Argentina was in default Thursday for the second time in 13 years after
the failure of last-ditch talks with US hedge funds it has branded
"vultures."
After hours of meetings Wednesday in New York,
Economy Minister Axel Kicillof emerged to confirm that no deal had been
reached, leaving Latin America's third largest economy unable to meet
repayment obligations by the midnight deadline.
"Unfortunately,
no agreement was reached and the Republic of Argentina will imminently
be in default," said Daniel Pollack, the lawyer appointed by a US court
to oversee the talks.
Washington. The leaders of the world's major developed economies condemned Russia for destabilizing Ukraine on Wednesday and warned it faces still tougher sanctions if it does not change course, AFP reported.
"Russia still has the opportunity to choose the path of de-escalation, which would lead to the removal of these sanctions," the G7 powers said, in a joint statement released by the White House.
"If it does not do so, however, we remain ready to further intensify the costs of its adverse actions."
The G7 - Britain, France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - issued the statement one day after Washington and the European Union announced increased sanctions on Moscow.
UN, 28 July 2014 – The shooting down of a Malaysian Airlines plane over
eastern Ukraine may amount to a war crime, the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights today said today, releasing a new report
that details a total breakdown of law and order and a reign of fear and
terror inflicted by armed groups in the area.
“I would like to stress to all those involved in the conflict, including
foreign fighters, that every effort will be made to ensure that anyone
committing serious violations of international law, including war
crimes, will be brought to justice, no matter who they are,” Navi Pillay
said. “I urge all sides to bring to an end the rule of the gun and
restore respect for the rule of law and human rights.”
The Israeli army has confirmed it fired a mortar round into a Gaza UN
shelter where 15 people died on Thursday, but denied killing anyone at
the site.
Briefing journalists on the findings of an internal military inquiry
into the incident at a UN school in Beit Hanun, spokesman Lieutenant
Colonel Peter Lerner said militants "in the vicinity" of the school
fired mortar rounds and anti-tank rockets at Israeli forces.
The army responded with mortar fire, sending a stray round into the compound, he said.
"A single errant mortar [round] landed in the courtyard of the school," he said.
"The courtyard was completely empty" at the time of the incident, he added.
Israel TV reported on Friday that the cabinet had rejected the
proposal in its current form, mainly because it would mean Israel would
cut short an ongoing effort to destroy Hamas military tunnels under the
Gaza-Israel border.
The proposal called for a week-long pause in fighting over the Muslim
holiday of Eid. During that time, the two sides would begin indirect
talks on easing the border closure of the blockaded Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, says any truce must include a
guaranteed end to Israel's eight-year siege of the enclave. Israel had
previously said it would reject any deal that included a clause to ease
the blockade.
Israeli forces pounded Gaza on Wednesday, meeting stiff resistance from
Hamas Islamists and sending thousands of residents fleeing, as US
Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Israel cease-fire talks
had made some progress.
In a blow to Israel's economy and a
public relations coup for Hamas, US and European air carriers halted
flights to the Jewish state citing concern over a militant rocket from
Gaza that hit a house near Ben Gurion airport. Israel urged a rethink,
saying its air space was safe.
EU sanctions against Russia must be stepped up, the
Ukrainian border closed to halt arms flows from Russia, and the bodies
of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crash victims returned, MEPs insisted
in today’s debate with Ukraine’s foreign minister Pavlo Klimkin. Mr
Klimkin called on the EU to show its solidarity now, as Ukraine is
“being punished for its EU aspirations”. The debate opened with a
minute’s silence for victims of the 17 July crash.
The Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed within the operating zone
of the Ukrainian army’s self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air Buk
missile systems, the Russian military said Monday.
"The flight scheme indicates that the plane’s route and possible
point of destruction fall into the operational range of Buk air defense
systems deployed by the Ukrainian armed forces,” Lt. Gen. Andrei
Kartapolov, the head of the Main Operations Directorate of the HQ of
Russia’s military forces, said during a media conference in Moscow.
Russian Foreign Ministry said Saturday it was baffled by several countries imposing pressure on investigators by voicing their theories about the causes of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 crash in eastern Ukraine.
"It is baffling that even before the start of the investigation, official representatives of a range of countries rushed to groundlessly announce their theories on the causes of the accident, thus putting pressure on the investigation process. The Russian side addresses both sides of the Ukrainian conflict with an urgent call to do everything possible for the access of international experts to the area of the plane crash to carry out all the actions necessary to investigate the mentioned air crash," the ministry said in a statement.
A Malaysian airliner was brought down over eastern Ukraine, killing
all 295 people aboard and sharply raising the stakes in a conflict
between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels in which Russia and the West back
opposing sides.
Ukraine accused "terrorists" - fighters aiming to unite eastern
Ukraine with Russia - of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777
with a heavy, Soviet-era SA-11 ground-to-air missile as it flew from
Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.
