News Burst 3 December 2019
- According to review monitor Fakespot, over 1/3 of online reviews on all major websites, including Amazon, Walmart and Sephora, are fake. Reviws are generated by either bots or people paid to write them. The companies have disputed Fakespot’s findings, but promise they’re doing more to make their reviews more reliable.
- Christmas 2019 Catch-phrase: Greta for Saint!
- Soft Disclosure: Scientists at the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI have clarified the physical mechanisms of magnetic levitation. According to the researchers, this expands the prospects of using high-temperature superconductors (HTS) in the creation of new engines, bearings, and flywheel energy storage systems.
- The Stasi Museum, dedicated to the East German secret police, was robbed over the weekend. According to police, the thieves broke a window on the ground floor, then “smashed several showcases, and stole medals and jewellery”. After that, the criminals managed to escape undetected.
- A senior member of the Liberal Democrats’ campaign team has been suspended after apparently forging emails to support legal threats against a journalist who published an embarrassing story about the party.
- In a coordinated International law enforcement operation, Europol today announced to shut down the global organized cybercrime network behind Imminent Monitor RAT, yet another hacking tool that allows cybercriminals to gain complete control over a victim’s computer remotely. It was sold to more than 14,500 buyers and used against tens of thousands of victims across 124 countries.
- In 2018, Russia started reducing its reliance on dollar-denominated assets practically selling-off most of the US Treasury bonds it had been holding for decades. At the same time it started increasing its gold reserves becoming the biggest buyer of the precious metal in 2018.
- Leaders of far-right Ukrainian groups that rose to prominence in the 2014 coup d’etat they helped orchestrate, including the Azov Battalion and Right Sektor, have recently traveled to Hong Kong to participate in the anti-Beijing protests there.
- The Crown Princess of Norway Mette-Marit issued an apology on Monday for repeatedly meeting with deceased paedophile Jeffrey Epstein following a previous incarceration in the US. The meetings took place between 2011 and 2013 at in the United States, Norway, and at undisclosed Epstein residences.
Active Weather
- Typhoon Kammuri 78 kts ↑- 963 ↓ hPa Over central Philippines – Moving W
Strongest EQ in Europe M4.5 Albania
Strongest EQ in US M6.0 Alaska
Strongest EQ on the Planet M6.0 Alaska
Deepest EQ M4.2 461 km Celebes SeaNews Burst 3 December 2019