The EU wants compensation for US import duties

The European Union (EU) has appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to demand compensation from the United States for the high import duties the White House Administration has imposed on steel and aluminum, Reuters reports. An earlier complaint was also filed by China. In March, President Donald Trump decided to impose import duties of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum. Earlier, the EU said it did not accept the US's justification that its actions would defend its national security.

The European authorities believe that US tariffs have been imposed to protect the local industry.  "Notwithstanding the characterization of these actions by the US as security measures, they are essentially protective measures," the EU statement said. Washington insists that duties are not subject to WTO rules.

The EU says it wants to consult with the United States as soon as possible. At least at this stage, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, South Korea and the EU are excluded from the penalty tariffs.

Putin reacted with restraint to the blows of the United States and their allies against Syria.

His cautious stance may reduce his popularity against the backdrop of the war threats that Russia has set in the west. Faced with an obvious choice whether to fight with the United States, the United Kingdom and France, or to watch passively as they hit his ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin chose the peaceful option.

This cautious response may harm the image of the Russian leader as a strong man, but he will not undermine what he has achieved in Syria nor harm his power at home.

The Kremlin had warned Washington that Russia would fight every blow that threatens its soldiers in Syria. The West respected this red line and warned of Saturday's attack, just as it did a year ago when it hit a Syrian Air Force Base. Russia, and then did not react, but this time he threatened to blow back.

Such a collision could quickly come out of control - an extremely dangerous scenario that was often compared to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis when the world fled a nuclear conflict.

"Together with our allies, we made the Russians warned," said French Defense Minister Florence Parley. US-led air strikes were a response to a supposed chemical attack on civilians on April 7 in the Syrian city Duma. Russia said its experts did not find traces of chemical agents. 

A senior French official said President Emanuel Macron did not tell Putin about the blows when he spoke on Friday but had already been deployed "certain mechanisms to avoid conflicts" and "they both knew that this new phase would begin soon ". Putin condemned Saturday's attacks as an "act of aggression" that would worsen the humanitarian disaster in Syria and have a "devastating impact on the whole system of international relations." He criticized Washington and his allies for attacking without waiting for the international arms embargoed inspectors to visit Duma, in the immediate vicinity of Damascus.

Russian military said their anti-aircraft complexes at both Syrian bases followed the coming missiles but were not used.

On Saturday, Russian social media raged nationalistic comments condemning Putin that he had failed to protect his ally. But state television concentrates on criticism of the West that it acted on the basis of a "false chemical attack". Strict control of the Kremlin over the media will help Putin avoid any major damage to his carefully cultivated image of a strong leader. In fact, his cautious stance may increase his popularity amid fears of war that overwhelmed Russia. In recent days, the state media has provided instructions for behavior in the event of a nuclear conflict and what stocks to take in the havens. 

Most Russians will now sigh with relief and feel thankful for Putin that he has retreated from the brink. The state television channels compared the US President Donald Trump's reckless actions to Putin's responsible position.

Fedor Lukyanov, head of the Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, an organization of senior Russian security and foreign policy experts, told state television that Moscow's warning to strike "was obviously not neglected by the Pentagon and the shot was too cautious" .

The Kremlin will also use the crisis to continue developing its thesis of the aggressive West, which throws the world into chaos and does not respect international law. Russian officials and lawmakers compared him with the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which was based on allegations that Baghdad is likely to develop chemical weapons - allegations that turned out to be fake.

State TV commentators pointed out that Trump and British Prime Minister Teresa May had carried out the attack to divert attention from their internal political problems.

Putin has so far limited his response to calls for an extraordinary meeting of the UN Security Council.

No military measures were immediately announced but, as a clear warning to the United States and their allies, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian General Staff said Moscow could reinforce Syrian anti-aircraft complexes from Soviet times with the most modern C-300 rocket batteries. He pointed out that Moscow had so far listened to Western requests not to supply Damascus with such missiles, but now the decision can be rethought. Rudczko added that Moscow could also deliver missiles to other countries, perhaps considering Iran, which in the past received the C-300. The purpose of this statement was to make the West not carry out any new attacks on Syria that could jeopardize President Bashar Assad's victory on the battlefield, where Russian support helped him to control most strategic areas.

Facebook admitted that it is collecting data when users are not in the platform

This was through a blog post published by the company. At the heart of a personal data scandal, Facebook admitted to collecting information about its users and their activities outside of the social network. This happened through a company blog post where David Beaser, Product Product Manager at Facebook, describes how the social network uses its "marketing resources," France Press reports.From the article, it becomes clear that when a person visits a site or an application using Facebook services, the social network receives information even if the user has previously exited their social networking account. Among the collected data are the IP address, Internet browser (Chrome, Sfari, Explorer, etc.) or the device's operating system (Windows, Android, iOS, etc.).

Through these ways to collect 'data from other websites or apps', Facebook measures the impact of advertising ads on both the social network and beyond. For example, Facebook collects information when a user clicks the "Like" or "Shared" button on another site (for example, a news article) or logs in to a site or application through their social login login and password. Facebook collects information from ads on other platforms as long as they belong to companies that are part of the giant's advertisers network. So the social network gathers information and if someone clicks on any such paid message.

