Germany wants Europe to join China's new Silk Road after criticizing Italy for doing the same

The Chinese “Belt and Road” initiative is an important project, which European states would be glad to join, according to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stressed that cooperation should be based on reciprocity from Beijing.

“We, as Europeans, want to play an active part and that must lead to certain reciprocity and we are still wrangling over that a bit,” Merkel said, as quoted by Reuters.

The comment comes shortly after talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is currently paying a state visit to France

https://www.rt.com/business/454792-china-silk-road-eu-merkel/

Hackers Hijacked ASUS Software Updates to Install Backdoors on Thousands of Computers

The Taiwan-based tech giant ASUS is believed to have pushed the malware to hundreds of thousands of customers through its trusted automatic software update tool after attackers compromised the company’s server and used it to push the malware to machines.

Researchers at cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab say that ASUS, one of the world’s largest computer makers, was used to unwittingly install a malicious backdoor on thousands of its customers’ computers last year after attackers compromised a server for the company’s live software update tool. The malicious file was signed with legitimate ASUS digital certificates to make it appear to be an authentic software update from the company, Kaspersky Lab says.

ASUS, a multi-billion dollar computer hardware company based in Taiwan that manufactures desktop computers, laptops, mobile phones, smart home systems, and other electronics, was pushing the backdoor to customers for at least five months last year before it was discovered, according to new research from the Moscow-based security firm.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pan9wn/hackers-hijacked-asus-software-updates-to-install-backdoors-on-thousands-of-computers?utm_source=reddit.com

>>5901613

1989: Man vs. Chinese tank Tiananmen square

Detroit To Become America's Second Chinese-Style Surveillance City

The push to turn America's cities into Chinese-style surveillance networks has found a new partner in Detroit, Michigan.

The only difference between what is happening in San Diego and what is happening in Detroit is, they are not using the same smart street lights to spy on everyone. Detroit uses Intellistreets a company known to have strong ties to Homeland Security.

What started out as a voluntary police-cam share program in Saginaw, Michigan has morphed into a massive 1000 surveillance camera network which includes 500 businesses in Detroit.

Detroit's Project Green Light, spies on people in real-time at gas stations, retail stores and public housing.

A map of Project Green Light's surveillance cameras, shows the true extent of police spying in Detroit and it looks an awful lot like the map of San Diego's IQ street lights.

What makes Detroit's spying so disturbing, is that the city wants the public to help fund their program.

The Detroit Free Press said, Mayor Mike Duggan sent out a 'citizen petition drive' soliciting money from home owners and businesses to help pay for a new multi-million dollar surveillance program.

"In order to continue making Detroit a safe place to live, work, and play, we are asking you to gather signatures from your neighbors pledging support for the Neighborhood Real-Time Intelligence Program."

Motorola's hand in helping turn our cities into Chines-style surveillance centers is deplorable.

Motorola Solutions and the Detroit Police Department have worked together to create their own "Neighborhood Real-Time Intelligence Program" (NRTIP) which spies on residents 24 hours a day. (To learn more about Motorola and Project Green Light click here.)

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/71807/detroit-to-become-americas-second-chinesestyle-surveillance.html

Backlash: Cities And States Are Banning Stores That Don’t Accept Cash

Finally, the battle line is being drawn against cashless society Technocrats. Cities are enforcing cash as legal tender and banning stores from operating if they refuse to accept cash as payment. ⁃ TN Editor

Cashless stores are becoming controversial.

Stores that do not accept cash are on the rise, from quick-service lunch spots to Amazon’s physical stores. Not accepting cash can speed up lines or eliminate them altogether, making life easier for card-carrying consumers.

Not everybody is on board with this cashless utopia, however. Backlash has started, as the cashless trend leaves out lower-income customers who may not have a bank account. As of last year, an estimated 15.6 million people in the US do not have a bank account.

Philadelphia barred stores from choosing not to accept cash in early March, becoming the first US city to do so.

“Most of the people who don’t have credit tend to be lower income, minority, immigrants. It just seemed to me, if not intentional, at least a form of discrimination,” Philadelphia City Councilman William Greenlee told the Wall Street Journal.

New Jersey later followed with its own measure, which Governor Phil Murphy signed into law on March 18.

https://www.technocracy.news/backlash-cities-and-states-are-banning-stores-that-dont-accept-cash/

T. Rex - Get It On (1971) HD 0815007

PHILLY WOMAN TERRORIZED — Vandals Torch Her Car in Philly Over Trump Cutout inside Vehicle (VIDEO)

Vandals torched a car in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood over a Trump cutout in the front seat.

65-year-old Laurie Livingston says her car had been vandalized three times in the past five months including a broken windshield and slashed tires.

Neighbors were afraid to speak on camera over possible retaliation.

NBC 10 reported:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/03/unhinged-leftists-torch-womans-car-in-philly-over-trump-cutout-inside-vehicle-video/

Iranian officials offer empty promises for the Persian New Year

March 26, 2019 - In his Persian New Year speech on March 1, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei described economic difficulties as the most important and imminent of all and said: “The economy is the country’s imminent and most serious problem with the highest priority.”

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, on the other hand, while recognizing the economic crisis, ridiculously blamed problems from past decades as the root of the current fiasco.

Fearing the growing popular discontent and misery and in an attempt to save face and pump hope and enthusiasm into their desperate bases, Iranian officials continued their quest of empty promises and blaming foreign forces and their opponents in the ruling elite.

On March 2, Iranian state-run television quoted Khamenei as saying: “While referring to senior governmental officials’ reports about the ongoing process of coming up with solutions to counter the sanctions, the Islamic Revolution Supreme Leader reiterated that officials need to enter practice and execution more seriously and swiftly and must not delay the process.”

While naming the Persian New Year the year of “Boosting of Production,” Khamenei insisted on his old plan of “resistance economy” where ordinary Iranians pay the price of the regime’s hegemonic ambitions while the few ruling elite enjoy their luxurious lifestyles.

Grandiose-sounding and empty names are nothing new to modern dictatorships and the Iranian regime is no exception. Following are the titles Khamenei has given to the past few Persian years:

https://english.mojahedin.org/i/iranian-officials-empty-promises-persian-new-year

Canned Heat - On The Road Again (1968) HD 0815007

>>5901888

FK U 2 and your ignorance

Bump stocks are officially illegal starting today – what to expect

Any gun owner who possesses a bump stock accessory for their gun is now in violation of federal law.

Despite numerous lawsuits attempting to block the bump stock ban since it was implemented in December 2018, the 90-day period to turn in or destroy the accessories has ended, making their possession illegal under federal law as of March 26, according to the new Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) rule.

An estimated 500,000 bump stock accessories owned by Americans are now illegal, CNBC reported.

BAN IN EFFECT – As of today, owners of bump stocks can face felony charges for having one in their possession https://t.co/y5ipNj7Pn2

— WSVN 7 News (@wsvn) March 26, 2019

Bump stock owners have been advised to turn in the accessories to the ATF or destroy them through the following methods:

https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/03/bump-stocks-are-officially-illegal-starting-today-what-to-expect/

Former Head of Organization Backed by Chinese Energy Conglomerate Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for International Bribery and Money Laundering Offenses

Schemed to Bribe the President of Chad and the President and Foreign Minister of Uganda

Chi Ping Patrick Ho, aka “Patrick C.P. Ho” and “He Zhiping,” was sentenced today to serve 36 months in prison for his role in a multi-year, multimillion-dollar scheme to bribe top officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for CEFC China Energy Company Limited (“CEFC China”) Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman for the Southern District of New York announced. Ho was convicted of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), money laundering, and conspiracy to commit the same, in December 2018, after a one-week jury trial before U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska, who imposed today’s sentence.

