Thursday 18 September 2014

Putin: Western Sanctions on Russia Contradict WTO Norms, Fair Competition Principles | Russia | RIA Novosti

 Business as normal?

"Last week, Russian Economic Development Minister Alexei Ulyukayev said the new round of US and EU economic sanctions had given Moscow an extra incentive to appeal the restrictions in the WTO. Earlier, presidential aide Andrei Belousov claimed preparations for a legal dispute against the Western sanctions were already under way. The official also warned a Russian loss in the ensuing legal battle against the sanctions would lead to a negative precedent for global trade with political interests dominating over free trade principles."



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Kosovo Introduces Sanctions Against Russia: Government of Kosovo | Politics | RIA Novosti

"Relations between Russia and the West have deteriorated due to the situation in Ukraine. The European Union and the United States have imposed several waves of anti-Russian economic sanctions over Moscow's alleged role in the Ukrainian internal conflict. In response to Western sanctions Russia was forced to take measures aimed at replacing imports from Western countries with possible alternatives. On August 7, Moscow banned food imports from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway."




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Volcanologist: Only Matter of Time before Next Eruption Starts | Iceland Review

"Earthquakes continue hitting the Bárðarbunga area. Approximately 100 quakes have been registered today, approximately half of which originated in the caldera of Bárðarbunga volcano.

The largest earthquake yesterday was of magnitude 5.2 and hit just before 3 pm, southeast of the volcano. Earthquakes have also been recorded in the area around the Holuhraun eruption.

Yesterday volcanologist Ármann Höskuldsson told RÚV that if the eruption in Holuhraun would stop then another eruption would occur in the same area shortly afterwards; it would only be a matter of time."

http://icelandreview.com/news/2014/09/16/volcanologist-only-matter-time-next-eruption-starts



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Geophysicist Warns against Flying over Hekla Volcano | Iceland Review

"Geophysicist Páll Einarsson has sent a letter to the Icelandic Transport Authority in which he points out that it can be risky to fly over Hekla volcano in South Iceland as it may erupt with little notice, causing pilots to fly into the ash plume with disastrous consequences."



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The Great Volcanoes: Hekla | Iceland Review

"The earliest recorded eruption of Hekla took place in 1104. Since then there have been between twenty and thirty considerable eruptions, with the mountain sometimes remaining active for periods of six years with little pause. Eruptions in Hekla are extremely varied and difficult to predict. Some are very short (a week to ten days) whereas others can stretch into months and years (the 1947 eruption started 29 March 1947 and ended April 1948). But there is a general correlation: the longer Hekla stays dormant, the larger and more catastrophic its opening eruption will be. The most recent eruption was on 26 February 2000."



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Newest Androids will join iPhones in offering default encryption, blocking police - The Washington Post

"The move offers Android, the world's most popular operating system for smartphones, a degree of protection that resembles what Apple on Wednesday began providing for iPhones, the leading rival to devices running Android operating systems. Both companies have now embraced a form of encryption that will make extremely difficult for law enforcement officials to collect evidence from smartphones in most situations – even when authorities get legally binding search warrants."



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Japanese experts think bad loans could bust China

While Hong Kong was over capitalized, the "new" China runs the risk of bringing down Russia in a financial collapse. America could see a run on deposits?  

"Let's dispense with the suspense: Yes, China very likely will. And the outcome will have far more serious global implications than Krugman's main worry, which focuses on the chances of stagnation in Europe.

China's "severely under-capitalized financial system," "imbalanced growth" and chronic "overcapacity" all remind Merrill Lynch analysts Naoki Kamiyama and David Cui of Japan in 1992, when its bubble troubles first began to paralyze the economy. China is even more reliant on exports than Japan was in the 1990s, and its all-important property market now "may be tipping over."



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BBC - Future - Electric scooter design that makes a hole lot of sense

"In many parts of the world, the scooter is one of the most popular ways to get around. City streets are crowded with the small two-wheeled vehicles, sometimes carrying one passenger, but often carrying two or more people, their children – and their cargo. Small motorcycles can be a vital form of transport for farmers to get their produce to market, or parents to get their children to school or medical care. So, drivers and their families, pets, livestock and boxes and bags often have to balance precariously on two wheels."



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BBC - Earth - Why the coldest place in the universe is so special

"It may also prove to be quite important. Because this most frigid place, and objects like it, albeit a tad warmer—may help astronomers unravel a host of cosmic conundrums, from the violent yet spectacular deaths of stars and the formation of galaxies to cosmic explosions and the origin of life itself."



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Revolutionary diving suit to be used at site of 'world's oldest computer' find | Science | theguardian.com

"The Antikythera mechanism – a 2nd-century BC device known as the world's oldest computer – was discovered by sponge divers at the turn of the 20th century off a remote island in the Aegean.

