MARITIME & MILITARY

  Turkey's long-known desire to purchase a long-range air missile defense system has been a hot topic since 2013, but discussions have gained a new dimension after Turkey's possible purchase of a Russian S-400 missile system emerged following the recent Russian-Turkish rapprochement. The story began when Turkey's military procurement agency, the undersecretariat for the Defense Industry (SSM), chose the China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation (CPMIEC) FD-2000 (HQ-9) long-range air and missile defense system over American and European competitors, including the Italian-French Eurosam's SAMP/T Aster 30 system, in September 2013.  Due to heavy pressure from NATO in November 2015, Turkey announced that the deal was canceled. Following the decision, Turkish sources announced Ankara was planning to launch its own project to build a similar system, but in the light of the recent Russian-Turkish normalization process, purchasing and co-productio...

 This week, an ISIS-affiliate operating out of Egypt released gruesome images purporting to show the execution of a popular 100-year-old Sufi cleric. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, recently rebranded as ISIS-Sinai, has stepped up its barbarity since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State. The splinter terror group kidnapped Sheikh Sulaiman Abu Haraz only to execute the elderly man with a sword in a medieval-style killing.    "Abu Haraz, considered one of the symbolic Sufi clerics and elders of the Sinai Peninsula, was taken by the group from in front of his house in Arish city under gun point, reports Al Arabiya.  The fanatic religious militants accused the cleric of “practicing witchcraft,” an anachronistic charge notoriously leveled against pluralistic preachers and single women in Early Modern Europe. This comes nearly a week after an Islamist suicide bomber attacked a Sufi shrine in the Balochistan province of southwestern Pakistan, slaughte...

Though police were able to push out drug traffickers and gangs from favelas for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, the state government, which is responsible for security in the region, faces a a budget shortfall of almost 20 billion reais ($5.91 billion, 5.58 billion euros). A police spokesman said that the debris to ascertain the reason for the crash was being examined by forensics officers. Four police officers were killed on Saturday when their helicopter crashed in an anti-drug operation in the Brazilian coastal city of Rio de Janeiro.  The helicopter fell in a populated area near City of God, but crashed in an open space near a major highway. Between January and October, 115 police officers were killed and 556 were injured in Rio state, majority while they were off duty, official figures show. Images on local television stations showed a white and blue helicopter broken in many pieces. Firefighters removed the bodies of the victims from t...

The following is the complete Oct. 31, 2016 statement from U.S. 3 rd Fleet On Oct. 29 USS Montgomery (LCS-8) sustained damage to her hull while transiting Southbound through the Gatun and Pedro Miguel locks of the Panama Canal.  Under control of the local Panama Canal Pilot, the ship impacted the center lock wall and sustained an 18-inch-long crack between her port quarter and transom plates. The crack is located 8-10 feet above the waterline and poses no water intrusion or stability risk. The ship has continued her transit as scheduled, has now exited the Panama Canal and is expected to arrive at her new homeport of San Diego next month.

                                               T he “Cyprus Solution” in Judea and Samaria? Army Radio this morning reported that Professor Joe Wheeler, an international lawyer from the United States, has been hired by the Israeli government to help it promote the “Cyprus Solution” to land ownership issues in Judea and Samaria. According to the plan, an arbitration committee will be appointed to decide on issues of land belonging to private owners and whether and how much compensation to give in these cases. Sources close to Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked indicated that the ministry is working on adapting the Cyprus model to Israel in order to resolve the issues of Palestinian land ownership claims throughout Judea and Samaria, including Am...

 While protests and riots continue across the country in the wake of the presidential election, there’s a small yet powerful symbol popping up all over the world showing solidarity and support for groups who say they are fearful of what is to come. As stories of Americans experiencing hate speech, racism and violence spread on social media, pictures of people donning a safety pin have also started appearing on Twitter and Instagram. The idea was inspired by a British movement following Brexit and is meant to send a message that anyone wearing a pin is standing up against sexism, racism, and xenophobia, essentially declaring themselves allies and friends to groups who feel marginalized. After Brexit, the safety pin hashtag started trending across the pond in an effort to show refugees and immigrants they have support. There’s now an effort in the U.S. to adopt the symbol to show compassion in the aftermath of a divisive election. source:   ...

