Jim Rogers Greece Should have never joined the Euro

Two Events? - Chuck Missler

Italy’s bank reportedly takes a ‘Roman Holiday’

BNI depositors are unable to make withdrawals / payments, payments of utility bills, mortgage payments, taxes says Peter Giordano, Adiconsum: “Grave of the Bank of Italy’s attitude that takes action without considering the impact on depositors, and especially on single-income families and pensioners.” Adiconsum Bank of Italy asks for an urgent meeting and the lifting of the moratorium. 

The Bank of Italy authorized the suspension of payments by Bank Network Investments SpA (BNI) without communicating anything to the depositors. 

Very serious and unacceptable – says Peter Jordan, Secretary General Adiconsum – the attitude of the Bank of Italy SpA in each BNI, because highly prejudicial to the interests of customers. 

Bank of Italy, in fact, after extending the receivership of the bank, thus giving the impression of an imminent rescue, then gave the green light for compulsory winding up, without giving any prior notice to the depositors, leaving them in no condition to perform any type of operation, even basic ones for daily survival, such as withdrawals / payments, utilities payments, rates, taxes. We must unfortunately note that offensive measures as those adopted to customers BNI – Giordano complaint – not an isolated case. Decisions without taking into account the heavy impact, particularly on savers in possession of a single bank account on which accrediting salary or pension, are not new to Bank of Italy, and also affected depositors of Banca MB.

The Extinction Protocol

Syrian rebels take battle to heart of Damascus

Following another 140 deaths across the country, the Foreign Secretary pointedly refused to rule out foreign military intervention.

“Syria is... on the edge of a collapse or of a sectarian civil war, so I don’t think we can rule anything out,” he said.

“But it is not so much like Libya last year, where of course we had a successful intervention to save lives. It is looking more like Bosnia in the 1990s, being on the edge of a sectarian conflict in which neighbouring villages are attacking and killing each other,” he told Sky News.

After a hesitant start, Nato gradually increased its role in Bosnia in the mid-1990s to enforce a no-fly zone with considerable air power to deter Bosnian Serb forces. There have been calls for similar action in Syria from some quarters in Washington, where Gen Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said “military options should be considered”, though diplomacy remained the preferred option.

Despite fierce Russian and Chinese opposition to foreign military intervention, Mr Hague suggested that Moscow was increasingly concerned about a Bosnia-style conflagration and hinted that it could be won round to a more robust international response.

“The Russians are not wedded to Assad being in power, they just want Syrians to decide their own future. Well, that’s exactly what we want - but they can’t decide their own future while they are being killed, their bodies burnt, the [UN] monitors shot at.

“So it requires Russia to use its leverage to say to the Assad regime: ‘you have to follow the Annan plan’. And if we call a conference together it will be about ensuring that such a plan is fully implemented so that there’s a cessation of violence and a political process in Syria.”

Western states have scrambled to respond to the disintegration of a peace plan brokered by Kofi Annan, the international envoy to Syria, that followed massacres of Sunni villagers widely attributed to members of the president’s Alawite minority. As many as 186 people, many of them women and children, were killed.

Those atrocities led the rebel Free Syrian Army to abandon the UN-backed ceasefire and to strike in three districts of Damascus that had hitherto escaped relatively unscathed.

Shooting and explosions could be heard across the city for more than 12 hours on Saturday night, with government tank shells struck buildings in two central districts of Damascus, forcing residents to cower in basements but failing to repulse fighters from the FSA. Such exchanges had previously only been taken in suburbs of the capital.

Challenging the government’s increasingly tenuous hold elsewhere in the country, rebels also engaged Mr Assad’s security forces in major battles in the cities of Homs, Deraa and Idlib, as well as in villages near Latakia on the Mediterranean coast.

The Syrian opposition’s newly appointed leader, Abdelbasset Sayda, proclaimed that the regime was “on its last legs” amid signs that a once ragtag rebel outfit was transforming itself into a capable guerrilla force. Opposition activists declared that a turning point in the conflict had been reached, and pledged to step up their offensive in the capital.

The insurgents have been emboldened by increased funds and weapons from Arab gulf states, said activists.

“The FSA has become more powerful and well organised,” said Yahya Awash, a resident of the suburb of Douma, a scene of heavy recent fighting. “They have more weapons and troops and so can make more complicated operations.”

The rebels’ mounting confidence has transferred itself to the civilian population, with 50 demonstrations reported by the opposition in Damascus, more than ever before.

A general strike in Damascus called to protest the recent massacres has also proved surprisingly successful, suggesting that the capital’s merchant class - a key pillar of support for the regime - may be turning against Mr Assad.

Opposition activists claimed that as many as 90 per cent of shops had closed their doors, despite efforts to intimidate them.

“During the strike, the military forces tried to burn some stores or force the doors open, but they were powerless,” said Omar Dimashki, a businessman and activist, who said he had shut all 20 of his showrooms.

“Some were frightened and so tried to open their shops, but, when they saw that they were the only ones open, they shut them. We feel that Damascus is in our hands now.”

