© AP Photo / Alessandra Tarantino
Runet is witnessing a conservative activist, 16-year-old Izabella Nilsson Jarvandi, gaining more and more appreciation and backing online.
Society's Child
Runet is witnessing a conservative activist, 16-year-old Izabella Nilsson Jarvandi, gaining more and more appreciation and backing online.
© REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/Illustration
The US Department of Justice unsealed the indictments against Russian nationals Maksim Yakubets and Igor Turashev on Thursday, accusing them of international computer hacking and bank fraud schemes dating back to 2009. A $5 million bounty was offered for the arrest of Yakubets, the largest such reward for a cyber crime case ever.
Yakubets and Turashev have "led one of the most sophisticated transnational cybercrime syndicates in the world" for over a decade, said US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, Scott Brady. He accused the duo of being behind the malware known first as Bugat, then Cridex and Dridex, used "across the globe in one of the most widespread malware campaigns we have ever encountered."
After the indictment was revealed, the US Treasury Department invoked the CAATSA sanctions bill to blacklist Yakubets, Turashev and 15 other people, along with seven companies - including 'Evil Corp', a designation that does not appear in the DOJ statements but nevertheless somehow became the widely used name for the alleged crime syndicate in the US press.
Comment: Turns out that the DOJ's claim about Russian assistance is unfounded. Further reporting by RT:
Moscow has condemned the 'obviously politicized' US sanctions on Russian nationals allegedly behind the 'Evil Corp' malware operation, with the Foreign Ministry calling the accusations unfounded and promising to retaliate.
Eleven Russian individuals and six companies were sanctioned by the US on Tuesday for "links" to the so-called 'Evil Corp,' an alleged cyber crime syndicate that the US Department of Justice accused of stealing more than $100 million from Western institutions over the past decade.
Though the DOJ said it had received assistance from the Russian Federation authorities, the Russian Foreign Ministry on Friday said that nothing of the sort had happened.
"If the United States had actual evidence, they would have asked the relevant Russian authorities to conduct a probe," based on the 1999 mutual assistance treaty," the ministry said in a statement. "As far as we know, no such requests have been received."
Furthermore, the US unilaterally ended cybersecurity cooperation with Russia in 2014, and has refused to resume it since, the ministry added. While Washington constantly accuses Russia of "hacking," including the 2016 US presidential election, it refuses to present any proof of those claims, because the US "simply has no evidence that would not be embarrassing to put on the table in front of specialists."
The goal of those imposing the sanctions is "not to fight crime, but the next propaganda attack against Russia," the ministry added, promising unspecified retaliation against the US.
Just as with the previous American attacks, these too won't remain without a response.
The US DOJ has offered a $5 million bounty for the arrest of Maksim Yakubets, the alleged leader of 'Evil Corp.' In blacklisting Yakubets and people "linked" to him under a 2017 sanctions law designed to target Russia, the US Treasury Department said he was involved with the Russian intelligence service, even though the DOJ made no such claim.
A screenshot of Misty Copeland's Instagram post
Ballerina Misty Copeland made history in 2015 by becoming the American Ballet Theater's first black principal dancer. She's since appeared in productions of 'Swan Lake,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'The Nutcracker,' among others. Lately, however, she's also found time to publicly shame Russian children for not measuring up to American standards of political correctness.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Copeland called out a pair of teenage dancers from the Bolshoi Ballet Academy - one of whom is 14 years old - for appearing in blackface, apparently during a rehearsal of 'La Bayadère.'
Copeland's followers saw red, and several reported the dancers for racism. To help them, Copeland tagged one of the dancers in her post.
"No doubt they will be upset and embarrassed by the online backlash but it would not be undeserved," one wrote.
© REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
Protesters wearing yellow vests demonstrate during their 56th round of protests with a backdrop of social discontentment triggered by president Macron's pensions reform plan in Paris, France, December 7, 2019.
Protesters wearing yellow vests demonstrate during their 56th round of protests with a backdrop of social discontentment triggered by president Macron's pensions reform plan in Paris, France, December 7, 2019.
In Paris there were scuffles with police in the Denfert Rochereau area of the residential Left Bank as several hundred "yellow vest" protesters continued their weekly demonstrations, but numbers were relatively small compared with previous weeks as the transport strike made it hard to reach the capital.
The combined pressure of the yellow vest movement over the cost of living and union protests against pension reform are a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to balance the state budget and introduce more environmentally friendly legislation in the second half of his mandate.
© Global Look Press/White House
Troops cheer as President Trump addresses his remarks to military personnel at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2019.
Troops cheer as President Trump addresses his remarks to military personnel at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, 2019.
The Reagan Institute's annual National Defense Survey measures the attitudes of Americans on all things war, peace, and politics. The latest version, published in October, has more statistics than you could shake a stick at, but to the Pentagon, one in particular stands out.
Some 46 percent of military households see Russia as an "ally," while 28 percent of all American households share that belief. China has overtaken Russia as America's next top enemy, according to the survey.
The think tank reckons positive views of Russia are held mostly by Republicans, which could explain the rampant Russophilia within military ranks (America's men and women in uniform usually vote for the GOP), but the Pentagon's top brass has other ideas.
Comment: American leadership and its MIC are long-vested in perpetuating a forever-war culture - not in actually 'winning' wars nor creating real peace. Increasing friendship with 'the enemy' is not a profitable turn of sentiment and events.
© Reuters/Brendan McDermid
Bloomberg terminal inside a kiosk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
Bloomberg terminal inside a kiosk on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange
The service, that prides itself of being "the most powerful, flexible platform for financial professionals who need real-time data, news, analytics" while "sitting on the desks of 325,000 of the world's most influential decision makers" has been caught red-handed peddling the presidential campaign of its owner, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Until recently, if a user typed in "Mike" or "Mike Bloomberg" into a search box at the terminal, the first result would have been none other than the billionaire Democratic candidate's official campaign website, the Financial Times reported in its scoop on Thursday.
