Critical Observer

New European Laws Could Spell Disaster for Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by <span itemprop="author" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://btcmanager.com/author/priyeshu-garg/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Priyeshu Garg">Priyeshu Garg</a><br />Full Story: <a href="https://btcmanager.com/new-european-privacy-laws-could-spell-doom-for-blockchain-businesses/">https://btcmanager.com/new-european-privacy-laws-could-spell-doom-for-blockchain-businesses/</a></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: 700;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A new set of regulations concerning data protection could have a negative impact on blockchain applications in the European Union (EU). One of the fundamental operational premises of most blockchain-based applications is in danger of being against a new European law on privacy.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The record of transactions on most blockchains can be viewed by the network participants. These records are once authenticated, become immutable, meaning that they cannot be altered or removed. This <a href="https://btcmanager.com/accenture-blockchain-immutability-must-be-reconsidered/" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">immutability</a> is one of the strong points of the technology and a reason while cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether have become popular.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The European Union recently issued a new set of data-handling regulations as an update to its <a href="https://www.eugdpr.org/" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)</a>. These new regulations which take effect from May 25, 2018, basically deal with how the sensitive information of users is handled by companies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As part of the new regulations, companies must comply with the request of any EU citizen to completely delete his/her user information stored by the company. It is a landmark ruling which throws light on a topic that has been brought to the forefront particular in the aftermath of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/26/the-cambridge-analytica-files-the-story-so-far" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Cambridge Analytica and Facebook controversy</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While this move would mean user data now firmly belongs to the user, it could spell doom for many a blockchain businesses operating in Europe. According to <a href="https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/business-law-blog/blog/2018/02/blockchains-and-gdpr" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Michèle Finck</a>, an Oxford University lecturer specializing in EU law, blockchains in their current operational architecture are not compatible with the new GDPR:</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“On a tamper-proof ledger, these rights cannot, however, be easily implemented. It is safe to assume that at present most blockchains are not GDPR compliant because they are unable to implement these rights. A number of technological solutions are currently being developed that might facilitate this in the future, but we are not there yet.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">According to her, EU regulators face the choice of either banning blockchain apps from Europe or tweaking the GDPR to offer some exceptions for blockchain apps. <a href="https://btcmanager.com/blockchain-companies-take-center-stage-week-in-review-for-april-17/" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Blockchain companies</a> might be forced to look for ways to delete data from the blockchain after it has been vetted, something that is, for the most part, theoretically impossible.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greg McMullen, a German-based lawyer, says blockchain companies will be faced with immense compliance headaches due to the new <a href="https://btcmanager.com/news/regulation/" rel="noopener" style="border: 0px; color: #e5a651; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">regulations</a>. He also went to say that the move will most likely impede the development of blockchain-based applications. Developers and entrepreneurs will face the hard task of trying to ascertain if an application should be built on a blockchain in light of the new laws.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Full Story: </b><a href="https://btcmanager.com/new-european-privacy-laws-could-spell-doom-for-blockchain-businesses/">https://btcmanager.com/new-european-privacy-laws-could-spell-doom-for-blockchain-businesses/</a></span></div>

New European Laws Could Spell Disaster for Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

by Priyeshu Garg Full Story: https://btcmanager.com/new-european-privacy-laws-could-spell-doom-for-blockchain-businesses/ A new set...

