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Second Canadian, Michael Spavor, detained in China as Huawei row continues


BBC
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:58 UTC
Michael Spavor, Michael Kovrig
© AFP
Michael Spavor (L) and Michael Kovrig have been put under "compulsory measures"
A second Canadian has been detained in China on accusations of harming national security, as tension continues between the two countries.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Michael Spavor, a businessman, had been detained in addition to former diplomat Michael Kovrig.

Canada drew Chinese protests after it arrested an executive at telecoms giant Huawei at the request of the US.

Meng Wanzhou has been bailed but may face extradition for fraud.

Comment: See also: Could the arrest of Meng Wanzhou have anything to do with Huawei challenging Western cellphone monopolies?

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Eye 2

Colombian hypocrisy: Hernandez criticizes Russian-Venezuelan military relations despite being US imperialist outpost

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:40 UTC
putin maduro venezuela
© Sputnik / Alexei Drushinin
Nicolas Maduro and Vladimir Putin
For Cuban professor Roberto Henandez, Venezuela has the right to defend itself and it is hypocritical that Colombia is expressing concern about the joint military maneuvers between Venezuela and Russia.

Hernandez's analysis comes in response to accusations made by Colombia on Wednesday through Colombian President Iván Duque.

"[...] It is ironic that Colombia is concerned about joint Russian-Venezuelan maneuvers and the presence of Russian airplanes in the neighboring country, when in Colombia seven US military bases are maintained that are a real threat to the entire region," the retired professor at the University of Havana said.

Comment: Venezuela is a sovereign country, and is entitled to have relations, diplomatic and other, with any country it feels would benefit it.

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Cell Phone

California mulls tax on text messaging, may lead to showdown with federal regulators

Travis Fedschun
Fox News
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:32 UTC
Blackberry phone
© AP Photo/Matt Sayles
California regulators are considering a plan to charge a fee for text messaging on mobile phones to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor.
A California regulator's plan to tax texts in order to fund cellphones for the poor hit a snag Wednesday after a Federal Communications Commission ruled text messages aren't subject to the utility agency's authority.

The decision by the FCC, which categorized text messages as "information services" on par with emails and not "telecommunications services," came in an effort to combat robo-texts and spam messages. The California Public Utilities Commission now faces an uphill battle ahead of a scheduled vote on the measure next month.

Those opposed to the planned tax hailed the FCC decision a victory.

"We hope that the CPUC recognizes that taxing text messages is bad for consumers," Jamie Hastings, senior vice president of external and state affairs for CTIA, which represents the U.S. wireless communications industry, told The Mercury News. "Taxing this service would burden those who rely on and use this service each and every day."

The CPUC has not yet commented on the FCC's decision. The group is scheduled to meet next on Jan. 10 in San Francisco.
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Star of David

IDF surrounds Ramallah after deadly West Bank shooting


Sputnik
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:30 UTC
israelis killed ramallah
© Ammar Awad/Reuters
Israeli forces and medics at the scene of a shooting attack near Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank
Earlier in the day, a knife-wielding man was shot after attacking two police officers in the walled historical centre of Jerusalem.

According to an Israel Defence Forces (IDF) representative, Israeli troops blocked the de-facto Palestinian capital Ramallah on Thursday following the shooting incident near the settlement of Ofra in the West Bank.

"As we understand, the car fled somewhere near Ramallah. So, we have blocked all entry points to Ramallah and all exit points. We are conducting searches there, and we'll be operating in this area in foreseeable future," the IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus told a briefing.
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Light Sabers

Moscow: Kiev preparing provocation in rebellious east 'within days'


RT
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:09 UTC
Poroshenko
© AFP / Sergei Supinsky
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (C) poses with elite airborne troops, on December 6, 2018
The Ukrainian government is reportedly preparing a provocation in the east, which will be used to launch a major offensive operation against rebel forces, Moscow said. It may happen in days and would affect the presidential poll.

The Ukrainian military has amassed troops in Kiev-controlled eastern parts of the country, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry said Thursday citing reports from international monitors. Moscow believes it to be a sign of a looming escalation between the Ukrainian government and rebel forces.

"There are reports that within several days Kiev will stage an armed provocation on the contact line," Maria Zakharova said, referring to the border, which separates rebel-held parts of Ukraine from the rest of the country.
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Wall Street

Yellen and the Fed are afraid of a corporate debt bubble, but investors still aren't

Jeff Cox
CNBC
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 18:00 UTC
100 US dollars
© Francis Dean | Corbis | Getty Images
The corporate debt scaring policy experts like former Fed Chair Janet Yellen isn't throwing too much of a fright into market participants.

In fact, some of them are continuing to load up on lower-grade corporate debt because it's managed to be a better performer than some of the investments considered to be safer.

"Offense is the best defense," Hans Mikkelsen, credit strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told clients in a note pointing out that BBB-rated companies are outperforming their A-rated counterparts. BBB is the last rung before junk, and the increasing level of company bonds going to that level is causing concern.

