Puppet MastersS


Apple Green

China to develop 'green zones' to improve environment


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 19:07 UTC
china green zones
© Jason Lee / ReutersA villager transplants rice seedlings in the village of Basha in Congjiang county, Guizhou province
Beijing has announced plans to set up five 'green finance' pilot zones as part of the Chinese government's anti-pollution campaign.

The central bank of China said it would support the zones through preferential loans and low-cost capital from green development funds.

The five zones will be in the provinces of Guangdong, Guizhou, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang, as well as the far western region of Xinjiang.

Banks will be encouraged to explore new financing mechanisms, including emissions trading and water use permits. The pilot programs are also expected to speed up the development of green insurance.

Comment: China's green zones seek to develop economies, reduce pollution and clean up the land. It's worth noting the irony in how these will be the direct opposite of the United States 'green zone', which is used as a base for destruction.

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Safe

Putin asks State Duma to ratify international convention on countering terrorism financing


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:26 UTC
Putin
© Alexei Druzhinin / Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma for ratification the Council of Europe's Convention on the confiscation of illegal funds and on countering the sponsorship of terrorism.

The bill to ratify the convention was prepared jointly by the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian State Agency for Financial Monitoring.

According to the explanatory note attached to the document, which was published on the parliament's official website on Tuesday, the convention regulates the powers and rights of law enforcement agents in the investigation of suspects' bank accounts and operations, as well as the procedure of seizing illegal income. It also regulates cooperation between various departments of the Russian Financial Intelligence Service.

The note also reads that the ratification of the convention would improve the effectiveness of Russia's cooperation with foreign nations in the fight against the legalization of criminal funds and sponsorship of terrorism.
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Stock Down

Pop goes the cryptocurrency craze: Bitcoin and ethereum continue to fall


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:36 UTC
Ethereum and Bitcoin
© Wit Olszewski / Shutterstock
Following June's record rally, the world's most popular digital currencies bitcoin and ethereum continued their slide on Tuesday.

Bitcoin was trading at $2,430, having given up 20 percent since hitting nearly $3,000 two weeks ago.

Rival cryptocurrency ethereum now costs $267, down over 30 percent since the mid-June record of nearly $400.

The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies fell to around $91 billion, a more than a 20 percent decline from the all-time high of $117.2bn on June 12.
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Info

Sturgeon drops plans for second Scottish independence referendum until after Brexit deal


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 18:24 UTC
Nicola Sturgeon
© Russell Cheyne / ReutersNicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party
Scottish first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) Nicola Sturgeon says she will delay her plans for a second independence referendum until after Brexit negotiations have concluded in autumn 2018.

The First Minister said there is "no doubt" her government has a mandate to call a second referendum.

She did, however, say it is important to "reset" the debate until after Brexit negotiations have progressed.
"We will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately," she told MSPs.
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Snakes in Suits

Judge Andrew Napolitano: AG Loretta Lynch could get 5-10 years in prison for "misconduct in office"

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 18:13 UTC
Loretta Lynch
© Kevin Lamarque/ReutersU.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch
Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch could be jailed for up to ten years if found guilty of misconduct.

Fox News senior judicial analyst, Judge Andrew Napolitano, believes that the Senate's investigation into whether former Attorney General Loretta Lynch intervened in the Hillary Clinton email investigation, could result in a prison sentence for AG Lynch of 5-10 years.

Judge Napolitano notes that if emails exist between former AG Lynch and former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz that improperly discuss the Hillary Clinton email investigation, then the Obama attorney general could be charged with "misconduct in office," a felony carrying five to ten years in jail
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Treasure Chest

'Magic money tree': Queen's taxpayer-funded income doubles to £82mn, up 167% since 2012


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:52 UTC
Queen Elizabeth II
© Eddie Keogh Livepic / Reuters
The government has almost doubled the Queen's income to £82 million, apparently to cover the cost of "essential works" at Buckingham Palace. Republicans say funding for the monarchy must be tightly controlled, especially under austerity.

The Crown Estate, which includes Regent Street, St James' Park, and thousands of acres of farmland, coastline and forests, made profits totaling £328.8 million ($419 million) in the year to March 2017, up eight percent on the previous year.

The government has therefore granted an increase in the Sovereign Grant - the percentage of profits from the Crown Estate that is paid out to Her Majesty.

