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Germany and Italy want control of Libya-Niger border to stem flow of migrants


RT
Mon, 15 May 2017 13:10 UTC
Niger refugees
© Darrin Zammit Lupi / Reuters
The interior ministers of Germany and Italy have written to Brussels urging the creation of an "EU Mission" at the border between Libya and Niger "as soon as possible," after over 40,000 people traveled through the North African country into Europe this year.

"The first months of this year have shown that our efforts up to this point have been insufficient. We must prevent hundreds of thousands of people who are in the hands of smugglers from risking their lives in Libya and the Mediterranean,"said a letter penned by ministers Thomas de Maiziere and Marco Minniti, dated May 11, but reported by news agencies citing Italian officials on Sunday.

The letter reportedly states that by the middle of last month, some 42,500 newcomers had been registered in Italy, a figure 40 percent higher than last year. Ninety-seven percent said they had come through Libya.
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Info

Trump-Lavrov meeting focused on Syria safe zones and the need to expand them nationwide


RT
Mon, 15 May 2017 13:03 UTC
Donald Trump and Sergey Lavrov
© Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
The issue of establishing and expanding Syria's de-escalation zones dominated last week's Lavrov-Trump discussions in the Oval office, the Russian FM has revealed, emphasizing that these safe zones should eventually spread across the entire country.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump hosted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the White House where they discussed a wide range of issues with Syria topping the agenda.

Noting that the core idea of the Russian initiative to establish safe zones in Syria was initially voiced by the US president, Lavrov said it is Russia's understanding that the de-escalation strategy will be rolled out across Syria.

"At the center of our conversation was the initiative which President Trump voiced at an early stage of his presidency, namely the creation of security zones or zones of de-escalation, in which there will be no fighting, except against the terrorists, who need to be expelled from there," Lavrov told Russia's Channel 1 commenting on his visit to the Oval Office earlier last week.
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Piggy Bank

Ukraine teetering on the brink of default as Kiev struggles to repay debts


Sputnik
Mon, 15 May 2017 12:54 UTC
Independence Square in Kiev
© Sputnik/ Vitaliy Belousov
In the next four years, Ukraine will have to return $20 billion of debt. The lack of reforms and problems with receiving new loans are a major obstacle. The situation is complicated by the fact that the government will not take unpopular measures due to the 2019 presidential election.

S&P Global Rating estimated Ukrainian debt repayment in 2017-2020 at over $20 billion, which exceeds the country's current gold and exchange reserves. According to a report by Ukraine's National Bank, as of May 1, the gold and exchange reserves are $17.2 billion.

Ukraine began negotiations on the restructuring of its $19.3 billion debt in 2015. In August 2015, Kiev reached an agreement with creditors to write down 20 percent of the debt and move the pay back dates for four years, from 2015-2023 to 2019-2027.
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Jet5

Germany looking to Jordan as one alternative to Turkey's Incirlik Airbase


RT
Mon, 15 May 2017 12:42 UTC
German Tornado jet planes
© Tobias Schwarz / AFP
Germany will consider relocation of its troops from Turkey's airbase Incirlik following a recent refusal by Ankara to allow German MPs to visit soldiers stationed there, says Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"We will continue to talk with Turkey, but in parallel we will have to explore other ways of fulfilling our mandate," Merkel said. "That means looking at alternatives to Incirlik, and one alternative among others is Jordan."

Wolfgang Hellmich, chairman of the Parliamentary Defense Committee said that Germany "won't be blackmailed" by Turkey, which this week denied access for a group of German MPs to visit some 260 soldiers stationed at Incirlik, as cited by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

"Therefore it is absolutely right to initiate withdrawal of troops and the relocation to the best possible base [outside Turkey]," Hellmich added. "This must happen now."

"The concrete preparations ... will now be tackled," he said according to Die Welt.
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Display

Microsoft's lessons from last week's cyberattack: Like US military having some of its Tomahawk missiles stolen

Brad Smith
Microsoft
Sun, 14 May 2017 12:21 UTC
UK hospital cyberattack screenshot
© PA
Early Friday morning the world experienced the year's latest cyberattack.

