Cameron to Highlight Britain's Martial Glories in EU Campaign Sunday May 8th, 2016 at 7:13 PM

Cameron to Highlight Britain's Martial Glories in EU Campaign

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In campaign to keep the U.K. in the European Union, with Prime Minister David Cameron due to evoke Britain’s past martial glories as evidence of the need to keep the nation at the forefront of European affairs.

AP Top Stories 8 P 

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From: AssociatedPress
Duration: 01:03

Here are the top stories for Sunday, May 8th: Alberta premier says residents evacuated from Canada wildfire; Afghanistan bus crash kills 52; Archaeologists debate tomb of King Tut; Rita Moreno raps during commencement speech.
Stay up to date with daily round ups: http://smarturl.it/APTopStories
Subscribe for more Breaking News: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.
AP’s commitment to independent, comprehensive journalism has deep roots. Founded in 1846, AP has covered all the major news events of the past 165 years, providing high-quality, informed reporting of everything from wars and elections to championship games and royal weddings. AP is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information.
Today, AP employs the latest technology to collect and distribute content - we have daily uploads covering the latest and breaking news in the world of politics, sport and entertainment. Join us in a conversation about world events, the newsgathering process or whatever aspect of the news universe you find interesting or important. Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress

North Korean Leader Holds Steady Policy Course

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North Korea’s once-in-a-generation party congress passed a third day with little sign of changes in dictator Kim Jong Un’s leadership course.

Fire 'destroys 20% ' of Fort McMurray

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The MP from Fort McMurray, a Canadian city devastated by a huge wildfire, tells the BBC about 20% of homes there have been destroyed.

Canadian officials hope to put “death grip” on fire

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Cooler temperautres mean firefighters should be able to put out hot spots, officials say.

The war against the Islamic State hits hurdles just as the U.S. military gears up 

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The rapid pace of gains in recent months may prove hard to sustain.





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Saudi Arabia Forges Ahead With Change

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A sweeping reorganization that includes new leadership at important institutions comes after a recent plan to wean itself off oil revenues.

The Secret Behind the Yemen War - Consortium News

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The Secret Behind the Yemen War
Consortium News
“Moderate these days is increasingly becoming anyone who's not affiliated with ISIL,” Director of National Intelligence James RClapper Jr. explained in March 2015 – and indeed the White House made no objection a month later when so-called moderates ... 

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Iran’s threats to close the Strait of Hormuz hollow

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The Iranian rhetoric sits uncomfortably with the Obama administration, which has made a limited rapprochement with Iran one of the centerpieces of its regional policy — not to mention its overall foreign-policy legacy.
     

Who will follow Trump off the cliff?

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Parsing Trump sentences is a challenge but is rewarding because it frequently reveals that he actually has said nothing at all.
     

What Trump must overcome to beat Clinton

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If Clinton has a consistently large lead, Trump won’t get the 90-plus percent of the Republican vote that his predecessor nominees got. A significant fraction of Republican voters will feel free not to vote for Trump because they will assume, accurately, that Clinton will be president whatever they do.
     

