Crimean Bridge Temporarily Closed After New Drone Strikes On Kerch
Ukraine has launched another attack utilizing aerial and seaborne drones on Russia's Crimean port city of Kerch, the Russian military confirmed Friday.
The attack temporarily halted traffic on the large Crimea Bridge, which links the Black Sea peninsula to mainland Russia and has come under major attack several times since the Ukraine war's start.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/crimean-bridge-temporarily-closed-after-new-drone-strikes-kerch
Adam Schiff officially resigns from the House effective Sunday. He’ll be sworn into the Senate on Monday alongside Andy Kim
https://x.com/AndrewDesiderio/status/1865073427024933269
Strategic Syrian City Of Homs Poised To Fall To Anti-Assad Advance
Terror group HTS tells citizens "your time has come"…
People from Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, have been fleeing toward coastal enclaves. It is especially religious minorities, many of them Christians, who are worried about an ethno-religious genocide, given the Al-Qaeda pedigree of the so-called 'rebels'. Alawites too fear extermination by the radical Islamists.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/strategic-syrian-city-homs-poised-fall-anti-assad-advance
Russia open to honest dialogue with US, not sure if Trump will seize chance — diplomat
Sergey Ryabkov pointed out that "by throwing shade at the current [US] administration, Trump and his camp send mixed signals, adhering to the principles of 'America first' and ‘peace through strength'"
Russia is open to holding an honest dialogue with the United States, but it is still unclear whether President-elect Donald Trump will seize this opportunity, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Friday.
"As for us, we are open to holding an honest dialogue that is based on mutual respect and consideration of interests," Ryabkov said in an interview with Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda daily web portal kp.ru.
"The big question is whether the new [US] administration will jump on this opportunity," the Russian diplomat continued.
Ryabkov pointed out that "by throwing shade at the current [US] administration, Trump and his camp send mixed signals, adhering to the principles of 'America first' and ‘peace through strength.'"
The Russian diplomat said that this high and mighty attitude doesn't sit well with Russia.
https://tass.com/politics/1883657
Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu links Melbourne synagogue firebombing to UN vote
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-12-07/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-links-adass-synagogue-arson-to-un-vote/104697376
Mortgage mountain. Our $2.3 trillion debt and the ‘Big 4’ oligopoly.
Australians owe $2.3 trillion in mortgage debt, three-quarters of which is owed to the Big Four banks, a cosy oligopoly stifling competition and keeping mortgage costs high. Harry Chemay concludes our mortgage nation series.
Credit is the lifeblood of modern market-based economies, and the banking system is the beating heart that keeps it flowing. Banks take risks when lending, and their shareholders expect to be appropriately compensated for doing so.
Borrowers are best served when there is robust competition for their loan from a variety of potential providers who deliver services efficiently, honestly and with fairness.
Meanwhile, regulators of various stripes try to balance a range of financial system objectives, from economic stability (RBA) to prudential supervision (APRA) to competition (ACCC) and consumer detriment (AFCA). On occasion, these regulators see risks evolving differently, as they currently do with household indebtedness.
The risk of borrowing
While the latest RBA Financial Stability Review appears sanguine to household financial stress, mortgage debt levels and loan arrears, APRA has instead chosen to retain the mortgage serviceability buffer at 3% despite pressure from some quarters for it to be eased, noting that:
“The level of household debt in Australia is high relative to incomes both compared with its long-term history and relative to international peers, making this a key vulnerability if adverse economic scenarios came to pass.”
The below chart from the RBA, would suggest that APRA’s concerns are valid.
https://michaelwest.com.au/mortgage-mountain-our-2-3-trillion-debt-and-the-big-4-oligopoly/
Herzog holds call with Musk, aiming to recruit Trump confidant to hostage deal cause
Unconfirmed report: IDF recently struck chemical weapons cache in Syria * Sara Netanyahu formally recognized as crime victim over flares thrown at home when she wasn’t there
President Isaac Herzog held a phone call with Elon Musk earlier this week to raise the plight of the hostages in Gaza with the confidant of US President-elect Donald Trump, CNN reports.
Herzog made the call at the request of hostage family members who hope Musk will be able to use his influence to pressure the parties involved to make a deal, CNN says, citing a source familiar.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-december-06-2024/
Welcome to New Jewish Narrative
Dec 6
Welcome to New Jewish Narrative! Built on the proud legacies of Americans for Peace Now and Ameinu, we have come together and are writing a new narrative for a new day.
We are American Jews, deeply rooted in the story of our people and the history of our struggle for peace and justice. In our narrative, peace and justice are the birthright of Israelis, of Palestinians, and of all people.
The story of our community is one of activism and commitment. But for some, that commitment has grown stale, and the activism is hard to find.
https://www.newjewishnarrative.org/statements/welcome-to-new-jewish-narrative
New Jewish Narrative
1320 19th Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20036-1635
info@newjewishnarrative.org
Wednesday 10 June 2015
Cartier boss with $7.5bn fortune says prospect of the poor rising up 'keeps him awake at night'
Says he is concerned about robots creating 'structural unemployment'
“How is society going to cope with structural unemployment and the envy, hatred and the social warfare?” he said. “We are destroying the middle classes at this stage and it will affect us. It’s unfair. So that’s what keeps me awake at night.”
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/cartier-boss-with-7-5bn-fortune-says-prospect-poor-rising-up-keeps-him-awake-at-night-10307485.html
kek MI6 are bad at this
The Narcos next door: How the Kinahan cartel and the Kremlin used huge money laundering network based in ordinary British homes to trade blood money for cryptocurrency in scheme headed by glamorous socialite
The busting of a multibillion-pound Russian money laundering operation with tentacles reaching around the UK and across the world is a major coup for British police.
The National Crime Agency has described the laundromat as stretching 'from McMafia, through to Narcos, through to le Carré' and involving everyone from drug cartels and elite cybercriminals to Russian oligarchs and even the Kremlin.
The global syndicate, headed by glamorous Russian socialite and influencer Ekaterina Zhdanova and Russian-born Ukrainian businessman George Rossi, swapped cash from criminals in one country - like the UK - for cyber-currency extorted by Russian hackers.
Criminal gangs would use the virtual currency – which is far harder for authorities to trace – to reinvest in their illicit businesses without the need to move physical money across borders.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14160813/Inside-Narcos-style-multibillion-pound-money-laundering-heist.html
Former Greens politician's shocking message for landlords and real estate agents: 'Better cut the rent soon cos we ain't gonna riot gently'
Brisbane-born-and-raised Sriranganathan now devotes his time to being a writer, musician, beat-poet and community events organiser - with the latest song from his band Rivermouth, titled 'Notice to Leave', taking aim at landlords and real estate agents.
'Better cut the rent soon cos we ain't gonna riot gently,' Sriranganathan's rapped lyrics warn.
'Real estate parasites like a bit of homelessness. If everyone had housing, they would have to charge us less.'
Sriranganathan claimed those who own properties 'don't want solutions' because 'the problem makes them rich' before delivering the ominous line that 'nothing's gonna change until we flick a bigger switch'.
The song's repeated chorus declares: 'If you keep jacking up the rent, we're gonna burn down the real estate agency'.
He acknowledges in the song, the lyrics could be called incitement before justifying them as 'just calling what the mood's like' and stating: 'You can't ignore a message if it's in the fire'.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14159435/Greens-Jonathan-Sriranganathan-band-real-estate-agents-burn-offices.html