Puppet MastersS


Bomb

In defiance of international law: Saudi warplanes use cluster bombs in airstrikes on Yemen


PressTV
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 10:23 UTC
Yemenis check the destruction following an airstrike by Saudi warplanes in the capital, Sana’a, on September 4, 2016
© Photo by AFP
Saudi Arabia has intensified its airstrikes on Yemen, using internationally-banned cluster bombs in its air assaults against the impoverished country.

The Yemeni news agency SABA said Saudi fighter jets dropped cluster bombs on several areas in the district of Baqem in the northern province of Sa'ada on Sunday.

The attacks came in defiance of international laws, which prohibit the use of such weapons.

The United Nations (UN)'s human rights office has recently called for an independent international investigation of cases of human rights violations in the Saudi war on Yemen, confirming the use of banned cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia against Yemen's residential areas.

Comment: See also:

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Cell Phone

How spy tech firm NSO Group let governments see everything on a smartphone


The New York Times
Fri, 02 Sep 2016 15:26 UTC
iPhone billboard
© Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Want to invisibly spy on 10 iPhone owners without their knowledge? Gather their every keystroke, sound, message and location? That will cost you $650,000, plus a $500,000 setup fee with an Israeli outfit called the NSO Group. You can spy on more people if you would like — just check out the company's price list.

The NSO Group is one of a number of companies that sell surveillance tools that can capture all the activity on a smartphone, like a user's location and personal contacts. These tools can even turn the phone into a secret recording device.

Since its founding six years ago, the NSO Group has kept a low profile. But last month, security researchers caught its spyware trying to gain access to the iPhone of a human rights activist in the United Arab Emirates. They also discovered a second target, a Mexican journalist who wrote about corruption in the Mexican government.
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Dollars

Hillary collects $2700 per question from a child, $10K for family photo while hobnobbing with the 1%

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 15:14 UTC
Hillary money
While Hillary Clinton has noticeably been hiding from the general public and the press (276 days without a press conference, and counting), HRC has made herself more than available for the ultra rich and super famous.

If you want to find Hillary, perhaps Justin Timberlake can point the way...
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Network

Kremlin official: Russia has chosen self-regulation on the internet yet has more internet freedom than U.S.


RT
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 14:54 UTC
internet
© Fabrizio Bensch / Reuters
The deputy head of the presidential administration, Vyacheslav Volodin, has said that Russia has more internet freedom than the United States, where people receive prison sentences for online comments about President Barack Obama.

Volodin was giving a press conference in the central Russian city of Tambov, where a local reporter asked him to comment on the possibility of introducing a rule that would require social networks to obtain ID from their users "so that people could know who is on the other side of the internet." The official replied that unlike many countries, Russia has chosen self-regulation on the internet and he saw no need to change this.

"Now we are capable of solving various issues through self-regulation and a ban on distribution of information about illegal drugs, suicide and extremism. Society has a need for this."

He also noted that Russia had more internet freedom than other nations, in particular the United States.

"Take a look at the legal practice. Have you ever heard about court processes initiated by [Russian] civil servants and senior officials against ordinary internet users over even the most harsh statements made on the internet?" Volodin asked journalists.
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Camcorder

Freedom of the press? Offices of Ukrainian TV channel accused of 'pro-Russian views' attacked, set on fire


RT
Sun, 04 Sep 2016 21:32 UTC
Ukraine
© Tanya Pasova / YouTube
A building housing studios and offices of Ukrainian broadcaster Inter has been attacked by former military personnel who protested its alleged "pro-Russian" policy. The company said it was an attack on freedom of speech.

The office in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev was set on fire twice on Sunday.

First, burning car tires were brought inside the building, causing a fire on its ground and first floors, Interfax Ukraine reported, citing Ukrainian emergency services.

Some 20 minutes after the fire was tackled, another "foreign object" was brought into the company's premises, and caused a new, larger fire.
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Handcuffs

Russian Security Council reports over 40 Ukrainians detained in Central Federal District


Sputnik
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 15:13 UTC
Handcufs
© Sputnik/ Igor Zarembo
Over 40 Ukrainian citizens wanted in Russia have been detained aboard vehicles in the Central Federal District this year, with 49 cases of arms smuggling detected, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Monday.

"As a result of additional measures to ensure public transport security, more than 40 Ukrainian citizens wanted in Russia have been detained in the current year, 49 cases of contraband have been revealed, including weapons and ammunition, 14 crimes related to the transportation of narcotics," Patrushev said.

More than 200,000 vehicles and over 50,000 Ukrainian citizens have been inspected throughout the course of the year, he added.
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Gem

Russia and Japan deepen economic ties despite ongoing Kuril Islands dispute

M.K. Bhadrakumar
Asia Times
Sun, 04 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
putin Abe Vladivostok summit
© Alexei Druzhinin/via REUTERSRussian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visit an oceanarium on Russky Island before attending the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia, September 3, 2016.
Japan and Russia leap out of English poet John Keats' Ode on a Grecian Urn - "Forever wilt thou love, and she be fair."