Petroleum power continues to shift the US’ way - Opinion

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The days when global oil production was symbolized by Arab states are gone, and important contemporary events confirm a new reality. In mid-April, governments of major oil producing nations failed to achieve agreement on cutting back their production.
Representatives of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries met in Doha, Qatar, to negotiate collective production goals. OPEC ministers were joined by Russia. Concord among them would have calmed markets short-term. Their failure encouraged price fluctuations, in turn emphasized by news media.
The Doha result confirms the weakness of OPEC, a coalition of less developed economies. In consequence, the United States has an even more promising opportunity to be prime leader in global petroleum policies, especially over the longer term.
A major frustration for the conference organizers was boycott by Iran. That government’s top priority is recapturing global market share after the recent lifting of United Nations-backed economic sanctions. This is particularly vexing for Saudi Arabia, along with Russia a top global oil producer.
Beyond Doha, world oil production and distribution is in great flux. The U.S. is rapidly expanding total production and moving from importer to exporter. A principal factor is fracking, shorthand for hydraulic fracturing or hydrofracturing. This is a process by which fluid is used to drive gas and petroleum to a well bore, where continuous accessibility for extraction is relatively easy.
The fracking process was first employed commercially in 1947 at a well in the Hugoton gas field in Kansas, but profitable applications proved extremely limited. In World War II, both the Allies and the Axis devoted great effort to increasing petroleum production and creating artificial fuels. Nazi Germany had noteworthy success regarding the latter.
Despite this background of intense innovation, fracking for years was simply not a moneymaker in the commercial marketplace, underscoring the technical challenges involved. Today more efficient, effective liquid processes are facilitating feasible fracking in substantial sections of the United States, including shale deposits in the eastern sections of the nation.
During the first nine months of 2011, the United States became a net exporter of petroleum-based products, a reversal of the trend of more than one-half century of marked growing dependence on foreign oil. Since 2008 the U.S. has annually increased the amount of domestic crude oil production, dramatically reversing another long-term trend.
This promises over time an extraordinary shift in the wider global strategic as well as energy positions of the U.S., with great and largely positive implications for foreign as well as domestic policies. Until the 1960s, the nation was a substantial net exporter of petroleum. A decade later, the U.S. and other industrial nations had become heavily dependent on imported oil, and painful, disruptive OPEC embargoes followed in 1973 and 1979.
Two other major oil producers are Canada and Indonesia. Both are close U.S. allies. Indonesia, the world’s largest nation with a Muslim majority, is fiercely opposed to terrorism.
In chemistry, a catalyst is a distinctive element that alters a reaction, and the same term applies to human affairs. Fracking increases potential U.S. international political leverage — as long as we have effective leadership.
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943 declared Saudi Arabia to be of vital strategic importance. In early 1945, he visited the country and met with King Ibn Saud. Insightful strategic vision characterized FDR’s leadership.
Such long-term vision is far more important than short-term market shifts.
Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War.”
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Petroleum power continues to shift the US’ way

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The days when global oil production was symbolized by Arab states are gone, and important contemporary events confirm a new reality.
     

Clinton’s case to make on global role

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By questioning the fundamentals of America’s global role, Donald Trump has given Hillary Clinton a chance to lift her game — by explaining why continued international engagement is in America’s interest and the world’s.
     

Pennsylvania FBI Sting: Prelude to More Corruption Arrests? - ABC News

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Huffington Post

Pennsylvania FBI Sting: Prelude to More Corruption Arrests?
ABC News
The FBI's approach to a campaign cash sting that snared a onetime top aide to former Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell suggests that it is a prelude to more public corruption arrests, former federal prosecutors say. The sting that targeted John H. 
Plea scheduled for man in FBI stingIndiana Gazette
Behind The Scenes Of An Intricate FBI StingHuffington Post

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FBI harassing me for past six months says Tor developer - Techworm

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Techworm

FBI harassing me for past six months says Tor developer
Techworm
Isis Agora Lovecruft, who is a lead software developer for Tor has been characterised by secretive threats at the hands of US law enforcement from the first time she met them six months ago. Apparently, the FBI would really like to talk to her, but won ...
Tor Developer Accuses the FBI of HarassmentSoftpedia News

all 2 news articles »

Pennsylvania FBI sting: Prelude to more corruption arrests?

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The FBI's approach to a campaign cash sting that snared a onetime top aide to former Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell suggests that it is a prelude to more public corruption arrests, former federal prosecutors say.
     

Venezuela's military needs to get out of business - Chicago Tribune

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Venezuela's military needs to get out of business
Chicago Tribune
Venezuela has more than 4,000 generals, compared with fewer than 50 in 1993. This kind of runaway inflation is every bit as pernicious as the economic variety, which also afflicts Venezuela -- in fact, they have to be addressed together. Instead ...

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Trump: I Think Taxes Will Go Up on the Wealthy 

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Presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump said he believed taxes would go up on the wealthiest Americans under his administration during an interview airing Sunday on ABC.

The truth about our continuing combat role

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By spinning the truth for political purposes, the president is coming perilously close to leaving a legacy of dishonesty when it comes to our military involvement in the Middle East.
     

Moscow Victory Day Parade Tips Putin's Military Strategy - Newsweek

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Newsweek

Moscow Victory Day Parade Tips Putin's Military Strategy
Newsweek
Russia's Victory Day military parade on Monday is more a domestic propaganda exercise than an authoritative representation of the nation's achievements in the military sphere. However, this does not mean we cannot draw some valuable conclusions about ...
Russia Victory Day Parade: World War II Commemoration Showcases Newest MilitaryTechnologyInternational Business Times

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Multiple attacks in, around Baghdad kill at least 12 people

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Separate attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, officials said.
     

