Friday, May 23, 2014
Russia May Sign Agreement to Build 8 Reactors in Iran
ST. PETERSBURG, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow may sign an intergovernmental agreement with Teheran this year to build eight new reactors for nuclear power plants in Iran, a source close to the negotiations told journalists Thursday.
Two reactors could be built at the Bushehr Power Plant and six reactors at other sites, the source said, adding that the talks were in their final stage.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier this week that Russian-Iranian cooperation will continue despite international turbulence around Tehran. Putin said that Russia and Iran are not only neighbors, but also long-standing reliable partners.
Iran’s only nuclear power plant near Bushehr came online September 2011 and began operating at full capacity a year after. Moscow handed over operational control of the Russian-made plant to Iran in September last year.
Construction of the power plant in the country’s south began in the 1970s but was plagued by delays. Russia signed a billion-dollar deal with Tehran to complete the plant in 1998.
Credit to RIA Novosti
Pope Faces Serious Health Concerns
As Pope Francis begins a trip to the Holy Land on Saturday with a rigorous schedule that could be challenging even for the healthiest person, Vatican insiders are raising questions about the pontiff's health.
Some in the Holy See are beginning to openly discuss concerns about Francis' condition and asking if the Holy Father is overtaxing himself.
Less than two years into his papacy, the 77-year-old Pope has been on a remarkable whirlwind of activity that a man half his age might find difficult to keep up with.
But close observers are noting that the Pope's physical body may be failing to keep up with his youthful energy and vigor, especially considering he only has one fully functioning lung.
As a young boy in Argentina, before the advent of advanced antibiotics, the Pope suffered an infection which led surgeons to remove most of one lung.
He has appeared to cope with that well through the years, but recently the Pope has canceled a number of papal appointments, citing health reasons.
Although planned months ago, the Pope last week put off a visit slated for May 18 to the Marian shrine of Divino Amore in the suburbs of Rome. The reason given was to "lighten the commitments" of the Pope ahead of his Holy Land visit, but further cancellations followed that weekend owing to a cold.
These are not the only times appointments have been delayed or canceled in recent months.
On Feb. 28, Francis called off a visit to Rome's Major Seminary due to a "light fever."
And before that, in early December, he felt compelled to cancel, at the last minute, a meeting at the Vatican with Cardinal Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, who came with a delegation from Expo 2015. The Vatican said the Holy Father had "expressed fatigue" after a general audience in St. Peter's Square in which he had greeted the faithful for nearly three hours.
Indian Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo, archbishop of Ranchi, told the Italian daily Libero that he concelebrated Mass with the Pope for a few days last summer and found him "very tired and fatigued."
He added: "I honestly do not know how long he might be able to sustain this pace that he's certainly not accustomed to."
Last September, the Argentine magazine Noticias reported that the Pope's personal physician in Argentina had said he was "concerned" about his patient's health.
"I have the impression that something is wrong," explained Liu Ming, a Chinese Taoist doctor who claims to have helped cure the future Pope from heart and liver problems through acupuncture and other Oriental treatments.
But Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi is playing down any fears. The visit to Divino Amore would be "very challenging" given Francis' usual wish to meet so many people and groups. "I think he thought: 'Well, we can do all that another time,' and that shouldn't be considered a cause for concern," he said.
Some close to the Pope have said they notice he has difficulty breathing, and during the 14 months of his papacy has gained a significant amount of weight, perhaps as much as 20 pounds.
"It's a very serious condition," Dr. Peter Hibberd told Newsmax in discussing the Pope's single lung.
"If you are 20 years old and have one lung, you wouldn't notice it because all humans have a large reserve capacity in their lungs," said Hibberd, a 30-year hospital and emergency medicine specialist who writes for Newsmaxhealth.com.
Hibberd noted that as they age, people "lose lung function," which in turn makes the extra or "reserve" capacity of the lung more critical in keeping the blood well oxygenated while allowing the body to exchange gases.
"His repeated fatigue reports and weight gain suggest he may be slipping into a form of chronic heart failure common among victims of significant lung disorders such as COPD," Hibberd suggested.
"His immunity will be challenged when under stress, and more frequent pauses to recover from otherwise small insults — such as colds, sore throats, and minor injuries — can be expected to increase in the future unless he paces himself," Hibberd said. He noted that patients with chronic lung conditions require an inhaler and nighttime oxygen to breath comfortably.
The Pope's weekend trip to the Middle East will be grueling. Francis will give 15 discourses in Amman, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem during the 48-hour trip, from Saturday to Monday.