Despite the perfect complementarity of their economies and the shared interests and concerns in the post-Cold War Far East, consummation of their professed mutual passion somehow remains elusive.

The main outcome of the summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vladivostok on Friday has been, well, that they will meet again in December at an onsenhot spring in the Japanese leader's home prefecture of Yamaguchi.

That will be their 15th summit - that is, unless they meet again at the APEC meet in Peru in November.

Abe made a valiant attempt to keep the foreplay going. During August, he made three moves - created a new ministry dedicated to economic cooperation with Russia with the powerful economy minister Hiroshige Seko as its head; named Nobuo Kishi (Abe's own brother) as state minister of foreign affairs in charge of relations with Russia; and, on Tuesday, launched a media blitzkrieg underscoring Tokyo' eagerness to engage Russia in major economic cooperation, notwithstanding the deadlock in the dispute over Kuril Islands.

Comment: The necessary rapprochement between Russia and Japan

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Info

Turkey claims over 60 miles of Turkish-Syrian border retaken from Daesh


Sputnik
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 14:30 UTC
Turkish tank
© Sputnik Türkiye/HİKMET DURGUN
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildlirim confirmed Monday that the Daesh terrorist group had been forced out from territory along 98 kilometers (some 61 miles) of the Turkish-Syrian border between the northern towns of Jarabulus and Azaz.

Last month, units of the opposition Free Syrian Army routed terrorists from 10 Syrian villages to the south of Jarabulus, and a total of 400 kilometers in northern Syria have been retaken since the start of the Turkish military operation. "Ninety-eight kilometers of the border with Syria from Azaz to Jarabulus were taken under control. All terrorist groups were pushed from there," Yildlirim said during his address in the country's Diyarbakir province.

On August 24, Turkish forces, backed by US-led coalition aircraft, began a military operation dubbed Euphrates Shield to clear Jarabulus and the surrounding area of Daesh, outlawed in Russia and many other countries worldwide.

Comment: More on this news:
Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) revealed that that the FSA now controls 10 regions in northern Syria, including Arap Izzah, El Fursan, Al Athariyah, Sheikh Yakoub, Vukuf, Ayyasa, and Al Mutminah, as well as Idalat, Talyah Darbiyah, and the Kubba Turkuman Airport in the El Rai region.

Security sources told Anadolu News that FSA now controls the 55-mile Turkish border with Syria in "all regions from Azaz to Jarabulus."

Sources also revealed that the Free Syrian Army, comprised predominantly of Syrian Arabs and Turkmen fighters, besides taking control of a number of new villages, also reached 24 kilometers south of the Turkish border and are now present in the Sucu Cayi region, west of the Euphrates River.

"With the new Free Syrian Army-controlled belt extending three to five kilometers inside Syrian territory, Daesh's physical contact with the Turkish border has been totally eliminated," Anadolu reported.



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Bad Guys

Daesh attempts recruiting jihadists and heavy weapon makers in Turkish villages


Sputnik
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 14:26 UTC
Daesh fighter holding flag
© REUTERS/ Stringer/Files
Daesh makes attempts to recruit people as jihadists in the villages around the Turkish capital of Ankara and is looking for experts to make heavy weapons in Ankara, according to police note.

According to an informatory note sent by the Turkish Police to the Ankara Fourth Heavy Penal Court, Islamic State (ISIL or Daesh) militants are looking for people to recruit as jihadists in the villages around the Turkish capital of Ankara, the Hurriyet Daily News reported Monday.

The 22-page note was sent by Ankara police as part of a case against al-Qaeda, which concerns a total of 26 suspects who worked on recruiting jihadists, many of them were fighting with Daesh militants in Syria, said the article.

According to the note, Daesh is also looking for experts to make heavy weapons in Ankara. One of the suspects named Borak Musab Guler searched for someone to make mortar shells while also providing guidance to militants going to Syria or arriving in Turkey.
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Dollar Gold

Global crude prices soar upon news of Russian-Saudi cooperation to support oil markets


RT
Mon, 05 Sep 2016 11:01 UTC
oil market prices
© Sergei Karpukhin / Reuters During the G20 summit, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to work together to ensure oil market stability.
Moscow and Riyadh made a joint statement on Monday at the G20 summit in China calling for cooperation to support the oil markets. They agreed to set up a task force to review oil market fundamentals, recommending measures and actions for oil market stability, including a production freeze.

The report sent global crude prices surging.

November futures for Brent crude rose by almost five percent to over $49 per barrel in early trading on Monday. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate surged almost four percent higher to over $46 a barrel.

During the G20 summit, Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to work together to ensure oil market stability.

Comment: Moscow and Riyadh negotiating oil output freeze agreement to stabilize oil markets

Here is a copy of the communique:



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