Comment: It worked as long as no one bothered to object. What does it say about Bloomberg, his ideas of fair play and honesty?
© Reuters/Peter Nicholls
UK PM Boris Johnson
UK PM Boris Johnson
The erroneous and now-corrected video was posted on Twitter by Channel 4 and showed Johnson answering questions at a factory in Derbyshire while on the campaign trail ahead of the UK general election.
Channel 4 quoted him as saying: "I am in favour of having people of colour come to this country but I think we should have it democratically controlled," despite him actually saying "people of talent."
For years, Keith Raniere, who is to be sentenced next year on several charges, ran the successful self-help group Nxivm, which had numerous supporters, including the billionaire Bronfman family. However, it was revealed that the organisation was, in fact, a despotic sex cult. New allegations suggest that the Nxivm boss is behind several murders.
Pictures of Kristin Snyder, Barbara Jeske, Gina Hutchinson and Pamela Cafritz, all members of Keith Raniere's NIXVM sex cult The leader of the now-infamous New York-based self-help group Nxivm, Keith Raniere, has been linked to the mysterious deaths of four women connected to his group, the TV special "The Lost Women of NXIVM" reports. As the cult's former publicist Frank Parlato insists, Kristin Snyder, Barbara Jeske, Gina Hutchinson, and Pamela Cafritz passed away under suspicious circumstances between 2002 and 2016.
The death of two women, 33-year-old Hutchinson and Snyder, were ruled as suicides by gunshot and drowning, respectively. But as Parlato says, they talked about their sexual relationships with the guru shortly before their deaths. Incidentally, Raniere was claiming to be celibate around that time.
"Gina Hutchinson [age 33 when she died] was going around saying she had sex with Raniere when she was 14 years old. Others, including her sister, have verified this", the insider revealed, while the other alleged victim claimed at an Nxivm class in Anchorage, Alaska that she was pregnant with the cult boss' child before her disappearance.
Pictures of Kristin Snyder, Barbara Jeske, Gina Hutchinson and Pamela Cafritz, all members of Keith Raniere's NIXVM sex cult
The death of two women, 33-year-old Hutchinson and Snyder, were ruled as suicides by gunshot and drowning, respectively. But as Parlato says, they talked about their sexual relationships with the guru shortly before their deaths. Incidentally, Raniere was claiming to be celibate around that time.
"Gina Hutchinson [age 33 when she died] was going around saying she had sex with Raniere when she was 14 years old. Others, including her sister, have verified this", the insider revealed, while the other alleged victim claimed at an Nxivm class in Anchorage, Alaska that she was pregnant with the cult boss' child before her disappearance.
Comment: To get an idea of Raniere's psychopathy and the lengths he would go to in order to dominate, control and destroy people's lives, as well as the nefarious connections of his cult, read:
- NXIVM: Graphic details of sex-slaves and pedophilia heard as Raniere trial gets underway
- Nxivm sex-cult members presented Hillary Clinton with illegal campaign donation
- Court docs allege Democratic presidential candidate Kirsten Gillibrand's dad worked for NXIVM sex cult
- NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere guilty of trafficking & child porn offenses
- Inside the numerous, shrouded connections between NXIVM and Scientology
- NXIVM sex-cult prosecutors claim evidence for illegal Clinton campaign contributions seeking "political influence"
- NXIVM sex-cult trial getting more and more surreal: Michael Avenatti, pedophilia and a fainting heiress
Families were forced from their homes across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire by heavy downpours ahead of the holiday season. Many still remain homeless and are staying in hotels, as they are not allowed to return to their houses, which remain uninhabitable.
Dozens of families in the UK still can't return to their homes following floods that local media describe as nothing short of "Biblical". As the Daily Star reports, over 1,000 households in communities across Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire were hit by the high water levels, which were due to heavy rains in November. However, dozens of families are still stranded in hotels, as their homes remain uninhabitable.
They now face the prospect of spending the holiday season fighting challenges from their insurance companies.
"No mum or dad should have to go through what we are going through. I've been moved between two hotels but I know someone who's been moved between three. On some nights the insurance hasn't been able to get my family somewhere and asked me to find accommodation for myself", Jackie Anne Conley told the outlet.
© East News / Evening Standard / eyevine
They now face the prospect of spending the holiday season fighting challenges from their insurance companies.
"No mum or dad should have to go through what we are going through. I've been moved between two hotels but I know someone who's been moved between three. On some nights the insurance hasn't been able to get my family somewhere and asked me to find accommodation for myself", Jackie Anne Conley told the outlet.
Comment: Sure, all these "once-in-a-lifetime events" are now occurring on a daily basis at some part of the globe!
See also,
- November flooding in UK 'a once-in-60-years weather event'
- Biblical': Hundreds of flood warnings across England as a month's worth of rain falls in ONE DAY
© The Sun
The evil trio are seen smiling in an astonishing image taken at Windsor Castle
The evil trio are seen smiling in an astonishing image taken at Windsor Castle
The astonishing image, obtained exclusively by The Sun on Sunday, shows how the trio were invited into the seat of royal power by Prince Andrew.
As they mingled with royalty at Beatrice's 18th, police had already prepared an arrest warrant for Epstein on child sex abuse charges and raided his Florida mansion.
Eight days after the billionaire posed in a US Navy Seal uniform for this snap he was in cuffs.
Tuxedo-wearing Weinstein is due in court next month accused of a sex offence in 2006 - the same year this photo was taken.
Comment: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
See also: