SOTT
SIGNS
OF THE
TIMES
OF THE
TIMES
Welcome to Sott.net
The World for People who Think
Society's ChildS
© Robert Atanasovski / AFPProtesters in the main square of Skopje after the president's shocking decision to halt probes into the 56 public officials embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal.
The demonstration, organized by the civil movement "Objection," began its way near the headquarters of the prosecutor's office. The activists then marched to the parliament. Among their slogans displayed were, "Resignation, resignation," "Where there's no truth, there's no peace" and "Mafia to jail."
Wednesday's demonstration in Skopje remained largely peaceful, despite protesters spraying several government institutions, as well as several monuments, with paint.
Reinforced police squads were called to the area to ensure order, including special units of the Interior Ministry. They cordoned off several streets. Protests over the amnesty have taken place daily over the past week, with activists decrying President Gjorge Ivanov's decision to pardon the figures accused of crimes against the state. Similar rallies have been held in nine cities across the republic.
The situation in the Balkan nation has been tense since March, after Macedonia's constitutional court allowed the president to pardon politicians accused of electoral fraud. Thousands took to the streets of Skopje following the decision. The mass outrage then escalated on April 12, after Ivanov decided to drop criminal proceedings against a number of former and current officials, participants of the so-called "Bomb Affair," who were suspected of large-scale embezzlement of government funds and organizing mass wiretapping of phones in the country. Activists also demand the rescheduling of the next parliamentary elections from June 5 to a later date, as well as calling for a technocratic government to be reformed.
On April 22, leaders of the main Macedonian parties will meet in Vienna, where they are expected to discuss possible solutions to the political crisis that has enveloped the Balkan nation.
© Sputnik/ Alexei Danichev
"Under the order of the President of the Russian Federation [Vladimir Putin] to the Russian Emergencies Ministry an IL-76 [Ilyushin or Candid] plane left for Ecuador from the Ramenskoye airfield near Moscow," a ministry spokesperson told RIA Novosti early on Thursday.
The 30 metric tons of aid that the aircraft is carrying include food, tents and mobile power stations. A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Ecuador on Saturday, leading to the death of over 500 people.
Earlier this week, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said the damage caused by the natural disaster would cost as much as $3 billion.
© ANCA/Facebook
The ad features the words "Truth=Peace" printed in large letters and shows a hand colored like the Turkish flag holding up a peace sign, while two other hands colored like the Russian and Armenian flags have their fingers crossed.
It also contains a link to the genocide-denial group FactCheckArmenia.com, which propagates claims that Armenians were killed during the First World War because they were "collectively guilty" of treason against the Ottoman Empire.
Moreover, it attempts to argue that fewer people were killed than is claimed, and that the Armenians started the conflict.
The WSJ ad caused outrage on Twitter and other social media platforms.
Comment: Since Turkey has recently upped its pathological game, it has taken sides with Azerbaijan in its aggression towards the region of Nagorno-Karabakh - a contested land that is strongly aligned with - Armenia. So the propaganda we are now seeing is Turkey's Orwellian way of distancing itself from its past regression towards Armenians, so that it may further justify future aggression. And this is what a major salvo in Turkey's information war looks like.
On a related note, we can now expect to see the WSJ running ads denying the Jewish Holocaust, right?
© Mario Tama/Getty ImagesIn 2005, the Danziger Bridge was the scene of a police shooting that left two unarmed people dead and several others seriously wounded.
The judge in the case accepted the terms of the deal shortly before 1 p.m. local time, after a hearing on the case began around noon.
In court today, former Officers Kenneth Bowen, Robert Faulcon, Robert Gisevius and Anthony Villavaso pleaded guilty to three counts each: deprivation of rights under color of law, conspiracy to obstruct justice, and obstruction of justice by engaging in misleading conduct.
Arthur Kaufman, the former officers' supervisor who was accused of arranging a cover-up, pleaded guilty to two counts: conspiracy to obstruct justice and falsification of evidence to obstruct justice.
© AutoTracking / YouTubeEdward Snowden
The petition has been sent by the Schjodt law firm to Oslo City Court on behalf of Snowden and the Norwegian branch of the PEN writers, who awarded him the prestigious Ossietsky Prize and have sent him an invitation to pick it up in person on November 18.
© Paul van Galen / Rijksdienst door het Cultureel Erfgoed / cc-by-sa 3.0In Amsterdam at Amstelstraat looking down the Paardenstraat, where some boys were allegedly forced into prostitution. April 1976
Koos van Woudenberg is the first of nine witnesses that will testify under oath this week. According to Van Woudenberg, he was abused in an Amsterdam apartment while he was still in primary school, according to AD reporter Koen Voskuil tweeting live from within the courtroom.
In that Amsterdam apartment, which belonged to now deceased professor Ger van Roon, sexual acts were committed with young boys, Van Woudenberg told the court. The witness stated that he saw former mayor Ed van Thijn, top Justice official Joris Demmink and former Minister Onno Rudding in the apartment, performing sexual acts with boys. Demmink was there almost every time, Van Thijn at least twice. Van Woudenberg had oral sex with Rudding. He also claims that he saw Prince Claus at a bar "in relation with young boys." Prince Claus was also in Van Roon's apartment.
Comment: It wasn't just tolerated at the time, it was practically a national past-time. In all likelihood, it still is. And it wasn't/isn't just the Netherlands: New details in Hastert allegations 'paint a horrifying picture of a monster'
© goldmanprize.orgMáxima Acuña de Chaupe.
At the forefront of local resistance to the new mine, which was intended to replace the nearly-depleted Yanacocha gold mine nearby, is Máxima Acuña de Chaupe, a 47-year-old grandmother who lives off a plot of farmland in Peru's northern Cajamarca region that would have been used by Newmont to drain a nearby lake to collect mining byproducts.
Acuña has been publicly opposed to the mine since it was proposed in 2010, steadfastly refusing to sell her land despite multiple court battles, alleged physical assaults, and having her family's crops on contested land destroyed. She also says her family has faced at least three violent eviction attempts by the mining company, which were assisted by private security forces and the Peruvian government.
Thüg life: German right-wing demonstrators hold rally on Hitler's birthday, clash with anti-fascists
© Ruptly
The rally, organized by the right-wing Thügida movement, an anti-immigrant group allied with Pegida in the central German state of Thüringen, saw some 300 participants light torches and march through the city Wednesday. The far-right activists waved banners that read "Freedom of expression begins where the political correctness ends" and "Freedom of expression instead of the muzzle."
Comment: If you suspect that this rally would not be occurring had the US not been behaving like Nazis in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere - you'd be correct.
© REUTERS/ Fabian Bimmer
The company will buy back or fix about 500,000 diesel cars, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The Volkswagen emission scandal became public when the US Environmental Protection Agency accused the German automaker of using software to falsify emission test results for its diesel-engine cars.
In September 2015, Volkswagen admitted that it had installed software in their vehicles to falsify emission tests. The company later clarified that an estimated 11 million diesel-engine cars worldwide were emitting up to 20 times more greenhouse gas than showed in the tests.
Comment: This whole 'scandal' is based on industrial sabotage. This is the US/Western Order giving the rising Germany 'something to think about', much like the contrived 'euro crisis', the contrived 'Ukraine crisis' and the contrived 'refugee crisis'.
They can't have Germany cosying up to Russia, and the best way to ensure that is to keep it weighed down in expensive runarounds.
The NSA undoubtedly has heaps of insider data it can 'leak' at any time - not least corporate emails. That is, after all, the primary function of the US 'National Security State'.
Comment: "Corruption" is proving to be a virulent strand of political DNA, spreading throughout governments everywhere. Where there is a playable weakness, regime change is sure to follow.