After 40-year ban, U.S. starts exporting crude oil

America is wasting little time getting back into the oil exporting business. Just weeks after Congress lifted a 40-year ban on exporting oil, the first shipments of the black stuff left U.S. ports for Europe. The first freely-traded shipments of U.S. crude are symbolic of the country's newfound role as a leading producer of oil.
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South China Sea: Beijing 'not frightened to fight a war' after US move

China is not afraid of fighting a war against the United States in the South China Sea, a state-run newspaper with links to the Communist party has claimed.
Twenty-four hours after Washington challenged Beijing’s territorial claims in the region by deploying a warship to waters around the disputed Spratly archipelago, the notoriously nationalistic Global Times accused the Pentagon of provoking China.
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Chinese media: military must be ready to counter US in South China Sea

Editorial in Global Times, which is close to Communist rulers, condemns Washington’s ‘ceaseless provocations and coercion’
Chinese media criticised the US on Thursday for “ceaseless provocations” in the South China Sea, with Washington expected to soon send warships close to artificial islands Beijing has built in disputed waters.
An editorial in the Global Times, which is close to China’s ruling Communist party, condemned US “coercion”, adding: “China mustn’t tolerate rampant US violations of China’s adjacent waters and the skies over those expanding islands.”


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Comparing Death Rates from Mass Public Shootings and Mass Public Violence in the US and Europe

In his address to the nation after the Charleston attack, Obama claimed: “we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries. It doesn’t happen in other places with this kind of frequency.”


Senator Harry Reid made a similar statement on June 23rd: “The United States is the only advanced country where this type of mass violence occurs. Let’s do something. We can expand, for example, background checks. … We should support not giving guns to people who are mentally ill and felons.”


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Ian Bremmer says America is no longer 'indispensable', and that's bad news for Britain

After six decades serving as the global policeman, the United States is now signalling its retreat from the world.

With the Middle East engulfed by the flames of sectarian conflict, Europe’s borders menaced by the threat of war and China starting to flex its muscles in Asia-Pacific, it is clear the world has entered a new period of volatility.

That uncertainty begs tough questions for Britain: how should we respond to this new American pragmatism? And as our traditional ally turns inward, what should that mean for British foreign policy?

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Iranian Commander: We Won't Rest Until US is an Islamic Republic

A leading commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guards has claimed his country's ultimate aim is to turn the United States into "an Islamic Republic," and rejected any possibility of a thawing in relations between Tehran and "The Great Satan."
An undated video released by the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, an Iranian opposition group, shows Commander Hassan Abbasi - who is also a member of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei's inner circle - making the comments during an address, in which he lashed out at unnamed Iranian officials for expressing hope that a nuclear deal with the US could open the door for wider ties.


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