KIEV, October 31 -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Friday suggested considering the issue of expediency of gas supplies to south-eastern regions not controlled by Kiev. “I propose raising the issue at a meeting of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. I will speak with the president on the issue,” Yatsenyuk said at a meeting of the energy headquarters. He explained the step by the fact that Ukraine does not receive “hundreds of millions” of dollars for supplied gas from the regions. Earlier Friday, deputy head of Ukraine’s national oil and gas company Naftogaz Sergey Pereloma said the company under-received 700 million hryvnias ($54 million) in October, and losses may equal 6-7 billion hryvnias ($460-540 million) over the entire heating season, in line with his data. Pereloma said Naftogaz has technical capabilities to stop the gas supplies.
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PARIS, October 31 -- A fire broke out on Friday on the seventh floor of the "Maison de la radio" ("Radio house"), a vast circular building in Paris housing several media operations. Fire fighters said the blaze started on the seventh floor which is currently under reconstruction and employees were quickly evacuated from the building. Two radio stations, France Info and France Inter, stopped transmission due to the blaze. There were no immediate reports of injuries, according to a police source. Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the building, an iconic structure in the plush 16th district of Paris that has been undergoing significant renovation. Fire service chief Gabriel Plus told AFP that 16 fire engines had been dispatched and that they were setting up a command post on site. KOBANI, October 31 -- Fighters from the Islamic State have shelled the border crossing between Syria and Turkey in their latest attempt to stop an expected arrival of Kurdish troops from Iraq to help defend Kobani. Friday’s bombardment of the Mursitpinar post came a day after a first contingent of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces entered the Syrian town of Kobani from Turkey to join the effort to break an ISIS siege. ISIS on Friday also hit the al-Jemrok district in the north of Kobane with mortar shells and heavy machine gun fire. They also attacked Kurdish forces using a suicide car bomb. ISIS attacked Kobani six weeks ago, capturing dozens of nearby Kurdish villages in addition to parts of the border town. Kobani is now under attack from three sides and weeks of US-led air strikes have failed to break the ISIS assault. Syrian Kurds have pleaded for advanced weapons to help them gain the upper hand. Around 100 troops arrived by plane to south-eastern Turkey on Wednesday, joined later that night by a land convoy of vehicles carrying arms including a cannon and truck-mounted machine guns. Activists say there are about 1,000 Syrian Kurdish fighters and more than 3,000 ISIS members in the Kobani area. On Wednesday, a group of 50 Syrian rebels entered Kobani - also via Turkey - in a bid to help. The rebels are members of the Free Syrian Army and were meant to help the long-awaited Iraqi Peshmerga and the town's Kurdish defenders. The FSA is a loose umbrella group of mainstream rebels trying to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. MOSCOW, October 30 -- A Russian Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage and a Meridian communications satellite has been successfully launched from the Plesetsk space port, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian airspace defence forces “The airspace defence forces’ operational unit successfully launched the Soyuz-2.1a medium-class carrier rocket with a Meridian communications satellite from the Plesetsk cosmodrome at 04:43 Moscow time,” he said, adding that the rocket had been blasted off in a regular regime. The Fregat upper stage with a Meridian dual-use communications satellite has separated from the third stage of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin, a spokesman for the Russian airspace defence forces, told TASS early on Thursday. The Fregat upper stage will continue its mission to put the satellite onto its designated orbit. The Meridian dual-use satellite is tasked to ensure communication with sea vessels and ice patrol aircraft along the Northern Sea Route. Flight tests of the Soyuz-2 spacecraft were kicked off at Plesetsk in November 2004. Over the ten years since then, as many as 18 Soyuz-2 carrier rockets of various modifications - 1a, 1b, and 1v - have been launched. Rockets of the Soyuz-2 series replaced Soyuz-U launch vehicles used at Plesetsk from 1973 to 2012. Over this period, a total of 434 Soyuz-U boosters were launched to put into orbit about 430 spacecraft. The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket was developed by the Progress Rocket and Space Centre. It is equipped with upgraded digital control and radio-telemetric systems and unrated engines of the first