Leaders of the rebel Donetsk People's Republic denied any
involvement, although around the same time their military commander said
his forces had downed a much smaller Ukrainian transport plane. It
would be their third such kill this week.
BEIJING: China on Wednesday accused London of
interfering in its internal affairs after British Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg met two leading Hong Kong pro-democracy activists urging
greater freedoms from Beijing.
China "lodged solemn protests" with
Britain over Tuesday's meetings with Martin Lee, founder of Hong Kong's
opposition Democratic Party, and Anson Chan, the former number two in
the city's government, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"What
Britain has done is interference in China's internal affairs. China
strongly opposes it," said Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Hong
Lei.
"Hong Kong's affairs fall within China's internal affairs.
China firmly opposes any interference in Hong Kong affairs by any
country under whatever pretext," said Hong.
Twenty-one people died and scores more were hurt after a train derailed
in Moscow's packed metro during rush hour on Tuesday in the worst
accident to hit one of the world's busiest subways.
Russian
television described scenes of chaos and panic on the capital city's
famed system, saying passengers fell like dominoes when the train braked
abruptly and three carriages derailed.
Rescue teams were combing through the mangled metal carriages in an attempt to extricate several bodies.
The United States on Monday warned against any Israeli ground
invasion of Gaza, saying it would put even more civilians at risk than
are currently in the crossfire of attacks on Hamas.
But the
White House stopped short of criticizing Israel over the civilian toll
so far in Gaza of the offensive, saying the government had a "right" and
"responsibility" to defend their citizens against rocket attacks.
"Nobody wants to see a ground invasion because that would put more
civilians at risk," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said during his
daily press briefing.
The UN Security Council called for a ceasefire in hostilities between Israel and Palestinians on Saturday, expressing its deep concern over the welfare and protection of civilians on both sides of the conflict.
“The Security Council members called for de-escalation of the situation, restoration of calm, and reinstitution of the November 2012 ceasefire,” the 15-member body said in a statement.
It also called for the respect of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians.
The Security Council’s statement came as Israel rushed an eighth missile interceptor battery into service on Saturday to counter stronger-than-expected rocket fire from Gaza, and the military struck positions in the Palestinian enclave for a fifth day.
Egypt opened its Rafah crossing point bordering the Palestinian Gaza
Strip on Thursday to receive wounded Palestinians by Israeli air
strikes, a security official at the crossing told Xinhua.
More
than 45 Egyptians who were stuck at the border after the Israeli air
strike on Gaza along with the injured Palestinians were expected to
arrive, but still no one showed up fearing the strike, added the
official on condition of anonymity.
Arish hospitals in north
Sinai have been placed on alert with all necessary equipment and blood
donation to cure the Palestinians, Adel Adawi, Egyptian Health Minister
said in a statement.
Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas told a crisis meeting in Ramallah
on Wednesday that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza during its
military offensive which has so far killed at least 50 Palestinians.
“It’s genocide -- the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel
against our Palestinian people,” Abbas told the crisis meeting of the
Palestinian leadership.
“What's happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against the (militant) factions.
There are nine NATO warships in the Black Sea now, a record high number
in decades, the RIA Novosti news agency reports citing a
military-diplomatic source.
These include the US Vella Gulf
Aegis-guided missile cruiser, the French Surcouf frigate and two
reconnaissance ships – France’s Dupuy de Lome and Italy’s Elettra.
In
addition, there’s a group of NATO minesweepers taking part in the
Breeze-2014 naval exercises off the Bulgarian coast. Led by Italy’s ITS
Aviere, it also comprises an Italian and Turkish minesweepers, ITS
Rimini and TCG Akcay, and the Chiddingfold anti-mine ship of the British
Royal navy.
China has reiterated its firm objection to outside forces' interference
into the internal affairs of Hong Kong, according to the Office of the
Commissioner of China's Foreign Ministry of China in Hong Kong.
Asked
to comment on former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten's recent remarks
on the political reform in Hong Kong, a spokesperson of the
commissioner's office said over the weekend that Hong Kong has entered
the critical stage of its political reform, it is worth noting that some
people are making unfounded comments on Hong Kong's political reform
for other purposes in disregard of the facts.
A plan to train and equip a 100,000-strong rebel army to defeat
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was drawn up by Britain, then scrapped
as it was deemed too risky, BBC Newsnight reported on Thursday.
The
alleged proposal, put forward two years ago, was the idea of General
David Richards, then chief of Britain's defense, according to the BBC.
The secret "extract, equip, train" proposal was considered by Prime
Minister David Cameron and the National Security Council, as well as
U.S. officials, the BBC said, citing Whitehall sources.
As Iraq’s attempts at building a new government failed on Tuesday, Kurdish President Massoud Barzani said he would push for a referendum on independence for Kurdistan.
Barzani spoke with VOA's Persian service on Tuesday in Irbil, the largest city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
The Iraqi army has struggled against offensives by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Islamic militant group that has captured large sections of Iraq’s north and west.
