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Facebook faces €1.2mn fine in Spain for privacy violations


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 15:55 UTC
Facebook building
© Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
Spain's data protection watchdog has fined Facebook, saying the social network breached laws designed to protect people's information and confidentiality.

According to the Spanish Data Protection Agency, Facebook collected personal data from its users in Spain without obtaining their 'unequivocal consent' and without informing them how such information would be used.

"Facebook collects data on ideology, sex, religious beliefs, personal tastes or navigation without clearly informing about the use and purpose that it will give them," the watchdog's statement said.

The authority fined the corporation €600,000 for a single "very serious violation" of the country's data protection rules and €300,000 each for other two serious violations.
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Vader

Mainstream media silence hides extreme US embarrassment at losing another war - Assad and Syria prevail

Rachel Blevins
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 10 Sep 2017 15:18 UTC
Assad people
© The Free Thought Project
Both the U.S. and the mainstream media have remained silent as the same "tyrannical dictator" who was supposed to be overthrown is now regaining power.

When the Syrian War began, the United States claimed to only be concerned about the innocent civilians. Now, as the war comes to an end, the ones who have suffered the most are the innocent civilians, and the victor is the same "tyrannical dictator" the U.S. has spent years trying to overthrow.


WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange revealed that according to a leaked cable from William Roebuck, U.S. Ambassador for Bahrain, the United States began plotting to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2006-which happens to be the same year Assad's government dropped the U.S. Dollar.
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Info

Trump at Pentagon on 9/11 anniversary: 'America cannot be intimidated'


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:55 UTC
Donald Trump
© Kevin Lamarque / ReutersThe National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., September 11, 2017.
Terrorists who hoped to intimidate America only strengthened US resolve to pursue them to the ends of the earth, President Donald Trump said at the Pentagon commemoration of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

"On that day not only did the world change, we all changed. Our eyes were open to the evil we faced," Trump said, speaking Monday morning at the Pentagon memorial marking where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building, killing 184 people.

US troops are "relentlessly destroying" the terrorists wherever they may be, Trump said.

"We are making plain to these savage killers that there is no dark corner beyond our reach, no sanctuary beyond our grasp, and nowhere to hide," the US president said.
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Radar

Sweden and NATO allies launch biggest military exercise in 23 years amid 'Russian threat'


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:47 UTC
Swedish military patrol outside Visby, island of Gotland, Sweden
© TT News Agency / Soren Andersson / ReutersSwedish military patrol outside Visby, island of Gotland, Sweden September 14, 2016.
Sweden has launched its largest military exercise in 23 years, with several NATO countries taking part. The drills come just before the Russia-Belarus Zapad 2017 exercises, which involve fewer troops, but stir much more controversy.

The Aurora 17 drills, set to take place over the course of three weeks, involve a scenario in which Stockholm and the crucial island of Gotland are under attack by a foreign military.

"If you control Gotland, you have control over the sea and the airways towards the Baltic states," Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told the Financial Times on Friday, referring to the island which is located not too far from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

The massive exercise will include 20,000 troops, 90 percent of whom are Swedish. The drills will see almost half of the country's armed forces "on the move," according to an organizing officer cited by Newsweek.
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Snakes in Suits

DOJ uses WWII-era legislation to demand RT supplier register as a 'foreign agent'


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:43 UTC
RT news room
© RT
The company that supplies all services for RT America channel, including TV production and operations, in the US, has received a letter from the US Department of Justice, claiming that the company is obligated to register under FARA due to the work it does for RT.

Adopted in 1938 to counter pro-Nazi agitation on US soil, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, exists so that "the people of the United States are informed of the source of information (propaganda) and the identity of persons attempting to influence US public opinion, policy, and laws."

There are 401 entities in the active FARA register and include tourist boards and lobbyists, but no media outlets, which have traditionally been exempt from the legislation.
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Compass

Refugees welcome? Merkel flip flops on migrants with chancellorship at stake


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:22 UTC
Angela Merkel
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
Merkel's decision to open the borders to refugees in 2015 proved to be her most controversial move as chancellor. With an election looming, critics say it has caused discontent in Germany, a split in the EU... and Merkel's own change of heart.

Just two weeks before the parliamentary election, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU party is comfortably ahead of all contenders. Her approval rating, however, has not yet fully recovered after going into a tailspin following her handling of the 2015 migrant crisis.

