Russia Interventions Cross $3 Billion as Rate Bets Surge on Oil

By Vladimir Kuznetsov  Oct 10, 2014 1:44 PM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

Russia’s currency interventions have exceeded $3 billion this month as sanctions and an oil-price slump batter the ruble, boosting bets policy makers will raise interest rates to stem the drop.

The central bank sold $1.5 billion on Oct. 8, according to data on its website today, the most for a single day since a $4.41 billion intervention that preceded the Crimea referendum to join Russia in March. Wagers for interest-rate increases soared to a six-year high as Brent oil’s slide to four-year lows sent the ruble sliding further past 40 per dollar.

Ruble Rout Pounding Russia’s Retailers as Prices Soar

By Matthew Campbell and Ilya Khrennikov  Oct 10, 2014 11:53 AM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

The generally upbeat story -- and current hardship -- of Russia’s middle class since the end of the Cold War can be partly told through Dixy Group.

Greek Bond Investors Look to Confidence Vote for Respite

By Nikos Chrysoloras and Antonis Galanopoulos  Oct 10, 2014 11:14 AM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

After a monthlong rollercoaster for Greek government bonds and stocks, the country’s lawmakers are poised to give investors a brief respite.

Greece Seeks $508 Million by Securitizing Real Estate

By Sharon Smyth and Eleni Chrepa  Oct 10, 2014 1:02 PM GMT+0300

Bloomberg

The Greek fund charged with selling state assets will attempt to raise 400 million euros ($508 million) by securitizing real estate in a move designed to attract investment to the debt-stricken country.

The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund will sell shares in a company with about 300 properties ranging from retail, office and tourism-related real estate including land for development, Andreas Taprantzis, the fund’s executive director, said in an Oct. 8 interview in his Athens office. The company will then sell debt backed by the properties.

Οι νεόπλουτοι του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ

ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ 12:40

Πάσχος Μανδραβέλης

Από την εφημερίδα Καθημερινή

Στη χώρα όπου ανθούν η φαιδρά πορτοκαλέα και ο ΣΥΡΙΖΑ ακούσαμε κι αυτό: η Πολιτική Γραμματεία του κόμματος της αξιωματικής αντιπολίτευσης αποφάσισε να... κρατήσει μούτρα στον κοινοβουλευτικό εκπρόσωπο του κυβερνώντος κόμματος, ήτοι στον κ. Αδωνι Γεωργιάδη, εξαιτίας των ατυχών δηλώσεων του τελευταίου για τις καταθέσεις.

ISIS enters Kobani, city's defenders see 'last chance to leave,' sources say

By Ralph Ellis, CNN

October 5, 2014 -- Updated 2250 GMT (0650 HKT)

(CNN) -- ISIS moved closer to seizing Kobani on Sunday as militants entered the southeastern edge of the Syrian city and street-to-street fighting began, a fighter and a media activist inside the city told CNN.

The city's defenders were looking for ways to escape the Kurdish stronghold strategically located near the Turkish border, the fighter said.

"It's the last chance to leave," the fighter said. The fighter and media activist requested their names be withheld for security reasons.

ECB Pauses to Observe Results of Recent Stimulus Measures

Rates on Hold, as Policy Makers Set to Buy Bonds and Asset-Backed Securities to Help Economy

The Wall Street Journal

By BRIAN BLACKSTONE CONNECT

Updated Oct. 2, 2014 1:41 p.m. ET

NAPLES, Italy—The European Central Bank took no new action on Thursday, despite inflation weakening to a five-year low, signaling it will wait to see if stimulus measures undertaken in recent months lift the eurozone’s weak economy.

Australia authorizes special forces troops to go to Iraq

BY LINCOLN FEAST

SYDNEY Fri Oct 3, 2014 3:16am EDT

(Reuters) - Australian special forces troops will be deployed in Iraq to assist in the fight against Islamic State militants, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday, and its aircraft will also join U.S.-led coalition strikes.

Hong Kong Protests: China Pushes Back Against U.S.

The Wall Street Journal

By CHARLES HUTZLER

Oct. 1, 2014 11:56 p.m. ET

In a rare public spat, China's foreign minister, Wang Yi, pushed back against U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on the Hong Kong protests, with the Chinese official saying the U.S. should stay out of China's internal affairs.

U.K. Carries Out First Airstrikes in Iraq

Ministry of Defense Says RAF Destroyed an Islamic State Arsenal and a Machine Gun-Mounted Vehicle

The Wall Street Journal

By JENNY GROSS

Updated Sept. 30, 2014 5:15 p.m. ET

LONDON—Britain's Royal Air Force carried out its first strikes in Iraq on Tuesday, destroying an Islamic State arsenal and a machine gun-mounted vehicle, the Ministry of Defense said.

Ukraine nationalists tear down Kharkiv's Lenin statue

BBC

28 September 2014 Last updated at 22:24 GMT

Nationalists have torn down a statue of Lenin in the centre of Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, in a move supported by officials.

People cheered and leapt for joy as the statue came crashing down.