        Α photo 1000 words !

Works have been initiated by Istanbul University in the ancient field of Aya Tekla, one of the oldest centers of Christianity. The university will carry out surface survey in the ancient city, located in the southern province of Mersin’s Silifke district. During 10 days of work, a research group consisting of academics and post-graduate students, will measure and photograph a cistern structure for the first time. Also, they will work on two other cisterns that were discovered in previous years. The head of the research team, Umut Almaç, said their work would reveal the problems in protection and bring proposals for solutions to current problems. “The data that we will obtain from this work will be reported to the ministry. We also plan to present a report during the 39th International Excavation Research and Archeometry Symposium to be held in May 2017. We are seeking sponsors so as to have more people in the research team,” Almaç said. Aya Tekla  Situated four k...

Yokozuna Kakuryu defeats third-ranked maegashira Endo at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Saturday. FUKUOKA – Ozeki Goeido dodged a bullet and got his bid for promotion to sumo’s highest rank back on track, while Mongolian yokozuna Hakuho also rebounded from his first defeat at the Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament on Saturday. The wins kept the pair within striking distance of sole leader and Mongolian yokozuna Kakuryu, who maintained his perfect start to move to 7-0 in the 15-day basho. Stunned by Tamawashi on Friday, Goeido looked like he was in trouble as winless Kaisei twice worked him up against the straw ridge at Fukuoka Kokusai Center. But the ozeki dug his way out of a hole and rallied to send the Brazilian No. 2 maegashira to the dirt with a well-executed makiotoshi twist-down technique. Goeido posted a stunning maiden title win at the Autumn Basho in September, when he went 15-0 despite wrestling with his rank on the line. But he will need to win th...

  Secretary of the U.S. Army, Eric Fanning, will participate in a unique interview on topics ranging from the importance of diversity, budget stability, and innovation at the Library of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, at 11 a.m .  The interview by the Library's deputy director of National and International Outreach, Colleen Shogan, will take place in the historic Members Room at the Library's Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE, Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public. Fanning was appointed the 22nd Secretary of the Army by President Barack Obama on May 18, 2016. In that capacity, Fanning has statutory responsibility for all matters relating to the United States Army: personnel, reserve affairs, installations, environmental issues, weapons systems and equipment acquisition, communications and financial management. Previously he served as acting secretary of the Army from November 2015 through January 2016, and before that was desi...

                             The world's movement of people – in one map SOURCE: WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM

 Turkey has long taken for granted that its geography will ensure that its Western allies, and chiefly the United States, cannot afford to turn their backs on their strategic partnership. Regardless of its human rights record, the slow erosion of checks and balances, and limits on fair political representation, Turkey has sensed—and not without reason—that its military alliance with the United States cannot falter. If the Trump administration favors isolationism, the fate of stumbling democracies far from its shores will matter little and Ankara may be proven right again. Pro-government media and political pundits in Turkey have been openly sympathetic toward Trump. A less interventionist United States that stays out of Turkey’s backyard in the Middle East is seen as a welcome departure. It may mean greater free rein for Turkey’s ill-defined ambitions in the region and even make its responsibilities as a NATO member more fluid and permissive. There is a hig...

 Ο Πρόεδρος της Δημοκρατίας Προκόπης Παυλόπουλος τέλεσε την Πέμπτη 11 Νοεμβρίου 2016 τα αποκαλυπτήρια του Μνημείου Υποβρυχίων στο Πάρκο Φλοίσβου του Δήμου Παλαιού Φαλήρου. «Τον αγώνα για την πατρίδα πρέπει να τον δίνουμε πάντα ομονοούντες, αποφασισμένοι και ανυποχώρητοι», τόνισε ο Πρόεδρος της Δημοκρατίας στην ομιλία του κατά τη διάρκεια των αποκαλυπτηρίων του Μνημείου Υποβρυχίων, που είναι αφιερωμένο σε όσους έχασαν την ζωή τους υπηρετώντας την πατρίδα.

Πρώτο Ιδρυτικό Συνέδριο Ελληνικών και Κινεζικών Δήμων ( 15/11/2016 )   Το πρώτο ιδρυτικό Συνέδριο Ελληνικών και Κινεζικών Δήμων από «την Αμφικτιονία Αρχαίων Ελληνικών Πόλεων» και «την Ένωση Φιλίας της Κίνας με Ξένες Χώρες», πραγματοποιήθηκε την Παρασκευή 10 Νοεμβρίου 2016 στο Ζάππειο Μέγαρο, με την αρωγή του Κινέζου Πρέσβη στην Ελλάδα και υπό την Αιγίδα του Υπουργείου Εσωτερικών και Διοικητικής Ανασυγκρότησης. Εκπρόσωποι της Τοπικής Αυτοδιοίκησης από περίπου 100 Eλληνικούς Δήμους, συμπεριλαμβανομένων του Πειραιά και της Θεσσαλονίκης, συμμετείχαν στην εκδήλωση. Την Δήμαρχο Καβάλας, κ. Δήμητρα Τσανάκα εκπροσώπησε η Αντιδήμαρχος Πολιτιστικών Δράσεων και Κοινωνικών Θεμάτων κ. Κυριακή Χιώτη Πρασσά. Θέμα του Συνεδρίου ήταν οι «δημιουργικές βιομηχανίες» και η εξερεύνηση των δυνατοτήτων για τη στενότερη οικονομική και πολιτισμική συνεργασία μεταξύ των δήμων και των επιχειρ...

 On 20 September 2016 the British Antarctic Survey ship, the Royal Research Ship James Clark Ross, sets sail on a voyage that will traverse almost 13 000 km starting in Immingham, UK, and ending in Stanley, the Falklands. The ‘AMT4SentinelFRM’ expedition will traverse the turbid waters of the North Sea, the autumn blooms of the Celtic Sea and Bay of Biscay, the deep ocean deserts of the North and South Atlantic, and the persistent coccolithophore blooms of the great Calcite Belt in the Southern Ocean. The objective of the cruise is to validate ocean data from the fleet of Europe’s Sentinel-1, -2 and -3 satellites as they orbit above the Atlantic Ocean. These satellites, which were developed by ESA for the EC’s environmental monitoring programme, carry a range of sensors for observing land, ocean and atmosphere. Scientists from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the University of Southampton and Ifremer have been busy mounting an array of visible and infra...

Tο Made in USA είναι ένα πολυσυλλεκτικό φεστιβάλ που αποσκοπεί να μας εισάγει στη «νέα» αμερικανική πρωτοπορία, όπως αυτή αναδύθηκε μετά τους ριζοσπαστικούς πειραματισμούς του Wooster Group στο Performing Garage, στο κέντρο του Μανχάταν, τις δεκαετίες του 1970 και 1980. Το φεστιβάλ αρθρώνεται γύρω από καλλιτέχνες που κυριαρχούν στη σύγχρονη αμερικανική σκηνή από τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1990 μέχρι σήμερα, με αιχμηρές σκηνικές φόρμες οι οποίες κινούνται στα όρια μεταξύ περφόρμανς, χορού, θεάτρου, κινηματογράφου και εγκατάστασης.   Το φεστιβάλ θα καταλάβει την Κεντρική και τη Μικρή Σκηνή της Στέγης, αλλά και εξωτερικούς χώρους, και θα παρουσιάσει 10 καλλιτέχνες και ομάδες με ιδιότυπο καλλιτεχνικό λεξιλόγιο: ριζοσπαστικά πειράματα με έργα ρεπερτορίου, τολμηρές εξερευνήσεις της ποπ κουλτούρας, αντισυμβατικές προσεγγίσεις των μεταμοντέρνων της Judson Church, εναλλακτικές χρήσεις των νέων τεχνολογιών, αλλά και συμμετοχικές τεχνικές που φέρνουν στη σκηνή ερμηνευτέ...

