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EU Gives Greece Two Weeks to Form Border Plan Tuesday April 12th, 2016 at 9:58 AM

EU Gives Greece Two Weeks to Form Border Plan

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The European Commission has given Greece a two-week deadline to come up with concrete plans on how to improve the protection of the bloc’s external border.

How China Upstaged U.S. With 'Great Wall of Sand'

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On the eve of a verdict in the Philippines’ challenge of China’s sea claims, Chinese dredgers have achieved a new geography in the South China Sea.

Taliban Declares Spring Offensive in Afghanistan

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The Islamist movement vows to take control of more territory and to launch large-scale attacks against the Kabul government and its foreign allies, including the U.S.

The Latest: Russian helicopter crashes in Syria, 2 dead - Washington Post

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NDTV

The Latest: Russian helicopter crashes in Syria, 2 dead
Washington Post
BEIRUT — The Latest on the Syrian civil war (all times local): 11:30 a.m.. Russia says one of its helicopters crashed in Syria, killing the two pilots. The Defense Ministry says the Mi-28N helicopter gunship crashed early Tuesday near Homs after ...
Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in Syria - agenciesReuters
Two Russian military pilots killed in Syria helicopter crash – MoscowVanguard
Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in SyriaThomson Reuters Foundation
BBC News -Russia and India Report -RT -The Straits Times
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Two soldiers killed, nearly 50 wounded in PKK attack in Turkey's southeast: sources - Reuters

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TODAYonline

Two soldiers killed, nearly 50 wounded in PKK attack in Turkey's southeast: sources
Reuters
DIYARBAKIR Two soldiers were killed and nearly 50 people wounded in a car bomb attack on a Turkish gendarmerie base in the southeastern town of Hani overnight, security sources said on Tuesday. A large vehicle laden with explosives rammed into the ...
Turkey's Military Raises Number of Wounded in Attack to 47New York Times 
Media reports: 1 killed in car bomb attack in TurkeyWashington Post
April showers bring … growing violence in southeast Turkey?Al-Monitor
The Straits Times-Daily Sabah-euronews-NRT
all 44 news articles »

The Early Edition: April 12, 2016 

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Before the start of business, Just Security provides a curated summary of up-to-the-minute developments at home and abroad. Here’s today’s news.
IRAQ and SYRIA
Shelling from Syria has hit Kilis, a Turkish border town,today for the second day in a row. On Monday, the Turkish army fired howitzers in retaliation after 12 people were injured. [Reuters’ Ayla Jean Yackley]  Turkey’s military have also hit back today, shelling Islamic State targets in Syria. [Reuters]
A Russian helicopter gunship has crashed in Syria today, killing two of its crew members. It was not shot down, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, though no alternative reason for the crash was provided. [Washington Post’s Andrew Roth]
Iran is concerned that the increase in breaches of the ceasefire in Syria will harm peace talks, the deputy foreign minister informed the UN special envoy for Syria today. [Reuters]
Efforts to stabilize liberated areas of Iraq are “lagging,” creating environments in which Islamic State are able to persist as “an underground network.” The US and the UN’s chief concerns are the lack of funding and relentless political infighting in Iraq’s government. [Reuters’ Jonathan Landay et al]
The US military’s “quietly expanding” role in Iraq: the death of a marine in northern Iraq three weeks ago has forced the US military to disclose details of its increasing presence and intensions in Iraq, reports Michael S Schmidt, despite President Obama’s promise that American troops would be kept away from combat there. [New York Times]
The insistence that special ops forces are not combat troops is “part of the larger Obama fable that ISIS can be knocked off with only a handful of American fighters.” William McGurn critiques President Obama’s policy as a “fiction” that is also supported by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and “largely unchallenged” by any of the Republican front runners. [Wall Street Journal]
US-led airstrikes continue. US and coalition forces carried out five airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria on April 11. Separately, partner forces conducted a further 13 strikes against targets in Iraq. [Central Command]
EUROPEAN TERROR THREAT
Two further suspects in the Brussels attacks have been charged by Belgian Federal Prosecutors.The men are identified as Smail F and Ibrahim F, and are charged with participation in a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murder. [Wall Street Journal’s Natalia Drozdiak]
The UK’s terror threat alert is now at “severe,” prompted by Islamic State’s “external operations unit” specifically targeting it for supporting the US-led coalition in Syria and Iraq, and the discovery that Mohamed Abrini, arrested in connection with the Brussels and Paris attacks, was able to make a trip to the UK last summer. Even so, some protection is provided by the UK’s “long experience in dealing with terrorist threats and relatively restrictive gun laws,” write Alexis Flynn and Jenny Gross. [Wall Street Journal]
Europe needs to take the cross-border nature of the terrorist threat more seriously, suggests theNew York Times editorial board, identifying the failings including the refusal by most European nations to share intelligence with each other and among their own government departments.
AFGHANISTAN
The death toll following the bomb attack on a bus is Kabul, Afghanistan, yesterday has risen to at least 12, all of them army recruits. [New York Times’ Mujib Mashal]
The Taliban in Afghanistan announced its “spring offensive” today, an operation involving “large-scale attacks” which it has called “Operation Omari” in honor of a dead Taliban founder. [AP’s Lynne O’Donnell and Rahim Faiez]
The US military will investigate the drone strikes in southeastern Afghanistan last week that resulted in the deaths of 17 people, spokesperson for the US-led coalition Brigadier General Charles Cleveland told reporters yesterday. The UN will also look into the deaths. [Al Jazeera]
YEMEN
At least four people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack in Aden, Yemen, which targeted a queue of young men waiting to sign up for the army, local witnesses have reported. [Al Jazeera]
Two incidents highlight the US’s “awkward role” in the conflict in Yemen, writes Ishaan Tharoor: the apparent use of US munitions in Saudi-led airstrikes on a market town in the northwest, as revealedby Human Rights Watch, and the report that the Yemeni wing of al-Qaeda, long-term target of US counterterrorism operations, has gained ground as the Saudi-led war has created a security vacuum. [Washington Post]  Carol Giacomo also examines the US’ “important, even indispensable” role in the conflict, despite not being a combatant, supplying arms and intelligence to Saudi Arabia. [New York Times]
GUANTANAMO BAY
The Guantánamo Bay parole board has decided that Yemeni detainee Suhayl al Sharabi is too dangerous to release and has essentially rebranded him a “forever prisoner,” reports Carol Rosenberg. He has been detained since May 2002 and was previously designated for possible trial, though he has never been charged with a crime. [Miami Herald]
The judge in Guantánamo Bay’s death penalty trial of alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed has refused to accede the defense attorneys’ request to drop the case on the ground that the Pentagon official who authorized the trial was unlawfully influenced. The judge did rule that lawyers may question potential jurors more deeply, since remarks made by political leaders since 9/11 may potentially taint the trial, for which no date has yet been set. [Miami Herald’s Carol Rosenberg]
A Congress version of the Senate bill that would stop transfers of Guantánamo Bay prisoners to the US and to foreign countries was introduced yesterday afternoon. [The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel]
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS
“There’s classified, and then there’s classified.” President Obama’s comments about former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s use of a private server to store classified emails to Fox News over the weekend are a departure from his administration’s past treatment of news organizations, whistle-blowers and officials accused of leaking information, write David E Sanger and Mark Landler. [New York Times]  Obama’s comments have also drawn scorn from those who advocate for government transparency, including former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. [The Hill’s Julian Hattem]
China has responded angrily to statements by members of the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies, meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, yesterday, saying that they are strongly opposed to “any intimidating coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions” in the South China Sea. [Reuters]
CIA Director John Brennan’s refusal to waterboard is “ridiculous,” Donald Trump said yesterday. He added that the reason the US has failed to defeat Islamic State thus far is that it is prevented from using “strong tactics.” [Politico’s Nick Gass]
Turkey has revised the death toll in relation to a bomb attack at a military police station in Hani, Diyarbakir province on Monday, increasing it to 47. The PKK has been blamed for the attack. [AP]
Boko Haram is increasingly using children to carry out its bomb attacks, with one in five attacksreportedly involving children, usually girls. [BBC]
A 12-year-old Palestinian girl imprisoned in Israel after confessing to planning a stabbing attack in the West Bank is to be released six weeks early, according to Israel’s prison service. Her case has attracted attention because it highlights the dual legal system in the region: while it is illegal to imprison Israeli children, Palestinians are subject to military law which allows the detention of those aged 12 and above. [AP]
The US must not ignore the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, urges Matthew Bryza, a previous US mediator of the conflict and the US Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2010-2011. Of particular concern is the lack of cooperation between Russia and the US, with Russia’s President Putin “exploiting the situation through intensive diplomacy” while Obama “shows no interest.” [Washington Post]
Read on Just Security »
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The Last Days Of A Ukrainian Soldier

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Dmytro Hodzenko was killed one day before he was due to be discharged from service in the Ukrainian army. He was on the front line to the very end. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and 24 Channel)

The Last Days Of A Ukrainian Soldier 

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From: rferlonline
Duration: 02:37

Dmytro Hodzenko was killed one day before he was due to be discharged from service in the Ukrainian army.
Originally published at - http://www.rferl.org/media/video/ukraine-soldier-death/27669508.html

Putin Sends Panama Extradition Agreement to Duma for Ratification 

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President Vladimir Putin has submitted an extradition agreement between Russia and Panama to the State Duma for ratification, the Meduza news website reported on Tuesday, citing the Duma's official website.

New Book Details How Moscow has Built Its Influence Network in France 

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Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 12 – A new book by French scholar Cecile Vaissie of the University of Rennes-2 describes the ways Moscow has used the media, political lobbying and hidden financing to develop an influence network in France, a network that has been very effective in certain parts of the political spectrum but not on the French population as a whole.

            Vaissie discussed her book, “Les Reseaux du Kremlin en France” (ISBN 978-2-36383-212-2), with Anna Stroganova of the Russian Service of Radio France International (ru.rfi.fr/rossiya/20160409-sesil-vesse).

            The author points out that “some of these networks have existed already for a very long time.” Some had continued to function right along, while others have been “reactivated” by the Putin regime. Still others, including those involving the extreme French right are relatively new and not surprisingly, these have attracted the most attention.

            One can understand this network only by putting it in the context of the fact, Vaissie observes, that “in France Russia has always been admired as a mysterious country and the subject of various kinds of fantasies which are easy to use to attract new supporters” in specific contexts.

            One of these notions widespread among the French is that “Russia and its leaders are a single whole.”  That is not true as the Kremlin does not represent the Russian people now or at many points in the past. But the willingness of the French to accept this equivalence makes it easier for Moscow to organize support networks.

            Lenin did so after 1917. Stalin and his successors followed this up and ensured that the French would ignore reports about Soviet crimes and justify or at least not condemn actions like the suppression of the Hungarian uprising in 1956 or the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the French scholar continues.

            Prior to the end of the USSR, Moscow relied on the French communist party, but now it seeks support “above all on the extreme right flank” of the French political system by providing loans or other aid to the National Front – although, Vaissie notes, Russian agents of influence have not forgotten the extreme left.

            All countries seek to promote their interests abroad. The problem of Russia’s efforts in this regard lies in the fact that “many of the Russians assigned by the Kremlin for the development of Franco-Russian relations are ‘former’ KGB officers. But as Vladimir Putin has said, in this profession, there are no ‘former’ people.”

            Moscow has used money to advance its interests, but “one should not think that all of the supporters of the Kremlin in France have been purchased.  People sincerely support the policy of the Russian authorities” because of the way Moscow’s agents present Russian goals, as defenders of tradition for the right, as anti-American for the left, and so on.

            Vaissie describes the three major public organizations Moscow uses to spread its influence within French elites: the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots in France, the Franco-Russia Dialogue which is headed by a Russian security officer, and the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation headed by Natalya Narochnitskaya.

            The French scholar says she was pleased to discover in the course of writing her book that while politicians and business people are often attracted to Moscow’s messages, very few French intellectuals are, at least in comparison with the 1930s and 1970s, and that “85 percent of the French have a negative opinion about the Russian authorities and Vladimir Putin.” 

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Weeks after ‘pullout’ from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever - The Washington Post

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Weeks after ‘pullout’ from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever

 April 12 at 5:00 AM
 Russia portrayed last month’s drawdown from Syria as a victory and a homecoming, after a six-month deployment in which its air force turned the tide of the long-running conflict. So it was a surprise this week that Russian state outlets quietly reported that powerful new Russian helicopters were seeing Syrian combat for the first time.
Even after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sudden March 14 announcement that cut short Russia’s Syrian deployment, officials said they would maintain a muscular presence on twin air and naval bases in coastal Syria. But the current level of activity would suggest that the pullout has been minor at best, despite last month’s fanfare and Russian officials’ insistence that they have withdrawn from Syria. Returning aviators were greeted with bouquets and brass bands, while military officials declared victory.
The discrepancy leaves the Kremlin running a large-scale intervention in Syria’s bitter five-year conflict even as Russia’s powerful state media insists otherwise. The extent of the Russian activities on the ground is a sign that the Kremlin has little intention of dialing back support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, despite initial suggestions that he was backing away, analysts say. Russia also does not appear ready to cede space in Syria to other nations operating in the skies and on the ground, including the United States.
The Kremlin has portrayed its Syrian operations as successful in helping Russia elbow its way back to the international negotiating table after the isolation that followed its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. It appears committed to holding on to its spot.
“Our active efforts in combating international terrorism have gone some way to improve our relations with the leading powers,” Putin said Thursday.
Now, Russian minesweepers are checking Palmyra’s ancient ruins for explosives. Russian military advisers are whipping Syrian government forces into shape and planning attacks. Russian special forces are on the front lines, calling in targeting information for airstrikes. Russian warships continue to steam through the Bosphorus and deliver supplies to Assad.
The activity comes in a nation with a bitter history of far-flung military operations: The Soviet Union’s Afghanistan intervention helped hasten the Soviet system’s demise. But Putin, by announcing the pullout, has lowered the stakes for Russia’s Syrian deployment while easing some of the pressure that had built over more than five months of a grueling operational tempo, diplomats and analysts say.
Even if the activities remain the same, the goals appear to have changed. Putin said in September that Russia was going to defeat the Islamic State. This week, he said that Russia had fulfilled its goals in Syria – which he said were to keep Assad in power and strike a blow against Assad’s opponents.
Russia’s combat sorties have dropped since the peak of the Russian airstrike effort in February. At one point, Russia was flying nearly 100 sorties a day. It was flying 20 to 25 late last month in its campaign to take Palmyra back from the Islamic State, according to a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman.
“Now there is the beginning of a peaceful process, but unfortunately the peaceful process will stop if Russia stops military activities,” said Vladimir Yevseyev, a Middle East military expert at the Moscow-based Center for Social and Political Studies who has tracked Russian military activity in Syria.
But if warplanes have stilled their engines, helicopters are taking a newly prominent role in the fighting. Last month, the Kremlin-owned Sputnik news website said that brand-new Mil Mi-28N attack helicopters fired antitank missiles against Islamic State armored vehicles near Palmyra.
And last week, Russian Kamov Ka-52 “Alligator” helicopters took part in the Syrian government effort to retake al-Qaryatayn, a central Syrian city in between Damascus and Palmyra, Sputnik reported. Syrian state news published a video of the combat. The Ka-52 helicopters are an advanced, highly maneuverable aircraft.
The helicopters “are tested there now, yes, and they show very good results,” said Ivan Konovalov, a military analyst who is the director of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Conjunctures. “The targets that are set for them are destroyed.”
Western diplomats, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments, said they believe about one-third of the Russian fixed-wing aircraft were pulled from Syria in the days after the withdrawal announcement; they are unsure when the helicopters were sent.
The current Russian military activity is broadly considered in keeping with a late February cease-fire because it is supporting the fight against the Islamic State, which was not included in the truce. Russian forces have held to the cease-fire, even as forces loyal to Assad have not, officials say.
Russian officials have also offered fresh clarity about the extent to which Syrian government advances since last fall were the product of their assistance. Russian military advisers embedded with the Syrian army on the ground after the beginning of Russian operations in September, said Col. Gen. Alexander Dvornikov, the commander of Russian forces in Syria, in an interview late last month with Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the official newspaper of the Russian government.
“Our advisers were most actively involved in planning combat operations, and that surely helped to improve the situation,” Dvornikov said. The advisers also help during combat and train Syrian forces on how to use Russian equipment, Dvornikov said.
Dvornikov also made the first official acknowledgment that Russian special forces were operating on the ground in Syria, after months in which Russia insisted that it was only operating in Syrian skies. The special forces do reconnaissance of possible targets, call in airstrikes and perform “other special tasks,” he said.
So far, six Russian servicemen are officially acknowledged to have died during combat in Syria, and Russian media have reported on an additional two dead men who may have been working for private military contractors. The Russian Defense Ministry recently posted a tender commissioning 10,000 medals for participation in the Syrian operations.
At least two battalions, or 800 people, of Russian troops are expected to remain in Syria long-term, said Viktor Ozerov, the chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, immediately after the pullout announcement. Russia has long had a small military presence at its Tartus naval base on the Syrian coast. It now also operates the Khmeimim air base, in Latakia province, where it plans to leave in place its S-400 anti-aircraft weapon system, which gives Russia effective control over Syrian airspace. And it can redeploy its warplanes in a matter of hours.
That Putin announced the pullback at all may be a sign that he was cautious about overcommitting to Syria, said Ruslan Pukhov, a military analyst who leads the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
“Putin understands his voters, the Russian people, much better than any leader before him till Stalin,” Pukhov said. “We have a painful experience of Afghanistan. The first signs that people were worried, they already appeared.”
Michael Birnbaum is The Post’s Moscow bureau chief. He previously served as the Berlin correspondent and an education reporter.
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New poll finds young Arabs are less swayed by the Islamic State - The Washington Post