For China, Limited Tools to Quell Unrest in Hong Kong

By EDWARD WONG and CHRIS BUCKLEYSEPT. 29, 2014

The New York Times

BEIJING — China’s Communist Party has ample experience extinguishing unrest. For years it has used a deft mix of censorship, arrests, armed force and, increasingly, money to repress or soften calls for political change.

The many names of ISIS (also known as IS, ISIL, SIC and Da'ish)

The Economist

Sep 28th 2014, 23:50 by M.R. | CAIRO

FOR the third time in as many decades America is leading a powerful coalition to war in the Middle East. On September 23rd the offensive expanded dramatically as coalition aircraft and missiles struck in Syria, widening the theatre beyond its initial arena in Iraq. Their target is a radical jihadist group that has grabbed headlines since June, when its black-clad gunmen burst beyond territory they had captured during Syria’s civil war and seized big chunks of Iraq, including the country’s second biggest city, Mosul. Alarm has grown as they have massacred hundreds of prisoners, sometimes with grisly televised beheadings, and hounded thousands of Christians and other minorities from their homes. Nearly everyone shares a desire to destroy this scourge, yet they cannot seem to agree on what to call it. The group has been variously dubbed ISIS, ISIL, IS, SIC and Da'ish. Why the alphabet soup?

Isis 'just one mile from Baghdad' as al-Qaeda fighters join forces against Syria air strikes

The Independent

MONDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2014

Isis fighters are reportedly just one mile away from Baghdad as reports emerge of al-Qaeda militants bolstering their ranks in Syria.

According to the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, Isis was approaching the Iraqi capital on Monday morning.

Δύο κείμενα για τον ιμπεριαλισμό

Και τα δύο είναι από την εφημερίδα της αριστεράς ΑΥΓΗ.

Περιγράφουν στο πρώτο άρθρο την ομιλία του υπεξ της Ρωσίας Σ Λαβρόφ για την Ουκρανική κρίση και τις προσπάθειες της Ρωσίας για την ανάταξη των σχέσεων με τις ΗΠΑ μακριά από την σημερινή ένταση και στο δεύτερο (περιγράφουν) τον ρόλο των ΗΠΑ στην κρίση του ΙΡΑΚ μετά την κατίσχυση επί του πεδίου των δυνάμεων του Σουνιτικού Χαλιφάτου. Η «Ρωσοστρέφεια» της Ελληνικής Αριστεράς δεν είναι μυστικό για κανέναν, αλλά για κάποιους δεν είναι ούτε καν αξιοπερίεργο.

Insight - With canal and hut, India stands up to China on disputed frontier

BY SANJEEV MIGLANI

NEW DELHI Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:06am IST

(Reuters) - Earlier this month, the Indian army, stationed on a remote Himalayan plateau, built a small observation hut from where they could watch Chinese soldiers across a disputed border.

The move so irked China's military that it laid a road on territory claimed by India and demanded that the tin hut be dismantled. India refused, destroyed a part of the new road and promptly raised troop numbers in the area.

Wall Street Retreats, as China’s Weakening Growth Pulls Shares and Oil Lower

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESSSEPT. 22, 2014

(Published in the Wall Street Journal) 

Worries about the outlook for growth in China and a slide in the price of oil pushed the stock market to its biggest loss in almost seven weeks on Monday.

Investors are nervous about China after a run of soft economic data that suggested growth there, the No. 2 economy after the United States, was slowing. The worries about China helped push down the price of oil, and that in turn weighed on energy stocks.

Isis onslaught against Kurds in Syria brings ‘man-made disaster’ into Turkey

In the border town of Suruç, there is anger and despair among the Syrian Kurd refugees who have joined the exodus

Constanze Letsch in Suruç

The Guardian, Monday 22 September 2014 20.43 BST

In the small bus shuttling passengers between Gaziantep and the small predominantly Kurdish border town of Suruç, all conversation is focused on one topic only.

“Suruç is teeming,” says Izzettin Abdi Hacirashad, 51, a spare parts trader. “In the parks, the bus station, the streets. Everywhere. You will see.”

With One Battle Over in Scotland, Another Begins

By JOHN F. BURNSSEPT. 21, 2014

The New York Times

AUCHTERARDER, Scotland — With one struggle concluded and another set to begin, this ancient slate-gray town in the russet-leaved approaches to the Scottish Highlands has been busy in recent days, swapping the political passions of last week for the breezier enthusiasms involved in preparing for what many local residents regard as the greatest sporting event ever to be staged in Scotland.

U.S. and Arab partners bomb ISIS in Syria

By Holly Yan and Jim Sciutto, CNN

September 23, 2014 -- Updated 1053 GMT (1853 HKT)

(CNN) -- The United States and several Arab nations rained bombs on ISIS targets in Syria on Tuesday -- the first U.S. military offensive in the war-torn country and a forceful message to the militant group that the U.S. would not stand by idly while it carried out its rampage of terror.

The airstrikes focused on the city of Raqqa, the declared capital of ISIS' self-proclaimed Islamic State. But other areas were hit as well.

The operation began with a flurry of Tomahawk missiles launched from the sea, followed by attacks from bomber and fighter aircraft, a senior U.S. military official told CNN.