30 Dec, 2022 12:17

Over 3,000 bodies of civilians recovered in Mariupol – investigators

Russian officials blamed the deaths on Ukrainian troops who are said to have forced residents to remain in the city

The criminal actions of Ukrainian troops during the battle for Mariupol resulted in thousands of civilian deaths, Russian investigators have claimed. Local authorities have reportedly recovered over 3,000 bodies of people who were allegedly forced by Kiev's troops to remain in the city while the conflict raged.

The figure was revealed in a statement by Russia’s Investigative Committee on Friday, after committee chief Aleksandr Bastrykin held a meeting in Mariupol with officials investigating alleged Ukrainian crimes.

The port city, located in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), saw intense fighting between February and May, as Ukrainian troops were pushed back and encircled by Russian and DPR forces. Russia created humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to leave the city, but the Ukrainian side would not allow them to use the escape routes, Russian officials claimed.

“With no opportunity to leave the city, civilians moved around in search of food and became living targets for theUkrainian punishers, who murdered them using various kinds of weapons,” the statement said.

In April alone, the bodies of 51 civilians were found at positions previously held by Ukrainian forces, while the total number of civilians found in the city was over 3,000, according to the prosecutors.

Russia has opened criminal cases targeting the people directly involved in the alleged transgressions as well as those above them in theUkrainian chain of command. The list includes Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the country’s armed forces, according to the Investigative Committee. They are being probed for offenses related to the use of banned methods of war, with prosecutors collecting evidence of possible criminal orders to kill civilians and prisoners of war.

Officials remarked that identifying many of the victims was challenging. They suggested that people searching for missing relatives in Mariupol be urged to donate their DNA so that the samples could be compared against a database of samples collected from the recovered bodies.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569180-mariupol-civilian-deaths-ukraine/

30 Dec, 2022 16:18

Co-founder of Russia's largest IT company says goodbye to staff

Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh left the company after being sanctioned

Arkady Volozh, the co-creator of Russian internet giant Yandex, has penned a farewell letter to staff on Friday as he steps down from his role as CEO of the company and leaves the board of directorsafter being placed on the EU’s sanctions list.

“As you know, I haven’t managed Yandex’s Russian business for some time, and this year I had to completely step down from all positions in the company,” Volozh wrote in an internal Yandex blog post seen by TASS.

“In the hustle and bustle of recent months, I never said goodbye to you. New Year’s is a good opportunity to fix this,” he said, adding that Yandex was the project of a lifetime. “And not only mine. All these 30 years we have been building it together, from scratch, in the face of global competition, striving to behave openly and honestly,” he wrote, thanking everyone involved for helping create “the best technology company” in Russia.

A Yandex representative told RIA Novosti that Volozh would not be involved with the company in any way, even indirectly, after his exit. In November, the company revealed that Alexey Kudrin, Russia’s former finance minister and presidential adviser, will join the company’s top management team.

Yandex is considered to be the largest IT company in Russia and primarily serves audiences in Russia and other former Soviet states. The company provides internet-related products and services, including a search engine, maps, taxis, food deliveries, mobile apps, e-commerce, media streaming and other information services.

In his farewell post, Volozh expressed support for the upcoming corporate restructuring of the company, stating that to him it seems “reasonable and necessary.”

According to Reuters,Yandex’s Dutch-registered holding company is considering divesting ownershipand control of most of the Yandex Group and splitting off the main revenue-generating parts of its business into a sepаrate group of Russian firms that will retain the Yandex brand.

The company’s international divisions, focused on self-driving technologies, cloud computing, data labeling and edtech, will supposedly change its name and continue development independently from Russia. Volozh has expressed hope that he would be able to advise the four international start-ups in the future.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569199-yandex-founder-farewell-message/

30 Dec, 2022 16:06

Russia beefs up its strategic aviation (VIDEO)

One of the aircraft being introduced is considered “the most important part” of the country’s nuclear triad

Russia’s Long-Range Aviation has received a modernized Tu-22M3 strategic bomber, while two Tu-160M planes have been submitted for flight tests, the state-run United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) announced on Friday.

The Tu-22M3 was given a number of tweaks aimed at boosting its capabilities, the UAC said in a statement. After a test flight, the plane was delivered to the country’s long-range bomber fleet. The Tupolev-22M3 is a modern version of the iconic Soviet-era strategic bomber, which has been in service since the 1970s. This aircraft type has been repeatedly modernized, with the latest makeover, the M3M, unveiled back in 2018.

The corporation has also submitted two Tu-160M nuclear-capable bombers for flight tests. One of the aircraft is a modernized version of an existing plane, while the other has been built from scratch as part of Russia's efforts in recent years to re-start its strategic plane-manufacturing program.

“The Tu-160 is the most important part of Russia’s nuclear triad, so the modernization of the active-duty warplanes and the resumption of production of these strategic bombers is our priority,” Sergey Chemezov, the head of Rostec, UAC’s parent company, stated.

The UAC shared a video showing the aircraft being rolled out from a hangar at an undisclosed location.

The Tu-160 long-range bombers have remained in service since the late 1980s, having been introduced shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The plane was created primarily to carry long-range nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, but it is capable of using conventional munitions as well.

https://www.rt.com/russia/569188-strategic-aviation-new-bombers/

30 Dec, 2022 13:19

Bahamas seizes billions of dollars in FTX customer funds

The assets will reportedly be held until a court allows their return to customers and creditors

The Bahamian Securities Commission (BSC) has said ittook control of FTX deposits valued at more than $3.5 billion, shortly after the crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

According to a media release published late on Thursday by the commission, all digital assets in FTX's Bahamas unit FTX Digital Markets were seized due to a risk of their “imminent dissipation.”

