"We’ve made mistakes. We will make more mistakes… One last point. Of all the opportunities my life has given me, and I have been blessed with so many, I am most proud of having once been a soldier." - Chuck Hagel | "The Pentagon has expressed deep concern about the US eventually losing its military technological superiority over rivals such as China and Russia, and is urging NATO states to develop innovative weapons in close cooperation to optimize military spending." - US may lose high-tech military superiority to China, Russia by The European Union Times | McCain to Kissinger protesters: 'Get out of here, you low-life scum' - USA TODAY
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Obama’s Awkward Farewell to Hagel by Mark Thompson
Wednesday afternoon marked another one of those painful spectacles, where someone being forced out of the national spotlight was forced to grin and bear it as the person responsible for forcing him out publicly sang his praises. This time it featured President Obama hailing the brief, two-year tenureof Chuck Hagel, his third defense secretary.
Hagel—who will hang around the Pentagon for weeks until his successor, Ashton Carter, is confirmed—has spent recent days prowling the bowels of the Pentagon, thanking the unseen and unheralded for their work.
While the two men haven’t spelled out precisely what went wrong, disagreements over policies involving Syria and the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are often cited. And Hagel’s body language since the White House shoved him out Nov. 24, made Wednesday’s formal sendoff in an Army hall not far from the Pentagon particularly awkward.
Obama: In October of 1967, President Lyndon Johnson traveled to a military base in New Mexico to review a top secret weapons program. And he went down to the White Sands Missile Range and out to the testing grounds. There, out in the desert, the president watched as soldiers demonstrated what would later become the famed Stinger Missile. And one of those soldiers was a 21-year old private from Nebraska named Charles Timothy Hagel. Now, the Secret Service does not usually let me get too close to an active weapons system. It makes them nervous…And let me assure you that I checked with the Secret Service, and Chuck will not be demonstrating any missile launches today…Thanks to Secretary Hagel’s guiding hand, this institution is better positioned for the future. But Chuck, I want to suggest today that perhaps your greatest impact, a legacy that will be felt for decades to come, has been your own example. It’s not simply that you’ve been the first enlisted combat veteran and first Vietnam veteran to serve as secretary of defense, it’s how your life experience: being down in the mud, feeling the bullets fly overhead, has allowed you to connect with our troops like no other secretary before you.
At least some observers found Obama’s “joke” about Stingers off-key, given the fragging that went on in Vietnam. Hagel, who declined to attend the White House ceremony at which Obama announced Carter as his successor, however, dutifully took the podium and was gracious.
Hagel: Mr. President…thank you for being here today… I will soon leave this job that I have cherished… The opportunity to have been a part of all this is something I could not have imagined when I joined the Army 48 years ago… We’ve made mistakes. We will make more mistakes… One last point. Of all the opportunities my life has given me, and I have been blessed with so many, I am most proud of having once been a soldier.
In the end, everyone was glad it was over.
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Reports say contractors had been bought in to reinforce a building that was part of the film after producers said it was unsafe.
 Chron.com |
1 killed, 6 hurt as fire rips through San Francisco building
Chron.com SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Authorities say one person was killed and at least six people were injured when a massive fire ripped through a building in San Francisco's trendy Mission District. Smoke and flames shot out of the mixed-used building Wednesday ... and more » |
Russian authorities say a deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis has been detained on suspicion of organizing "mass disorder" in the regional capital, Simferopol, last year.
BUENOS AIRES — There were candles, roses and black banners that read, “We are all Nisman,” but the crowd that assembled for the prosecutor’s wake was too angry to be solemn.“Assassin! Assassin!” people chanted as government drivers tried to wedge their tinted sedans through the throng.Read full article >>
Dozens of people have reportedly been injured after a fuel truck exploded next to a maternity hospital in Mexico City.
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MEXICO CITY (AP) -- A gas tank truck exploded outside a maternity and children's hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, collapsing much of it. At least one person was reported dead and dozens injured....
