The US government accuses Russia of violating the 1987 arms control treaty by testing a nuclear cruise missile.
Russia tested a ground-launched cruise missile, breaking the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty signed in 1987 during the Cold War, the US said.
A senior US official did not provide further details on the alleged breach, but described it as “very serious”.
The bilateral agreement banned medium-range missiles with ranges between 300 to 3,400 miles.
The US government accuses Russia of violating the 1987 arms control treaty by testing a nuclear cruise missile (photo Fox News)
The US claims come at a time of heightened tensions between the two sides, with the US criticizing Russia for its alleged involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
A senior US official, who was not named, said in a statement that the testing of the missile was “a very serious matter which we have attempted to address with Russia for some time now”.
“We encourage Russia to return to compliance with its obligations under the treaty and to eliminate any prohibited items in a verifiable matter,” the official added.
President Barack Obama has written to President Vladimir Putin over the matter, officials say.
This is the first time the US government has made its accusations public, though the issue has simmered for years.
In January, the New York Times reported that US officials believed Russia had began testing ground-launched cruise missiles as early as 2008.
The US State Department had said at the time that the issue was under review.
The 1987 treaty is at the heart of American-Russian arms control efforts, and was signed by then-Presidents Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in the final years of the Cold War.
The operator of a North Korean ship seized in July 2013 near the Panama Canal with Cuban weapons on board has been blacklisted by the UN Security Council.
The move means Pyongyang-based Ocean Maritime Management is now subject to an international asset freeze and travel ban.
The company operated the Chong Chon Gang, found with Soviet-era weapons and fighter jets hidden under sugar sacks.
UN sanctions ban most arms shipments to North Korea.
Under resolutions adopted after Pyongyang’s nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, the export of all arms and related parts, with the exception of small arms and light weapons, to North Korea is prohibited.
The UN Security Council has blacklisted the operator of the North Korean ship seized in July 2013 (photo Reuters)
The UN’s North Korea sanctions committee said that the company had “played a key role in arranging the shipment of the concealed cargo of arms”.
The move showed “intent to evade UN sanctions, and is consistent with previous attempts by the DPRK (North Korea) to transfer arms and related materiel through similar tactics in contravention of Security Council prohibitions”, the committee said.
The Chong Chon Gang was stopped near Manzanillo, on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, on July 15, 2013, under suspicion that it was carrying drugs.
It had disappeared from satellite tracking for a few days as it approached the Cuban capital, Havana, having departed from Russia’s eastern coast three months earlier.
On searching the vessel, officials found military hardware including two Soviet-era MiG-21 fighter aircraft, air defense systems, missiles and command and control vehicles.
Cuban authorities said that the ship was carrying 240 tonnes of “obsolete” defensive weapons.
The North Korean government insisted the ageing weapons were simply being transferred to North Korea to be repaired, before returning them.
The US envoy to the UN, Samantha Power, described the episode as a “cynical, outrageous and illegal attempt” by Cuba and North Korea to circumvent UN sanctions.
In February the ship and most of the crew were allowed to leave Panama and a court later ordered the release of the remaining three officers.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas has ruled that the LA Clippers basketball team can be sold, despite the objections of banned co-owner Donald Sterling.
Donald Sterling, 80, was not in the cramped downtown courtroom for Monday’s closing arguments.
LA Clippers team can be sold, despite the objections of banned co-owner Donald Sterling
At every turn, Judge Michael Levanas found Shelly Sterling’s testimony and witnesses believable – and he publicly questioned the credibility of one of the only two witnesses Donald Sterling called.
Ultimately, the judge ruled that Shelly Sterling acted properly when she removed Donald Sterling from a decision-making position in the family trust that controlled the team.
Shelly Sterling burst into tears after Judge Michael Levanas’ final pronouncement, hugging her lead attorney, Pierce O’Donnell, in the second row of the courtroom as Donald Sterling’s lawyers sat nearby.
“This is going to be a good thing for the city, for the league, for my family, for all of us,” Shelly Sterling said outside the courthouse, facing a phalanx of reporters and cameras.
Donald Sterling – who last week filed a new lawsuit trying to block the sale – is not expected to go away quietly. He is suing the NBA, alleging it violated his constitutional rights by relying on information from an “illegal” recording.
The downed Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine suffered an explosive loss of pressure after it was punctured by shrapnel from a missile, security officials in Ukraine say.
They say the information came from the plane’s flight data recorders, which are being analyzed by British experts.
However, it remains unclear who fired a missile, with pro-Russia rebels and Ukraine blaming each other.
The downed Malaysia Airlines plane in eastern Ukraine suffered an explosive loss of pressure after it was punctured by shrapnel from a missile
Many of the 298 people killed on board flight MH17 were from the Netherlands.
Dutch investigators leading the inquiry into the crash have refused to comment on the Ukrainian claims.
Heavy fighting has prevented an international police force composed of Dutch and Australian officers from reaching the crash site for a second consecutive day.
Ukraine’s army said on Monday it had managed to capture two towns near the wreckage in its bid to win back territory from the hands of the rebels.
The international delegation was stopped in Shakhtarsk, a town some 20 miles away from the area where flight MH17 was brought down.
Muslims across the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr after the month-long fast of Ramadan comes to a close.
On the day of Eid Muslims greet each other by saying “Eid Mubarak”.
Because the timing of Eid al-Fitr is based on the Islamic lunar calendar, it can be difficult to predict when the festival will take place.
When the new moon appears over Saudi Arabia, the Islamic community break into colorful celebrations, throwing food festivals, performing music and spending time with friends and family.
What is Eid al-Fitr?
The arabic name Eid al-Fitr translates to “festival of the breaking of the fast”.
Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the month-long fast of Ramadan, and the beginning of the Islamic month of Shawwal.
Muslims across the world celebrate Eid al-Fitr after the month-long fast of Ramadan comes to a close (photo AFP/Getty Images)
What is Ramadan?
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and marks the month in which the Quran was first revealed.
Muslims spend the month fasting from dawn until sunset.
When is Eid al-Fitr observed?
The end of Ramadan is based on the Islamic lunar calendar, so it can be difficult to predict.
Eid al-Fitr is observed when the first new moon is sighted.
This can lead to the festival being celebrated on different days in different parts of the world.
While some Muslims wait to be able to see the moon themselves, many either use the calculated time of the new moon, or base it on the declaration made in Saudi Arabia.
This year, Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday, July 27, that Eid al-Fitr would begin on July 28.
How is Eid al-Fitr celebrated?
On the day of Eid, Muslims gather at mosques in the morning to perform the Eid prayer, before holding family gatherings and visiting friends.
Muslims share feasts and sweets to mark the end of the fasting period, and greet each other by saying “Eid Mubarak” – which roughly translates as “happy Eid” or “blessed Eid.”
The celebrations last for three days, and are seen as a time of forgiveness and of giving thanks to Allah for helping people to complete their spiritual fasting.
Many Muslims display this thanksgiving by giving donations and food to those less fortunate than themselves.
In most Muslim countries, the three days of Eid are observed as public and school holiday.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has revealed that the pilots of Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali on July 24 had asked to turn back.
Laurent Fabius said the crew of Air Algerie flight AH5017 requested to return to Burkina Faso after initially asking to change course due to bad weather.
The plane’s two flight data recorders have arrived in France.
The jet was flying to Algeria when it crashed in Mali, killing all 118 aboard, including 54 French citizens.
France has taken the leading role in the investigation.
“What we know for sure is that the weather was bad that night, that the plane crew had asked to change route then to turn back before all contact was lost,” Laurent Fabius said on Monday.
A team of French investigators is currently sifting through the plane’s wreckage in Mali, but Laurent Fabius said they were facing “extremely difficult conditions”.
France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has revealed that the pilots of Air Algerie plane that crashed in Mali on July 24 had asked to turn back
“It’s a long, fastidious and extremely complex job,” he added.
French, Malian and Dutch soldiers from a UN peacekeeping force (MINUSMA) have secured the site, about 50 miles south of the Malian town of Gossi, near the Burkina Faso border.
Earlier on Monday, a French official confirmed that the two flight data recorders had arrived in France and were now being examined by experts.
One of the devices was retrieved almost as soon as rescuers arrived on the spot, while the second was found late Saturday.
A source close to the investigation told the AFP news agency that one of them was badly damaged on the outside.
Martine Del Bono, a spokeswoman for the French aviation investigation office, refused to comment on their condition, telling press: “At this stage, we cannot say anymore.”
Even if both “black boxes” are in good condition, French Transport Minister Thierry Mariani has warned that analyzing the flight data and cockpit conversations could take “weeks”.
French flags were lowered to half-mast on Monday for three days in memory of the dead.
Nearly half of those on board were French. There were also 27 from Burkina Faso and further passengers from, among others, Lebanon, Algeria, Canada and Germany.
Among the French contingent on board flight AH5017 was a family of 10.
The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, had been chartered from Spanish airline Swiftair and all six members of the crew were Spanish.
An upsurge in violence has been seen in Gaza and southern Israel despite a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a cessation of hostilities.
Explosions in Gaza City reportedly killed 10 people, including children.
Israel confirmed five of its soldiers died on Monday – one inside Gaza and four in a mortar attack along the border. Five Hamas militants were also killed inside Israel, officials said.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “prolonged” Israeli campaign in Gaza.
“We will continue to act aggressively and responsibly until the mission is completed to protect our citizens, soldiers and children,” Benjamin Netanyahu said.