The Telegraph

Indiana Radiation Spike Triggers and Elevated Levels In Other States

Elevated Indiana radiation levels — specifically near the border of Indiana and Michigan — have prompted explosions, military helicopters, thousands of eyewitness accounts, but where is the mainstream media coverage? Now independent radiation experts are reporting increased levels in some other states, with one particular station noticing an increase since just around 11:45am mountain time on Thursday. This coincides with community board posts created just around the same time in a number of locations, even before the incident hit the public. In one such posting on a law enforcement website discussing the radiation increase, an individual from Chicago states “We’ve been encountering some high readings at the labs here.”

Independent radiation monitoring station owner Joey Stanford has uploaded a video showing spiked radiation levels as far as Colorado. Some individuals are questioning the actual source of the increased radiation, stating that it could be solar-based.

Stanford created the video in response to the growing concerns over elevated radiation levels stemming from Indiana. Indiana radiation levels normally hover around 5 and 6 counts per minute (CPM), but the levels drastically increased to as much as 7,139 CPM without warning. Afterwards, the EPA disabled the online measurement tool. Here is the screens hot of the tool showing the skyrocketing levels.

You can view Joey Stanford’s video below — remember that Joey is in Colorado, not Indiana so the elevated levels are not nearly as high:

Joey’s report echoes what many stations are finding, with live Twitter updates reporting a consistently increased amount of radiation since the initial event around 11:45 AM on Thursday. Some Twitter updates from last night’s Radiation Monitor, Joey’s own station all the way in Colorado, read:

252 CPM, 2.0462 uSv/h, 1.9820 AVG uSv/h, 7 time(s) over natural radiation

324 CPM, 2.6309 uSv/h, 2.1884 AVG uSv/h, 8 time(s) over natural radiation

222 CPM, 1.8026 uSv/h, 1.7459 AVG uSv/h, 6 time(s) over natural radiation

Once again, this is nothing compared to the 7,139 CPM reported near Indiana, however it shows that there is a possibility of correlation. While the answer as to what is going on is not clear, it is clear that it has piqued the interest of government officials. Military helicopters, aircraft, and Department of Homeland Security hazmat fleets have reportedly been dispersed towards the area based on eyewitness photos and accounts.

Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/indiana-radiation-elevated-levels-other-states-media-stays-silent/#ixzz1xUczaxG2

Russia’s Eastern Military District Gets S-400 Missiles

Russia’s Eastern Military District took delivery of a “regimental” set of S-400 Triumph air defense missile systems, the Defense Ministry said on Saturday.

Russia currently has four S-400 regiments - two in the Moscow region, one in the Baltic Fleet and one in the Eastern Military District.

By 2020, Russia is to have 28 S-400 regiments, each comprised of two battalions, mainly in maritime and border areas.

The S-400 Triumph long- to medium-range surface-to-air missile system can effectively engage any aerial target, including aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and cruise and ballistic missiles at up to 400 kilometers and an altitude of up to 30 kilometers.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said there are no plans so far to export the S-400, which will be produced only for the Russian Armed Forces.

Nigerian churches attacked by suicide bomber

Two churches in northern and central Nigeria have been attacked, one by gunmen and the other by a suicide bomber, witnesses said.

There was no immediate word on casualties and no claim of responsibility. Attacking churches has become a trademark tactic of the Islamist group Boko Haram.

In Biu Town, in north-eastern Borno state, witnesses said three gunmen started firing at people outside a church before entering the main building. "Many people have been killed and wounded," said Hamidu Wakawa, who was at the church.

In the south-western city of Jos, a man drove a car to the entrance of the Christ Chosen church and detonated a bomb, said Emmanuel Davou, 53, who lives nearby.

Christian youths set up roadblocks and had to be dispersed by police, he said. "Angry youths have gone wild, even attempting to prevent the security personnel from getting to the scene of the incident. They had to force their way out by shooting in the air to disperse them."

The police spokesman for Borno state, Samuel Tizhe, said five gunmen attacked the church, killing one woman and wounding three other people, before they fled.

Police casualty figures from Islamist attacks are often lower than those given by witnesses caught up in them.

In the attack in Jos, a man drove a car to the entrance of the Christ Chosen Church and then blew it up, said Emmanuel Davou, 53, who lives nearby.

Emmanuel Ayeni, police commissioner for Plateau state, of which Jos is the capital, told journalists 41 people were being treated for injuries in a local hospital.

"The circumstances of the two killed by mobs is still unclear," he said.

Boko Haram has been blamed for hundreds of killings over the past two years. Its leader, Abubakar Shekau, frequently says attacks on Christians are revenge for killings of Muslims in Nigeria's volatile "Middle Belt", where the largely Christian south and mostly Muslim north meet and sectarian tensions run high.

The group usually targets security forces, although attacks on Christian worshippers are increasingly common. Last Sunday a suicide car bomber killed at least 12 people at a church in the remote northern town of Yelwa.

The Guardian