Blast at Afghan gas storage facility kills 11, mostly childrenby AFP
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At least 11 people, most of them children, were killed in a series of explosions at an Afghan gas storage facility, which triggered a massive inferno in a nearby settlement for displaced people, officials said Tuesday.
More than 33,000 Muslims travelled from across the world and gathered in Alton this weekend to pledge allegiance to Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the fifth Caliph and worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.
The award-winning director of Iran's most expensive ever film, "Muhammad", says he hopes it will improve Islam's "violent image", but the religious epic risks angering many Muslims despite not showing the prophet's face.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, struggling with falling approval ratings and a deepening economic crisis, has found what critics say is a convenient scapegoat for his country’s woes: neighboring Colombia.
Ukraine’s government is nearing a restructuring deal with its creditors that would call for a 20% cut in the value of its bonds, marking a possible breakthrough in negotiations, according to people familiar with the matter.
For sheer clout, China’s economy outweighs every country in the world save the U.S. But on transparency, it remains distinctly an emerging market, with murky politics, unreliable data and opaque decision making.
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Thirty countries will send senior leaders to China’s World War II Victory Day parade, Beijing said, but the guest list doesn’t include major Western leaders or North Korean supremo Kim Jong Un.
Authorities have arrested 14 people suspected of forming part of a network to recruit and send fighters to Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.
Ahead of a parade to commemorate the end of World War II, Beijing’s version of history almost completely omits the man who led China’s fight against the Japanese: Chiang Kai-shek.
BEIJING — China’s stock market opened sharply lower again on Tuesday but other Asian markets managed to recover some ground in early trade. China’s stock market woes have helped to fuel a global sell-off in shares that gathered pace on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrials index swinging wildly before ending nearly 600 points in the red.Read full article >>
BEIJING —Steep slides of Chinese stocks in recent days are stoking global panic about the state of the world’s second-largest economy, with commentators ranging from Chinese state media to Donald Trump taking a doomsday view.Read full article >>
Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations, says Tuesday’s meeting at the security council on LGBT rights is a ‘small but historic step’. During the meeting, organised with Chile’s UN envoy, Power spoke of LGBT communities being violently targeted, with specific reference to Islamic State militants killing at least 30 people for sodomy. Power says it is important that LGBT issues are ‘injected into the DNA’ of the UN
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The increasing likelihood of a Joe Biden 2016 campaign leaves President Barack Obama and his key advisers split over who to back
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The fighters and trainees may not be especially well trained but they are indoctrinated, warn Spanish security experts
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Turkey, PKK Trade Blame Over Failed Peace Processby webdesk@voanews.com (Jamie Dettmer)
Kurdish separatist leaders have dismissed appeals from Turkish opposition politicians to halt their attacks on military personnel, arguing that to do so would amount to a “one-sided” cease-fire. Speaking to a German newspaper Monday, Cemil Bayik acknowledged “neither Turkey nor we can solve this problem with arms.” But Bayik added that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had called for a cease-fire eight times but with no response from the Turkish authorities. “So there will...
Kurdistan Political Stalemate Adding to Regional Woesby webdesk@voanews.com (Sharon Behn)
A bitter political spat in the northern Iraqi area of Kurdistan over how the regional president should be elected and what powers the office should have is threatening to add to the region’s instability. The fight comes as Kurdistan is facing a number of other crises, including trying to maintain a 1,500-kilometer border against Islamic State extremists, a crippling dispute with Baghdad over money, and a severe economic downturn. U.S. and British representatives have attended meetings...
 NBCNews.com |
French prosecutor: Suspected train attacker had 'terrorist intent'
CNN (CNN) It appears from information revealed Tuesday by a French prosecutor that the world owes much to the people who subdued a gunman on a Thalys train in France late last week. By jumping him and disarming him, they may have prevented a massacre ... Train Attack Suspect Watched Video Calling for Jihad Before Boarding ...ABC News Train suspect listened to radical message before thwarted attack, French ...Washington Post France train shooting: Attack 'was well prepared'BBC News Wall Street Journal -CBS News -NBCNews.com all 224 news articles » |
In contrast, males tended to describe themselves as ‘100 per cent heterosexual’ or ‘100 per cent homosexual’, found the researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana.
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US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter (L) meets with Saudi King Salman (R) at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on July 22, 2015. Carter landed in Saudi Arabia as part of a regional tour aimed at reassuring Washington's allies over a nuclear deal with Iran. AFP PHOTO / POOL / CAROLYN KASTERCarolyn Kaster/AFP/Getty Images
Pictures have been posted online of hooded fighters stoning the victim in Nineveh, Iraq, as the UN Security Council held its first ever meeting looking at life for LGBT people under ISIS.
The right time may have arrived for vice president to consider a presidential campaign
The president has given Biden the green light to seriously consider a White House run
A South African court convicts eight policemen of murdering a Mozambican taxi driver who was tied and dragged behind a police van in 2013.
A judge in Ferguson, Missouri, halts court practices that were seen as a major factor in unrest after the shooting of a black teenager.
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Paris train shooting: Suspect Ayoub El-Khazzani planned Thalys attack, says prosecutor outlining charges
Hundreds of Christian Orthodox clergy and pilgrims took part in a religious procession marking The Dormition of the Theotokos which commemorates the Virgin Mary, an annual event
Russia cancels Wikipedia ban that barely lasted a few hours
Russian military forces conduct exercises in western regions, including near the Baltic border
Timeline of Chinese stock market slide and government measures to shore up prices
US home rents surge 4.2 percent from a year ago; apartment demand shows shift from ownership
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The Latest: US stocks jump at the open after China's central bank cuts interest rates
US new-home sales rise 5.4 pct. in July; buying in Northeast fuels rebound from June dip
French prosecutor: Train suspect watched jihadi video just before attack
Czech finance minister: NATO should be engaged in guarding EU against migrants
Doctors Without Borders says 2 local aid workers are killed in attacks on South Sudan villages
Watchdog finds US ambassador Caroline Kennedy used private email for official business
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Turkey’s Foreign Minister said Monday that Washington and Ankara have agreed on a plan to flush out ISIS extremists from the Turkey-Syria border.
In an interview with Reuters, Mevlut Cavusoglu said the two nations would soon launch “comprehensive” air operations to clear ISIS from a 50-mile long border zone in northern Syria.
“The technical talks have been concluded [Sunday], and soon we will start this operation, comprehensive operations, against Daesh [Islamic State],” Cavusoglu told the news agency.
He added that regional allies including Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Qatar as well as France and Britain may also take part.
Reuters reports that the joint operations include providing air cover for moderate Syrian rebels and aim to create an ISIS-free “safe zone” along the border with Turkey. ISIS has been using the border to transport supplies and foreign fighters into Syria.
U.S. and Turkish aircraft would use military air bases in Turkey to launch strikes against ISIS, Reuters says.
[Reuters]
(BEIJING) — China’s stock market index tumbled for a fourth day, falling 7.6 percent Tuesday to an eight-month low and Japanese stocks fell. But other Asian rebounded after a day of heavy global losses, and European markets also bounced back in early trading.
The mixed picture comes a day after a global sell-off and tumultuous day on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones closed down 3.6 percent Monday. Markets in Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia and Singapore posted modest recoveries Tuesday after being hit hard a day earlier.
Analysts said it was unclear whether this was a sign the worst was over or a reprieve in a longer-term bear market.
The Shanghai Composite Index lost 7.6 percent to 2,964.97 points, adding to Monday’s 8.5 percent loss and taking the benchmark to its lowest level since Dec. 15. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 average was in positive territory for parts of the day, but ended up closing down 4 percent at 17,806.70. It had fallen 4.6 percent Monday.
