Greek 8-bln euro loan, approved...[ 2545 ]

Eurozone ministers approve 8-bln euro Greek loan

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos (L) speaks with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble (2nd L) as President of the Eurogroup Council Jean-Claude Juncker (2nd R) welcomes Italian Finance Minister Mario Monti (R) and EU commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn (CBack) on November 29, 2011//AFP/ John Thys //04:02 30/11/2011

BRUSSELS, November 30 (RIA Novosti)

Finance ministers from 17 eurozone countries (Eurogroup) agreed at a meeting late on Tuesday to provide Greece with an 8 billion euro ($10.7 billion) bailout loan installment to keep the Greek economy afloat.

The Greek authorities earlier said they needed to receive cash before Christmas in order to avoid a looming default.
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“The funds will be available by mid-December,” Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the Eurogroup, told reporters after the meeting.
The current installment is part of a 110-bln euro ($150 bln) bailout loan from Eurozone nations and the International Monetary Fund, approved in May 2010.
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At the end of October, eurozone leaders clinched a deal with private banks and insurers to write off 50 percent of Greece's debt, which currently stands at over 360 billion euros or 160 percent of the country's GDP, in exchange for a new austerity program, which Greece must implement in the next few years to get financial aid and prevent a default.

Relic, brought to Russia from Mount Athos in Greece...[ 2544 ]

About 800,000 worshipped Christian relic in week

Believers from central Russian regions, as well as from other former Soviet states, have poured into the capital to see the belt.
RIA Novosti. Vladimir Astapkovich //01:25 // 28/11/2011

MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti)

More than 800,000 people visited Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior last week to see the a belt believed to have belonged to the Virgin Mary.
The relic, brought to Russia from Mount Athos in Greece for the first time in history, has been on display in the Cathedral since November 19. The access to the belt will be allowed until 2:00 a.m. Monday [22:00 GMT].
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"The total number of pilgrims since November 19 surpassed 800,000 people on Sunday evening. At least 40% of them are residents of other Russian regions, as well as Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. During this period, over 850 busses with pilgrims arrived to Moscow," a source in the organizing committee said.
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Believers from central Russian regions, as well as from other former Soviet states, have poured into the capital to see the belt. The line stretched several km and on some days worshippers had to queue for 24 hours on average.
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Over 1,500 policemen, two patrol boats and 25 ambulance cars were on duty to help the believers. The worshippers were provided with free meals and tea as they waited. Some 50 people have been taken to hospital since November 19.
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Believers say the Virgin Mary wove the belt out of camel wool and wore it until the end of her Earthly days, when she passed the belt on to the Apostle Thomas.
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The relic belongs to the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. The belt was brought to Russia on October 20 and has already been shown in many Russian cities, including St Petersburg.

Mars Science Laboratory Inspection...[ 2543 ]

Image of the Mars Science Laboratory Inspection

In the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians inspect under NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission aeroshell, where the wheels of the rover Curiosity can be seen.
MSL's components include a car-sized rover, Curiosity, which has 10 science instruments designed to search for evidence on whether Mars has had environments favorable to microbial life, including chemical ingredients for life.
The unique rover will use a laser to look inside rocks and release its gases so that the rover's spectrometer can analyze and send the data back to Earth. Launch of MSL aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is scheduled for Nov. 26 from Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

Image credit: NASA and Glenn Benson

.Arabs: Syria may face sanctions...[ 2542 ]

Arabs give Syria one day to agree monitors or face sanctions

By Dina Zayed and Ayman Samir

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CAIRO | Thu Nov 24, 2011 2:40pm EST

