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“Altogether the Syrian orders make up a significant amount in revenues for the Russian arms industry,” Wezeman said.
After losing the Iranian and Libyan markets, he said, they would not be keen to lose this market too, and this is likely to be one reason, among others, for Russia to resist arms-related sanctions on Syria.
Goldring told IPS that Syria is a key Russian political and military ally in the Middle East. But Russia also has strong economic motivations to maintain this relationship.
According to a recently released Congressional Research Service report, Syrian arms sales accounted for nearly a quarter of Russia’s global arms sales agreements reached between 2007 and 2010.
“While China has also had an active arms transfer relationship with Syria, Russia has dominated the Syrian market, accounting for nearly 90 percent of all arms sales agreements with Syria between 2007 and 2010,” Goldring said.
She didn’t refer to China and Russia by name, although they were the only countries that voted against the resolution.
“Russia and China seem to have united against a common adversary. Together, they’re acting as a counterweight to U.S. diplomatic and military activity in the Middle East,” said Goldring.
“I mean, the fact of the matter is, despite the vote that we saw today in the Council, the majority of members supported the resolution,” she said.
Graphic representation of the Air Force’s hopes for its aircraft laser program.
The Air Force plans to be able to incinerate targets such as incoming missiles with laser weapons mounted on C-17s by 2023 as part of a directed energy developmental effort, service official said.
The High Energy Laser, or HEL, is being tested by the Air Force Directed Energy Directorate, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM Ground tests are slated for later this year as part of a plan to precede air-launched laser weapons firing evaluations, Mica Endsley, Air Force Chief Scientist, told Military.com in an interview.
The first ever ground test of the weapon is slated to take place at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., said Othana Zuch, an Air Force spokeswoman.
Service officials are working on a solid-state laser guidance mechanism and focus so the weapon can stay on track on a particular target.
"We're working on maturing a lot of those kinds of technologies," Endsley said. "We will be transitioning into airborne platforms to get them ready to go into a program of record by 2023."
Endsley added that the Air Force plans to begin firing laser weapons from larger platforms such as C-17s until the technological miniaturization efforts can configure the weapon to fire from fighter jets such as an F-15, F-16 or F-35.
The Air Force is interested in firing the weapon from sub-sonic, transonic, and supersonic platforms, Zuch added.
Aircraft-launched laser weapons could eventually be engineered for a wide range of potential uses including air-to-air combat, close-air-support, counter-UAS, counter-boat, ground attack and even missile defense, Air Force official said.
"The application will be things like being able to defeat an incoming missile for example, so that as opposed to a kinetic kill that would blow up that weapon the laser will basically melt through the metal and electronics using these non-kinetic techniques," Endsley added.
The first airborne tests are expected to take place by 2021, Zuch added.
US F-22 and F-35 flying in formation.
The developmental efforts are focused in increasing the power, precision and guidance of existing laser weapon applications, Endsley added.
"We want to put those capabilities in to a system that will move from something like 10 kilowatts up to 100 kilowatts — up to greater power. We will work on things like guidance, control and precision," she said.
Energy to fire aircraft lasers is engineered to come from on-board jet fuel to potentially enable thousands of shots, Endsley added.
"The real advantage is it would have a much more extended magazine. Today's have five, six, seven missiles. With a directed energy weapon you could have thousands of shots with a gallon of gasoline - a gallon of jet fuel," she said.
Of course, this isn't the first time the Air Force has tried to mount a laser to an aircraft. The service tried to design an aircraft with a laser in the nose cone for missile defense purposes with a different style laser.
The Airborne Laser program featured a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser. It was tested in the nose cone of a Boeing 747-400 Freighter. Air Force officials say they are now benefiting from the technological efforts of its previous ABL program.
However, Defense Secretary Robert Gates killed the program in 2009 when he said it was unaffordable and questioned if it would ever be feasible.
"The ABL program has significant affordability and technology problems, and the program's proposed operational role is highly questionable," he said in 2009 when he announced the end of DoD funding for the program.
Chancing upon videos of her Nigeria-based husband engaging in sexual activities with other men, a 29-year-old woman has pressed charges of cheating and harassment against him.
The Samta Nagar police have issued an arrest warrant against Avdoot Sawant (32), an HR manager working for a Nigerian firm, after his wife Sanya (name changed) registered a complaint against him, alleging that her husband married her even though he was homosexual, and cheated on her. Based on the complaint, the police are in the process of registering a red corner notice against Sawant, a Kandivli (East) resident, as he is still in Nigeria.
According to Senior Inspector Anant Kenjle of Samta Nagar police station, Sanya filed an FIR against Sawant after she found out that her husband was homosexual.