In early trading in Europe, France’s CAC-40 advanced 1.5 percent to 4,449.93, rebounding from the previous session’s 5.4 percent loss. Germany’s DAX gained 1.4 percent to 9,787.97 after dropping 4.7 percent Monday.
Monday’s global sell-off was triggered by the sharp drop in Chinese stocks, but experts said there was little change in economic fundamentals to justify such a massive global slide.
“There was no clear catalyst for the global stock meltdown. The lack of clarity makes it difficult to assess what is needed to stem the rout,” said Bernard Aw of IG Markets in a report.
“A coordinated policy response is critical, and much of this needs to come from Asian economies,” Aw said. “A spate of better economic news may help to allay concerns that global growth is not deteriorating. Certainly, improvements in the Chinese economy will be welcomed.”
In Sydney, the S&P ASX 200 gained 2.7 percent to 5,137.30 and Seoul’s Kospi advanced 0.9 percent, rebounding from Monday’s 3 percent fall.
In currency markets, the dollar declined to 119.4810 yen from Monday’s 118.6930 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1544 from the previous session’s $1.1591.
Oil rebounded from Monday’s steep declines.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained 59 cents to $38.83 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract plunged $2.21 on Monday to close at $38.42.
Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced $1.02 to $43.70 per barrel in London. It fell $2.77 the previous day to close at $42.69.
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Russia’s ban on Russian-language Wikipedia lasted only a few hours, ending on Tuesday.
A Russian communications watchdog agency told Internet providers to block access to the popular site’s Russian language material on Monday, after a provincial court ruled Wikipedia’s entry on hashish contained banned information, the Associated Press reports. Recent legislation in Russia has banned sites from carrying information about drugs, suicide and hate, leading critics to accuse authorities of censorship.
The communications agency lifted the ban on Russian language Wikipedia after saying the entry had been edited to comply with the court decision. But users noted that the entry for hashish had only adjusted its title.
ZHUKOVSKY, Russia (Reuters) - Russian civil aviation companies face a disappointing week at the country's largest air show that opened on Tuesday as economic crisis and Western sanctions take a heavy toll on order books and scare away many foreign firms.
Newly released reports from the Federal Aviation Administration revealed that the Secret Service was put on alert after a drone was spotted flying near President Obama while he was playing golf in Florida.
On March 29, the Secret Service called the FAA to report that the U.S. Coast Guard had ...
Former Vice President Dick Cheney will speak out against the Obama administration's newly signed nuclear deal with Iran next month at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
According to an AEI news release, Mr. Cheney, who served as vice president to George W. Bush, will give a speech ...
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Russian censors this week briefly ordered Internet Service Providers to restrict access to Wikipedia due to an entry on charas, a type of cannabis. The online encyclopedia was officially added to the Kremlin's blacklist on Monday and was removed within hours.
Roskomnadzor, the government's online watchdog group, threatened last ...
Leading economists are anticipating sluggish economic growth, weak wage gains and slowing hiring rates for the next two years.
An Associated Presssurvey of about three dozen leading economists determined that a strong majority of the experts believe the American economy will continue to grow at a slow pace.
Approximately 70 percent of those surveyed responded that they believe the economy’s growth will stay below an average of 3 percent annually through 2017, a growth rate that has not been achieved since 2005.
Moreover, 58 percent of those surveyed believe wage increases over the next two years will remain below an annual average of 3.5 percent.
Moreover, if economic growth indeed does not pick up from post-Great Recession 2.2 percent a year, about 60 percent of the experts surveyed believe that hiring will plummet to an average of 175,000 jobs per month from the 243,000 per month average of the past year, yielding a 28 percent decrease in monthly job growth.
Though some economists at the beginning of 2015 expressed optimism that economic growth would inch up to 3 percent, citing lower gas prices and hiring data, the survey demonstrates experts have tempered their expectations.
Among their reasoning for the dim predictions, the economists polled between Aug. 13 and 20 named the lagging proportion of Americans holding jobs as a primary culprit, a figure yielded in part by individuals from the Baby Boomer generation retiring, Millennials remaining in school longer and a unemployed individuals exiting the labor force.
