News Burst 20 December 2019

• Standard contracts used by Facebook and many other firms to send users’ data to third countries are valid, a legal adviser to the EU said on Thursday, but he left scope for such transfers to be blocked if EU data protection standards are not met in those states.
• Internet and text messaging services were suspended by Indian government order in parts of India’s capital Delhi on Thursday, mobile carriers said, widening a communications clampdown in restive areas stretching from disputed Kashmir to the northeast.
• Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro said that a bill authorising mining on protected indigenous reserves was ready and only needed to be sent to Congress for consideration. Bolsonaro told supporters that indigenous people should also be allowed to commercially farm on reserves, a practice currently prohibited, and that native populations should be involved in a drive to expand the country’s beef production.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the impeachment of Donald Trump was based on “made-up” grounds, adding he did not believe it marked the end of the US president. “It still needs to go through the Senate, where the Republicans have a majority,” Putin said after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump for abuse of power. “And it is hardly likely that they are going to push out of office a representative of their own party, on grounds that are absolutely made-up,” he added.
• The world’s first floating nuclear power plant (FNPP), the Akademik Lomonosov, began supplying electricity on Thursday to a remote town in the far eastern region of Chukotka, Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom has announced. Img

• James Comey’s claim that the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation was run “seven layers” below him is a total lie according to Attorney General William Barr, who said that the FBI’s probe was actually handled by a “very small group of very high level officials.”
• In the latest Zogby Analytics survey, 53% of Democrats said that they “believe the Democrats (them) are more interested in impeaching the president as opposed to passing legislation that will help Americans.”
• Shooting Outside Federal Security Service HQ, Lubianka. The shooting started at the reception area with three suspected gunmen then fleeing and barricading themselves in a nearby building. The FSS confirmed that one of the suspected gunmen who opened fire had been eliminated.
• Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said that the UK government has a “democratic duty” to allow Scotland to vote for its independence for a second time, otherwise “all options” will be considered.
• On May 23 2019 a record 344 summits Mount Everest. This number constitutes a 40% increase on the previous record of 245 summits set on May 19, 2012.
• The former CEO of the Israel-based company Yukom Communications, a purported sales and marketing company, was sentenced to 22 years in prison today for orchestrating a scheme to defraud investors who had purchased more than $100 million in financial instruments known as ‘binary options.

Strongest EQ in Europe M4.7 Albania
Strongest EQ in US M4.1 California
Strongest EQ on the Planet M5.9 Guatemala
Deepest EQ M5.5 623 km South of Fiji IslandsNews Burst 20 December 2019