Calling Monday a “painful day”, Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not finish its operation until it had “neutralized” Hamas tunnels out of Gaza.
An upsurge in violence has been seen in Gaza and southern Israel despite a plea by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a cessation of hostilities
Fighting between Israel and Hamas has claimed more than 1,030 Palestinian lives, most of them civilian, since 8 July, when Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in Gaza after a surge in rocket fire.
On July 18, it extended operations with a ground offensive, saying it was necessary to destroy tunnels dug by militants to infiltrate Israel.
Israel’s military death toll rose to 48 with Monday’s deaths. Three civilians have also died.
Earlier, Ban Ki-moon urged an immediate halt to the violence in Gaza, saying the Palestinian territory was in a “critical condition”.
Ban Ki-moon, who spoke in New York after returning from a visit to the region, was critical of both sides for firing into civilian areas.
He said Hamas had fired missiles into civilian areas of Israel, while Israeli forces had used high-explosive weapons in the crowded Gaza Strip.
The secretary general repeated the UN’s call for an immediate, unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza during the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Later, the French presidency said the leaders of the US, France, Germany, Italy and Britain – who held telephone talks – had “agreed to redouble their efforts to obtain a ceasefire. Pressure must increase to get there”.
At least 10 people – eight of them children – were killed in Monday afternoon’s blasts in Gaza City, Palestinian health officials said.
Palestinian officials say the 10 were killed by Israeli missile strikes, but Israel says the explosions were caused by rockets misfired by “terrorists”.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed and another 10 injured when a mortar shell hit the Eshkol district.
The Israeli military said the five Hamas militants who died had entered Israel via a tunnel from Gaza and opened fire on Israeli troops, who returned fire.
Russia has made an offer of 3.9 million roubles ($110,000) in a contest seeking a way to crack the identities of users of the Tor network.
The Tor Project hides internet users’ locations and identities by sending data on random paths through machines on its network, adding encryption at each stage.
The Russian interior ministry made the offer, saying the aim was “to ensure the country’s defense and security”.
The contest is only open to Russians and proposals are due by August 13.
Applicants must pay 195,000 roubles to enter the competition, which was posted online on July 11 and later reported by the tech news site Ars Technica.
Earlier this month, Russia’s lower house of parliament passed a law requiring internet companies to store Russian citizens’ personal data inside the country.
Russia has made an offer of $110,000 in a contest seeking a way to crack the identities of users of the Tor network
Russia has the fifth-largest number of Tor users with more than 210,000 people making use of it, according to the Guardian.
Tor was thrust into the spotlight in the wake of controversy resulting from leaks about the National Security Agency (NSA) and other cyberspy agencies.
Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who revealed the internal memos and who now has asylum in Russia, uses a version of Tor software to communicate.
Documents released by Edward Snowden allege that the NSA and the UK’s GCHQ had repeatedly tried to crack anonymity on the Tor network.
Tor was originally set up by the US Naval Research Laboratory and is used be people who want to send information over the internet without being tracked.
It is used by journalists and law enforcement officers, but has also been linked to illegal activity including drug deals and the sale of child abuse images.
In its 2013 financial statements, the Tor Project – a group of developers that maintain tools used to access Tor – confirmed that the US Department of Defense (DoD) remained one its biggest backers.
The DoD sent $830,000 to the group through SRI International, which describes itself as an independent non-profit research centre, last year.
Other parts of the US government contributed a further $1 million.
Emirates has decided to suspend flights over Iraq to protect against the threat of Islamic militants on the ground.
The airline was taking “precautionary measures” and “working on alternative routing plans for flights using Iraqi airspace”.
The move follows the Malaysian Airlines’ Flight MH17 disaster. MH17 was shot down while flying over Ukraine.
Emirates said it is already re-routing some flights.
It will take a few days for the re-routing to be completed, the airline added.
Emirates has decided to suspend flights over Iraq to protect against the threat of Islamic militants on the ground (photo Emirates)
“We are closely monitoring the situation along with international agencies, and will never compromise the safety of our customers and crew,” said Emirates.
Emirates’ president Sir Tim Clark told The Times MH17 “changed everything” and it was “very nearly in European airspace”.
Tim Clark said he thought other airlines would follow.
He predicted the airline industry would start to look at how it assessed the danger of flying over conflict zones.
Tim Clark said he was “not comfortable” with the situation in Iraq, as fighting in the country intensifies.
The MH17 disaster is largely attributed to a missile fired on the ground in Ukraine by pro-Russian rebels, although Russia has blamed the Ukrainian government.
Emirates’ president told The Times greater intelligence from the government about the safety of airspace would be welcome.
Ryanair has raised its annual profit forecast after seeing net income more than double for the Q2 2014.
Second quarter profit rose to 197 million euros ($266 million) compared to 78 million euros a year earlier, the budget airline company said.
Ryanair has raised its annual profit forecast after seeing net income more than double for the Q2 2014 (photo Wikipedia)
Chief financial officer Howard Millar said: “We’ve made a lot of service improvements over the last six or seven months and we’re seeing the benefits.”
The rise comes after profit warnings by rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa.
Ryanair, which is Europe’s biggest budget airline, began promoting a more customer-friendly image late last year.
The airline raised its profit forecast for the year to March 2015 to a range of between 620 million euros to 650 million euros, up from a previous estimated range of 580 million euros to 620 million euros.
Ryanair has also said that it plans to aggressively raise capacity this winter by 8% and build its business-friendly routes.
According to a new study, a handshake transfers more bacteria than other forms of hand-on-hand action.
Scientists at Aberystwyth University in Wales are calling for the widespread adoption of the fist bump instead, especially during flu outbreaks.
Public Health England whimsically suggested a Victorian-age bow or curtsy would be even safer.
A handshake transfers more bacteria than other forms of hand-on-hand action
The researchers took a pair of sterile rubber gloves and dipped one into a bacterial-broth so the outside was completely coated in E. coli.
They then performed a range of hand maneuvers including handshakes of varying intensities, fist bumps and high-fives.
The findings, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, showed a handshake transferred 10 times as many bacteria as a meeting of fists, while a palm-to-palm high-five was somewhere in-between.
It is thought the smaller area of contact and shorter duration in the bump reduced the spread of bacteria.
It is not the first time the argument has been raised. There have been calls in the Journal of the American Medical Association to ban handshakes from hospitals.
Russia will appeal a Hague court decision ordering it to pay $50 billion in damages Yukos Oil Co. case, the biggest compensation package ordered to date.
Russia was told to pay the money to former shareholders in the now defunct oil producer Yukos.
The Hague court said Russian officials had manipulated the legal system to bankrupt Yukos, and jail its boss.
The Russian finance ministry said the ruling was “flawed”, “one-sided” and “politically biased.”
The ministry added that the Hague’s arbitration court “had no jurisdiction to consider the questions it was given”.
The claim was filed by a subsidiary for the financial holding company GML, once the biggest shareholder in Yukos Oil Co.
GML Executive Director Tim Osborne said: “The majority shareholders of Yukos Oil were left without compensation for the loss of their investment when Russia illegally expropriated Yukos.”
“It is a major step forward for the majority shareholders, who have been battling for over 10 years for this decision.”
However, in a statement, the Russian ministry said: “Because of substantial shortcomings in the rulings of the arbitration court, the Russian Federation will challenge the rulings of the arbitration court in Dutch courts and expects to obtain a fair result there.”
Mikhail Khodorkovsky built Yukos into Russia’s largest investor-owned oil company after the fall of the Soviet Union
GML’s lawyer Emmanuel Gaillard said: “This is an historic award. It is now judicially established that the Russian Federation’s actions were not a legitimate exercise in tax collection but, rather, were aimed at destroying Yukos and illegally expropriating its assets for the benefit of State instrumentalities Rosneft and Gazprom.”
Dr. Florian Otto from risk advisory company Maplecroft said that Russia will be hoping to win time and reduce publicity.
He said: “For Russia, paying the money is out of the question, as this could be construed as an acknowledgement that the seizing of Yukos’ assets was illegal – a viewpoint the Kremlin will never accept.
“The ruling does not come as a surprise to any of the parties involved, but the coincidental timing with the downing of flight MH17 certainly adds to the pressure Russia is currently exposed to.
“The case serves as a fresh reminder of state interference in business at a time when business confidence is already at a low point.”
Lawyers said that if Russia does not voluntarily accept the ruling, it can be forcibly enforced by shareholders seizing assets abroad.
Konstantin Lukoyanov of global law firm Linklaters said: “If it is accepted, it can be carried out voluntarily, or it will be implemented forcibly.
“In that case the seizure of assets abroad is possible. There have been several similar cases.”
Leonid Nevzlin, former deputy chairman of Yukos told a Moscow radio station: “I think shareholders are ready for the next stage, if Russia refuses to pay them, to search for and seize Russian assets all around the world.”
Yukos was disbanded in 2007 after filing for bankruptcy in 2006.
The company was formerly controlled by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was at one point Russia’s richest man.
Responding to the news, Mikhail Khordorkovsky said it was “fantastic” that shareholders were “being given chance to recover assets”.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky built Yukos into Russia’s largest investor-owned oil company after the fall of the Soviet Union.
He was arrested in 2003 and spent ten years in jail after being convicted of fraud and tax evasion but was pardoned last December.
The state-owned Rosneft bought the bulk of Yukos assets though auctions after the company, once the country’s largest oil producer, was declared bankrupt. Rosneft says all the deals were legal.
South Korean students who survived the Sewol ferry disaster have described escaping from flooded cabins as the ship sank.