The Queen will now get 25 percent of the Crown Estate's profits for the next ten years, up from 15 percent.
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Network

'Petya' ransomware attack spreads globally, targets include Merck in US


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 17:46 UTC
’Petya’ ransomware attack
© altcoinfo / Instagram
The US-based division of the global pharmaceutical giant Merck has been hit by the 'Petya' ransomware attack that has crippled computer systems across the world on Tuesday.
"We confirm our company's computer network was compromised today as part of global hack," Merck said in a statement on Tuesday. "Other organizations have also been affected. We are investigating the matter and will provide additional information as we learn more."

"The company is currently experiencing a hostile ransomware attack on its network systems," said an internal Merck memo quoted by the Philadelphia Inquirer. "While IT risk management and global security respond to this threat please remain calm."
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Chess

Trump Has Now Committed Himself to Reversing Obama's Syria-Policy

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 19:09 UTC
Donald Trump and Barack Obama
Right after the U.S. government shot down a Syrian government plane in Syria, the Russian government broke off the coordination of its operations along with the U.S. and America's allied forces in Syria (otherwise known as «deconfliction of forces» there), and warned that:
In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying objects, including jets and unmanned aerial vehicles of the international coalition discovered west of the Euphrates River, will be followed by Russian air and ground defenses as air targets — meaning ordered out, or else immediately shot down.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph F. Dunford, spoke at the National Press Club in Washington later that day. Only a video from the National Press Club is, as of yet, available of this important event (the first post-warning top U.S. government official public statement about it), no transcript yet; but here is what Dunford said (and the time he said it in the video), which struck this reporter as being important in his comments, at this historic moment when the likelihood of a nuclear war between the U.S. and Russia — World War III — was higher than it has been ever since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis between U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and U.S.S.R. Premier Nikita Khrushchev:
9:00- 'prosecute the defeat-ISIS campaign in Syria, which is the reason why we are in Syria'
He said that to 'defeat ISIS' is 'the reason', not 'a reason', we're there. Very important word-choice. Profoundly meaningful in this context.

Comment: See also: Trump-Putin meeting in Hamburg: 'War tango' or establishing better relations

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Fire

SOTT Focus: Grenfell Tower inferno, Götterdämmerung for UK regime? Brexit, Corbyn, and Britain's constitutional crisis

Niall Bradley
Sott.net
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 19:33 UTC
Götterdämmerung
  1. (Germanic mythology) 'The twilight of the gods'. The myth of the destruction of the gods in a final battle with the forces of evil; the apocalypse.
  2. Any cataclysmic downfall or momentous, apocalyptic event, especially of a regime or an institution.
grenfell tower
The UK's cascading constitutional crisis continues. The horrific fire at Grenfell Tower in London on June 14th, which occurred just 6 days after a snap election delivered a 'shock' hung parliament (the UK's second in just 7 years), has shaken the country to its core at a time when trust in the authorities is already teetering.

Up to 600 people lived in 120 flats in Grenfell Tower. The fire started at 1am (when it was probably almost fully occupied by sleeping residents) on the 4th floor. All 20 floors above that went up in flames in just 15 minutes. The government says the death toll stands at 79, but the names of not even half of those have been released. The true death toll is likely closer to 379. Locals are certain the death toll is being covered up. British MP David Lammy stated that the death toll is being covered up by Theresa May's party to prevent riots.The official line that '79 are dead and the toll is likely to rise' is the best the government can do to 'handle this till it goes away'.

But the fallout from this isn't going to just 'go away'.
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Bad Guys

UK Defense Secretary: Britain ready to back US attacks on Assad government


RT
Tue, 27 Jun 2017 16:22 UTC
Britain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon
© Ints Kalnins / ReutersBritain's Defence Secretary Michael Fallon
Britain is "absolutely" ready to support retaliation by US President Donald Trump against Bashar Assad in Syria, UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has said.

The US claimed on Monday that Assad was "potentially" preparing a deadly chemical weapons attack on rebel forces, and threatened to hit back with new bombing raids.

Fallon said action should be justified, legal, and proportionate, but said in those circumstances the UK's support for US action by Trump would be unwavering. He added that the UK backed the US missile strikes in April, which Trump ordered after an alleged chemical attack by Assad.


Comment: No evidence has been supplied for the United States' claim that Assad 'wants to gas the rebels' and the US coalition is in Syria illegally. How does that square with Fallon's statement that military action must be justified and legal?? To him, such things are apparently just words to appease people and have no actual meaning.

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