The complex device of up to 40 bronze cogs and gears was used by the ancient Greeks to track the cycles of the solar system. It took another 1,500 years for an astrological clock of similar sophistication to be made in Europe."

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/15/diving-suite-exosuit-worlds-oldest-computer-antikythera-mechanism



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Artificial sweeteners may promote diabetes, claim scientists | Science | The Guardian

"Artificial sweeteners may contribute to soaring levels of diabetes, according to a controversial study that suggests the additives could exacerbate the problem they are meant to tackle.

Researchers in Israel found that artificial sweeteners used in diet drinks and other foods can disrupt healthy microbes that live in the gut, leading to higher blood sugar levels – an early sign of diabetes."

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/sep/17/artificial-sweeteners-diabetes-saccharin-blood-sugar?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2



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Death threats against Sydney church-goers by Islamic State flag-bearer | World news | theguardian.com

"Church-goers in Sydney's west have been left shaken after a stranger shouted death threats from a car bearing the Islamic State flag.

The car drove past Our Lady of Lebanon Church at Harris Park on Tuesday and witnesses claim it had a flag similar to those brandished by Islamic State jihadists hanging out the window."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/death-threats-sydney-church-islamic-state



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When tolerance is under attack by ISIS? | World news | theguardian.com

""These people, I regret to say, do not hate us for what we do, they hate us for who we are and how we live. That's what makes us a target, the fact that we are different from their view of what an ideal society should look like, the fact that we are free, we are pluralist, we are tolerant, we are welcoming, we are accepting," he said.

"All of these, in their eyes, are wrong and that's what makes us a target and that's something that should never change about us. We should always be a free, fair, open and tolerant country."

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/terrorism-raids-police-arrests-raids-sydney-brisbane?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2



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Terrorism raids: Isis 'urging followers to behead Australians', says PM | World news | theguardian.com

"A senior member of Islamic State was urging a network in Australia to carry out public beheadings, prime minister Tony Abbott said after the largest counter-terrorism raids in the country's history.

More than 800 police officers were involved in raids in Sydney's north-west on Thursday morning with 15 people detained.

Two men were charged and nine people released. Under Australia's counter-terrorism laws, those detained could be held for two weeks without charge.

One man, Omarjan Azari, 22, appeared in Sydney central court on Thursday afternoon to face charges of preparing to commit a terrorist act. "

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/terrorism-raids-police-arrests-raids-sydney-brisbane?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2



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Phoneless Billions Lure Google to India | EE Times

"Under the Android One project, Google takes more direct control over low-cost Android phones, building in a set of mandatory features. Google has also sourced several components to help cut manufacturing costs."




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5G Rise Slowed by Cost, Regulation | EE Times

International competition effect takes wireless technology into high health risk areas? Alternatives? 

"Korea, China, and Japan are being "very aggressive" in leading the charge to 5G. NTT Docomo in Japan is expecting 5G standardization in 2016 and, in May, announced trials of "emerging 5G mobile communications technologies" with Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Fujitsu, NEC, Nokia, and Samsung. They aim to exploit frequency bands above 6 GHz with very high system capacity per unit area, as well as prove radio technologies to support M2M services."



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Obama Faulted in Terror Fight, New Poll Finds - NYTimes.com

Obama wants to focus on China and Russia? As he should, but Islamist extremists are calling the shots. Russia is just a stupid loser (in my view). 

"As Mr. Obama broadens the military offensive against Islamic extremists, the survey finds broad support for United States airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, but it also demonstrates how torn Americans are about wading back into battle in the Middle East. A majority is opposed to committing ground forces there, amid sweeping concern that increased American participation will lead to a long and costly mission."



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Scottish independence: The UK will never punch above its weight again if the Scots leave | City A.M.

"But beneath this thin veneer of business as usual, the UK ship of state will have been fatally torpedoed below the water line. Already, years of hollowing out of its military capability has raised questions about whether its armed forces can – along with just the US and France in Nato – perform full-spectrum operations in the field. If Scotland (along with its share of GDP) left, there is little doubt that this seminal ability will be beyond what remains of the UK. This practical diminution matters, even more than the symbolic calling into question of the UK's nuclear deterrent."



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European court adds massive VAT bill to British financial companies | City A.M.

"Stephen Morse, tax partner at PwC, said: "The case significantly expands the VAT net for financial services firms. Banks and insurers are likely to be affected most… Any internal costs between a firm's branches will now face VAT, rather than just the external costs. Many financial services firms will see their VAT bills soar."



