Sterling, which jumped last week on expectations of a BoE shift towards higher borrowing costs, fell after the Markit/CIPS UK Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index(PMI) slipped to 54.3 from a downwardly revised 56.3 in May, a three-month low. The reading was below all forecasts in a Reuters poll of economists that had pointed to a reading of 56.5. It also contrasted …

Former CIA head, retired General Michael Hayden, has expressed in front of the cameras of CNN’s Jim Sciutto, for « Fareed Zakaria GPS », his fear that ISIS would « sooner rather than later » attack targets in Europe and the USA, going so far as to suggest it would organise attacks of an intensity similar to 9/11. But it seems that such fears …

Two Human Rights Watch reports have been published, denouncing the recruitment campaigns of Islamists, that have targeted children (http://www.hrw.org/node/126063/) and their use of cluster bombs in Syria (www.hrw.org/news/2014/09/01/syria-evidence-islamic-state-cluster-munition-use). Bashar Al-Assad’s regime has also been documented to be massively using cluster bombs. Child soldiers Youngsters have been trained and armed by ISIS in order to undertake suicide attacks. Other groups, like …

An Islamic « Caliphate », which ISIS wants simply to be called the « Islamic State », has been proclaimed by the Sunni militant group over the territories it controls. Their intent is to unificate the Middle East on religious lines and to make the promotion of the Sunni « ideology » against the Shias. This is the point of proclaiming a « Caliphate » : the Caliph is …

The US Secretary of State has arrived in Vienna Sunday for talks which appear to be extremely difficult to carry out on time for the July 20 expected deadline. John Kerry was to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad JavadZarif on Sunday, as well as officials from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, taking turns to negotiate, but the first day …

North Korea said on Tuesday it successfully test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) for the first time, which flew a trajectory that experts said could allow a weapon to hit the U.S. state of Alaska. The launch came days before leaders from the Group of 20 nations were due to discuss steps to rein in North Korea’s weapons program, which …

Not everybody asserts as confidently as the Pentagon that the U.S. military can defend the United States from the growing threat posed by North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile capability. Pyongyang’s first test on Tuesday of an ICBM with a potential to strike the state of Alaska has raised the question: How capable is the U.S. military of knocking down an …

The ceasefire has come to an end in Gaza on Tuesday 19th by midnight and even before, both sides in the conflict had started again to attack each other. Hundreds of Gazans have started to flee suburbs of Gaza a under attack to take refuge into UN schools used as shelters. Hamas launched about 60 rockets, including 53 before the …

The British government has taken the initiative to review its sale of £8 billion in arms and military goods to Israel, in order to assess whether each licence is appropriate in the context of the conflict in Gaza, reports The Guardian. Downing Street considers that the conflict has started « because of Hamas », which has been proved definitively wrong (see for …

U.S. President Donald Trump spoke separately to the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar on Sunday to discuss his “concerns about the ongoing dispute” between Qatar and its Gulf and Arab neighbors, the White House said. Trump, who is spending a long weekend at his property in New Jersey, spoke to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz, as …