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FORMER P.M. SAYS FUKUSHIMA ALMOST DESTROYED JAPAN

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It has been five years since the Fukushima disaster. Many of us have forgotten the press describing millions of gallons of ‘nuclear’ water leaking into the ocean, but nearly 400,000 people who had to be evacuated remember the event vividly. The panic and irresponsibility by TEPCO following the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdowns was unprecedented.</span></h5>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a recent interview with The Telegraph, <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: bold; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Japan’s former Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, stated that the country had come within a “paper-thin margin” of being absolutely devastated.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kan said that Fukushima was so bad, he had considered declaring martial law and evacuating Tokyo and all areas within 160 miles of the plant. He stated:</span></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic !important; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“The future existence of Japan as a whole was at stake. Something on that scale, an evacuation of 50 million, it would have been like a losing a huge war.”</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Kan got the runaround from TEPCO executives and was also shocked by Japan’s key nuclear safety adviser, Nobuaki Terasaka. The effects of the radioactive contamination from the meltdown of six different reactors were so rapid and widespread that Kan was dumbfounded as to what to do. Kan said that when he turned to Terasaka for help:</span></div>
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<img alt="article-fukushima-rubbish_3589051b" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-69851" height="387" sizes="(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px" src="http://naturalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/article-fukushima-rubbish_3589051b.jpg" srcset="http://naturalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/article-fukushima-rubbish_3589051b-263x164.jpg 263w, http://naturalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/article-fukushima-rubbish_3589051b-400x250.jpg 400w, http://naturalsociety.com/wp-content/uploads/article-fukushima-rubbish_3589051b.jpg 620w" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; display: block; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="620" /></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic !important; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“We questioned him and he was unable to give clear responses. We asked him – do you know anything about nuclear issues? And he said no, I majored in economics.”</span></em></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The Fukushima disaster’s cleanup bill <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/183052-japan-fukushima-costs-study/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">will exceed $105 billion</a>, double an early estimate given by officials. This includes radiation cleanup and compensation to residents by TEPCO.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The loss of life and the <a href="http://naturalsociety.com/8-signs-fukushima-radiation-west-coast/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">damage to the world’s oceans and environment</a>have no price tag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Former TEPCO chairman, Tsunehisa Katsumata, was indicted last week on charges of criminal negligence for <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/12151981/Fukushima-Five-years-after-nuclear-disaster-the-clean-up-has-barely-begun.html" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">his role in the disaster</a>. Others claim there are many more <a href="https://311truth.wordpress.com/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">responsible for the event</a>.</span></div>
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<em style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: italic !important; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This article originally appeared at <a href="http://naturalsociety.com/naoto-kan-prime-minister-fukuhshima-destroyed-japan-69697/" style="background-color: transparent; border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: #194e8e; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Natural Society</a>.</span></em></div>
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FORMER P.M. SAYS FUKUSHIMA ALMOST DESTROYED JAPAN

It has been five years since the Fukushima disaster. Many of us have forgotten the press describing millions of gallons of ‘nuclear...

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RUSSIA SAYS 42 ARMED GROUPS JOIN SYRIAN CEASEFIRE

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The number of armed groups that have joined the Syrian ceasefire reached 42, while negotiations with three more are underway, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Ten violations of the cessation of hostilities were recorded in Syria within the past 24 hours, the Russian center for Syrian reconciliation said in a bulletin published Saturday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"The ceasefire is generally holding. At the same time, 10 violations of the ceasefire were recorded within 24 hours (Damascus – 6, Aleppo – 3, Hama – 1)," the bulletin published on the Russian Defense Ministry’s website read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><img alt="Servicemen of the Syrian Arab Army at the Syrian-Turkish border near the town of Kessab" class="" height="375" src="http://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/103458/55/1034585584.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Servicemen of the Syrian Arab Army at the Syrian-Turkish border near the town of Kessab" width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The positions of government troops in Damascus have been shelled five times from areas under control of the Free Syrian Army, according to the bulletin.</span><div style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Last month, Russia and the United States <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160222/1035176230/us-russia-syria-ceasefire.html" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">brokered a truce</a> between the Syrian government and key opposition forces in Syria.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The ceasefire <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160227/1035425733/syrian-ceasefire-officially.html" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">took effect</a> on February 27 and <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160311/1036113523/syria-ceasefire-mistura.html" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">has largely held</a> so far, despite sporadic violations. It <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160225/1035325258/daesh-nusra-front-ceasefire.html" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">does not apply to terrorist groups</a> operating in the country, mainly Daesh and al-Nusra Front.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Negotiations with the leaders of three armed groups operating in the city of Aleppo are underway. The number of armed groups that have joined the ceasefire is 42," an information bulletin of the Russian reconciliation center in Syria read.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.003px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><br />Read more: <a href="http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160312/1036182058/syria-ceasefire-holding.html#ixzz42hmEDnHg" style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; color: #003399; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160312/1036182058/syria-ceasefire-holding.html#ixzz42hmEDnHg</a></span></span>

RUSSIA SAYS 42 ARMED GROUPS JOIN SYRIAN CEASEFIRE

The number of armed groups that have joined the Syrian ceasefire reached 42, while negotiations with three more are underway, the Russian D...

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OUT OF MONEY: SAUDI ARABIA OIL PRICE WAR FAIL

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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Riyadh has shot itself in the foot by adopting a predatory pricing policy in the oil market aimed at wiping its competitors out; now the House of Saud is reaping a whirlwind it sowed.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Back in 2014 <a href="http://sputniknews.com/tags/tag_SaudiArabia/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saudi Arabia</a> decided to drop <a href="http://sputniknews.com/tags/product_oil_prices/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">oil prices</a> in order to expel Russia from the European and Asian oil markets and at the same time to deal a heavy blow to the US shale oil industry.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">However, the Saudi royalty has apparently never heard of the old Chinese proverb that says: "Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Thus, unsurprisingly, Riyadh's irresponsible oil gambling has boomeranged back and struck Saudi Arabia and its people, Russian political scientist Petr Lvov notes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"The [House of Saud] decided that it has no equals in a position to punish Moscow for its persistent support of the Syrian people and its striving to develop bilateral relations with Iran and even Iraq, the states which could form a Shia arc capable of challenging, even destroying the tyranny of the Saudi regime," Lvov writes in his <a href="http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/11/saudi-oil-price-dumping-has-backfired-big-time/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">article</a> for New Eastern Outlook.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Iranian oil workers work at the Tehran's oil refinery south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014" class="" height="375" src="http://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/images/102686/42/1026864203.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Iranian oil workers work at the Tehran's oil refinery south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Monday, Dec. 22, 2014" width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Although Russia has been hit by the slump in oil prices it has remained "standing tall" and proven "to be more resilient that Saudi Arabia which produces nothing else besides hydrocarbons, and is fully dependent on cheap labor from Asia," the scientist stresses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Lvov draws attention to the fact that in 2016 it turns out that Riyadh has nearly run out of money being unable to pay working migrants enough for their jobs. Other oil-dependent Gulf kingdoms are now in the same boat as Saudi Arabia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"To make matters worse, migrant workers are becoming increasingly frustrated with the Persian Gulf states," he notes, warning that the proportion of local populations versus migrants in Gulf monarchies can result in social turmoil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"In Qatar, there are seven migrant workers for every one native, while in the UAE this level hovers at a level of six-to-one. And it's safe to say that the army or police will find themselves helpless if hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets. In fact, a threat of 'revolution' hangs in the air," Lvov writes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But it is not the whole story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In <a href="http://journal-neo.org/2016/03/10/key-crisis-point-is-saudi-arabia-running-out-of-gas/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">one</a> of his latest articles for the same resource, American political analyst Phil Butler posed a question whether <a href="http://sputniknews.com/politics/20160310/1036086686/saudi-arabia-oil-business-going-bust.html" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saudi Arabia's oil business is going bust</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">According to the US political analyst, there are clear signs of Riyadh's running out of crude.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"The Ghawar Field, largest in the world, is running out after about 65 years of continuous production. Reports the <a href="http://sputniknews.com/tags/organization_Saudi_Aramco/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Saudi Aramco</a> will be starting the CO2-EOR process to extract the last of the field's oil, they tell us this field will be depleted totally soon," Butler emphasized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><img alt="Saudi second deputy Prime Minister Mugren bin Abdulaziz (C-R) and unidentified Emirs perform during the traditional Saudi dancing best known as 'Arda' which performed during the Janadriya culture festival at Der'iya in Riyadh" class="" height="375" src="http://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/103362/34/1033623475.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Saudi second deputy Prime Minister Mugren bin Abdulaziz (C-R) and unidentified Emirs perform during the traditional Saudi dancing best known as 'Arda' which performed during the Janadriya culture festival at Der'iya in Riyadh" width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In that instance, what does the future have in store for the Gulf kingdom?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"Saudi Arabia will return to an almost medieval third world status," the American analyst envisions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Instead of kicking off a dangerous oil race Riyadh should have started to diversify its crude-centered economy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To complicate matters further, with <a href="http://sputniknews.com/tags/geo_Iran/" style="border: 0px; color: #f7961d; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Iran</a> back on the stage it will be more difficult for Riyadh to manipulate oil prices.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">"However, once the sanctions against Iran have been withdrawn, Tehran is going to fight for its share in the market by increasing its oil production and export levels… With international markets being oversupplied, experts fear that we may witness a new round of price dumping," Lvov notes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Apparently, Saudi Arabia cannot afford itself to continue its predatory pricing policy, since the very survival of the state is now at stake. Maybe that's why Saudi Arabia is taking steps toward cooperating with Russia, another world's leading oil producer, however incredible it sounds.</span></div>
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<span style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 16.003px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">From Sputnik News</span></span>

OUT OF MONEY: SAUDI ARABIA OIL PRICE WAR FAIL

Riyadh has shot itself in the foot by adopting a predatory pricing policy in the oil market aimed at wiping its competitors out; now the ...

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AZERBAIJANI TANKS SHELL NAGORNY KARABAKH REGION

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yerevan (AFP) - Azerbaijani tanks on Wednesday shelled positions in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region for the first time in more than 20 years, the rebel defence ministry said, as Armenia arrested a former army officer accused of spying for its arch foe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a bloody conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh territory in the 1990s before reaching a tenuous ceasefire in 1994 but they have not signed a peace deal and clashes erupt regularly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan enjoys the backing of the Armenian authorities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"For the first time since the ceasefire, Azerbaijan has used tanks on the Karabakh frontline," killing one soldier, the rebel defence ministry said in a statement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"Some 1,500 shots were fired from tanks and grenade-launchers," the statement added.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Azerbaijan offered a different version of events, saying Armenia had fired mortar rounds at settlements in Azerbaijan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The defence ministry in Baku warned it would launch retaliatory strikes on "enemy" army positions in Nagorny Karabakh, close to the frontier.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"The regime in Armenia bears responsibility for all of this," Azerbaijan's defence ministry said in a statement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In Washington, the US State Department condemned the violence and urged all sides to adhere to the ceasefire.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"The recent escalation of violence and the use of heavy weapons are unacceptable," spokesman John Kirby said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Separately, Armenia said it had arrested a former senior army officer on suspicion of spying for Azerbaijan and selling state secrets.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"A retired major, Garik Marutyan, 38, who previously served as a reconnaissance chief at the defence ministry, cooperated with Azerbaijani special services active in Turkey," Armenia's national security agency said in a statement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If convicted, he faces a jail term of up to 15 years, it said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The two ex-Soviet nations regularly exchange fire along their shared border and across Karabakh's volatile frontline.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Raising the spectre of a return to all-out war, both sides reportedly used heavy artillery in tit-for-tat attacks in September.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Mediators from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe warned last week that "the status quo has become unsustainable" and called on the two countries to reduce tensions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">US mediator James Warlick tweeted on Friday that Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian and Azerbaijan's Ilham Aliyev "were on track" to hold their first face-to-face encounter in over a year later this month.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Ethnic Armenian separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of Nagorny Karabakh during the 1990s war, in which some 30,000 people died.</span></div>
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AZERBAIJANI TANKS SHELL NAGORNY KARABAKH REGION

Yerevan (AFP) - Azerbaijani tanks on Wednesday shelled positions in the breakaway Nagorny Karabakh region for the first time in more...

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MASSIVE CORRUPTION AND ALL OUT WAR IN UKRAINE

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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A new war is breaking out in Ukraine, and it has been triggered off by no other than the vice president of the United States. During his visit to Kiev last weekend, Joe Biden publicly warned President Poroshenko that "the country is on the cusp" of being completely ruined by rampant corruption.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ukrainian media reports Joe Biden, US Vice President, demanded action, among other things, the removal of certain Ukrainian officials in the Ministry of Defense and the Prosecutor General's Office.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But instead of encouraging the war on corruption, Biden's intervention seems to have given a new impetus to a war between various oligarchic and political clans in Ukraine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first to throw the gauntlet was Mikheil Saakashvili, the former President of Georgia, who is now Governor of the Ukrainian region of Odessa. He immediately stepped up his campaign against Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, accusing him and his government of not only covering up corruption, but of also being directly involved in it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Mikheil Saakashvili, governor of Ukraine's Odessa region" height="521" src="http://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images/103154/07/1031540740.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Mikheil Saakashvili, governor of Ukraine's Odessa region" width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">© SPUTNIK/ DENIS PETROV</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Georgian Criminal Mikheil Saakashvili, governor of Ukraine's Odessa region</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In a number of TV interviews this week, Saakashvili claimed that Yatsenyuk has been putting pressure on deputy Prosecutor General and chief prosecutor of the Odessa Region, David Sakvarelidze, to stop investigating high-level embezzlement at the Port of Odessa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Saakashvili claims the state budget lost US$93 million on a gas supply contract and assets worth US$170 million were unlawfully privatized.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Speaking at an anti-corruption forum in Odessa, Saakashvili said Ukraine was losing US$5 billion a year through graft. At this rate the US$3 billion of US help, promised by Biden during his visit, would only last for half a year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mr Sakvarelidze, who promises arrests of high officials "very soon", happens to be Mr Saakashvili's longtime associate. He was first deputy Prosecutor General of Georgia when Saakashvili was president. Their methods of fighting corruption in Georgia were likened to those of the KGB. Now the pair is trying to run the Odessa region just like they used to run Georgia.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Saakashvili has dismissed public protests against his actions as "paid for" by his political opponents. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="Vice President of the United States Joe Biden speaks at Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada meeting" height="375" src="http://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/103148/36/1031483699.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Vice President of the United States Joe Biden speaks at Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada meeting" width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The former Georgian president appears to have the support of President Poroshenko, but not of Prime Minister Yatsenyuk. His allies have already accused Mr Saakashvili of being corrupt himself. They claim Saakashvili and his officials have used the money earmarked for the support of soldiers fighting in East Ukraine to pay for banquets and other hospitality. Mr Saakashvili said he would complain to Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau about the allegations.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, the Prosecutor General's Office wants Saakashvili to present written evidence of his own allegations against the government. On the other hand, the government, and Mr Yatsenyuk personally, are under pressure to reply to Saakashvili's accusations in parliament, the Rada, this Friday. Some observers say this may seal Yatsenyuk's fate, as the Rada Speaker Vladimir Groisman, as well as Mikheil Saakashvili, are rumored to be vying for his position. Yatsenyuk's only hope appears to be the support of the United States. After all, his appointment to the post of Prime Minister was agreed by the Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland with the US Ambassador in Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt in the infamous telephone call made shortly before the coup of February 2014.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">During Biden's visit last weekend Yatsenyuk tried to impress him with his program of reforms. Yet, in Biden's view "a lot of hard work remains" to be done and "what happens in the next year is likely to determine the fate of this country for generations."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Strong words from the US vice president, but the Ukrainian media was quick to quote from an article in The New York Times, saying:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The credibility of the vice president's anticorruption message may have been undermined by the association of his son, Hunter Biden, with one of Ukraine's largest natural gas companies, Burisma Holdings, and with its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, who was Ukraine's ecology minister under former President Viktor F Yanukovych before he was forced into exile."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The paper reported that Britain's Serious Fraud Office, specifically forbade Mr Zlochevsky, as well as Burisma Holdings, the company's chief legal officer and another company owned by Mr Zlochevsky, to have any access to their British accounts, which in US Ambassador Pyatt's words held "US$23 million in illicit assets that belonged to the Ukrainian people." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><img alt="A view of the sculpture Ukraine on Troitskaya Square, Kiev." height="375" src="http://cdn5.img.sputniknews.com/images/102715/37/1027153766.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="A view of the sculpture Ukraine on Troitskaya Square, Kiev." width="705" /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But after Ukrainian prosecutors refused to provide documents needed in the investigation, a British court ordered the Serious Fraud Office to unfreeze the assets, which were immediately transferred to Cyprus. The company's legal costs were recouped.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ambassador Pyatt called for an investigation into "the misconduct" of the Ukrainian prosecutors who wrote the letters. However, he did not mention Hunter Biden's connection to Burisma.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It would be interesting to see what names Mr Saakashvili would disclose, if he abides by the demand made by the Prosecutor General's Office to present written factual evidence about top-level corruption in Ukraine.</span></div>
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MASSIVE CORRUPTION AND ALL OUT WAR IN UKRAINE

A new war is breaking out in Ukraine, and it has been triggered off by no other than the vice president of the United States. During hi...

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KIM JONG UN SAYS NORTH KOREA HAS HYDROGEN BOMB

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<strong style="border-image-outset: initial; border-image-repeat: initial; border-image-slice: initial; border-image-source: initial; border-image-width: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">North Korea has now developed a hydrogen bomb and can use it along with nuclear warheads to defend its sovereignty, the country’s central news agency has reported.</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“We managed to become a great nuclear power capable of defending the independence and national dignity of our homeland by mighty nuclear and hydrogen strikes,” </em>leader Kim Jong Un was quoted as saying by the central news agency. He also said North Korea <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“has to continue with actively developing its military industry.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The statement came as Kim Jong Un was on a tour inspecting an upgraded arms plant in Pyongyang on Thursday, according to TASS quoting the N. Korean central news agency.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So far it has not been confirmed that the country has in fact designed and created a hydrogen bomb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Indeed, the South Korean intelligence community and experts say North Korea is unlikely to have enough scientific know-how to design a H-bomb.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“We don’t have any information that North Korea has developed a H-bomb,”</em> an intelligence official from South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told Yonhap news agency. <em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“We do not believe that North Korea, which has not succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear bombs, has the technology to produce a H-bomb.”</em></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><em style="border: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">“It’s hard to regard North Korea as possessing a H-bomb. I think it seems to be developing it,”</em> research fellow at Seoul-based Science and Technology Policy Institute Lee Chun-geun was quoted as saying by Yonhap.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On February 10, 2005 North Korea declared it had created nuclear weapons. The announcement was widely condemned by the international community. The country has since conducted underground nuclear tests three times, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The three nuclear tests are said to be critical for North Korea’s strategic arms program. The first known underground nuclear test was conducted in 2006 at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site in the northeast of the country. It was recorded by seismic stations in Russia, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia. According to rough estimates, a nuclear device of 5 to 10 kilotons of TNT was exploded.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The second and third tests were conducted in May 2009 and January 2013 respectively, prompting international condemnation and unilateral sanctions by the US for violating the non-proliferation regime. The estimated power of the devices tested was 10 to 20 kilotons of TNT each.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In 2013, the UN Security Council unanimously imposed new sanctions against North Korea for its latest nuclear test, which came hours after Pyongyang threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the US and South Korea in March of that year. The sanctions involve penalties on the country’s banking, travel and trade.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A hydrogen bomb is a nuclear weapon of mass destruction that uses energy from a primary nuclear blast to ignite a secondary nuclear fusion, and is by far the most powerful weapon on earth. The first country to build a H-bomb was the Soviet Union, whose AN602 hydrogen bomb (often referred to as the “Tzar Bomb”) was tested in 1961.</span></div>
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KIM JONG UN SAYS NORTH KOREA HAS HYDROGEN BOMB

North Korea has now developed a hydrogen bomb and can use it along with nuclear warheads to defend its sovereignty, the country’s centr...