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Supermassive black hole found at centre of tiny galaxy | City A.M.

"The galaxy has a diameter of around 300 light years – that is just 1/500 the size of the Milky Way, yet its newly-discovered supermassive black hole is five times the mass of the one at the centre of our own galaxy. "



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Scottish independence: Why the referendum could mark the end of Scottish finance | City A.M.

Damage has already been done? 

"While "Scotland's Oil" campaign may get more attention, anyone who works in the City will be familiar with the size and scale of the Scottish financial sector. From investment trusts and banks to asset managers and insurers, financial services contributed £8.8bn to the Scottish economy in 2010, more than 8 per cent of total economic activity. With the sector employing 85,000 people in Scotland, it would be a tragedy if the legacy of the referendum was a Quebec-style business migration."



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The Long Game in Eastern Europe | RealClearWorld

"Because of that very incoherence, the latest media obsession, if it lasts, will be good news for Russia and China. A renewed American involvement with the Middle East can only ease China's path to dominance in the Western Pacific and Russia's path to increasing influence in Central and Eastern Europe. The decade following 9/11 is instructive in this regard. While the United States was preoccupied with Afghanistan and Iraq, Chinese naval forces emerged as a major geopolitical factor in East Asia, threatening American allies from Japan to the Philippines: 9/11 was literally a godsend to Chinese military planners. Will the videos of the beheadings of two American journalists and a British aid worker be of continued benefit to the Chinese, and a godsend now to the Russians?"



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Bill Clinton says Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom | Politics | theguardian.com

""Because the independence vote is a decision for the Scots alone to make, and because Scots are already legendary for their independence of mind, I have been reluctant to express my views on the matter. I hope my decision to do so will be received in the spirit of friendship with which it is offered," Clinton said in a statement released through the Better Together campaign."



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How Scotland could lead the way towards a federal UK | Shirley Williams | Comment is free | theguardian.com

"The referendum decision will come at the culmination of a long period of disillusionment with politicians. The SNP, like the other mainstream parties, has attracted its own share of public frustration about centralisation and the excessive rule of Edinburgh over other regions of Scotland. Nationally, the disillusionment began with the poll tax, the decline of manufacturing in Scotland, Wales, the Midlands and the north of England during the Thatcher years, the failure of our interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan and the financial crisis in 2008 which loaded on taxpayers the huge costs of bailing out the banks. The referendum debate is not fuelled only by controversy between unionists and nationalists. It reflects also the underlying anger and resentment among members of the public in England and Wales."



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How the media shafted the people of Scotland | George Monbiot | Comment is free | The Guardian

"Despite the rise of social media, the established media continues to define the scope of representative politics in Britain, to shape political demands and to punish and erase those who resist. It is one chamber of the corrupt heart of Britain, pumping fear, misinformation and hatred around the body politic."

Confabulation in the debate abounds...




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Scotland will never be a big player on the world stage - Telegraph

"We are in one of those dangerous periods of history when things can go terribly wrong. The break-up of Great Britain would encourage all the forces of chaos, terrorism and aggression and set a terrible precedent. Separatists in Europe would ramp up their campaigns exponentially, which would vastly increase political turmoil on a continent that is already becoming vulnerable to the kinds of political extremism we once thought had been extinguished in the ashes of the Second World War."



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Lonely Ukraine by Judith Miller, City Journal 16 September 2014

"One Western diplomat called Putin an "arsonist pouring gasoline to light fires everywhere." This is a "Russian conflict, not a Ukrainian conflict," he said, noting that the conflict's silver lining has been a surge in Ukrainian nationalism throughout this country of 45 million, even among those whose first language is Russian. Putin's goal in the Ukraine, another diplomat said, is to keep the government "off-balance" to maximize Russian control. Another argued that Putin now sought the destruction of Ukraine's government. "He's like a spurned lover. If he can't have Ukraine, no one else will, either." Still another predicted that despite a third round of European and American economic sanctions that have targeted Russian oligarchs as well as the nation's defense, financial, and oil and gas sectors, causing $100 billion in capital outflow and a plunge in the value of the ruble, Putin would try to seize more Ukrainian territory, either directly or through its pro-Russian separatists, if the opportunity arose. "I don't think he's done yet," said Pierre Lellouche, a member of the French parliament's foreign affairs committee."



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Sketches from scratches is a provocative blogspot that has grown out of the Wuh Lax experience. It is eclectic, which means that it might consider just about anything from the simple to the extremely difficult. A scratch can be something that is troubling me or a short line on paper. From a scratch comes a verbal sketch or image sketch of the issue or subject. Other sites have other stuff that should really be of interest to the broad reader. I try to develop themes, but variety often comes before depth. ... more!