"The main task I see is to prepare for combat operations. We are doing this, we are readying our reserves," Poltorak said on Wednesday, adding that the situation in the conflict zone was "complicated but stable" for now. In televised comments at the start of a cabinet meeting, he reported that pro-Russian separatists had taken on "reinforcements". "We observe their movements, we know where they are and we expect unpredictable actions from them." Also on Wednesday, US General Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme commander, lent his weight to a report by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation (OSCE), released last week, that said columns of Russian tanks were entering Ukraine. "We agree that there are multiple columns that we have seen; we agree with the OSCE reports. And as to their intent: I'm not sure," Breedlove said during a visit to Sofia. "My strategic team believes that there is a possibility that, as you know, this pocket of separatist Russian-backed forces and Russian forces in the east of Ukraine - it's not a very contiguous pocket. "What worries me the most, I've said before, is that we have a situation now where the former international border, the current international border, of Ukraine and Russia, is completely porous; it is completely wide-open. Forces, money, support, supplies, weapons are flowing back and forth across this border completely at will. Russia has repeatedly denied claims that its troops are moving across the border into rebel-held eastern Ukraine, despite openly offering its backing to elections in the separatist areas. Reports from Donetsk, said the military presence had been increasing in recent days: "We ourselves witnessed a military column travelling to Donetsk yesterday," she said. "There's certainly a build-up, with daily sightings of military convoys and a build up of fighting. "The Ukrainian Defence Ministry announced it is going to prop up its military to defend against possible rebel advancement across their territory." OSCE observers had reported seeing a convoy of 43 unmarked military vehicles, five towing Howitzer heavy artillery pieces and another five towing multi-launch rocket systems, travelling into the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on Tuesday. On the ground, several hours of heavy artillery fire rocked Donetsk, the most intense fighting since the weekend.
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LONDON, November 12 -- European robot probe Philae has made the first, historic landing on a comet, after descending from its mothership. The lander touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at about 1605 GMT. There were cheers and hugs at the control room in Darmstadt, Germany after the signal was confirmed. It was designed to shine a light on some of the mysteries of these icy relics from the formation of the Solar System. "This is a big step for human civilisation," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, the director-general of the European Space Agency (Esa). Shortly after the touchdown was confirmed, Stephan Ulamec, the mission's lander chief, said: "Philae is talking to us... we are on the comet." TEHRAN, November 12 -- Russia has signed a contract to build two more nuclear reactors in Iran likely to be followed with another six, a move intended to cement closer ties between the two nations. The deal comes less than two weeks ahead of the November 24 deadline for Tehran to sign an agreement on its nuclear program with six world powers. Tuesday's contract has no immediate relation to the talks that involve Russia and the United States, but it reflects Moscow's intention to deepen its co-operation with Tehran ahead of possible softening of Western sanctions against Iran. The nuclear officials from the two countries signed the contract for building two reactors at Iran's first Russia-built nuclear plant in Bushehr. Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of Russia's Rosatom state corporation, and Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi also signed a protocol envisaging possible construction of two more reactors in Bushehr and another four in an undetermined location. "It's a turning point in the development of relations between our countries," Salehi said after the signing, according to Russian news reports. Rosatom said in a statement that the construction of the new reactors will be monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency. As in the case of Bushehr's first reactor that became operational in 2013, Russia will supply uranium fuel and then take it back for reprocessing - a provision intended to prevent a possibility of Iran using the spent fuel to build atomic weapons. A potential agreement between Iran and the six powers would ease Western sanctions against Iran's economy if Tehran agrees to limit its uranium enrichment to a level that would make it unable to build nuclear weapons. Iran has dismissed Western suspicions that it was working covertly to develop nuclear weapons, insisting that its nuclear activities are aimed at peaceful energy demands and medical needs. OTTAWA, November 12 -- Royal Canadian Air Force, being part of the coalition mission against ISIS militants, destroyed its artillery section in Iraq, Canadian Ministry of National Defense reports. The airstrikes were conducted near Baiji, which is 200 km north of Baghdad. “These strikes demonstrate Canada’s fixed determination to tackle the threat of terrorism and stand with our allies against Islamic State atrocities,” the head of Ministry of National Defense Robert Nicholson. Earlier, the US Central Command said that a total of 18 airstrikes were conducted against ISIS militants in Iraq. In particular near Fallujah, Baiji, Mosul, Ar Rutba. Canada’s contribution in fight against ISISCanadian military contingent is stationed at an air base in Kuwait. To fight the Islamic State Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sent a total of six jet fighters, two CP-140 Aurora scout aircrafts and one flying tanker Airbus CC-150 Polaris. 600 military personnel have come to the Middle East "to support air mission." Harper earlier said the Canadian aviation will bomb the IS targets only on the territory of Iraq. He noted that Canadian military will not participate in a possible ground operation.
