Society's ChildS


Ambulance

3 people injured in stabbing attack at Gare de Lyon train station in Paris

Associated Press
New York Post
Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:59 UTC
French police officer, Gare de Lyon
© REUTERSA French police officer stands inside a secure area following the knife attack on Saturday.
A man injured three people Saturday in a stabbing attack at the major Gare de Lyon train station in Paris, another nerve-rattling security incident in the Olympic host city before the Summer Games open in six months.

Paris police said officers quickly detained the attacker who used a sharp weapon in the assault at around 8 a.m.

One of the people injured was in a serious condition; the other two were more lightly hurt.

Police had no other immediate details.

Posting on social media, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin described the attack as an "unbearable act" and thanked those who detained the assailant.

Security in Paris is being ramped up as it prepares to welcome 10,500 Olympians and millions of visitors for the first Olympic Games in a century in the French capital.

The Games are to open with a massive open-air ceremony along the River Seine on July 26, a major security challenge in the city that has been repeatedly hit by terror attacks, most notably in 2015.
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Gold Bar

Central-bank buying spree driving demand for gold - report


RT
Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:54 UTC
gold, vault, safe
© Getty Images / sefa ozel
Total gold demand hit the highest level on record last year of 4,899 tons amid global uncertainty and thanks to continued strong buying by central banks, according to the World Gold Council (WGC).

In its Gold Demand Trends report for the full year 2023, the industry group said that purchases by central banks maintained a "breakneck pace," reaching 1,037 tons, almost matching the 2022 record.

"Even though it [central bank purchases] is not so strong as it was in 2022, it is substantially higher than prior to 2022 and it exceeded our expectations," said John Reade, market strategist at the WGC. "It is a very impressive number," he added.

Purchases by central banks are expected to slow down by around 200 tons in 2024 but remain higher than prior to 2022, according to Reade. The strategist noted, however, that demand for gold among central banks could actually accelerate.

The WGC report highlighted that global gold jewelry consumption was steady in 2023 - at 2,092 tons - due to a 17% post-Covid increase in demand in China and despite high gold prices. Meanwhile, purchases of gold bars and coins declined by 3% as European demand continued to tumble. The report also showed that global gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) saw a third consecutive annual outflow in 2023, shedding 244 tons. According to the WGC, annual mine production last year increased to 3,644 tons, but fell short of the 2018 record.
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Dollar

Russia-led trade bloc's de-dollarization almost complete - PM


RT
Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:39 UTC
crumbled dollar, US dollar, crumpled dollar
© Getty Images / Steven Puetzer
The share of national currencies in mutual settlements among the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) has reached 90% and is still growing, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin revealed on Friday.

The EAEU, which is based on the Customs Union of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus, was established in 2015, and was later joined by Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. In 2016, Vietnam became a free trade partner of the EAEU. The union is designed to ensure the free movement of goods, services, capital and workers among member countries.

The Russian prime minister made the comments while addressing a meeting of the EAEU Intergovernmental Council. During his remarks, he highlighted that in the first 11 months of 2023, GDP of the EAEU grew by approximately 3.5%, while industrial production gained almost 4%, and retail turnover rose by more than 6%.

Comment: Day by day the dollar loses its relevance, and day by day the US tries to wreck the global economy to prevent it.

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Card - VISA

Germany to introduce 'payment cards' for asylum seekers


RT
Sat, 03 Feb 2024 14:28 UTC
migrants, Germany, asylum seekers
© CHRISTOF STACHE / AFPFILE PHOTO. Migrants arrive at the first registration point for asylum seekers in Erding near Munich, southern Germany. Despite the influx of immigrants, there remains a shortage of unskilled labor in the economy. To address this issue, the Federal Employment Agency is now seeking to recruit tens of thousands more migrants to Germany.
Asylum seekers in Germany will cease receiving cash payments during the course of this year, and will be issued special debit cards instead, the governor of Hesse, Boris Rhein, has announced. The cards will reportedly have limited functionality, with features like free cash withdrawal and transfers to recipients inside and outside of Germany disabled.

A number of municipalities across the country have introduced the new payment method ahead of nation-wide implementation. These include several communities in Baden-Wuerttemberg and Thuringia. Bild reported last month that at least 15 asylum seekers left their localities after Thuringian authorities imposed the new protocols.

Speaking on Wednesday, Rhein revealed that 14 out of 16 German states had agreed on uniform standards for such cards, with Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern seeking other schemes. They will, however, introduce the new payment method as well, which is expected to be finalized by this summer.

