Fireworks Show at Pearl Harbor Caps WWII Eventby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press) Sunday August 16th, 2015 at 11:42 AM
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Fireworks Show at Pearl Harbor Caps WWII Eventby webdesk@voanews.com (Associated Press)
The mayors of Honolulu and Nagoaka, Japan – two cities linked by World War Two – joined hundreds of people Saturday night to mark the 70th anniversary of the conflict's end by watching a spectacular 20-minute fireworks show. Part of Pearl Harbor, which is still an active naval base, opened to the public on Saturday for a display of Nagaoka's fireworks. Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and Nagoaka Mayor Tamio Mori honored the war's victims and celebrated 70 years of peace and...
Government Airstrikes on Syrian Market Kill More Than 80by BEN HUBBARD and MAHER SAMAAN
The death toll in Douma, a rebel-held territory, puts the incident among the deadliest air attacks during more than four years of conflict in Syria.
Yemeni fighters allied with a Saudi military coalition captured a strategic province, extending a series of victories against the Houthi rebels.
Erdogan launches missile attacks as conflict with PKK explodes after two years of calm
A group of women have gathered in the mountain pastures, a large herd of goats swarming around them. Some stir large pots of milk to make yoghurt, others prepare tea. As a missile is launched from a Turkish military outpost in the distance, they do not even look up at the sound.
“All we want, all we hope and pray for, is peace,” says Gülsen, 45. “As a woman, the war affects me very much,” she said. “I am afraid to go outside, because something might happen. If one of my children is only 30 minutes late, I am worried sick about them. We are desperate to have peace.”
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It is time that many people took some urgent lessons in pavement etiquette
One of the first things I learned when I moved to London 14 years ago was how to walk in the city. I’d grown up in the countryside, where walking was aimless and hearty and generally involved sheep and rain and dispiriting picnics aborted because of the midges.
In big cities, I realised, a different kind of perambulation was required. I learned to be brisk and purposeful. These days, I honestly believe urban walking is one of my core skills. If I were taking an A-Level in walking, I would get an A* and not just because of grade inflation.
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Deputies shoot, kill target of 2-week manhunt in California's rugged high desert
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Hamid Gul, one-time leader of Pakistan's powerful ISI spy agency who supported militants, dies
Pakistan's former spy chief Hamid Gul dies aged 79by Staff and agencies
Notorious spymaster died of a brain haemorrhage, his family says, as tributes pour in that are likely to anger India and Afghanistan
Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency during the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and who supported Islamic militants, has died of a brain haemorrhage, family members have said. He was 79.
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Eurotunnel says situation remains unacceptable but that extra security measures at Fréthun terminal have made a
difference, as figure drops to 150 a nightIncreased security has reduced the number of migrant attempts
to get into the Channel tunnel terminal near Calais
to between 100 and 200 a night, sources say.The figures represent a dramatic fall compared with theheight of the crisis when an estimated 2,000 attempts were said to have been madeon two successive nights
at the end of July.Continue reading...
History and geography syllabuses altered with greater Russian bias as part of systematic campaign to rid breakaway territories of western influences
Reminders of Ukrainian identity are few and far between in rebel-controlled Donetsk. The country’s flag and trident emblem have been removed from all public spaces and replaced by the black, blue and red stripes of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic. Russian roubles are accepted as readily as Ukrainian hryvnias, and DPR passport wallets are available – although the territory is not officially recognised anywhere in the world.
Alongside the superficial changes, more fundamental shifts are under way as rebel leaders seek to eliminate European influences and align their region with Russia. Moscow’s gravitational pull is particularly evident in the education system, where authorities have overhauled the curriculum, changed the grading system and stripped report cards of Ukraine’s national symbols, including the distinctive gold trident.
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(TIANJIN, China) — Authorities pulled more bodies from a massive blast site at China’s Tianjin port, pushing the death toll to 112 on Sunday as teams rushed to clear dangerous chemicals and prosecutors prepared an investigation into those responsible for the disaster.
More than 700 people were injured and 95 people, including dozens of firefighters, are missing after a fire and rapid succession of blasts late Wednesday hit a warehouse for hazardous chemicals in a mostly industrial area of Tianjin, 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Beijing.
By Sunday, authorities confirmed there were “several hundred” tons of the toxic chemical sodium cyanide on the site at the time of the blasts, although they said there have not been any substantial leaks.
Sodium cyanide is a toxic chemical that can form a flammable gas upon contact with water, and several hundred tons would be a clear violation of rules cited by state media that the warehouse could store no more than 10 tons at a time.
Tianjin officials have ordered a citywide check on any potential safety risks and violation of fire rules, mandating suspension of operations for factories that cannot immediately comply with safety rules. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was in Tianjin on Sunday, visiting those injured and displaced by the disaster.