The students had obeyed the crew’s orders to stay put, even as water started coming in as the Sewol listed.
Students floated up to cabin doors – by now overhead – and were pulled out by their classmates.
The Sewol ferry sank on April 16 off Jeju Island, killing 304 people. The students were giving evidence against the captain of the Sewol ferry and 14 crew.
They are accused of charges ranging from negligence to homicide.
It was the first time any of the teenagers on board the ferry have testified in a trial that is expected to last several weeks.
“We were waiting and, when the water started coming in, the class rep told everyone to put on the life vests,” Reuters news agency quoted one student as saying.
“The door was above our heads, so she said, <<We’ll float and go through the door>> and that’s how we came out.
The trial of crew members of the sunken Sewol ferry in South Korea (photo Reuters)
“Other kids who got out before us pulled us out.”
Most of those who died on the Sewol were teenagers from the same high school who were on a school trip.
While the crew are charged with abandoning ship, the captain and three officers are also charged with “homicide through willful negligence”.
Investigators say the ferry had been illegally modified to carry more passengers and cargo, and was overloaded.
Prosecutors say the actions of the captain and crew – including instructing passengers to stay in their cabins as the ship listed – led to more deaths.
The students are testifying at a district court near their homes near Seoul, rather than at the actual trial in the southern city of Gwangju.
One witness told the court passengers received multiple instructions to stay put.
“They kept saying the same thing over and over,” AFP quoted the student as saying.
Another student described escaping through a stairwell to a hatch and jumping into the sea, as a swell hit.
“There were many classmates in the corridor and most of them were swept back into the ship,” she said.
The disaster – which correspondents say was South Korea’s worst maritime disaster in 44 years – caused shock and outrage, including harsh criticism of both bureaucrats and business officials whose alleged failings or corruption led to the tragedy.
Officials from ferry operator Chonghaejin Marine are also the subject of separate legal proceedings.
Earlier this month, police identified a body found on 12 June as company owner Yoo Byung-eun, who had been the subject of a man-hunt since the disaster.
Yoo Byung-eun’s son, Yoo Dae-kyun, was arrested on Friday.
According to the UN’s human rights chief, Navi Pillay, the downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine may be a “war crime”.
Pro-Russia Ukrainian rebels and the Ukrainian authorities have accused each other of shooting down flight MH17.
A Ukrainian official said on Monday that MH17’s data recorders show it came down due to “massive explosive decompression” caused by a rocket.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting has again prevented an international police force from reaching the crash site.
The Ukrainian military said it was battling separatists for control of several towns near the site in eastern Ukraine.
All 298 people on board the airliner – mostly Dutch – died on July 17.
The downing of the Malaysia Airlines plane in Ukraine may be considered a war crime
International police want to help secure the huge site so that plane wreckage and human remains can be examined by international crash experts.
Most of the bodies have been removed, many of them repatriated to the Netherlands.
“This violation of international law, given the prevailing circumstances, may amount to a war crime,” Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said of the downing of MH17.
“Every effort will be made to ensure that anyone committing serious violations of international law including war crimes will be brought to justice, no matter who they are,” she said.
Navi Pillay spoke as the latest UN report on Ukraine suggested at least 1,129 people have been killed and 3,442 wounded in the Ukraine conflict since mid-April.
The conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people, many of whom have fled east to neighboring Russia.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian security spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters on Monday that recovered flight data showed the aircraft crashed due to a massive, explosive loss of pressure after being punctured multiple times by shrapnel.
UK based currency card provider Caxton FX provides an efficient and reliable solution to overseas business travel expenses. Its prepaid currency card system is available in both Dollars and Euros – while the American Dollar has long been recognised as a far reaching currency, used on a variety of continents, there is a common misconception that the Euro’s status as principal currency is limited to EU member states. Here are some of the locations in which the Euro is accepted as currency – some you would expect, and some a little more surprising.
15 years ago it would have been hard to imagine visiting Spain without parting with some Pesetas, or spending Marks in Munich, yet a number of well-known currencies very quickly became a thing of the past in early 2002 and that first wave of EU member states to adopt the Euro have rarely looked back. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal were the Euro pioneers, along with Monaco, San Marino and Vatican City.
Greece followed a little bit later, and since then more countries have trickled on board over the years – namely Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, Slovakia and most recently Lithuania. Andorra has also adopted the euro in recent years, joining its fellow European microstates.
Outside of the EU, three “overseas collectivities” of France and a UK dependent territory have the Euro as their currency. Akrotiri and Dhekelia replaced the Cypriot Pound at the same time as Cyprus, while Saint Pierre and Miquelon, French Southern and Antarctic Lands and Saint-Barthelemy all followed France’s lead.