"We require sites and apps that use our resources to tell you that they are collecting information, and that they share it with us, and we ask them to ask for permission," said David Baiser.

Using a third-party application offered on Facebook, Cambridge Analytica, UK, has grown to dozens of millions of users of the largest social network in the world without their knowledge

Trump has already raised money for the next election campaign

Since the beginning of the year, he has raised $ 10 million. The next presidential election in the United States is over 2.5 years, but Donald Trump's reelection campaign has already begun. Since the beginning of 2018, funding has now been raised to $ 10 million, according to Reuters.Unlike other acting presidents before him, Trump decided to start actively raising funds much earlier in his first term.

Since the last campaign, 22 million dollars have remained, but nearly 4 of them have been spent on legal services, including the investigation into relations with Russia. Thus, the remainder of them together with the newly attracted funds amounted to a total of about 28 million dollars.

Trump is allegedly able to use part of the money he collected to help his Republican counterparties in the Congress's mid-term elections in November this year.

France will finance humanitarian projects in Syria with 50m euros.

The funds will be directed to non-governmental organizations in the country. France will provide € 50 million to finance various humanitarian projects in Syria, France Press reports. This became clear after yesterday's meeting between President Emmanuel Makron and representatives of non-governmental organizations, including Doctors Worldwide, Cair, French Red Cross, Action against Hunger, Maltese Order, International First Aid.

A total of about 20 organizations operating in Syria will receive funding from the French state. For this purpose, they will have to present specific projects, with priority being given to Idlib, where there are around 1.2 million displaced by the conflict, according to UN figures. Other important places are in areas recently released from the control of the Islamic State, such as Gut and Northwest Syria.

The UN estimates that 13 million Syrians, of whom 6 million children, need humanitarian aid.

The French Ambassador to Bulgaria: The Syrian Air Force does not matter

Eric Lobendel is categorical that Bashar Assad will fall out of power at some point, but it must be time if there will be more strikes in Syria depends only on the Syrian authorities, the regime and its allies as well as on the residual chemical weapons. This is what the French Ambassador to Bulgaria Eric Lobendel said in an interview with Nova. He added that the strikes were targeted for specific purposes in Syria and that the first estimates were effective.

"In terms of hit success, our assessment is that they were successful. Syrian Air Force Defense was by no means effective, "the ambassador said.

According to him, if the regime in Syria still has chemical weapons, the verification mechanism needs to be restored. "This is an extremely strict mechanism that was set up by the UN and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons," said Eric Lobendel.

The Ambassador added that France had insisted on such hits in 2013, but for various reasons they were not implemented. "To date, we have no certainty as to what chemical weapons are in Syria," the ambassador said.

He also explained that Paris has proposed a general action plan in Syria, which consists of 4 steps that must be carried out gradually in order to establish lasting peace and democracy in the state. The first is the complete destruction of the Syrian chemical program. The second step is the complete elimination of terrorists from an Islamic state. After that, military action must be discontinued and humanitarian action taken. Finally, a lasting political solution must be achieved.

"What we wanted to achieve with these blows is to look for a political solution, not a military solution. The goal is not Bashar Assad, because his removal is the fourth step of our plan. It can not be done at the same time. The removal of Assad is linked to a lasting political solution. There must be a new Constitution in Syria, new elections. The Syrian people must choose their fate, "said Eric Lobendel.

The ambassador is clear that Syria can not have a lasting political future with Assad. "There will be a moment to go. The way of political settlement is gradual, "he said.

The head of the French mission in Bulgaria added that the goal of the West is to convince Russia that it is time to start playing a constructive role in Syria. "Russia has interests in Syria, but it does not stand in a constructive way. After these blows, we regained confidence. We need to make the Russians understand that they have to act constructively, "the ambassador added.

Moscow court bans Russian chat application Telegram

The company's lawyers did not appear at the hearing. A court in Moscow ruled to block the work of the Russian Telegram application on the territory of the country, RIA Novosti reported. Thus, the Taganski court upheld a claim from the Russian Broadcasting Supervision Service. The Office is authorized to execute this measure immediately.

The reason for banning the Telegram in Russia is that the communication between users of the application is encrypted and the developer company refuses to give the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) the decryption keys. Telegraph's lawyers did not appear at the hearing, explaining that Telegraph founder Pavel Durov had forbidden them to "legitimate a candid farce." Lawyers plan to appeal the court's decision. During the hearing, representatives of Roscommunzor and FSL have explained that Telegram's refusal to provide the decryption keys of Russian special services threatens Russia's state interests and that the chat application can be used by terrorists. "Rosemudzorzor" started a lawsuit against Durov's company on April 6th, demanding that if he had won, he would have the right immediately to ban Telegram on Russia's territory.

Who are the Russian oligarchs, according to the Russians?

