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Strong
quake strikes central Japan's Nagano city
A
strong earthquake late Saturday struck a mountainous area of central
Japan that hosted the 1998 winter Olympics, knocking down at least 10
homes in a ski resort town and injuring more than 20 people,
officials said.
The
magnitude-6.8 earthquake struck near Nagano city shortly after 10
p.m. (1300 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), the Japan
Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the
quake's magnitude at 6.2. Since the quake occurred inland, there was
no possibility of a tsunami.
About
15 people were treated for injuries at a public hospital in the city
of Omachi, three of whom were seriously injured, hospital officials
told Japan's Kyodo news agency. The National Police Agency told Kyodo
that at least six people were injured in Nagano city and the Hakuba
ski resort.
Two
dead in China earthquake
Magnitude-5.9
quake strikes lightly populated area of western China, killing at
least two people and injuring 54
A
strong earthquake struck a lightly populated, mountainous area of
western China, killing at least two people, injuring 54 others and
collapsing homes, officials said on Sunday.
The
US Geological Survey said the magnitude-5.9 quake hit Saturday about
20 miles from the town of Kangding in Sichuan province. China’s
seismological agency put the magnitude at 6.3.
The
Sichuan provincial government information office said on its
microblog Sunday that the death toll had risen to two with 54
injured.
US,
Canada & Ukraine vote against Russia’s anti-Nazism resolution
at UN
UN
General Assembly’s Third Committee passed a Russia-proposed
resolution condemning attempts to glorify Nazism ideology and denial
of German Nazi war crimes. The US, Canada and Ukraine were the only
countries to vote against it.
The
resolution was passed on Friday by the committee, which is tasked
with tackling social and humanitarian issues and human rights abuses,
by 115 votes against three, with 55 nations abstaining, Tass news
agency reported.
The
document voiced concern over the rise of racism-driven crimes around
the world and the influence that parties with extremist agendas are
gaining.
It
called for a universal adoption of the International Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Many nations
including the US, the UK, China and India, signed the convention but
did not recognize a mechanism resolving individual complaints it
establishes, which makes the convention unenforceable in their
jurisdictions.
The
resolution also decried attempts to whitewash Nazi collaborators by
depicting them as fighters of nationalist resistance movements and
honoring them as such.
It
condemned any form of denial of Nazi war crimes, including the Jewish
Holocaust.....
Police
pepper sprays protest in Germany as activists storm new EU central
bank HQ
German
police used pepper spray and clashed with anti-EU protesters, who
stormed and vandalized the new European Central Bank building, which
is under construction now in central Frankfurt.
Calling
themselves Blockupy, thousands of activists gathered in the city
center on Saturday and marched to the goal of their protest, the new
ECB office, which is to be inaugurated next March.
The
cost of the new office is almost 1.3 billion euros and this fact has
caused a lot of criticism while the policy of austerity is applied
all over Europe.
Western
sanctions are aimed at regime change in Russia – Lavrov
Western
nations is to stir public protests and oust the government, Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
“Western
leaders publicly state that the sanctions must hurt [Russia's]
economy and stir up public protests. The West doesn’t want to
change Russia’s policies. They want a regime change. Practically
nobody denies that,” he told a leading think-tank in Moscow.
Lavrov
said that the tensions between Russia and the West had been brewing
for years before the Ukrainian crisis, adding that now the Europeans
had decided to go for all-or-nothing and play chicken with Russia.
But at least the positions have been made clear, Lavrov said.
1,000
times stronger than Chelyabinsk meteorite: New asteroid may threaten
Earth
Moscow
University’s robotic telescope has discovered a massive asteroid
that could potentially hit Earth in the future. If such a collision
happens, the explosion would be 1,000 more powerful the Chelyabinsk
meteorite explosion in 2013.
An
automatic telescope installed in Russia’s Caucasus Mountains, near
the city of Kislovodsk, first spotted the newly discovered space
rock, dubbed 2014 UR116. The asteroid is estimated to be 370 meters
in diameter, which is bigger than the size of the notorious Apophis
asteroid......
Kiev
intends to privatize all coalmining enterprises in Ukraine by late
2016
All
mines that will not go private in 2015-2016 will have to be
liquidated or conserved
http://en.tass.ru/economy/761106
The
Kiev authorities are planning to privatize all coal mining
enterprises in Ukraine in 2015-2016, the text of a coalition
agreement signed by the leaders of parties who have joined
parliamentary coalition at Ukraine’s Verkhovnaya rada (parliament)
says.
Australian
coal for fuel-hungry Ukraine reaches Mariupol port
The
document which Ukraine’s Samopomoshch party published on its
website says that all mines that will not go private in 2015-2016
will have to be liquidated or conserved.
The
Ugol Ukrainy state enterprise will also go into liquidation. It was
set up by Ukraine’s Ministry of Fuel and Coal Industry for
concluding coal delivery agreements. Ukrainian politicians are also
planning a transition to direct contracts for selling coal.
In
2020, Ukrainian politicians are planning to make coal production
self-sustaining, reduce state support for the industry to the minimum
and stop financing modernization and technical retooling of the
already existing mines and give up the construction of new ones.
Australian
coal for fuel-hungry Ukraine reaches Mariupol port
Ukraine
is facing deficit of certain types of coal as a result of warfare in
Donbass, where coal was produced
KIEV,
November 21. /TASS/. A total of 36,000 tonnes of coal from Australia
have reached the port city of Mariupol in Ukraine’s embattled
Donetsk region, the press service of the city council reports on
Thursday.
The
Hebei Tangshan bulk cargo ship has delivered 36,000 tonnes of coking
coal for local metallurgical plants, the report said.