The country’s top prosecuting office announced Sunday that it was setting up a team to investigate possible offenses such as dereliction of duty related to the massive blasts.
State media have reported that Zhi Feng, general manager of the warehouse operator Ruihai International Logistics, was already under police watch while getting medical treatment.
The death toll includes at least 21 firefighters — making the disaster the deadliest for Chinese firefighters in more than six decades — and their toll could go much higher. About 1,000 firefighters responded to the disaster, and 85 of them remained unaccounted for on Sunday.
Angry relatives of the missing firefighters and local residents whose homes were destroyed by the blasts showed up at a government news conference Sunday to demand information and accountability.
The public has raised concerns whether firefighters were put into harm’s way in the initial response to the fire and whether the hazardous material — including compounds combustible on contact with water — was properly taken into account in the way the firefighters responded.
The massive explosions late Wednesday night happened about 40 minutes after reports of a fire at the warehouse and after an initial wave of firefighters arrived and, reportedly, doused some of the area with water.
Outside the Mayfair Hotel, where the authorities hold regular news conferences, a woman pleaded Sunday for information on her husband.
“They have said nothing. We know nothing,” the woman said. “We’ve been told nothing.”
Another man demanded information from a government official. “We’ve been here for three days, and we’ve not had one piece of information,” he said.
Local officials have been hard-pressed to explain why authorities permitted hazardous goods warehouses so close to residential complexes and critical infrastructure, clearly in violation of the Chinese rule that hazmat storage should be 1,000 meters (yards) away from homes and public structures.
Homeowners of the nearby Qihang residential compound on Sunday unfurled banners demanding government accountability and proper compensations for their damaged homes. Many were wearing masks, and some had bandages, possibly over cuts.
Many people in the area suffered injuries from glass shattered in the huge fireballs that lit up the night sky Wednesday night.
On Sunday, Shi Luze, chief of staff for the People’s Liberation Army’s Beijing region, said authorities believe there were “several hundred” tons of sodium cyanide at the warehouse. He said that leaked chemicals were being neutralized and those still in packages removed from the site.
He also said that 3,000 soldiers had been dispatched to the disaster zone to clean up any leaks of hazardous materials.
Authorities temporarily detected the highly toxic hydrogen cyanide in the air slightly above safety levels at two locations, Tianjin environmental official Bao Jingling told a news conference Sunday morning. The contamination Saturday afternoon, at 4 percent and 50 percent above the safety level, was no longer detectable later Saturday, Bao said. “These levels are actually very low,” he said. Bao said the cyanide was yet to be detected in water samples.
Authorities were keeping residents, journalists and other people not involved in the disaster response outside a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) radius around the site of the explosions in what media reports said was an operation to clean up the sodium cyanide.
The Tianjin blasts are among the deadliest industrial accidents in China in recent years. In June 2013, a fire at a poultry plant in the northeastern province of Jilin killed 121 people. In August 2014, a dust explosion at a metal plant in the eastern province of Jiangsu left 97 people dead.
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Associated Press videojournalist Wong Wai-bor in Tianjin and writers Didi Tang, Ian Mader and Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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· · · ·
Donald Trump talks policy: Iran deal 'will lead to nuclear holocaust' by Martin Pengelly in New York and agencies
Republican frontrunner outlines details of policies – fighting Isis, taking on immigrants and shutting down government to stop Planned Parenthood
Donald Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul who has surfed a wave of media controversy to lead the 17-strong field of Republican candidates for president in 2016, has attempted to outline details of policies he would pursue if elected.
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Capital murder trial to begin for white supremacist accused in Kansas Jewish site shootings
GOP presidential candidate lays out a foreign policy vision that includes ground troops in the Middle East
Reuters |
Investors to look at Fed, earnings with China filter
Reuters Strategists at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said in client notes in the past week that China'smove may be the early stages of a near 10 percent devaluation of the yuan against the U.S. dollar CNY= over the next year. Such a move could translate to a ... Fear factor: Why China scares investorsCNNMoney Dollar Pares Gains on Inflation Doubts, ChinaWall Street Journal all 105 news articles » |
WASHINGTON (AP) - Under a decades-old program with the government, telecom giant AT&T in 2003 led the way on a new collection capability that the National Security Agency said amounted to a "'live' presence on the global net" and would forward 400 billion Internet metadata records in one of its ...
ISLAMABAD (AP) - Hamid Gul, who led Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency as it funneled U.S. and Saudi cash and weapons to Afghan jihadis fighting against the Soviets and later publicly supported Islamic militants, died late Saturday of a brain hemorrhage. He was 78.
Gul's tenure at the ISI ...
