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Explosion rocks area near Russian Embassy in Damascus


RT
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 17:26 UTC
Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria
© Sputnik / Mikhail Alaeddin
Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria
A blast has occurred in the Syrian capital of Damascus close to the Russian Embassy, the diplomatic mission has confirmed. The explosion has inflicted only material damage, according to SANA news agency.

A car bomb detonated in the area, according to state TV. Other media outlets, however, suggest that the attack might have been carried out by a suicide bomber. The explosion has apparently caused only material damage, no casualties have been reported so far.

Several government buildings, as well as the Embassy of Russia, are located in the vicinity of the area, where the blast occurred.

The explosion occurred some 500 meters away from the Embassy, Russian mission confirmed, adding that its staff was not affected by the blast.

A number of photos, purportedly showing the scene of the blast, have emerged online. The explosive device was apparently planted in an old blue car, which was badly damaged in the explosion.

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Dollar Gold

Russian crypto guru to RT: Forget bitcoin, get ready for blockchain revolution


RT
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 17:14 UTC
blockchains
© Pexels.com
The buzz around cryptocurrencies which were making headlines not long ago has finally abated. The time has come for the blockchain technology itself, says Russian tech entrepreneur Aleksandr Ivanov.

The founder and CEO of Waves Platform and Vostok project told RT on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos that blockchain is a basic fundamental technology which could be used practically in all spheres.

It is currently applied in the sphere of public administration and the business sector, with companies like Russia's biggest lender Sberbank trying to adopt it.
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Stock Up

China forecasted to surpass US in total retail sales in 2019


eMarketer
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 17:08 UTC
Shoppers in Beijing, China
© Getty
Shoppers in Beijing, China
China is poised to become the world's top retail market in 2019, displacing the US. China's retail sales this year will surpass that of the US by more than $100 billion, according to eMarketer's latest worldwide retail and ecommerce forecast.

This year, China's total retail sales will grow 7.5% to reach $5.636 trillion. For comparison, US retail sales will grow 3.3% to reach $5.529 trillion. Growth rates are slowing for both countries, but China's growth rate will exceed that of the US through 2022.

"In recent years, consumers in China have experienced rising incomes, catapulting millions into the new middle class," said Monica Peart, senior forecasting director at eMarketer. "The result has been marked rise in purchasing power and average spending per person."
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Red Flag

School in Russian Far East under fire for allegedly letting mobsters give sex-ed lecture to middle school boys


RT
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 16:52 UTC
writing
© Sputnik / Maxim Blinov
A school and a local administration in the Russian Far East found themselves at the centre of a scandal after reports that local mobsters were invited to give a "sex-ed" lecture to middle school boys.

A post published on internet board Pikabu, described how teachers gathered male students of 10 to 12 years old in a middle school in Mikhailovskoye settlement to attend a closed lecture.

Allegedly, the lecture was held by local mobsters, invited by the former school principal.

In comments, the user, presumably a parent of one of the schoolboys, said that the lecturers told the children to live "by the code" and warned them that homosexual relationships weren't acceptable and gays "face consequences" in prisons. The boys were reportedly threatened not to tell their parents or other teachers about the lecture.
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Airplane

Argentine football star Emiliano Sala missing presumed dead as plane disappears over English Channel


Sky Sports News
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 16:31 UTC
Emiliano Sala
© Sky Sports News
Emiliano Sala had signed for Cardiff City at the weekend
'The search is ongoing and a decision whether to continue will be taken later today.'

The search for a missing plane carrying Cardiff striker Emiliano Sala and a pilot is now a recovery operation, the Channel Islands Air Search has said.

The 28-year-old Argentine, who completed his move from Nantes on Saturday, was on board an aircraft which disappeared from radar near the Channel Islands on Monday evening.

Guernsey Police said it had searched 280 square miles using multiple aircraft over five hours on Wednesday, but there was "as yet no trace" of the missing aircraft.

Comment: UPDATE 21 Jan - 17:00 CET

They've called off the search. What's odd about this is that the plane seems to have literally disappeared without a trace. They really should have come across some wreckage by now. The English Channel is not a large area. To give you an idea how rare this is, a plane hasn't completely disappeared in the English Channel since WW2...

Are we looking at another MH370 here?

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Shoe

Avid runner is a hitman: His GPS watch tied him to a mob boss murder

Riley Missel
Runner's World
Thu, 17 Jan 2019 00:01 UTC
Mark Fellows
© Marathon Photos

The health-conscious assassin was picked up for another murder, then investigators found his Garmin.

A British runner, cyclist, and mob hitman has been convicted for the murders of two rival gangsters, in part, because of his GPS watch. Mark "Iceman" Fellows, 39, was found guilty by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court of killing organized crime leader Paul "Mr. Big" Massey and his associate John Kinsella, 55 and 53 at the time of their deaths. Massey and Kinsella were also career criminals, part of a gang scene near Manchester, England, with a reputation known across Europe, according to the Manchester Evening News.

Though police already suspected Fellows in Kinsella's death, it was his Garmin Forerunner that linked him to Massey's unsolved 2015 murder. While detectives were investigating Fellows, they came across a photo of the suspect wearing his Garmin Forerunner during 2015's Great Manchester 10K (he ran 47:17, pictured above) two months before the murder of Massey that July. Detectives then located the device at Fellows's home and checked its GPS data for files that could link him to Massey.
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2 + 2 = 4

Dept of Justice study shows that gun control laws don't work because criminals obtain their guns illegally

Mac Slavo
SHTFplan.com
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
gunfire
It took the United States government's Department of Justice an entire study dedicated to gun use and criminals to figure out what logical human beings have already understood for decades. The result of their own study found that gun control laws will never work because criminals will never use legal channels to obtain guns.

According to Fox 5, the findings based on the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), discovered that about 1 in 5 or 21% of all state and federal prisoners reported they had "possessed or carried a firearm when they committed the offense for which they were serving time in prison." The survey released by the DOJ this month declared that criminals unsurprisingly rely on the black market for their guns.

According to the study, an estimated 287,400 prisoners has possessed a firearm during their offense. The findings concluded 6 percent had stolen the weapon, 7 percent found it at a crime scene and 43 percent obtained it off the street or on the black market. More than 25 percent had received it from a family member or friend, or as a gift.

Comment: The big centralized push for gun control, at its core, has never been about crime, or keeping people safe. Rather, it has been about disarming the American public in anticipation of the day when a more overt police state will be ushered in to enforce its version of Federally-mandated "order". See:

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Eye 2

Bryan Singer again accused of rape and molestation of underage boys as more accusers come forward

Chris Spargo
Daily Mail
Wed, 23 Jan 2019 16:17 UTC
Bryan Singer

Hollywood heavyweight: Four new men have come forward alleging that they were raped or molested by Bryan Singer (above in 2017) in the past 20 years
Bryan Singer is once again being accused of raping multiple underage teens in a shocking expose published by The Atlantic.

Four new men have come forward to share their stories, which are remarkably similar to those shared by a number of men in the past.

The youngest accuser claims that he was just 13 when Singer molested him on a film set, while others recount being plied with drugs and alcohol before being led to a bedroom by the director.

That youngest victim said that as he watched the Harvey Weinstein scandal unfold, he started to think: 'Me too-only I was a kid.'

This comes one day after Oscar voters awarded the director's latest film, Bohemian Rhapsody, with five Oscar nominations.

Comment: Hollywood is plagued by reports of pedophilia and sexual assault:

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Dollars

Lebanon's economy looking desperate as search for cash infusion continues

Dana Khraiche & Paul Abelsky
Bloomberg
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 11:46 UTC
Beirut Lebanon
© Sima Diab/Bloomberg
Hookah pipes stand outside an empty store for rent at the Solidere shopping district in Beirut.
The ruler of one of the wealthiest nations in the world barely spent a few hours in Lebanon but he left much trepidation, hope and confusion in his wake.

An Arab economic summit opened in Beirut with a report in local media on Sunday that Qatar is prepared to deposit $1 billion with the Lebanese central bank. If true, it could be just the cash infusion Lebanon's tottering economy needs to reassure bond holders still reeling from mixed remarks by officials about the possibility of debt restructuring.

But Lebanon's caretaker economy minister, Raed Khoury, said that while other officials had told him of Qatar's deposit, he couldn't confirm it. Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil was even more evasive.

Comment: Moody's Investors Service have downgraded Lebanon's credit rating to a level on par with that of Ukraine. The National reports:
Lebanon has the world's third-highest level of debt to GDP and Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Sunday it faces an economic crisis that could turn into a financial one.

Mr Hariri has pledged to carry out reforms that could unlock billions of dollars of international investment.

The International Monetary Fund has stressed the importance of Lebanon managing its debt, while bond yields and the cost of insuring against Lebanese sovereign debt showed signs of stress in recent months.

The inflation rate increased from 1.5 per cent in 2017 to 7 per cent last year, leaving Lebanese consumers with a shortage of money and less buying power.

Economic growth slowed from 8 per cent in 2010 to 0.6 per cent in 2017, according to the country's statistics agency.

The IMF projects a GDP growth of just 1 per cent for 2018.

The political and economic crisis has aggravated public discontent. Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets of Beirut last month, where they called for the government to fall for what they described as poor management.
Also see:

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Quenelle

Covington Catholic's Nick Sandmann: I wasn't smirking, I was just smiling

Elisha Fieldstadt
NBC News
Thu, 24 Jan 2019 11:35 UTC
Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann

Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann
The Covington Catholic High School student who was seen in a widely circulated video appearing to face off with a Native American activist during protests in the nation's capital last week said he wasn't disrespectfully smirking at the activist but rather smiling.

"I see it as a smile, saying that this is the best you're going to get out of me," Nick Sandmann, a junior at the Kentucky school, said. "You won't get any further reaction of aggression. And I'm willing to stand here as long as you want to hit this drum in my face."

"People have judged me based off one expression, which I wasn't smirking, but people have assumed that's what I have," Sandmann said.

Comment: Also see:

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