In addition to his prison term, Ho, 69, a citizen of the People’s Republic of China who resided in Hong Kong prior to his arrest in November 2017 and has been detained since his arrest, was fined $400,000. Following his prison sentence, Ho will be removed from the United States.

“Patrick Ho bribed officials at the highest levels of government in Chad and Uganda in pursuit of lucrative oil deals and other business opportunities, all while using a U.S.-based NGO to conceal his criminal scheme,” said Assistant Attorney General Benczkowski. “This kind of corruption undermines world markets and tilts the playing field against law-abiding companies and individuals. The Department will continue to investigate and prosecute individuals and corporations that engage in foreign bribery.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-head-organization-backed-chinese-energy-conglomerate-sentenced-three-years-prison

>>5901984

kek

Supreme Court rejects Amazon-owned Zappos’ appeal in long-running data breach dispute

A lawsuit against Amazon-owned Zappos will continue after the U.S. Supreme Court shot down an appeal from the online shoe retailer in a seven-year-old data breach case.

In the wake of a 2012 breach that exposed the contact information names, addresses, phone numbers and more of 24 million customers, Zappos faced several lawsuits from customers. Zappos argued unsuccessfully to the Supreme Court that customers shouldn’t be able to sue without proof they were harmed in a breach.

The Supreme Court agreed with a San Francisco appeals court that had previously revived the lawsuit. Both courts sided with the Zappos customers over the company, letting the lawsuit, which is seeking class-action status, continue. The appeals court found that the stolen data left customers vulnerable to identity theft, Bloomberg reported.

https://www.geekwire.com/2019/supreme-court-rejects-amazon-owned-zappos-appeal-long-running-data-breach-dispute/

Firefox, Edge, Safari, Tesla & VMware pwned at Pwn2Own

Pwn2Own 2019 has yet again proved that a secure system is nothing else but a myth. In its two days running, the contest has claimed many high-profile victims including the likes of Tesla, Firefox, and Safari. Pwn2Own is an annual hacking contest held in Vancouver alongside the CanSecWest conference.

In the contest, hackers are required to identify flaws in security mechanisms of popular software and operating systems such as MacOS and Windows 10. Hackers have so far taken down MacOS Safari, Windows Edge and Firefox and have run code on native hardware of two VMs (virtual machines).

https://www.hackread.com/firefox-edge-safari-tesla-vmware-pwned-at-pwn2own/

>>5902128

>>5902162

Bill Clinton’s pardon of fugitive Marc Rich continues to pay big

Fifteen years ago this month, on Jan. 20, 2001, his last day in office, Bill Clinton issued a pardon for international fugitive Marc Rich. It would become perhaps the most condemned official act of Clinton’s political career. A New York Times editorial called it “a shocking abuse of presidential power.” The usually Clinton-friendly New Republic noted it “is often mentioned as Exhibit A of Clintonian sliminess.”

Congressman Barney Frank added, “It was a real betrayal by Bill Clinton of all who had been strongly supportive of him to do something this unjustified. It was contemptuous.”

Marc Rich was wanted for a list of charges going back decades. He had traded illegally with America’s enemies including Ayatollah Khomeini’s Iran, where he bought about $200 million worth of oil while revolutionaries allied with Khomeini held 53 American hostages in 1979.

Rich made a large part of his wealth, approximately $2 billion between 1979 and 1994, selling oil to the apartheid regime in South Africa when it faced a UN embargo. He did deals with Khadafy’s Libya, Milosevic’s Yugoslavia, Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, Communist dictatorships in Cuba and the Soviet Union itself. Little surprise that he was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.

Facing prosecution by Rudy Giuliani in 1983, Rich fled to Switzerland and lived in exile.

https://nypost.com/2016/01/17/after-pardoning-criminal-marc-rich-clintons-made-millions-off-friends/