After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Kosovo and Montenegro had started using the German Mark as their currency, and therefore they too moved over to the Euro. Meanwhile many countries far beyond the shores of Europe have their currencies pegged against the Euro – Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Morocco to name a few. And in 1998 Cuba announced that it would replace the American Dollar with the Euro as its official currency for the purposes of international trading, with North Korea and Syria taking similar steps since the turn of the millennium.
While places like Akrotiri and Dhekelia and Saint-Barthelemy might not be well known stops on the business travel circuit, it is reassuring to know that should you find yourself there a Euro-loaded travel moneycard will serve you without issue.
According to a new study, dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact when they were at their most vulnerable.
Dr. Steve Brusatte, of Edinburgh University, said sea level rises and volcanic activity had made many species more susceptible to extinction.
They might have survived if the asteroid had hit the Earth a few million years later or earlier, he said, calling it “colossal bad luck”.
The assessment has been published in the journal, Biological Reviews.
Dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact when they were at their most vulnerable (photo Alamy)
The study brought together 11 leading dinosaur experts from the UK, US and Canada to assess the latest research on the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
There is evidence that some species of dinosaur were dying off shortly before an asteroid hit the Earth.
One of the key questions was whether this gradual decline would have led to the extinction of these animals even if the asteroid had not hit.
The experts concluded that although some species of plant eaters in North America were dying out in the period leading up to the asteroid impact there was no evidence of a long-term decline.
However, the experts believe that rises in sea level and increased volcanic activity made many species more susceptible to extinction just at the point that the asteroid struck.
Dr. Steve Brusatte believes that had the asteroid hit the Earth a few million years earlier before the environmental pressures became worse or a few million years later, when the dinosaurs might have recovered, they would be roaming the Earth to this day.
It was the demise of the dinosaurs that enabled mammals including our own species to diversify and evolve.
Dr. Steve Brusatte said that if it were it not for an asteroid hitting the Earth exactly when it did we would be living in a dinosaur dominated world.
This intriguing idea raises the question as to how dinosaurs might have evolved.
Others involved in the study are less bullish than Dr. Steve Brusatte. They say that while his arguments are plausible they believe that it is impossible to say whether dinosaurs would have survived had the asteroid hit the Earth at a slightly different time.
Lightning struck on crowded Venice Beach in Los Angeles, California, killing one man and injuring several people.
The lightning struck amid a rare summer thunderstorm, spreading panic among bathers and visitors.
Lifeguards fanned out across the beach and the water to attend to the injured, many of whom were treated at the scene.
Elsewhere in California, emergency crews are battling to contain wildfires that are threatening hundreds of homes.
At least 14 homes have reportedly been destroyed in the fires, which have blazed across drought-stricken grassland and forest.
Lightning struck on crowded Venice Beach in Los Angeles, killing one man and injuring several people
A fire in the Sacramento region has spread to cover an area of about 4,000 acres, while another blaze has been threatening homes around Yosemite National Park.
The man killed at Venice Beach is said to have been 20 years old. The exact cause of his death is not yet known, and it is unclear if he was struck directly.
Witnesses say the sky darkened suddenly and screams filled the air as the storm hit the beach on Sunday afternoon. Eight people were admitted to hospital.
One of the injured is said to be in a critical condition. Several people received treatment for milder symptoms, including anxiety.
Stuart Acher told KABC-TV he was hit by lightning while playing volleyball.
“All of a sudden there was a big flash of light and a boom, and it felt like someone punched me in the back of my head,” he told the station.
“It went down the whole side of my right body, and my calves sort of locked up, and I fell over. And I looked up and everybody else was, you know, falling over.”
Lightning also hit Catalina Island, near Los Angeles.
A 57-year-old man who was playing golf was injured in the strike. His condition is said to be stable.
Until the latest strike, at least 15 people had been killed this year by lightning in the US, according to the National Weather Service.
The United Nations Security Council has called for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire” in Gaza Strip.
An emergency session backed a statement calling for a truce over the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr “and beyond”.
Both the Palestinian and Israeli envoys to the UN criticized the statement, for different reasons.
Gaza had its quietest night in weeks after a weekend punctuated by brief truce initiatives offered by both Israel and Hamas.
More than 1,030 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and 43 Israeli soldiers and two Israeli civilians have been killed. A Thai national in Israel has also died.
The UN Security Council has called for an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza
The Gaza health ministry on Sunday revised the number of Palestinian dead down by 30 after some relatives found missing family members.
Israel’s military reported a new rocket attack on Monday morning, saying it had hit an open area in southern Israel. It fired back, in its first reported military action since late on Sunday evening.
The UN Security Council endorsed a statement from Rwanda, the current president of the council, calling for a “durable” truce based on an Egyptian initiative – under which a pause in hostilities would lead to substantive talks on the future of Gaza, including the opening of Gaza’s border crossings.
The statement also emphasized that “civilian and humanitarian facilities, including those of the UN, must be respected and protected”.
It further stressed the need for “immediate provision of humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip”.
The Palestinian representative at the UN, Riyad Mansour, said the statement did not go far enough and that a formal resolution was needed demanding that Israel withdraw its forces from Gaza.
“They should have adopted a resolution a long time ago to condemn this aggression and to call for this aggression to be stopped immediately,” he said.
Speaking for Israel, Ron Prosor accused the Security Council statement of bias.
“Miraculously it doesn’t mention Hamas,” the Israeli envoy said.
“It doesn’t mention the firing of rockets. Those things are lacking in this statement.”
Opinion polls published at the weekend suggest there is still widespread support among Israelis for the military operation.
Scarlett Johansson’s action thriller Lucy has topped the North American box office with $44 million over the weekend.
Lucy is about a woman who unlocks hitherto untapped brain powers.
Fantasy movie Hercules had to settle for an estimated $29 million between Friday and Sunday.
The film’s distributor Paramount said the takings equaled expectations.
Directed by France’s Luc Besson, Lucy tells the story of a woman who can move objects with her mind after a drug causes her brain to operate at abnormally high levels.
Hercules sees Dwayne Johnson take on the role of the fabled Greek demigod, previously played on screen by Steve Reeves, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others.
Scarlett Johansson’s action thriller Lucy has topped the North American box office with $44 million over the weekend
Brett Ratner’s movie performed far more strongly than The Legend of Hercules, another outing for the character that could only muster $8.6 million when it opened in US cinemas in January.
Overall North American box office takings are still down around 20% compared to last year’s record summer.
It is hoped Guardians of the Galaxy, the latest comic book fantasy from the Marvel stable, will reverse the trend when it opens in cinemas later this week.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, last week’s box office champ, fell two places to three with third weekend takings of $16.4 million.
That was enough to rank it above thriller sequel The Purge: Anarchy and Disney’s Planes: Fire and Rescue, both of which were also down two places on last week’s placing.
Two other new entries enjoyed more limited success than Lucy and Hercules, with both making their debuts outside of this week’s top five.
And So It Goes, a romantic comedy starring Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton, opened at eight with first weekend takings of $4.6 million, while A Most Wanted Man made its bow at 10 with a $2.7 million tally.
North American box office Top 5:
Lucy – $44 million
Hercules – $29 million
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – $16.4 million
The Purge: Anarchy – $9.9 million
Fire & Rescue – $9.3 million [youtube MVt32qoyhi0 650]
The average US price of regular-grade gasoline has plummeted 9 cents a gallon over the past two weeks to $3.58, the largest drop this year, a national survey finds.
Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday the decrease came despite a rise in crude-oil prices.
The average US price of regular-grade gasoline has plummeted nine cents a gallon over the past two weeks
Trilby Lundberg says US refiners, enjoying plentiful supplies, aggressively cut wholesale prices to chase sales.
Mid-grade gas averages were $3.78, and premium averages were $3.93.
The US average retail diesel price is down 4 cents per gallon, to $3.90.
The lowest average price Trilby Lundberg found in the lower 48 states was $3.23 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The highest was $4.03 in San Francisco.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has started her own subscription-based online network.
The Sarah Palin Channel, which went live on Sunday, bills itself as a “direct connection” between Sarah Palin and her supporters, with “no need to please the powers-that-be,” the former governor and GOP vice-presidential candidate says in a video mission statement on her channel’s home page.
“Are you tired of the media filters?” she asks.
The Sarah Palin Channel bills itself as a direct connection between the former Alaska governor and her supporters
“Well, I am. I always have been. So we’re gonna do something about it.”
“We’ll talk about the issues that the mainstream media won’t talk about,” Sarah Palin adds.
Sarah Palin says she oversees all content posted to the channel. This will include her own political commentary. Other features for subscribers include the ability to submit questions to Sarah Palin and participate with her in online video chats.
Membership is set at $9.95 per month or $99.95 for a year.
Sarah Palin remains active elsewhere as a Fox News Channel contributor and reality-TV personality.
The Sarah Palin Channel (https://sarahpalinchannel.com) is part of the TAPP video platform, which launched earlier this year.
A teaser footage from Avengers sequel, Age of Ultron, was shown at the 2014 San Diego Comic Con.
The video included Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) fighting a giant robot, Thor grabbing Tony Stark by the throat and a close-up of Captain America’s shield split down the middle.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is to be released in 2015
Avengers: Age of Ultron is to be released in 2015. It’ll welcome Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen to the franchise as Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch.
It’ll once again be directed by Joss Whedon.
Speaking backstage, Mark Ruffalo, said: “Joss really gets these big, big, big ideas.”
The villain in Age of Ultron is to be played by James Spader.
In 2012, Avengers became the fastest film to cross the $1 billion milestone at the global box office.