"The couple got married last December -- it was arranged. They lived together in Lokhandwala complex in Kandivli (East) for a few days before Sawant went to Nigeria. He came back to go on a weeklong honeymoon, but the two did not consummate their relationship. However, Sanya, a commerce graduate, decided to give him more time to adjust to their marriage. Meanwhile, Sawant made frequent trips to Africa," said Kenjle.
In April this year, when Sawant was in Nigeria, Sanya decided to give him a surprise visit. She arranged for her ticket and visa and landed there. Over the four months, she made several overtures but her husband continued resisting her advances, seeming distant and blas �. Sanya was beginning to sense something amiss.
"One day in October, Sawant left his laptop unlocked back at home. Sanya was casually browsing through it when she stumbled upon several video recordings of her husband with other men. She realised he was homosexual. She downloaded a few of his videos on a pen drive. When she confronted Sawant, he allegedly beat her up. She then called up her parents in Mumbai and told them about the incident. The parents sent her a ticket to India and she returned," said Kenjle.
After returning, Sanya thought about her course of action, and in November, she approached the Samta Nagar police and registered a case under Sections 498(a) (harassment) and 420 (cheating). "We are now contemplating issuing a red corner notice against Sawant as he is still out of the country," Kenjle said.
The blue line is the number of workers unemployed for 27 weeks or more. The red line is the same data as a percent of the civilian workforce. According to the BLS, there are a record 6.31 million workers who have been unemployed for more than 26 weeks (and still want a job). This is a record 4.1% of the civilian workforce. (note: records started in 1948).
New Fan Photo Of Roman Reigns, WWE Superstar Turns 35, Johnny Gargano Talks Cage Match Win - Wrestling Inc.
- Above is the latest WWE Network Pick of the Week video, featuring Johnny Gargano talking about his Steel Cage match win over Aleister Black on this week's WWE NXT episode.
- SmackDown Superstar Luke Gallows turns 35 years old today.
- A police officer in Greenville, South Carolina posted this photo of Roman Reigns on Friday. There's no word yet on why The Big Dog was in Greenville this week but he looks to be in good spirits. Reigns is currently out of action battling leukemia for the second time.
During a Senate hearing on gun violence prevention on Wednesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) issued a stark warning: don’t stigmatize Americans suffering from mental illnesses.
Since December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, lawmakers have been engaged in a debate over the best ways to curb gun violence. Much of that debate has centered on America’s expensive and inaccessible mental health care system, since several perpetrators of mass shootings in recent years have also had mental illnesses. But the conversation has veered wildly off-course — stigmatizing Americans suffering from mental disorders as dangerous, and turning them into the scapegoats for gun violence, as the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre did during his bizarre press conference in reaction to the tragedy at Sandy Hook.
FRANKEN: I have supported funding for law enforcement programs and I work every day to carry out the work Paul Wellstone does to repair our mental health system. Tomorrow I will introduce the Mental Health In Schools Act, which will improve access to mental health care for kids. Catching these issues at an early age is really important. I want to be careful here — that we don’t stigmatize mental illness. The vast majority of people with mental illness are no more violent than the rest of the population. In fact, they are more likely to be the victims of violence. These recent events have caused us as a nation to scrutinize our failed mental health care system and I’m glad we’re talking about this in a serious way.
The statistics clearly support Franken’s argument — over 92 percent of Americans with mental disorders do not engage in violent behavior. The ones who do tend to be violent towards themselves.
That’s also why mental health professionals are concerned that some of the mental health reporting provisions in new gun safety laws — such as the one recently signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) — might discourage patients from seeking care or being honest with their doctors about violent thoughts for fear of being reported to the authorities. Such measures add even more stigma to a public health crisis that is already widely stigmatized in America. According to the latest data from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), over 29 percent of Americans who do not receive mental health care cite social stigma or the fear of being institutionalized as the main barrier to their care.
The eight-mile-long river of lava that poured down the slopes of Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii last spring destroyed nearly everything in its path — roads, houses and cars. It upended lives and the tourism industry, scaring away about $480 million in business.
But part of what it left behind offers a glimmer of hope for the battered land and economy: a new black sand beach.
In early December, I visited the island to see what the destructive lava flow had done to the largest of the Hawaiian Islands and to visit the newly formed crescent beach at Isaac Hale Beach Park, also known as Pohoiki.
When the lava flowed down the slopes of Kilauea’s Lower East Rift Zone, many people assumed the beach park would be destroyed, but the lava stopped 230 feet from the boat ramp and emptied into the sea. Instead of destroying Pohoiki, it created a black sand beach, two surf breaks and three thermal ponds.
As I was drove the narrow, two-lane highway known as the Red Road (Hawaii 137) around the rocky coastline of lower Puna, I was reminded that this wild, tropical terrain at the base of Kilauea is unlike anywhere else in the islands.
Until recently, many visitors came here by land or sea hoping to catch a glimpse of molten lava.