Indeed, the labor force participation rate is at its lowest level since October 1977.
“We no longer have reason for optimism that the economy is going to accelerate. The real question is, when is the next downturn coming?” said chief economist at Action Economics Mike Englund.
President Barack Obama demonized anyone who opposed his nuclear agreement with Iran again Monday, labeling naysayers as “the crazies.”
“Harry and I drove over here together and we were doing a little reminiscing, and then figuring out how we’re going to deal with the crazies in terms of managing some problems,” Obama said at a Nevada State Democratic Party event.
The name-calling continues a string of antagonizing from Obama. The president’s comments appear to include Sen. Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.), the future Democratic leader, and Sen. Robert Menendez (D., N.J.), the former ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with those who deemed to be “crazy.”
Repeatedly, Obama has claimed only two options remain for the U.S. and its allies: accept the deal and achieve peace with a nuclear free Iran, or reject the deal and condemn the country and the world to a long, costly war. Republicans, some Democrats, and many in Israel have dubbed Obama’s choices as a false narrative.
In Pittsburgh, Obama blamed opponents of the Iran deal as the same people who delivered the Iraq War. He portrayed Republicans as warmongers who would rather make the same mistakes with Iran rather than give his “smarter” diplomacy a shot.
“We’re hearing the echoes of some of the same policies and mindset that failed us in the past,” Obama said.
Obama then likened his adversaries to the hardliners in Iran,and said his rivals were against the deal to undermine him politically.
In a speech at American University two weeks ago, Obama said “hardliners chanting ‘Death to America’ have been most opposed to the deal. They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus.”
Obama has drawn criticism from members of his own party, many of whom think the president’s efforts will ostracize potential votes for the deal. Even those likely to support the deal have said there are legitimate concerns and that the intentions of those who do not agree with the president should not be called to question.
“Characterizing people who may be in opposition to the agreement as wanting to go to war as an alternative, I’m not comfortable with that,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), the second ranking Democrat in the House, said in response to Obama’s inflammatory language. “And I wish the White House wouldn’t do that.”
Obama has said that 99 percent of the world and of all nuclear experts agree with him, but is losing the Iran nuclear debate with the American people. By a wide margin, Americans oppose the Iran dealObama has been fighting so hard for.
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 РИА Новости |
Минобороны Украины: утверждены пять соглашений о стандартизации с НАТО
РИА Новости По словам официального представителя министерства обороны УкраиныВиктории Кушнир, соглашения касаются стандартизации параметров индивидуальных средств зашиты военнослужащих. Она заявила, что идет подготовка к утверждению еще пяти соглашений. Учения ... Украинскую армию будут приводить к стандартам НАТО - подготовлена новая военная доктрина МинобороныДОНБАСС Подготовлена новая Военная доктрина Украины - МинобороныЛІГА.net Киев утвердил первые пять соглашений о стандартизации с НАТОВзгляд euronews- Украинское национальное информагентство- sovsekretno Все похожие статьи: 57 » |
Might Putin Provoke a War in the Middle East to Boost Oil Prices and Save His Regime?by paul goble (noreply@blogger.com)
Paul Goble
Staunton, August 24 – As the price of oil and the exchange rate of the ruble continue to fall, Mikhail Krutikhin, a partner in the Moscow energy consulting firm RusEnergy, says that Russia needs “to do something” to save itself by reversing the slide in oil prices and the recession in the Russian economy.
According to him, there are in principle only two ways to raise oil prices: boost demand or cut supplies. In the short term, at least, there is little Moscow can do with regard to the former; but it has an option with regard to the latter: it could provoke a war in the Middle East that would close the Persian Gulf (vzglyad.az/news.php?id=42704#.Vdrpj5cWIbN).
Were that to happen, Krutikhin says, the world’s supply of oil would decline “at a minimum” by a third and prices would shoot up to what they were several years ago or even higher, a development that would end the pressure on the Russian economy and hence on the Russian political elite.
