Europe gets the nod as the best place to invest for the first time since
at least 2009 in a Bloomberg survey of financial professionals, unseating the
U.S. Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the Bloomberg Markets Global Poll
said the euro zone would be among the one or two markets offering investors the
best opportunities over the next 12 months.
Knowledge is
power. Ignorance often means impotence. But sometimes ignorance can be
comfortable, if it protects from entanglements, conflicts and trouble. This
even applies to the German chancellor. In the
heart of Germany's Palatinate region -- just a few kilometers from the city of
Kaiserslautern -- the United States maintains its largest military base on
foreign soil. The base is best known as a hub for American troops making their
way to the Middle East.
Six men of Somali descent arrested in Minnesota for trying to join up with the Islamic State group became the latest
troubling sign of the extremist network's reach into the Western hemisphere. Despite Department of Defense
claims that the group is weakening in Syria and Iraq, its ability to capture the allure of those based in the West, like these
men who reportedly recruited one another, remains as strong as ever.
The U.S. economy stalled in
the first quarter, expanding by just .02 percent, hurt by weak exports and a
drop in business investment, according to a report released Wednesday by the
federal Bureau of
Economic Analysis. The figure fell short of analyst's predictions of 1 percent growth and
well below the previous quarter's 2.2 percent growth, indicating that the U.S.
economy is losing momentum, undermining President Obama's recent efforts to
tout the economic recovery.
Lone wolf terrorism not on the
rise, but police, military personnel are top targets, report says. Most ‘lone
wolf’ terrorism in the US is perpetrated by “single white males with criminal
record,” according to recently released report by Indiana State University.
“Compared to members of terrorist groups, lone wolves are older, less educated
and more prone to mental illness.”The study, as reported by Fierce
Homeland Security, found 98 cases fitting the description of lone wolf
terrorists between 1940 to 2013 – with a majority of the cases occurring
after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
A coalition of news
organizations is pushing for the release of documents related to the sentencing
of former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was ruined for sharing
classified materials with his mistress who was writing his biography. Petraeus
was sentenced last week to two years of probation and fined $100,000 for
unauthorized removal and retention of classified information.
The
product Palcohol — dried alcohol that can be mixed with a liquid to become an
alcoholic beverage — received federal approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax
and Trade Bureau in March. The agency enforces laws regulating alcohol
production, importation, and marketing and advertising. But its official stamp
does not mean the beverage mix, intended to be sold in liquor and ABC stores,
will be available anytime soon.
The first plane ever was
landed a couple of days ago, using a Remote Tower Services, a system developed
by LFV and Saab. This was in Örnsköldsvik Airport, a small regional
Swedish airport, with a passenger flow of less than 100,000 a year. The
development of the Remote Tower Services took ten years and is especially
suitable for countries with many small airstrips situated at great distance
from each other, which means it is probably irrelevant for small Israel. But
Olle Sundin, Director-General of LVF Aviation Conulting, who cooperated with
Saab Defense and Security, is proud.
The Israeli defense forces
(IDF) have accelerated their efforts to deploy a very advanced unmanned aerial
system, UAS, for the brigade level. The need for such a system
has been obvious for some years, but is now receiving higher priority following
the lessons learned from last summer’s “Protective Edge” operation in the Gaza
strip. The IDF’s artillery corps “Sky Rider” UAS battalion, operating the Elbit systems SkyLark
1LE, was very busy during this operation, successfully providing UAS services for other units. The Skylark-1 LE is
designed for data collection and target marking at mission ranges exceeding 60
kilometers.
You know the
phrase "dodging a bullet"? Forget about it. Probably not going to
happen anymore.The U.S. military said this week it has
made great progress in its effort to develop a self-steering bullet.In February, the "smart
bullets" -- .50-caliber projectiles equipped with optical sensors --
passed their most successful round of live-fire tests to date, according to the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA.
After a week of frantic speculation about the health
of Islamic State (IS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, an Iranian hard-line news
website has reported the most outlandish claim yet -- that the Iraqi militant
supremo died in an Israeli hospital. Fars News, which is close to the Islamic
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), claimed on April 26 that before his death Baghdadi had been hospitalized in the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for treatment after being injured in a
"joint attack of the Iraqi Army and popular forces."
The humanitarian situation in Yemen has become
catastrophic, relief officials said on Monday, as Saudi-led aircraft pounded
Iran-allied Houthi militiamen and rebel army units for a second day, dashing
hopes for a pause in fighting to let aid in. Residents said warplanes flew
between 15 and 20 sorties against groups of Houthi fighters and arms depots in
the al-Dhalea provincial capital, Dhalea, and the nearby city of Qa'ataba,
between dawn and 0900 local time (0600 GMT), setting off a chain of explosions
that lasted for two more hours.
The Pentagon has repeatedly said it doesn’t need — nor
can it afford — a third anti-missile battery on American territory to defend
against a possible attack from North Korea or Iran.
Growing tensions between the West and Russia
and between the United States and China go well beyond competing interests in a
rustbelt in eastern Ukraine or over uninhabited rocks in the South China Sea.
Fundamentally, they are about whether Russia and China will acquire sphere of
influences in their neighborhood. Russia seeks special influence in the former
Soviet Union and China is looking to make its nine-dash line in the South
China Sea a
reality.
Alzheimer's robbed Ronald Reagan of his memory. Now Republican neocons
are trying to steal his foreign-policy legacy. A de facto peacenik who was
horrified by the prospect of needless war, Reagan likely would have been
appalled by the aggressive posturing of most of the Republicans currently
seeking the White House.
A senior U.S. official slammed Russia on Friday for allegedly threatening
to use nuclear weapons.
