September 07, 2015:
US monitoring reports Russia has stepped up Syria presence
Published September 04, 2015
The White House and State Department said Thursday that it was monitoring reports that Russia is carrying out military operations in Syria's civil war on behalf of President Bashar al-Assad, with both warning that such actions would further destabilize Syria's perilous situation.
Syrian state media reported this week that Russian forces were fighting alongside Assad's army. The Times of London reported Thursday that video shot by a militia loyal to Assad and aired on SANA, Syria's state-run television station, showed troops backed by an armored vehicle. The newspaper also reported that Russian voices could clearly be heard in the film, which claimed to show government forces fighting rebels in the Latakia Mountains, near Syria's Mediterranean coast.
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Why Russia Will Send More Troops to Central Asia
April 11, 2015 | 12:59 GMT
Central Asia has played an important role in the projection of Russian military power since the Russian Empire's expansion in the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, Russia established military outposts as it competed with the British Empire for influence in the region. By the mid-19th century, Russia had brought modern-day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan into its empire. In the early 20th century, the countries were incorporated into the Soviet Union.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia retained a military presence in Central Asia and played a major role in regional conflicts, such as the 1992-1997 Tajik civil war. Today Russia still has military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Kazakhstan is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military bloc dominated by Moscow. And while Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are not members of the bloc, they do have important security and military ties with Russia through arms purchases.
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https://www.stratfor.com/analysis/why-russia-will-send-more-troops-central-asia
European migrant crisis: Britain to accept thousands more Syrian asylum seekers; UN calls EU to increase intake by up to 200,000
September 4, 2015
Britain says it will "act with its heart" and take thousands more Syrian asylum seekers as the United Nationscalled on the European Union to admit up to 200,000 refugees as part of a "mass relocation program" that would be binding on EU states.
British prime minister David Cameron said on Friday the UK had already accepted around 5,000 Syrians under its existing resettlement schemes, but would continue to take in more asylum seekers.
"Given the scale of the crisis and the suffering of people, today, I can announce that we will do more in providing resettlement for thousands more Syrian refugees," Mr Cameron told reporters in Lisbon.
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Pope tells European churches to host refugees
Updated 7:58 AM ET, Sun September 6, 2015
Nickelsdorf, Austria (CNN)Pope Francis implored Catholic institutions throughout Europe to show mercy to the flood of refugees arriving on their shores by offering them shelter.
"Every parish, every religious community, every monastery, every sanctuary of Europe has to host a family, starting from my diocese of Rome," Francis said at the end of his Angelus prayers in Rome on Sunday.
"The two parishes in the Vatican these days will welcome two families of refugees."
Meanwhile, as more migrants poured into Hungary on Sunday, the will of the German government to relieve more pressure there -- as it had done a day earlier -- appeared to have its limits.
Germany's acceptance of thousands of people who entered Hungary while fleeing entrenched bloody conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan should be seen as the exception and not the rule, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Saturday.
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http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/06/europe/europe-migrant-crisis/index.html
Fact Sheet: Myths and Facts on the Central American Migration Surge
By on June 10, 2014
Check out this fact sheet released today, “Myths and Facts on the Central American Migration Surge” from the Society of Jesus in the United States and the Washington Office on Latin America.
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http://americasvoice.org/blog/fact-sheet-myths-facts-central-american-migration-surge/
Trump seeks 90% tax cut at New York golf club
David McKay Wilson, (Westchester, N.Y)
The Journal News 7:03 p.m. EDT September 3, 2015
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Donald Trump boasts of his business prowess and ability "to get it done" when making the case to become the next president of the United States.
His golf company’s bid to slash its local property taxes by 90% at Trump National Golf Club in Briarcliff Manor provides a glimpse of how he operates in the trenches of Westchester’s real estate world.
If Trump gets it done in Ossining, property taxes on the 140-acre complex on a Briarcliff Manor hilltop will plummet from $471,000 to $47,000, with the exclusive club’s neighbors picking up the $424,000 Trump would save. Trump would save the most in school taxes: The club’s bill would drop from $287,000 to $32,000.
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