Germany 4 - England 1... [ 1356 ]

Μέρκελ και Κάμερον παρακολούθησαν μαζί τον αγώνα

ΑΝΤ1

πρίν 1 ώρα & 45'

Η γερμανίδα καγκελάριος Άγκελα Μέρκελ και ο βρετανός πρωθυπουργός Ντέιβιντ Κάμερον έφυγαν από τη σύνοδο της ολομέλειας της Ομάδας των Είκοσι (G20) στο Τορόντο για να παρακολουθήσουν μαζί στην τηλεόραση τον αγώνα Γερμανίας-Αγγλίας στο Μουντιάλ.

Οι δύο ηγέτες εγκατέλειψαν τη σύνοδο κορυφής, που είναι αφιερωμένη στην παγκόσμια οικονομική κατάσταση, για να παρακολουθήσουν στην τηλεόραση το δεύτερο ημίχρονο του παιχνιδιού αυτού που κατέληξε με την ήττα της Αγγλίας με 4-1 από τη Γερμανία και τον αποκλεισμό της από τα προημιτελικά του Μουντιάλ.

Μετά τον αγώνα η Μέρκελ δήλωσε πολύ συγκινημένη από τη νίκη της Γερμανίας. «Είμαι ακόμη πολύ συγκινημένη», είπε. «Το μόνο που μπορώ να πω είναι συγχαρητήρια στην ομάδα. Συνεχίστε έτσι».

Έπειτα από μία ανάλυση του παιχνιδιού: «Πιστεύω ότι σήμερα τα πόδια και τα κεφάλια δούλευαν πολύ καλά», η Μέρκελ προσέθεσε ότι ο Κάμερον τη συνεχάρη για τη νίκη της Γερμανίας.
«Παρακολούθησα τον αγώνα με τον Κάμερον και φυσικά, μας συνεχάρη», είπε. «Υπήρχε μια πολύ καλή ατμόσφαιρα με αθλητικό πνεύμα μεταξύ των γερμανών και των βρετανών συμμετεχόντων στη G20 που παρακολούθησαν τον αγώνα», κατέληξε.

The Russian Fleet... [ 1355 ]

Russia admits it needs to modernize its Navy

Topic: Black Sea Fleet

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16:48 25/06/2010

© RIA Novosti. Sergey Petrosyan

Russia's reviewed plans for naval modernization include the supply of 15 new warships, including frigates, missile boats and submarines, to the Black Sea Fleet by 2020. The decision was recently made public by Navy Commander-in-Chief Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky.
Taking into account the high cost and complexity of the modern projects, the new ships will be modernized versions of already tried and tested projects.

The decision indicates that Russia's political and military leadership is dissatisfied with the speed and cost of building warships as part of new projects. Modernizing the Black Sea Fleet is also a priority because it is currently comprised of the country's oldest warships.
Analysts point out that this is the first decision on modernizing the fleet taken since Mikhail Gorbachev launched perestroika in the late 1980s.

The Black Sea Fleet has over 40 warships of different classes, many of which will be decommissioned by the early 2020s, and several dozen auxiliary vessels, which are also becoming obsolete. Moreover, it is said that only a half of these warships and vessels are in working order and combat ready.

So far it is not clear which ships and vessels will be built for the Black Sea Fleet, but some say the list includes three Project 636M submarines, three or four Project 11356 frigates and six Tornado class Project 21632 missile/artillery boats.

Russian shipyards can build large numbers of Project 11356 frigates and Project 636 submarines quickly, but the same is not true of the Tornado class missile boats. On the other hand, these missile boats will be modeled on the tried and tested Project 21630, which has a relatively simple design.
This scenario for modernizing the fleet could shorten the process and is set to cost about 100 billion rubles ($3.2 billion) by 2020. The ships and vessels to be commissioned by that time will form the basis for the fleet's subsequent strengthening as warships from new projects are added. If these plans are carried out, the Black Sea Fleet will comprise from 35 to 40 new warships with a maximum age of 10-12 years and a 30 year service life.

The Black Sea Fleet currently has two key tasks: to control the Black Sea and ensure the safety of Russia's southern borders, and deploy to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean as needed.
If it is to be able to fulfill the former task, the fleet needs combat-ready missile boats, corvettes, small submarines as well as aircraft and coastal forces, including marines.
The latter task can be assigned only to long-range sea and ocean-faring groups, such as frigates accompanied by support ships.
Since Russia has made its interest in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean clear, the Black Sea Fleet must have ocean-faring vessels. Its frigates would be able to carry out combat duties in the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean faster than the warships of the Baltic or Northern Fleets, which would take a lot longer just to reach either destination.

Ideally, modernizing the Black Sea Fleet, and subsequently Russia's other fleets, will allow the country to maintain naval task groups capable of discharging a wide range of duties, from peacekeeping and humanitarian operations to combat roles in the key operational theaters around the world.
But it takes more than just political will and funding to realize these plans. Russia also needs to sign a new agreement with Ukraine because the existing documents concerning the Black Sea Fleet's status stipulate that Russia has to coordinate the modernization of the fleet and its coastal infrastructure with the Ukrainian authorities.

Such coordination will not be a problem as things stand currently in terms of politics, but the situation might change over time, so it would be reasonable to use this period of good relations with Ukraine to review the status of the Black Sea Fleet and expand Russia's rights.
The renewal of the Black Sea Fleet will be financed under the state rearmament program for 2010-2020, which is still being drafted. Officers of the Russian Defense Ministry say that its bottom-line funding, 13 trillion rubles ($419 billion), will not cover the modernization of the Navy, particularly such large groups as the Northern and Pacific Fleets, which require larger groups of more powerful and expensive warships than either the Black Sea or the Baltic Fleets.
Moreover, rearmament cannot be limited to spending on warships; its cost will increase dramatically given the need for a new naval infrastructure, landing vessels, naval aircraft and auxiliary ships, as well as support vessels and repair facilities. But without them any naval modernization would be incomplete and hence ineffective.

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Ilya Kramnik)

Looking at Japan's society ,,,[ 1354 ]

Kaleidoscope of the Heart: Learning to accept yourself

        Rika Kayama

(Mainichi Japan) June 27, 2010

 More people than I can count visit my office saying the same thing: "I don't have self-confidence."
While I listen to what their lives are like now, or how they were leading up to now, I have always said basically the same thing, "Hmm, I think you have every right to have quite a lot of self-confidence."
Recently, however, a patient who visited asked me something. "Do we have to have self-confidence? Is it impossible to just get by as we are?"

Those words gave me a start. It was actually just as that patient said. I had always wanted to say to my patients, "You are fine as you are," but instead, I would always end up saying, "All right, let's have more self-confidence" and put an unreasonable demands on them.

Thinking about it, these patients being "fine as they are" would naturally mean "fine without self-confidence." There, in front of the patient who made me realize this, I spoke quietly to myself.
"That's right, we're fine without self-confidence."

Still, without confidence, getting by everyday is not easy. We feel inferior to others and become depressed from the smallest criticism. Some people even end up feeling they're worthless, practically losing their will to live.

That doesn't mean however, that anything will change from chanting, "Have confidence, have confidence!" and trying to drum up courage. When we get depressed, we can recognize that, and accept that it's a part of us, while remembering that in time we will return to our normal, happier selves. If we don't begin by accepting ourselves this way, it may be that change will never come.

Looking at Japan, it is full of people and companies looking to politicians to bring them back their lost self-confidence. It would be nice if society did indeed improve and lead to everyone's recovery. If we fall, however, under the illusion that politicians promising everything will make us better, as if through magic, we will only be disappointed.