Clinton on FBI: 'No one has reached out to me yet' - CNN

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CNN

Clinton on FBI: 'No one has reached out to me yet'
CNN
Some of Clinton's closest aides, including her longtime adviser Huma Abedin, have provided interviews to federal investigators as the FBI probe into the security of her private email server nears completion, U.S. officials briefed on the investigation ...
Decision time for FBI on ClintonThe Hill
Clinton: The FBI hasn't contacted mePolitico 
Hillary Clinton demonstrated 'gross negligence' in handling classified information - frmr FBIagentRT
TheBlaze.com-Hot Air-Forbes
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Soldier from Seattle dies in Iraq in non-combat incident

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SEATTLE (AP) - The Department of Defense says a soldier from Seattle has died in Iraq in a non-combat related incident. The Army says 1st Lt. David A. Bauders died Friday on Al Asad Air Base
Bauders was assigned to the Washington State National Guard's 176th Engineer Company of Snohomish, ...
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Trump: This Is the Republican Party, It’s Not Called the Conservative Party 

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Presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump said in an interview airing Sunday on ABC that while he was a conservative, people shouldn’t forget that “this is called the Republican Party, it’s not called the Conservative Party.”
In a wide-ranging interview with This Week’s George Stephanopoulos, Trump addressed the problem he faces of unifying the Republican Party, which is divided over his presumptive nomination for the presidency. Prominent figures like Jeb Bush and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) have already stated they will not support him, and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) said this week he was not ready to back Trump.
Trump said, however, the party did not necessarily need to be unified in the traditional sense, alluding to former Democrats and working-class voters that have crossed over and supported his candidacy in the GOP primaries.
“I think it would be better if it were unified,” Trump said. “There would be something good about it, but I don’t think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense.
Trump said he would “do what I have to do,” pointing to people’s support for his bashing of free trade agreements that traditionally have been supported by Republicans.
“I want trade. I don’t want to be an isolationist, but what’s happening with China, what’s happening with Japan, what’s happening with Mexico, they’re just absolutely eating our lunch,” Trump said. “It’s a shame. It’s terrible, so I have to stay true to my principles also, and I’m a conservative. But don’t forget, this is called the Republican Party. It’s not called the Conservative Party. You know, there are conservative parties. It’s called the Republican Party.“

Why Was a Stingray Device Used to Track a Chicken Wing Thief? - Care2.com

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Care2.com

Why Was a Stingray Device Used to Track a Chicken Wing Thief?
Care2.com
... the FBI is now handing out stingrays to state and local police departments in order to combat terrorism within the United States. Turns out that's not all police have been using stingrays for. In a report detailing Maryland law enforcement's use of ...

The empowered Baltics respond to Putin

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The Baltic states are spoilsports, messing with Vladimir Putin’s mirage of re-establishing a Russian empire. So the Russian leader is probing for NATO weakness in the run-up to key alliance meetings.
     

UK's former spy chiefs say Britain more secure inside EU

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LONDON (AP) - Britain's former spy chiefs have asked voters to keep the United Kingdom inside the European Union, arguing that the alliance gives their nation an edge in gathering anti-terror intelligence and underpins continental peace.
Sunday's published appeal by former MI5 director-general Jonathan Evans and former MI6 chief John ...

Hillary Clinton Says She Is Available for F.B.I. Interviews Over Emails 

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Israel indicts nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu

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JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel has indicted Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu for meeting with American citizens in Jerusalem and violating other court-ordered restrictions.
Vanunu is a former employee at Israel's nuclear reactor who served 18 years in Israeli prison for leaking details and pictures of Israel's alleged nuclear weapons program ...
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ISIS to Israel: “We’re coming very soon”

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May 8, 2016, 9:55 PM (IDT)
The last 48 hours (May 7-8) have seen a major escalation of the ISIS threats against Israel,debkafile’s intelligence and counterterrorism sources report. In a coordinated maneuver by all of the ISIS commands in the Middle East, the terrorist organization simultaneously released at least 10 videos that it said showed ISIS forces on their way to attack targets in Israel.  

Introducing: Israeli 12-Kilo Killer Robot

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Imagine an intuitively trained special missions operative endowed with 360-degree vision who works alone or in packs to breach high-risk safe houses and bunkers, ready to shoot to kill within a second of an officer’s command.
       

