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Monday, 9 March 2015

Never too late: UK finally repays its 100 year old First World War debts


© Reuters



Britain's outstanding First World War debt has been repaid after the chancellor redeemed £1.9 billion from an outstanding bond - almost 100 years after the war ended.

The Treasury redeemed the outstanding £1.9 billion ($2.9bn) of debt from the 3.5 percent War Loan on Monday.


The loan was the most widely held of any UK government bond. More than 120,000 people were registered, with 97,000 of these investors holding less than £1,000 and almost 38,000 holding less than £100, according to the Treasury.


The 3.5 percent War Loan was issued in 1932 by then-chancellor Neville Chamberlain.



© ww1propaganda.com



National War Bonds were first issued in 1917 as part of a government effort to raise money for the continuing cost of the war.

The First World War bond, known as a 4-percent "Consolidated loan," was issued by Winston Churchill in 1927 as a way to refinance National War Bonds in the aftermath of the war.


The move comes as the Treasury attempts to remove all six of its remaining undated gilts in its portfolio, including some debt originally issued in the era of the South Sea Bubble in the 18th century.


In October last year, Chancellor George Osborne announced the UK would start paying off the remaining debt of around £2 billion, having until then paid £1.26 billion in total interest on the bonds.


In December, Osborne said:



"We can, at last, pay off the debts Britain incurred to fight the First World War.


"It is a sign of our fiscal credibility and it's a good deal for this generation of taxpayers. It's also another fitting way to remember that extraordinary sacrifice of the past."



Reality check: Kerry claims US never backed 'color' revolutions


© AP Photo/ J. Scott Applewhite



US Secretary of State John Kerry tries to re-write the history of American foreign policy, claiming that the United States has never been involved in multiple revolutions worldwide, an US political analyst reveals.

When US Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington has never been involved in "color" revolutions worldwide, he is either lying deliberately or having a blind spot about the US foreign policy, noted an American investigative journalist.


Wayne Madsen, an American investigative journalist and expert in international affairs exposed an astonishingly long list of color revolutions, sponsored and organized by the United States beginning with the October 5th uprising in Serbia that resulted in the ousting of democratically-elected president Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.


The author emphasized that "the United States supported the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, the Olive Tree Revolution in Palestine, the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, the Purple Revolution in Iraq, Blue Revolution in Kuwait, Saffron Revolution in Burma and the Crimson Revolution in Tibet (put down by the Chinese security forces), and the abortive Green Revolution in Iran," to name but a few.


John Kerry, who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the period from 2009 to 2013 and was a member of the committee from 2000, could not have been unaware about "color" ("themed") uprisings orchestrated by the United States, the expert stressed. Furthermore, Kerry served as a chairman in a series of hearings from 1987 to 1989 on the CIA covert operations aimed at expelling of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua, the investigative journalist pointed out nailing the US Secretary of State for sheer hypocrisy.


Since the overthrow of Milosevic in 2000 Washington has carried out a series of "color" revolutions in rapid successions in different parts of the world. The "Arab Spring" that flared up in early 2010s can serve as a vivid example of "themed" uprisings. Remarkably, all the "street protest-turned-revolution" scenarios had a number of strikingly similar features.


The rebellions followed the infamous Gene Sharp CIA manual and were backed by prominent US government-funded NGOs, such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Additionally, according to Madsen, the traces of notorious American magnate George Soros and his organizations also surfaced in a number of "smaller attempted revolutions" from Honduras to Maldives, as well as in Tibet and Burma. He noted that in the last seven years China's defenses has also been repeatedly tested by the American "social engineers," from the 2008 uprising in Tibet to the most recent turmoil in Hong Kong.


Can John Kerry deny the fact that the "Euromaidan" revolution of 2013-2014 was sponsored and orchestrated by the United States? Alas, US President Obama has already publicly admitted the fact that Washington took part in the coup in Ukraine and brokered a deal to power transition from the democratically elected president Yanukovych to Kiev's junta.


"Kerry's entire State Department top echelon has supported color revolutions under the Obama administration's R2P (Responsibility to Protect) rubric since 2009," noted Wayne Madsen, adding that currently Washington is sponsoring Russian opposition groups and using economic and political sanctions over Ukraine as a tool to trigger a civil society discontent in Russia.


Exposing the hypocrisy of the US Secretary of State, the expert remarked with a bitter irony that John Kerry "should be sent Crayola's 64 crayon pack as a reminder that there has been at least that number of color revolutions" planned and carried out by Washington's policy-makers across the world since 2000.


Loud "strange" noises and bangs heard in Crawley, UK




People across Crawley have reported hearing "strange" noises and bangs last night (Saturday, March 7)



People across Crawley have reported hearing constant loud noises all over the town last night

Residents living in almost every neighbourhood have been asking what was the cause of the bangs which could be heard on Saturday night (March 7).


Aneliese Whittaker tweeted the to say there were "strange loud sounds heard all across Crawley, Horley and Gatwick".


People have reported on social media that the noises sounded like a bomb being detonated, constant thunder and fireworks, or even like the sonic boom heard in parts of Kent and Sussex last October.


There have been reports of a fireworks display taking place at the Ghyll Manor Hotel and Restaurant, which is based off the High Street in Rusper.


It has been suggested low cloud cover meant the fireworks produced an unusual noise across the town.


This weekend has also marked the celebration of the Holi festival of colours. The Hindu festival represents victory of good over evil, and the arrival of spring.


The date of the festival changes each year because it takes place on the day after the last full moon. This year celebrations started on Friday (March 6) and continued on Saturday (March 7).