In any political system, there are always radical ideas being considered by someone, although they are not always articulated in public as in this case. Because of the dangers involved for others, there are two questions that need to be addressed:
First, could Russia do this? Almost certainly by means of its influence in the region or, even more likely, by a false flag operation in which Russian operatives would do something against one or more countries in the Middle East that another country or countries would blame not Russia but the country from which such actions emanated.
And second, might Putin do this? Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that he might. He has shown himself contemptuous of international law by invading Georgia and Ukraine and annexing Crimea and equally contemptuous of the rights and standard of living of the Russian people except to the extent any of these things affect his own political survival.
Consequently, while Krutikhin’s suggestion may seem far-fetched if it involved almost any other leader – except perhaps the North Koreans and a few others – this risk, which would send shockwaves through the entire international economic and political system, should be carefully monitored and to the extent possible blocked.
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Biden Meets with Obama, Weighs 2016 White House Runby webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
Vice President Joe Biden met privately for lunch with President Barack Obama Monday as Washington speculation mounted that Biden could enter the contest for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination. If Biden were to join the race, he would be facing another key official from Obama's White House tenure, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, currently the leading Democratic contender in the race to succeed Obama when his second term ends in early 2017. Obama is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term. Obama has made no endorsement on a possible successor and has frequently praised both Biden and Clinton. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Obama could endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary contest, but certainly would support whoever is the eventual Democratic nominee. Earnest recalled Monday that Obama has said that when he decided to name Biden as his running mate in the 2008 presidential contest it "was the smartest decision that he ever made in politics." "I think that should give you some sense of the president's view of Vice President Biden's aptitude for the top job," Earnest said. A Biden run for the White House would likely divide political loyalties among White House officials and, more broadly, Democratic Party supporters. Many Democrats in the U.S. are hoping that Clinton will be elected as the country's first female president, long after other Western democracies have elected women as their leaders. But they also admire the 72-year-old Biden for his long tenure as a senator and for the last six-and-a-half years as vice president. Biden lost bids for the Democratic presidential nomination in both 1988 and 2008, but appears to be seriously weighing another run, calling potential campaign donors and supporters in recent days and meeting with a key lawmaker as he explores his prospects. Biden interrupted a visit to his home state of Delaware Saturday for a private luncheon at his official residence in Washington with Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a favorite among progressive Democrats who earlier this year declined overtures to enter the race herself. Warren, a fiery voice against the influence of large financial institutions in the U.S., has not endorsed any Democratic contender, including Clinton. Biden's consideration of joining the race comes as political surveys show support slipping for Clinton, in the midst of questions about her use of a private email server during her four-year stint as the country's top diplomat during Obama's first White House term. Voters will start casting ballots in both the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating contests in February, with the parties selecting their nominees months later, ahead of the November 2016 national election. A crowded field of 17 candidates is vying for the Republican nomination, with billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump ahead at the moment in political surveys.
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Russian summer madness by Roland Oliphant
In a letter from Moscow, Roland Oliphant writes of disappearing pavements, vanishing food and holidaying citizens
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US sends F-22 fighter jets to Europe as part of Ukraine response by Reuters in Washington
Warplanes will train alongside Eurofighter and other Nato aircraft as ‘Russia’s military activity continues to be of great concern’, says air force secretary
The US is to deploy F-22 fighter jets to Europe as part of efforts to support eastern European members of the Nato alliance unnerved by Russia’s intervention in Ukraine.
“Russia’s military activity in the Ukraine continues to be of great concern to us and to our European allies,” the air force secretary, Deborah James, told a news conference at the Pentagon. “For the air force an F-22 deployment is certainly on the strong side of the coin.”
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The Week Magazine |
Russia's navy is falling apart
The Week Magazine On May 8, 2014, the British Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon sailed from the naval base at Portsmouth on an urgent mission — to find and follow the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov and six accompanying vessels steaming through the English Channel. |
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