https://twitter.com/CHIZMAGA/status/1217331235501953024

Massive audience for the Democrat Debate tonight

……

funny photo in tweet

https://sputniknews.com/russia/202001151078040279-smoke-reported-aboard-iranian-cargo-vessel-in-russias-dagestan—emergencies/

An Iranian bulk carrier has caught fire in a port in Russia's Dagestan Republic and is currently engulfed in smoke, but no one has been injured, the regional department of the Russian Emergencies Ministry said on Wednesday.

"An employee of the Makhachkala port has informed us about a fire on board of an Iranian bulk carrier, moored at the first pier. According to the information that we have, there is no cargo on board… Rescue fire vehicles have arrived at the site, there is no fire, only smoke," the Emergencies Ministry's department said in a statement.

https://www.kptv.com/news/facebook-s-plan-for-an-undersea-fiber-optic-cable-on/article_78f55b4a-3741-11ea-a06a-03f107850710.html

Homeowners along the Oregon Coast are fighting the imminent arrival of a tech giant on their shores.

Facebook recently bought a parcel of beachfront property in Tierra Del Mar, an unincorporated community south of Tillamook, from former Oregon Ducks and NFL quarterback Joey Harrington, and hopes to gain approval to install a undersea fiberoptic cable there.

The proposal was approved after deliberation by the Tillamook County Planning Commission.

That decision was upheld last week by a 2-1 vote of the Tillamook County Board of Commissioners.

"The county is saying we think it’s more important for a corporate interest to be able to come onto this property and do this than to value that the entire community said no," said Lynnae Rutledge, one of several homeowners to appeal the decision to the board.

Rutledge said she and her neighbors are concerned about the heavy equipment and deep drilling required to bring the cable to shore.

"This is going to bring in huge pieces of industrial equipment," said Rutledge. "It’s going to have vibration, which could impact people’s property. Their foundations. Their septic systems. Our groundwater."

In its permit application, the company tasked with installing the cable, Edge Cable Holdings, doesn't address potential impacts to neighboring properties, but said there will be no permanent impacts to wetlands or waters of the United States.

The company does acknowledge there are several threatened or endangered species in the area that could be affected by construction.

Asked for comment on the board's decision, a county employee said there would be no public comment until after the appeals process has been completed.

Neighbors can still file an appeal with the state's Land Use Board of Appeals.

https://twitter.com/NooriBadat/status/1217347523305558016

#BREAKING: District Commander of #HizbulMujahideen, Harun Hafaz has been gunned down by security forces in an encounter in #Doda.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/10740817/boris-johnson-formally-rejects-nicola-sturgeons-demand-for-a-second-referendum-on-scottish-independence

Boris Johnson formally rejects Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a second referendum on Scottish independence

Mr Johnson said he “cannot agree to any request for a transfer of power that would lead to further independence referendums”.

And he claimed IndyRef2 would mean a continuation of "political stagnation" in Scotland "with Scottish schools, hospitals and jobs again left behind because of a campaign to separate the UK".

The PM did not put any timescale on how long he would block a vote for, but his letter is expected to provoke a furious backlash from the SNP and Yes supporters.

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/uss-america-holds-first-training-exercise-with-japanese-forces-since-arriving-in-japan-1.614845

the amphibious assault ship USS America joined up in the East China Sea with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force for training exercises Monday, according to the U.S. Navy.

The 844-foot America, home-ported at Sasebo Naval Base, and the amphibious transport dock ship JS Kunisaki, home-ported at Kure Naval Base in Hiroshima, exchanged personnel, maneuvered together and held communication drills and flight demonstrations, according to a Navy news release. The daylong exercise was the first for the America, the flagship of an expeditionary strike group, since it arrived Dec. 6 at Sasebo.

https://www.hongkongfp.com/2020/01/15/china-must-rethink-stance-independent-taiwan-says-tsai-ing-wen

China must rethink its hardline stance towards Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Wednesday, as she warned the island was already independent and that any invasion would be “very costly” for Beijing.

Tsai won a second term over the weekend with a record 8.2 million votes, an outcome that was seen as a forceful rebuke of China’s ongoing campaign to isolate the self-ruled island.

China’s leadership had made no secret of its desire to see Tsai turfed out because she and her party refuse to acknowledge their view that the island is part of a “one China”.

Beijing regards Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary – especially if it declares independence.

But in her first interview since Saturday’s re-election, Tsai told the BBC there was no need to formally announce independence because the island already runs itself.

“We don’t have a need to declare ourselves an independent state,” she said in the interview, which aired on Wednesday.

“We are an independent country already and we call ourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan.”

https://www.rt.com/business/478295-russian-economy-dollar-lavrov/

While Washington is “abusing” the status of the dollar as the world reserve currency, Moscow will continue to reduce its dependence on the greenback in favor of national currencies, the Russian foreign minister says.

“Against the background of the increasingly aggressive use of financial sanctions by the US Administration, Russia continues its policy aimed at gradual de-dollarization of the economy,” Sergey Lavrov told the Times of India. “Expanding settlements in national currencies is one of our priorities.”

Hi, Twitter users! Vladimir Putin's annual address to Federal Assembly starts in one hour. We'll provide you with the latest text updates here on Twitter. You can also watch the live stream on our Facebook page and YouTube channel

https://twitter.com/SputnikInt/status/1217355616404066304

https://www.dailynk.com/english/alleged-leaker-kim-jong-un-whereabouts-executed/

An alleged leaker of information about Kim Jong Un’s visit to Samjiyon last October was executed in Pyongyang in late December, Daily NK has learned.

In mid-October, North Korean authorities conducted a massive operation to identify the leaker of Kim’s October visit to Samjiyon. North Korean security authorities viewed the leak as a major breach of the regime’s security network because news of Kim’s visit was reported in South Korean media before being published in state media.

The director of the Hyesan office of the Ministry of State Security (MSS), North Korea’s main security agency, reportedly planned to resign in the wake of the leak, but Daily NK sources report he is still in office.

The suspected leaker was arrested in November by MSS officials and sent to Pyongyang for interrogation.

Daily NK sources reported that the suspect was then quietly executed at an MSS detention center in Pyongyang a month later – right before the start of the 5th plenary session of the 7th Central Committee on Dec. 28.

Normally, an investigation into such a serious leak case would have taken six months; Daily NK sources speculated that North Korean prosecutors were keen to quickly carry out the execution given the important nature of the case.

The family of the executed suspected leaker was exiled to Kapsan, Ryanggang Province, one source added.