Yatsenyuk: 'Why Are You Asking Me about the Economy? I'm Just the PM'


© AFP 2015/ SERGEI SUPINSKY



originally appeared at Nakanune.ru. It was translated by Kristina Rus at Fort Russ

Arseny Yatsenyuk outraged the Ukrainians with his answer to a question about how to survive on one salary. The Prime Minister, speaking about the disastrous economic situation in the country, decided to evade from responsibility for the rapid devaluation of the hryvnia.


Yatsenyuk answering to a question of a well-known Ukrainian journalist on how can Ukrainians survive on one salary, when the hryvnia fell to an unprecedented rate of more than 30 UAH per dollar, Yatsenyuk made a surprised face, and then shifted all the responsibility from himself, as a head of the government to the head of the National Bank, Valeria Gontareva.


"Why do you ask me?" - quoted the Prime Minister Obozrevatel. Ua. "Read the constitution. It says who carries all responsibility for the national currency. It is a National Bank."


Naturally such indifferent and at the same time very cynical response from the head of the government, shocked and angered many Ukrainians. The citizens of the state began to discuss, since when the cabinet of ministers refuses to take responsibility for the economic crisis in the country. "Now we realized that with this government Ukraine is done," - Ukrainians posted in social networks en masse.


Translator's comment:


Just when you think you heard it all from Victoria Nuland's appointee Yatsenyuk, he comes up with a new entertaining statement. So not only Russia invaded Ukraine and Germany in the 1940's, but a prime minister does not carry responsibility for the economy.


Reminds me about another Russian politician and a dear friend of US State Department - Boris Nemtsov, who when asked to explain the default of 1998, while he was Vice Prime Minister of Russia, answered (on video), that it was not his responsibility, and instead pointed to the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance.


Waterspout filmed off Broome coast, Australia

Richard Young, an adventure tour operator, filmed the event off Gauntheaume Point, about 6 kilometres from the town centre near Cable Beach.


He said he was woken by an early morning storm on Sunday.


"I heard some thunder from my bedroom and I thought I'd go down for a bit of a look," he said.


"I've got a fascination with weather - I'm always out and about looking for unusual weather features."


Mr Young captured the vision on his SLR camera.


He said he had long been hoping to see a waterspout.


"I've been looking for one for years, and to actually see one was fantastic," he said.


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Chechen leader says knew Nemtsov murder suspect as 'true patriot of Russia'

Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov

© TASS/Elena Afonina

Chechnya’s head Ramzan Kadyrov.



Chechnya's head Ramzan Kadyrov has ordered a probe into the past of a former Interior Troops officer, who alongside several other suspects has been charged with the murder of Russian politician Boris Nemtsov. Also, Kadyrov shared his personal impressions of the arrested ex-officer on his page in the social network Instagram.

The man in question, Zaur Dadayev, on Sunday pleaded guilty to complicity in Nemtsov's murder. Moscow's Basmanny Court ordered he, among five suspects in the case, be remanded in custody till April 28.


"I have known Zaur as a true patriot of Russia," Kadyrov wrote down. According to his post, before leaving the military service Dadayev had the rank of a lieutenant and held the position of a battalion's deputy commander in a regiment of the 46th separate operative brigade of Russia's Interior Ministry troops.


"Zaur was one of the bravest men in the regiment," Kadyrov said. "He displayed particular courage in an operation against a large group of terrorists near Benoi. He was awarded the Order of Courage, and medals For Bravery and For Services to the Chechen Republic. I am certain that he was sincerely dedicated to Russia and prepared to give his life for the Motherland. The real reasons and motives behind Dadayev's dismissal from the Russian Interior Ministry troops are unclear to me."


"I have instructed Chechnya's Security Council Secretary Vakhit Usmayev to conduct a thorough investigation of Zaur Dadayev's resignation and to scrutinize his behavior and morale on the eve of leaving the service," Kadyrov said. "In any case, if Dadayev's guilt is established in court, it will have to be admitted that by taking a human life he committed a grave crime. But I must say once again that he would have never taken a single step against Russia, for the sake of which he had risked his own life for many years. Beslan Shavanov, the man killed during an attempt to detain him, was a brave soldier, too. We hope that a thorough investigation will follow to show if Dadayev is really guilty, and if yes, what was the real reason behind his actions.".


50 settlements cut off in Bulgaria, roads blocked by huge snowdrifts, electricity supply disrupted


© Reuters

The situation in Smolyan



More than 50 settlements in the Plovdiv region are without electricity and water. Snowfall continues.

The situation remains tense and critical in the country, especially for the regions of Smolyan, Kardzhali, Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv. say authorities.


The roads are impassable due to fallen trees, making it difficult for cleaning machines and the normal functioning of the roads.


Laki is in distress for a second day, with thousands of families in the mining town without electricity, says Nova TV.


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Snow on cars in Bulgaria



Snow reached a meter deep and huge drifts make the road to the mountain town impassable. Snowdrifts, drifts and dozens of fallen trees on the only road that leads to Luki. Ambulance and bus can not pass. Dozens of cars stranded.

Snow in the city one meter deep (more than 3 feet). In the mining town and the ten villages around it are over 3500 people who face a second day without electricity. Wet snow has destroyed power lines and broken the 110-kV wire that feeds the city with electricity.


Trucks bringing food and provisions to the city cannot get through. People in Luki pray for the snow to stop, because there is no way to get to their jobs in Asenograd and Plovdiv.


Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link