Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

Thursday 16 August 2012

Eurasia Review: News & Analysis

Link to Eurasia Review


Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:43 AM PDT
MTV on Wednesday, August 15 officially launched Artists.MTV, a new music initiative created by the network to showcase a rage of artists both signed and unsigned, old and new, on a unique, more advanced web platform. The artist will be in complete control of their own Artists.MTV page and can use it to connect with [...]

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Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:39 AM PDT
By David Trilling “I’ll be the first corpse,” says Sveta Filatova when asked about initiatives to terminate Kyrgyzstan’s methadone programs. A heroin addict for 10 years, Filatova has been taking the opioid substitute for three and says it’s changed her life, enabled her to reconnect with family, and hold a job. Filatova is one of [...]

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Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:36 AM PDT
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, will on Thursday arrive in Poland on an official four-day visit, the Moscow Patriarchate reported. The patriarch will take part in a number of divine services, meet with Polish Orthodox Christian clergy and the country’s top officials, as well as sign [...]

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Posted: 16 Aug 2012 12:32 AM PDT
By Nirettin Yigit Tunisia is one of the most secularist countries in the Arab World and can look back on this tradition since 1956. The Code of Personal Status (CPS), a series of progressive laws was introduced under the first President of the Republic of Habib Bourguiba, which established equality between women and men, abolished [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:29 PM PDT
Reuters reports: A group of former U.S. intelligence and Special Forces operatives is set to launch a media campaign, including TV ads, that scolds President Barack Obama for taking credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden and argues that high-level leaks are endangering American lives. Leaders of the group, the Special Operations OPSEC Education [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:19 PM PDT
Branded a ‘failed state’, the Somali Region has become known for kidnappings of international aid workers, being the training ground for terrorists, and a base for piracy operations and its recurrent humanitarian crisis. This common view overshadows a different dynamic on the ground: a population that is gradually redefining their context and mobilizing behind the [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:18 PM PDT
A new, in-depth report from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) and Rights Action has found glaring inconsistencies in the accounts of what occurred on May 11, 2012, when four people were shot and killed in a DEA-related counternarcotics operation in the Moskitia region of Honduras. The report notes that while U.S. State [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:14 PM PDT
(EIA) — On July 2, the average price at the pump for regular gasoline in the United States was $3.36 per gallon, the lowest level since the first week of 2012. Since then, retail prices have increased more than 36 cents to reach $3.72 per gallon on August 13 (Figure 1). The major driver behind [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:04 PM PDT
Following months of public consultation and revision, the National Development Plan 2030 has been handed over to President Jacob Zuma by the Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, Minister Trevor Manuel. The handover of the thick document was conducted during a Joint Sitting of both Houses in Parliament on Wednesday. Cabinet, led by the President, [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 11:00 PM PDT
Police in Karnataka yesterday took into custody a Catholic priest for allegedly insulting the Indian flag on the country’s Independence Day. Fr. Vincent of Puttur Syro-Malankara diocese unfurled the flag on a pole with a cross atop at the bishop’s residence at Parladka in Puttur. Since Bishop Geevarghese Mar Divannasios was away, Fr. Vincent, assistant [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:57 PM PDT
Iran’s Young Reporters Club is accusing Reuters of “recruiting spies” to operate in Iran. On Tuesday, the Young Reporters Club, an organization tied to state broadcaster Seda va Sima, reported: “Mr. A. E., an anti-Revolutionary activist and intelligence adviser to the Zionists, is in the process of attracting spying agents, using the ploy of recruiting [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:55 PM PDT
The next round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world powers will take place later this month. The Russian news agency Ria Novosti reports that Sebastian Brabant, a spokesman for the European Commission, said in Brussels on August 14 that the six world powers and Iran will hold a new round of talks on [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:53 PM PDT
By Michelle Bauman Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York defended his decision to invite President Barack Obama to a traditional fundraising dinner as being an effort to engage, not endorse, the president. Cardinal Dolan explained that “an invitation to the Al Smith Dinner is not an award, or the provision of a platform to [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:48 PM PDT
Long-term methadone treatment can cause changes in the brain, according to recent studies from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. The results show that treatment may affect the nerve cells in the brain. The studies follow on from previous studies where methadone was seen to affect cognitive functioning, such as learning and memory. Since it [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:45 PM PDT
New research from Umeå and Uppsala universities has found high rates of sleep apnoea in women, despite the condition usually being regarded as a disorder predominantly of males. The study, published online (16 August 2012) ahead of print today in the European Respiratory Journal, also suggested that women with hypertension and/or obesity were more likely [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:43 PM PDT
(CORDIS) — The increasing use of ICT for business, leisure and public services is leading to the accumulation of mountains of structured and in many cases unstructured data. But this so-called ‘big data’ should be seen as an opportunity not a problem. EU research and efforts to promote open data are helping to make sense [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:39 PM PDT
Although we often associate the term entrepreneur with profit seeking, the healthcare field is teeming with innovators who are largely motivated by altruism. As I wrote in my new book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, take Dr. Jeffrey Brenner of Camden, New Jersey.* In any other field, Brenner would be a millionaire, but because he’s [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:37 PM PDT
Taxpayer and ratepayer subsidies, coastal zone permits and crony capitalism spell big trouble By Lindsay Leveen In November 2011, BloomEnergy applied for permits to build an energy center in a Delaware protected coastal zone area. The center would employ solid oxide fuel cells powered by natural gas and housed in casings that look like huge [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:33 PM PDT
Since the climate liars cannot make their case on the basis of the known science, taking it into a court of law with a passionate appeal to emotion in order to impose restrictions on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has long been a Green goal. The claim that CO2 causes “climate change” which is the new [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:26 PM PDT
By Monia Ghanmi As many as 9,000 women demonstrated on Monday (August 13th) in Tunis against Ennahda-proposed constitutional changes that refer to woman’s “complementarity to man”. Article 28 of the new draft constitution says, “The state protects women’s rights and gains based on the principle that they complement with the man in the family and [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:22 PM PDT
By Siham Ali Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane reassured MPs Monday (August 13th) over the country’s economic situation. While he said the economy was certainly a concern, it was still manageable despite the difficulties. The head of government said the precautionary credit line extended to Morocco by the IMF, totalling 6.2 billion dollars, would make [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:18 PM PDT
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called for an enthusiastic participation in demonstrations marking International Quds Day. Ayatollah Khamenei said that a high turnout on Quds Day would give a crushing response to the enemies of Islam and Palestinians. The Leader described the occupation of the Palestinian territories and the formation [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:15 PM PDT
By John J. Mearsheimer There is abundant speculation these days about whether Israel will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. It is widely believed in both Israel and the United States that this would be a remarkably foolish move. I share that sentiment. Yet Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and his Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, seem to disagree [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:09 PM PDT
By Hadaf Zubi As China’s economy matures, GDP growth is based more on domestic consumer demand and less on exports.  This shift is increasingly reflected in China’s capital and financial account, which measures investment flows.  China is now investing more abroad than foreign companiesare investing in China, and the capital and financial account has gone [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:04 PM PDT
By Devider Kumar The massive failures of India’s power grid in July 2012 have not only forced more than 600 million people to plunge into darkness, but also underlined grave challenges ahead for the country’s ambitious emerging economy. Even before the power outages, India’s outdated power supply was hurting its economy. India’s prestigious Planning Commission [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 10:01 PM PDT
By Ernest Corea Governor Mitt Romney’s selection of long-serving Congressman Paul Ryan as the presumptive candidate for Vice President – technically, both have to be confirmed at the forthcoming Republican Party Convention – has perked up the party more than most recent events. Among the wider public, the reaction was not so ecstatic. Ryan was, [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 09:53 PM PDT
Tapping the talents of returning Overseas Singaporeans may be a way to reduce our reliance on highly mobile foreign talent and to reward both returning and local Singaporean loyalties. By Valerie Teo Much public angst and Government concern have been expressed about the overflow and integration of immigrants of late. While foreign and local talent [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 09:48 PM PDT
Somali pirate and hostage-taker Mohammad Saaili Shibin, a/k/a “Khalif Ahmed Shibin,” a/k/a “Shibin,” the man convicted of being the Somali kidnapper who also negotiated the ransom demands for the release of U.S. citizens onboard an American yacht, the S/V Quest, as well as the Marida Marguerite, a German-owned vessel, was sentenced late Monday afternoon in [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 09:44 PM PDT
By Kate Kelly Burma’s new foreign investment law may be more restrictive than its predecessor, experts said, after an updated draft of the much-anticipated foreign direct investment (FDI) bill was leaked to Reuters last week. Experts have labelled the government’s move to limit foreign investment in certain sectors as “retrograde” and fear protectionist economic policies, [...]

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Posted: 15 Aug 2012 09:41 PM PDT
By Polina Chernitsa Moscow will do everything to ensure the objective assessment of the upcoming parliamentary polls in Belarus, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday after talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. He slammed the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for trying to impose tighter election monitoring rules on Belarus and [...]

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