His visit follows the intensity of the last few weeks that have included leading the church's Easter celebrations and presiding over the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II.
The Pope's visit to the Holy Land is notable for being unusually short, especially given the obvious significance of the destination.
Lombardi said the Pope had received many requests to visit other areas such as Galilee, "but one cannot do everything."
In any case, he said, it has to be seen in the context of Pope Paul VI's historic trip in 1964. This visit commemorates the 50th anniversary of that visit, when Paul met the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, in Jerusalem.
"Even that trip lasted three days," Lombardi said.
On his trip, Pope Francis plans to meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, also in Jerusalem.
Credit to News Max
Read Latest Breaking News from Newsmax.com http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Pope-Francis-health-Holy-Land/2014/05/21/id/572721#ixzz32Tyq6dR8
Thursday, May 22, 2014
US assigns 13,000 servicemen to first ever combined US-Jordan-Israeli exercise
Under cover of conjoined military exercises with Israel (Juniper Cobra) and Jordan (Eager Lion), the US has moved more than 6,000 Marines to Jordan and several thousand servicemen to Israel.. The Jordanian drill starts Sunday, May 25 and will last until June 8. The US-Israeli exercise began this week with the participation of another 6,000 combat personnel from the US European Command and 1,000 airmen to operate missile defense systems.
Sailing opposite Israel’s Mediterranean shore are two US warships carrying Aegis Combat Systems. Due to arrive in the Jordanian Red Sea port of Aqaba over the coming weekend are large US landing craft, that will drop marines on land. Gulf units are also taking part in the combined exercise.
This is the first time that the US has unified two large military exercises. The Jordanian and Israeli drills will be coordinated by US command centers.
The two war games were planned as military maneuvers plain an simple until Wednesday, May 21, when news came in of large Hizballah military forces heading toward southern Syria to help the Syrian army overcome the rebel forces fighting for more than a week to capture the Syrian Golan town of Quneitra opposite the Israeli and Jordanian borders.
In the last few days, both Israel and Jordan have beefed up their Syrian border deployments and placed them in battle stations. Hizballah’s intervention in the Golan battle may well result in the war game being switched to combat operations for real.
DEBKAfile’s first report on the escalating Golan situation appeared on May 20.
The Syrian army offensive, launched Tuesday, May 20 to break the stalemate developing with rebel forces in the tussle for the Syrian Golan town of Quneitra, has raised forebodings in Israel and Jordan lest Assad’s troops bring the fighting up to their borders. So far, the rebel offensive has failed to break through to Quneitra - or even lay it to siege. The Syrian army command, although seriously short of fighting men man, has seized the moment for a counter-offensive.
The Jordanian army has accordingly deployed its 2nd mechanized division along the entire 380 km of the kingdom’s porous border with its Syrian neighbor in battle formation, along with its 60th armored battalion. All leaves have been suspended for officers and men serving in the border sector.
Earlier, the IDF augmented its border troops opposite the Golan and the Hermon range, according DEBKAfile’s military sources.
In its counter-offensive, the Syrian army’s managed Tuesday to capture the village of Um Aswaj near the southern Syrian town of Deraa and is continuing to advance on further rebel positions in the south. It went into action after the rebels Monday captured sections of the main highway from Quneitra to Damascus. This step was supposed to have led to the encirclement of the Golan town. But this did not happen. The intense fire from Syrian 9th Division tanks forced the rebels to abandon the strategic highway.
To make up for its shortage of ground troops for the Golan, the Syrian army has brought in Grad and Scud ground-to ground missiles and conducting air strikes on the rebels with warplanes and and assault helicopters.
The deep concern over the serious security situation evolving on Israel’s northern frontier was strongly reflected in IDF Chief of Staff Gen. Benny Gantz’s explanation to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Monday for the urgent need to reverse defense budget cutbacks.
“The national order of priorities is changing,” he said, “and with it, unfortunately, national decisions relating to defense. “We are in the throes of a complex challenge to our resources not encountered in the past, with dramatic repercussions for the IDF. I come to you after a difficult week,” said the chief of staff in reference to the situation on the Israeli- Syrian border.
“We are obliged at this time to make painful decisions which affect all systems and all spheres of action for the reserves and the regular army – when it comes to training, the situation in the field and the home front.
“The country has clear orders of priority and on security we have already taken as many risks as are permissible."
DEBKAfile’s military sources report that, for now, the IDF has manned all the Syrian border positions with conscripts. No reserve units have been deployed.
DEBKAfile
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