Chinese Woman Sues Government Over Forced Abortionby webdesk@voanews.com (Shannon Van Sant)
Chinese protesters have long petitioned the central government for help and to address wrongs committed by local officials in their home communities. But a recent case of a woman who sued the government instead of petitioning for help could mark the beginning of a new trend. Xia Runying, who lives in rural Jiangxi Province, filed a lawsuit against the Chinese government over her forced sterilization. While a Chinese court declined to hear her suit this month, analysts note...
Ukrainian Pilot In Russian Custody Transferred To Prison Hospital by noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL)
A lawyer for Nadia Savchenko, a Ukrainian military pilot who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian jail since mid-December, has been transferred to a prison hospital due to severe weight loss.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - An explosion rocked a maternity hospital on Thursday in the western part of Mexico City when a gas truck ignited, destroying a large part of the building, with media reporting that one person was killed.
 The Moscow Times |
France Says EU to Move to Increase Sanctions on Russia
ABC News France says European Union sanctions against separatists in eastern Ukraine and their Russian backers will be reinforced in an attempt to force all sides back to the negotiating table. French European Affairs Minister Harlem Desir said ahead of Thursday's ... Polish Defense Minister Says Ukraine Peace Hopes FadingWall Street Journal EU to expand Ukraine sanctions blacklist: FranceThe Daily Star Ukraine used as wedge between Russia, EUXinhua Sputnik International -Financial Times -Nasdaq all 448 news articles » |
Explosion at Mexico City children's hospital leaves dozens injured by Associated Press in Mexico City
Reports say at least one person dead after gas tanker exploded outside the hospital in the west of the capital
A gas tank truck exploded outside a maternity and children’s hospital in Mexico City on Thursday, collapsing much of it. At least one person was reported dead and dozens injured.
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera told MVS radio that the body of a woman was found inside the hospital. He earlier told the Televisa network that at least 54 people were injured, 22 of them children.
Al menos 54 heridos por la explosión a las afueras del Hospital de #Cuajimalpa #México vía@siempre889 pic.twitter.com/HRktlJgnMe
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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Stig Bergling, one of Sweden's most notorious Cold War spies who sold details of its defenses to the Soviet Union in the 1970s, has died at the age of 77, Swedish media reported on Thursday.
 Reuters |
Death toll mounts in intense clashes in east Ukraine
Reuters KIEV (Reuters) - Five Ukrainian soldiers and three civilians have been killed as a result of fighting in Ukraine's separatist eastern regions in the past 24 hours, Kiev authorities said on Thursday, reporting no let-up in violent clashes with pro-Russian rebels. The Moscow Times: Russian mom faces treason charges for call to Ukrainian ...Kyiv Post Rebels besiege Ukrainian townPhilly.com War of words between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels heats upCBS News all 303 news articles » |
Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said dozens of women and children were evacuated from the site, some with cuts from glass.
It’s Bob Dylan’s turn to take on the Great American Songbook – and he manages to make it utterly his own
It’s obviously up against some stiff competition from lingerie adverts and festive albums that came with free Christmas cards, but there’s an argument that Shadows in the Night may be the most improbable moment yet in Bob Dylan’s latterday career. By releasing a collection of standards from the Great American Songbook, Dylan, presumably inadvertently, joins in a trend begun 14 years ago by Robbie Williams. Ever since Williams proved that you could sell 7m copies of Swing When You’re Winning to an audience who’d never previously evinced much interest in the work of Cole Porter or Johnny Mercer, the Great American Songbook album has become a kind of sine qua non among rock stars of a certain vintage. They’ve all been at it, from Paul McCartney to Carly Simon to Linda Ronstadt. Rod Stewart seemed to treat the whole business less like a canny career move than a terrible endurance test to inflict on the general public. By the time he released his fifth Great American Songbook collection, you got the feeling that even the most indefatigable fan of the jazzy standard was on the floor tearfully pleading for mercy, and in danger of developing a nervous twitch brought on by the opening chords of Mack the Knife.
