| April 2012 |
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UN peacekeeping observers have acknowledged the presence of terrorist groups in Syria, which are hindering the peace process between the government and the opposition, China’s Xinhua agency has reported, quoting UN peacekeeping head Herve Ladsous.
Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 that went down in Indonesia on
Wednesday slammed into a steep mountainside outside the capital Jakarta. Jet disappeared from radar screens
during a demonstration flight near Jakarta on Wednesday. There were 48
people on board, including eight Russian crewmembers and 40 passengers,
mainly Indonesians.

The launch vehicle Falcon 9 with the Dragon spacecraft was launched on Tuesday to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in the United States.
The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a bill imposing a raft of new economic sanctions against Iran in a renewed bid to force it to halt its controversial nuclear program, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
Iran has been under international pressure to halt uranium
enrichment, needed both for electricity generation and weapons
production. Tehran has repeatedly rejected the demand, insisting it is
pursuing a purely civilian program. Several Western powers have called for harsher sanctions against Tehran if it does not agree to halt uranium enrichment.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev is inviting foreign investors to participate in the revival of the Silk Road and making Kazakhstan the largest “transit business hub” of Central Asia.
A 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Bulgaria early on Tuesday near the capital Sofia
Iran has recalled its ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohammad Bagher Bahrami, Azerbaijan’s SalamNews agency said on Tuesday citing diplomatic sources
Iran continues to pose a nuclear threat to Israel and world powers should not make any concessions to Tehran at the upcoming talks in Baghdad
Tokyo Skytree, the world’s tallest television and radio broadcast tower, will be opened for public access on Tuesday
Small aftershocks continue to shake northern Italy causing evacuation of at least 6,000 residents of the Emilia-Romagna region
Members of a U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan reaffirmed on Monday their commitment to help rebuild Afghanistan into a viable, peaceful, and functional state during a decade following the withdrawal of foreign troops in 2014.
Violence has surged in Afghanistan in recent months, with the radical
Islamic Taliban group, toppled in a 2001 U.S.-led campaign, staging
regular attacks on provincial government officials, police and
civilians and planting roadside devices as part of the battle with U.S.
and NATO troops.

G8 Summit will be held on Friday and Saturday at the
country residence of the U.S. President at Camp David (Maryland). 

NATO member states voiced their regret over Russia’s stance on the military alliance’s mooted missile shield in Europe, reiterating that the shield is not threatening the Russian national security.
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Due to a reassessment of the threat from Iran, Washington announced a new
scheme for a more flexible system, with a combination of land- and sea-based
interceptors based on the Standard Missile interceptor, SM-3. Under the new plan, the United States would place ship-based SM-3s in the
North and Mediterranean seas in 2011, and mobile land-based SM-3s in Central
Europe by 2015

Russia is seriously concerned over recent “aggressive” arrests of demonstrators in Chicago and Montreal and hopes that the U.S. and Canadian authorities will react to public rallies with restraint, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ombudsman for human rights, Konstantin Dolgov, said on Monday.
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New York protest movement Occupy Wall Street spread to four continents over the weekend. The month-old movement is still growing, with nearly $300,000 in the bank and the satisfaction of drawing attention to what it calls the financial elite's excessive influence on society.




