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In der Flüchtlingskrise drängt Österreichs Bundeskanzler Werner Faymann auf eine gerechte Verteilung von Zuwandern: Sollten sich die östlichen Mitgliedsstaaten weiterhin dagegen sperren, sollen sie schon im kommenden Jahr weniger EU-Gelder bekommen.

Nach jahrelangem Ringen hat sich die EU auf eine Reform des Datenschutzrechtes geeinigt: Sie soll Verbrauchern mehr Rechte bringen, den Flickenteppich beim Datenschutz in Europa beseitigen und Internet-Konzernen bei Verstößen drastische Strafen aufbürden.

Unmittelbar vor Inkrafttreten des Freihandelsabkommens zwischen der Ukraine und der EU, kündigt Russlands Präsident Wladimir Putin den Freihandel mit der Ukraine auf. Damit wolle er die wirtschaftliche Sicherheit seines Landes bewahren.

At 40, Durga Rajak, co-owner of “Mailadai Hans ko Choila,” a popular eatery in Kathmandu, is learning to light a stove all over again. However, this time she is using diesel fuel instead of kerosene. She admits this is a risky job. “There is always the danger of a blast, so I must never pump […]

Etliche Lampen verbrauchen deutlich mehr Strom und liefern zugleich weniger Licht als angegeben: Möglich machen das lückenhafte EU-Vorschriften. Der EU-Kommission ist die Schummelei, die Europas Verbraucher Milliarden kostet, seit Jahren bekannt.

Die Flüchtlingskrise weckt bei der Bevölkerung Panik. In Österreich sind Politik und Wissenschaft mittlerweile bemüht, Aufklärungsarbeit zu leisten: Die Alpenrepublik brauche mehr Mut zum Risiko.

Le Haut-Commissaire des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, a demandé jeudi à la communauté internationale de prendre des mesures vigoureuses et décisives concernant le Burundi pour éviter une guerre civile qui pourrait avoir de graves conséquences régionales.

Le Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général pour la Libye, Martin Kobler, s'est félicité jeudi de la signature à Skhirat, au Maroc, d'un Accord politique entre plusieurs parties au conflit en Libye.

Le Secrétaire général de l'ONU, Ban Ki-moon, a promis jeudi d'examiner rapidement les recommandations d'un groupe indépendant d'experts qui a constaté que l'Organisation n'avait pas agi avec « la rapidité, le soin et la sensibilité requis » quand elle a été informée de crimes commis contre des enfants par des soldats – pas sous le commandement de l'ONU - envoyés en République centrafricaine pour protéger les civils.

It’s December, Christmas is fast approaching and we are all hoping for a few days of procrastination before disappearing for the holidays…must be time for the obligatory New Year predictions. You know the score: I make a few wild stabs in the dark for the

ARI 74/2015 - 17/12/2015
Mario Esteban
Se analiza el creciente papel de Asia en la globalización, mostrando que China no es el único actor relevante y que su impacto va mucho más allá de la dimensión económica.

Americas

• Oshkosh Corporation has been allowed to resume building tactical vehicles for the US Army. The go ahead was given after the company was forced to halt production of 17,000 Light Tactical Vehicles specified on the $6.75 billion contract which was awarded in August. Rival bidder Lockheed Martin had challenged the decision to award Oshkosh Corp the tender, bringing it to the watchdog Government Accountability Office. The GAO dismissed Lockheed’s objections, allowing the production to continue.

• Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training and Charles Stark Draper Laboratories have each been awarded contracts to carry out support and engineering services for the US and UK Navies’ Trident systems. Lockheed was awarded $72.47 million to provide Trident (D-5) II navigation sub-system engineering support services and that contract may contain add ons that amount to a total of $147.3 million if options are exercised. CSD Labs will provide specialized tactical engineering services, logistics services, fleet support services, and guidance SSP alteration services to test, repair and maintain guidance subsystems, test equipment, and related support equipment of existing Trident (D-5) weapon systems. The contract with CSD Labs is for $54.3 million, but with options could total $392.9 million.

