Puppet Masters
DPR sappers
Adviser to the head of the SBU Yury Tandit confirmed the information about the sabotage, stating that during the detention of the DPR military personnel, they were asked to surrender their weapons, and those who did not comply were killed on the spot.
Representative of administration of the Ukrainian President on issues of the so-called ATO Alexander Motuzyanik also commented on this incident. He reported that they were taken prisoner by soldiers of the 9th separate motorized rifle assault corps (Novoazovsk). He said the names of all the detainees captured, the youngest of them is only 21 years old, and the oldest is 49. Motuzyanik said that the militias were captured in the village of Vodyane, near Shirokino.
For its part, there is information about the capture near the village of Shirokino of eight DPR soldiers, and two are confirmed killed in the defence of the DPR. The Deputy Commander of the operational command of the DPR Eduard Basurin reported that it happened when the engineering unit of a separate unit of the DPR was conducting routine mine clearance in coordination with the OSCE mission in the area of the front of the Shirokino village. Specifically, in order to capture the bomb squad, the reconnaissance group of the 54th brigade of the UAF and a division of the volunteer unit of the Ukrainian army moved forward to the specified area.
© AP Photo/ John Moore
Economic data suggests that Saudi Arabia may finally be feeling the effects of the oil war they waged against the world sending prices barreling into crisis levels in February below $30 per barrel and well below the country's own breakeven price of roughly $65 per barrel.
In the first quarter of 2016, real GDP growth decelerated to 1.5% year on year well below last year's first quarter figure of 3.3% growth signaling that the government's austerity measures imposed to withstand the shock they instilled in oil prices may soon trigger a recession in the Kingdom.
With oil prices recovering, Saudi Arabia's struggles are a promising sign for energy-rich countries around the world that may soon be able to look forward to a surge in oil prices if Riyadh starts to pull supply offline.
"We can't rule out attacks like those in Istanbul also happening in our country," Maassen said. The German Special Services know about at least 17 Islamic State militants who entered the European Union pretending to be refugees, Maassen added. "There is strong evidence that... 17 people have arrived under Islamic State instructions," Maassen said.
© Nikolay Korchekov / Reuters
A flag with the logo of Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company, flutters over the Novokuibyshevsk refinery near the city of Samara, Russia.
A flag with the logo of Rosneft, Russia's largest oil company, flutters over the Novokuibyshevsk refinery near the city of Samara, Russia.
The Russian Energy Ministry says output last month grew by 1.14 percent from a year earlier to 10,843 million barrels a day, with increases every month since July 2014. The ministry is predicting a 4.5-4.9 percent growth this year.
"If production remains steady, then it will likely be a record year for exports," said Christopher Haines, head of oil and gas at BMI Research, as cited by Bloomberg. "This should mean competition is strong, especially with Iran sending more oil into southern Europe."
In April, Russian crude exports jumped nine percent to their highest level in sixteen months. Overall, the country exported 20.3 million tons of crude that month.
Comment: So much for all the pundits who thought sanctions and low oil prices would would bring Russia to its knees.
© AP Photo/ Dmitry Lovetsky
Condemning the recent terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, the ministry expressed Moscow's readiness to "strengthen the coordination of anti-terrorism efforts with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region and beyond."
Smirking Killary
Yet, Director Comey recommended against prosecution of the law violations he clearly found on the ground that there was no intent to harm the United States.
© SPA
Clouds of smoke from the bomb blast in Medina, Saudi Arabia /
Clouds of smoke from the bomb blast in Medina, Saudi Arabia /
The suicide attacks are specially alarming as they underline various basic and important points:
Attacking a Shiite mosque, a US entity, and a holy city are meant to embarrass the House of Saud. The attack on a Shiite mosque was meant to fuel sectarian violence, while the one in Medina specifically undercuts the Saudi family's claim to be the "custodians" or "protectors" of the two holy places - Mecca and Medina. The suicide attack couldn't be more counterproductive because it took place at a revered Muslim location during Ramadan, meaning the suicide bombers' religion is terrorism. That says why Iran, despite its political differences with Riyadh, was among the first to strongly condemn and respond to the attacks with outrage and horror.
Many aren't surprised that Saudi Arabia is now under attack, where even the holy sites are at the top of the target list for suicide bombers. The regime has a lot of explaining to do with regard to its "well-established" and "well-documented" links to ISIL and Al-Qaeda.
© EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA
"We have agreed with our colleagues in the Italian Senate to switch over from the regime of visit exchanges to the regime of join commissions meetings," Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the international committee of Russia's Federation Council upper parliament house, said after his visit to Rome. "A joint commissions meeting implies a one-or two-day session with a clearly defined and structured agenda of four to five blocks, with a rapporteur in each of them. It is important to consider the topics separately."
"The first such joint session will be held in Russia in early October. It will take place in Moscow. Apart from that, our Italian colleagues are supposed to visit one of Russian regions," Kosachev added.
Comment: Italy has recently denounced extending the anti-Russian sanctions. But there is a background story of Italian banks in real trouble:
Britain's vote to leave the EU has produced dire predictions for the U.K. economy. The damage to the rest of Europe could be more immediate and potentially more serious. Nowhere is the risk concentrated more heavily than in the Italian banking sector. In Italy, 17% of banks' loans are sour. That is nearly 10 times the level in the U.S., where, even at the worst of the 2008-09 financial crisis, it was only 5%. Among publicly traded banks in the eurozone, Italian lenders account for nearly half of total bad loans.
...
"Brexit could lead to a full-blown banking crisis in Italy," said Lorenzo Codogno, former director general at the Italian Treasury. "The risk of a eurozone meltdown is clearly there if Brexit concerns are not immediately addressed."
On Monday, WikiLeaks tweeted a link to a search aggregate of 1,258 emails that Clinton wrote or received discussing US engagement in Iraq while she headed the State Department. The Iraq War email bundle is part of a trove of Clinton's correspondence that was released by the State Department in February, under the Freedom of Information Act.
In March, WikiLeaks launched a searchable archive consisting of 30,322 emails from Hillary Clinton's private email server that she used while serving as Secretary of State. The 50,547 pages of documents cover Clinton's correspondence from 30 June 2010 to 12 August 2014. Out of that number, 7,570 of the documents were sent by Hillary Clinton.
The use of private email for state-run business has become a thorn in the side of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign. With Democratic convention just weeks away, the public eye is following a close watch of a potential grand jury indictment. This past weekend, the FBI spent more than three hours questioning Clinton about the email scandal, but as elections loom, the Bureau has yet to issue a report on its findings.
Comment: More propaganda setting people against refugees by associating them with terrorists.