Turkish Civil War? by therearenosunglasses
[SEE: “We Have A Civil War”: Inside Turkey’s Descent Into Political, Social, And Economic Chaos ] Huge explosion as police safely detonate bomb-laden vehicle in eastern Turkey Turkish police department safely detonated a bomb-laden vehicle parked along the Diyarbakır-Batman highway on Friday. (Photo: DHA) TODAYSZAMAN.COM / ISTANBUL ‘Controlled’ bomb explosion causes panic in Turkey AFP […]
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Shawn Clark was shot Jan. 29, 2013, outside Patriot Skateboards. Video surveillance and witnesses led investigators to believe that two men entered the store intending to rob him.
The United States' best defense against a crippling cyber attack could be a more visible offense, military leaders and other experts recently suggested at the Army War College in Carlisle. Then they stopped talking.
Pentagon teams studying alternative lockups to Guantánamo Bay visited Fort Leavenworth in Kansas this week and head to the Charleston, S.C., brig next week as part of spadework for a proposed closure plan that swiftly stirred opposition in Congress.
The United States then turned its attention to Escobar's major rival, the Cali Cartel, which, with Escobar out of the picture, quickly became the world's most powerful cocaine trafficking organization. Colombian authorities ...
August 16, 2015, 9:50 AM (IDT)
Iran has presented to the UN nuclear watchdog documents regarding its nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency announced Sunday. They are part of the “roadmap agreed in the deal with six world powers in Vienna on July 14, for the clarification of past and present outstanding issues regarding Iran’s nuclear program,” the IAEA reported. IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said earlier that with the cooperation of Tehran, the watchdog could make an assessment of issues relating to its possible military dimensions by the end of 2015.
This road-map envisages consultations with technical experts of Iran's nuclear sector, but only permits one access to the military facility in Parchin where Iran is suspected of having tested nuclear detonators..
August 16, 2015, 3:22 PM (IDT)
Highly credible Iranian exile sources in Europe have revealed to debkafile that the Director of theIsrael Desk of the Revolutionary Guards clandestine service was executed by a firing squad in late June or early July as an Israeli spy. Aged 46, Seyyed Ahmed Dabiri was his codename. His real name is not known. The sources report that a Guards martial court found him guilty of tipping Israel off on top military secrets, including the movements of Iranian military commanders in Syria, Iranian arms shipments to Syria and arms convoys bound for Hizballah in Lebanon.
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August 16, 2015, 4:13 PM (IDT)
Mid East sources report that Iran is preparing to submit a four-point peace proposal for Syria to the United Nations Assembly next month. It includes a national unity government – code for Bashar Assad staying in power; elections under international supervision; prominent representation in the regime for “moderate” opposition parties; and constitutional reform to protect minorities.
Financial Times |
Problems for China's economy extend far beyond currency
Financial Times “Currency depreciation to stimulate export growth is neither useful nor necessary,” said Qu Hongbin, HSBC chief China economist. He notes that while China's exports have fallen this year, “exporters across Asia faced the same challenge, suggesting that ... Eight reasons why China's currency crisis matters to us allThe Guardian China yuan to move both ways, more 'adjustments' unlikely: central bank economistReuters China's currency warsAljazeera.com (blog) The Hill -CTV News all 294 news articles » |
New York Post |
Why China is the bull in a US shop
New York Post When the second-largest economy in the world plays games with its currency, it's Americans who suffer. China decided it was time to devalue the yuan, enabling the communist country to steal even more of the global economy as it competes around the ... |
 Techworm |
CIA Mistakenly Releases Apology Letter It Wrote to Senate For Illegally Spying ...
Techworm The documents of the US government that were expected to remain out of reach in the coming years have been got hold of by Jason Leopold of FOIA staffers. The CIA would have definitely thought that one of the documents would remain its little secret for ... |
A car bomb at a popular auto dealership Saturday killed 13 people and injured 52 in eastern Baghdad’s volatile Sadr City neighborhood, where a market bombing two days earlier killed dozens, police said.
President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency Saturday over increasing activity in the Cotopaxi volcano near the capital of Quito, and officials evacuated a few hundred people as a precaution.
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The warehouse at the center of deadly blasts in Tianjin likely housed hundreds of tons of highly toxic sodium cyanide, Chinese officials said.
Air raids on a suburb of the Syrian capital have killed more than 50 and wounded scores, activists said.
 CBC.ca |
Queen Mary 2 Abandons Search for Missing Crewmember
New York Times LONDON — The Queen Mary 2 has abandoned the search for a crewmember who went overboard off the coast of Newfoundland. The Cunard cruise line said Sunday that the ship and the Canadian Coast Guard had conducted an extensive search after the ... Queen Mary 2: Missing crew member feared drownedBBC News Queen Mary 2 Crew Member Who Went Overboard Presumed DeadNBCNews.com Search is called off for Queen Mary 2 crew member feared drowned after falling ...Daily Mail TheChronicleHerald.ca all 141 news articles » |
Pro-Government Fighters Seize Southern Yemeni Province from Houthis by webdesk@voanews.com (VOA News)
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