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New poll finds young Arabs are less swayed by the Islamic State

 April 12 at 3:00 AM
Two years after proclaiming a new “caliphate” for Muslims in the Middle East, the Islamic State is seeing a steep slide in support among the young Arab men and women it most wants to attract, a new poll shows.
Overwhelming majorities of Arab teens and young adults now strongly oppose the terrorist group, the survey suggests, with nearly 80 percent ruling out any possibility of supporting the Islamic State, even if it were to renounce its brutal tactics.
A year ago, about 60 percent expressed that view, according to the 16-country survey released Tuesday.
“Tacit support for the militant group is declining,” concludes a summary report by the poll’s sponsor, ASDA’A Burson-Marsteller, a public relations firm that has tracked young Arabs’ views in annual surveys for the past nine years. Other recent surveys have found similarly high disapproval rates for the Islamic State among general populations in Muslim-majority countries.
The new poll, based on face-to-face interviews with 3,500 respondents ages 18 to 24, suggests that young Arabs are both increasingly fearful of the terrorist group and less swayed by its propaganda, compared with previous years. More than half the participants ranked the Islamic State as the No. 1 problem facing the Middle East, and 3 out of 4 said they believed that the group would ultimately fail in its quest to establish an Islamic caliphate in Iraq and Syria.
The survey suggests that religious fervor plays a secondary role, at best, when young Arabs do decide to sign up with the Islamic State. When asked why Middle Easterners join the group, the participants listed joblessness or poor economic prospects as the top reason. Only 18 percent cited religious views — a “belief that their interpretation of Islam is superior to others” — and nearly as many picked sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiites as the chief motivating factor.
Young Arabs from countries with high unemployment rates were more likely to list economic hardship as a top reason for wanting to join the Islamic State, the survey found. The results align with the findings of other researchers who have noted that many recruits use religion mostly as a rationalization.
“Members do not say they join for economic reasons, but other factors they identify — including ones related to religious reasons — could be a proxy of economic or social factors,” Hassan Hassan, an Islamic State expert at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said in an analysis of the survey’s findings. “In other words, members may consciously or unconsciously conceal true motives.”
The survey, taken in January and February of this year, also shows growing disillusionment with the Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2011. Of the 16 countries in the poll, only in Egypt did a majority describe their homeland as better off now than it was five years ago. Overall, the share of survey participants who said they have seen improving conditions since the uprisings dropped from 72 percent in 2012 to 36 percent this year.
Accordingly, respondents tended to rank stability over democracy as a coveted virtue for an Arab state. For the fifth straight year, young Arabs picked the United Arab Emirates as the top country to live in, with a 22 percent ranking, followed by the United States, with 15 percent.
Arab youth were generally mixed in their views of the United States. More than 60 percent saw Washington as an ally, with the strongest positive rankings coming from Persian Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. By contrast, more than 90 percent of Iraqis regarded the United States as an enemy. Dislike for Washington was nearly as high in Yemen and in the Palestinian territories, and more than half of Lebanese youth said they saw the United States as an enemy.
The margin of error for the survey was 1.65 percent.
Joby Warrick joined the Post’s national staff in 1996. He has covered national security, intelligence and the Middle East, and currently writes about the environment.
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Why the Russian Economy Is Tumbling - The New York Times

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Budget balance

+1
Surplus
0
In trillions of rubles
-1
A global recession weakened Russia’s economy.
Experts suggest this crisis is more alarming.
Deficit
-2
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Source: Russian Ministry of Finance

Depending on Oil Revenue

One reason for Russia’s current economic situation is the sharp decline in global oil prices since June 2014. “Russia’s economy never diversified away from oil and raw materials export dependence,” Kimberly Marten, a political science professor at Barnard College and Columbia University, said in a recent email. In 2015, oil and gas accounted for 43 percent of the government’s revenue.
Federal revenue by source
Oil and gas
All other sources
100
%
80
60
40
20
0
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Source: Russian Ministry of Finance