The main criticisms of the oligarchs are because of the allegedly "semi-criminal" means of enrichment and their "excessive political influence"

Almost all participants in a poll of the Russian sociological center BCIOM believe that there are oligarchs in Russia, TASS reported. Ninety-four per cent of the respondents "have no doubt about the presence of oligarchs in the country," said the poll published today. Three per cent of respondents say there are no oligarchs in Russia; they still do not answer. In the "popular ranking" of the most famous oligarchs in Russia, the businessman Roman Abramovich is headed by 15 per cent of the survey participants.

The top three include Oleg Deripaska, one of the owners of the aluminum company Rusal, with 8 per cent, and the entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov, who became known as a banker and miner of the mining industry, then a politician, by 7 per cent. Following are the names of Vladimir Potanin, president of the Nornikel company, Anatoly Chubais, chief of Rosnano, Alexey Miller, head of Gazprom, Alisher Usmanov - a developer, sportsman and patron, with 4 per cent.

The most commonly questioned people are the oligarchs as people of great wealth (52 per cent of those who recognize the presence of oligarchs in Russia). According to 44 per cent, the oligarchs are more damaging than the country's benefits, 9 per cent think the benefits are more, and 36 per cent - that the "benefits and damages are roughly equal." 

The main criticisms of the oligarchs are because of their supposedly "semi-criminal" means of enrichment and their "excessive political influence", says the director of BCIOM Valeriy Fedorov. 

The poll was conducted on 7 and 8 April on the phone by 2000 adult citizens of Russia with a maximum error of up to 2.2 per cent, with a probability of 95 per cent.

Russia is considering shutting down its nuclear cooperation with the United States

The country also plans to restrict imports of medicines, tobacco and alcohol. Russia is considering restricting the import of a number of goods from the United States. This provides for a bill submitted by all the parties in the State Duma and its chairman Vyacheslav Volodin, the agency TASS wrote. 

"This bill provides for the possibility for the government, under the President's order, to introduce various restrictive measures against various US goods and citizens as well as those countries that have sanctioned Russia," said the deputy chairman of the Lower House of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov. In addition, the bill may limit imports of medicines from these countries as well as technological equipment and software. It is also possible to end the cooperation between Russia and the US in the nuclear industry and the production of airplanes.

A sharp jump in the price of cryptoLooks

Obviously, the situation in Syria, as well as the overall picture of the US-Russia relationship, proved to be positive. CryptoLook prices jumped sharply on Thursday, driven by a 17-percent rise in bitcoin, breaking two borders - from $ 7,000 to $ 8,000, only within the day, Bloomberg reports. This happens when, just over a week ago, the value of the most popular digital currency sank to its lowest levels in five months. After the sharp jump in the morning, the price still dropped, and at the moment bitcoin trades around $ 7,700, according to Coindesk.

Bitcoin achieved impressive growth last year, reaching a record value of nearly $ 20,000 in December 2017. It then began to sink a bit.

Today, thanks to the surprising leap of bitcoin movement, there were other crypto-louds and the whole market grew. EOS rose the most, rising 27% in 24 hours and 53% per week. "Serious money is already on the market," said Jeffrey Van de Leumput, a Cryptocampus analyst. He shares how he was only asked a few days ago to transact 200,000 bitcoin for Chinese buyers, not to mention the entry of George Soros on the market. "Now we will see the start of the real bubble," Lehmut also predicted.

At the same time, there is a serious drop in the price of the ruble. The Russian currency is experiencing its worst week in 1999 - since then, its rate has not fallen as fast as it has been over the past two days. This was noted earlier today by the Financial Times, after a 2% drop from the start of the day, which continued later because of US President Donald Trump's warnings of a missile attack on Syria. 

The Russian currency lost 2.4% of its value only to around 14 pm Bulgarian time today, reaching (prior to Trump's comments) 64.68 rubles per dollar - 10.3% less than last Wednesday, and only in the late hours of the day began a slight recovery . 

This decline is bigger than in 2014, after the Crimean crisis and oil shifts are priced. One dollar was not sold for more than 65 rubles from 2016 onwards - even at the height of the Ukrainian crisis, the weekly drop was never more than 10 per cent, Reuters reported. 

In January George Soros called the crypto-bubbles. Now his $ 26 billion company plans to trade with Cripp assets, Bloomberg reports. Hedge Fund Research. Meanwhile, hedge funds, which generally invest in shares, increased their value by an average of 0.4% over the same period. 

According to the agency, one of the billionaire companies has received in-house approval for trading with Crippot assets - assets that traditional finance managers have avoided so far due to limited industry experience, lack of regulation and instability. Adam Fisher, head of Soros Fund Management's macro investment, has received approval but has not yet made any investment in Crippto assets, Bloomberg writes, quoting people familiar with the matter. Allowing the fund to trade with cryptoLight comes at a time when Bitcoin's price, which is scoring as a marker on the entire currency market for crippled currencies, declined significantly in 2018. On Friday, Bitcoin's value was about $ 6,600, well below the maximum reached at the end of 2017 of nearly $ 20,000. In the first three months of this year, crypto funds, which invest directly in a number of crunch assets, lost an average of 52% of their value, according to

About 167 funds related to crypto-clay were found in 2017, according to Autonomous Research, and 20 were opened this year.