ATHENS, Greece — The Latest on President Barack Obama's final foreign tour as president (all times local): 6:45 p.m. President Barack Obama is having dinner with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after arriving in Berlin on Wednesday. The White House says it's an "informal and private" dinner at Obama's hotel. Journalists traveling with Obama aren't being permitted to witness the event. The two leaders plan a more formal meeting on Thursday, and will also hold a joint press conference while Obama is in Germany. ____ 6 p.m. President Barack Obama has arrived in Germany, the second stop on his final foreign tour as president. Air force One touched down Wednesday evening in Berlin after a short flight from Greece. While in Germany, Obama plans to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel. Obama has called Merkel one of his closest partners as president. Obama will hold a joint news conference with Mer...

Sources: From various Greek newsrooms.

COURTESY DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE The guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence participated in Rim of the Pacific exercises off Hawaii this summer The San Diego-based destroyer USS William P. Lawrence will make Pearl Harbor its new home port Monday as part of a ship swap that sent the USS Paul Hamilton to California in April, the Navy said. “The Navy ohana in Hawaii welcomes USS William P. Lawrence sailors and families to their new home,” Rear Adm. John Fuller, commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, said in a release. “We have a robust plan in place to formally welcome our shipmates and their loved ones and show them the ‘who, what, when, where, why and how’ about living here in the 50th State.” The William P. Lawrence deployed from San Diego in January and in February became the first U.S. warship to visit Fiji in almost 10 years. In May the guided missile destroyer conducted a “freedom of navi...

Israel will on Tuesday launch a bidding process for oil and gas exploration licenses off its Mediterranean coast, the first such offers in four years. The government has high hopes for the new blocks being offered following the discoveries of the Tamar and Leviathan natural gas fields off its coast since 2009.  Israel hopes the Leviathan field will eventually allow it to become a gas exporter, which could provide it with additional leverage in the turbulent Middle East. According to the energy ministry, 24 offshore blocks will be offered for exploration in the first round starting Tuesday and ending around March 2017, each up to 400 square kilometers (155 square miles). The recent approval of a long-delayed natural gas industry framework by the government has cleared the path for Israel to move forward. The Tamar field, discovered in 2009 and which began production in 2013, has estimated reserves of up to 238 billion cubic meters (8.4 trill...

 OREM, Utah As a group of boys at a Utah high school changed Tuesday morning into gym clothes for physical education class, a straight-A student pulled out a knife in the locker room and stabbed five of his classmates, sending the injured running for their lives and covered in blood, police said. The 16-year-old suspect, with no record of disciplinary trouble, also stabbed himself in the neck and was cornered by school workers until a police officer assigned to Mountain View High School got to the locker room and subdued him with a Taser shot. The five victims are all expected to survive, hospital officials said Tuesday afternoon. The two most seriously injured were in critical but stable condition, according to Utah Valley Hospital. The suspect was treated and released following the attack, which spread fear and panic among students who described a gruesome scene immediately after the stabbings. Orem police posted a letter online they said ...

  Janet Reno, the first female US attorney general, who served eight years with president Bill Clinton, has died aged 78. Ms Reno died in Miami of Parkinson's disease complications, according to her goddaughter, Gabrielle D'Alemberte. She was diagnosed with the progressive central nervous system disorder in 1995. Ms Reno served as the top US law enforcement official under Mr Clinton from 1993 to 2001, becoming the longest-tenured attorney general of the 20th Century. The blunt-spoken Ms Reno authorised the deadly 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian cult compound at Waco, Texas just weeks into the job in 1993. After a shootout that killed four federal agents and six members of the sect, authorities negotiated with cult leader David Koresh for 51 days. She later authorised the 2000 seizure by federal agents of six-year-old Cuban shipwreck survivor Elian Gonzalez from relatives in Miami, as well as the government's huge antitrust case against Mi...

Azerbaijan is planning on buying Israel’s advanced Iron Dome missile interceptor system, reports say. A battery of the interceptors is ready to be handed over to the Azerbaijan military, the Walla news site says, quoting Azeri media. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning on visiting Azerbaijan in the coming months amid burgeoning ties with the Central Asian nation. This would be the first sale of the sophisticated system outside of Israel. It has been very successful in shooting down rockets fired by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Azerbaijan is embroiled in a conflict with Armenia over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.