However, Dylan has latterly made a career out of doing the exact opposite of what most of his peers do. They dutifully tour their big hits, or perform classic albums in order; he takes to the stage and either brilliantly reinterprets his back catalogue or wilfully mangles it beyond repair, depending on whether you’re the kind of critic who gets whole paragraphs out of a change of syllabic emphasis in the lyrics of All Along the Watchtower or an audience member who’s heard three-quarters of Like a Rolling Stone without realising it’s Like a Rolling Stone. They make albums that cravenly attempt to conjure up the atmosphere of their best-loved classic works; he makes albums that conjure up a world before Bob Dylan existed – filled with music that sounds like blues or rockabilly or country from an age when pop was as yet untouched by his influence.
Continue reading...Dozens Wounded in Gas Explosion at Mexico City Hospitalby By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
Rescue workers at the site of a gas explosion at Hospital Materno Infantil on the western outskirts of Mexico City on Thursday.
 V3.co.uk |
UK government: Data from police killings probes lost in mail
Washington Post LONDON — The British government says files from three judge-led inquiries — two of them into killings by police — have been lost in the mail. The Justice Ministry said Thursday that two discs containing documents were reported missing Jan. 8 “having been ... Mark Duggan documents lost in the post, ministers admitTelegraph.co.uk MoJ: sensitive files about police shootings go missingChannel 4 News Files On Police Shootings Lost In PostSky News Portadown Times -The Guardian -V3.co.uk all 19 news articles » |
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CNN |
3 dead in Mexico maternity hospital blast
CNN (CNN) At least three people have died after an explosion Thursday at a hospital southwest of Mexico City, civil protection officials said. The maternity hospital is on the verge of collapsing after a natural gas explosion, emergency officials said. At least 54 ... Gas blast at children's hospital in Mexico City leaves dozens injured; at least 3 ...Fox News 3 dead, dozens injured as gas explosion damages Mexican hospitalLos Angeles Times Victims Likely Trapped After Deadly Explosion at Mexico City Children's HospitalABC News New York Times -Reuters -WPTZ The Champlain Valley all 105 news articles » |
While the 2012 Republican nominee assails her record, the former US secretary of state is giving serious thought to starting her 2016 presidential run in July
The Republican gloves are off, now that the 2016 US presidential election is less than 650 days away. Hillary Clinton’s move? Sit back and enjoy the fight, apparently.
Mitt Romney came out swinging on Wednesday night in Mississippi, talking directly about Clinton in his most overtly presidential-sounding and combative remarks since he last campaigned for the White House, questioning the former secretary of state’s foreign policy record and her economic agenda.
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CNN's Fred Pleitgen looks at the dangers and repercussions of doing a prisoner exchange with a terrorist organization.
US may lose high-tech military superiority to China, Russiaby The European Union Times
The Pentagon has expressed deep concern about the US eventually losing its military technological superiority over rivals such as China and Russia, and is urging NATO states to develop innovative weapons in close cooperation to optimize military spending.
“I am very concerned about the increasing risk of loss of US military technological superiority,” Pentagon arms buyer Frank Kendall told a House Armed Services Committee hearing. “We’re at risk and the situation is getting worse,” he warned, specifying that his concerns lay with the heavy investments into weapons design being done by China and Russia.
Kendall noted that development of aircraft carriers and satellite technologies by China and Russia was targeting “critical” US military capabilities, Reuters reported.
In a separate hearing at the House Armed Services Committee, US Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work announced Wednesday that “bold action” was needed to keep the US’s lead in technology as China, Russia and other countries are rapidly developing weapon systems of their own.
The US must “increase collaboration” equally with NATO members, and allies in Asia and other areas when investing into new weapons.
“We must coordinate and collaborate, avoid duplication, leverage niche capabilities, and push our establishments to innovate in technology, concepts, experimentation and wargaming,” Work told a conference hosted by the Center for a New American Security.
Work also called on representatives of NATO members to keep their promise given last year and spend 2 percent of GDP on defense.
