Month: June 2015

Li Keqiang Pushes for China-Europe Investment Treaty

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China’s premier Li Keqiang has criticised investment flows between the EU and China as “hardly satisfactory” and made a strong appeal for the early conclusion of a bilateral treaty that would give Chinese companies a smoother path to acquiring European counterparts. Mr Li, who was in Brussels on Monday to co-chair the 17th China-EU summit, also called for the two sides to start a feasibility study for a free trade area to resist protectionism and boost connectivity between Asia and Europe. ...
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Iran, Russia discuss BRICS, SCO summits

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Russia and Iran have held consultations ahead of two major summits by members of BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) nations to call for regional integration. The BRICS and SCO summits of the world’s major emerging economies will take place on July 8-10 in the Russian city of Ufa. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said he hoped Iranian President Hassan Rouhani would attend the events. The Russian official met Iran’s Ambassador in Moscow Mehdi Sanaei to discuss pre...
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China’s Stock Market Plunges on Greek Crisis

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Stock markets in China continued to head south amid volatile trade on Monday, with investors shrugging off fresh easing from the People's Bank of China's (PBOC) over the weekend. Elsewhere in the region, equities witnessed a huge selloff after Greece failed to clinch a deal with its international lenders over the weekend. Greece desperately needs emergency funding to repay its loans by June 30 and the debt-stricken nation is now headed for a bailout referendum on July 5, authorized by Greek l...
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Video: SPIEF & RT Host Panel Discussion on BRICS

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98FxNusCVq4 RT and SPIEF have jointly held a panel discussion titled ‘THE NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK: A STRONGER ROLE FOR BRICS IN THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL ARCHITECTURE’. The BRICS economies have established a USD 100 billion development bank to be based in Shanghai. What does this new institution mean for global economic management? What are some of the key areas of focus over the medium term? RT presenter Peter Lavelle was joined by a set of very distinguished gue...
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China Builds Fleet of Midget Submarines

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The space snapshots captured by DigitalGlobe show the vessel berthed at the shipyard pier used for fitting out submarines. The midget submarine had left the pontoon by late November and by mid-January 2015, another submarine, probably a Type 041 Yuan-class boat, occupied the pier. According to imagery measurements, the midget submarine has an approximate length of 35 meters and beam of 4 meters, which suggests a surface displacement around 400-500 tons. Midget submarines – sometimes ...
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US Boosts Weapon Sales To China’s Neighbors

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China’s expansion across disputed territory in the South China Sea is driving up demand for US heavy weapons and military aircraft from Beijing’s neighbors, former US Defense Department official Dov Zakheim told Sputnik. Earlier on Friday, US Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken called on all claimants, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines, to freeze construction on the islands in the South China Sea. “We [the United States] are selling everything from c...
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Poll: Texans Wary of Domestic Use of Military

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Texas voters think Gov. Greg Abbott was right to send the Texas State Guard to monitor U.S. military exercises here, and they consider federally ordered domestic military intervention likely under certain circumstances, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll. Abbott sent the Texas State Guard to monitor the so-called Jade Helm 15 military exercises in Central Texas earlier this year, after particularly vocal activists expressed fears that what was being billed as a...
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Iraqi F-16 Fighter Jet Crashes in Arizona near Mexico

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The F-16 fighter jet that crashed in Arizona overnight was actually owned by the Iraqi Air Force, an Air Force official confirmed to ABC News today. Local law enforcement is on the scene, but Air Force officials have yet to get to the crash site and therefore they have not confirmed the identity of the pilot, who they suspect is an Iraqi trainee. The crash caused a large grass fire and it’s likely the pilot did not survive, authorities said. Officially, the Air Force is saying only that th...
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BRICS New Development Bank Gains Traction Quietly

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While Beijing's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has won overwhelming support (to the surprise of many, including China itself), another bank headquartered in China seems to be flying under the world's radar. Few people have heard of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB). This was the strong impression I got after visiting Washington, Sydney and Canberra over the last couple of months. The NDB idea was proposed in 2011 by the Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and it initially encou...
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Putin Vows to Further Strengthen Russian Military

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 Russia needs a mighty military to fend off threats near its borders, President Vladimir Putin said Thursday, in a stance that reflects soaring tensions with the West over the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian leader, whose approval ratings reached an all-time high this month despite a bruising recession, said a "powerful army equipped with modern weapons is the guarantor of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia." Speaking at Thursday's Kremlin meeting with graduates of Russian mi...
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US Offers Iran High-Tech Nuclear Reactors

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The United States and other nations negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran are ready to offer high-tech reactors and other state-of-the-art equipment to Tehran if it agrees to crimp programs that can make atomic arms, according to a confidential document obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The draft document — one of several technical appendices meant to accompany the main text of any deal — has dozens of bracketed text where disagreements remain. Technical cooperation is the least contro...
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Pentagon Prepares for Space War with China, Russia

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The Pentagon and intelligence community are developing war plans and an operations center to fend off Chinese and Russian attacks on U.S. military and government satellites. The ops center, to be opened within six months, will receive data from satellites belonging to all government agencies, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work said Tuesday at the GEOINT symposium, an annual intelligence conference sponsored by the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. “[W]e are going to devel...
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Earth Hit by Largest Solar Storm since 2005

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The Earth is being battered by a huge solar storm, which could disrupt the power grid and GPS as well as letting people see beautiful auroras. A potent blast of magnetic plasma shot out of the sun on Sunday, travelling faster than usual, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It brought with it the biggest solar storm at least since March, and perhaps since September 2005. The solar weather brought with it aurora — spectacular lights...
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US to Arm NATO’s ‘Rapid Reaction Force’

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Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Monday said the United States will supply weapons, aircraft and soldiers for NATO's rapid reaction force to help European states defend against what Washington imagines to be "security threats." Under the plan, the US will contribute intelligence and surveillance capabilities, special operations forces, logistics, transport aircraft, and a range of weapons support that could include bombers, fighters and ship-based missiles, the Associated Press reported. ...
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Philippines Launch War Games with US, Japan

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The Philippines will start today simultaneous naval drills with its longtime ally the United States and former wartime enemy Japan amid China’s aggressive expansion in the West Philippine Sea. Both exercises will be held in Palawan, the province nearest to the disputed Spratlys, a potentially oil- and gas-rich chain of islands, sand bars, reefs and shoals being claimed in whole or in part by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan. The war games between the Philippine ...
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