Spy Agencies Are Pushed to Reveal Extent of US Surveillance

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Even though the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records has ended, calls and emails are still being swept up by U.S. surveillance work targeting foreigners. Congress is making a renewed push to find out how many. Six Republicans and eight Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have asked the nation's top intelligence official for the number of Americans' emails and phone calls collected under programs authorized by Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The programs target foreigners, but domestic communications sometimes are vacuumed up as well. They were first revealed to the public by Edward Snowden, who leaked files from the National Security Agency. "Surely the American public is entitled to some idea of how many of our communications are swept up by these programs," the committee members wrote in their April 22 letter to Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. They weren't the first to request the information. In the past five years, Democratic Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Tom Udall of New Mexico have asked repeatedly. Last October, a coalition of more than 30 civil liberties groups wrote Clapper seeking the information. Unsatisfied with the answer they received, they wrote him again in January. Intelligence officials have tried to assuage concerns of Congress and others by saying that any domestic communications collected are "incidental" to the targeting of foreigners. They say Section 702 allows the government to target only non-U.S. persons reasonably believed to be located outside the United States. They say the law explicitly bars the government from targeting a foreigner to acquire the communications of an American or someone in the U.S. But they say intelligence agencies are authorized under Section 702 to query communications made with U.S. persons under certain cases with certain approvals. Late last month, Clapper said intelligence agencies are looking into several options for providing an estimate and will do their best to come up with a number. "This tool is a terrific producer of critical intelligence for this country and our allies," Clapper said recently about continued need for Section 702 programs. He did not say how soon an estimate could be released and cautioned that "any methodology we come up with will not be completely satisfactory to all parties." Even Congress acknowledges that producing an estimate could require reviewing actual emails, for instance, acquired under Section 702, which itself could raise privacy concerns. But lawmakers say they are only advocating a "one-time, limited sampling" of communications. Intelligence officials held briefings last week for congressional aides to explain ways an estimate could be provided. That is something Congress wants to get before it starts debating whether to reauthorize Section 702, which is set to expire at the end of next year. The Senate Judiciary Committee plans a hearing Tuesday on the issue. Intelligence officials also briefed privacy advocates in March and are expected to hold another this month on the best way to estimate the extent to which domestic communications are ensnared in the quest for foreign intelligence. Among the problems is determining the citizenship of a caller or emailer, or whether the person is inside or outside the United States. "We can't go into what I hope will be an extensive public debate without this basic information," said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Brennan Center for Justice's program on liberty and national security. In a recent article, Goitein wrote: "The National Security Agency acquires more than 250 million Internet communications each year under this program. Given the ubiquity of international communication, this number is virtually certain to include tens of millions of exchanges that involve Americans, but there is no official public data on how many Americans' communications are swept up." Congress and privacy advocates got a glimpse into Section 702 surveillance from a congressionally mandated report that Clapper's office released this past week. The report said Section 702 surveillance targeted 94,368 foreign persons, groups or entities outside the U.S. last year, up slightly from 92,707 in 2014. While the year-to-year increase is small, Jameel Jaffer, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, notes that the number of targets has risen to more than 94,000 since the surveillance became legal in 2008. The report also said that 23,800 queries concerning U.S. persons were conducted on the database, although the report notes that one of the intelligence agencies involved in the queries, which was not identified, did not provide this information. The report also said 4,672 search terms concerning U.S. persons were used to retrieve information from Section 702 data, but privacy experts point out that the number excludes queries conducted by the FBI. "It's true that the targets are foreigners, but in the course of targeting those 94,000 people, the government collects the communications of many, many - we don't know the number - Americans," Jaffer said. "That number is missing."

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Report: Russia establishes military base in Palmyra, after driving ISIS out of the city - Jerusalem Post Israel News

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Jerusalem Post Israel News

Report: Russia establishes military base in Palmyra, after driving ISIS out of the city
Jerusalem Post Israel News
According to the statement, "since the regime recaptured the city at the end of March, it has become fairly clear that Assad the criminal has granted to Russia and its army in Palmyra great authority, so they can display their abilities to our city ...
Syrian opposition group claims Russia establishing military base in Palmyrai24news

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Trump Not Worried About Republican Disunity Behind His Candidacy 

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Donald Trump, the presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee, is not all that worried that key party leaders say they won't support him in the national election against the likely Democratic nominee, former U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton. As the billionaire real estate mogul all but clinched the party's presidential nomination last week, the last two Republican presidents, President George H.W. Bush and his son, President George W. Bush, and numerous other party officials declared they have no intention of supporting his maverick candidacy. "Does it have to be unified?" Trump asked about the Republican Party on ABC's This Week news show Sunday. "I'm very different than everybody else, perhaps, that's ever run for office? I actually don't think so. "I think it would be better if it were unified, I think it would be, there would be something good about it," he said. "But I don't think it actually has to be unified in the traditional sense." Ryan not ready to endorse Trump The party's top current elected official, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, said he is "just not ready" to endorse Trump and wants to make sure he would uphold the party's traditional conservative principles before agreeing to support him. He has opposed Trump's call to temporarily block Muslims from entering the country and the two disagree on U.S. foreign policy and trade issues. Ryan and Trump have scheduled a meeting Thursday in Washington to air their differences, but the brash Trump, a one-time television reality show host who has never held elective office, says it's possible the two may just "go our separate ways." Other conservative leaders have raised the possibility of fielding a third candidate against Trump and Clinton, but third party candidacies have not fared well in U.S. presidential elections, almost always trailing far behind the Democratic and Republican nominees. Some Republican lawmakers say they will support Trump even though they originally preferred other presidential candidates. The 69-year-old Trump surged to the top of the Republicans' one-time field of 17 candidates with calls to build an impenetrable wall along the U.S.-Mexican border to halt the stream of illegal immigrants into the United States and to deport the 11 million already in the country. He has won more than 10 million votes in state-by-state party nominating contests, with his last two challengers dropping out of the race for the party's presidential nomination after Trump scored an impressive win in last week's contest in the Midwestern state of Indiana. Neither Trump nor Clinton has officially clinched their parties' presidential nominations yet, but they are trading verbal taunts at each other. Attacking the Clintons At a rally Saturday, Trump, who is married to his third wife and through the years has bragged about sexual exploits, lampooned Clinton for the marital infidelities of her husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton. "She's married to a man who was the worst abuser of women in the history of politics," Trump said. Clinton has disparaged Trump as unfit to be the country's commander in chief. "We can't have a loose cannon in the Oval Office" at the White House, she told cheering supporters at a rally. Numerous polls show Clinton ahead of Trump in the election to pick the successor to President Barack Obama, who leaves office next January. WATCH:  Trump Presumptive Republican Nominee After Indiana Victory

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Free Market fallout: America's suicide rate approaching parity with Russia's - RT

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RT

Free Market fallout: America's suicide rate approaching parity with Russia's
RT
Robert Bridge is an American writer and journalist based in Moscow, Russia. His articles have been featured in many publications, including Russia in Global Affairs, The Moscow Times,Russia Insider and Global Research. Bridge is the author of the book ...

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Al-Qaeda leader gives blessing for terror group to form own 'Islamic state' in Syria

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Saudi Arabia to Maintain its Global Oil Exports

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Saudi Arabia says it will continue to maintain its role as the world's largest oil exporter, even as it looks to develop other energy sources in the face of falling global oil prices. New energy minister, Khalid al-Falih, said Saudi Arabia will maintain its stable petroleum policies and maintain its role in international energy markets as "the world's most reliable supplier of energy." He said Saudi Arabia is "committed to meeting existing and additional hydrocarbons demand" with its "maximum sustainable capacity." Reshaping the economy In a government shake-up Saturday, Falih, the chief executive of the state-owned Saudi Aramco oil giant, was named head of a new Ministry of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources in an effort to reshape the kingdom's oil-dependent economy. He replaces long-time oil minister, Ali al-Naimi, who was fired from the position he held since 1995. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries says that Saudi Arabia exports more than seven million barrels of oil daily and has 18 percent of the world's proven petroleum reserves. But its oil and gas revenues, which account for half of Saudi Arabia's economy and 85 percent of its export earnings, have been flagging because of declining world oil prices caused by the glut of oil on the global market. Saudi Arabia has been responsible for some of the excess crude oil on the world market, refusing to cut its production even as the United States has produced more of the oil it needs through use of fracking technology to tap underground oil deposits that previously were unreachable. With declining oil revenues since mid-2014, Saudi Arabia had a $100 billion budget deficit last year and projects another $87 billion shortfall for 2016.

