Moscow Hails ‘Strategic’ Military Ties with Armenia

Source : RIA Novosti

YEREVAN, June 25 (RIA Novosti) – Russian- Armenian collaboration in the defense industry has reached a new, “strategic” level, a top Russian national security official said Tuesday.

Russia and Armenia have the “highest possible level of ties – strategic relations,” Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said after signing five new bilateral agreements during an official visit to Armenia.

The new agreements should help put in place a solid legal and regulatory basis for bilateral relations and make such ties more effective, the official added.

The new documents include a treaty on the development of collaboration in the defense technology sector between the Armenian Defense Ministry and Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, as well as an agreement on collaboration and exchange of information for border protection

Finland Accuses Russia of Airspace Violation

Source : RIA

MOSCOW, June 12 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian military aircraft are suspected of having violated Finland’s airspace, the Finnish Defense Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

The incident took place Tuesday morning over the Gulf of Finland, the ministry said on its website.

The report did not identify the Russian aircraft, saying only that F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets of the Finnish Air Force were dispatched in order to identify the invaders.

The Russian Defense Ministry admitted an unspecified number of Tu-22 bombers and Su-27 fighter jets conducted flights in the vicinity of Finland on Tuesday, but denied that they intruded in the country’s airspace.

This is the second such incident in a month. The Russian military denied the accusations the last time, but admitted a military aircraft came near the Finnish airspace due to bad weather.

In 2008, Finland announced plans to purchase 12 new radar systems because of alleged regular violations of its airspace by Russian jets. The first radar was deployed last January

18 die in fighting for Somali port city of Kismayo

Source : APA

Eighteen people have been killed in gun battles between riva fighting for control of the Somali port city of Kismayo, APA reports quot

According to Kismayo residents, 13 people were killed on Saturday and five d Friday.

"The Ras Kamboni militia now controls this part of the city," said Bile Nur, a r Kismayo's Calanleey district.

"Residents are burying the dead of the militia driven out, while Ras Kamboni theirs," he added.

Local elder Nur Ibrahim said there is not much hope for a negotiated end to "We hope fighting will cease. Only the man with the most weapons will rema

African Union troops are currently in charge of security in the lucrative port o and its fertile hinterlands.

In October 2012, Kenyan troops backed by Ras Kamboni militiamen, captured from al-Shabab fighters.

On Saturday, a senior al-Shabab official in Kismayo said Kenya was responsib latest bloodshed.

“The resurgence of tribal hostility in Kismayo is a result of the Kenyan invasio and the Kenyan government will be held fully responsible for every drop of b Xudayfa Abdirahman stated.

Somalia has not had an effective central government since 1991, when warlo overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre.

However, MPs meeting in Mogadishu elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the president of Somalia with a big majority in September 2012.

The weak Western-backed government in Mogadishu has been battling al-Sha for more than five years and is propped up by a 10,000-strong African Union Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, and Kenya.

China to Send More Than 500 troops to Mali to Contain Islamic Militants

Source : AC

From AFP and Cary Huang, South China Morning Post: China has offered to send more than 500 soldiers to the UN force seeking to contain Islamist militants in Mali in what would be its biggest contribution to UN peacekeeping, diplomats said in New York.

The move could be a bid to overcome tensions with the West over the Syria conflict and to strengthen China's relations in Africa, where it is a major buyer of oil and other resources, diplomats and experts said.

France, which intervened in the West African nation in January, hopes to hand over to UN peacekeepers in July. More than 6,500 African troops are in the country, but the UN is looking for at least 3,000 more. . . .

"China has offered between 500 and 600 soldiers," one senior diplomat said. "We don't have details yet on what kind of troops they would be providing."

Another UN diplomat confirmed the numbers, saying: "It is a significant move by China."

Both diplomats spoke on condition of anonymity as talks are continuing. At least 155 of the Chinese troops are expected to be engineers, a UN official said.