(Reuters) - The Arab League gave Syria one day to sign a protocol allowing monitors into the country or face sanctions over its crackdown on protests including halting flights and suspending transactions with the central bank.
Arab foreign ministers who met in Cairo on Thursday said unless Syria agreed to let the monitors in to assess progress of an Arab League plan to end eight months of bloodshed, officials would consider imposing sanctions on Saturday.
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Under a November 2 Arab League initiative, Syria agreed to withdraw troops from urban centers, release political prisoners, start a dialogue with the opposition and allow monitors and international media into the country.
Since then hundreds of people, civilians, security forces and army deserters, have been killed as the unrest which the United Nations says has killed 3,500 people since March continued unabated.
The violence prompted former ally Turkey to bluntly tell President Bashar al-Assad to step down and led France to propose "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to help transport medicines or other supplies to civilians in need.
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French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he would discuss the idea with the Arab League but a source at the 22-member body said the proposal was not brought up at the Cairo meeting.
"In the case that Syria does not sign the protocol ... or that it later violates the commitments that it entails, and does not stop the killing or does not release the detainees ... (Arab League officials) will meet on Saturday to consider sanctions on Syria," the Arab ministers said in a statement.
They said possible sanctions, which were not intended to affect ordinary Syrians, included suspending flights to Syria, stopping dealings with the central bank, freezing Syrian government bank accounts and halting financial dealings with Syria.
They could also decided to stop commercial trade with the Syrian government "with the exception of strategic commodities so as not to impact the Syrian people," the statement said.
Syria's economy is already reeling from the eight months of unrest, aggravated by U.S. and European sanctions on oil exports and several state businesses.
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"HUMANITARIAN CORRIDORS"
After months in which the international community has seemed determined to avoid direct entanglement in a core Middle East country, the diplomatic consensus seems to be changing.
The Arab League suspended Syria's membership two weeks ago, while this week the prime minister of regional heavyweight Turkey - a NATO member with the military wherewithal to mount a cross-border operation - told Assad to quit and said he should look at what happened to fallen dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi.
France became the first major power to seek international intervention in Syria when it called for "humanitarian corridors" in Syria to alleviate civilian suffering.
A Western diplomatic source said the French plan, with or without approval from Damascus, could link Syrian civilian centers to frontiers such as Turkey and Lebanon, to the Mediterranean coast or to an airport.
Its aim would enable the transport of humanitarian supplies or medicines to a population that is suffering, the source said.
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Juppe insisted the plan fell short of a military intervention, but acknowledged that humanitarian convoys would need armed protection.
"There are two possible ways: That the international community, Arab League and the United Nations can get the regime to allow these humanitarian corridors," he told French radio on Thursday. "But if that isn't the case we'd have to look at other solutions ... with international observers."
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Asked if humanitarian convoys would need military protection, he said: "Of course... by international observers, but there is no question of military intervention in Syria."
He added that he had spoken to partners at the United Nations and U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and would speak later on Thursday to the Arab League. On Wednesday Juppe also said the exiled opposition Syrian National Council was a legitimate group that France sought to work with.
In a sign of Paris' growing frustration at events on the ground, Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said France was particularly concerned with what was happening in the city of Homs, which has become a center of resistance against Assad.
"Information from several sources tells us that the situation in Homs is particularly worrying. It would appear to be under siege today, deprived of basic materials and experiencing a brutal repression," he said.
"A way must be found so that this city is supplied with humanitarian aid," he added.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based group, said at least 23 people were killed in Syria on Thursday, including six civilians in the city of Homs.
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Eleven military and security personnel were killed by army deserters in the city of Houla, the Observatory said. Alongside the mainly peaceful protests, armed insurgents have increasingly attacked military targets in recent weeks.
State media have reported the funerals of 34 soldiers and police in the last four days. Since the outbreak of the uprising officials have blamed armed groups for the violence and say 1,100 members of the security forces have been killed.
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"MOST DANGEROUS PHASE"
Activists and a resident said Syrian troops in tanks fired on hideouts of army deserters near the central town of Rastan on Thursday, two months after the authorities said they had regained control of the region.
"The Syrian crisis may or may not have entered its final phase, but it undoubtedly has entered its most dangerous one to date," the International Crisis Group said on Thursday.
"Many in Syria and abroad are now banking on the regime's imminent collapse and wagering that all then will be for the better. That is a luxury and optimism they cannot afford."
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Washington repeated an appeal on Wednesday for U.S. citizens to leave Syria: "The U.S. Embassy continues to urge U.S. citizens in Syria to depart immediately while commercial transportation is available," the embassy said on its website.
The U.S. navy said the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush arrived this week in the Mediterranean, en route to the United States.
"It is probably routine movement," said a Western diplomat in the region. "But it is going to put psychological pressure on the regime, and the Americans don't mind that."
NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said allies were watching the situation in Syria with great concern, but reiterated that the alliance had no intention to intervene in Syria as it had done in Libya.
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"There's been no request and there is no specific discussion about these proposals," she said in response to Juppe's proposal.
She said the situation in Syria could not be compared with Libya, where NATO had a clear United Nations mandate for intervention and support from the Arab League.
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Assad, 46, seems prepared to fight it out, playing on fears of a sectarian war if Syria's complex ethno-sectarian mosaic shatters and relying on support of senior officials and the military to suppress the protests, inspired by Arab uprisings which toppled the leaders of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
However many experts say Assad, who can depend mainly on the loyalty of two elite Alawite units, cannot maintain current military operations without cracks emerging in the armed forces.
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(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, Marwa Awad and Ayman Samir in Cairo, John Irish in Paris, David Brunnstrom, Robin Emmot and Justyna Pawlak in Brussels; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Graff and Louise Ireland)

