US expects prompt return of sailors held by Iran
Assurances given on safe return of 10 US sailors who were captured when the boats drifted into Iranian waters.
| Politics, Middle East, US, Iran
Iran has detained 10 US sailors aboard two small patrol boats in the Gulf in an incident that rattled nerves days ahead of the expected implementation of a landmark nuclear accord with Tehran.
A US defence official said plans were in place for Iran to return the sailors to a US Navy vessel in international waters early on Wednesday, Reuters news agency reported.
However, an Revolutionary Guards spokesman told Iran's Tasnim news agency that talk of the immediate release of the US sailors was speculation: "I cannot confirm or deny that."
The US sailors were being interrogated, the spokesman told Tasnim.
Al Jazeera's Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said the White House was "working as quickly as it can" to release the boats and the sailors.
Is the turmoil in the financial markets an ominous sign?
The normal signs of strain that precede a recession are not evident. I don’t believe there is a ‘dangerous complacency’
You don’t need to have been an avid follower of financial markets to appreciate that they have not had a great start to the year. Indeed, it has been the worst for UK shares since 2000; for European shares, the worst for 40 years. George Soros fears there is more to come. “When I look at the financial markets, there is a serious challenge which reminds me of the crisis in 2008,” the billionaire investor and philanthropist told an economic forum in Sri Lanka last week. George Osborne, meanwhile, has moved a long way from his heralding of the UK as the fastest-growing economy in the G7 last November to warning of “dangerous complacency” and a “cocktail of threats”.
That gloom is reflected in comments from a number of professional advisers. Andrew Roberts, head of credit at Royal Bank of Scotland, has gone further than most and warns of a “cataclysmic” year for markets. He predicts that European and US shares will fall by 10 to 20 per cent this year, while the fall in the UK could be even more severe. As for the oil price, Morgan Stanley, the US investment bank, thinks that it will slide down towards $20 a barrel.
An Attack on Democracy? Worries over Poland Mount in Brussels and Berlin
From the courts to the media, Poland's new government has passed a number of new reforms that have the EU concerned about creeping autocracy. Complaints thus far have fallen on deaf ears in Warsaw, triggering calls for firmer action from Brussels. By SPIEGEL StaffNo, Frans Timmermans says, unfortunately he still hasn't received an answer. The deputy head of the European Commission has written to the government in Warsaw twice in recent weeks to express his concern over the rule of law in Poland. Instead of the requested letter, all he got was gloating on the part of new Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszcykowski. Any EU official "who came to office via political connections" is "not a legitimate partner" for a government elected by the people, Waszcykowski scoffed.
Timmermans these days is having to exercise his utmost diplomatic skill in order to avoid an escalation of tensions. When, during a visit to Amsterdam on Thursday, Timmermans was asked about the Polish foreign minister's jibe, he could have struck back. But there is already enough tension, so he chose to take a different tack, instead praising the transformation of Eastern European countries from socialist dictatorships to free societies. But, he added, true democracies include two important elements: the protection of human rights and adherence to the rule of law.
South China Sea: experts clash over China threat to commercial trade
Lindsay Murdoch
South-East Asia correspondent for Fairfax Media
An Australian expert has challenged claims that China's build-up of artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea threatens commercial ships passing through the world's busiest waterways, declaring that they are "completely fabricated".
Greg Austin, a visiting professor at the University of New South Wales based in Canberra, says despite the "shock" expressed by strategic analysts China has not embarked on an operation to expand its territory and is defending what it sees as its historical claims.
"We shouldn't allow our shock at China's building up of artificial islands to somehow convince us that this is naked aggression by China," he told Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.
"It's not naked aggression."
But Carlyle Thayer, an expert on the South China Sea from Australia's Defence Force Academy, told Fairfax Media that China is "definitely" expanding its territory through construction of the islands and has attacked rival claimant states, including Vietnam, on a number of occasions.
Blast near Quetta polio centre kills 14
SYED ALI SHAH
QUETTA: At least 14 people were killed and over 10 injured in an explosion near a polio centre in Quetta's Satellite Town on Wednesday, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti said.
"The blast was apparently carried out by a suicide bomber," said Bugti, speaking to media after the blast.
Thirteen of the dead are policemen while one of them is an FC official, he said.
"We will not bow down before terrorists," said Bugti, adding that the blast was an effort to disrupt peace in Balochistan.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Police Quetta Syed Imtiaz Shah said seven to eight kilogramme of explosives were used in the blast. He said most of the victims were policemen who laid down their lives to guard polio workers.
'Dark heart of the ivory trade' no more: Hong Kong to phase out ivory sales
Updated 0544 GMT (1344 HKT) January 13, 2016
Activists have hailed the announcement that Hong Kong will phase out the sale of ivory in the city, a major bastion of the trade.
Speaking during his annual policy address Wednesday, Hong Kong's leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, said the government will "phase out the local ivory trade, and impose heavier penalties on smuggling and illegal trading of endangered species."
"We're absolutely delighted, this is fantastic news," said Alex Hofford of WildAid Hong Kong, which has long campaigned against the trade in the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment