBC reports.
As TIME noted when Strauss-Kahn was first charged in 2013, “aggravated pimping” under the French penal code describes pimping with, well, aggravating circumstances. Those include prostituting a minor, prostitution involving a weapon, and — alleged factors in Strauss-Kahn’s case — using more than one prostitute and working with a group.
Strauss-Kahn could face 10 years in prison, and a €1.5 million ($1.7 million) fine, if a Lille judge finds him guilty of procuring prostitutes for sex parties in the U.S., France, and Belgium, the BBC says. However, the state prosecutor in the case has already recommended acquittal, saying the evidence presented in court had not established Strauss-Kahn’s guilt. Five of the six plaintiffs have also dropped their accusations against the former French presidential hopeful.
Strauss-Kahn has admitted to being present at the sex parties in question but has consistently denied knowing that some of the women there were being paid.
During closing arguments, prosecutor Frederic Fevre reminded the court that it was “working with the penal code, not the moral code.” Although Strauss-Kahn’s sexual habits were the center of much discussion during the February hearings, he has repeatedly said that he is not on trial for “deviant practices.”
[BBC]
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's King Felipe VI has stripped the title of duchess from his sister, the palace said, heaping pressure on Cristina de Borbon to give up her succession rights as she prepares to stand trial on tax fraud charges.
 The Indian Express |
Spain: King 's removes title from sister facing fraud trial
Daily Mail MADRID (AP) — Spain's King Felipe VI has removed the title Duchess of Palma de Mallorca from his sister Cristina in the latest move to distance the royal family from the princess as she awaits trial for tax fraud. The measure, signed by Felipe on June 11, was ... Spain's King Felipe VI strips his sister of her title as Duchess of Palma over ...euronews Spain's King strips title of duchess from his sisterThe Star Online Royal corruption scandal: Spanish King Felipe strips his own sister of titleExpress.co.uk Hurriyet Daily News -Cihan News Agency all 37 news articles » |
Raif Badawi set up a website to express his views and those of others. For that he was sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes with a whipping cane.
Nicholas Rovinski is held in Rhode Island days after FBI agents shot dead a man suspected of plotting to behead police officers.
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PM Abbott dodges questions that navy paid crew of asylum seeker boat to return to Indonesia
Germany drops investigation into alleged tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's phone by US security agency
 Reuters |
Pentagon again asks China to end island building, seeks more military contact
Reuters WASHINGTON U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter met a top Chinese general on Thursday and repeated a U.S. call for a halt to land reclamation in the South China Sea, while stressing that the Pentagon remained committed to expanding military contacts ... US vs China: Is this the new cold war?gulfnews.com Pentagon chief urges China to stop island buildingBusiness Standard Govt video rallies support for PHL's claims in West Philippine SeaGMA News all 230 news articles » |
Ismayilova Says Azerbaijan In 'Midst Of Human Rights Crisis'by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
Azerbaijan's most prominent investigative journalist says the country is in the "midst of a human rights crisis" as it gets set to host the first European Games.
Russian-backed separatists attacked positions of the Ukrainian army's 93rd mechanized brigade defending the village of Pisky, near Donetsk, on the night of June 6-7. Attacks are often launched under cover of darkness, despite the cease-fire agreed in Minsk in mid-February. The Ukrainian military said that in this attack the separatists used heavy artillery and mortars which, according to the Minsk agreement, should have been withdrawn at least 50 kilometers from the front line. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
The prime minister of Moldova says he is stepping down after questions arose over his high-school and university degrees.
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The wife of the Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes, describes his punishment as "a slow death".
Interpol is to cut its ties with the soccer world’s governing body and not use the $22.4 million donation it received in 2011 to fight match-fixing in sports.
 Reuters |
Merkel on Greece: 'Where There's a Will, There's a Way'
New York Times BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it's important that talks aimed at unlocking Greece's financial bailout continue but that everyone must be willing to reach a deal. During a speech in Berlin Friday Merkel said: "Where there's a will, there's a ... Snowden NSA: Germany drops Merkel phone-tapping probeBBC News Germany drops Merkel NSA cellphone tap probeUSA TODAY Merkel: "Where there's a will there's a way" on Greece, so let's talkReuters Telegraph.co.uk -Times of India all 19 news articles » |
MADRID(Reuters) - A left-wing former judge, backed by anti-austerity party Podemos, was named mayor of Spain's capital on Friday, ending 24 years of center-right Popular Party (PP) rule in Madrid and delivering a setback to Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
A US court has decided that attempts to block the implementation of net neutrality rules in the US cannot be upheld.
