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Examples of some of the roughly 3,000 Facebook ads bought by Russian operatives to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election have been released by the US House Intelligence Committee.

On 25 October, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and I visited The Baker at Sutton to further understand the pressures facing small businesses and discuss electricity prices.

Mathematics and chance have made some strange bedfellows, especially in the realm of games. For example anyone playing chess at the highest level would know that the white team, having the first move, should always win, unless a mistake is made and this advantage is lost. But there are games where chance is a greater factor in success or failure. You could be given a rotten hand at poker and win on bluff alone but this stretches the “Game Theory” beyond mathematical equations. Or does it? 

Some readers were alarmed that the book was "redacted": indeed, names (only a few on a large set) were blackened, so as to make them illegible ...

This decision is fully agreed between the author and the publisher.

In fact, the author does not reside in France for the reasons that we know, the editions Demi-Lune could be considered legally responsible for his remarks, and would be exposed to expensive lawsuits, even to the removal of the book. Consequently, we decided by mutual agreement, not to withdraw the contentious paragraphs, but to hide some names.

The book is available in foreign language versions, and from the Voltaire Network website.

***

The author: Thierry MEYSSAN

Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has said there is a "powerful argument" that US President Donald Trump's threat to scrap the Iran nuclear deal could imperil efforts to negotiate a peaceful outcome with North Korea.

In a significant sharpening of Australia's public rhetoric on the Obama-era Iran agreement, Ms Bishop said she had asked US officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, how they would counter the argument that North Korea could not trust the US if it walked away from previous international agreements.

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/bishop-warns-trump...

Washington: A federal grand jury has approved the first charges in the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge, but plans have been prepared for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday.

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/special-counsel-robert-mueller-files-charges...

I will believe it when I see it... It sounds a bit more lame than an AFP raid on GetUp! or a trumped up charge. Excuse the pun. But I really believe the cat (or the rat) did it. 

History is full of it. 

I’ll keep this brief, because there’s only one thing you can say about the events of the past 24 hours: what a complete shocker.

Around 30 years ago, Mad magazine did this short social study of Donald Trump... Now you know...

Why has New Zealand got fibre to the home, mostly renewable energy, the Bledisloe Cup and a charismatic leader and we have not?

Denis Goodwin Dee Why

read more:

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/west-just-a-postscript-in-a-ta...

‘Provocative adverts for Kremlin-owned television channel’ is the familiar opening for the Times’ latest knickers in a twist article on RT, as the Murdoch-owned broadsheet joined the angry scrum to condemn a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign on the London Underground.