At the weekend, Israeli Arabs threw stones at police in mainly Arab towns in Israel after police shot dead a young Arab man, who had attacked them with a knife. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to crack down on the violence. Serious condition'Monday's West Bank attack took place at the entrance to the Alon Shvut settlement. The attacker tried to run over people in his car, hit a concrete barrier then got out of the vehicle, reports said. He then stabbed the woman along with two other Israelis at a bus stop. The two injured men were taken to hospital. The attacker was shot several times by a security guard and was taken from the scene in a serious condition, emergency services said. Earlier reports had said the woman was a 14-year-old girl. The attack took place close to where three Israeli students were abducted and killed by Palestinian militants in June, an incident which led to the revenge killing in Jerusalem of a Palestinian teenager by Jewish extremists. Tensions then escalated into a 50-day conflict between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza. Deteriorating securityMonday's earlier incident in Tel Aviv took place at a busy train station and was described by police as a "terror attack". AMSTERDAM, November 10 -- More than 1,600 relatives of people killed in the MH17 disaster gathered in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon for a memorial ceremony. More than 1,600 relatives of people killed in the MH17 disaster gathered in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon for a memorial ceremony. The gathering, at the Rai exhibition centre, was also attended by king Willem-Alexander, queen Máxima, princess Beatrix, ministers and MPs. Prime minister Mark Rutte started the proceedings and spoke about the questions that the relatives of those who died have been left with. ‘What if their holiday was due to start a day later? What if the plane had been delayed?’ the prime minister said. ‘Who has not asked themselves these questions since July 17?’ After the prime minister’s speech, children laid flowers in the centre of the hall. Then Marco Borsato sang Voor Altijd (for ever). Some of the relatives also said a few words. ‘We feel as if we have lost a limb,’ said Anton Kotte, who lost his son, daughter-in-law and grandson in the disaster. ‘Luckily, the memories will never disappear.’ Everyone on board the Malaysian Airways plane was killed when it was brought down, apparently either by pro-Russian rebels or Ukranian army, on July 17. Most were Dutch but there was also a sizeable number of Australians and Malaysians. Outside the entrance to the Rai, flags from the 19 countries who lost people in the disaster were flown at half mast. The ceremony was simultaneously translated into the languages of other victims. BEIJING, November 10 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama have greeted each other on the sidelines of the 2014 APEC summit but no serious conversation has taken place between them.“There was no conversation. They really greeted each other - it was that brief contact on the sidelines of the event that we had discussed,” Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Monday. Peskov said the presidents assume they will get a chance of having a conversation in the coming days. A representative of the US presidential administration confirmed that the two presidents had a brief conversation, noting they didn't have time to discuss any controversial matters. She didn't rule out that the presidents may have a more substantial conversation on tuesday. First day of APEC summit ends with massive fireworks show Fireworks lit up the sky over the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest in Beijing on Monday night as the first day of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation summit came to its end. After a reception in honour of the participants of the forum, China’s President Xi Jinping invited his guests outside to watch a massive fireworks show that lasted for about 20 minutes. Different coloured fantastic fireworks illuminated the sky over the city making it as bright as in a sunny day. Pyrotechnicians even managed to write the lines APEC-2014 in the sky. A part of the show was accompanied by music. DONETSK, November 9 -- Intense artillery fire erupts near Donetsk in what is seen as worst fighting since tenuous September ceasefire.Intense artillery fire has broken out in the pro-Russia separatist bastion of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, the worst since a barely-observed ceasefire was signed in September. Shelling by heavy artillery continued throughout the night and into the early hours of Sunday, and then picked up again later in the morning. The bombardment appeared to come from areas held by the separatists as well as from positions controlled by the government forces, and could be heard in the centre of the city, which had a pre-conflict population of more than 1 million. The truce, agreed on September 5, has looked particularly fragile over the past week, with each side accusing the other of violations after separatist elections on November 2 that were condemned as illegitimate by the West. Residents said there appeared to be fighting near Donetsk airport, around which battles have repeatedly violated the ceasefire in a conflict in which around 4,000 people have been killed since mid-April. There were no immediate reports of new casualties. Donetsk's City Council said in a statement on its website that the shelling had damaged residential buildings and that firefighters were at the scene of one of the damaged buildings. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) voiced concern on Saturday after its monitors witnessed columns of tanks, howitizers and troop carriers moving through east Ukraine in territory held by pro-Russia separatists. The OSCE report came a day after Ukraine's military said it had spotted a large column of tanks and other heavy weapons entering the country from Russia across a section of border that has fallen under control of rebel fighters. Russia has denied it was backing the rebels in the east. SEOUL, November 9 -- North Korea unexpectedly released two American prisoners, Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller, following a Saturday conclusion of closed-door negotiations led by U.S. director of intelligence James R. Clapper. The surprise development, which follows the release of fellow American citizen Jeffrey Fowle earlier this month, now brings the count of detained U.S. citizens in North Korea to zero.
“We can confirm that U.S. citizens Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd Miller have been allowed to depart the DPRK and are on their way home, accompanied by DNI Clapper, to re-join their families,” a rare statement published by the office of the Director of National Intelligence said on Saturday. “We welcome the DPRK’s decision to release both Mr. Bae and Mr. Miller. We want to thank our international partners, especially our Protecting Power, the Government of Sweden, for their tireless efforts to help secure their release,” the statement continued, adding that Washington was “facilitating their return to the United States”. The State Department subsequently told CNN that Clapper, who visited Pyongyang as an envoy of President Barack Obama, did not make a ”quid pro quo” offer for the men’s release. The development comes as a major surprise to North Korea watchers, something for which the rationale may not be revealed soon, one observer suggested. “The United States will probably not admit to talking with North Korea, especially under these circumstances,” said North Korea watcher Christopher Green, also international editor at the Seoul-based Daily NK. “We’ll likely never be told the content of the dialogue that goes on in Pyongyang, either, unless North Korea reveals it in a fit of pique at a later date. But at the end of the day James Clapper is a very serious man, and his presence cannot be overlooked,” added Green. KENNETH BAE Bae was arrested on November 3 2012 in the northeastern city of Rajin, and found to possess a computer hard drive containing pictures of starving North Korean children and a copy of the 2007 National Geographic documentary “Don’t tell my mother I’m in North Korea.” Sentenced to 15 years hard labor in May 2013, Bae was sentenced on four counts: - Plotting the overthrow of the North Korean government with a plan called “Operation Jericho.” - Admitting setting up bases in China to overthrow the government. - Inciting North Korean to overthrow their government. - Conducting a smear campaign against the DPRK. MATTHEW MILLER North Korea’s Supreme Court sentenced American detainee Matthew Miller to six years of hard labor in October 2014, for allegedly destroying his tourist visa and announcing his intention to seek asylum. In reports released after his trial, KCNA said that Miller “committed acts hostile to the DPRK while entering the territory of the DPRK under the guise of a tourist in last April”. “Prison life is eight hours of work per day. Mostly it’s been agriculture, like in the dirt, digging around. Other than that, it’s isolation, no contact with anyone,” Miller said in an interview with AP following his sentencing. “But I’ve been in good health and no sickness or no hurts (sic),” Miller added. KIEV, November 9 -- Kiev forces are holding from 350 to 400 militias of the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR), head of the Ukrainian prisoner exchange centre Vladimir Ruban said. At least 250-300 fighters of the self-proclaimed republics are kept under the guard of Ukraine’s Security Service and Interior Ministry and another 100 militias “are staying temporarily” under control of law enforcers from other agencies,” Ruban said. “Nearly 500 prisoners to date,” Ruban replied when asked how many Kiev troops the LPR and DPR were holding. Exchange of prisoners of war was a key posotion of the agreements reached at a Minsk meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine on September 5. Since then, there have been five such swaps in the Donetsk People’s Republic: 37 for 37, 70 for 70, 38 for 38, 28 for 28, and 30 (Ukrainian troops) for 60 (militias); and one swap in the Luhansk People’s Republic - 13 militias were exchanged for 14 Ukrainian troops on October 14. On October 28 Kiev released eight militias and Luhansk - seven Ukrainian troops. On Friday, November 7, LPR militias and Kiev representatives exchanged seven troops for five militias near the Schastye locality. WASHINGTON, November 8 -- US President Barack Obama has authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 additional troops to Iraq in order to help train and advise government and Kurdish forces fighting the armed Islamic State (ISIS) group, the White House has said. "As a part of our strategy for strengthening partners on the ground, President Obama today authorised the deployment of up to 1,500 additional US military personnel in a non-combat role to train, advise, and assist Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces," the statement said on Friday. The Obama administration will ask Congress for $5.6bn for the operations in Iraq and Syria, which includes $1.6bn for the new "Iraq Train and Equip Fund," the White House Office of Management and Budget said. The deployment will roughly double the number of US troops in the country. Some of the advisors will be deployed to western Anbar province, where the Iraqi army has been forced to retreat from advancing ISIS fighters, a defence official who spoke on condition of anonymity told AFP news agency. Some of the additional troops will begin to arrive in Iraq in the next several weeks, the official said. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel recommended the move to Obama based on a request from the Iraqi government and the assessment of US Central Command, which is overseeing the air war against ISIS, the Pentagon said. The deployment coincides "with the development of a coalition campaign plan to defend key areas and go on the offensive" against ISIL fighters who have grabbed large areas of Iraq and neighbouring Syria, it said. The training will focus on 12 Iraqi brigades - nine Iraqi army and three Peshmerga brigades, the Pentagon said. The training sites will be located in northern, western, and southern Iraq and "coalition partners will join US personnel at these locations to help build Iraqi capacity and capability," it added. Obama had previously authorised up to 1,600 troops. His decision on Friday will raise the maximum troop footprint to 3,100. The US president had resisted keeping troops in Iraq earlier in his term, vowing to end the American presence that began with the 2003 invasion and continued as an occupation through 2011. ISIS has declared a "caliphate" in territorries in Iraq and Syria it controls, committing widespread atrocities in the areas. US-led coalition's fighter jets have been bombing the group's targets in Iraq and Syria, supporting the ground struggle carried out by the government and Kurdish forces. ISIS considers Shia Muslims, Christians and members of other religions to be heretics and frequently attacks them. KALININGRAD, November 8 -- Second ship in the new family of Russian frigates, the Admiral Essen, will be handed to the Navy at the end of 2015, Pyotr Vassilyev, the designer-in-chief of Project 11356 ships told TASS at a gala ceremony where the frigate was floated. In the meantime, spokespeople for the ‘Yantar’ Baltic Shipbuilding Yard, which is building ships of the new family, said the Admiral Grigorovich, the flagship of project, will be floated and handed over to the Navy by the end of next spring. Under an agreement with the Russian Defence Ministry, Yantar is to complete construction of six ships under Project 11356 in 2017. They were designed by the Northern Design and Development Bureau. A total of five frigates - the Admiral Grigorovich, the Admiral Essen, the Admiral Makarov, the Admiral Butakov, and the Admiral Istomin - have been laid down. The Admiral Kornilov frigate is next in line but no specifications of the time of its construction have been made so far. Project 11356 frigates have a capability for combat actions on high seas against surface ships and submarines and for repelling enemy airstrikes both autonomously and as escort ships within naval detachments.
PSV Eindhoven is also second in its group after a 3-2 win over Greek club Panathinaikos. The Greeks went into the break 2-1 up but Abdul Ajagun and Mladen Petric pulled two back in the second half. PSV have seven points in Group E, four more than the number three Estorial.
Aegon signed a seven-year contract with Ajax in 2007, with an option to end the agreement after five years. Ziggo and competitor UPC are in the process of merging into a single company and hope the deal will boost their brand awareness. LONDON, 7 November -- Prosecutors in New Zealand have dismissed charges from AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd in attempting to organize a double slaying, as the evidence was insufficient. He is still, however, charged of death threats and possession of drugs, BBC reports. Phil Rudd was arrested on Thursday at his house in Tauranga, New Zealand and was delivered to court. After a short hearing a 60-year-old musician was released on bail, the amount of which is not disclosed. Rudd’s lawyers have already stated that «their client has a huge psychological trauma». The musician must appear in court on November 27. The plan of AD/CD concerts is not changed. AC/DC is going to release its new album in December. The band made clear that they still consider Rudd as a «member of their team». AC/DC didn’t cancel any of concerts in connection with the charges. |
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