Activist Rachel Dolezal says she "understands" some may feel she misrepresented her ethnicity, as she sparks a social media storm.
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WARSAW (Reuters) - The former Yugoslav republics of Macedonia and Montenegro should be invited to join NATO when it holds its next summit in Warsaw in 2016, Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said on Friday.
The investigation over allegations of eavesdropping by the N.S.A. was ended because of a lack of concrete evidence, a federal prosecutor said.
Inside Skolkovo, Moscow's self-styled Silicon Valleyby Mark Rice-Oxley in Moscow
With buildings like the Hypercube and the Matrix, the Russian startup hub looks the part – but corruption allegations, the parlous international situation and getting on the wrong side of Vladimir Putin have all made life difficult
There’s a machine that can print a thyroid gland, a mechanised suit that is helping a paraplegic play football and a lifelike bust of Alan Turing answering questions in a robotic drawl.
Welcome to Skolkovo, a 400-hectare plot of land west of Moscow that is trying to style itself as Russia’s coming Silicon Valley. On a glorious day, surrounded by suitably named buildings like the Hypercube, the Matrix and the Technopark, a cluster of prodigies that put the star into start-up are showing off their ideas to a trickle of potential investors, venture capitalists from Russia and abroad.
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Around 300 Ukrainian activists gathered outside the main administration building in Odesa on June 11 to meet the new governor of the region, former Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili. After briefly chatting with them outside, he invited them in for a question-and-answer session. Saakashvili drew applause pledging that he would be like a bulldog -- modernizing "Soviet-style" structures, bringing in new people, and upgrading Odesa airport to international standards. Afterwards, the activists gathered outside and sang the national anthem. (RFE/RL's Current Time, www.currenttime.tv)
NIZHNY TAGIL, Russia — It has a remote-controlled turret, it bristles with state-of-the-art defense systems and its computerized controls make driving it “feel like a video game.” Russia’s Armata tank, which its creator says can be turned into a fully robotic combat vehicle, is the crowning glory of a sweeping military modernization drive that is rumbling forward amid a perilous confrontation with the West over Ukraine.
But President Vladimir Putin’s expensive arms build-up faces major hurdles as Russia’s economy sinks under the weight of Western sanctions and falling oil prices. The 22-trillion ruble (about $400-billion) program, which envisages the acquisition of 2,300 new tanks, hundreds of aircraft and missiles and dozens of navy ships, was conceived back at the time when Russia’s coffers were brimming with petrodollars.
Putin vowed that the military upgrade would go ahead as planned, and this year’s military budget rose by 33 percent to about 3.3 trillion rubles (nearly $60 billion). Some observers predict that the Kremlin will inevitably have to scale down the plans amid a grinding recession.
In one of the first harbingers of the possible curtailment of new arms procurement, a deputy defense minister said earlier this year that the air force will likely reduce its order for the T-50, a costly state-of-the art fighter jet developed for two decades to counter the U.S. Raptor.
Another problem is also hampering the modernization drive: The sanctions include a ban on the sale of military technology to Russia. Nick de Larrinaga, Europe Editor for IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, predicted that Russia would find it hard to replace Western military know-how.
“They have been relying on Western sub-systems, electro-optical systems is a good example, but also computer chips and things like that, which Russia doesn’t make,” he said. “How Russia goes about trying to replace these systems is going to be a really big challenge.”
The rupture of military ties with Ukraine dealt another heavy blow to Putin’s re-armament effort. Ukrainian factories had exported a wide array of weapons and sub-systems to Russia, and officials acknowledged that it would take years and massive resources to launch production of their equivalent at home. Since Soviet times, Ukraine specialized in building helicopter engines, and Putin said that Russia was setting up a capacity to produce them at home.
It could be even more challenging to substitute another Ukrainian product, ship turbines. Its refusal to deliver them has derailed the commissioning of new Russian navy ships.