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Philippines split over Marcos ahead of vote | DW News

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From: deutschewelleenglish
Duration: 03:16

As the election campaign comes to an end, the vice-presidential favorite is the son of the dictator who ruled the country until the 1980s.

Raw: Militants Kill 8 Egyptian Police 

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From: AssociatedPress
Duration: 00:48

A funeral and procession was held Sunday for eight plainclothes police killed in a Cairo suburb. An affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in an online statement. It's the deadliest attack in Cairo since November. (May 8)
Subscribe for more Breaking News: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress
Get updates and more Breaking News here: http://smarturl.it/APBreakingNews
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats.
AP’s commitment to independent, comprehensive journalism has deep roots. Founded in 1846, AP has covered all the major news events of the past 165 years, providing high-quality, informed reporting of everything from wars and elections to championship games and royal weddings. AP is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information.
Today, AP employs the latest technology to collect and distribute content - we have daily uploads covering the latest and breaking news in the world of politics, sport and entertainment. Join us in a conversation about world events, the newsgathering process or whatever aspect of the news universe you find interesting or important. Subscribe: http://smarturl.it/AssociatedPress

Britain's Labour must broaden appeal if it wants power: new mayor

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LONDON (Reuters) - Sadiq Khan, the newly elected mayor of London, called on Labour on Sunday to "stop talking about ourselves" and broaden its appeal in the latest criticism of the opposition party's hard-left national leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
  

Senate's power brokers are aging; several seeking new terms

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Millennials have emerged as the nation's largest living generation yet that demographic shift isn't reflected in the upper reaches of the Republican-controlled Senate, where the body's oldest members are the power brokers....
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For Obama's legacy, a few bright spots with Trump as nominee

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's no cheering at the White House for Donald Trump's success. Yet for President Barack Obama, things could be worse....

Syrian warplanes launch counter-attack on rebels near Aleppo

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AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian warplanes attacked Islamist militants near the northern city of Aleppo on Sunday, both sides said, as the government tried to push back a major insurgent advance in the area.
  

For some in GOP, Trump-Clinton matchup is 'nightmare' choice

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OREM, Utah (AP) -- As the setting sun flooded a meeting of Utah County Republicans, Melanie Sorensen described her concerns about her party's presumptive presidential nominee....

UK treasury chief sees Clinton as winner, calls Trump ‘odd’

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Britain’s treasury chief says he expects America’s next president to be a woman. Guess who?





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Ambush Kills 8 Police Officers in Egypt 

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The Islamic State claimed responsibility after four assailants opened fire on a minibus carrying plainclothes officers in a district of Cairo.

Egyptian street performer arrested over satirical video

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The lawyer of a teenage Egyptian street performer says his client has been arrested and faces accusations of inciting anti-government protests and releasing an online video “insulting state institutions.”
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For Obama's legacy, a few bright spots with Trump as nominee

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There's no cheering at the White House for Donald Trump's success. Yet for President Barack Obama, things could be worse.
     

Fighting the Islamic State

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Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies discusses the Pentagon’s strategy to combat ISIS.
       

Islamic State's Recruitment Strategy

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Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies discusses the Pentagon’s strategy to combat ISIS and its recruitment strategy.
       

Connecting Military Communties through Social Media

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Sam Meek, CEO of Sandboxx, an Android and IOS app discusses how his idea to connect military communities through social media got off the ground.
       

Ash Carter’s Innovation Strategy

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Aaron Mehta, Defense News’ Associate Editor sits down with Loren Dejonge Schulman and Ben Fitzgerald of the Center for a New American Security to discuss the organization’s report on Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s Innovation Strategy.
       

Blood Sport: The Rise Of Russia's Gangster Athletes - RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

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RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty

Blood Sport: The Rise Of Russia's Gangster Athletes
RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty
With brute strength and a blase attitude toward life and death, these jocks served as foot soldiers in the protection rackets that helped define the era of gangster capitalism in Russia. It was a profession that the Soviet state had unwittingly trained...

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‘Russia Urgently Needs a Defeat,’ Moscow Commentator Says

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Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 8 – As Russians prepare to commemorate Victory Day tomorrow, Moscow commentator Mikhail Berg argues that “Russia urgently needs a defeat,” because  the experience of countries suggests that defeats have the effect of “sobering up” society and elevating the recognition of the value of the individual relative to the state.
           
