In China, Suspicions Cloud Trade Dispute Involving Tech Companies

At an elegant guesthouse here recently, China’s top Internet regulator entertained ambassadors and diplomats with platters of tempura and roast on a spit, unusual lavishness in an era of official austerity in China, to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

An Internet cafe in Huamingzhen, Tianjin, China. American tech companies are caught in a trade conflict between Washington and Beijing. CreditSim Chi Yin for The New York Times

But the graciousness came with a warning: Foreign companies had to behave if they wanted to stay in China’s $450 billion technology market.

Ανατολικά από τα… νοτιοδυτικά: Η Λατινική Αμερική κρατάει το κλειδί για την «στροφή» των ΗΠΑ στην Ασία

Ο Κινέζος πρόεδρος, Xi Jinping, στο Καράκας της Βενεζουέλας, τον Ιούλιο του 2014. (Jorge Silva / Courtesy Reuters)

Μιλώντας στην Αυστραλία το περασμένο φθινόπωρο, ο πρόεδρος των ΗΠΑ, Μπαράκ Ομπάμα, υποσχέθηκε [1] ότι «η αμερικανική ηγεσία στην περιοχή Ασίας-Ειρηνικού θα αποτελεί πάντα έναν θεμελιώδη στόχο» της κυβέρνησής του. Και οι Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες θα κάνουν χρήση κάθε στοιχείου της επιρροής τους για να την ενισχύσουν, είπε, συμπεριλαμβανομένου του στρατού, της οικονομίας, της διπλωματίας, της ανάπτυξης, και της ήπιας ισχύος.

Norway still optimistic over Arctic oil

The drastic fall in oil prices has made petroleum explorations in the Barents Sea seemingly unprofitable. Yet, despite severe economic, technological and environmental concerns, the Norwegian government pushes for increased activities, and recently handed out exploration licenses in the Barents Sea.

The huge fall in global oil prices since June from $115 to around $50 has dramatically lowered cost-margins in the volatile petroleum industry. After 5 years of stable high prices, the recent fall in oil prices is attributed to several reasons: sluggish economic output, the shale gas revolution in the US, a switch to alternative fuels, and finally the unwillingness of OPEC and the Saudis to sacrifice their market share by cutting productions.

ΕΡΓΑ ΤΕΧΝΗΣ ΤΟΥ ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟΥ ΤΩΝ ΑΣΣΥΡΙΩΝ ΚΑΤΕΣΤΡΕΨΑΝ ME BΑΡΙΟΠΟΥΛΕΣ ΟΙ ΤΖΙΧΑΝΤΙΣΤΕΣ

Βίντεο που κυκλοφόρησε στο διαδίκτυο δείχνει γενειοφόρους να εισβάλουν στε μουσείο της Μοσούλης και να διαλύουν όλα τα αγάλματα, μερικά εκ των οποίων ήταν μεταξύ 7ου και 9ου αιώνα π.Χ.

Με απίστευτο μίσος οι τζιχαντιστές γκρεμίζουν τα αγάλματα και μετά με βαριοπούλες τα θρυμματίζουν

Έχουν σοκάρει επανειλημμένως την παγκόσμια κοινότητα δημοσιοποιώντας αιματηρά βίντεο με αποκεφαλισμούς ομήρων και απειλητικά μηνύματα προς τη Δύση.

Transfer Denied: The Hidden Costs of Washington’s War Against al-Shabab

As a child, Noor Dubow fled war in his homeland of Somalia. Growing up, he fought constantly against hunger while living in a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya. Today, he wears a tie to work, goes to school at night, and lives in a tightknit Somali community in America’s heartland. But Dubow, 29, still struggles with fear — not for himself, but for relatives left behind who are about to be cut off from his financial lifeline.

Since moving to Columbus five years ago, Dubow regularly has sent money to his family through an ever-dwindling number of banks willing to wire funds to private financial firms in Somalia. The last major bank in the United States to do so abruptly stopped this month, worried about prosecution or other liabilities should the money be seized by militants who are ravaging the East African country.

Μήνυμα στους Αγγλους με το... Γρίβα έστειλε μέσω Κύπρου ο Πούτιν

Με δικά του έξοδα ο Πρόεδρος Πούτιν χάρισε δύο δώρα με ιδιαίτερο συμβολισμό στον Κύπριο πρόεδρο Νίκο Αναστασιάδη, κατά την επίσκεψη του τελευταίου στη Μόσχα.

Το πρώτο είναι μια σπάνια εικόνα της Παναγίας της Οδηγήτριας, που κλάπηκε από την Κύπρο και αγοράστηκε από συλλέκτη στη Ρωσία και το δεύτερο ένα δακτυλογραφημένο κείμενο της διαταγής, που εξέδωσε ο αρχηγός της ΕΟΚΑ, Γεώργιος Γρίβας «Διγενής», για τερματισμό του αγώνα κατά των Άγγλων το 1959 όταν βρέθηκε η πολιτική λύση στο κυπριακό.

Russia Is Not Bluffing With Turkish Stream Project

During his visit to Ankara in December 2014, Vladimir Putin announced that South Stream—a large pipeline that would have carried Europe-bound Russian gas under the Black Sea and across Southeastern Europe—had been terminated. A major reason for South Stream’s cancellation was attributed to the exit from the project of Bulgaria, one of the key countries through which this pipeline would pass. Instead, Russia and its regional partners, including Turkey, are now discussing a new pipeline project—Turkish Stream, sometimes referred to as Turk Stream.

It is becoming increasingly evident that Russia and Turkey want to ensure that the Turkish Stream project has a solid economic foundation. During his most recent visit to Ankara, Aleksei Miller, the CEO of Russia’s Gazprom, met with Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz. In the course of their meeting, further technical details of Turkish Stream were revealed: the pipeline will have a capacity of 63 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, 15.75 bcm of which will be marketed in Turkey and the other 47.25 bcm is to be marketed to Europe through Greece. This gas pipeline is scheduled to be incorporated into an inter-governmental agreement during the second quarter of this year, and the first transmission of gas is planned to take place in December 2016. According to Miller, this is a fairly realistic timeline.

Kerry: Netanyahu Wrong on Iraq and Wrong on Iran

The nation’s top diplomat offered a decidedly undiplomatic take in describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a potential nuclear deal with Iran.

“Israel is safer today with the added time we have given and the stoppage of the advances in the nuclear program than they were before we got that agreement, which by the way the prime minister opposed,” Secretary of State John Kerry said during a House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing Wednesday. “He was wrong.”

A Look Back at the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing Investigation

On the morning of Feb. 26, 1993, a massive truck bomb ripped a hole almost 100 feet across the B-2 level of the parking garage beneath the World Trade Center's North Tower. The blast wave was so powerful that it penetrated five stories of the reinforced concrete building. In addition to causing structural damage, the explosion destroyed or heavily damaged hundreds of vehicles parked in the garage. That such a powerful explosion killed only six people is nothing short of miracle, for the attackers had a goal much more grandiose.

They wanted to topple the North Tower onto the South Tower to destroy them both and kill thousands. Had a device of the same magnitude been detonated at street level during rush hour, it would have likely killed scores if not hundreds of people and wounded perhaps thousands more.

Increased security risk ahead for Golan Heights’ economy

The Syrian Civil War is intensifying along the border with Israel. This will upset the political balance of the region and will impact the economy of the Golan Heights with new short and long-term political risk.

For decades, the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights have been relatively calm. Internationally recognized as part of Syria, the strategic and resource rich region was captured by Israel from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967. A recent spike in violence indicates that the local political economy may be facing its greatest upheaval in decades.