China : trade deficit ?...[ 763 ]

Minister: China likely to see trade deficit

A bank worker arranges stacks of 100-yuan notes in Suining in southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday.

Beijing, China (CNN) -March 21, 2010 2:11 a.m. EDT-

China is likely to see a trade deficit in March, the country's commerce minister said in Beijing Sunday.

The dip in red will reverse a months-long trend for China's trade balance that had seen an uptick for most of the mid- to late-2000s.

But during the first two months of this year, the trade surplus fell by 50.4 percent, according to figures from the General Administration of Customs, the China Daily newspaper reported.

Internationally, China is under growing pressure -- especially from the United States -- to appreciate the value of the yuan.

Such calls are "irrational," said Commerce Minister Chen Deming Sunday. The yuan's role in trade balance is limited, he said.

Instead, Chen asked nations to loosen the restriction on the import of products.

Trade protectionism "might lead to double dip of the global economy," he said.

Chen's remarks were made at the China Development Forum 2010 and reported in state-run media.

His comments were in line with those made last week by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who said China would resist calls to appreciate the yuan and keep its currency "basically stable."

Wen also urged the United States and the European Union to lift restrictions on exports of certain technology to China.

Proton-M rocket carrying the EchoStar [ 762 ]

Russia orbits U.S. telecoms satellite

MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti)06:54,, 21/03/2010

A Russian carrier rocket put a U.S. telecommunications satellite into orbit on Sunday morning, the Russian Space Agency Roscosmos said.

A Proton-M rocket carrying the EchoStar 14 satellite was launched on Saturday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

"The Proton-M rocket successfully put the EchoStar 14 satellite into orbit at 06.36 Moscow time [02.36 GMT] on Sunday," a Roscosmos spokesman told RIA Novosti.

A contract to launch the EchoStar 14 has been concluded between the Russian-U.S. joint venture International Launch Services (ILS) and the U.S. telecommunications company EchoStar.

EchoStar 14 has been built by Space Systems/Loral and is based on the company's LS-1300 platform, which features "qualified, flight proven subsystems and a long record of reliable operation."

The satellite will join DISH Network's fleet of satellites that serve more than 14 million satellite TV customers in the United States.

EchoStar was formerly the parent company of DISH Network, until the unit was spun off in December 2007.

Russia has the right to protect its citizens[761]

Russia can now ''legally'' invade other countries

evolutsia.net/?tag=chechnya
Inge Snip

Kiev, Ukraine-

Apparently, Russia now officially has the legal right to protect its citizens in another country’s territory (well, internally, since according to international law it is quite forbidden). I thought they already claimed they had that right after the August war of 2008?

Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, signed into law amendments expending legal ground for the use of the Russian armed forces abroad, the Kremlin said on November 9.

According to the Kremlin, the law on defense envisages use of the Russian armed forces anywhere in the world to protect Russian citizens from armed attack; also in case of armed attack on Russian military units located outside Russia; when a foreign country is attacked and this country requests for Russia’s help and also for anti-piracy measures.

Medvedev said on November 5 that Russia would use its armed forces abroad only in exceptional circumstances.

“Such decisions are absolutely extraordinary and will be made only in case of extreme emergency,” he was quoted by the Russian media sources. “Our citizens should be protected in any part of the globe and feel that the state protects them.”

Russia : Orthodox Priest's Murder Solved[ 760 ]

Russian Investigators Say Orthodox Priest's Murder Solved

Orthodox priest and missionary Daniil Sysoev was murdered in November 2009.

March 16, 2010

MOSCOW -- Russian investigators say they have solved the murder last year of an Orthodox priest, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.

Daniil Sysoyev died in November 2009 after he was shot in his own church, the Church of St. Thomas in Moscow.

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office said today that a forensic examination had shown that a pistol found on a man killed in a police shootout in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan, was the weapon used to kill Sysoyev.

The dead man's passport was in the name of Beksultan Karybekov.

Sysoyev had reported receiving death threats for converting Muslims and for his outspoken criticism of Islam.

Heads of the Greek gods in Crete. ...[ 759 ]

Heads of Greek mythological Gods ?

The mountain that resembles to a head , said to be the head of Greek God Zeus

This is Mount Yiouktas in Heraklion, Crete.
The Greek head of the god, Zeus, is supposed to have been born on Crete and as legend has it, also died there, leaving his profile imprinted on the mountain as a mythical tomb.


This is another mountain showing a face in profile, also on Crete.
It looks similar to the first picture, but look at that nose and the elegant forehead!
Crete seems laden with legends, but we knew that already, from the Greek mythology.