Now they are coming to see not what was destroyed but what was created.
This isn’t the first time a black sand beach was produced during Kilauea’s 35 years of ongoing eruptions, nor is it the only one born of last year’s eruption, but it is the largest black sand beach created in the islands in recent times.
When word got out there was now a black sand beach at Pohoiki, visitors and residents hiked over a rugged lava field to be among the first to see it.
Leomana Turalde, a native Hawaiian, traveled from Hilo with his younger brother and his daughter. The creation of a beach was a lesson for the younger family members, he said, about Hawaiian culture.
“I tell them Hawaiian language and culture lives through the chant and the dances and the songs that we have, so if we don’t go out and experience things and record them and take note and just be the first here, then how do [they] expect the tradition that we carry to continue on?” he said.
How this beach came to be begins with hot lava and cold water, said Tina Neal, scientist in charge at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which has temporarily relocated to Hilo from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
The long, wide beach is gorgeous, shaped like a crescent moon. The sand is a mix of textures, from fine grains to small, rough rocks, which, in time, will be ground down by the waves.
The landscape reminded me of long-lost Kaimu Beach about 11 miles away near Kalapana. Its black sand was framed by a backdrop of palm trees and was thought to be Hawaii’s most photographed black sand beach until it was overrun by lava in 1990. A new, smaller beach exists in its place.
I walked from one end of the beach to the other, my feet crunching in the sand, as I took it in. People of all ages were swimming in the largest of the newly created ponds, formed when the black sand beach surrounded the once popular Pohoiki Boat Ramp, used to launch small craft.
It’s unknown whether the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources will dredge the sand blocking the boat ramp so it can be used, but for now, the place has become a popular swimming hole.
Swimming in the ocean here isn’t advised because of the strong currents and dangerous shore break, but that doesn’t deter the handful of surfers who find a thrill in a new spot.
Meanwhile, on the day of my visit, a kahu (priest) blessed the beach with prayers and Hawaiian oli (chants) and led a procession of cultural offerings.
Men, women and children lined up to leave leis and wrapped ti-leaf bundles on the beach as a sign of respect and gratitude.
“Those in the audience that have been tremendously hurt by the lava, this is a … way that gives you a lot of feeling of goodness,” Hawaii County Mayor Harry Kim told the crowd.
Like other beaches, this one is at the mercy of erosion from the surf and other changes wrought by time. But as history has shown in this land ruled by Kilauea, change can come all too quickly, so it’s best to make memories now and cherish the time it’s here.
Isaac Hale Beach Park, 13-101 Kalapana-Kapoho Road, Pahoa. Open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. daily. No drinking water. No camping.
Once the geatest rock band of all time? Some think so.
ceremony in New York on Jan. 17. "I don't think 'performing' is an option,"
The education of Mayor Rob Ford has led him from being a Pan Am Games skeptic to an enthusiastic supporter.
“There was no secret at the beginning, I wasn’t in favour of it,” Ford said Friday, as games organizers updated the media on their progress.
Ford’s tepid support for the July 2015 Toronto games warmed up after his first and only international trip as the city’s chief executive, to take in the Guadalajara Pan Am Games in 2011.
“When I went to Guadalajara, that sold me,” Ford said. “I wish you guys were down there with me. It was phenomenal.
The mayor is so pumped about the coming games he’s even prepared to deal with the congestion and traffic problems the sprawling event is expected to create — a major turnaround for Ford, who once mused about moving marathons off city streets to avoid weekend traffic jams.
With Ford now eagerly backing what organizers are calling the “People’s Games," organizing committee CEO Ian Troop announced venues for all but four sports of the 36 sports have now been settled on, with most competition clustered together to cut down costs and travel time.
“It will be intimate,” Troop said.
Originally spread out across the Golden Horseshoe with 26 standalone venues the games will now will have only 10 single-event sites and eight clusters, four of which are in Toronto.
The largest of these will be Exhibition Place, which will host a dozen sports, including road cycling, squash, weight lifting, triathlon and sevens rugby.
Mississauga will host the combative sports cluster and Markham will see water polo, badminton and table tennis.
Sticking to the strict $1.4 billion budget though means new construction is being kept to a minimum – Milton will get a new velodrome for track cycling, Toronto won the large aquatic centre in Scarborough and the athletes village in the West Don Lands, York University is building a new athletic centre and Hamilton will see a new soccer stadium, but most sports will use existing or temporary facilities.
For instance, none of the events hosted at Exhibition Place will bring new, permanent sport facilities, Troop said.
And homes for the golf, shooting, baseball and softball tourneys have yet to be found.
That couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm from federal and provincial cabinet ministers, whose governments are kicking in $1 billion of the $1.4 billion budget.
“Hosting the games in 2015 will have enduring economic benefit for the GTA, the region and our nation,” federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said.
