BRUSSELS, August 30 -- Seven NATO allies plan to create a new rapid reaction force of at least 10,000 soldiers as part of plans to boost NATO defences in response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, the Financial Times newspaper reported on Friday.
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MOSCOW, August 30 -- Poland banned the entry of its space for the jet, on which Shoigu was returning from Slovakia. There was no political underpinning in the incident with the jet carrying the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, which the Polish authorities did not permit to enter their airspace Friday when he was returning from a trip to Slovakia, the Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman claimed.
Polish authorities’ refusal to permit the jet to enter Polish airspace on a return flight from Slovakia will not be left unreciprocated by Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. “Russian delegation was received with much warmth in Slovakia where people remember the contribution that our country made to the liberation of Slovak people from Nazism but an outrageous incident occurred on the way back when the Polish side denied permission for an overfly, ostensibly for operational reasons,” the ministry said. The Russian delegation had to return to Bratislava and the Polish authorities agreed to reaffirm the permit they had issued earlier only after energetic protests from the Russian side, it indicated. “Such actions can only be qualified as a crude violation of the norms and ethics of inter-state communications and, given the context of the celebrations in Slovakia, as an outrage on the historical memory and exploits of those delivered Europe from Nazism,” the ministry said. Source: Tass ROTERDAM, August 29 -- Joint Russo-Indian exercisys "Aviaindra-2014" begin in Russia on Friday. An active phase of the aerial maneuvers will be held in Voronezh at the Pogonovo range and in Astrakhan Region at the Ashuluk training range, Colonel Igor Klimov, spokesman of Russia's Air Force, told journalists. Colonel General Viktor Bondarev, Commander-in-Chief of Russia's Air Force, is expected to attene a ceremony marking the start of the exercises in Lipetsk.
MOSCOW, August 29 -- Another four McDonald's restaurants have been closed in the city of Krasnodar, southern Russia, the company's press service said on Friday. In all, 12 McDonald's restaurants have been closed in Russia so far. Six of them are in Krasnodar and three in Moscow. Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor is currently checking 100 restaurants of the fast-food giant across Russia, the press service told ITAR-TASS. ROTTERDAM, August 29 -- Hit by double passenger jet disasters in a year, airline also delists from stock exchange as it seeks to revive brand.
Government in control The airline will be removed from the Malaysian stock exchange and taken completely under the wing of the government. Khazanah, which previously announced that it plans to take 100 percent ownership, aims to restore Malaysia Airlines to profitability by the end of 2017 and then relist its shares on the stock exchange by the end of 2019. A substantial revamp has long been on the cards for the airline, which was struggling with chronic financial problems even before it was hit by the double disasters this year. Investigators continue to scour the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 which veered far of course while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board. In July, 298 people were killed when Flight 17 was blasted out of the sky as it flew over an area of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists. The tragedies have scarred the airline's brand, once associated with high-quality service. Travellers on recent long-haul flights have posted photos on social media of nearly empty cabins and departure lounges. The airline says passengers fell 11 percent in July from the year before. Source: Agencies ROTTERDAM, August 29 -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave assurances to Vladimir Putin at the talks in Minsk earlier this week that several Russian Army servicemen detained in Ukraine would be handed over to Russia. Putin said this while meeting with young Russians participating in the activities of the Seliger youth camp. “Petro Poroshenko and I spoke about it and he gave assurances to me the Russian servicemen would be turned over to Russia in the same way that we have been turning Ukrainian Army servicemen over to Ukraine,” he said. “This is a technical issue,” Putin said regarding the servicemen’s return to Russia. He recalled that the Russian authorities had given medical assistance to Ukrainian servicemen at Russian civilian hospitals. “That’s why there are grounds to believe we’ll be mutually considerate in this case,” Putin said. He commented on the general situation around the Russian military, who had unintentionally gotten into the territory of Ukraine, saying the Ukrainian military had gotten into Russian territory far more frequently and in much bigger numbers. “There were cases when they found themselves in Russia and said they had taken the wrong road,” Putin said. “They were armed and were riding on armored vehicles by what they told us was true.” He said he believed them because there was no demarcation of the frontier on the terrain in those places. Source: Tass ROTTERDAM, August 29 -- Two Chinese military jets performed "routine flight" and left without incident, says China's defence ministry.