The report highlighted that shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy, about $372 million worth of tokens were stolen from the exchange by an unknown actor thought to be an external hacker.FTX then saw nearly $700 million of token outflows within a 24-hour span, according to blockchain research firm Nansen.

The BSC said the digital assets are under its “exclusive control” until the country’s Supreme Court allows the regulator to return them back to the customers and creditors who own them, or to the liquidators.

Meanwhile, former-FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been accused of orchestrating a years-long scheme to defraud equity investors of nearly $2 billion, was released last week on $250 million bail. He is reportedly at his parents’ house in California, awaiting trial.

Two of the fallen crypto tycoon’s close associates – former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison – have pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange. They are currently cooperating with the Justice Department's investigation.

According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bankman-Fried diverted billions of dollars of customer funds to help grow his other entities. The SEC has also charged that as late as last month, he was continuing to mislead investors while trying to fill a multi-billion-dollar hole in FTX’s balance sheet. That conduct stopped only when FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy protection on November 11, the regulator has charged.

https://www.rt.com/business/569177-bahamas-seizes-ftx-customer-funds/

PN>>18041808, >>18041824 2014 The Dumbing Down of America – By Design

Parents need to be involved in the life of their children

Quotes

“If we don’t teach our children to follow Christ, the world will teach them not to.”

“The best learning I had came from teaching.” Corrie Ten Boom

“Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate.”

“Teaching kids to count is fine, but teaching them what counts is best.” Bob Talbert

What does the Bible say?

1. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

1. Deuteronomy 6:5-9 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to heart these words that I give you today. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. Write them down, and tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

1. Deuteronomy 4:9-10 “But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. Never forget the day when you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, Summon the people before me, and I will personally instruct them. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me also.”

1. Matthew 19:13-15 One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him. But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

1. 1 Timothy 4:10-11 This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers. Teach these things and insist that everyone learn them.

1. Deuteronomy 11:19 Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

https://biblereasons.com/teaching-children/

30 Dec, 2022 13:49

Russia warned NATO leaders about expansion in 2001 – Times

However, Britain continued to dismiss Russia’s concerns until Moscow launched its military operation in Ukraine

NATO leaders have known since 2001 that Russia would “take appropriate steps” against further expansion of the alliance, according to documents recently declassified by the UK and reported by The Times.

A year into Putin’s presidency, then-Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev told his NATO counterparts that the alliance’s continued expansion into the territory of the former Warsaw Pact would be a major political error, the newspaper stated on Friday. Sergeyev warned that Moscow would “take appropriate steps” to respond to this enlargement, the article continued.

The largest expansion of the alliance to date would take place three years later, with Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania joining the US-led military bloc.

In his speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2007, Putin described this expansion as “a serious provocation that reduces the level of mutual trust,” although the leaders of NATO insisted that their alliance was defensive in nature. After Ukraine refused to abandon its aspirations of joining – which Moscow viewed as an unacceptable security threat – and NATO insisted that Kiev would one day become a member, Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

During the dying days of the USSR,Western leaders promised their Soviet counterparts that NATO would not expand into Eastern and Central Europe. As recently as this year, the US denied that this promise was ever made, and insisted that NATO’s membership books must remain open – even for states bordering Russia.

The UK also dismissed Russia’s warnings up until the start of the Ukraine conflict. “Russia has expressed concerns about potential NATO aggression, but we have been clear that those concerns are fundamentally unfounded as NATO is a defensive alliance at its heart," a spokesman for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson declared in January.

NATO has since accepted membership applications from Finland and Sweden, and Ukraine formally submitted its own application in September.

(This statement is, “What did you expect?”)

https://www.rt.com/news/569191-nato-expansion-putin-warning/

Fights at Disney parks prompt company to issue ‘courtesy’ rules

By Matt Delaney

The “Happiest Place on Earth” is reminding patrons to keep it that way, or else they could be kicked out.

A new rule requires visitors at Disneyland and Disney World to be courteous to one another after fights have taken place at the theme parks in recent months.

Disney World in Florida added the rule to its website’s “Know Before You Go” section this month. Disneyland in California put up an identical notice just before the Christmas holiday, according to the Orange County Register.

The rule’s language on Disney World’s site reads, “Be the magic you want to see in the world. You must always remember to treat others with respect, kindness and compassion. Those who can’t live up to this simple wish may be asked to leave Walt Disney World Resort.”

Visitors should show courtesy to Disney employees and others by “not using profanity or engaging in unsafe, illegal, disruptive or offensive behavior, jumping lines or saving places in lines for others,” according to Disney‘s website.

Scrums at both parks made headlines this year.

A fright broke out this month between two guests at Disney World’s EPCOT park, and two families brawled in Magic Kingdom’s Fantasyland in July, according to WDW News Today.

The outlet also reported that a man was arrested for child abuse at Disney‘s Hollywood Studios in Florida, plus a fight at Disneyland in May during the return of its show “Fantasmic”

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/dec/29/fights-disney-parks-prompt-company-issue-courtesy-/

https://twitter.com/DarrenJBeattie/status/1608872495091941379?s=20&t=t4-qs3Oh6knSH7topZdnxw

The truth is she and her lawyer requesting Hunters tax records revealed a lot of the corruption of the whole family, so they hate them. My guess!

https://twitter.com/MZHemingway/status/1608860657079980032?s=20&t=PaO-DpKpsSIUPtFsAjoBrA

>>18041892

Agreed, i don’t go to church any more. Read the bible, try to do better daily. We were with our parents always. We never got away with shit. My Mom used a switch! True but kek