112: the building of the TV channel "112 Ukraine" in Kiev fired a grenade launcher

In Kiev on the night of July 13, the building of the TV channel "112 Ukraine" fired a grenade launcher, according to the website of the channel.

At 3:40 the police received a report that residents of the Shevchenko district of the capital heard a sound like an explosion . On a scene immediately left it is investigative-task forces of territorial and head departments of police, bomb experts, cynologists and crews of patrolmen.

Arriving at the building of the channel, the police found a damaged facade. As a result of the incident, no one was injured. Law enforcement officers cordoned off the area adjacent to the crime scene. At working off found the shot tube of the grenade launcher.

Police describe the incident as a terrorist act.

In Kiev, a special police operation to detain the shooter was introduced. Law enforcement officers are currently trying to identify and detain persons involved in the Commission of the offense, as well as learn the motives for its Commission.

All collected materials will be transferred to the security Service of Ukraine for further investigation.

As recalled by "112 Ukraine", the journalists of the TV channel made an open appeal to the SBU, Prosecutor's office and diplomatic missions with the request "to protect the team from the tyranny of radicals, which through intimidation and threats to try to influence the editorial policy of the TV channel, to cause to abandon the world of broadcasting standards in favor of certain political interests".

NYTimes: China has promised to punish US sanctions for arms supplies to Taiwan

China has promised to impose sanctions against American companies that are going to sell Taiwan arms worth more than $2 billion, writes The New York Times.

This step, as the newspaper notes, can provoke even greater tension in relations between the two major powers at the same time when the governments of both countries impose duties against each other.

Beijing threatened to use similar measures against Washington after the last sale of arms to Taiwan — an island that is not controlled by the Chinese authorities, but China considers it its territory. However, then the promised sanctions have not been implemented, the newspaper notes.

"The sale of arms by the United States is a serious violation of international law and norms governing international relations," Chinese foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang commented on the situation.

Further retaliatory steps of China or the lack of such will be a signal of Beijing's readiness to inflict a painful blow on American companies against the background of the second year of the trade war with Washington, the newspaper notes.

The United States supplies arms to Taiwan, in accordance with the requirements of the American law, adopted in 1979 in order to ensure the security of the island. And the document was approved against the background of warming relations between Washington and Beijing. China has long been considering a similar delivery as an insulting attack on its sovereignty.

As stressed by The New York Times, any sanctions by Beijing will not affect the arms business of us defense contractors, because after the "massacre at Tiananmen square in 1989," American companies were forbidden to sell weapons to mainland China.

However, restrictive measures may affect non-military products of the same enterprises. For example, the company General Dynamics produces not only combat vehicles and submarines, but also private Gulfstream aircraft, which are very popular with the Chinese rich.

German political scientist: after the purchase of the S-400 can not exclude Turkey's exit from NATO

The conflict over missile DEFENSE systems that Ankara acquires from Russia threatens to worsen, says Professor of international policy at the University of Cologne Thomas Jaeger. Will Turkey leave NATO as a result? The expert tried to answer this question in his article published by the German magazine Focus Online.

According to him, due to the difficult security situation in the region, the Turkish government has been seeking to purchase missile DEFENSE systems for a number of years. At some point, Turkey was close to acquiring the Patriot system from its NATO partner, the United States. However, the agreement was never concluded, because for Ankara weapons were too expensive, and Washington wanted to avoid leakage of technology, says the German political scientist.

In 2017, the Turkish government decided to buy Russian s-400 complexes. NATO's concerns were dismissed with the argument that the S-400 would not be integrated into the Alliance's overall missile defence system. It was only about national defense.

However, the first consequences were not long in coming. The US immediately stopped cooperation with Turkey on the modernization of f-35 combat aircraft and refused to supply them to Ankara. This, first of all, causes economic damage, but the political and military impact of this step is much more significant, the author believes. NATO countries fear that through the missile DEFENSE systems installed in Turkey, Russia will be able to obtain data on the new f-35 model and thus improve its protection systems against NATO aircraft.

In addition, the deal with Russia will now significantly worsen the already long-strained relations between the US and Turkey, continues Thomas Jaeger. President trump is forced by law to impose sanctions against Ankara, because she bought the goods of the defense industry from Russia. Sanctions can be postponed, but not prevented, emphasizes Professor of the University of Cologne. Donald trump prefers to expose his predecessor as a fool, but he acts in the same way: Obama made a mistake by not selling American patriot systems to Turkey. And by the time trump took the post of head of the White house, negotiations with Russia have gone too far to change anything.

In turn, President Erdogan is extremely skeptical about the United States after the failed coup attempt in Turkey and with great displeasure perceives Washington's reluctance to give him his personal enemy, preacher Gulen. On the contrary, in the person of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Turkish leader sees an effective support in case he gets under pressure inside the country. Assistance to oppressed presidents has recently become a hallmark of Russian foreign policy, the author of the article emphasizes.

According to Thomas Jaeger, "if Turkey decides to leave the Alliance, for NATO it will be a bitter geostrategic loss." Such an option cannot be completely ruled out, and its probability will depend on how the conflict over the S-400 systems will worsen, how much pressure will be exerted by Washington and Moscow, and in whom President Erdogan will see a greater guarantee of his political survival.