Confirming Beijing was considering proposals by the UN and African nations to increase its role in African peacekeeping, a Chinese diplomat said yesterday a decision had not yet been made on whether China would send combat troops to the continent.

"China is seriously considering a United Nations' proposal early this year to modernise its peacekeeping operations in Africa," the diplomat said, citing UN plans to deploy a fleet of its own surveillance drones in missions in Central and West Africa.

FBI agents who eliminated Boston terrorist Tsarnaev mysteriously killed

Source : English pravda.ru

The FBI agents, who eliminated Boston terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died as they fell out of a helicopter, the press service of the FBI said.

Two officers of the counter-terrorism department of the Federal Bureau of Investigation died on Friday, May 17. The incident occurred during training exercises conducted by the FBI at a distance of 12 nautical miles from the coast of the U.S. state of Virginia.

An official statement from the FBI says that special agents Christopher Lorek and Stephen Shaw fell out of a helicopter while training a complex exercise. The agents were supposed to be lowered on a rope on a ship from a helicopter. For yet unknown reasons, the two agents fell out of the helicopter and were killed in the fall.

"Like all who serve on the Hostage Rescue Team, they accept the highest risk each and every day, when training and on operational missions, to keep our nation safe. Our hearts are with their wives, children, and other loved ones who feel their loss most deeply. And they will always be part of the FBI Family," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said in a statement, according to CNN.

Two Consecutive Blasts Kill 3, Injure Over 40 in Dagestan

Source : RIA Novosti

MAKHACHKALA, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Twin blasts rocked Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, on Monday, killing three and injuring over 40 people, the republic’s Interior Ministry said.

The blasts took place about 15 minutes apart, near the Bailiff Service building, local authorities say.

No one was reported killed in the first explosion. Two policemen and one Bailiff Service employee were killed by the second blast, the Interior Ministry said.

A three-year-old child is among those reported injured, local Health Ministry officials told RIA Novosti.

“We were working as usual, at our desks. Panic broke out when we heard two explosions,” said Magomed Buttayev, who works as a press officer for the local Bailiff Service.

Earlier on Monday, the local Investigative Committee issued a statement saying that at least eight people ha been killed and an as yet unknown number injured in the explosions.

The local Investigative Committee also suggested that both explosions, which are reported to have been car bombs, could ha been detonated remotely.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts.

An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Attacks on security forces, police and civilians are reported regularly in the neighboring republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia an Kabardino-Balkaria

Indian army officer killed, trooper wounded in gunfight on LoC dividing Kashmir

Source : Xinhua

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, May 18 (Xinhua) -- A Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) of the Indian army was killed and a trooper was wounded early Saturday in a fierce gunfight with militants on line-of-control (LoC) in the Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said.

The gunfight broke out early Saturday after Indian troops noticed suspicious movement near LoC in Machil sector of Kupwara district, about 165 km northwest of Srinagar city, the summer capital of the Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"An officer of the rank of JCO was killed and a trooper was wounded fighting militants near LoC today," said Col. Naresh Vij, Indian army spokesman.

"The gunfight triggered after alert troopers deployed in the area tried to foil an infiltration bid of about four to five militants at around 2:30 a.m. (local time)."

The wounded trooper was immediately removed to hospital for treatment.

"Militants have managed to escape in the darkness, leaving behind war like ammunition stores."

Army has intensified searches in the area to trace the militants, officials said.

Reports said it was the second militant group intercepted by troopers in the past two weeks. Earlier this month a group of five to six heavily-armed militants sneaked into Indian-controlled Kashmir near Kupwara.

Though troopers launched massive combing operation using helicopters in the forest area to trace the infiltrators, but so far they have not been able to track the group.

Kashmir, a disputed Himalayan region, is divided between India and Pakistan by a de facto border called line-of-control (LoC). Both India and Pakistan claim the region in full. Since their Independence from British, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir.A guerrilla war is also going on between militants and the Indian troops stationed in Indian- controlled Kashmir over the past more than two decades.

