Sweden to boost military spending over Ukraine crisis
Stockholm (AFP) April 22, 2014 -
Sweden announced Tuesday that it will increase its annual defence spending over the next 10 years, citing the crisis in Ukraine and an "unsettling" development in Russia.
The right-wing government said that spending would rise gradually until 2024, when the annual defence budget increase would be around 5.5 billion kronor (604 million euros, $835 million), more than in previous estimates. ...
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State Department okays helicopter deal for Mexico
Washington (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
The U.S. State Department has signed off on a possible sale of UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters to Mexico and associated equipment and support.
The proposed Foreign Military Sales package, reported to Congress by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, would be worth $680 million.
"The sale of these UH-60M helicopters to Mexico will significantly increase and strengthen its capabil ...
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UN hears calls for Syria chlorine gas probe
United Nations, United States (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Members of the UN Security Council called Wednesday for an investigation into new claims of a chlorine gas attack on a rebel bastion in Syria, expressing concern over the reports.
The 15-member organization was briefed behind closed doors by Sigrid Kaag, who coordinates a mission in Syria to oversee the removal of its chemical weapons stockpile by June 30.
Members "expressed concern abou ...
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ThyssenKrupp Aerospace to handle supply chain of the Triumph Group
Kent, Wash. (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
ThyssenKrupp Aerospace North America says it is to handle supply chain services for aerospace company Triumph Group Inc.
The Triumph Group, headquartered in Pennsylvania, manufactures and overhauls aerospace structures, systems and components.
In addition to supply chain activities, ThyssenKrupp Aerospace North America will also handle materials processing and delivery of aluminu ...
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Palestinians pledge unity as Israel talks teeter
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Rival Palestinian leaders from the West Bank and Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to form a unity government soon, bringing thousands of people on to the streets in celebration.
Amid the jublilation, an Israeli air strike on Gaza wounded six people, the coastal territory's Islamist ruling movement Hamas said.
"An agreement has been reached on the formation within five weeks of an independe ...
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US lifting aid freeze to Egypt
Washington (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
The United States is partially lifting its freeze on funding to Egypt, with plans to deliver 10 Apache helicopters and release some $650 million in military aid this year, officials said.
Despite concerns about Egypt's failure to embrace democratic reforms following the July ouster of president Mohamed Morsi, the US government will go ahead with easing its funding freeze, officials said.
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U.S. Army orders more chemical detectors
Edgewood, Md. (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
Additional portable chemical detectors are to be produced and delivered to the U.S. Army by Smiths Detection under a $20 million follow-on production order.
The contract comes under the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Chemical Agent Detector program, or JCAD, which uses Smiths' product line of lightweight chemical detectors.
"This order underscores the success of the LCD, whic ...
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A-T Solutions continues counter-IED work
Washington (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
A-T Solutions Inc., a counter-terrorism solutions firm, has been given an award to continue support for U.S. efforts to counter improvised explosive devices.
Under a competitively awarded General Services Administration blanket purchase agreement, the company will provide program management and support in the counter-IED training, training analysis support, institutionalization of lesso ...
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Iraq officials targeted as violence kills 13
Baghdad (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Militants shot dead an Iraqi provincial councillor and bombed the education minister's convoy on Wednesday, as violence killed 13 people nationwide ahead of next week's elections.
Iraq is suffering a protracted surge in bloodshed that has killed more than 2,750 people this year, and the April 30 parliamentary vote - the first since American troops departed in 2011 - will be a major test fo ...
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France send jets to Baltics; Britain scrambles jets after Russian plane approaches airspace
Washington, United States (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Four French fighter jets will join NATO air patrols over the Baltics starting on Sunday, France's chief of defense staff said Wednesday during a visit to Washington.
General Pierre de Villiers said the four fighter aircraft, either Mirage 2000 or Rafale jets, would fly from a base in Poland, amid growing anxiety in Baltic countries over Russia's intervention in Ukraine.
"They will partic ...
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Radio terminals for MUOS satellite communications have testing facility
Scottsdale, Ariz. (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
A laboratory to test radio terminals for connecting with the military's Mobile User Objective System has been opened in Arizona by General Dynamics C4 Systems.
The Navy-approved facility uses hardware and software that simulate the radio's connectivity with the MUOS ground network and is the second in the country.
"The MUOS Radio Testing Lab in Scottsdale will help the U.S. milit ...
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Maliki's plan to manipulate Iraq's election
Brussels (UPI) Apr 21, 2013 -
The events of recent weeks have once again proved that through grasping all the levers of State power, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki is trying to influence and change the outcome of the election in his own favour.
The election is being held while he is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces and all military and security forces are under his personal command without any le ...
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S. Korea's Park urges China to avert N. Korea nuclear test
Seoul (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Wednesday urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to make "further efforts" to dissuade North Korea from conducting a fresh nuclear test, warning of serious repercussions for regional stability.
Her comments, made during a phone call between the two presidents and reported by her office, came a day after South Korea said heightened activity at the North's main ...
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Patria vehicles getting Saab communications electronics
Linkoping, Sweden (UPI) Apr 23, 2013 -
Electronics equipment for use on vehicles being produced for South Africa by a Finnish manufacturer are to be supplied by Saab of Sweden.
The electronics for the information systems of AMV 8x8 vehicles by Patria Land Systems Oy include a data network and operator displays, as well as digital video systems with cameras.
Saab said the equipment will be delivered to Patria and integ ...
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Hong Kong, Philippines end emotional hostage row
Hong Kong (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Hong Kong and the Philippines announced Wednesday they had resolved an enduring and deeply emotional row over a deadly hostage crisis, allowing soured diplomatic relations to return to normal.
The breakthrough came after a deal was struck on the most sensitive issues of compensation to the victims of the tragedy, which saw eight tourists from Hong Kong killed following a bus hijacking in Man ...
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Kiev announces town 'liberated' but residents dumbfounded
Kiev (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
Ukraine's government announced Wednesday its forces had "liberated" an eastern town from pro-Kremlin separatists - but AFP found no sign of military units and puzzled residents said they had never been under rebel control.
The interior ministry said in a statement that Svyatogorsk, a town of 5,000 inhabitants around 15 kilometres (10 miles) north of the flashpoint city of Slavyansk, was "li ...
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Dispute islands 'within scope' of US-Japan alliance: Obama
Tokyo (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
The islands at the centre of a corrosive row between Tokyo and Beijing are covered by the US-Japan defence alliance, Barack Obama told a newspaper ahead of his arrival in Tokyo Wednesday.
Obama, whose tour of Asia will also take in South Korea, the Philippines and Malaysia, is the first sitting US president to explicitly affirm that hostile action against the island chain would spark an Amer ...
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China and rivals sign pact to ease maritime tensions
Beijing (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
China, the United States, Japan and more than a dozen other Asia-Pacific countries have signed a naval agreement aimed at ensuring miscommunication between ships at sea does not escalate into conflict.
The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, which was agreed Tuesday in the eastern port city of Qingdao, would reduce the potential for "situations to arise that could lead to conflict in busy ...
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The battle of the Mr. Cools
Washington DC (UPI) Apr 22, 2014 -
If the situation in Ukraine were not so dire for the Ukrainian people, what a parody this could be.
Facing off are two Mr. Cools.
In the eastern corner is President Vlad Putin emulating tough guy actor Humphrey Bogart but in a smaller version of Arnold Schwarzenegger's muscular body. Whether Vlad thinks he is Peter the Great, Nicholas II (the last of the Romanov line) or Mikhail ...
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Pentagon scientists show off life-size robot
Washington (AFP) April 23, 2014 -
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel got a first-hand look at a life-size robot Tuesday that resembles Hollywood's "Terminator," the latest experiment by the Pentagon's hi-tech researchers.
But unlike the cinematic version, the hulking Atlas robot is designed not as a warrior but as a humanitarian machine that would rescue victims in the rubble of a natural disaster, officials said.
The 6-f ...
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Danone says China recall weighs on first-quarter sales
Paris (AFP) April 16, 2014 -
French dairy food giant Danone reported on Wednesday a slide in first quarter sales as it struggles to turn around its Chinese business amid volatility in currency markets.
Total sales in the first three months of the year fell by 5.2 percent from the performance a year earlier to 5.061 billion euros ($7 billion), the company said.
The company was hit hard last year but a false health al ...
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Water users can reduce the risk of spreading invasive species
Leeds, UK (SPX) Apr 17, 2014 -
Foreign species that are devastating water ecosystems could be "hitchhiking" around Britain on canoeists' and anglers' kit, according to a new study.
Invaders like the killer shrimp, zebra mussel and American signal crayfish have already caused extensive environmental damage and millions of pounds of economic costs.
The new research, led by the University of Leeds and the Centre for ...
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Pioneering findings on the dual role of carbon dioxide in photosynthesis
Umea, Sweden (SPX) Apr 17, 2014 -
Researchers at Umea University have found that carbon dioxide, in its ionic form bicarbonate, has a regulating function in the splitting of water in photosynthesis. This means that carbon dioxide has an additional role to being reduced to sugar. The pioneering work is published in the latest issue of the scientific journal PNAS.
It is well known that inorganic carbon in the form of carbon ...
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China says massive area of its soil polluted
Beijing (AFP) April 17, 2014 -
A huge area of China's soil covering more than twice the size of Spain is estimated to be polluted, the government said Thursday, announcing findings of a survey previously kept secret.
Of about 6.3 million square kilometres (2.4 million square miles) of soil surveyed - roughly two thirds of China's total area - 16.1 percent is thought to be polluted, the environmental protection ministry ...
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Dormant plant seeds allow fore greater species diversity
Durham, N.C. (UPI) Apr 18, 2013 -
Seeds that sprout quickly are a boon for farmers and gardeners who value productivity and efficiency, but if diversity is your bag, then you'll want to stick with wild plants featuring especially dormant seeds.
New research by scientists at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in North Carolina proves that more patient and strategic dormant plant seeds result in a more diverse arr ...
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