Starting first in the United Kingdom and Spain, the malicious "WannaCrypt" software quickly spread globally, blocking customers from their data unless they paid a ransom using Bitcoin. The WannaCrypt exploits used in the attack were drawn from the exploits stolen from the National Security Agency, or NSA, in the United States. That theft was publicly reported earlier this year. A month prior, on March 14, Microsoft had released a security update to patch this vulnerability and protect our customers. While this protected newer Windows systems and computers that had enabled Windows Update to apply this latest update, many computers remained unpatched globally. As a result, hospitals, businesses, governments, and computers at homes were affected.

All of this provides the broadest example yet of so-called "ransomware," which is only one type of cyberattack. Unfortunately, consumers and business leaders have become familiar with terms like "zero day" and "phishing" that are part of the broad array of tools used to attack individuals and infrastructure. We take every single cyberattack on a Windows system seriously, and we've been working around the clock since Friday to help all our customers who have been affected by this incident. This included a decision to take additional steps to assist users with older systems that are no longer supported. Clearly, responding to this attack and helping those affected needs to be our most immediate priority.
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2 + 2 = 4

Russia not the one to be afraid of anything — Putin


TASS
Mon, 15 May 2017 11:12 UTC
Russia is not afraid of China as a competitor in the global economy, Vladimir Putin stresses

Putin
© AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool
Russia is not afraid of China as a competitor in the global economy, when cooperating with Beijing, Moscow accepts only what is good for it, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a press conference as part of the Belt and Road international economic forum in Beijing.

"Russia is not a country that is afraid of anything, and certainly, China's actions are not aimed at any kind of absorption. We take decisions together, and we do not take decisions that are harmful to us" We agree only with such proposals that will be good for us," Putin said.
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Network

Putin on ransomware: Malware created by intelligence services can backfire on its creators


RT
Mon, 15 May 2017 10:59 UTC
Putin
© Mark Schiefelbein / Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin
The ransomware that hit computers across the world could backfire on its creators, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in Beijing, adding that the implications of the global hack attack need to be discussed on a political level.

The ransomware was apparently developed in the US, Putin said. "Microsoft's management has made it clear that the virus originated from US intelligence services," the Russian president stressed.
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Snakes in Suits

Russian charged with hacking U.S. firms claims FBI attempted to coerce confession to Clinton cyberattack

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 13 May 2017 13:45 UTC
Yevgeny Nikulin, Russian hacker extradition battle
Yevgeny Nikulin
A Russian man wanted by the Justice Department on charges connected to hacking U.S. companies now claims the FBI offered him immunity in exchange for accepting responsibility for cyberattacks targeting former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

As The Washington Times reports, Yevgeny Nikulin, the alleged hacker, laid the claim to Russian media Thursday in a letter sent from a Czech Republic prison cell amid an international extradition battle currently underway between Washington and Moscow.

FBI agents promised Mr. Nikulin money, American citizenship and a free apartment for taking the fall over hacking Mrs. Clinton's campaign, he alleged in a letter published Thursday by Nastoyashchoe Vremya, a Russian-language website.
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No Entry

Tillerson says 'You cannot reset': No way for US and Russia to start over 'with clean slate'


RT
Sun, 14 May 2017 22:51 UTC
Rex Tillerson
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters
Another "reset" in relations between the US and Russia is impossible as the two countries cannot just forget all their differences and move on at a time when relations are at a historic low, the US State Secretary Rex Tillerson told NBC.

The US and Russia have to take into consideration all their differences as well as all problems that exist in their bilateral relations and openly discuss them if they genuinely want to improve their relationship, Tillerson told the NBC's Meet the Press Sunday show.
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Snakes in Suits

Bankrupt Ukraine pays $400,000 for 6 minute meet with Trump at White House

Vladimir Rodzianko
The Duran
Sun, 14 May 2017 21:37 UTC
Pavlo Klimkin and Donald Trump
In a rushed decision, the already cash strapped Ukrainian Government shelled out over $400,000 to have their foreign minister meet with Donald Trump.

There's nothing extraordinary about foreign ministers or heads of state meeting with the US President - unless you are Ukrainian and there are traces of corruption.

The meeting between Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin and Donald Trump were covered extensively by the Western mainstream press, and also spending most of their time on who was or wasn't allowed to take photos at Trump's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov...
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