Author: Sunfire

RT

Global debt levels have surged to a record $217 trillion in the first quarter of the year. This is 327 percent of the world’s annual economic output (GDP), reports the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

The surging debt was driven by emerging economies, which have increased borrowing by $3 trillion to $56 trillion. This amounts to 218 percent of their combined economic output, five percentage points greater year on year.   Continue reading “World’s debt over three times greater than economic output”

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BRUSSELS (AP) — Two years after winding down its military operation in Afghanistan, NATO has agreed to send more troops to the war-ravaged country to help train and work alongside the Afghan security forces.

The move comes in response to a request from NATO commanders to provide around 3,000 troops. Speaking ahead of NATO defense ministers’ meeting in Brussels Thursday, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “15 nations have already pledged additional contributions” and that he expected more pledges later in the day.   Continue reading “NATO agrees to send more troop trainers to Afghanistan”

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BERLIN (AP) — Europe is “more determined than ever” to make the Paris climate accord a success, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday, and insisted that the deal is not negotiable while predicting difficult talks on the issue at next week’s Group of 20 summit.

Merkel also said she hopes for a “clear signal” in favor of free markets and the multilateral trading system from the July 7-8 meeting in Hamburg, arguing anew that protectionism can’t solve the world’s problems.   Continue reading “Merkel before G20: Paris accord irreversible, not negotiable”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — The parole board of Israel’s Prison Service on Thursday granted former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert early release from his 27-month corruption sentence, in perhaps the final chapter of a stunning fall from grace that forced him from office amid the last serious round of peace talks with the Palestinians.

Barring any unforeseen developments, Olmert will walk free on Sunday, July 2, said Prison Service spokesman Assaf Librati. Israel’s Justice Ministry had objected to Olmert’s early release after asking police last week to investigate whether he committed a “criminal offense” when his lawyer was caught leaving the prison with a chapter of his unpublished book that contained “sensitive security issues.”   Continue reading “Israel’s ex-PM Ehud Olmert granted early release from prison”

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HONG KONG (AP) — Global stocks edged lower on Wednesday as investors fretted over the prospect of tighter monetary policy from major central banks. KEEPING SCORE: Germany’s DAX fell 0.4 percent to 12,618 while the CAC 40 of France lost 0.2 percent to 5,246. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged almost 0.1 percent lower to 7,433. Dow and S&P futures were both up 0.1 percent, suggesting a tepid start to trading on Wall Street.   Continue reading “Global stocks fall on jitters over central bank policy”

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland’s prosecutors said Wednesday they have charged the former leader of a massive anti-government movement with misappropriation of the movement’s funds and false statements in its financial documents.

Mateusz Kijowski, the former head of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, or KOD, and the movement’s former treasurer were questioned by prosecutors in Swidnica, in the southwest. The movement, which accuses the government of anti-democratic policies, has led massive street protests across Poland but its power seems to be waning, partly due to the investigation into payments for Kijowski.  Continue reading “Poland’s anti-government leader Kijowski charged with fraud”

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LONDON (AP) — British prosecutors charged a former senior police officer with manslaughter Wednesday as they announced the first criminal cases in the 1989 Hillsborough stadium disaster that left 96 people dead — many of them crushed against metal fences — and changed English soccer forever.

The families of the victims have waged a decades-long quest to seek justice for their loved ones, who they believed were unfairly blamed in the April 15, 1989, tragedy. The initial deaths were ruled accidental — a ruling overturned in 2012 after a new, wide-ranging inquiry.   Continue reading “UK charges 6 in Hillsborough stadium tragedy that killed 96”

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MOSUL, Iraq (AP) — Counterattacks by Islamic State militants on the western edge of Mosul have stalled Iraqi forces’ push in the Old City, the last IS stronghold in the battle, an Iraqi officer said Tuesday.

The attacks forced Iraqi forces and the U.S.-led coalition to pull some assets away from the Old City to again clear the Yarmouk and Tanak neighborhoods, which were declared liberated of IS in May. The assaults underscore the Sunni extremist group’s resilience in the city, Iraq’s third-largest, despite months of heavy fighting with Iraqi forces backed by U.S. air power.   Continue reading “IS counterattacks in retaken parts of Mosul stall Iraq push”

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch appeals court ruled Tuesday that the government was partially liable in the deaths of more than 300 Muslim men killed by Bosnian Serb forces in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

The ruling formally struck down a civil court’s landmark 2014 judgment that said the state was liable in the deaths of the Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were turned over by Dutch U.N. peacekeepers to Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995 and subsequently killed.  Continue reading “Dutch government partially liable in 300 Srebrenica deaths”

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MOSCOW (AP) — Authorities say a bomb planted under or inside a car has killed a senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer in the country’s capital. Photos from the scene showed the mangled vehicle in the middle of a Kiev intersection. Police say the car’s driver was killed immediately and two passers-by were slightly injured in the Tuesday morning blast.   Continue reading “Car bomb kills senior Ukrainian intelligence officer in Kiev”

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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union slapped a record 2.42 billion-euro ($2.72 billion) fine on internet giant Google on Tuesday for taking advantage of its dominance in online searches to direct customers to its own online shopping business.