Last month, the Armata starred in the Victory Day parade on Red Square, becoming an emblem of the country’s resurgent military power. Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister in charge of weapons modernization, likened Russia to a “big Armata” and claimed that the new tank is 15-20 years ahead of the current Western designs.
Speaking in a recent live TV talk show, Rogozin also used armor as a symbol to issue a bold threat to the West — showing how military hardware can also be a powerful weapon in the Kremlin’s propaganda war.
“Tanks don’t need visas!” Rogozin declared, in a reference to Western travel bans and economic sanctions against Russia. Amid the tensions with the West, Putin emphasized the need for the nation’s defense industries to quickly shed their dependence on imported components.
The Armata’s price hasn’t been announced, but some observers speculated that the new tank could be as expensive as a fighter jet, too heavy a burden for the struggling economy. There are no reliable cost estimates of the tank.
The tank’s chief designer, Andrei Terlikov, 52, shrugged off such claims, saying that the Armata’s price will drop significantly once it enters full-scale production. “In the end, the price of those machines will be affordable,” Terlikov told The Associated Press in his first interview with foreign media.
Speaking at his office at the mammoth UralVagonZavod factory in the Ural Mountains, one of the biggest industrial plants in the world, Terlikov described the Armata as a “decisive step toward more advanced unmanned machines, including those which could operate autonomously in combat.”
He emphasized that the Armata uses only domestically produced parts. “From the very start, we have set the task to rely on our own resources,” he said.
Viktor Murakhovsky, a retired Russian army colonel who is now the editor of the Arsenal Otechestva military magazine, said the Armata’s advantages come at a price — but that eventually it may pay for itself.
“The Armata is significantly more expensive than the current models,” he said. “But it far excels all Russian and foreign tanks on the cost-efficiency basis.”
The Armata marks a radical departure from the traditional Soviet and Russian tank design philosophy. Unlike its predecessors, which had a compact build and low silhouette for nimble maneuvering, the Armata was designed to make crew protection the main focus.
“There is nothing more important today than crewmembers’ lives,” Terlikov said.
Terlikov’s deputy, 35-year old Ilya Demchenko, said that the onboard computer system performs most of the technical functions, allowing the crew to focus on key tasks. “For the crew, it’s like playing a video game, taking some final moves and making decisions,” he said.
De Larrinaga agreed that the Armata represented a technological advance for Russia.
“The crew has a much better chance of surviving if the tank is destroyed,” de Larrinaga said. “If you look at old Russian tank designs, they had a habit of blowing up quite spectacularly with pretty poor chances for crew survivability.”
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Black Pastor Invokes ISIS-Style Terror Attack Over Texas Pool Party Incident by The European Union Times
Americans will likely face a domestic terror attack from disgruntled black Americans – not ISIS – for allowing racism to perpetuate, a black Texas-based civil rights organization representative said during a Tuesday press conference on the McKinney pool party controversy.
Rev. Ronald Wright, executive director of Justice Seekers Texas, told media outlets that such incidents will likely lead to ISIS-style terrorism in the country, specifically targeting law enforcement.
“We’re setting the stage for a terrorist attack in this country. And the group is not going to be ISIS, it’s going to be ‘US-IS,’ us against these unjust law officers and people who continue to allow racism to grow into this city,” Wright said.
Wright’s comments follow what has now been dubbed the “Pool Party Controversy,” an incident in which a Texas police officer drew his firearm on unarmed black teenagers before throwing a bikini-clad girl to the ground last Friday.
“He grabbed me, twisted my arm on my back and shoved me in the grass and started pulling the back of my braids,” Dajerria Becton told Fox 4. “I was telling him to get off me because my back was hurting bad.”
Witnesses to the incident claim the officer, who has since been placed on administrative leave, specifically targeted minorities after arriving on scene.
Others, such as attendee Jordan Gray, a 16-year-old black male, told CNN that although police appeared to be putting only black people on the ground, the incident had nothing to do with race.
“It’s just separate events happening,” Gray said. “It was just a young girl put on the ground against her will and that’s all it was. It was not racism. It wasn’t none of that.”
Rev. Wright’s controversial comments will likely add more fuel to an already tense situation and may attract billionaire George Soros-backed protesters, notorious for being linked to violent incidents.
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The parents of a civil rights activist in America says she's been "pretending" to be African-American for years.
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