Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Foreign Affairs Sep 19, 2008

Gazprom, Total agree to develop gas fields in Bolivia
MOSCOW (Bloomberg) -- OAO Gazprom agreed to explore for natural gas in Bolivia with France’s Total SA as Russia strives to regain influence in Latin America.

The two companies may spend as much as $4.5 billion developing deposits with Bolivia’s national energy producer YPF Bolivianos, Russian state broadcaster Vesti-24 reported on Friday.
Bolivia President in Panama
Panama, Sep 19 (Prensa Latina) The signing of bilateral accords and a tour of the Panama Canal Zone are among the aims of Bolivian President Evo Morales' visit to this country Friday, official sources reported.

The agenda of Morales, who will stay here five hours, also includes a meeting in private with his Panamanian counterpart Martin Torrijos.
Russia Builds Ties in Latin America to Challenge U.S.
Sept. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is in talks to build a space center in Cuba as it forges closer ties with Latin American countries opposed to the U.S. in the wake of Cold War-era tensions sparked by the Georgia conflict.

The head of the Russian Federal Space Agency, or Roscosmos, Anatoly Perminov, who visited Havana with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin earlier this week, made the announcement in a statement posted today on the agency's Web Site.
Russia may attempt to extend Arctic control: Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has suggested that Russia may disregard international law and try to extend its control over the Arctic.

He says Canada has increased its military presence in the region in response.
Canada concerned about Russia's Arctic intentions
TORONTO (AP) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday that his government was taking steps to bolster Canada's presence in the Arctic amid concerns about Russian intentions in the frigid zone.

Harper charged that Russia has been showing signs of flaunting international norms in the region.
Venezuela says oil reserves now at 142.31 billion bbl
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 18 -- Venezuela's ministry of energy and petroleum has added 7.43 billion bbl to the country's oil reserves, raising them to 142.31 billion bbl.

The ministry said the new proved reserves are in the Junin, Junin Block 1, Campos Iguana Zuata, and Zuata North areas in the Orinoco belt, which covers 53,314 sq km around the northern section of the Orinoco River.
Venezuela-Russia ties deepen despite US pressure
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela and Russia are strengthening their strategic alliance with new plans to cooperate on oil production, weapons and even wireless technology, the governments said as two visiting Russian Tu-160 bombers left for home on Thursday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, traveling to Moscow next week at the invitation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, is planning new oil projects with Russian companies and joint military exercises with Russian warplanes and ships in the Caribbean by December.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Things I Found September 14, 2008

September 14: Today In History.

Weather
Ike kills 2 in Louisiana, floods homes: LAKE CHARLES, La. - Hurricane Ike spared Louisiana a direct hit, but its winds and waters killed two people as coastal areas were inundated with a storm surge that crawled some 30 miles inland, flooding tens of thousands of homes and making many roads impassable.

Officials Still Unsure of Ike Death Toll, Damage Costs: From the sea-swamped neighborhoods of Galveston to the pine-covered hills north of Houston, people across Southeast Texas awoke Saturday to a stunning tableau of devastation caused by the passage of Hurricane Ike, the first hurricane in a quarter-century to score a direct hit on the state's most populous region.

Tropical Depression IKE Public Advisory
: The NHC has issued its final advisory on this system. Public Advisories from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center will provide updates as long as the system remains a flood threat.

Hurricane remnants blamed for 3 deaths in Midwest
: MUNSTER, Ind. - A father and son drowned in northwest Indiana while trying to rescue children from a flooded ditch as heavy rains from the remnants of Hurricane Ike forced hundreds of evacuations across the Midwest on Sunday.

Typhoon injures 14, cancels flights in Taiwan: TAIPEI (Reuters) - A powerful typhoon packing winds of up to 160 kph (100 mph) hit northeastern Taiwan on Sunday, dumping up to a meter of rain, causing hundreds of mudslides, injuring 14 and forcing the cancellation of dozens of flights.

Sci/Tech
Hackers infiltrate Large Hadron Collider systems and mock IT security: As the first particles were circulating in the machine near Geneva where the world wide web was born, a Greek group hacked into the facility, posting a warning about weaknesses in its infrastructure.

Tragedy
Plane Crash in Russia Kills All 88 Aboard: MOSCOW -- A plane carrying 88 people crashed in central Russia early Sunday killing all aboard, an emergency official said.

Death toll from China mine mudslide climbs to 254: BEIJING (Reuters) - The death toll from a mudslide caused by the collapse of a mine waste reservoir in northern China has climbed to 254, state media said on Sunday.

Foreign Affairs
Turkmenistan clashes 'kill police': At least 20 members of the Turkmenistan's security forces have reportedly been killed in clashes in the capital Ashgabat, according to to media reports and diplomatic sources.

Russians troops leave west, but remain in Georgia: TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Russian soldiers and armored vehicles pulled back from positions deep in western Georgia on Saturday, meeting a closely watched withdrawal deadline a month after the war between the former Soviet republics.

Venezuelan military holds anti-invasion exercises
: CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has observed military exercises with planes dropping bombs and commandos resisting a mock invasion.

Venezuela's Bonds Tumble After Chavez Expels U.S. Ambassador: Venezuela's bonds plunged to the lowest since June 2004 after President Hugo Chavez called for the expulsion of the American ambassador and threatened to cut off oil exports to the U.S.

U.S. in push for foreign arms deals: report: NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Bush administration is pushing through a wide range of foreign weapons deals in a bid to rearm Iraq and Afghanistan and contain North Korea and Iran, The New York Times reported.

Pakistan order to kill US invaders: KEY corps commanders of Pakistan's 600,000-strong army issued orders last night to retaliate against "invading" US forces that enter the country to attack militant targets.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Things I Found September 11, 2008


September 11: Today In History.

News
Russian bombers will return in days from Venezuela: Two Russian long-range bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons will return to base from Venezuela in four days, the Air Force was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying on Thursday.

US expels Bolivian ambassador: The US has ordered the expulsion of the Bolivian ambassador in an escalating diplomatic row after Washington's envoy to Bolivia was expelled by Evo Morales, the president.

Venezuela expels US ambassador: Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has ordered the US ambassador to leave the country amid a series of tit-for-tat diplomatic expulsions between Bolivia and the US.

Weather
Hurricane Ike takes aim at Texas coast, Houston: GALVESTON, Texas (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people fled coastal areas in the path of Hurricane Ike on Thursday as the storm gathered strength on a collision course with the Texas Gulf Coast, threatening to swamp populous areas around Houston under a massive wave of water.

Economy
Small Fannie, Freddie Holders Take Issue With Washington: Adam Freid, a general contractor in Thousand Oaks, Calif., says he was through day-trading stocks and instead looking for a promising long-term investment when he read some of Henry Paulson's recent comments about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Lehman in sale talks as survival questioned-sources: NEW YORK (Reuters) - Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was forced into talks about a possible sale after the Wall Street investment bank's shares plunged more than 40 percent on Thursday, raising questions about its survival.


Commentary
The American secessionist streak: In a recent poll, one in five agreed that states have the right to peacefully secede from the Union.

Stop the Bailout: It was the singular achievement of Murray Rothbard's America's Great Depression to have demonstrated that the Great Depression was a crisis manufactured and prolonged by the attempts to stop an inevitable downturn. The policy response – creating more money, propping up prices, ginning up employment, and a host of other devices – took a stock-market price collapse and a banking liquidation and spread the mess throughout every sector of the economy. What might have lasted a year to 18 months instead lasted 16 years.


More to come...