Middle East North Africa

• The Israeli Air Force (IAF) has just retired their fleet of A-4 Skyhawks after 48 years of service. The aircraft have taken part in every single military campaign since 1967. In total, 236 have been in operation over the years and after their replacement as active fighters by the F-15s and F-16s, they remained as trainer jets. Thirty of the jets remained in service until they were retired from service on December 13.

• A Spanish operated NATO Patriot missile battery is to continue being stationed in southern Turkey until 2017. The battery was expected to cease service at the end of this year, but is to be extended at the request of the Turkish government to counter the deployment of Russian S-400 batteries in Syria. Turkey is currently in the process of looking to procure a temporary air defense system as it develops its own indigenous batteries.

Europe

• Testing of a Russian cruise missile went awry in the northern city of Archangel after it hit an apartment building. Testing was being conducted by industry specialists NPO Mashinostroyeniya rocket design bureau when the incident occurred. According to the Ministry of Defence, “as a result of an abnormal situation, the missile diverged from the set trajectory and fell near the inhabited locality of Nenoksa”. Luckily, no casualties were reported, but the roof and four apartments of a three story house were damaged. Let’s see who gets fired for that blunder.

Asia Pacific

• The Obama administration has approved a $1.83 billion arms sale to Taiwan, the first between the two countries in four years. Congress is expected to give final approval within the next thirty days, but few objections are expected. The package sees a major transfer of equipment including two frigates, anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles, and amphibious assault equipment. Details of the potential deal had been known for the last few weeks, but official Pentagon approval has been met with the expected swift condemnation from China. They claimed the sale would damage the relations across the Taiwan Strait which have been growing steadily over the last two decades, especially under the China-friendly administration of Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou.

• The assembly of the first Japanese-built F-35 has begun in their Nagoya plant. Dubbed the AX-5, the “mate” process began on Tuesday when its wings, fuselage and tails were joined together for the first time to form the structure of the aircraft. The announcement marks an important milestone in the international F-35 program. Thirty-eight of Japan’s forty-two F-35 fleet will be manufactured indigenously, with the first four aircraft, to be delivered in 2018, produced in the US.

• Airbus has completed the final deliveries of the H-135 helicopters for the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. The two delivered brings the total to 15 now in operation since operations began in 2011. Japan has approximately 80 H-135 helicopters in use across a variety of fields including emergency services, civilian news networks, VIP travel, and business aviation.

• US defense officials have claimed that a Chinese submarine simulated a targeting of the USS Ronald Reagan during operations in October. The submarine allegedly simulated an anti-ship cruise missile attack which is against the 2014 multi-national commitment Code of Unplanned Encounters at Sea. The code, while non-binding, aims to prevent mishaps and misunderstandings at sea. The targeting was a response to assumed US naval incursions near disputed Chinese islands in the South China Sea by the USS Lassen, which was criticized by Beijing.

Today’s Video

• IDF GoPro footage of the A-4 Skyjet:

Trident II D-5

Carried on SSBN-726 Ohio Class submarines, The Trident II D-5 is the US Navy’s submarine launched nuclear missile, with exceptional range for a sea-launched weapon and accuracy figures that rival or even exceed land-based ICBMs. These missiles are arguably the most important and effective component of the US nuclear deterrent, and they constitute Britain’s entire nuclear deterrent as well. They were first deployed in 1990, and are planned for continuous deployment to 2042.

The US Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs in Washington, DC and Lockheed Martin recently issued over $100 million in contracts related to the Trident II D-5 SLBMs, in order to maintain their propulsion and guidance systems.

Ohio class, 6 tubes open

Alliant Techsystems received a $76 million contract from Lockheed Martin to produce solid propulsion systems for all three stages of the U.S. Navy’s Trident II (D-5) missile. Under the terms of the contract, ATK will continue to supply Trident solid propulsion systems to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Sunnyvale, CA through 2010. LMSS is the Trident II (D-5) Missile System’s Prime Contractor,

ATK has a 50-year history of producing solid propulsion systems for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, beginning with the original Polaris missile. The company’s solid rocket portfolio ranges from 3-inch diameter spin motors to the Space Shuttle’s Reusable Solid Rocket Motors (RSRM).

Meanwhile, the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, MA received a $26.9 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract to provide repair and recertification of MK-6 guidance systems, including pendulous integrating gyroscopic accelerometers, inertial measurement units, electronic assemblies, inertial measurement units electronics, repair parts, test equipment maintenance, and related hardware. Work will be performed in Cambridge, MA and is expected to be complete September 2006. The contract was not competitively procured by the US Navy’s Strategic Systems Programs in Arlington, VA (N000-30-06-C-0002).

DID has covered work on the aging MK-6 guidance systems before, including key subcontracters to Draper’s efforts. We have also noted the efforts underway to develop a modernized Mk6 LE guidance system that dispenses with obsolete 1980s era electronics, and how that fits into overall Trident II modernization activities.

Contracts & Events

December 17/15: Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training and Charles Stark Draper Laboratories have each been awarded contracts to carry out support and engineering services for the US and UK Navies’ Trident systems. Lockheed was awarded $72.47 million to provide Trident (D-5) II navigation sub-system engineering support services and that contract may contain add ons that amount to a total of $147.3 million if options are exercised. CSD Labs will provide specialized tactical engineering services, logistics services, fleet support services, and guidance SSP alteration services to test, repair and maintain guidance subsystems, test equipment, and related support equipment of existing Trident (D-5) weapon systems. The contract with CSD Labs is for $54.3 million, but with options could total $392.9 million.

BAE Systems has subcontracted L-3 Marine Systems UK to provide its integrated platform management system (IPMS) for use on the UK Royal Navy's Type 26 Global Combat Ship (GCS).

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has awarded a contract to Australian-based global ship-building company Austal to build two more Cape-class patrol boats (CCPB).

Northrop Grumman has received a contract from the US Navy to develop replacement inertial navigation systems (INS-R), which are installed on combat and support ships.

BAE Systems has received a contract from the UK Ministry of Defence to build and deliver 60 new Pacific 24 rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) for the Royal Navy.

Market economy status (MES) – a technical term used in antidumping investigations – has come to the top of the international agenda, bringing heated discussions on whether or not China will soon be granted this status. China argues that its WTO accession documents foresee an automatic acquisition of MES after 11 December 2016. Yet for many other WTO members, the text in question – Section 15 of China's Protocol of Accession – is subject to interpretation. The issue is sensitive for a number of reasons. Legally, the EU must ensure that its rules are compatible with the WTO's. But the economic aspects are complex – and potentially substantial for significant sectors of the Union's economy. The EU's ability to level the playing field for its own industrial products and imports from China depends on its ability to offset unfairly low prices of 'dumped' Chinese imports; the antidumping instruments the Union deploys to this end depend on China's MES. The issue also has political ramifications, and may well affect the Union's relationship with other countries. In general, the EU would benefit from a more elaborated assessment than has yet been undertaken, from the input of the European Parliament, and from a more coordinated approach with major trading partners.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Ukrajna kész megfizetni az ország és az Európai Unió között létrejött társulási szerződés keretében jövőre életbe lépő szabadkereskedelmi megállapodás miatti orosz korlátozások árát - jelentette ki az ukrán államfő szerdán, miután uniós vezetőkkel tárgyalt Brüsszelben. Petro Porosenko Jean-Claude Junckerrel, az Európai Bizottság elnökével, Donald Tusk európai tanácsi elnökkel és Martin Schulzzal, az Európai Parlament elnökével folytatott megbeszélést szerda este Brüsszelben.

Des manifestations se sont tenues à Johannesburg, au Cap et à Pretoria pour demander la démission de Jacob Zuma. Le président sud-africain a provoqué la semaine dernière une crise vertigneuse de la devise nationale après plusieurs remaniements.