Some investors worry that the companies whose debt is in danger of slipping into high-yield territory will have trouble meeting their obligations during the next economic downturn.
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Battery

Russia remains main supplier of coal to Ukraine as coming bitter frost forces Kiev to boost imports


RT
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 18:01 UTC
coal
© AFP / LUKE SHARRETT
Ukraine won't buy Russian gas to keep warm, but two-thirds of its coal imports still come from Russia, according to the country's State Fiscal Service.

Ukraine's purchases of hard coal grew to nearly $2.7 billion from January through November 2018, marking a year-on-year surge of more than 10 percent, according to official government data.

The fiscal office noted that neighboring Russia accounted for nearly 62 percent of the country's total imports of anthracite. Russia exported $1.67 billion worth of coal, followed by the US, whose anthracite exports reached almost 30 percent of the Ukrainian market or $806.3 million. Canada is the third biggest supplier of coal to Ukraine, with exports worth $128.7 million, accounting for nearly five percent of Ukraine's purchases.
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Chess

Prosecutors reveal plea deal with National Enquirer publisher AMI involved in former Trump lawyer hush money payment

Lucien Bruggeman
ABC News
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 17:38 UTC
Karen McDougal
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced Wednesday they have reached an agreement with American Media Company, Inc. (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer, in connection with a payment made during the campaign meant to silence a woman who claimed to have had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006.

"As a part of the agreement, AMI admitted that it made the $150,000 payment in concert with a candidate's presidential campaign, and in order to ensure that the woman did not publicize damaging allegations about the candidate before the 2016 presidential election," according to a press release issued by the Southern District of New York.

Prosecutors wrote, as part of the non-prosecution agreement, that "If AMI fully complies... no testimony or other information given by it will be used against it in any criminal tax prosecution."
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Microscope 2

Google's Pichai reveals the extent of Russian meddling: $4700 on Google ads


RT
Thu, 13 Dec 2018 17:34 UTC
Sundar Pichai
© Global Look Press / Ron Sachs
Sundar Pichai, Chief Executive Officer of Google, testifies before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary
The goal of 'Russian collusion' hearings is not the truth - the Democrats are still trying to explain the people who gave a lot of money to Hillary Clinton why she lost, Lionel told RT.

The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, gave some specific numbers on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US election as he was questioned by the US House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.

"Does Google now know the full extent to which its online platforms were exploited by Russian actors in the election two years ago?" New York Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler asked Pichai.

The tech giant's CEO responded: "We undertook a very thorough investigation, and, in 2016, we now know that there were two main ad accounts linked to Russia which advertised on Google for about $4,700 in advertising."

Google, along with Facebook and Twitter, have been under scrutiny for the past two years over the Russian meddling claims. The companies have extensively probed the activity Russia-linked accounts, but no direct proof of meddling has been revealed so far.


Comment: Cheapest foreign-sponsored coup ever!

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Snakes in Suits

Theresa May to step down before 2022 election ahead of no-confidence vote - Update: May wins vote, Tories only care about keeping Corbyn out of office

Heather Stewartand Peter Walker
The Guardian
Wed, 12 Dec 2018 19:29 UTC
theresa may
© REUTERS/Peter Nicholls
Theresa May has told Conservative MPs she knows they will not let her lead them into another general election in 2022, though "in my heart" she would have liked to.

The prime minister was addressing a packed meeting of the 1922 Committee of Tory backbenchers, shortly before colleagues began voting in a no-confidence ballot that will determine whether she can remain in her post.

MPs present said the prime minister made clear she would have liked to fight the next general election - to make up for the Conservatives' poor performance in 2017 - but signalled that she would step down before 2022.

However, when pressed by colleagues, MPs said she carefully avoided offering a specific date at which she would resign.

"She recognises a lot of people are not comfortable with her leading us into a future general election," said the May loyalist and Conservative party deputy chair James Cleverly, who emerged early from the meeting and spoke to reporters.

Comment: Update (Dec. 13): Theres may won her no confidence vote, 200 to 117. With May having won her no confidence vote, the pretend Brexit caravan will trundle on for another few years until, they hope, something bigger happens to make people forget all about it.

British politicians are, by definition, consumed with their own image as "politicians". They are, for the most part, leeches on the body public. Overpaid and under worked puppets who exist to create the impression of representative democracy, when no such thing actually exists in the Western world today. They therefore need lots of raw material that allows them to give the impression to the public that they are needed/useful/actually doing anything meaningful/not a bunch of freeloaders. That raw material is 'politics', drama, stuff happening in society that needs 'strong and stable' leadership, apparently. Otherwise, the House of Commons would quickly start to look like the House of Lords.

In that respect, 'Brexit' was, is and will continue to be, a godsend for UK politicians. From the beginning, not ONE of them actually thought it was implementable, but why look a gift horse in the mouth? 2.5 years of incessant disingenuous punditry, speculation, hand-wringing and dire warnings, not to mention first time TV appearances for many that would never have otherwise gotten a look in.

And now? Theresa May and the establishment party lives to fight another day (or rather, another 2 years of the 'transition period' plus a hefty extension on that). Tonight's pathetic deliberations in the House of Commons resulted in her winning the no confidence vote for one reason only - the only thing the Conservative establishment cares about - keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of 10 Downing street.

Brexit my ass.

Will of the people? You're 'avin a bleedin' laf!

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