Sanctions and a Falling Ruble

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, the European Union and the United States used economic sanctions to target Russia’s financial, energy and defense sectors. Western sanctions have multiplied the effect of the low oil prices, said Robert Kahn, an international economics senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Russia has very little debt, but sanctions have made it difficult for the country to borrow on international capital markets.Additionally, the ruble has fallen nearly 50 percent against the dollar since August 2014. This has depressed the standard of living across Russia, because a weaker ruble makes imports more expensive. Russia countered Western sanctions with import bans on various food products, leading to a smaller supply of those goods and further rising prices.The World Bank predicts the poverty rate will reach 14.2 percent in 2016.
0
rubles per dollar
20
40
Value of the ruble
60
APRIL 7
68.5
rubles per
dollar
80
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
Source: Central Bank of Russia

Expanding the Military

On March 14, President Vladimir V. Putin announced that he would immediately begin pulling troops from Syria, reducing a military intervention that has cost Russia $482 million so far.Increased defense spending — at the expense of education, health care and infrastructure — has been a part of Russia’s return to the world stage. In 2008, Dmitri A. Medvedev, the president at the time,announced a program to modernize the country’s military by 2020. That overhaul, which has been expensive, included building new bases, conducting vast military exercises and updating equipment.Now, the expansion has ceased. Russia recently announced plans to decrease its defense budget by 5 percent this year.
$50
billion
Military budget
40
30
20
10
0
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
Source: IHS Jane’s

Dipping Into the Reserves

Russia maintains a Reserve Fund, which has been supported by excess oil revenue, to protect the federal budget from economic shocks. But the fund has fallen 45 percent since September 2014 as the government ran larger and larger deficits. The finance minister, Anton Siluanov, has said that the Reserve Fund could run out by 2017. Mr. Siluanov said in a recent interviewthat Russia may need to dip into its other money supply, the National Wealth Fund, which is used primarily to fund pensions. It now holds $73.18 billion and has been used recently for infrastructure projects and bank bailouts.
$
80
billion
60
Russia’s Reserve Fund
$50.6
billion
40
20
0
2014
July
2015
July
2016
Source: Russian Ministry of Finance
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Rosneft now Russia's most valuable company - Salt Lake Tribune

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Bloomberg

Rosneft now Russia's most valuable company
Salt Lake Tribune
Rosneft became Russia's most valuable company as its market capitalization exceeded that of natural-gas exporter Gazprom for the first time since its shares began trading in 2006. Rosneft stock rose 4.2 percent in London by 3:40 p.m., boosting the ...
Rosneft Surpasses Gazprom as Russia's Most Valuable CompanyBloomberg

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Рукопись Бориса Пастернака продана за 77,5 тысячи долларов - Российская Газета

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Российская Газета

Рукопись Бориса Пастернака продана за 77,5 тысячи долларов
Российская Газета
Рукопись Бориса Пастернака была продана в понедельник за 77,5 тысячи долларов на аукционе в Нью-Йорке. Она включает в себя заметки для романа "Доктор Живаго" и стихотворение, посвященное его музе Ольге Ивинской. Она вдохновила писателя на создание образа Лары в ...
Рукопись «Доктора Живаго» ушла с молотка за $77,5 тысИА REGNUM
Черновики Пастернака и редкое издание Чехова продали на аукционе в СШАИзвестия
Черновики "Доктора Живаго" продали с торгов в Нью-Йорке за $77 тыс.Интерфакс
ТАСС -НТВ.ru -РИА "VistaNews" -YakutiaMedia
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Syria Fighting Escalates Before Wednesday Peace Talks

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As diplomats work to set the stage for a new round of peace talks on Syria starting Wednesday in Geneva, the situation on the ground is increasingly violent. Government forces and their allies have clashed with opposition fighters in Aleppo, while Syrian airstrikes pounded rebel-held areas in Homs province. Zlatica Hoke reports.

Taliban Launches Anti-Government Spring Offensive

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The Taliban says it has launched its annual spring military offensive in Afghanistan, titled “Omari Operation.”  In a statement sent to reporters Tuesday, the Islamist insurgent group promised “large scale attacks on enemy positions, martyrdom-seeking (suicide) and tactical attacks against enemy strongholds and assassination of enemy commanders in urban centers.” The Taliban said the operation has been named after its deceased leader Mullah Omar, and is part of its 15-year-old “jihad against the American invasion” and effort to reestablish an Islamic system in Afghanistan.  “With the advent of spring it is again time for us to renew our Jihadi determination and operations,” the insurgent group said.  Taliban inflicted heavy losses in 2015 The Taliban inflicted heavy casualties on Afghan security forces during the 2015 fighting season, killing nearly 6,000 personnel, including soldiers and police, while another 14,000 were wounded. The militant group also captured more territory then at any point since it was ousted from power in 2001 for harboring al-Qaida. The U.S.-led military coalition ended its combat mission in 2014, leaving behind some 13,000-troops, mostly Americans, to train Afghan forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.  Afghan leaders blame the withdrawal of international forces for the battlefield and other losses but have vowed to evict Taliban insurgents from areas they now control and keep them from making advances this year.  Peace talks stalled The U.S., China and neighboring Pakistan all joined hands with Afghanistan to try to arrange peace talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government in early March to prevent the insurgents from launching the spring offensive.  But the Taliban refused to attend and there are fears this year’s fighting could see more bloodshed in the war-ravaged country. Afghanistan blames Pakistan Afghan officials in recent days have alleged that despite its efforts to help in Afghan peace efforts, Pakistan has not taken action against Taliban leaders and their sanctuaries on the other side of the border, charges Islamabad rejected. It is widely perceived that Taliban commanders are using Pakistani areas, including its southwestern border province of Baluchistan for directing hostilities in Afghanistan. The head of the Afghan intelligence agency recently told the national parliament that the neighboring country's military spy agency is behind the resurgent Taliban.   The insurgent group has made significant advances in the southern Helmand province, which borders Baluchistan. Local Afghan commanders say that five out of 14 districts of the largest poppy-producing Afghan province are under the Taliban's control, while fighting has been waging in several other districts.

