Russia says Ukraine aid convoy contains no military personnel August 16, 2014 Russia's defence secretary Sergey Shoygu has assured his US counterpart Chuck Hagel that an aid convoy heading for Ukraine contains no military personnel. Western countries have expressed concern that Russia is using the convoy as a pretext for sending more soldiers to the area, but Russia denies these allegations, saying that the purpose of the convoy [...]
Australian PM Tony Abbott warns against voting for an independent Scotland August 16, 2014 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned against voting yes at next month's Scottish independence referendum. In an interview with The Times, he said that a split between Scotland and the rest of the UK would be a “victory for the enemies of freedom of justice”, and that is was “hard to see how [...]
Ebola outbreak will take six months to control, says humanitarian organisation August 15, 2014 It will be a matter of months before the Ebola outbreak currently gripping West Africa is brought under control, according to humanitarian group Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF). At a meeting in Geneva today, MSF's president Joanne Lui said: "In terms of timeline, we're not talking in terms of weeks, we're talking in terms of months. [...]
Sniffing out the smugglers: The smell of dollars could catch criminals August 15, 2014 For the first time, scientists have identified the unique smell of paper money, which they say could help border guards catch criminals trying to smuggle money across the border from Mexico to the US. The billions of dollars currently smuggled across the border each year have been causing problems for border guards, who are [...]
Iraq crisis: EU holds emergency meeting to discuss arming Kurds August 15, 2014 The possibility of arming Kurds in Iraq is being discussed by EU foreign ministers today at an emergency meeting in Brussels. Around 20 ministers will talk about the possibility of giving weapons to the Peshmerga fighters – the Kurdish forces – in order to stop the advance of the Islamic State (IS) militant group [...]
Iraq’s new PM: Who is Haider al-Abadi and why will he be better than Maliki? August 15, 2014 Yesterday Nouri al-Maliki stepped down as Prime Minister of Iraq, following mounting pressure from the West and East alike. A divisive figure with a pro-Shiite attitude, he has been blamed for the deep schism that has formed between the Shia-led government and the country's Sunni minority, which accuses him of alienating them and not [...]
Scale of Ebola crisis is vastly underestimated, according to WHO August 15, 2014 The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that the seriousness of the Ebola epidemic spreading across West Africa is “vastly underestimated”. The epidemic began in Guinea in February and has since spread to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. The death toll as of 11 August was 1,069, which is far higher than any [...]
Black holes, quasars and the Andromeda collision: Loss of star ingredients could end Milky Way August 14, 2014 For a galaxy to keep going, it must give birth to enough new stars to replace the old ones as they fade and die. But what if, one day, there was nothing left to create stars from? Such a lack of star ingredients could well be the cause of our galaxy's ultimate demise, according [...]
The EU is “dead in the water” when it comes to trade with the UK, says economist David Miles August 14, 2014 Bank of England policymaker David Miles has said that the UK's economic recovery is unlikely to be driven by exports, given that its biggest trading partner is “dead in the water”. In an interview with the BBC, he said that it was “pretty difficult” to see exports from the UK increasing when the European [...]
No Eurozone GDP growth in second quarter after France and Germany disappoint August 14, 2014 There was zero GDP growth for the Eurozone in the second quarter of 2014, according to figures released today. The seasonally adjusted figures for GDP growth in the 18-country bloc grew by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, and economists had predicted a similar level of growth in the second quarter. The result [...]
