Germany’s second largest power producer, RWE, reported staggering losses of 5.7 billion euros over the fiscal 2016 year, after the company had posted a net loss of near 200 million euros for 2015.
-RWE profits up in smoke as renewables crush wholesale prices. Image: RWE.
The latest results continue the growing string of woes occurring since 2013 when RWE posted a net loss of 2.76 billion euros–its first full-year loss since the power giant was founded in 1949. http://notrickszone.com/2017/02/25/german-electric-power-giant-loses-staggering-5-7-billion-euros-in-2016-as-renewables-wreak-havoc/#sthash.L0J2CFdR.dpuf
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British citizens are facing a level of threat from terrorists not seen since the IRA bombings of the Seventies, the country’s new terrorism watchdog has warned. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/02/25/terror-chief-max-hill-warns-risk-attacks-britain-highest-since/
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2-20-17 Until December, Tubal’s neighborhood was controlled by Jabat Fatah al-Sham, an extremist rebel militia which, according to the United Nations, made up about 10 percent of the fighters in Aleppo, Syria. The words “Join the Fatah Army” are written in large letters on the floor of an apartment, which now hangs down from the building as though a lunatic god had whacked the top floor with an axe. The façade has disappeared entirely.
“They shouted Allahu akbar” God is great “about everything,” says Tubal. “They went into shops, shouted Allahu akbar, called the owners infidels and confiscated everything. They said: You are the wife of a police officer, shouted Allahu akbar and took the woman. And then more and more foreigners arrived, so that fewer and fewer of the fighters were Syrians.” Those who did not go to the mosque regularly were sent to prison for 15 days. “Allahu akbar here, Allahu akbar there,” he says scornfully. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/syria-under-assad-a-divided-country-a-1134904.html
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Iran buys uranium ore 2-25-17
Iran plans to buy 950 tonnes of uranium ore from Kazakhstan over three years and expects to get Russian help in producing nuclear fuel, its top nuclear official said in remarks published on Saturday.
The acquisition would not violate Iran’s landmark 2015 deal with world powers over its disputed nuclear program as the deal did not set limits on the Islamic Republic’s supplies of uranium ore.
The report by the Iranian Students’ News Agency ISNA comes a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog said Iran’s official stock of enriched uranium had fallen by half after large amounts stuck in pipes was recategorised as unrecoverable under a process agreed with the major powers.
“About 650 tonnes is to be delivered in two shipments over two years and 300 tonnes during the third year and this shipment is to be returned to Kazakhstan (after enrichment),” Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told ISNA in an interview.
Iran has asked a body overseeing its 2015 nuclear accord with world powers to approve the purchase of uranium ore and was still awaiting Britain’s agreement, Salehi said. “Five (Russia, China, France, USA, Germany) of the members of the committee overseeing the (nuclear deal) have given their written approval, but Britain changed its mind at the last moment, considering the U.S. elections and Middle East problems,” Salehi said, without elaborating. There was no immediate reaction from Britain to the report. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-kazakhstan-russia-idUSKBN1640DO
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2-25-17 North Korea is evading international sanctions with a sophisticated network of overseas companies, enabled partly by its continued access to the international banking system, says a forthcoming United Nations report seen by Reuters.
North Korea is under heavy U.N. sanctions and a strict arms embargo designed to impede the development of its banned nuclear and missile programs. The U.N. panel of experts, which produced the 100-page draft report, was created to investigate reported infringements of those sanctions.
“Designated entities and banks have continued to operate in the sanctioned environment by using agents who are highly experienced and well trained in moving money, people and goods, including arms and related materiel, across borders,” the report says.
U.N. member states should “exercise heightened vigilance” over North Korean diplomats engaged in commercial activities, it says, because some may be providing financial support to illegal networks.
North Korea “is flouting sanctions through trade in prohibited goods, with evasion techniques that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” the report says. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-sanctions-un-idUSKBN164043
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network of inside traders rigging silver trading 12-14-16
The group of four in the top left corner (of chart at link) are most likely in Singapore, given the use of Singlish terms like “lah” in the chats. The larger group is based mostly in London with one in New York, based on references in the complaint. The group of three at the bottom may be in Dubai, although that is speculation. https://monetary-metals.com/silver-smoking-gun-to-stop-dishonest-dealing/
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Dutch central bank obscuring of leased vs. physical gold data? 8-29-16
for a central bank who reports physical gold and leased gold as “gold” the bar list (data) would raise questions like “why didn’t you disclose the difference, how can you pretend that leased and physical (gold) are the same” or questions about the risk the central bank is taking and whether the return they got was worth the risk. Whilst I haven’t met central bankers personally, I’m guessing they don’t take too kindly to having their actions or judgements questioned. Hence the stonewalling. http://goldchat.blogspot.com/2016/08/central-bank-non-transparency.html
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Australia and government gold confiscation issue 11-23-08
A related issue is what gold holdings will the Government look to control when it decides it needs the asset of last resort. My view is that they are not going to bother with knocking on people’s doors to confiscate private holdings when Australia’s mines can churn out between 200 to 300 tonnes per year. The real threat is the control of mine output (i.e. buying gold at the “official price”) or nationalisation of mines as this is where the real dollars are….In this respect Australia has a relatively higher risk because Australian law already has a mechanism in place to require delivery of gold to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) – Part IV of the Banking Act 1959. There is no need for the Government of the day to have to rush new legislation through that may attract public comment or opposition. All that is required is the Governor General to proclaim that Part IV shall come into operation. http://goldchat.blogspot.com/2008/11/australian-gold-confiscation.html
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im42na 