Extensive collaboration with allies worldwide is a part of America’s new plan, dubbed “Defense Innovation Initiative” (DII), which aims to ensure US decisive technical military superiority against potential enemies.
Leading manufacturers in America’s defense industry, including Boeing and Lockheed Martin, have repeatedly urged the Pentagon to allocate more investments into developing new technologies.
In response, the Pentagon unveiled its Defense Innovation Initiative program.
The plan was presented in November 2014 by US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.
“It will put resources behind innovations,” Hagel said on November 15 at a national defense conference at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation in Simi Valley, California. The budget for the new initiative was not publicly specified.
Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work was appointed to lead a group of senior Pentagon officials to lead on the DII plan.
Two months later, speaking at the House Armed Services Committee, Work has also not revealed the budget behind the DII plan. He said the investments are going to be “significant” and into multiple means of military hardware, from nuclear weapons, space control capabilities, missile defense and cyber warfare, together with high-speed strike weapons, unmanned undersea vehicles, advanced sensors, and high-energy lasers and railgun technology.
In turn, Kendall revealed that DoD has allocated special-purpose funding for designing of a new “next-generation X-plane” to eventually succeed the F-35 fighter jet, as well as a new engine for it.
Work mentioned that a number of key technologies, such as robotics and autonomous operations, are going to be elaborated by commercial companies in various regions.
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US Congress mulls sanctions against Argentinaby The European Union Times
The death of Argentina’s Federal Prosecutor Alberto Nisman who had accused the country’s President Cristina Kirchner of attempting to cover-up the bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center back in 1994, stirred up a new dispute with the United States after Buenos Aires decided to carry out an independent investigation into the death and rejected the US Republicans’ demands to sever diplomatic ties with Iran whom they hold accountable for the attack despite evidence proved otherwise. The prosecutor who had been investigating the bombing since a decade ago was found dead at his home on Sunday.
Senator Marco Rubio, who had a close relationship with Nisman, along with other republican congressmen, announced plans for pushing a bill to impose sanctions against Argentina ranging from diplomatic visa cancellation to federal assets freezing if the country decides to continue its cooperation with Iran.
Senator Marco Rubio had invited Nisman last year for a hearing at the US Congress, which was called off by the Argentine president. Last December, the AMIA case defense attorney Juan Gabriel Labaké accused Nisman of an act of treason against the country.
Some US media outlets such as “The Washington Times” joined the campaign launched by Senator Rubio and alleged that Argentina doesn’t have a moral stand to carry out an independent investigation and called for a joint international task force to do so.
The death of the Federal Prosecutor Nisman is another controversy in the turbulent and, at times, tense ties between the Washington and Buenos Aires. Argentinean lawmakers say any US congress sanction will erode the already ailing bilateral relationship.
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KABUL – Many Afghans would like to see a greater American role after this year than is currently planned, while a majority believe that last year’s runoff election that led to a U.S.-brokered power-sharing government was “mostly fraudulent,” according to a national poll released Thursday.Read full article >>
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Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine have destroyed railway tracks believed to be used by pro-Russian separatists to transfer supplies. Report by Victoria Laurence.
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- More remains found after search of area
- Police seeking person of interest but decline to release information
San Francisco police found a dismembered body when they opened a suitcase abandoned on a downtown street and then made another gruesome discovery when they uncovered more body parts nearby.
Police spokeswoman Grace Gatpandan said on Thursday that it is unclear if all the remains belong to one person. She says investigators have a rough description of a suspect but are not releasing additional details because the investigation is ongoing.
Continue reading...Westminster council rejects Qatari royal family’s plans for £200m palace by Robert Booth and Tim Clark
Application to knock through homes to create lavish 17-bedroom palace has been refused by planning officer due to borough’s homes shortage
Qatar’s royal family may have this week snapped up Canary Wharf for £2.6bn, adding to its London portfolio of Harrods and the Shard skyscraper, but the Gulf billionaires’ property spree has finally run into a dead end – a humble town hall bureaucrat.