The incident came amid speculation that China may set up an ADIZ in the South China Sea to assert its territorial claims there. Deep suspicions The latest incident risked hurting ties between China and Taiwan, which have been ruled separately since defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of a civil war in 1949. China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under Beijing's control. While relations have improved under the China-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou, who has signed a series of landmark economic deals since taking office in 2008, deep political and military suspicions remain. The alleged breach of Taiwanese air space comes a week after the US Defence Department lodged a diplomatic complaint with Beijing about the conduct of a Chinese fighter jet, which it said came within metres of a US navy patrol plane. China said the criticism was groundless and its pilot maintained a safe distance from the plane. Source: United Daily News BANGKOK, August 29 -- Heavy downpours continue in the northern region while concerned authorities have been instructed to closely monitor for possible water runoff in the northern city of Chiang Mai which could affect tourists who are visiting national parks, officials said Friday. The authorities said heavy rains are continuing in Nan and the situation is worrisome after canals were swollen following forest runoff late Thursday. By Friday afternoon, more than 200 houses in three districts of Nan including Thung Chang, Pua and Chaloem Phra Kiat were flooded, officials said. Concerned officials have been ordered to closely monitor the situation as flash floods could occur anytime in low-lying areas. Meanwhile, Chiang Mai deputy governor Chana Paengpibul has ordered every district in the province to be on alert as heavy downpours continue to devastate the province. The Meteorological Department has issued a warning that heavy rain would cover between 70-80 per cent of the total area in the province. Water levels in several canals in six districts of Chiang Mai have risen sharply after heavy rain lashed the province Thursday. In Doi Tao district alone, a canal overflowed inundating two villages. Although the situation has returned to almost normal, officials are on alert while they have also been instructed to temporary close national parks and access to waterfalls if the heavy rains resume, officials said. Source: Bangkok News ROTTERDAM, August 28 -- Seoul will pave the way for East Asian countries to participate in joint natural resource development projects in the region
Speaking at a forum that discussed economic co-operation among Asian countries, Choi promised that the government and other Asian neighbours will push to set up a development bank for Northeast Asian countries that would help the North build the infrastructure needed to support the lives of its impoverished people, the Yonhap news agency reported. He said there is a “historic task” lying ahead for Asian countries to turn Northeast Asia into a “global economic hub,” adding that the Seoul government recognises the importance of regional co-operation to achieve that objective. Emphasising the particular importance of cooperation in the energy field, he said that Seoul will pave the way for East Asian countries to participate in joint natural resource development projects in the region. “Northeast Asia is a region where countries with surging energy demand and countries with a great potential for energy supply co-exist,” he said. “We need to actively seek new measures for energy cooperation that can bring a win-win outcome and bring stability to the global energy market. Source: Agencies ROTTERDAM, August 29 -- Separatists to allow "humanitarian corridor" for encircled troops after intervention by Russian president. Ukraine's pro-Moscow separatists have agreed to let encircled Ukrainian government forces leave the rebel-held areas following intervention from Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We are ready to give a humanitarian corridor," Alexander Zakharchenko, a rebel leader, told Rossiya 24 TV on Friday, adding that troops would have to leave their heavy armoured vehicles and ammunition. The move came hours after Putin issued a statement published on the Kremlin's website overnight on Thursday, urging the separatists to "avoid unnecessary casualties". "I call on the rebel forces to open a humanitarian corridor for the Ukrainian troops who are surrounded, so as to avoid unnecessary casualties and to give them the opportunity to withdraw from the zone of operations," said Putin. The Ukrainian military said in a statement published on Friday that Putin's call testified to only one thing - "these people (separatists) are led and controlled directly from the Kremlin". According to the rebels, up to 7,000 Ukrainian troops are trapped at several locations in the Donbass region. Ukraine said on Thursday that the rebels had captured Novoazovsk with the help of Russian troops who had crossed over into Ukraine in "up to 100" tanks along with heavy weaponry. Russia dismissed the allegations, describing the fighters as "Russian volunteers". The Kremlin has repeatedly denied arming and supporting the separatists who have been battling Ukrainian troops for four months in the gravest crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War. Source: Agencies ROTTERDAM, AUGUST 29 -- Traders may ship raw Thai sugar equivalent to 16% of the global surplus against October contracts on the ICE Futures US exchange, the first deliveries since 2012. About 625,000 metric tonnes of the unrefined sweetener will be delivered when futures expire, according to the median of six estimates in a Bloomberg survey of analysts and traders. The forecasts, from companies including Green Pool Commodity Specialists and UBS AG, ranged from 300,000 tonnes to 2 million tonnes. The global surplus will be 4 million tonnes this crop year, according to the International Sugar Organization. Sugar from Thailand, the world's second-biggest exporter, has been shipped against ICE contracts only five times since at least July 2008, according to exchange data. Traders are renewing deliveries after Thai stockpiles swelled, contributing to a global oversupply that's driven down US futures by about 17% since June amid a bumper harvest in Brazil. "The forward outlook now depends on resolving this low-quality surplus sugar, which we think is likely to end up being delivered onto the exchange," Andrew Slinger, the managing director of Enerfo Sugar Ltd in Singapore, said in an e-mail on Aug. 26. He didn't participate in the survey. Prices dropped 5.5% this month after an 8.6% decline in July and settled at 15.56 cents a pound yesterday. Futures reached a high of 18.81 cents in June. The discount for October versus March widened almost fourfold in the past six months and reached 2.02 cents on Aug. 26. Thai Reserves Stockpiles in Thailand are estimated to surge 36% to a record 4.9 million tonnes in the season ending in November, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Inventories accumulated after competition from Brazil reduced demand for the Southeast Asian nation's sweetener. Exports declined 18% to 3.67 million tonnes in the first seven months from a year earlier, according to the Commerce Ministry. The delay in selling off stockpiles has hurt the quality and caused the colour to darken, said Piromsak Sasunee, chief executive officer of Bangkok-based Thai Sugar Trading Corp., the nation's top exporter. The country will produce 12 million tonnes of raw sugar in the 12 months from November compared with 11.29 million tonnes a year earlier, Somsak Suwattiga, secretary-general of the Office of the Cane & Sugar Board, said in an interview last month. It may have to carry forward about 900,000 tonnes of raw and white sugar for shipment next year, Mr Piromsak said by phone Aug. 26. Contract Deliveries The world market will have a surplus of 1.3 million tonnes in the year starting October, a fifth straight glut, and a small shortage the year after, Lindsay Jolly, senior economist at the International Sugar Organization, said in Indonesia this week. Previous deliveries of Thai sugar into US futures contracts were concentrated in March 2011 through March 2012, according to exchange data, when harvests soared to a record. Since at least 2008 traders typically settled US contracts with shipments from Central and South America, the data show. Open interest for October contracts in New York totals 433,450 contracts of 112,000 pounds, or 22 million tonnes, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The record for deliveries on the exchange was in October when Louis Dreyfus Commodities bought 1.45 million tonnes, according to two people at the time. About 500,000 tonnes of raw sugar from Central America may also be delivered, said Wayne Gordon, an analyst at UBS in Singapore. Thai shipments may be about 1 million tonnes, he says. "You have a situation where a substantial amount of sugar needs to be sold before 2015," Gordon said. "The pressure is on because you see another reasonably large crop coming. Clearly you need more space by clearing the old stocks." Source: Bloomberg
ROTTERDAM, August 29 -- US says that Russia "outright lied" over its presence in Ukraine, after Nato releases photographic evidence. The US has openly accused Russia of "outright lies" over its insistence it has no troops in Ukraine, hours after the Nato alliance said more than 1,000 Russian troops were inside the country. Samatha Power, the US ambassador to the UN, on Thursday accused her Russian counterpart, Vitaly Churkin, of lying over the presence of regular Russian soldiers in Ukraine. "Russia has come before this Council to say everything except the truth. It has manipulated. It has obfuscated. It has outright lied," said Power during a meeting of the UN Security Council. Russia's envoy Vitaly Churkin rejected the US accusation, said any Russians inside Ukraine were volunteers, and warned the US to stop interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs. "Restrain your geopolitical ambition. Then not only Russia's neighbours, but many other countries around the world would breath a sigh of relief," he said. The exchange came after the Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, organised a meeting of security officials, stating that Russian troops were on Ukrainian soil. The Nato alliance also said more than 1,000 Russian troops are operating inside Ukraine, and released satellite images which it said showed Russian combat forces, engaged in military operations inside Ukrainian territory. "They are supporting separatists ... fighting with them," said Nico Tak, the head of Nato's crisis management centre. He referred to Russia's actions as "incursions" rather than an invasion. "The evidence was plain for the world to see"
ROTTERDAM, August 28 -- Pyongyang has said this demonstration of force is “a rehearsal for invasion of North Korea” Leader of North Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un has guided the Korean People’s Army (KPA) paratroopers’ exercise, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Thursday. According to KCNA, Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and first chairman of the National Defense Commission of the DPRK, guided the actual parachuting and striking drill of paratrooper units of the KPA. “He expressed great satisfaction” with their skill and instructed them to take measures to boost the combat capability of the country’s armed forces. According to KCNA, he stressed the “need to prepare all service personnel as ‘a-match-for-a-hundred’ fighters who are always ready” for combat. The North Korean leader was accompanied by director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army Hwang Pyong So, Chief of the KPA General Staff Ri Yong Gil and other military officials. The KCNA report did not identify the exercise area. According to experts, North Korea has demonstrated its airborne forces’ capability in response to the Ulji Freedom Guardian (UFG) joint US - South Korean manoeuvres, involving 50,000 South Korean and 30,000 American troops, redeployed to South Korea from the US continental part and from US military bases abroad. Pyongyang has said this demonstration of force is “a rehearsal for invasion of DPRK.” At present, 28,500 American troops are stationed in the south of the Korean Peninsula. Source: Tass Source: Bloomberg |
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