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В убийстве медсестер в Петербурге подозревают пациентов госпиталя - РИА Новости

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РИА Новости

В убийстве медсестер в Петербурге подозревают пациентов госпиталя
РИА Новости
Сотрудники правоохранительных органов Санкт-Петербурга ищут троих пациентов Окружного военного госпиталя, подозреваемые проходили лечение в психиатрическом отделении, пояснили в пресс-службе Западного военного округа. Работа дежурной части. Архивное фото.
В военном госпитале в Санкт-Петербурге убили двух медсестерРБК
В петербургском военном госпитале убили двух медсестерBBC Russian
В военном госпитале Петербурга психбольные убили двух медсестер и сбежалиLenta.ru
Interfax Russia -Росбалт.RU -Радиостанция ЭХО МОСКВЫ -ИА REGNUM
Все похожие статьи: 122 »
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Waxwork Putin Shows Russia's Creeping Influence at EU Fringe - Bloomberg

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Bloomberg

Waxwork Putin Shows Russia's Creeping Influence at EU Fringe
Bloomberg 
“A further increase in Russian sentiment is possible,” said Jovo Bakic, a sociology professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. “And I wouldn't be surprised to see Vucic, after two or three years, changing his rhetoric if he sees that Russia ...

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В Сирии потерпел крушение российский вертолет - РБК

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РБК

В Сирии потерпел крушение российский вертолет
РБК
В Сирии в районе города Хомс разбился новейший боевой вертолет Ми-28Н «Ночной охотник» из состава российской группировки, участвующей в военной операции. Два пилота погибли, вертолет не был сбит, заявили в Минобороны. Ударный вертолет Ми-28Н «Ночной охотник» ...
Потерпевший крушение в Сирии Ми-28Н базировался БуденновскеВзгляд
Вертолет Ми-28Н ВКС РФ потерпел катастрофу в СирииТАСС
Россия потеряла в Сирии боевой вертолет Ми-28Ведомости
Интерфакс -Ura.ru -Вести.Ru -ИА REGNUM
Все похожие статьи: 142 »

Russian Military Helicopter Crashes In Syria

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Russia's Defense Ministry says a Russian military helicopter has crashed in Syria, killing two military personnel on board.

If The Goal Is To Defeat Islamic State, Don't Rely On Russia To Help 

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Three historic developments have taken place in Syria in the last month and a half. Any of these events could have substantial impact on the collective efforts to combat IS, but each of them is clouded in myth, distortion, and broken promises.

UPDATE 1-Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in Syria - Reuters

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RT

UPDATE 1-Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in Syria
Reuters
The crash is the third aircraft Russia has acknowledged losing in Syria. Turkey shot down aRussian Sukhoi-24 bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on Nov. 24 and a helicopter sent to rescue the pilots was then destroyed by rebels after landing ...
Mi-28N gunship crashes near Homs, both pilots dead – Russian Defense MinistryRT 
Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in Syria - agenciesDaily Mail
Russia's Night Hunter helicopter crashes in Syria, 2 pilots killedPravda
BBC News-Washington Post
all 48 news articles »

Weeks after 'pullout' from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever - Washington Post

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Washington Post

Weeks after 'pullout' from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever
Washington Post
MOSCOW — Russia portrayed last month's drawdown from Syria as a victory and a homecoming, after a six-month deployment in which its air force turned the tide of the long-running conflict. So it was a surprise this week that Russian state outlets ...
Syria Defies Russia in Bid to Keep AssadWall Street Journal
US needs Russia in Syria: Russian analystsRussia and India Report
'Time to build new Syria': Russian deputy defense minister speaks of op & peace in RT exclusiveRT
Sputnik International -TASS
all 141 news articles »
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The Daily Vertical: Putin's Crisis Menu (Transcript)

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Separatist leaders in Georgia's South Ossetia region have announced that they will hold a referendum on joining Russia in the coming months.
The Kremlin, meanwhile,says that Russian troops stationed in Moldova's pro-Moscow breakaway Transdniester region can't pull out of the region unless they are allowed to pass through Ukraine.
And in the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, Moscow is pretending to be a peacemaker, while at the same time continuing to arm both Armenia and Azerbaijan.
And then, of course, there's always Donbas, where the OSCE is reporting a significant increase in cease-fire violations amid fears that Moscow is preparing for a spring offensive.
Despite speculation in the Russian media that Vladimir Putin is preparing to turn inward and focus on domestic affairs, the Kremlin leader is clearly keeping his options open abroad.
And this is because given Russia's economic difficulties, it will be very difficult for Putin's team of spin doctors to put together a compelling domestic narrative for the upcoming political season.
So he's being careful to maintain a ready-made menu of foreign crises.
Putin has absolutely no domestic achievements to boast of since he returned to the Kremlin four years ago.
He owes his sky-high popularity and his very legitimacy to success in foreign affairs -- and he knows it. 
And for this reason, we should be keeping our eyes wide open for the next manufactured crisis.
Keep telling me what you think on The Power Vertical's Twitter feed and on our Facebook page.

The Daily Vertical: Putin's Crisis Menu

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The Daily Vertical is a video primer for Russia-watchers that appears Monday through Friday.

Weeks after ‘pullout’ from Syria, Russian military is as busy as ever 

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Russian helicopters, special forces and military advisers are still supporting Syria’s government.