Carlo Bergonzi was considered a leading performer of Giuseppe Verdi’s work.
During a career spanning 40 years, Carlo Bergonzi performed a string of stage roles, making his debut as a tenor at Milan’s La Scala in 1953.
His voice was captured on numerous recordings, including one of every major Verdi operatic aria, which was made in 1976.
Carlo Bergonzi was considered a leading performer of Giuseppe Verdi’s work
After his retirement, Carlo Bergonzi continued to work as a teacher.
He also ran a Verdi singing competition and managed a hotel.
Carlo Bergonzi was regularly performing well into his 60s, and at the age of 75 undertook the demanding title role in Verdi’s Othello at New York’s Carnegie Hall, amongst a roster of stars including Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.
But the role was too challenging and Carlo Bergonzi withdrew part way into the performance and was replaced by his understudy.
Carlo Bergonzi’s vocal prowess extended across a whole range of recorded operatic material, including La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Lucia di Lammermoor.
During World War Two, Carlo Bergonzi was held in a Nazi prisoner of war camp for three years, and returned to resume his singing career which had begun as a youth in the church choir.
According to Dutch PM Mark Rutte, sending out an international military force to secure the site of the downed Malaysian Airlines jet in eastern Ukraine is “unrealistic”.
The site is currently controlled by pro-Russia rebels who have been accused of shooting down flight MH17.
All 298 people on board – most of them Dutch – died.
In the latest fighting in the area, 13 people were killed as troops try to seize Horlivka from the rebels.
Separately, the US has released images to back its claim of Russian firing into Ukraine.
The images, showing marks on the ground and impact craters, suggest fire from multiple rocket launchers, the US state department says.
Dutch PM Mark Rutte says sending out an international military force to secure the site of the downed Malaysian Airlines jet in eastern Ukraine is unrealistic
The pictures also indicate the separatists are using heavy artillery supplied by Russia, it added.
Russia denies supplying the rebels with heavy weaponry or firing across the frontier with Ukraine.
The rebels have been accused of shooting flight MH17 down by mistake, but Russia blames the Ukrainian military, an allegation Ukraine denies.
The crash site has yet to be properly investigated and some bodies have still not been recovered. An international push is under way to get the site secured.
However, Mark Rutte, speaking to reporters in The Hague, said: “Getting the military upper hand for an international mission in this area is, according to our conclusion, not realistic.”
He said it would be “such a provocation to the separatists that it could destabilize the situation”.
Mark Rutte said all options were being looked at. The Netherlands, Australia and Malaysia had been considering a joint operation.
Dutch experts on Sunday cancelled plans to head to the site after international officials said fighting in the region was still going on.
“We can’t take the risk,” said Alexander Hug, of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
There are still plans for Australia and the Netherlands to deploy 49 police officers, following a deal struck by Malaysia with the rebels to allow international police at the site.
“Our objective is to get in, get cracking and to get out,” Australian PM Tony Abbott said.
The eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk have been gripped by heavy fighting as government forces try to retake rebel strongholds.
Aside from the fighting in Horlivka, shelling was also reported close to the MH17 crash site, near the town of Grabove, on Sunday.
Rebels have prevented journalists going to the site and Ukrainian government forces are said to be nearby.
A total of 227 coffins containing the remains of the victims have been sent for identification to the Netherlands, which is leading the crash investigation.
The first MH17 victim has been identified, though officials did not reveal any details.
Officials say the exact number of bodies already collected will be determined only after forensic experts have completed their examination.
Russia said on Sunday it had set up its own team of experts to investigate the plane crash, according to RIA Novosti agency.
Two wildfires that hit California threatens homes and could result in the evacuation of hundreds of people, US officials say.
In the Sacramento region, a fire has spread to cover an area of about 4,000 acres, while another blaze threatens homes around Yosemite National Park.
The Sacramento fire is only 20% contained, officials told local media.
Months of drought have caused more fires in California this year – some 1,400, twice the usual number.
Two fast-moving wildfires in California are threatening homes and could result in the evacuation of hundreds of people
The Sacramento fire in the north of the state has doubled in size since it broke out on Friday afternoon, the Los Angeles Times reported officials as saying.
About 515 homes were evacuated as the blaze tore its way through drought-hit grassland.
“The fire’s moving in and around homes in the area,” California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Lynn Tolmachoff told the AP news agency.
“The leading edge is bumping up against residences as we speak.”
Nearly 1,500 fire fighters and aircraft that included a DC-10 air tanker are battling the blaze, which has sent up huge plumes of smoke and reduced air quality in the Sacramento area.
Officials at dusk on Saturday said that cooler weather and less wind had brought some respite.
Meanwhile a 500-acre fire that started on Saturday afternoon is threatening homes in Yosemite.
Evacuations are reported to have been ordered in Foresta, a community of about 45 homes inside the national park where many employees of the park live.