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TURKISH JETS STRIKE KURDISH POSITIONS IN IRAQ

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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Ankara carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) forces in northern Iraq, the Turkish army said on Wednesday. </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">The action comes in the wake of rising tensions between Ankara and Baghdad over the deployment of Turkish troops in Iraq.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ten F-16 fighter jets launched an attack between 10pm and 10:50pm on Tuesday, targeting PKK positions in the Kandil, Hakurk, Zap and Avasin-Baysan regions in northern Iraq, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement. It added that the targets were “destroyed in an aerial campaign.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Tensions have been rising between Ankara and Baghdad after Turkey deployed hundreds of troops equipped with tanks and artillery to Iraq’s northern Nineveh Governorate last Thursday, saying they will train forces battling Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Baghdad said it had not asked for the help of Turkish forces, and demanded their withdrawal after it said Turkey had “illegally” sent the troops into Iraq. Describing the move as violation of sovereignty, the Iraqi government also asked NATO to intervene.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Read more</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">© Cem Ozdel Moscow expects ‘unpredictable’ Ankara will avoid further reckless actions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Meanwhile, Shiite paramilitary groups have threatened to use force against Turkey unless it pulls its forces out of Iraq. Likening the Turkish incursion to the occupation of Iraq by IS militants, Badr Brigade spokesman Karim al-Nuri said "all options" were available.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"We have the right to respond and we do not exclude any type of response until the Turks have learned their lesson," Nuri said on Wednesday. "Do they have a dream of restoring Ottoman greatness? This is a great delusion and they will pay dearly because of Turkish arrogance."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Also on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament unanimously approved a motion condemning the Turkish intervention, supporting the government in taking whatever measures it viewed as appropriate.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Russia raised the issue at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Tuesday, expressing hope that Ankara will avoid escalating the situation in the region with any further reckless actions. Following the meeting, Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said that Moscow expects Ankara to “settle the situation in Iraq in a way that would satisfy the Iraqi government."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Now the situation is within the focus of the attention of the Security Council, so we hope it will help resolve [it] to the satisfaction of the Iraqi government, whose sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence will be respected,” he said.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Ankara’s actions while speaking to Italian media on Wednesday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lavrov proposed a thorough examination of how Turkey performs goals set by the coalition in Syria. “We need to examine how a member of the US-led coalition – the Republic of Turkey – performs goals set by the coalition,” the minister said. "Why is it not bombing terrorists as such, but the Kurds instead?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">READ MORE:West’s reaction to Turkish invasion – an exercise in hypocrisy</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">On Wednesday, Ankara argued that Turkish soldiers were sent to northern Iraq after a threat from IS to Turkish military trainers in the area. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that the deployment was an act of solidarity, not aggression.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"The [military] trainers in the Bashiqa camp were threatened by Daesh (Islamic State) because it is 15-20 kilometers from Mosul and they have only light arms," he told media in Istanbul. "So when these threats increased... we sent some troops to protect the camp, not as an act of aggression but as an act of solidarity."</span></div>
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TURKISH JETS STRIKE KURDISH POSITIONS IN IRAQ

Ankara carried out airstrikes targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) forces in northern Iraq, the Turkish army said on Wednesday...

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SYRIAN ARMY LIBERATES MORE OF LATAKIA

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Syrian government forces have taken back key areas in the coastal province of Lattakia, reported Fars on Wednesday.</h2>
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<img alt="In this photo taken on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, Syrian soldiers fire repelling an attack in Achan, Hama province, Syria" height="375" src="http://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/102888/53/1028885329.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="In this photo taken on Sunday, Oct. 11, 2015, Syrian soldiers fire repelling an attack in Achan, Hama province, Syria" width="705" /></div>
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The Syrian army and allied popular defense groups regained control over key areas in Latakia on Wednesday, reported Iran's Fars news agency.<div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin-bottom: 18px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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"The Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard has gotten off to a fast start this week, capturing several key regions from the Al-Nusra Front, the Free Syrian Army’s 'Liwaa Suqour Al-Ghaab,' and Harakat Ahrar Al-Sham terrorist groups in northeast regions of Latakia province."</div>
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<img alt="Syrian government troops stand on a vehicle carrying heavy artillery  in the village of Akoula near the airport of Kweyris, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, after they re-took the area from the control of the Islamic State (IS) group (File)" height="375" src="http://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/images/103145/35/1031453508.jpg" style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: auto !important; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; outline-style: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" title="Syrian government troops stand on a vehicle carrying heavy artillery  in the village of Akoula near the airport of Kweyris, in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo, after they re-took the area from the control of the Islamic State (IS) group (File)" width="705" /></div>
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Syria's National Defense Forces, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party and Syrian Resistance also took part in the offensives against terrorists in the northern countryside areas of Latakia.</div>
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"In a matter of four days, the Syrian Armed Forces have seized over 100 square kilometers from terrorists in Northeastern Latakia; this is likely to increase in the coming days as the pro-government forces eye the rebel stronghold of Salma," reported Fars.</div>
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The offensive from Syrian government forces in Latakia was aided by airstrikes from the Russian Air Force, which also targeted terrorists in Aleppo, Idlib, Hama and Homs</div>
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SYRIAN ARMY LIBERATES MORE OF LATAKIA

Syrian government forces have taken back key areas in the coastal province of Lattakia, reported Fars on Wednesday. © AP PHOT...

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