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Кремль объяснил исключение Грызлова из совбеза - BBC Russian

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BBC Russian

Кремль объяснил исключение Грызлова из совбеза
BBC Russian
Пресс-секретарь Кремля Дмитрий Песков заявил, что бывший спикер Госдумы Борис Грызлов исключен из состава Совета безопасности в связи с тем, что слишком занят работой в контактной группе по мирному урегулированию конфликта на Украине. По словам Пескова, теперь сфера ...
Источник: Грызлов займется диалогом по УкраинеРИА Новости
Песков назвал причину исключения Грызлова из СовбезаРосбалт.RU
Вывод Грызлова из Совбеза в Кремле объяснили "украинскими делами"Московский комсомолец
Lenta.ru -ТАСС -Интерфакс -Газета.Ru
Все похожие статьи: 225 »

Russian Helicopter Crashes in Syria, Two Pilots Dead

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A Russian Mi-28 helicopter has crashed in Syria, killing two pilots on board, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

People's resilience helps Russia dodge deeper crisis - Reuters

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Reuters

People's resilience helps Russia dodge deeper crisis
Reuters
Despite declining living standards there were no large protests in Russia's regions last year and few predict there will be before a parliamentary vote in September that the pro-Putin UnitedRussia party is on course to win. Putin's approval ratings ...

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Oil Hits 2016 High Above $43 on Producer Meeting Hopes

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Oil reached a 2016 high above $43 a barrel on Tuesday, supported by hopes that an upcoming meeting of oil producers will agree steps to tackle a supply glut, and by a weak U.S. dollar and further signs of strong demand in China. Many members of OPEC plus outside producers such as Russia are meeting Doha, Qatar, on Sunday to discuss freezing output. The dollar fell to its lowest in nearly eight months against a basket of currencies, supporting commodities. Brent crude was up 50 cents at $43.33 a barrel at 0842 GMT and earlier in the session reached a 2016 high of $43.53. U.S. crude gained 39 cents to $40.75 a barrel. "The weak dollar is one important reason," said Eugen Weinberg of Commerzbank. "Also, the fact that we are above $40 and at multi-month highs is also contributing to the price increase as it is prompting some speculative buying." Also supporting prices was rising vehicle sales in China — a further sign of strong gasoline demand in the No. 2 consumer — and a plan by thousands of oil and gas workers in Kuwait to go on strike from Sunday. "If it is not clear if the strike will last long and will have any meaningful impact on exports or domestic production [including refineries], it does illustrate further the amount of pain that [Gulf] oil producers are also facing at current price levels," said Olivier Jakob, analyst at Petromatrix. Oil prices have collapsed from above $100 in mid-2014 due to oversupply. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' decision in November 2014 to abandon its traditional role of cutting output helped deepen the decline. In a sign that oversupply may be easing, the structure of the Brent crude market has strengthened and the discount at which the first-month contract is trading to the second – known as contango — has narrowed significantly. This is partly in response to oilfield maintenance in the North Sea in June that will reduce supply of the crudes underpinning the Brent benchmark. Crude gained a boost last week after a surprise decline in U.S. inventories from a record high. But this week's U.S. supply reports are expected to show an increase in stocks of 2.8 million barrels. Industry group the American Petroleum Institute is scheduled to release its report on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT), while the government's figures are due out on Wednesday.

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The Morning Vertical, April 12, 2016 