According to Rhein, "with the introduction of the payment card we reduce the administrative burden on local municipalities [and] prevent the possibility of transferring money from state subsidies to countries of origin, and thus combat the inhuman human-trafficking crime."
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Snakes in Suits

You will own nothing - because they will steal everything

Greg Hunter
USA Watchdog
Sat, 20 Jan 2024 00:00 UTC
great taking
David Rogers Webb (DRW) is a financial expert and former global money manager who lives in Sweden. Recently, DRW revealed the game plan of globalists like Klaus Schwab who publicly predicts, "You will own nothing . . ." According to DRW, this is not some idle threat but a complicated active plan demonic Deep State globalist central bankers have been working on for decades. DRW has explained this theft in a free book and documentary called "The Great Taking." It is a stunning plan to steal almost all wealth and legally not be required to pay one red cent for it. The plan is in the process of unfolding now. DRW explains,
"The core of what I am showing here is about securities, stocks and bonds. I also go into the good old fashion way of doing it, which is taking anything encumbered with debt. That's been done for centuries. They create a cycle where there is a fall in price, and then anyone who is in debt is in trouble, and the collateral is taken. This was the big hammer in 'The Great Taking 1.0,' which was the Great Depression. In this go-around, 'The Great Taking 2.0,' that is taking things that are not encumbered with debt. . . .There is very sophisticated subterfuge that has been put into place. . . . They have worked for half a century to put this in place. So, it is quite deliberate. This is not an accident."
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MIB

In 24 hours: Major gas explosion in Kenya, outage at US BP refinery triggers evacuation, large blackout in Toronto


The Guardian
Fri, 02 Feb 2024 16:13 UTC
kenya explosion
© Luis Tato/AFP/Getty ImagesA woman looks from a balcony at the heavily damaged houses and shops on the morning after the explosion. More than 280 taken to hospital after truck blast on gas storage site that had unsuccessfully applied for permit to operate.
A lorry loaded with liquid petroleum gas cylinders exploded and set off a late-night inferno that burned homes and warehouses in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, killing at least three people and injuring more than 280. The death toll is expected to increase.

At least 24 people were critically injured, the Kenya Red Cross said, after a huge fireball erupted from the gas depot. Some gas cylinders were thrown hundreds of metres, sparking several separate fires.

The lorry was parked inside a gas cylinder storage and filling site that had multiple applications to operate there rejected last year because it was too close to residential areas, Kenya's Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority said, raising questions about whether the site was operating illegally.

Comment: Notably a similar incident occurred in Mongolia just a few weeks ago.

Independent reports:
Power restored to BP oil refinery in Indiana after outage prompts evacuation, shutdown

Power has been restored to BP's sprawling oil refinery in northwest Indiana following an outage that prompted the company to temporarily shut down the complex and evacuate workers, BP said Friday.

BP spokesperson Christina Audisho said in a statement that power was back on Friday at the refinery following Thursday's outage, and the refinery's office buildings and nearby roads had reopened.




She said that "operations have been stabilized at the refinery." But Audisho did not immediately reply to an email from The Associated Press asking for BP to elaborate on the situation at the refinery, including whether refining had resumed and if the outage's cause had been determined.

Audisho said all refinery staff were accounted for and no injuries were reported following the outage at the refinery, located along Lake Michigan about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.

The city of Whiting said Thursday that the refinery was flaring its stacks in response to the outage "to burn off the extra product" in what was described as a "normal process" following such an event.

Audisho said in Friday's statement that air monitoring continues around the refinery "and no elevated readings have been recorded."

The city of Whiting said air monitoring conducted at multiple location by both BP and Lake County had determined that "there was no danger to the public."

The refinery is the biggest in the U.S. Midwest and sixth-largest nationally, processing about 440,000 barrels of crude oil daily, making a variety of liquid fuels and asphalt.
Reuters reports:
Raccoon mischief triggers blackout in Toronto, trapping people in elevators

An inquisitive raccoon fiddled with electricity equipment in Toronto and cut power for thousands in the downtown core late on Thursday, knocking out traffic lights in Canada's largest city and trapping some people in elevators.

Crews investigating the outage determined that the nocturnal mammal made contact with equipment at a downtown Toronto station, Utility Hydro One (H.TO), said on social media.

A spokesperson for Hydro One said the raccoon did not survive the contact.




According to think-tank Electricity Canada, squirrels are by far the most common culprit when it comes to animal-related outages, followed by raccoons and birds.

The power outage on Thursday hit areas about 2 km (1.24 miles) from the CN Tower landmark and left about 7,000 people in the dark for nearly three hours.

The city's fire department said it had to respond to "a higher number of elevator rescues" due to power cuts.

Some traffic lights were also turned off in downtown Toronto, which is also home to the busy Union Station rail transport hub, according to a Reuters witness.
The list of unusual and highly suspect explosions and fires continues to grow apace, and they certainly aren't all the works of mischievous raccoons (which calls into question the claim of the above story).

The sheer number and global scope of these incidents likely reveals how factions of the establishment - that are also actively attacking farmers livelihoods, sanctioning energy products, and enforcing a net zero green agenda - are also disrupting supply chains for critical products, in particular food and energy, through sabotage incidents, on already fragile and crisis ridden industries; industries that are particularly vulnerable in the West.