and second stages. HOLLYWOOD, October 29-- He was the TV dad loved by millions, the devoted funnyman who brought sunshine and dispensed pearls of wisdom to his doting wife and kids. But, according to shocking claims, comic legend Bill Cosby was a manipulative abuser who drugged and sexually assaulted more than a dozen young women. The 77-year-old has been dogged by accusations of sex assault for more than 20 years. The allegations were aired again last week when stand-up comedian Hannibal Buress launched an onstage tirade in Cosby’s hometown of Philadelphia, calling the The Cosby Show dad a hypocrite for his “smuggest old black man public persona”. Buress said: “Pull your pants up, black people. I was on TV in the ‘80s. I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom. “Yeah, but you raped women, Bill Cosby. So, brings you down a couple notches.” Barbara Bowman alleges she was raped by Cosby when she was a teenage actor in the late 1980s after he offered to act as her mentor. She told MailOnline she felt relieved when she heard Buress’s comments. “I was drugged and raped by that man,’ she told MailOnline. “He is a monster. He came at me like a monster. My hope is that others who have experienced sexual abuse will not be intimidated into silence by the famous, rich and powerful. If I can help one victim, then I’ve done my job.” Bowman, 46, told Newsweek magazine earlier this year how Cosby had taken advantage of her when she young and impressionable. She alleges Cosby plied her with alcohol numerous times and even warned her before they went on out-of-town trips: “You aren’t going to fight me this time, are you?” In 2004, Andrea Constand brought a civil lawsuit against Cosby claiming she had been sexually assaulted. The lawsuit grew to include 13 other women, all of whom reported being drugged and raped by one the entertainer. Cosby settled under undisclosed terms in 2006. Cosby has been married to Camille Hanks, the mother of his five children for 50 years. The most popular comedy stand-up of the 1960s, he was near bankruptcy in the 1980s when took the role of Dr Cliff Huxtable, the part that would elevate him to TV stardom. Tragically, he lost his only son Ennis, who was shot dead by an attempted robbery on the side of a highway in Los Angeles in 1997. WASHINGTON, October 29 -- Cygnus was to deliver to the International Space Station more than 2 tonnes of payload, including food, equipment and materials for scientific experiments The Antares rocket with the American cargo spacecraft Cygnus exploded during blastoff from NASA launch facility on the Wallops Island near the Virginia coast on Tuesday. The NASA website was transmitting a live broadcast of the rocket launch. The explosion occurred immediately after the liftoff at 18:23 pm, local time (01:23 am, Moscow time, October 29). There were no immediate reports about casualties or damage to the spaceport facilities. NASA said a special commission comprising representatives of NASA and Orbital Sciences will be formed to investigate the catastrophe. Cygnus was to loiter in orbit until Nov. 2, then fly itself to the station so astronauts can use a robotic crane to snare the capsule and attach it to a berthing port. The ISS, a $100 billion research laboratory owned and operated by 15 nations, flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth. In addition to food, supplies and equipment, the Cygnus spacecraft was loaded with more than 1,600 pounds (725 kg) of science experiments, including an investigation to chemically analyze meteors as they burn up in Earth's atmosphere. Iraqi Peshmerga set to join Kobane battle ANKARA, October 28 -- Kurdish forces load weapons onto planes and vehicles as they prepare to join fight against ISIL in Syria. Dozens of Kurdish Peshmerga soldiers are leaving Iraq for the besieged Syrian town of Kobani to help fellow Kurds in their battle against the ISIS. Reports tell that a convoy of 50-60 vehicles, including buses carrying soldiers and some vehicles towing canons, leaving the Iraqi city of Erbil on Tuesday afternoon. An Iraqi Kurdistan official in the city earlier told that more than 150 Peshmerga soldiers were ready to depart and that a plane was being loaded with light weapons. Supplies of heavy weapons were expected to be transported by road to Turkey, the officials said. Syrian Kurds have battled fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) group in and around Kobane since mid-September. Despite US-led air strikes supporting the Kurds, ISIS has kept up its assault. Last week the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) authorised about 150 Peshmerga soldiers to go to Syria to fight. Turkey has been reluctant to join the US-led coalition against ISIS. But after pressure from its Western allies, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last Wednesday that some Peshmerga soldiers from Iraq would be allowed to transit through Turkey to Kobane. Halgord Hekmat, spokesman for the KRG's ministry for Peshmerga affairs, has said the soldiers are "support forces" and will be armed with automatic weapons, mortars and rocket launchers. They are not expected to fight on the frontline. Open-ended deployment The deployment is open-ended, with Mustafa Sayid Qadir, the Peshmerga affairs minister, saying: "They will remain there until they are no longer needed." ISIS has captured dozens of Kurdish villages around Kobane and now also control parts of the town. The battles have killed more than 800 people, according to activists, and sent more than 200,000 people fleeing into Turkey. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the US-led coalition carried out three air strikes on Kobane on Tuesday, targeting a gathering of ISIS fighters. The US Central Command said more air strikes were launched in Syria and Iraq on Monday and Tuesday. In Syria, four air strikes near Kobane destroyed four ISIS fighting positions and a small ISIS unit, a US statement said. ISIS has taken over large expanses of land in Iraq and Syria and been accused of grave atrocities in both countries. TALLINN, October 28 -- A 15-year-old schoolboy has shot his German teacher dead in the Estonian town of Viljandi, local media reported on Monday. The teenager opened fire at the 56-year-old teacher when five other students were present in the classroom. Police detained the teenager who had never had behavior problems before. However, his latest Facebook status said, “Don't judge me because I'm quiet, no one plans a murder out loud”. Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said he was shocked with the killing of the teacher. School shootings This is not the only such case that happened recently. On Friday, October 24 a high school student in Marysville, Washington, opened fire in the high school cafeteria, shooting dead one person and wounding four others before killing himself, law enforcement agencies reported. One girl was killed in the incident, four other victims remain in hospital. They are all in serious condition, and doctors are fighting for their lives. OTTAWA, October 27 -- The video had “irrefutable evidence of the fact that the attack had been launched due to ideological and political motives” Canadian citizen Michael Zehaf-Bibeau recorded a video message before killing a soldier on ceremonial guard duty in the Ottawa downtown and the following attack on the Parliament building, Ottawa police reported. “Zehaf-Bibeau prepared a video message before the attack. It is being thoroughly examined by experts now," the statement said. It notes that the police has “irrefutable evidence of the fact that the attack had been launched due to ideological and political motives." Other information has not been released by the police yet. Source: Agencies LONDON, October 26 -- Jack Bruce was part Mississippi Delta and part Carnaby Street. In his glorious heyday as bassist and lead vocalist of 1960s power trio Cream he helped create a sound that combined American blues and psychedelia to thrill audiences throughout the world. Bruce, who died Saturday of liver disease at age 71, enjoyed a long, respected solo career after the band's acrimonious breakup, but will be best remembered for his stint with Cream and for classics like "Sunshine of Your Love" and "I Feel Free." Much of the attention was focused on guitar wizard Eric Clapton, but Bruce wrote many of the band's signature tunes and served as lead vocalist. He also provided the intense bass guitar that, with Ginger Baker's explosive drums, underpinned Cream's rhythmic, driving sound. They had it all — commercial and critical success — until individual egos intervened and they disbanded, entering rock and roll mythology as the original supergroup: super-talented, and super-troubled. Bruce was an important member of the British blues movement, which saw bands like the Animals and Rolling Stones first imitate and then expand on the American blues tradition as exemplified by Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker and other stalwarts. Cream, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, played a mix of traditional blues songs, with long, often improvised instrumental breaks, and their own tunes. They enchanted critics and fans alike at first, but after two years some found their extended jams to be self-indulgent, with band members seeming to show off their musical virtuosity rather than trying to complement each other. FRANKFURT, October 26 -- The European Central Bank says 13 of Europe's 130 biggest banks have flunked an in-depth review of their finances and must increase their capital buffers against losses by 10 billion euros ($12.5 billion). The ECB said 25 banks in all were found to need stronger buffers — but that 12 have already made up their shortfall during the months in which the ECB was carrying out its review. The remaining 13 now have two weeks to tell the ECB how they plan to increase their capital buffers. The ECB checked the worth of banks' holdings and subjected the banks to a stress test that simulates how their finances would fare in an economic downturn. The exercise is aimed at strengthening the banking system so lenders can provide more credit to companies, boosting the weak European economy. The economy has been plagued both by banks' unwillingness to lend at affordable rates and by weak demand from companies that see no reason to risk borrowing. ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said the stress test and asset check were "quite strict" and that "the results guarantee that going forward the economic recovery will not be hampered by credit supply restrictions." The 13 banks that fell short included:
The bank with the biggest shortfall was Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which was found to have a capital shortfall of 2.11 billion euros. Most of the other banks that failed were short amounts less than 1 billion euros and in several cases less than 200 million euros. Eurobank and National Bank of Greece had no or practically no shortfall due to later measurements, while Nova Ljubljanska Banka and Nova Kreditna Banka had no need to raise more capital due to restructuring this year. Dexia is already being restructured with a state guarantee and does not need to raise more capital despite failing. The asset review and stress tests pave the way for the ECB to take over on Nov. 4 as the Europe's central banking supervisor. The test is supposed to make sure hidden troubles in the system are fixed before landing in the ECB's lap. HONG KONG, October 26 -- Activists cancel 'street vote' to decide future of month-long demonstrations for greater democracy in Chinese territory. The organizers of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests have canceled a vote on what the next step should be in their month long street occupation, saying they hadn't properly consulted with the public before calling the referendum. The two-day vote, which had been scheduled for Sunday and Monday, was supposed to have asked the protesters about counter proposals to an offer made by Hong Kong's government following last week's talks between student protest leaders and authorities. The government offered to submit a report to Beijing noting the protesters' unhappiness with a decision to have an appointed committee screen candidates for the semi-autonomous city's leader, known as the chief executive. Protesters are demanding open nominations for chief executive in the city's inaugural direct election promised to be held in 2017. "We admit that we did not have enough discussion with the people before deciding to go ahead with the vote and we apologise to the people,'' the organisers said in a statement. Two student groups - the Hong Kong Federation of Students and Scholarism and the activist group Occupy Central With Peace and Love had called for the referendum on Friday. Organisers bowed in apology for disappointing supporters of a movement that has come to be known as the "umbrella revolution", after the umbrellas wielded by demonstrators in the face of police tear gas. "There have been a lot of conflicts and different opinions," student leader Alex Chow told reporters. Organisers refused to be drawn on the nature of the disagreements, but Chow said there had been concerns over how to verify that only protesters took part in the vote, amid worries that opponents might try to hijack the process. The vote had been due to take place at the three protest camps that have sprung up across Hong Kong. It would have asked demonstrators how to respond to conciliatory measures offered by Hong Kong's government. The government made tentative concessions during talks last Tuesday, offering to file a report to Beijing about recent events and suggesting that both sides set up a committee to discuss further political reform beyond 2017. PYONGYANG, October 25 -- The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “has repeatedly warned the South Korean authorities that such actions can lead to resolute counter-measures,” the newspaper said Planned launches of balloons by South Korean activists to send provocative leaflets to North Korea “may trigger large-scale military activities,” North Korea’s state-run Minju Choson newspaper writes on Saturday. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea “has repeatedly warned the South Korean authorities that such actions can lead to resolute counter-measures,” the newspaper said. This position “affects inter-Korean relations extremely negatively,” it said. Earlier reports said activists from a South Korean conservative organization, having North Korean defectors in its ranks, plan to launch balloons carrying up to 50,000 leaflets from Imjinkak area close to the border with the North. A representative from the South Korea’s Korean National Police Agency said in this connection that “the government has no legal foundations to block launches of leaflets by private organizations”. |
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