The delivery of the first parts of missile DEFENSE systems and their installation by Russian specialists in Turkey is a "huge victory for Vladimir Putin". His reputation at the international level is gaining weight again, access to secret military data is a great advantage for the Russian special services, and the connection between Turkey and Russia is a real sensation in world politics, the German political scientist lists.

However, for Turkey, the situation will eventually look more threatening. Ankara will have to pay a high economic and political price for abandoning close ties with the United States and their formation with Russia, says Professor of the University of Cologne. This price may be so high that Erdogan will really need Putin's help to maintain his power.

However, this development will damage NATO, the political scientist said. If Turkey does not leave the Alliance of its own accord, mistrust among allies will flourish. A wedge has already been hammered into NATO, and it will work even if the Alliance remains in its current composition.

This state of Affairs affects the vital interests of the EU countries, while Europe has no influence on the development of the situation, the German political scientist notes with regret on the pages of Focus Online magazine.

SRF: experts of the Bundestag considered the refusal of Berlin from reparations of Greece to be unquestionable

Whether Germany remains Greece billions in reparations for Nazi past? Athens demands from Berlin compensation for the occupation by the Nazis during the Second world war, said the Swiss TV channel SRF.

These demands are not new, but they became important again when Greece became insolvent due to the financial crisis, and it was Germany that pushed it towards a radical policy of austerity. Former then Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras openly spoke about the wine of Germany.

Berlin constantly rejected the claims of reparations, referring to the existing contracts, but now the expertise of the scientific service of the Bundestag came to the following conclusion: the position of the German government is acceptable from the point of view of international law, but is not necessarily mandatory. With regard to Poland, experts of the Bundestag came to the conclusion that its demands are illegal, because Warsaw officially renounced possible claims in 1953 and then again — in 1970.

The government of Angela Merkel insists that the situation with Greece was settled at the Paris conference in 1945. There Greece was promised a small percentage of military reparations payments to Germany, in terms of today's money is about €2 billion.

In 1960 the second contract was signed, reminds the Swiss TV channel. Germany paid DM 115 million to victims of Nazi crimes. However, there is still no peace Treaty with Greece, which would settle all the issues.

Germany refers to the "Two plus four"Treaty concluded after its unification. On one side the table then sat both Germany, on the other — former powers-winners the US, Russia, Britain and France. From the point of view of the German government, this Treaty settled all legal issues related to the Second world war. The issue of reparations was not touched upon in it, SRF notes.

Greek experts estimated the amount of €290 billion for human and material damage — murder, torture, destruction, robbery, as well as for the forced loan that the country had to provide the German Reichsbank. These funds financed the occupation of Greece. After the war, this interest-free loan was never repaid, the newspaper recalls.

The international court of justice in the Hague could deal with the issue today, but Germany must give its consent to this, and so far it has evaded consideration of this controversial issue. "This is contrary to all international practices," says Heinz Richter, who is considered the leading German historian of Greece in the XX century. He insists that the matter was settled by the London agreement of 1952 and by the Treaty of two plus four of 1989. According to the historian, more to this topic did not return, because after the experience of the Treaty of Versailles, no one wanted to take up something like that again.

According to Richter, Greece did not sign the Treaty "Two plus four", but did not provide written evidence against it. Thus, she agreed to the Treaty in accordance with international diplomatic customs — and Tsipras just tried to get the money, explained the position of the German historian Swiss TV channel SRF.

N-TV: former presidential candidate head of the European Commission accused the liberals in the weakening of the European Parliament

Manfred Weber is still extremely disappointed that his candidacy for the post of head of the European Commission and Juncker's successor is no longer considered, according to the website of the German TV channel N-TV. In the change of alignment, he blames the social Democrats and liberals in the European Parliament, which, according to the politician, did not hurt him alone.

Manfred Weber from the faction of the European people's party (EPP) believes that not only social Democrats, but also liberals are to blame for the opaque, in his opinion, process of distribution of high-ranking European positions.

"The fact that the social Democrats and liberals in the European Parliament did not recognize the claims to leadership by the strongest party, that is, the EPP, weakened the Parliament," Weber said in an interview with journalists. According to him, this should be something taken for granted in a democratic environment, but it did not happen. "I could not overcome it," he stated.

As the German TV channel reminds, Weber was one of the main candidates for the presidency of the European Commission, but after the European elections he did not receive the support of the majority neither among the deputies of the European Parliament, nor among the heads of state in the EU Council. As a result, he had to give up the fight in favor of Ursula von der Leyen. "I am still deeply disappointed, — the politician admitted. — What is particularly painful is the personal discredit I have faced."

In his article published in the German media, Weber called for the next five years to be a period of "democratization and parliamentarization of Europe." In particular, the principle of the nomination of key candidates at the European level should be formalized clearly. Future commissions should avoid formation on the sidelines, even if it corresponds to the current legal norms, stressed Manfred Weber.