SS-26 Rockets against US Missile Shield..[ 2541 ]

Russia Threatens Deployment of SS-26 Rockets against US Missile Shield

  November 21, 2011, Monday // novinite.com

Russia is threatening to deploy SS-26 missiles to balance the US / NATO missile shield. Photo from military-today.com 

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Russia is likely to deploy short-range Iskander missiles in Europe if it does not reach an agreement with NATO about the US / NATO missile defense system in Europe, according to a senior Russia military official.
NATO has moved to establish a missile shield in Europe, which was formerly a US project of the Bush Administration, by stationing interceptor missiles at the Deveselu Air Base in Romania, near Bulgaria's border, and a radar in Turkey.
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In spite of the various statements on both sides that Russia could eventually participate in the European missile defense system of NATO, the Russians remain out and opposed to the missile shield for the time being.
As a countermeasure, Russia could go ahead with wider deployment of Iskander missiles (NATO reporting name SS-26 Stone), which have a range of 400 km, according to a Russian military official cited Monday by Interfax.
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"Until now Russia intended to deploy these rockets only in the Kaliningrad District. We are now considering the opportunities to place them in Belarus and the Krasnodar District (Southern Russia) as well. This will allow Russia to gain parity in case elements from the American missile defense are situated near our borders," the officials said, as quoted by Interfax.
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Russia's response to the deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Europe will be "reasonable and adequate," but will not end the possibility of further negotiations, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday during a meeting with officers of the Southern Military District.
"We will have to make some decisions, and I will announce them soon. There is no doubt that our actions are reasonable, adequate and not closing the road in order to continue the discussion of the situation surrounding the European missile defense system with our partners in the North Atlantic [Treaty Organization]," Medvedev said, as cited by RIA Novosti.
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He noted that the missile defense system and the way it is offered by the American side "can significantly change the system of parity," which may create certain problems for Russia.
In October, Moscow's NATO envoy Dmitry Rogozin said Russian talks with the United States on missile defense had hit a dead end.
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The Kremlin says the US expansion of an anti-missile system in Europe is a potential threat to Russia's nuclear arsenal, while Washington has been trying to convince Moscow that the system poses no threat to Russia and is needed to protect against missiles that could be fired from countries with smaller arsenals such as Iran.
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The missile shield dispute between Russia and the United States has undermined efforts to build on improvements in relations between the former Cold War foes and is intensified by Russia's uncertainty of U.S. policy after the November 2012 presidential elections.