In a rare act of resistance against the tide of Qatari petro-dollars that has swept through London’s real estate market, a planning officer at Westminster city council, Matthew Rees, has said that the family’s plans to create a British palace worth an estimated £200m will be refused.
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Government is reviving legislation to block websites ahead of court orders
The Kremlin has lashed out at Warsaw over plans for a meeting in Poland marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe.
Europe’s top lawmaker said Greece plans to find common ground with European partners in its bid to reverse austerity demanded by international creditors in exchange for rescue funding.
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Bill Gates Calls for “Global Government”by The European Union Times
Billionaire claims world government “badly needed” to save the earth.
Billionaire Bill Gates called for “a kind of global government” this week, arguing that the creation of such a system would be needed to combat major issues such as “climate change.”
Speaking with Germany’s “Süddeutsche Zeitung” newspaper Tuesday, Gates decried the fact that a proper United Nations system has failed to materialize as planned.
“You can make fun of it, but in truth it was sad how the conference in Copenhagen is run, how individual who behave like the UN system failed,” Gates said according to an English translation in the Huffington Post.
Gates went on to stress his position further, stating that a global government was “badly needed” in order to combat an array of issues ailing the planet.
“Take the UN, it has been created especially for the security in the world. We are ready for war, because we have taken every precaution. We have NATO, we have divisions, jeeps, trained people,” Gates said. “But what is with epidemics? How many doctors do we have as much planes, tents, what scientists? If there were such a thing as a world government, we would be better prepared.”
The billionaire made headlines last week after introducing a plan to implement a cashless system in multiple third-world countries, a program that would undoubtedly give financial elites total control over monetary systems.
Despite the media’s constant glowing portrayal of Gates, which is rooted in his funding of major news outlets, a look at many of the so-called philanthropist’s pet projects reveals his true nature.
Aside from his founding of computing giant Microsoft, a corporation which has worked hand in hand with the NSA to eviscerate privacy, Gates’ role in the destruction of health worldwide is made obvious by the companies he invests in.
A breakdown of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2012 tax return by Mother Jones reveals billions in funding to corporations such as Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Other groups receiving major cash include private prison company the GEO Group Inc., military contractor Dyncorp, a major player in human trafficking, and nearly every top oil company.
A major focus of the Gates Foundation has also been invested in vaccination campaigns, although Western media has completely ignored major ethical issues brought up by medical experts in countries such as India, where more than 47,500 children were paralyzed shortly after one of Gates’ campaigns.
Just last year, India’s Supreme Court began investigating Gates involvement in a vaccine trial that resulted in the deaths of several young girls.
Everything from gun control, Common Core and geoengineering, the practice of spraying toxic particles into the stratosphere to block the sun’s rays, has received millions in funding from Gates.
Gates has also taken heat for investing millions into biotech giant Monsanto, a corporation currently flooding foreign countries with genetically engineered crops.
In reality, the call for global government by Gates and other wealthy elitists has nothing to do with lifting up impoverished nations. Such a government would instead guarantee global surveillance, global wealth inequality and a world run by the exact corrupt interests currently consolidating wealth and power worldwide.
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Vatican to provide free haircuts for the homelessby Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome
The move by Pope Francis’s almoner follows plan unveiled last year to install toilets and showers for the homeless near St Peter’s Square
Homeless people in Rome will soon be able to head to the Vatican for a free shave and haircut.
The move, arranged by Pope Francis’s almoner, follows a plan unveiled last year to install toilets and showers for the homeless in a renovated area in the vicinity of St Peter’s Square.
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Residents flee the town of Svitlodarsk in eastern Ukraine after shelling by pro-Russian rebels. Duration: 01:26.
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From: AFP news agency
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Salman must navigate the opposing liberal and conservatives forces
A row has erupted over allegations by representatives of Rome's Jewish community that they were locked into the former Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland and treated "like real criminals" after filming a TV interview.