Rae, one of Nashville's most captivating voices, is celebrating new album "Putting on Airs" with two shows at The Basement and a slew of guests.
Years ago, Erin Rae fell in love with The Basement before she ever stepped foot in the venue.
"I remember people talking about The Basement for a long time before I could actually get in," the singer-songwriter said in an email. "I remember Angel Snow had a show there but I wasn’t old enough. So I built it up in my mind as a special place, and I think the first thing I got to do there was sing some harmonies with Jo’shua Odine."
This weekend, Rae will celebrate the release of her album "Putting on Airs" by playing shows at the venue on Friday and Saturday. She'll be joined by a slew of talented guests, including Andrew Combs, Kelsey Waldon, Tristen, Cale Tyson, Liz Cooper, Dylan LeBlanc, Molly Parden and Larissa Maestro. "We’ve all grown up together in this scene and anytime I get to celebrate something of 'mine' I wanna have friends with me," said Rae. She added, "Also, many of the people who work there have become friends over the years. It’s a great group of people."
"Putting on Airs" finds Rae, who recorded the album at a former monastery in Wisconsin, branching out from the sounds of "Soon Enough," the 2015 album she recorded with her Americana band The Meanwhiles. The lush album incorporates elements of classic pop, folk and indie rock, but it's Rae's personal songwriting and wistful voice that captivate.
"I knew I wanted to explore some new sounds," she said of the album. "In touring with Jerry Bernhardt and Dom Billett I got to know the music they love and the sounds they come up with and wanted to see what we could do together. We were also afforded the opportunity to approach the songs differently and camp out at The Refuge Foundation for the Arts for a little over a week. Dan Knobler, who co-produced with Jerry, brought tons of analog gear up to the monastery and we were able to really utilize the space. These songs are also more directly personal to me. They have been so much fun to get to play live."
An Evening with Erin Rae, 10 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Basement (1604 8th Ave. S). Tickets ($10) are available at thebasementnashville.com.
In 2003, comic book writer, Robert Kirkman and Image Comics unleashed The Walking Dead into the world. Thanks to Frank Darabont, Kirkman, and the AMC Network, the book was adapted into one of the longest–running shows of all time. The Walking Dead debuted in 2010 and had consistently been one of the most popular shows every year. Not just on DVR’s either. The show is must-see television. In today’s era of spoiling everything with all kinds of social media posts, if you don’t catch the show at its airtime, chances are someone is going to ruin an episode for you.
For a comic – book show about zombies, the series has garnered a ton of acclaim over the years, including a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Television Series. It is the most watched basic cable TV show in history. The popularity of the show has launched an entire franchise. The spinoff series, Fear The Walking Dead; various mini-Web Series like Machete; video games, toys, novels, you name it, you can slap the logo on it.
Even though the show has lost Andrew Lincoln, Lauren Cohan, and soon Danai Gurira, there still doesn’t seem to be any signs of slowing down. There are going to upcoming movies that detail Rick and Jadis’ time on the helicopter with the “A and B people.” According to former show-runner, Scott Gimple, there is another spin-off in the works as well. The message is clear, we love our zombies. Here’s some Easter Eggs that even the most ardent fans may have missed. Here are 25 Hidden Things Fans Completely Missed On The Walking Dead.
While there are undead crazies roaming around the world, at its core the show has always been about the relationships and connections that the living characters form with another. One of the most endearing and enduring relationships on the show has been between the motherly but intense Carol and the introverted but lovable Darryl.
Part of their friendship was laid out when Darryl would not rest until he found Carol’s daughter Sophia. But their friendship has moved way past that as well. A callback to their friendship’s beginnings happened during the sixth season when Darryl, alone in the woods, caught sight of a Cherokee Rose on the back of a Walker. It’s the same flower he gave to Carol after he failed to find Sophia.
While the show is the longest running in AMC history, the network’s most critically lauded show is and was Breaking Bad. For some strange reason, the saga of a mild-mannered science teacher rising to the top of the criminal underworld in the American Southwest resonated with viewers and there are many who proclaim the show as the greatest of all time.
The connections with The Walking Dead are way too similar to not think that the show is paying homage to Heisenberg. Besides both shows making use of a camper, early on in season two, you can catch some of Walter’s Big Blue Sky in a baggie On Darryl’s motorcycle.
It seems like a really long time ago that Rick Grimes and the Grimes Gang were trying to seek refuge in a place called Terminus. If its name wasn’t ominous enough, there were all kinds of railroads with signs and transmissions of “those who arrive, survive.” But still, they all pressed on, despite viewers’ better judgment for the main characters.
But even before the strange promises of paradise, Michonne was getting warnings not to head to Terminus. She came upon a house with a painting of a little girl named Mary. Some fans believe this foreshadowed meeting the Terminus lady also called Mary.