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ON MY MIND
Russian state television’s botched “expose” of opposition leader and anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny is telling on a number of levels. That the Kremlin would commission a hit job on Navalny isn’t surprising — they’ve been doing that for years. That they would accuse him of being in the employ of Western powers is also no shocker — it’s a standard talking point.
What it does show is that Vladimir Putin’s regime is very worried about the damage corruption allegations can do in the wake of the Panama Papers revelations; and that they’re worried about Navalny’s ability to document and spread information about official malfeasance.
But why would they do such a sloppy job of it? Why would they botch this hit job in such obvious and transparent ways? Perhaps it was a rush job, put together in haste after last week’s Panama Papers bombshell. Perhaps Putin’s vaunted propaganda machine is completely losing its mojo. Or perhaps, in a more sinister interpretation, the Kremlin just doesn’t care about being even close to convincing anymore. Perhaps the “expose” wasn’t meant to convince — but to send a signal. In which case, Navalny had best prepare for a high-stakes show trial.
IN THE NEWS
A Russian military helicopter has crashed in Syria, killing two military personnel.
France has frozen $1 billion in Russian assets in connection with a lawsuit by shareholders of the defunct Yukos oil company.
Reuters is reporting that Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko will not serve in the country’s new government.
Six NATO countries will send more than 1,000 troops to military exercises in Estonia in May.
President Vladimir Putin has removed Boris Gryzlov, the former speaker of the State Duma, from the Security Council. The move came days after Viktor Zolotov, who will head Russia’s new National Guard, was named a memberof the council.
Former Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin will reportedly draft a new economic program for Vladimir Putin.
A 3-meter-high bronze statue of bombastic Russian politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky has been unveiledin Moscow to mark his 70th birthday later this month.
WHAT I’M READING
Sanctions Bite
The Warsaw-based Center for Eastern Studies has a new report out on the effect of sanctions on the Russian economy.
“Although they are not the deciding factor, the Western financial sanctions are nevertheless an important factor affecting the deteriorating economic situation in Russia,” the authors write. “They have significantly undermined the opportunities which Russian companies have to attract foreign capital, thus contributing to the deterioration of their financial condition (which is particularly prominent in the case of energy firms subject to sanctions). Therefore, Russian businesses need more support from the state. However, this support is becoming more difficult due to the dramatic fall in oil prices — revenues from oil exports are the main source of budget revenue.”
Exposing the Navalny ‘Expose’
Russian bloggers and journalists continue to point out discrepancies and inaccuracies in Russian state television’s broadcast alleging that opposition leader and anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny is a paid agent of U.S. and British intelligence.
Here are rundowns from Insider magazineMeduza, and RFE/RL’s Moscow correspondent Tom Balmforth.
The death of a Cosmonaut 
Today marks the 55th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yury Gagarin’s historic first-ever orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961.
NPR has a sad and creepy story about Gagarin’s close friend Vladimir Komarov, a cosmonaut who died in the failed Soyuz-1 mission in April 1967.
“So there’s a cosmonaut up in space, circling the globe, convinced he will never make it back to Earth; he’s on the phone with Alexei Kosygin — then a high official of the Soviet Union — who is crying because he, too, thinks the cosmonaut will die.”
Read the rest here.
The Death of a Journalist
What does it mean when a Russian man with no known enemies, a journalist covering cultural affairs, is killed in his apartment with no sign of forced entry? Journalist and author Masha Gessen has this moving piece in The New York Times on The Art Of Reading A Russian Obituary.
Karabakh Machinations
RosBalt interviews Caucasus expert Sergei Markedonov on how the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh went “from from bad to worse.”
The Open Wall looks at “how Russia is playing both sides against the middle” in Karabakh.
Meanwhile, In Ukraine
On the Atlantic Council’s website, Anders Aslund takes a look at the economics of Ukraine’s political crisis.
Ukraine, meanwhile, is preparing to make its Soviet KGB archives available online.
Putin Loves His Nukes
Vladimir Putin’s absence at the recent nuclear summit in Washington raised eyebrows. Simon Shuster has a good piece in Newsweek on why Putin isn’t interested in arms control and why Russia is rebuilding its nuclear arsenal.
The Art of Electronic Warfare
Russia has been steadily expanding its electronic-warfare capabilities. The Jamestown Foundationtakes a look at the the book Radioelektronaya Borba (Electronic Warfare), by a group of Russian defense experts.
Read the whole story
 
· · · ·

Effort to Impeach Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff Clears Congressional Panel 

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Supporters of the Brazilian leader are now scrambling ahead of a floor vote in the lower house of Parliament.

US Navy officer charged with spying

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A US Navy officer is charged with espionage, accused of passing military secrets to China and Taiwan.

Congressional Panel Recommends Impeachment for Brazilian President Rousseff 

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A Brazilian congressional committee Monday recommended that President Dilma Rousseff face impeachment for alleged corruption. The panel voted 38-27 in favor of the motion and will now send its recommendation to the entire lower house. A two-thirds majority is needed there for a trial in the Senate. The lower house is expected to vote within a week and political observers say the outcome is too close to call. Rousseff is accused of hiding the details of the poor state of the...

Body parts found in recycling bin identified as belonging Seattle nurse who went missing after baseball game date - New York Daily News

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New York Daily News

Body parts found in recycling bin identified as belonging Seattle nurse who went missing after baseball game date
New York Daily News
Body parts found Saturday in a recycling bin outside of a Seattle home belong to a local woman who went missing the night before, police said Monday night. Friends and family hadn't seen Ingrid Lyne, a 40-year-old nurse and mother of three from nearby ...
Body parts in Seattle recycling bin identified as those of missing motherThe Seattle Times
Mother of Three Goes Missing After Date With Man She Met Online in SeattlePeople Magazine
Police: Human remains found in Seattle tentatively ID'd as missing Renton mom of 3; suspect arrestedQ13 FOX
KTLA -KIRO Seattle -CBS News -fox6now.com
all 30 news articles »
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Page 7

The Boston Globe defends its anti-Trump mock front page

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From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 03:43

Boston Globe editorial board member tells 'On the Record' why it stands by satirical take on a potential Donald Trump presidency

Over 400 protesters arrested at U.S. Capitol 

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From: ReutersVideo
Duration: 00:33

Police say the more than 400 people protesting government corruption at the U.S. capitol were arrested for "unlawfu protest activity'. Gavino Garay reports.
Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/reuterssubscribe
More updates and breaking news: http://smarturl.it/BreakingNews
Reuters tells the world's stories like no one else. As the largest international multimedia news provider, Reuters provides coverage around the globe and across topics including business, financial, national, and international news. For over 160 years, Reuters has maintained its reputation for speed, accuracy, and impact while providing exclusives, incisive commentary and forward-looking analysis.

Pentagon cuts put a squeeze on Army towns

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A fast-shrinking U.S. Army squeezes military towns and the people in them in unforeseeable ways.
     

U.S. General Calling For 'Apolitical' Troops As White House Race Heats Up

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The U.S. military's top general has a message for American troops as the race for the White House heats up: Stay out of politics.

Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago Notes Sell For $77,500 In New York Auction 

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Handwritten notes by Russian author Boris Pasternak for two chapters of Doctor Zhivago, his acclaimed novel set against the tumult of the Bolshevik Revolution, sold for $77,500 at a New York auction on April 11.

More than 40 Belgian riot police hold back Armenians in Brussels - AZERTAC News

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AZERTAC News

More than 40 Belgian riot police hold back Armenians in Brussels
AZERTAC News
On 11 April, more than 50 Azerbaijanis brought the truth of the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and the seven surrounding regions to the door of the Armenian Embassy in Brussels with a peaceful demonstration. The response was so potentially ...

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