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Just News – RT – Bitcoin plunges by 30% after record high of $20,000

RT – Bitcoin plunges by 30% after record high of $20,000
The price of bitcoin fell to less than $13,080 on Friday morning, according to CoinDesk.com. That makes an 18-percent drop since its previous slide, and more than 30 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.

RT – Just try selling your bitcoin: Cryptocurrency pioneer warns against ‘extremely risky’ investment

The co-founder of Bitcoin.com, one of the world’s largest sites devoted to the leading virtual currency, has sold all his bitcoins and recommends people stay away from it for the moment and look for alternatives.
“I would say an investment in bitcoin is right now the riskiest investment you can make. There’s an extremely high risk,” Emil Oldenburg said in an interview with Swedish tech site Breakit.
“I have in fact sold all my bitcoins recently and switched to bitcoin cash,” he added.
Oldenburg complains about long transactions with high fees. According to some estimates, bitcoin transaction fees are doubling every three months, and an average bitcoin transaction is takes four and a half hours to be confirmed. The average trading fee peaked at $26 recently.
The reason why bitcoin users don’t understand its cons is that they only buy it and don’t sell or trade it, according to Oldenburg.
“As soon as people realize that this is how it works, they will start to sell. The old bitcoin network is as good as unusable,” he said.
The investor explained fees for bitcoin cash transactions are more reasonable.
“It only costs $0.012 to send a bitcoin cash transaction, and there are no lead times. The only drawback is that you need larger hard drives, but that’s not a problem for most people.”

RT – Bitcoin heading to $0.00 & many will lose everything when bubble pops – warns investor Peter Schiff
Bitcoin is a massive speculative bubble that will implode, and people who are buying it now will be left holding the bag, according to economist Peter Schiff, best known for predicting the 2008 financial crash.
“People who got it years ago, even people who got it at the beginning of the year have the opportunity to cash out and make a lot of money. But people who are buying it at these prices or higher prices are going to lose practically everything,” Schiff told RT International Channel.
“These currencies are going to trade to zero or pretty close to it when the bubble pops,” predicts Schiff. “Right now, the only reason why people are buying bitcoin is because the price is going up. When it turns around, they are not going to sell it for the same reason.”
“There is no value in bitcoin, you can’t use it as money,” Schiff points out. “It’s too slow, too expensive and too vulnerable.”
The investor called bitcoin a “speculative digital asset,” and as soon as its price stops going up, it will implode.
According to Schiff, there is a problem with fiat currencies. However, there are 1,300 digital currencies with massive inflation. “Even bitcoin itself has spun off bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold. There is no limit to supply of bitcoin-branded worthless tokens that can be created,” he said.

RT – Insider trading probe leads to crash of bitcoin cash
The price of bitcoin cash plunged 10 percent when trading resumed following an investigation by a leading cryptocurrency exchange into possible insider trading.
Bitcoin cash’s wild price swings led Coinbase to suspect exchange staff of possible insider trading. The third most valuable cryptocurrency’s price had more than doubled since Monday.
“If we find evidence of any employee or contractor violating our policies — directly or indirectly — I will not hesitate to terminate the employee immediately and take appropriate legal action,” Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted in his blog.
All Coinbase employees and contractors were “explicitly prohibited” more than a month ago from trading in bitcoin cash and revealing launch plans, he said.
The exchange suspended trade on Tuesday minutes after the opening and eventually canceled orders.
According to CoinMarketCap, the price of bitcoin cash soared to $9,500 as trading began on the Coinbase exchange GDAX. Coinbase did not recognize that price on its exchange. The rise of bitcoin cash is also suspected of causing a sell-off in bitcoin. On Thursday, bitcoin cash was trading at $3,627 while bitcoin was selling for $17,000.

RT: Mortar shell hits near RT crew filming in Aleppo humanitarian corridor

Mortar shell hits near RT crew filming in Aleppo humanitarian corridor
An RT crew covering the situation in Aleppo, Syria, has come under mortar fire. A shell landed some 15 meters from the crew, which was filming in a humanitarian corridor citizens wishing to leave the city can use.
A total of three shells apparently fired from the rebel-controlled part of Aleppo landed near a group of journalists from different outlets, including RT, the crew reported.
Throughout the morning there was heavy shelling of government checkpoints in the area, RT’s Murad Gazdiev said. There was then a lull, which prompted the journalists to believe that it would be safe to do their job in the open. However, they then came under fire.

Terrorists shell humanitarian corridor with mortars as civilians near Aleppo try to flee – reports
Islamist militants have shelled a ‘humanitarian corridor’ set up to allow civilians to escape from the eastern Aleppo, RIA Novosti reported. The shelling came amid a ceasefire declared the by Syrian military and Russian Air Force.
A general view taken with a drone shows Aleppo’s historic citadel, controlled by forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, as seen from a rebel-held area of Aleppo, Syria, October 12, 2016. © Abdalrhman IsmailPlanned humanitarian pause in Aleppo extended by 3 hours, 8 corridors to open – Russian military
At least six mortar shells were fired into the ‘humanitarian corridor’ by militants in the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of eastern Aleppo. Small arms fire was also directed at a Syrian army checkpoint, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday.

Russian MoD livestreams from Aleppo as civilians leave militant-held areas
Livestream videos from web cameras installed along ‘humanitarian corridors’ in Aleppo, as well as real time drone footage, are now available at Russia’s MoD website, providing a closer look at what is happening in the city amid a provisional ceasefire.
Four web cameras have been set up on the western part of the Castello Road in Aleppo, showing ‘humanitarian corridors’ and a Syrian army checkpoint in the Marsharqa neighborhood.

The official website of the Russian Defence Ministry launches webcast of unmanned aerial vehicles and surveillance cameras demostrating insurgents’ withdrawal from Aleppo.
Online monitoring of situation in the area of Masharka checkpoint

‘Silent and lifeless’: Eerie 360 video of a Syrian city in ruins
RT has visited the Syrian city of Homs, which used to be home to over 600,000 people, but was turned into apocalyptic wasteland by years of fighting between the government, rebels and terrorist groups.
The ancient city is now “lifeless as far as the eye can see,” RT’s Murad Gadziev said as he walked through the ruins of Homs.

“What if…?”

“What if…?”s inhabit a mental space many parents of severely autistic progeny try to avoid. Really, most of the time, we’re so swamped with the realities of what is, we don’t have the time or energy to “go there.” But, at least for me, it is ultimately unavoidable.
What if Ben were “typical?” Friendships, traveling, lovers, conversations, marriage, adventures, sex, parenthood – there are countless joys he will never know. Sometimes I find myself staring at him as we sit in the backseat, trapped in “What if…?”
What if Ben would look over at me and say, “Dad, don’t say anything to this girl that’ll embarrass me because I really like her, so actually, maybe you should just drop me off,” instead of something like, “Go to McDonald’s,” ten times in an hour. What if Ben were the one behind the wheel, laughing, not at some mysterious, internal script, but at his buddy riding shotgun telling a raunchy joke. What if he could play a Schubert impromptu on piano instead of just listening with the rapt attention that tells us he loves it, even if he’ll never perform it himself? What if he could have become a renowned pianist? And dammit, he really might have.
That’s one thing about a chronic, lifelong disorder like severe autism – it never really lets go. Maybe it loosens a bit, but then it’ll remind you of unavoidable realities, and the grip tightens once again.
I feel the grip tightening and realize where my mind’s wandered because my heart is breaking. I try hard to think of other things.