Though we may lack confidence, first we should focus on clearing the challenges in front of us, one by one. We shouldn't pressure ourselves into feeling we need to be more confident. It is this way of living that I believe is needed now, both by individuals and our society. (By Rika Kayama, psychiatrist)

Click here for the original Japanese story

Tropical Storm Alex and the Gulf BP Oil spill ... [ 1353 ]

Tropical Storm Alex makes landfall in Belize

Gerardo Garcia

CHETUMAL

(Reuters) Sun Jun 27, 2010 2:39am EDT

Palm trees move in the wind as a man walks on the shore in Chetumal June 26, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Gerardo Garcia

CHETUMAL Mexico (Reuters) - Tropical Storm Alex weakened slightly after it made landfall in Belize, but the storm continued to produce gusting winds and heavy rain, the National Hurricane Center said on Sunday.

The storm was not an imminent threat to oil-siphoning efforts at BP Plc's blown-out Macondo well in the Gulf, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Current forecasts project Alex will emerge in the southern Gulf of Mexico on Sunday and make landfall again as a minimal hurricane later in the week between Brownsville, Texas, and Tuxpan de Rodriguez Cano, Mexico, sparing BP spill collection efforts.

Alex, the first named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season, had sustained winds of near 40 miles per hour (65 km per hour) and was located about 55 miles southwest of Chetumal, Mexico.
The storm was expected to ease its pace as it moved over Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula overnight, the Miami-based center said at 2 a.m. EDT/0600 GMT.

In Chetumal, the capital of the state of Quintana Roo across the border with Belize, streets emptied in anticipation of the heavy rains and strong winds expected on Sunday.
On Saturday, Quintana Roo state authorities evacuated 200 people from fishing villages across the Chinchorro reef, near Belize, and Xcalak, famous for its diving spots.

Some rain fell over Cancun, a major seaside resort that draws U.S. and European visitors, but there was no threat to some 35,000 tourists in the area, civil protection said.
Alex was moving west-northwest at 12 mph but its speed should decrease as it moves over land.
"Strengthening is forecast on Sunday night and Monday after Alex moves over the southern Gulf of Mexico," the center said.

A tropical storm warning was in effect for the coast of Belize and the east coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula from Chetumal to Cancun. The hurricane center said the warning would likely be lifted later on Sunday.
But tropical storm-force winds were still occurring off the east coast of Belize from near Belize City northeast to Ambergris Cay and Cayo Norte, Mexico, according to the center.
Alex was expected to bring 4 to 8 inches of rain to the Yucatan Peninsula, southern Mexico, northern Guatemala, Honduras and Belize through Monday morning. Isolated amounts of up to 15 inches were possible over mountainous areas.
"These rains could cause life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," according to the center.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30 and meteorologists predict this year will be a very active one. Hurricanes feed on warm water and the sea surface temperatures in the tropical Atlantic are higher than usual this year.

In the Pacific, hurricanes Darby and Celia weakened to tropical storms as they continued to dissipate.

(Additional reporting by Jose Cortazar in Cancun and Cyntia Barrera Diaz in Mexico City)

California : seizure of 20 tns drug... [ 1352 ]

Authorities seize $45 million of narcotics in California drug bust

By the CNN Wire Staff

June 26, 2010 4:05 a.m. EDT

An "overwhelming odor" led authorities to 20 tons of narcotics in the back of a tractor-trailer in California.

(CNN) -- Authorities in southern California said the strong smell of marijuana helped them discover $45 million worth of drugs in the back of a tractor-trailer they had pulled over for a traffic violation.
Deputies stopped the truck Wednesday morning, then opened the trailer after finding problems with the paperwork for the load, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office said Friday.

An "overwhelming odor" led investigators to about 20 tons of narcotics stashed in pallets in the back of the truck, including about 38,000 pounds of marijuana, 2,700 pounds of cocaine and 67 pounds of methamphetamine, the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Sheriff Rod Hoops said Friday night the seizure was one of the largest in the county's history.

The truck's driver, Fernando Luevano, 32, was arrested and charged with possession, transportation and sale of narcotics, authorities said.