Mexico government announces 43 students are “definitely dead” by The European Union Times
The Mexican government says it is certain that the 43 students who went missing while at the hands of the local police force in the town of Iguala four months ago are dead. Despite only having definitive forensic proof of one of the students’ remains, authorities confirmed that all students were murdered, their bodies were burned and then dumped in a river close to the town where they disappeared.
The announcement is thought to be a reaction to mass protests in Mexico City on Monday night, when over fifty thousand people took to the streets to demand definitive action over the case.
The relatives and friends of the missing students continue to search the Guerrero State for the missing young people.
They claim that the government’s handling of the case has only worsened the situation, and that they have lost their confidence in authorities.
The confirmation by Mexican authorities that the 43 students were murdered is the first official statement acknowledging the violence.
The case has been disastrous for the government and only time will tell if the announcement by President Peña Nieto’s administration will put an end to the ongoing protests.
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Two UK Royal Air Force jets intercepted a pair of Russian bombers flying over the English Channel near British airspace this week, the British defense ministry said Thursday.
Ukraine Separatists Plan 'Summit Of Unrecognized States'by noreply@rferl.org (Glenn Kates)
The self-declared Donetsk People's Republic says it wants to host a summit of separatists, including participants from Texas, Venice and Spain's Basque region.
The Houthis see themselves now as having evolved from rebels into a broad-based voice against government oppression, corruption and incompetence.
OTTAWA (Reuters) - The wife of a Saudi rights activist, who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes last year, said Thursday her husband's health had worsened after the first round of flogging and that he could not possibly survive the full punishment.
Lukashenko forced to clarify comments after mistakenly saying country needs to restructure debt
A U.S. Senate committee has approved a bill that would apply new sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program.
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Azerbaijan Jails Journalist For Five Years For Hooliganismby noreply@rferl.org (RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service)
A journalist in Azerbaijan has been convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to five years in prison.
Civil aircraft had to be diverted when two Russian TU-95 'Bear' long-range bombers flew over the English Channel on Wednesday.
GAZA CITY — Judging by the orderly rows of hundreds of young wannabes lined up in crisp military fashion at their graduation ceremony here Thursday, the armed wing of the Islamist movement Hamas will have plenty of eager recruits this year.Read full article >>
 Telegraph.co.uk |
UK summons Russian ambassador after 'dangerous' bombers disrupt civil aircraft
Telegraph.co.uk Britain has summoned the Russian ambassador to explain why two Russian long-range bombers flew over the English Channel on Wednesday, causing civil aircraft to be diverted. The Typhoon fighters were ordered to fly alongside the long-range Russian ... London summons Russian envoy after bombers near UK airspaceWashington Post UK summons Russian ambassador after military aircraft disrupt civil aviationTimes of India Russian Envoy Summoned Over Disruption of UK Civil Aviation by Air ForceSputnik International wtvr.com all 59 news articles » |
USA TODAY |
McCain to Kissinger protesters: 'Get out of here, you low-life scum'
USA TODAY Sen. John McCain didn't mince words with the protesters who challenged Henry Kissinger at a Senate hearing. “Get out of here, you low-life scum,” McCain said to members of Code Pink, the anti-war group. Code Pink members chanted “Arrest Henry ... McCain rips protesters during Kissinger hearing, calls them 'low-life scum'Fox News 'Get Out of Here You Low-Life Scum': The John McCain Method for Handling ...TheBlaze.com Watch John McCain Call Kissinger Protesters 'Low-Life Scum'TIME The Week Magazine -New York Times all 65 news articles » |
 Reuters |
EU extends existing Russia sanctions but Greece brings doubt over new measures
Reuters BRUSSELS/KIEV (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers agreed on Thursday to extend existing sanctions against Russia by six months but were still debating whether to impose new measures, with the new government in Greece sowing uncertainty ... Cracks appear in EU over Russia sanctionsFinancial Times France says EU to move to increase sanctions on RussiaChron.com Dutch foreign minister: EU to extend first batch of sanctions against RussiaWashington Post The Daily Star -Newsweek -MSNBC all 571 news articles » |
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