Bahrain Regime Storms Sheikh Issa Qassem’s House

Source : islamicinvitationturkey.com

Bahrain regime forces stormed early Friday the house of Sheikh Issa Qassem in Daraz, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society reported.

Al-Wefaq added on its account on Twitter that “the house was violated”, indicating that “dozens of soldiers are storming the house of Ayatollah Qassem, breaking doors, frightening women and vandalizing properties”.

Live witnesses were quoted as saying that dozens of soldiers surrounded the house, broke the main gate, and then broke into the house to search it.

The attack upset the Bahrainis, as Al-Wefaq considered this was “a heinous crime”, and held the “Bahraini regime the complete responsibility of storming the house of Ayatollah Qassem”.

For their part, Bahrain’s leading scholars condemned this “disgraceful act”, pointing out that this step “carries serious indicators, and shows irritability and rashness”.

“The Bahraini people will not remain silent on this aggression on the most significant religious symbol, and the authority holds the full responsibility in that,” the statement added, calling on people to “express rejection to this act peacefully”.

In another statement, the religious schools (Hawza) in Bahrain said they were shocked from hearing “about the blatant violation by the security apparatuses on the house of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem…”

The statement condemned “the barbaric attack on the house of this great leader and symbol,” and considered that it “violated the security of the nation, and took it to the verge of abyss.”

It further held the regime “the full responsibility of the consequences of this stupid act.”

New Conference on Syria May Be Held in Geneva – Lavrov

Source : RIA Novosti

KIRUNA (Sweden), May 15 (RIA Novosti) – An international conference on Syria at a ministerial level may be held in Geneva if both sides of the Syrian conflict agree to participate in the event, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

“We share the opinion that this conference should be held in Geneva,” Lavrov said after a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry on the sidelines of the Arctic Council session in Sweden.

“As for the representation, we are talking about ministers and deputy ministers rather than heads of state,” the Russian minister said.

Lavrov announced after a previous meeting with Kerry on May 7 that the two countries had decided to hold an international conference at the end of May, aimed at facilitating a solution to the Syrian crisis through political dialogue.

The conference would be a follow-up to last year’s international meeting in Geneva that drafted a peace roadmap for Syria.

Lavrov reiterated on Wednesday that the conference initiative must be supported both by the Syrian government and the opposition in order for the event to take place.

Opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad have refused to sit down for talks with the regime in the past, saying that Assad’s removal is a non-negotiable issue.

The Russian minister also said that the list of the participants in a new conference should be expanded to include Syria’s neighbors and “key regional players,” such as Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Syria has been locked in an increasingly bloody civil war since demonstrations broke out against Assad regime in March 2011. According to UN estimates, at least 70,000 people have been killed in the conflic

Armenian Armed Forces violate ceasefire

Source : Trend.Az

Armenian Armed Forces fired at positions of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from positions outside the occupied villages Gorgan of Fizuli, Tapgaragoyunlu of Goranboy, Merzili of Aghdam as well as from positions in the nameless heights in the Khojavend region yesterday, the press service of the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan told Trend on Saturday.

The shooting was countered by return fire.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions.

Bangladesh still volatile after massive clashes

Source : The Voice of Russia

The current situation in the country is very disturbing. Over the last 2 days clashes between police and radical Islamists, who went out to hold demonstrations, have been taking place in the capital and in other regions of Bangladesh. At least 50 people have been killed. In some places clashes between police and supporters of the opposition are still going on. For example, today Islamists set fire to a train in Chittagong.

A two-day political strike will be held tomorrow. Tonight, mass riots are possible. In general, the situation in the country has worsened considerably and the political situation is alarming.

All citizens of the country are feeling the current crisis and fear that the situation may worsen even more. There are still disagreements on the question on how the upcoming national elections at the beginning of next year will be organized. There are sharp contradictions between two parties – the ruling People's League Party and the Nationalist Party of Bangladesh. Therefore, concerns about mass public unrest are increasing.