A move that should not have become a "moral litmus test" for Germans

Despite receiving thousands of asylum-seekers annually, Germany has been safeguarded by its geographic location and the Dublin agreement (which regulates asylum procedures in the EU), which left most refugees stranded in the EU's coastal states, such as Greece and Italy. Berlin, however, began facing a new reality two years ago. As the migrant influx into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa gained momentum, the German chancellor announced a "humanitarian move," opening Germany's borders to migrants in August 2015.
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Star of David

Israel attempting to block Palestine joining UN tourism body


Middle East Monitor
Fri, 08 Sep 2017 14:12 UTC
Palestinian market
© Mohammed Asad/Middle East MonitorPalestinians shop at the market in preparation for Eid. Sellers and vendors have seen a decrease in customers due to the austerity Palestinians are facing due to PA's policies.
Israel is attempting to thwart a Palestinian bid to join the United Nation's World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), arguing that the "State of Palestine" does not exist, according to the Jerusalem Post.

The Palestinian Authority's (PA) Ministry of Tourism applied for membership into the organisation last year, and the issue is on the meeting agenda of the UNWTO General Assembly in China, which begins on Monday and runs through Saturday.

The UNWTO is based in Madrid, and describes itself as "responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism".

Israel has endeavoured to block the move by appealing to the outgoing WTO Secretary-General, Jordanian diplomat Taleb Rifai, and China where the conference is being held.

Comment: Israel, the spoiled bully, is finally learning it can't have its own way all the time, so it is making threats about funding and calling everyone names. Is another Protective Edge coming?

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Jet3

Babylon Battalions leader: 'US-led coalition jets deliberately bombed our positions to halt our progress against ISIS'

Al Mayadeen - translated by Samer Hussein
Fort Russ News
Sun, 10 Sep 2017 14:16 UTC
Ryan Khaldani
"The American planes bombed our positions to prevent us from reaching the Nineveh Plains", said Ryan Khaldani, a leader of the Popular Mobilization Units-aligned Babylon Battalions, adding that the countries, know to be hostile to Iraq are looking for ways to create tensions in the country, especially as regards the post-ISIS era.

In an interview with Al Mayadeen network, Khaldani said that both, the US-led international anti-ISIS coalition and the Kurdish Peshmerga were deliberately making moves that benefited ISIS, while causing damage to the Iraqi forces fighting ISIS.

He also said his movement firmly opposes the forthcoming referendum on independence of the so-called "Iraqi Kurdistan", noting that his movement will not allow not even an inch of the Nineveh Plains to be taken away from its original inhabitants.
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Attention

Lavrov says 'absolutely unacceptable' that US-led coalition is trying to protect Nusra Front in Syria


Sputnik
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 14:09 UTC
Jabhat al-Nusra fighter
© AFP 2017/ RAMI AL-SAYED
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov slammed Monday the United States for covertly protecting the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist group that has taken part in the civil war in Syria.

Lavrov said that the situation around the Nusra Front terrorist group (also known as Jabhat al-Nusra, banned in Russia) in Syria remains "very ambiguous," as some members of the US-led coalition are constantly trying to protect militants from being eliminated.

"They [the US] did not have the spirit or the courage or the ability... to dissociate Jabhat al-Nusra from those oppositionists [of Syria] with which the US side cooperated... This is absolutely unacceptable," Lavrov said after talks with his Jordanian counterpart.

Comment: Also read:

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Lavrov: Russia and Saudi Arabia say de-escalation zones in Syria an important step forward


RT
Mon, 11 Sep 2017 13:18 UTC
Sergey Lavrov, left, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
© Vitaliy Belousov / Sputnik
Russia and Saudi Arabia see the de-escalation zone plan for Syria as an important step forward for the Syrian peace process. The deal for the fourth zone around Idlib may be finalized during the upcoming Astana talks, the Russian foreign minister said.

The final details for the fourth de-escalation zone in Syria, which would include Idlib Governorate, may be finalized during the upcoming Astana talks on September 14-15, the Russian foreign minister said.

There are currently three zones of de-escalation in effect in Syria. The one in the south of Syria was negotiated with Jordan and the US. Two others were established in eastern Ghouta and Homs.

"The next meeting in Astana will happen next week, and I hope the agreements on the parameters of the fourth zone in Idlib will be formalized there," Lavrov said.
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