In addition, he believes that one of the main tasks of the European Commission is the formation of economic policy. According to Weber, it is especially important to support the economic development of Europe, because it "fundamentally changes the world economy." China's actions and us trade policy will largely affect the interests of Bavaria. "We need a single continent here," Weber stressed. It is in the automotive industry, he foresees significant changes, according to the German TV channel N-TV.

NBC: by the year 2100 mankind has reached "junk peak»

We are made up of many things. And we get rid of a lot too. Starting with coffee glasses and ending with cocktail sticks. Quickly discarded garbage quickly becomes a big problem. Let's pinch our noses and see while we still have time.

It's "Garbage country." We will study deeply what we throw away and what the consequences are.

We're masters at making garbage. Each of us leaves about four and a half pounds a day. Or about 1600 pounds a year. Weighs about as much the two-seater Smart four or a piano.

In fact, although we Americans make up only 5 percent of the world's population, we create almost a third of the world's garbage. The weight of the garbage we created during the year is equal to the weight of 1.2 million blue whales.

And all of us around the world are throwing away more than ever. Ten times more than a century ago. And in the next seven years, this figure will double. So how did we get to this?

On average, most of what we buy is thrown away in just six months. Some products "live" no more than six seconds. Remember turntables-antistress? Today their almost forgotten, but two months they were on peak of popularity. As a result, it is estimated that 50 million pieces were sold — and along the way left tons of garbage.

Traditional spinner sizes are 3.6 inches by 3.5 inches. The thickness of the plastic is half an inch. Weight — 2.4 oz. The standard packaging is a small cardboard box with a molded plastic insert, sealed with about an inch of plastic tape. They are imported in bulk in cardboard boxes of large dimensions.

Let's say each distributor orders them in boxes weighing 15 pounds, 100 pieces each. So, the 50 million spinners sold account for 7.5 million pounds of landfill waste — and that's just the toys themselves; 0.6 million pounds of small cardboard boxes; 0.3 million pounds of plastic inserts; 57.5 million pounds of transport cardboard boxes and 4.1 feet of plastic tape. And even more indirect damage — waste generated in the course of marketing, transportation and packaging.

And that's without taking into account the millions of unsold copies that are probably dusting on warehouse shelves. Trinkets that do not mind throwing away, join other plastic misunderstandings of our time. All this today is a little less than half of our garbage.

Just think of all the packaging materials of your last order on Amazon or your last postage. All these one-time things quickly accumulate, creating problems in the future. By about 2100 we will reach the garbage peak: the weight of the garbage carried out every day will be equal to the weight of 73 thousand blue whales. According to experts, we will stay at this mark. But either way, it's a horribly littered future.

In the second episode, we dig the landfill deeper. And yet — think about whether to throw away that shovel from a discount store, and generally anything…

Deutschlandfunk: "like second-class citizens" — in the United States put pressure on scientists of Chinese origin

The staff of the American universities with Chinese roots, EN masse, are suspected by intelligence agencies in the theft of intellectual property and its transfer to China, writes Deutschlandfunk. According to FBI Director Christopher ray, Beijing, among other things, uses students and scientists working in Universities for technological espionage. It is noted that many us-Chinese scientists do not feel safe: there are already cases when scientists of Chinese origin had to leave their positions because of suspicions.

Deutschlandfunk: "like second-class citizens" — in the United States put pressure on scientists of Chinese originreuters

Many American scientists of Chinese origin are under suspicion, reports Deutschlandfunk. They are accused of transferring confidential information and intellectual property to China for money.

"I get a lot of letters from other Asian Americans that they feel in danger and are under suspicion. Being innocent, they are under strong suspicion, as if they are second-class citizens under a totalitarian regime," says an American Professor of physics with Chinese roots named Wu. He talks about another Professor whose planned trip to China was banned by the University, as well as two Chinese-born neuroscientists who were fired in mid-may from Emory University in Georgia.

 

According to Deutschlandfunk, in recent months, the FBI visited many American universities and drew the attention of University administrations to the problem of intellectual property theft. According to FBI Director Christopher ray, "China is a pioneer in the comprehensive theft of innovation from every possible place — businesses, universities and organizations. To do this, Beijing uses special services, state enterprises, as well as students and scientists working on his order." Ray stressed that since China's approach affects the whole society, the countermeasures of the us intelligence services should be appropriate.

 

However, not all universities agreed with this policy: for example, the Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, said that the UNIVERSITY will not suspect employees only on the basis of their origin, because this practice can lead to horrific injustice.

 

One of the most sensational incidents was the case of the Director of the center for Oncology MD Anderson University of Texas Zifeng Wu: last January, she resigned from her post, after the CIA and the national Institute of health began an investigation into her. Three other staff members of Chinese origin also had to leave the centre: the charges against them remain unknown.

 

"China is an important component of American science. Many people from China have made a successful scientific career in the United States and occupy senior positions. If you remove all the scientists of Chinese origin from American science, the consequences will be devastating," — said a former employee of the center MD Anderson Oliver Bogler.

 

According to Deutschlandfunk, the American national Institute of health is going to check 180 suspects in more than 60 institutions.