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South Korea switches to Russian crude to replace banned Iranian oil supplies


RT
Mon, 27 May 2019 15:03 UTC
Seoul
© AFP / Ed Jones
South Korea's largest energy and chemical company, SK innovation, has boosted oil shipments from Russia and other exporters to offset Iranian condensate supplies it lost after the end of US sanction waivers.

"The share of Iranian condensate was high, but that has been replaced with crude oil from Russia, Kazakhstan and Qatar and we also have been diversifying our crude sources," the company's chief executive, Choi Nam-kyu, told journalists on Monday, according to Reuters.

Seoul had to find new suppliers after the latest round of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic, which hit the Iranian oil sector hard. The restrictions were re-imposed by the Trump administration after Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and several world powers. Since then the US has been threatening to cut Iranian crude exports to zero.
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Bomb

3 arrested in nail bomb attack that wounded 13 in Lyon, France

Guy Davies and Ibtissem Guenfoud
ABC News
Mon, 27 May 2019 06:50 UTC
Cops
© Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty ImagesPolice officers set a perimeter in front a 'Brioche doree' bakery before French Mayor of Lyon's visit, May 25, 2019, the day after a suspected package bomb blast.
Three suspects have been arrested in connection with a parcel bomb detonated in the French city of Lyon on Friday, authorities confirmed to ABC News.

France's Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner announced a 24-year-old man had been arrested Monday around 10 a.m. on a street in Lyon. The Paris prosecutor's office also confirmed to ABC News that two more suspects, a man and a woman, had also been arrested and placed in detention.

The bomb was detonated on Friday afternoon near a bakery on the busy Victor Hugo street in France's third-biggest city, wounding 13. Among the wounded, 11 were treated at a local hospital. Several required operations to remove shrapnel from the blast.

Surveillance footage released by police shows one suspect arriving on foot around 5:25 pm and leaving a paper bag on the floor that detonated about three minutes later, smashing the bakery window to pieces.

Comment: See also: Man cycles up to bakery in Lyon, France, sets off nail-bomb - 7 injured

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Arrow Down

California amusement park ride 'The Log' malfunctions, family injured

Bill Hutchinson
ABC News
Mon, 27 May 2019 01:45 UTC
Castle Park
© ABC NewsThree people were injured after a log ride overturned at Castle Park in Riverside, Calif., May 25, 2019.
A woman was critically injured and her husband and child were also hurt when a water log ride at a California amusement park malfunctioned and flipped over, throwing them from their seats, officials said.

The incident occurred at Castle Park in Riverside on the Log Ride, which, according to the park's website, features a 48-foot drop.

Riverside Fire Department officials said they were called to the park at 4:37 p.m. and said three members of one family were tossed into the water after something went haywire with the log they were riding in and overturned.

"One of the injuries we categorized as critical. With the two others being minor. All were transported to a hospital," a fire official at the scene told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
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Info

Australia's LNG sector could win big from the US, China trade war

Jon LeSage
Oilprice.com
Mon, 20 May 2019 13:31 UTC
LNG Vessel
If China follows through on its retaliatory threat of raising U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) tariffs from 10 to 25 percent, U.S. exports will be hit hard - but another country is waiting to gain from it.

Australia is poised to fill the gap for China, with its booming LNG sector well positioned. Last year, China imported 23 million tons of LNG from Australia, which made up about 42 percent of Australia's exports. That figure could be increasing.

US LNG exports to China have plunged 80 percent this financial year, compared to the same time last year. President Trump's threat to add an additional $300 billion in tariffs on China caused China to retaliate last week with the threat of raising tariffs to 25 percent on these imports starting June 1.
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USA

Actor John Voight says Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln


RT
Sat, 25 May 2019 13:27 UTC
Hollywood actor Jon Voight has hailed Donald Trump as the greatest US president since Abraham Lincoln for making all the right moves, much to the delight and disgust of Twitter.

Voight trended on Twitter after posting his two-part video endorsement of Trump addressed to "My fellow Americans," in which the film star commended the president for "battling the left and their absurd words of destruction."

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Bizarro Earth

50 children rescued in pedophile website raids in the US, Australia and Thailand


BBC
Thu, 23 May 2019 12:00 UTC
paedophile ring
© InterpolSite administrator Montri Salangam (seated) was jailed for 146 years
Fifty children have been rescued and nine people arrested after an Interpol investigation into an international paedophile ring.

The arrests were made in Thailand, Australia and the US and more are expected, Interpol said.

The investigation began in 2017 and focused on a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.

Police believe 100 more children have suffered abuse and are working to identify them.

Operation Blackwrist was launched by Interpol after it detected images showing 11 boys aged under 13 being abused on a site where people can use encrypted software to maintain secrecy.

Comment: Of 63,000 users only 9 have been arrested so far:

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Star of David

Tens of thousands of Israelis protest Netanyahu move to shield himself from prosecution, as deadline looms for formation of new government

Bar Peleg
Haaretz
Mon, 27 May 2019 09:34 UTC
Israel Netanyahu protesters tel aviv immunity bill
© Ilan AssayagProtesters in Tel Aviv, May 25, 2019
Tens of thousands of people gathered outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art for the Israeli opposition's first rally since the April 9 election, in a "pro-democracy" protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's attempt to pass legislation that would curb the powers of the High Court.

Addressing the crowd, Kahol Lavan co-chair Benny Gantz said this was the first protest he's even been to because as the former chief of the Israeli army he could not attend politically-oriented events.

"Israel is the fulfillment of a dream but I'm here to say loud and clear what we all feel, that the dream is falling apart. There are those who are attempting to replace the people's rule with the rule of a single man and to enslave an entire nation to the interests of one man," Gantz said.

Comment: Bibi has just 48 hours to satisfy all available right-wing party winners in Israel's recent election to secure a coalition government with a majority of just one.

After that, it's back to another election...

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Arrow Down

$13 million solar plant shut down in Medicine Hat after it couldn't meet energy demands

Cosmin Dzsurdzsa
The Post Millenial
Mon, 27 May 2019 09:35 UTC
Solar power plant
(Alberta, Canada) - A solar power plant intended on testing the feasibility of solar energy was shut down after the cost to maintain the facility didn't justify the plant's energy output.

The plant which was poised to add one megawatt of additional power to the city's energy capacity often didn't meet its intended goal. Maintenance during the summer and winter months ended up being too costly for the long term.

According to city Councillor Phil Turnbull the low price of natural gas and the high upkeep was the reason behind the city's decision to terminate the project.

Comment: Also see: Renewables can't power modern civilization - they were never meant to

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X

Iraq sentences three French citizens to death for joining Isis


RT
Sun, 26 May 2019 11:40 UTC
syrian democratic forces fighter isis
© Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesA Syrian Democratic Forces fighter after the defeat of the final Isis outpost in Baghouz, Syria, in March.
A court in Iraq has sentenced three men to death after finding them guilty of joining Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), officials confirmed on Sunday.

A court official, who spoke to the press on condition of anonymity, said the trio were sentenced "after it was proven that they were members of the terrorist Islamic State organization."

The men have 30 days to appeal their conviction.
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Quenelle

RT France reporter assaulted by policeman while filming Yellow Vests protest


RT
Sat, 25 May 2019 17:42 UTC
police assault rt journalist yellow vests
© Twitter / Frédéric RT FranceThe moment Federic Aigouy was attacked by a police officer when he was filming a protester’s arrest.
A correspondent with RT France has been beaten with a baton by a police officer in the French city of Toulouse where he was filming a Yellow Vests protest. He was wearing press identification.

A video Federic Aigouy shared on Twitter shows a police officer wearing riot gear and holding a baton striking him at the moment when he was filming a protester's arrest. The correspondent had a label on his clothes that clearly identified him as a member of the press, RT France said.

Comment: As of May 18, 2019, the Yellow Vest protests have marked 26 weeks, half a year of weekly protest, which show no signs of abating. The number may rise and fall from week to week, but the discontent with the government is consistent.
Some 15,500 demonstrators have rallied across France, according to figures from the Interior Ministry. While the organizers claim the figure is just over 40,000 participants, it's still no match to the numbers the movement attracted when it started in November last year.

Authorities say 1,600 people went out in the streets of Paris, although Occurrence, an independent research firm that has been following Yellow Vest rallies from the very beginning, put the number at 5,600. The Paris march was largely peaceful - and observed by a large police force - yet some minor scuffles were observed.



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