A dialogue between the two parties is needed in order to resolve the current political crisis in the country, but official proposals have yet to be received neither from the government, nor from the opposition. According to media reports, the parties are ready for a dialogue, but a direct dialogue has yet to begin. Although the largest opposition party of the country – the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – has formally not taken part in Sunday's actions of Hifazat-e-Islam, it has announced its support of them. For its part, the government firmly stands on its principles. All this complicates the situation even more.

It should be noted that life in Dhaka has not been very simple lately. Strikes and riots constantly worry its inhabitants. Work in offices and at enterprises has been complicated. Large-scale riots, such as the ones that took place in the industrial areas of Dhaka – Motizil and Polton – last Sunday (May 5), are only a few examples.

In order to resolve the current political crisis, it is necessary to create the conditions for talks and to organize national elections according to the Constitution of the country.

Six ETA suspects arrested in France

Source : Strategic-Culture.org

French authorities, working in collaboration with the Spanish Civil Guard, have arrested six members of the Basque separatist group ETA, it was announced on Tuesday.

The arrest of the six suspected terrorists, who are thought to be involved with the group's logistical operation, took place in an operation in three different places in France.

The suspects are thought to be Raul Vallinas Aduna, Andoni Goikoetxea Gabirondo, Ekhine Izaguirre, Kepa Artauz Zubillaga, Igor Uriarte Lopez de Vicuna and Julen Mendizabal Elezkano, while the operation is thought to be linked to that which saw ETA member, Izaskun Lesaja Arguellas detained in October last year.

The operation is a blow to the structure of ETA, whose 45-year armed struggle for the independence of the Basque region in the north of Spain has led to 829 deaths. The logistical part of the organization had been considered as the most active following a ceasefire in October 2011, in the run up to the Spanish general election.

The logistical part of the operation has been responsible for continuing the supply of ETA members currently living undercover in France, helping them maintain their secrecy.

Tuesday's operation could point to the fact that although ETA called a "permanent" ceasefire, the organization has neither dissolved nor begun any process of handing over its weapons, as demanded by the Spanish government.

A total of 43 arrests have been made since the October 2011 ceasefire, 11 of which were made this year.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday praised the "excellent cooperation between France and Spain in questions of information and judicial information," while lamenting that although progress was being made in Spain, France had still not stopped being "a logistic and military base for the clandestine structure of ETA."

Bomb Claims Five US Troops in South Afghanistan

Source : http://www.almanar.com.lb

A roadside bomb killed five US occupation troops in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, officials said, in the biggest attack on NATO- led forces since the Taliban movement launched their "spring offensive" a week ago.

"Five American soldiers were killed at about noon when their armored vehicle hit a powerful roadside mine in Maiwand district," Kandahar province's police chief General Abdul Razeq told Agence France Presse.

The troops died in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack, NATO's International Security Assistance Force confirmed in a statement without specifying the nationalities of the victims, in line with coalition policy.

The attack came four days after three British soldiers were killed in a similar attack in the neighboring province of Helmand.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Taliban militants frequently use roadside bombs against US-led foreign troops and their Afghan allies.

Afghan police and soldiers are taking over responsibility for security, but there is growing concern over the country’s prospects after 2014 when all foreign combat deployments will finish.

UN chief appoints former British ambassador as special envoy for Somalia

Source : Globaltimes.cn

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday announced the appointment of Nicholas Kay, a former British ambassador, as his Special Representative for Somalia.

"Kay is currently the Africa Director at the United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), a position he has held since 2012," a statement released by Ban's spokesperson said.

Prior to this position, Kay served as the British Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 2007 to 2010 and the Ambassador to the Sudan from 2010 to 2012.

In his initial career with FCO, Kay served in policy and country positions in London as well as oversees in Spain and Cuba.

The statement added that Kay has "worked for fourteen years as an English language teacher in Brazil, Cyprus, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and within the United Kingdom."

Kay will be succeeding Augustine Mahiga on June 3, 2013 as the special representative for Somalia.