            In both Russia and other countries, “the combination of poverty, lack of enlightenment, and hypocrisy” is a feeding ground for patriotism, he writes on the Kasparov portal. “But the others,” he says, “have the happy experience not only of victories but also of defeats which are useful” for society (kasparov.ru/material.php?id=572E1DF0A1040

            It isn’t the case that Russia has suffered fewer defeats than others, he continues, “but if one compares it with the conduct of those European states which are generally considered civilized, then the difference” in how Russia, on the one hand, and they, on the other, react to defeats, “is striking.”

            “Defeats in war for the French or the Germans have led to an elevation of the value of human life,” but in Russia, in contrast, it is “precisely victories [which] have become the source of still greater declines in the value of the human personality” because they have increased society’s “contempt” concerning “the fate of individuals.”

            And this is “a vicious circle, Russia cannot break out of,” Berg suggests.

            Indeed, he continues, “The victory over Nazi Germany … remains the last reserve of Russian contempt of individualism as well as love for a harsh state and a tyrant ruler.” That is why Putin exploits it and why it works with the majority of the population.

            “From the very beginning of his administration, Putin promised to deliver the good most in deficit: a symbolic victory over the main opponents which were gladdened by the defeat of Russia in the economic and cold war.  This war was a hybrid one … but Russia lost it; and those who felt that defeat after a decade became the free Putin majority,” Berg says.

            “The symbolic victories” he offered by raising Russia from its knees and asserting that it must be treated as the equal of the entire West, however “are dangerous in only one thing: sooner or later they require conversion into reality.”  Hence the invasion of Crimea and the Donbas; hence, “the reanimation and strengthening of the Soviet cult of victory in 1945.”

            That victory, he points out, involved “enormous and unbearable” losses, and as a result, it became “an additional argument against individualism and that small elevation of the value of human life at the start of perestroika,” the Moscow commentator says.

            “In this,” he writes, “is the chief meaning of the regeneration of the rhetoric of victory, the militarization of society, the mobilization of aggressive patriotism, and unity around the leader,” an effort designed to “preserve the traditional portion between the low price of ordinary life and the immeasurably higher price of the state and its attributes.”

            “Only in a society where individualism in all its manifestations (political, social and even sexual) is suppressed is totalitarian and authoritarian mobilization possible,” Berg argues, and thus he concludes that “in this sense, Russia urgently needs a defeat,” not only to “sober up” but also to elevate the value of the individual.

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Afghan road crash inferno leaves around 70 dead

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Путин исключил из Совета безопасности бывшего главу ФСКН - Новости

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Президент России Владимир Путин подписал указ, согласно которому бывший глава Федеральной службы по контролю за оборотом наркотиков (ФСКН) Виктор Иванов исключен из состава Совета безопасности России. Соответствующий документ опубликован на официальном интернет-портале правовой информации.
Источники газеты «Коммерсант» сообщали, что Иванов может стать одним из заместителей министра внутренних дел. Отмечалось, что Иванов рассматривается на должность простого зама, другие — первого замминистра (эта позиция освободилась после назначения Виктора Золотова на должность главы Федеральной службы войск национальной гвардии).
Ранее из Совбеза был исключен бывший председатель Госдумы Борис Грызлов. Это решение связывали с новой должностью Грызлова. В конце декабря Путин назначил его полномочным представителем России в Контактной группе по урегулированию ситуации на Украине.
Напомним, 5 апреля президент России Владимир Путин объявил о создании Национальной гвардии на базе Внутренних войск МВД, которая займется борьбой с терроризмом, организованной преступностью. Новая структура в контакте с МВД продолжит исполнять те функции, которые исполняли подразделения ОМОН и СОБРа. Главой гвардии стал Виктор Золотов, главнокомандующий внутренними войсками МВД.
Тогда же президент ликвидировал ФСКН и Федеральную миграционную службу (ФМС) как отдельные ведомства. Они стали подчиняться МВД.


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Delegate Count Pushes Clinton Closer to Democratic Nomination 

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Hillary Clinton maintains lead in overall delegate count with 2,228 delegates — more than 93 percent of 2,383 delegates needed to win nomination; rival Bernie Sanders has 1,454

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