The following are a few examples from January:

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V

Von der Leyen celebrates 'a great day for Europe' as farmers trash Brussels

Rachel Marsden
RT
Fri, 02 Feb 2024 07:51 UTC
Protester throws a burning tyre in front of police forces during the farmer protest action in the European district in Brussels, Belgium
© DIRK WAEM/AFPA protester throws a burning tyre in front of police forces during the farmer protest action in the European district in Brussels, Belgium.
The unelected European Commission head made her priorities crystal clear by praising another cash dump on Ukraine.

"Agreement! The European Council delivered on our priorities. Supporting Ukraine.... A good day for Europe," tweeted unelected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday, as EU farmers "high-fived" her by throwing eggs, lighting fires and dumping manure in Brussels, where a reported 1,300 tractors had gathered in protest.

Surely it must have been in anticipation of this "great day for Europe" that Brussels rolled out the barbed wire to keep the bloc's own struggling farmers at bay while its leaders cut yet another check for Ukraine — after threatening the one anticipated holdout with national economic "blackmail," as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban qualified it. It's hard to believe that this meeting actually took place in Brussels. These officials are so disconnected from reality that it may as well have been held on a whole other planet.

Unlike the Ukrainian products making their way onto Western European dinner plates to stick it to Russian President Vladimir Putin (because turtlenecks and short, cold showers apparently failed to do the job), this crisis is certifiably EU-made. No one knows this better than the farmers, who also realize that it makes more sense to blockade the streets of Brussels than the national highways of their home countries, which they've been doing with overwhelming public support - from nine out of every ten citizens in the case of France, according to a recent Odoxa poll.

Comment: See also:

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Microchip

Best of the Web: The Rise of Techno-Authoritarianism

Adrienne LaFrance
The Atlantic
Tue, 30 Jan 2024 07:00 UTC
Zuckerberg
© Illustration by Ben Kothe. Source: Gerard Julien / AFP / Getty.
Silicon Valley has its own ascendant political ideology. It's past time we call it what it is.

This article was featured in the One Story to Read Today newsletter. Sign up for it here.

If you had to capture Silicon Valley's dominant ideology in a single anecdote, you might look first to Mark Zuckerberg, sitting in the blue glow of his computer some 20 years ago, chatting with a friend about how his new website, TheFacebook, had given him access to reams of personal information about his fellow students:

Zuckerberg: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuckerberg: Just ask.
Zuckerberg: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
Friend: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuckerberg: People just submitted it.
Zuckerberg: I don't know why.
Zuckerberg: They "trust me"
Zuckerberg: Dumb fucks.
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Attention

Record stillbirths & baby deaths reported in QLD, Australia, spurs clinical review

Savannah Meacham
The Advocate
Thu, 01 Feb 2024 12:00 UTC
baby
© Zoonar GmbH/AlamyAustralian Associated PressFILE: Shannon Fentiman has ordered a clinical review into Queensland's perinatal death rate.
Queensland has recorded Australia's second highest number of stillbirths and baby deaths within 28 days of delivery.

Health Minister Shannon Fentiman says she is concerned by the latest Report on Government Services findings and has ordered a clinical review to identify potential causes and recommendations.

The report said there were 2446 perinatal deaths nationally in 2022, including stillbirths and those that occurred within the first 28 days of life.

Comment: Similar spikes in excess death rates, across all age groups, is being documented across much of the planet; and this also comes amidst collapsing birthrates:


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Gavel

Best of the Web: CIA staffer behind Wikileaks' US hacking revelations gets 40 years


RT
Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:12 UTC

Comment: 40 years!!!


Joshua Schulte
© Elizabeth Williams via APFILE PHOTO: A courtroom sketch of Joshua Schulte with his attorneys during jury deliberations in New York, March 4, 2020.
A former CIA software engineer who allegedly gave a massive trove of classified information to WikiLeaks has been sentenced to 40 years in prison by a New York judge.

US District Court Judge Jesse Furman handed down the sentence against Joshua Schulte on Thursday, falling short of the life prison term that federal prosecutors had requested. Schulte, who was accused of carrying out the largest theft of US secrets in the CIA's history, was convicted on charges of espionage, computer hacking, contempt of court, making false statements to the FBI, and possessing child pornography.

Schulte, 35, was the source behind the so-called Vault 7 release by WikiLeaks in 2017, which revealed the methods used by the CIA to hack smartphones and other devices. The bombshell report exposed how the US spied on foreign governments, terrorism suspects, and other targets. The release also reportedly triggered a secret CIA plot to kidnap or assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.


Comment: Indeed, this was the leak that drove the deep state psychos over the edge, and committed them to abducting Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.


Prior to his arrest in 2018, Schulte had helped create the hacking tools that he later revealed to WikiLeaks. The CIA tactics included efforts to turn so-called smart TVs - televisions with online connectivity - into listening devices. Prosecutors claimed he was behind "the most damaging disclosures of classified information in American history."

Comment: Whether or not Schulte is 'guilty', he's being punished while the departments and government agencies which carried out the illegal operations the leaks in question exposed are free to continue doing as they please. The US is now well and truly like the USSR, when it was at its worst.

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