Ukraine
is facing deficit of certain types of coal as a result of warfare in
Donbass (the Donetsk and Luhansk regions), where coal of these brands
was produced and where there is about 2 million metric tonnes of such
coal at state mine depots. According to the Energy and Coal Industry
Ministry, the import requirements for these brands total 1 million
tonnes a month.
At
the moment, Ukraine is buying coal from South Africa at the price of
86 dollars per tonne, but when coal reaches Ukraine the price grows
to about 110 dollars per tonne due to transport and other costs.
Last
week, Ukrainian Minister for Energy and Coal Industry Yuri Prodan
said Ukraine had no other choice at the moment but to buy coal from
Russia or in Donbass, where militias control the situation.
He
said South Africa had refused to make further coal supplies to
Ukraine and it would take at least a month-and-a-half to sign a new
contract. “The situation with coal supplies is menacing. The energy
security of the country is at threat. We have no other choice but to
resort to Russian suppliers and buy coal there,” the minister said.
Aging
coal-fired power plants, fed in the past by fuel from Ukraine's
coal-rich but now battle-torn Donetsk region, may need massive
investment to burn fuel arriving from different sources - at a higher
cost, Russian coal industry experts warned earlier.
China
against declaration of independence at referendums
This
does not apply to the referendum in Crimea, as it has had very
special features, the acting director of the Chinese Foreign
Ministry’s European-Central Asian Affairs department said
BEIJING,
November 21. /TASS/. China is against the declaration of independence
by any ethnic groups through referendums, but this does not apply to
Crimea, the acting director of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s
European-Central Asian Affairs department, Gui Congyou, told Russian
media on Friday.
“We
should take a very careful and well-considered attitude to tackling
nationalities’ issues. We are against any nationality gaining
independence through referendums. As far as Crimea is concerned, it
has very special features. We know well the history of Crimea’s
affiliation,” the diplomat said.
“On
the whole, the nationalities' problems in some countries stem from
double standard policies by certain states, which, proceeding from
their own selfish interests, support one ethnic group and push it
towards holding an independence referendum. This is a manifestation
of double standards serving the interests of the United States. In a
bid to achieve its aims, the US resorts to intervention in the
internal affairs of other states by using force without UN Security
Council authorization. China is firmly against this approach,” Gui
said.
In
his opinion, “such actions trigger aggravations of inter-ethnic
contradictions and result in armed conflicts."
China
supports Russia’s stance on settling the crisis in Ukraine, Gui
Congyou stressed.
US
wants to drive wedge in Russia-China ties — Chinese official
“China
reacts with full understanding to the challenges and threats Russia
has faced in connection with the Ukrainian issue and supports
Moscow’s approach to its settlement. We are not interested in an
armed conflict on the Ukrainian territory and wish to see the issue
settled by political means. We are against external intervention in
Ukraine’s internal affairs through government coups.”
“As
for the causes of the Ukrainian crisis, in a telephone conversation
with Russian President Vladimir Putin the Chinese leader, Xi Jingping
said that ‘there is no smoke without fire’,” Gui dded.
“Personally,
I believe that some states and blocs stick to the Cold War mentality
and are involved in geopolitical games with the aim to infringe on
the geopolitical interests of Russia. China is strongly against
anyone harming the security of other countries for the purpose of
protecting one’s ‘absolute security'," he noted.
UKIP
Victory in UK by-election
Via
Facebook
Nigel
Farage's Independence Party UKIP, which want that United Kingdom
should leave the EU and cooperate with Vladimir Putin, took a big
victory over the Conservative Tories and social-democratic labor in
the parliamentary by-elections in Rochester and Stroud District. The
UKIP candidate Mark Reckless got 42 % of the votes and was elected
and the UKIP Party-leader Nigel Farage has said UKIP can become a
major force in the British Parliament at next year's election.
Mr.
Farage has even a good chance to become Prime Minister. He would
certainly change the British policy towards EU and Russia. He said
earlier this year that Mr. Putin is the statesman he most admires.
In
a debate in September at the EU Parliament Mr. Farage said that EU is
responsible for the Ukrainian crisis. He said that European states
had “directly encouraged” the Kiev uprising, that “led in turn
to Vladimir Putin reacting” and as a result there is a civil war.
Farage
is sharply EU critical and has said that the West must stop opposing
Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Ukraine and join forces with the
Russian leader in the fight against Islamic extremists. Western
countries must stop "playing war games in Ukraine and poking the
“Russian bear with a stick” because Mr. Putin is “on our side”
in the war against Islamic extremism.
Demonstrations
in Mexico City
Right
now, Mexico City's central plaza is packed full of people protesting
the government-sponsored massacre of 43 students. Protesters are
burning President Enrique Peña Nieto in effigy and demanding his
resignation, alleging his involvement with drug cartels in the
kidnapping and killing of the student
'Hypocritical'
Aussie FM at UN Ebola meeting warns against discrimination
The
Aussie FM has slammed discrimination against nationals of Ebola-hit
W. African countries while chairing the UN Security Council. Her
statement has prompted accusations of hypocrisy as Australia has
imposed travel bans on these states.
“The
Security Council expresses its continued concern about the
detrimental effect of the isolation of the affected countries as a
result of trade and travel restrictions imposed on and to the
affected countries,” said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who read a
statement from the UN Security Council in New York.
Australia
assumed the rotating presidency of the Security Council for November
2014 and Bishop became the first Aussie FM to preside at the meeting.
Bishop
added that UN also expresses its concern over the “acts of
discrimination against the nationals of Guinea, Liberia, Mali and
Sierra Leone, including Ebola survivors and their families or those
infected with the disease.”
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