In the statement, the secretary-general commended Augustine Mahiga's work as the special representative of the country.

Ban "is grateful for his dedicated service for the last three years" and "his exemplary leadership in helping to steer the end of the eight-year political transition in the summer of 2012 is particularly noteworthy," the statement said.

The UN chief also recalls with deep appreciation the fact that "Mahiga's contributions had laid the foundation on which the Federal Government of Somalia with the help of the international community, can now further engage on peacebuilding and the consolidation of security and development initiatives in the country," the statement said.

U.K. Warns Scotland on Breakaway

Source : WSJ.com

LONDON—An independent Scotland would probably have to reapply to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, British lawmakers said in a report published Wednesday that also highlighted the potential damage to the U.K.'s international standing if Scotland were to secede.

Scots go to the polls on Sept. 18, 2014, to vote on whether to stay in the U.K. or go it alone as an independent nation.

Politicians from the three major parties in London, who want to preserve the 300-year-old union, and supporters of independence in Scotland's semiautonomous parliament in Edinburgh have been stepping up their campaigns

Mitsubishi to build nuclear power plant in Turkey

Source : Vesti Kavkaza

Mitsubishi (Japan) has won the tender to build a nuclear power plant for Turkey in the Sinopa District. Canada, China and South Korea were its competitors in the tender, Trend reports.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Turkey this week to sign the construction contract. Mitsubishi will build the facility in consortium with France for $20-22 billion.

Construction is planned to start in 2017 and be completed in 2023.

Blast near election candidate office kills at least five in Pakistan

Source : LBCI News

A bomb blast near the office of an election independent candidate killed on Sunday at least five people and injuring dozens in Kohat, police sources reported, adding that the injured people were immediately taken to nearby hospitals.

The blast went out near the office of Syed Noor Akbar, a National Assembly’s candidate from Orakzai tribal region, resulting in several material damages. The office is located in Kohat district at the outskirts of the tribal area

Afghanistan Plane Crash Kills 4 Isaf Personnel

Source : RIA Novosti

MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - Four members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) were killed on Saturday when a plane went down in southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

The Associated Press reported NATO as saying there was no enemy activity in the area at the time, but coalition personnel had secured the site and the cause of the crash was being investigated

The NATO statement did not identify the nationalities of the victims, or say where the plane went down.

However, Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, deputy governor of the southern province of Zabul, said an aircraft belonging to foreign forces crashed Saturday afternoon in Shah Joy district. He said the site had been surrounded by international forces, AP reported

UK embassy closed for the next days in Libya

Source : SouthWeb Org

The British embassy has stopped work in Libya until further notice, following the bombing of the French embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli earlier on Tuesday.

The mission will stay closed for the coming days, Xinhua quoted an embassy staff requesting anonymity as saying.

The bomb tore through the exterior wall of the embassy and ruined part of the building leaving at least two people injured and wrecking two vehicles parked nearby.

Other foreign embassies in Tripoli are reportedly working but the British have good reasons to think that the blast could next target them.

The French and the British forces spearheaded the US-backed military intervention in Libya that toppled former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Last year, the US consulate in Benghazi in eastern Libya was attacked, killing Ambassador Chris Stevens and two of his guards.

AMR/HE

Deputy commander of Kazakh Air Forces detained for corruption

Source : Vesti Kavkaza

Major-General Askar Buldeshev, Deputy Commander of the Kazakh Air Forces, has been detained yesterday, suspected of fraud in repairing military aircraft, RIA Novosti cites Commander of the Air Forces Alexander Sorokin.

Major-General Almaz Asenov, was detained in late January for receiving a bribe of $200,000. Two officials of Ukrspetsexport (Ukraine) were detained for corruption.

Investigators say that the bribe was handed for contracts on repairing An-72 planes, signed by the Kazakh military and Ukrainian partners. Investigations started in December after a crash of an An-27 in Chimkent. 27 people died in the accident, including Col. T. Stambekov, head of the Border Guards Service, and his assistants.