Link: http://tass.com/world/983861

North Korea completed establishing the national nuclear force in 2017, the country’s leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year address broadcasted by the country’s state TV on Monday.

"We completed the creation of our country’s national nuclear forces," he said in a speech to sum up the results of the outgoing year 2017.

"The nuclear button is always on my working desk," the North Korean leader added.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201801031060485872-usa-trump-tweets-korea-talks/

US President Donald Trump: North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works! Seoul is proposing to hold high-level talks on January 9 with Pyongyang at the demilitarized zone between the two countries, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said on Tuesday.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/414851-mike-tyson-cannabis-farm-ranch/

Mike Tyson breaking ground on a 40-acre marijuana farm in California.

The move by the former world heavyweight boxing champion comes hot on the heels of the state’s decision to legalize the drug for recreational use.

The Tyson Ranch, which will also have a research and development arm, is on a remote plot of desert land in California City, a town near Death Valley National Park, Some 20 acres of the site will reportedly be devoted to marijuana cultivation. The planned Tyson Cultivation School will teach prospective farmers how to develop their own strains and conduct research to develop its clinical uses. Plans are also said to include a “glamping” campground with cabins as well as an amphitheatre.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/414871-north-korea-hotline-south-talks/

North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un has ordered to reopen the border hotline with Seoul for negotiations, according to a televised statement.

The discussions will focus on sending North Korean athletes to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics which will kick off in South Korea next month.

The North will open dialogue at 7:00am GMT (3:00 pm Pyongyang time) at the shared border village of Panmunjom, the statement said as cited by Yonhap. Kim Jong-un had said he was open to talks with Seoul in his New Year address, saying the two Koreas should "lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula to create a peaceful environment." Kim added that efforts should be made by “both the North and the South."

Seoul's presidential office welcomed the reconciliatory message, and the unification minister suggested holding talks next week in the demilitarized zone along the inter-Korean border.

There has been no inter-Korean communication since February 2016, when Pyongyang cut the channels in protest at Seoul’s closing down of a joint industrial complex which employed North Koreans.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/europe/201801021060467780-france-vehicles-burnt-new-year/

Mass disorders erupted on New Year’s night in France leaving more than 1,000 cars burnt, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/us/201801021060471168-us-airports-computer-breakdown/

Travelers entering the US have been growing increasingly frustrated at long security queues as immigration desk computers at various US airports shut down for about two hours on Monday.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/414764-cannabis-california-legal-2018/

Californians woke up on Monday to a stimulating New Year’s gift: legal recreational cannabis. The state is set to become the world’s largest regulated, commercial market of recreational marijuana. Over two decades after California legalized the medical use of marijuana, America’s most populous state joins Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Nevada to grant stores licenses for selling recreational pot to adults 21 or older.

Under Proposition 64, which passed in November 2016, Californians can also legally grow up to six plants for personal use and possess as much as one ounce.

Tax revenues from sales of cannabis are expected to generate at least one billion a year

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/414766-iran-officer-killed-protests/

One officer was killed and three were wounded in the protests in Iran, Reuters reports, citing state media. It is understood that a “rioter” opened fire on police in Najafabad, although the timing of the shooting is unclear.

Iran is still witnessing a wave of demonstrations, which are being held in many cities across the country. The protests initially began on Thursday, as people took to the streets to express their discontent over soaring food prices and unemployment.

However, a number of the rallies soon turned into larger anti-government demonstrations as the crowds directed their anger at the Iranian government and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Link: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-12-22/bombshell-dhs-report-reveals-30-federal-inmates-illegal

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has released its findings on the immigration status of federal prison inmates, as mandated in a controversial Executive Order signed during the President Trump's first week in the White House. The report reveals that of the 37,557 confirmed immigrants in the federal prison system, 35,334 (94%) of them are in the United States illegally - which means out of a total of 185,507, federally incarcerated individuals, over 19% are confirmed illegal immigrants - which, in 2014, cost U.S. taxpayers $1.87 billion to house.

Link: https://www.rt.com/business/413931-bitcoin-plunges-30-percent/

The price of bitcoin fell to less than $12,000 on Friday, according to CoinDesk.com. That makes an 27-percent drop since its previous slide, and more than 40 percent since it reached the historic $20,000 mark last week.

The cryptocurrency has experienced its second major drop in just days. Rival bitcoin cash has also fallen, plunging to $2,536 per coin, following its rapid climb of more than 50 percent to almost $4,330 per token on December 20.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/414231-marijuana-us-sales-rise/

Legal cannabis sales in the US have seen a sharp increase this year, with total purchases growing by 30 percent, a report by Marijuana Business Daily says. It suggests sales could grow even more next year.

Legal pot sales could increase by another 45 percent in 2018, the latest annual report by Marijuana Business Daily said. The publication, a trade news website for professionals in the recreational and medical cannabis industry in the US, further forecasts that legal weed sales in America could quadruple between 2016 and 2021, with the marijuana market eventually hitting highs of $17 billion in sales.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/414194-bus-moscow-crash-tunnel/

Five people were killed by a bus that crashed down the stairs of an underground passage in western Moscow, police said. The driver of the bus was taken into custody.

Link: https://www.snopes.com/2017/12/21/marijuana-activist-since-1960s-facing-california-pot-charges/

Irvin Dana Beal, 70, of New York, was arrested Saturday in Northern California after prosecutors said his rental car was spotted weaving across the road and driving 20 miles below the speed limit. James Statzer, 51, of Michigan, also was arrested.

The arrest occurred along a well-traveled highway in California’s famed Emerald Triangle area, known for its high-grade pot. A police dog smelled marijuana during the stop and 22 pounds of the drug was found.

