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Iran cuts oil exports to France, Britain
The Huffington Post
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran has halted oil shipments to Britain and France, the Oil Ministry said Sunday, in an apparent pre-emptive blow against the European Union after the bloc imposed sanctions on Iran’s crucial fuel exports.
The EU imposed tough sanctions against Iran last month, which included a freeze of the country’s central bank assets and an oil embargo set to begin in July. Iran’s Oil Minister Rostam Qassemi had warned earlier this month that Tehran could cut off oil exports to “hostile” European nations. The 27-nation EU accounts for about 18 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
However, the Iranian action was not likely to have any significant direct impact on European supplies because both Britain and France had already moved last year to sharply curtail Read more…
Summer coolest in nearly 20 years
This summer is set to be Britain’s coolest in nearly 20 years, the Met Office said.
The mean temperature for summer 2011 has been 13.63C (56.53F), close to 1993’s 13.39C (56.1F), provisional figures for June 1 to August 29 show.
Last summer’s mean temperature was more than 1C higher than this summer so far at 14.65C (58.37F).
But while the summer has been wetter than last year’s it has been considerably drier than 2007, 2008 and 2009, the forecaster said.
Figures show this summer has seen 267.7mm of rainfall so far, compared with Read more…
Britain enacts blanket ban on protests
The Home Office announced the blanket ban on all marches in five London boroughs for 30 days starting from September 2, the Independent reported.
Home Secretary Theresa May banned all marches in Tower Hamlets, east London, and four neighbouring boroughs in the capital for a 30-day period following a request from Scotland Yard Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin.
The move comes amid fears of violence and disorder if the marches were allowed to go ahead.
“Having carefully considered the legal Read more…
London riots: water cannons to be used on ‘sick society’
David Cameron said that the cannon, previously only used in Ulster, would be available at 24 hours’ notice to deal with the “despicable violence” being seen in cities. Police had already been authorised to use baton rounds, he said. In a sign that other, more draconian, measures will now be at their disposal, he added: “We will do whatever is necessary. Nothing is off the table.”
In his strongest comments yet on the perpetrators of the violence, Mr Cameron said: “There are pockets of our society that are not only broken, but Read more…
Religious violence, abuse growing: world study
WASHINGTON — Religious-linked violence and abuse rose around the world between 2006 and 2009, with Christians and Muslims the most common targets, according to a private US study released Tuesday.
“Over the three-year period studied, incidents of either government or social harassment were reported against Christians in 130 countries (66 percent) and against Muslims in 117 countries (59 percent),” said the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life study.
In 2009, governments in 101 nations, more than half the globe, used at least some measure of force against religious groups. A year earlier only 91 nations had done so, the report said.
As of 2009, more than 2.2 billion people, or nearly a third of the world’s population of 6.9 billion, lived in countries where religious restrictions had risen substantially since Read more…
As a mysterious skeleton is washed up on a British beach… Do sea monsters REALLY exist?
For centuries they’ve been a part of maritime legend, inspiring curiosity and terror in equal measure. Lurking in the depths of the oceans, shocking in size and appearance, gigantic serpents and prehistoric monsters are as much a source of fascination as ever, especially in Hollywood.
In the past two or three years alone, attacks by huge undersea beasts have provided the centrepiece battles at the ends of blockbusters such as Pirates Of The Caribbean, Clash Of The Titans and The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader.
But are such tales of strange sea beasts more than mythology? Is there any evidence to suggest that some of these monsters of the watery deep – from Jules Verne’s giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea to the legendary Kraken, a leviathan sending sailors to their doom – might actually exist?
Mysteries of the deep: Only this week, Read more…
Powers That Be preparing for lockdown as Earth Changes increase? UN security council to consider ‘climate change peacekeeping force’
Special meeting to discuss ‘green helmets’ force to intervene in conflicts caused by rising seas levels and shrinking resourcesA special meeting of the United Nations security council is due to consider whether to expand its mission to keep the peace in an era of climate change.
Small island states, which could disappear beneath rising seas, are pushing the security council to intervene to combat the threat to their existence.
There has been talk, meanwhile, of a new environmental peacekeeping force – green helmets – which could step into conflicts caused by shrinking resources.
The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, is expected to address the meeting on Wednesday.
But Germany, which called the meeting, has warned it is premature to expect the council to take the plunge into green peacemaking or even adopt climate change as one of its key areas of concern.
“It is too early to seriously think about council action on climate change. This is clearly not Read more…
The World Says China Will Overtake America
In the past decade, anti-Americanism grew around the world. This was in response to concerns about the unchecked global power of the U.S., when it invaded Iraq in the face of very wide international opposition. In sharp contrast, today America is seen as on its way to losing its status as the dominant global superpower.British government squanders millions conducting secret GM potato trials while non-GM variety already performs spectacularly
naturalnews
For the past ten years, the British government has been quietly subsidizing research aimed at developing a genetically-modified (GM) potato resistant to blight, the fungal disease responsible for causing the infamous Irish potato famine.
According to Indymedia UK, Sainsbury Laboratory, the group tasked with development, has already spent roughly 1.7 million pounds ($2.7 million) worth of public funds to develop the GM potato, despite the fact that a natural blight-resistant variety has already been successfully bred and in use for the past three years.
Unlike in the US where GM crops are widely cultivated, GM crops have never been commercially grown in the UK. Widespread public opposition to their introduction back in 1997, as well as continued opposition, has kept them largely out of food and off the land. And yet reports explains that the GM potato research being conducted by Sainsbury — with public funding — is so secretive that Read more…
Report: Ground Invasion of Libya Within Two Weeks
A hawkish Jerusalem-based news outlet with reported links to Israeli intelligence that has proven accurate in its forecast of future geopolitical events claims that the war in Libya is approaching a “coup de grace” and that French, British and American troops will land on Libyan soil within the next two weeks to spearhead a full ground invasion.In a piece entitled, US and NATO prepare final assault on Qaddafi, DebkaFile cites military sources for its contention that NATO powers are finalizing plans for a “large-scale, all-out military bid to kill or oust” Colonel Gaddafi.
“The coming coup de grace, expected in the next couple of weeks, is the hottest topic of discussion in the corridors of power and high-level military and intelligence get-togethers in London, Paris, Brussels, Moscow, Oslo, The Hague and Rome. It is expected to start in a couple of weeks with French and British troop landings on Libyan soil, to be followed in its last stages of by Read more…
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