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Again! Russian stocks smash another record high with surging oil prices


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 13:52 UTC
Russia/commodities
© Getty Images
The Moscow Exchange has seen the extension of the last week's rally. The ruble-traded MOEX index has updated an all-time high on Monday thanks to another jump in oil prices.

The MOEX index reached 2,493.82 points on Monday. The RTS dollar index reached 1,191 points, which is a slight decline compared to the previous close, but still close to this year's maximum seen in July.

"One of the drivers of the market is surging oil prices. Brent futures has already surpassed the $83 per barrel mark. It can rise to $90 per barrel," said Anastasiya Sosnova, analyst at Freedom Finance.

Brent oil prices are the highest since 2014 as Iran continues losing its crude exports ahead of US sanctions which come into force in November. Saudi Arabia has been unable to offset the lost Iranian crude exports despite the reported efforts to do so, analysts say.
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Map

South Africa to brief US corporations on plans for 'land confiscation'


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 17:41 UTC
South Africa land confiscation
© Mike Hutchings / Reuters
Father of seven, Muneer Baxter, works on a shack erected during illegal land occupations, in Mitchell's Plain township near Cape Town, South Africa
The South African government has announced it will start a process of briefing American companies based in the country on the land reform program.

The decision followed last week's meeting between South Africa's Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.

According to Dirco, "The minister emphasized that the land reform and agrarian reform process will be undertaken within the framework of the Constitution and implemented in a manner that does not affect economic stability and food stability."


Comment: Only after the government changes the country's Constitution to make stealing people's land legal!


Comment: Also see:

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Better Earth

Iran planning ways to bypass SWIFT payment system & US sanctions


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 17:41 UTC
Iran flag
© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters
Iran and its trading partners are working to establish mechanisms for the oil trade to bypass US sanctions against the country, said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.

He told Sputnik news agency that Tehran is not ruling out the possibility of setting up an alternative to the international payments provider SWIFT to circumvent sanctions imposed by Washington.

"As we know, Europeans are also trying to see how SWIFT can continue working with Iran, or if a parallel [financial] messaging system is necessary... This is something that we are still working on," Araghchi said.

Comment: By blocking Iran's access to the SWIFT system the US effectively wiped out half the value of their oil sector. As Albawaba reports, "The year before the sanctions, Iran's oil exports brought the country $92.5 billion in revenue. But in 2012, after SWIFT transactions were blocked, its oil export revenue fell to $52 billion." An alternative to the crazy, US-dominated financial system is becoming a more pressing issue each day.

Also see:

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Bizarro Earth

Taliban never sought peace with US: It fights both Americans & ISIS, commander to RT


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 17:28 UTC
Talibani
© Reuters
The Taliban have become a bulwark against ISIS terrorists
The Taliban has never tried to mend ties with the US as they continue to fight against both Americans and Islamic State, a commander of the group told RT. He denied that any member was ever permitted to discuss peace with the US.

Taliban leaders rarely appear on TV. However, Mullah Tofan, a warlord of Pati Kot district in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province, gave an interview to RT in which he denied speculation that the insurgent group had an appetite for reaching out to the United States - and so does the United States.

"The Americans never wanted to cooperate with Taliban and Taliban also never asked Americans to cooperate," Tofan said, noting that US forces are bombing the militants while they are fighting against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS).

Comment: Russia needs peace on its borders. Putin understands that talk and negotiation is always better than bombs.

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Satellite

Upping the ante again? Rumors that Russia is developing air-launched satellite killer


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 16:26 UTC
MIG 31 space
© RT
A screenshot from RTD documentary on MiG-31 shows the jet flying in the Earth's statosphere
A photo of a MiG-31 interceptor jet carrying a huge missile has sparked speculation that Russia has revived an old project involving an air-launched anti-satellite weapon system.

MiG-31 is a superfast Mach-3 fighter jet which recently acquired fame as the platform for the hypersonic Kinzhal missile. A new photo has emerged of a MiG-31 carrying an even bigger rocket during a flight in Zhukovsky, an air range near Moscow. Some believe the black projectile is a full-scale mock-up of a new missile, which may be used to deliver small payloads into orbit or rake down enemy satellites on short notice.
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Roses

CCTV footage of explosion that killed Donbass leader released by Russian media


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 15:36 UTC
Café Separ
© Valery Melnikov / Sputnik
Damaged entrance of the Café Separ, where the DPR leader was killed, in Donetsk, on September 2, 2018.
Footage of the blast that killed the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, on August 31 has been aired by Russian media.

The CCTV images, obtained by Russia's Rossiya 1 TV channel, show Zakharchenko entering a cafe in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, surrounded by his bodyguards, moments before the deadly explosion.

Comment:

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Briefcase

New name, new rules: Canada & US reach agreement on NAFTA revision USMCA after months of stand-off


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 07:46 UTC
Canada USA NAFTA USMCA
© Graham Hughes/Canadian Press
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, shown in January, released a joint statement late Sunday.
Canada and the US have agreed a basis for the revised North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), reaching a compromise in late-night talks on Sunday after months of stand-off.

In a joint statement, issued by Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), the parties revealed the name of the upgraded trade deal - the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA.

While highlighting the mutual benefits of the "new modernized trade agreement for the 21st century," the statement did not offer any details on its contents, nor hint at the concessions that Washington and Ottawa reportedly had to make.

"We look forward to further deepening our close economic ties when this new agreement enters into force," the statement reads.
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Arrow Up

Serbian opposition: Russia must be involved in negotiations to solve Kosovo crisis

Joaquin Flores
FRN
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Serbia Russia Kosovo
On September 29th, Kosovo militia stormed a Serbian settlement, seizing the hydro-electric facility, critical for the community's survival. In response, Serbian president Vucic ordered the military on high alert, to become ready for any possible armed conflict. That day, Putin and Vucic spoke via the CSTO hotline, and have agreed to meet in person in Moscow, to come to final resolution on what Russia's response and strategy will be moving forward.

The nationalist opposition Serbian Radical Party (SRP/SNS is the second largest in parliament) is also demanding that Russia be involved more deeply in the negotiation process to resolve the Kosovo crisis, since the European Union has a biased position on this issue. This was explained by one of the young leaders of the SNS, Alexander Šešelj. He is the son of Serbian Radical Party founder, Vojislav Šešelj. He also added that the official initiative of the party will be announced at a meeting of the National Assembly (the country's parliament) next month.

Earlier today, September 30th, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov said that Russian involvement had not been ruled out, but that it was "premature to determine either way."

"The unresolved status of Kosovo remains one of the main problems of the Balkan region. The parties did not bring the settlement of disputes closer either to the refusal of Serbian President Alexander Vucic from the dialogue with the head of the self-proclaimed republic Hashim Thaci. Negotiations mediated by the European Union were to be held last Friday in Brussels. To get out of the crisis, it is necessary to look for new discussion formats," Šešelj told Russian press.

Comment: Previously:

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Info

California reinstates net neutrality laws, Trump administration seeks to block it


RT
Mon, 01 Oct 2018 14:06 UTC
net neutrality protest
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
Net neutrality advocates rally in front of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in Washington, U.S., December 13, 2017.
California Governor Jerry Brown has approved a bill to effectively reinstate net neutrality in the state, prompting a lawsuit by the Trump administration. The Obama-era legislation was repealed in December last year.

The bill, signed into law by the governor on Sunday, would have come into force on January 1. However, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit an hour after it was greenlighted by Brown, seeking to block one of the toughest net-neutrality laws ever to have been passed in the US.

The department will insist that regulating net neutrality is solely the responsibility of the federal government and not the state authorities, senior DOJ officials told the Washington Post.

The lawsuit argues that the Californian legislation is "unlawful and anti-consumer," as it imposes restrictions on telecommunications companies.

Comment: A few things you'll want to know about so-called 'net neutrality':
Three years ago, Google used its influence over the Obama administration to pass sweeping federal government regulations over our modern internet networks. So-called "net neutrality" was subsequently sold to the public through a massive disinformation campaign, asserting that the rules as devised by Obama's Federal Communications Commission (FCC) were necessary to ensure a "free and open internet." Unfortunately, that description couldn't be further from the truth.

So-called net neutrality rules instead gave a false illusion of neutrality online and a false sense of protection. If anything, those rules singlehandedly weakened the free flow of information by empowering the world's most powerful online companies like Google, Facebook and Twitter to censor speech, filter and manipulate information and abuse the collection of your personal data with absolutely no transparency or accountability.


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Pirates

Who is protecting them? Ethnic Albanians control heroin supply in Switzerland

Simon Bradley
swissinfo.ch
Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:32 UTC
KLA albania

'Ethnic Albanians', aka 'Kosovars', aka al-Qaeda-in-the-Balkans
Ethnic Albanian criminal gangs continue to pose a serious security threat, dominating the transit and supply of heroin to Switzerland, warns a federal police expert.

Three members of the same Kosovo family are currently on trial in Switzerland accused of operating one of Europe's largest heroin wholesale operations.

Prosecutors say the 69-year-old father and his two sons, aged 42 and 28, used their base in the southeast European country to import 1.5 tons of heroin from Turkey for sale elsewhere.

"[The clan] has been one of the principle suppliers of heroin in western Europe since the middle of the 90s," the prosecution claimed. The defendants deny all charges.

They went on trial in Switzerland because the brothers lived and worked there. A verdict by the Federal Penal Court in Bellinzona is expected at the end of October.

Comment: Two of the above criminals were convicted that year, but the Swiss found these Albanians continued to act with impunity. In 2010, Swiss politician Dick Marty published a Council of Europe report detailing how Kosovo leader Hashim Thaçi - a darling of the US State Department - is in fact the 'ethnic Albanian' mafia don for heroin, prostitute and organ smuggling in Europe.

And he's still the 'legitimate leader of Kosovo'.

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