Beal has been promoting marijuana’s medical benefits for decades. Recreational sales of marijuana become legal in California on Jan. 1, and medical marijuana has been legal in the state since 1996. But it’s still illegal to transport large quantities of the drug or to take it out of state.

It’s not uncommon for traffickers to think they can now transport pot risk-free, said Deputy District Attorney Colleen Murray, who is prosecuting the case.

Defense attorney Tom Ballanco said it’s not clear if his two clients thought they were acting legally.

Link: http://tass.com/defense/982119

"This year, the security services have foiled the plans of preparing over 60 terror-related crimes," "It is necessary to strengthen both external and internal contours of Russia anti-terror security, carry out work to eliminate financial and recruitment networks, counter the attempts by extremists and radicals to influence the youth, the attempts to spread the ideology of hatred, religious intolerance and aggressive nationalism,"Putin said at a special ceremony devoted to Security Service Workers’ Day.

Link: https://sputniknews.com/science/201712201060152195-oldest-cryo-preserved-embryo-born/?utm_source=adfox_flite_626004&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=2340006&utm_campaign=adfox_site-campaign_41917-63665&ues=1

Woman from Tennessee delivered a baby that has been cryo-preserved as an embryo in 1992.

Emma Wren, weighing 6 lbs. 8 oz. and measuring 20 inches long, has been born on November 25 to the Gibson family from Tennessee, Standard Newswire reports. It would have been an ordinary birth, if only the baby has not been frozen for 24 years.

Emma has been frozen on October 14, 1992 and thawed by NEDC Lab Director Carol Sommerfelt on March 13, 2017, the website tells. The embryo has been transferred to Tina Gibson via frozen embryo transfer (FET) procedure. This makes Emma the holder of the world record for being frozen as embryo for the longest time ever.

Link: http://www.blacklistednews.com/%22It%E2%80%99s_Unprecedented%22%3A_Bank_Of_New_York_Freezes_%2423_Billion_In_Kazakh_Assets/62324/0/38/38/Y/M.html

Bank of New York Mellon said it had frozen $22.6 billion in assets held by Kazakhstan’s National Oil Fund in a rare move that escalates a legal battle between the government and a Moldovan investor. According to Reuters, Moldova’s Anatolie Stati and his companies had earlier won damages against the Kazakh government, and his pursuit of payment has resulted in some 40% of the oil revenue-supported fund being frozen. Putting the freeze in context, it is roughly equivalent to 17% of Kazakh GDP.

Link: https://www.theepochtimes.com/president-trump-declares-national-emergency-over-global-rights-abuses-and-corruption_2393803.html

In his executive order, the president said that rights abuses and corruption “have reached such scope and gravity that they threaten the stability of international political and economic system.”

The executive order allows for the freezing of assets, within U.S. jurisdiction, of foreigners who commit severe human rights abuses, or corruption, for the most part outside of the United States.

“Human rights abuse and corruption undermine the values that form an essential foundation of stable, secure, and functioning societies; have devastating impacts on individuals; weaken democratic institutions; degraded the rule of law; perpetuate violent conflicts; facilitate the activities of dangerous persons; and undermine economic markets,” Trump wrote in the executive order.

Link: https://www.rt.com/usa/413913-billions-are-stolen-from-workers/

Through the efforts of the federal Department of Labor, state labor departments and private lawyers, almost $2 billion has been recovered in 39 states during 2015 and 2016. Wage theft occurs when employers refuse to pay promised wages, remunerate employees for only some of the hours they worked, or fail in overtime payments when an employee works for more than 40 hours in a week. California recovered $117 million for workers between 2015 and 2016, followed by New York which won back $84.6 million.

Link: https://www.rt.com/news/413921-loapi-cryptocurrency-mining-malware/

Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky Lab has exposed a powerful malware that infiltrates smartphones to secretly mine cryptrocurrency and carry out DDoS attacks.

Loapi, the malicious software, is so power-hungry that it can overheat your battery and fry your phone. The virus physically destroyed the Kaspersky Lab test phone just two days after being infected with it.

. “Because of the constant load caused by the mining module and generated traffic, the battery bulged and deformed the phone cover.

Loapi is Trojan malware that is most commonly picked up by users who click on ad banner advertising in adult content apps. Pop up advertisements for fake anti-virus software is also a common vehicle for the malware.

Link: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/20/man-lost-127-million-worth-of-bitcoins-and-city-wont-let-him-look.html

James Howells, an IT worker in the United Kingdom, knows exactly where his misplaced 7,500 bitcoins are but the city council where he lives won't let him retrieve them. They say it's against the law.

According to a report published in The Telegraph, Howells began mining bitcoin on his personal laptop in 2009. He kept the drive he used to collect the bitcoins. While cleaning his home in 2013, he mistakenly put it into a waste bin at his local landfill site in Newport, South Wales, where it got buried.

Now, with bitcoin's value hovering just above $17,000 , Howells' 7,500 lost bitcoins are worth more than $127 million.

Four years' worth of garbage have poured into the dump since his mistake, would make recovery effort a significant undertaking. "A modern landfill is a complex engineering project and digging one up brings up environmental issues, dangerous gasses and potential landfill fires," Howells says. "It's a big, expensive and risky project."

Newport City Council won't allow it.

A council spokesperson said their offices have been "contactedabout the possibility of retrieving a piece of IT hardware said to contain bitcoins," but digging up, storing and treating the waste could cause a "huge environmental impact on the surrounding area."

The landfill contains 350,000 tons of waste, 50,000 more tons added every year.

Likely the hardware suffered corrosion due to the presence of landfill leachates and gases.

The operation could require specialty-construction vehicles, might cost millions. Howells has the "financial backing in place" to fund such an effort, he needs permission: The landfill not open to the public, trespassing a criminal offense.