dChan
Anonymous ID: 7cf73c July 20, 2021, 8:30 a.m. No.74003   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>4033 >>4058 >>4079 >>4102

>>73940 pb

VV377 US Navy G5 landed at Cleveland, OH Burke Lakefront Airport after some low passes at North Central W. VA Airport

C202 US Coast Guard did a fly by at Raleigh County Memorial Airport, W.VA from Reagan National depart and same at Roanoke Regional Airport, VA-currently heading sw from 'dat

Anonymous ID: 7cf73c July 20, 2021, 9:35 a.m. No.74021   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>4058 >>4079 >>4102

Canadian home prices up 16% in June for largest 12-month gain on record, says index

 

Canadian home prices increased in June to mark the largest 12-month gain on record as prices climbed in all 11 markets, says the Teranet National Bank composite price index.

 

The index was up 16 per cent from June 2020, beating the 14.2 per cent rise of June 2017 that preceded the introduction of macroprudential measures designed to restrain home prices. Prices were up 10 per cent or more in an unprecedented 90 per cent of 32 urban markets and up 30 per cent or more in 42 per cent of these markets.

 

Halifax led with prices climbing 30.8 per cent over the past year, followed by Hamilton (28 per cent), Ottawa-Gatineau (25.8 per cent), Montreal (19.4 per cent) and Victoria (18.5 per cent). Toronto trailed the countrywide average at 15.9 per cent. The index rose 2.7 per cent from May for the 20th consecutive monthly increase. It was the second-largest monthly gain on record since the index started in 1999, trailing only the 2.8 per cent monthly increase recorded in May. It was also the first monthly deceleration since January, a cooling that coincides with a slowing of growth in sales of existing homes sales, which fell in June for a third straight month. The moderation in the pace of sales could mean a slowing of price rises in the coming months but price decreases aren't expected in the near-term. Ottawa-Gatineau led with a four per cent increase in monthly prices, followed by Hamilton (3.8 per cent), Victoria (3.6 per cent), Halifax (3.5 per cent), Montreal (3.4 per cent), Vancouver (2.7 per cent), Toronto (2.7 per cent), Calgary (1.4 per cent), Winnipeg (1.3 per cent), Quebec City (1.3 per cent) and Edmonton (1.1 per cent).

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canadian-home-prices-up-16-in-june-for-largest-12-month-gain-on-record-says-index-1.1630973

Anonymous ID: 7cf73c July 20, 2021, 10:45 a.m. No.74056   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>4058 >>4079 >>4102

US-Germany Nord Stream 2 Deal Requires Berlin To "Retaliate" If Russia Uses Gas As Political Weapon

 

Since Biden months ago backed off the more aggressive Trump sanctions which sought to halt work on the Russia to Germany $11 billion Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline by dropping sanctions on the German company overseeing its side of it, he's come under bipartisan fire from Russia hawks for giving the Kremlin a greenlight to "punish" Ukraine and gain immense leverage over Europe's energy policy and dependency.

 

The White House strategy has lately switched to seeking "assurances" from Berlin that it won't turn a blind eye on potential future Russian attempts to use its energy resources as a punitive tool, with Chancellor Angela Merkel making vague promises that she'll use European level measures to prevent such a scenario, but any level of details have been lacking. President Biden had said while standing beside her last week: "Chancellor Merkel and I are absolutely united in our conviction that Russia must not be allowed to use energy as a weapon to coerce or threaten its neighbors." He vowed that "We will be actively acting should Russia not respect this right of Ukraine that it has as a transit country." Both sides came away from that White House meeting saying they'd failed to settle their differences, with days later a major US-Germany "deal" being teased which would address Washington's concerns at a moment the pipeline is widely estimated at 98% complete, with the final construction now nearing the finish line in German territory. The project is itself a 'done deal' thus this new agreement seems all about the Biden administration saving political face with East European allies, especially Ukraine, as well as domestically.

 

Some details of the draft of the deal are emerging Tuesday, which centers on commitments to ensure increased investment in Ukraine's energy sector - and at the same time a "warning" voiced to Russia that Berlin stands ready to retaliate should it use gas a geopolitical weapon. Recall that Kiev has in effect been bypassed in terms of collecting badly needed transit fees through its territory. This "retaliation" could include sanctions, according to a draft seen by Bloomberg, which details "The U.S. and Germany are close to a deal on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would threaten sanctions and other retaliation if Russia tries to use energy as a weapon against Ukraine, according to a draft text of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News." "Under the agreement, Germany would take unspecified national action if Russia commits such actions, a decision that may mark a concession from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had previously balked at balked at making independent moves against the Kremlin over the gas pipeline that will run from Russia to Germany," Bloomberg continues.

 

The draft deal reportedly further commits Berlin to seeking punitive action against Russia at the European level if red lines are crossed - something Germany has been deeply resistant to in the past - given Merkel's repeat statements that NS2 is all about "business" and thus mixing politics would be detrimental. But whatever final form the deal takes, it's likely to still leave NS2 critics unsatisfied. It's said to include language of Germany "limiting" Russian gas flows into Europe via the pipeline, which seems but a meek and dubious effort at assuaging Washington's concerns at the most minimal level possible.

 

Under the draft agreement, the U.S. and Germany would seek to promote investments of as much as $1 billion in a so-called Green Fund to help Ukraine’s transition to cleaner sources of energy. Germany would commit to an initial $175 million investment in the fund, the text says. Germany would also appoint a special envoy - with $70 million of funding - to support bilateral energy projects with Ukraine. Lastly, the agreement would commit Germany to use leverage to extend Ukraine’s gas transit agreement with Russia for as long as 10 years after it expires in 2024. Those negotiations would start no later than Sept. 1. Ultimately this appears all about making minimal too-little-too-late vague promises to America's disappointed ally Ukraine. Bloomberg notes that "The agreement is expected to be pinned down in the coming days before Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy makes a U.S. visit."

 

So we'll soon see precisely what kind of consolation prize Zelensky will go to the White House and receive. Despite the Ukrainian president's publicly voiced "confusion" and "disappointment" over Biden's NS2 stance, he'll have little choice but to take whatever German "concessions" are doled out. Whether Germany would ever actually pull the trigger on punishing Russia - it's new lucrative pipeline partner - is another question.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-germany-finalizing-nord-stream-2-accord-which-commits-berlin-take-action-against

Anonymous ID: 7cf73c July 20, 2021, 10:52 a.m. No.74059   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>4079 >>4102

Japan starts checking COVID-19 vaccination status of overseas arrivals

 

Japan has begun surveying overseas arrivals about their COVID-19 vaccination status as it explores the feasibility of exempting those vaccinated abroad from the country’s strict entry restrictions, government sources said Tuesday. While Japan has decided to issue so-called vaccine passports to enable residents who have been fully inoculated against the novel coronavirus to travel internationally, it has yet to ease border measures for holders of such vaccine certificates issued abroad. But with more than 10 different vaccines used around the world, a number of issues remain to be resolved, including whether those not approved by the government will be recognized.

 

The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has been asking overseas arrivals quarantining at facilities to fill in voluntary questionnaires since early July, the sources said. The questionnaires, based on self-reporting with no proof required, ask whether individuals have received any doses of COVID-19 vaccine, including those not currently approved in Japan, and if 14 days have elapsed since their last shot. Japan has so far approved vaccines developed by U.S. pharmaceutical companies Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. as well as Britain’s AstraZeneca PLC. The government plans to use the responses to its survey in conjunction with other data, such as each vaccine’s efficacy, to determine whether border measures can be eased in the future.

 

According to the Immigration Services Agency, around 43,000 Japanese nationals and 17,000 foreign nationals entered the country in June. The need for arrivals to quarantine in accommodation facilities has become a huge burden for them and health authorities, with some officials of the opinion that it “cannot continue indefinitely.”

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/07/20/national/vaccine-status-check/