European regulators gave the company based in Mountain View, California, 90 days to stop or face more fines of up to 5 percent of the average daily worldwide revenue of parent company Alphabet. Google says it is considering an appeal.   Continue reading “EU fines Google a record 2.4 billion euros in antitrust case”

RT

It’s not often that Russia’s most fervent media detractors find themselves on the same page as the Kremlin. But when it comes to the dangers of internet anonymity, Moscow is making moves that some of its sternest critics want implemented in the West.

Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor’s target is Telegram, a popular messaging app, which is also known in the English-speaking world as ISIS’ communications platform of choice.   Continue reading “Why Telegram messenger is short of supporters as Russia moves to block it”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is eager to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin with full diplomatic bells and whistles when the two are in Germany for a multinational summit next month. But the idea is exposing deep divisions within the administration on the best way to approach Moscow in the midst of an ongoing investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. elections.

Many administration officials believe the U.S. needs to maintain its distance from Russia at such a sensitive time — and interact only with great caution. But Trump and some others within his administration have been pressing for a full bilateral meeting. He’s calling for media access and all the typical protocol associated with such sessions, even as officials within the State Department and National Security Council urge more restraint, according to a current and a former administration official.   Continue reading “Trump eager for big meeting with Putin; some advisers wary”

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PARIS (AP) — The jihadis’ targets in Europe are depressingly repetitive: the Brussels metro, the Champs-Elysees in Paris (twice), tourist-filled bridges in London (twice) and a U.K. rock concert. And that’s just the past few months.

The steady stream of attacks on centers of daily life have drawn pledges from Europeans not to let terrorists change how they live, but in ways large and small they already have. There is a heightened awareness and quicker reactions, especially in the hardest-hit countries of France, Britain and Belgium, that would have seemed unthinkable just a few years ago.   Continue reading “Europeans learn to live with _ and adapt to _ terror attacks”

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JERUSALEM (AP) — A high-profile group of Jewish leaders cancelled a gala event with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday to protest his government’s decision to scrap plans for a mixed-gender prayer area at Jerusalem’s Western Wall.

The stunning move reflects an unprecedented gulf that has erupted between Israel and the Jewish diaspora over how Judaism can be practiced in Israel. Most American Jews belong to its more liberal Reform and Conservative streams and feel alienated by Israel’s ultra-Orthodox authorities that question their faith and practices.   Continue reading “Jewish group cancels meeting with Netanyahu in protest”

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WARSAW, Poland (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump has chosen to deliver a speech during his upcoming visit to Poland at the site of a memorial to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Germans, a Polish official says.

Krzysztof Szczerski, an aide to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said late Wednesday that it is an honor for Poles that Trump will give a major speech at Krasinski Square, “a site which symbolizes Polish heroism.”   Continue reading “Trump to speak to Poles at site that honors nation’s heroism”

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BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders are gathering Thursday to weigh measures to tackle terrorism, closer defense ties and migration, convinced that anti-EU sentiment and support for populist parties are waning.

Ahead of the two-day meeting in Brussels, summit chairman Donald Tusk trumpeted the resurgence of the EU, even as Britain launched talks this week on leaving. Tusk told the leaders in an invitation letter that after a series of election defeats for anti-migrant parties, notably in France, the EU is “slowly turning the corner.”   Continue reading “EU leaders to weigh terrorism, defense ties, migration”

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PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron’s new government is presenting a security bill Thursday to beef up police powers amid sustained extremist threats to Europe. Macron insists the bill being discussed at a Cabinet meeting won’t infringe on freedoms, but rights groups fear France is heading for a permanent state of emergency.

Macron’s government is seeking to extend France’s existing state of emergency through Nov. 1, the time it will take the new security bill to pass through parliament. The current expiration date for the state of emergency is July 15. It would be the sixth extension of the measure since deadly attacks by extremists in Paris November 2015.   Continue reading “France to present new security bill amid extremist threats”