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Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has undertaken a surprise trip to Beijing and held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which he said they discussed the Ukraine conflict.

Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, posted a video on his Telegram channel showing him meeting Xi, smiling for photos and a meeting between Chinese and Russian officials.

Medvedev said he and Xi had discussed the two countries’ “no limits” strategic partnership, as well as Ukraine. He did not provide further details.

“We discussed cooperation between the two ruling parties of China and Russia … bilateral cooperation within our strategic partnership, including on the economy and industrial production. We also discussed international issues – including, of course, the conflict in Ukraine,” Medvedev said.

“The talks were useful,” he added.

Russia accelerated its pivot towards Beijing after it was hit with a slew of Western sanctions to punish it for its February invasion of Ukraine, something Moscow calls “a special military operation.”

Russia is seeking to foster closer economic, political and security ties with China to offset its loss of comparable Western ties and sees Xi as a potential ally in an anti-Western coalition.

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Malaysian towns were left inundated with muddy water in the wake of torrential rains, footage shared on social media and verified by Reuters showed on Wednesday, forcing more than 72,000 people to evacuate as rainfall and floods were forecast to persist.

At least two people have died as floods hit five states this week, and authorities have set up hundreds of relief shelters as the number of people displaced grows.

Videos on social media showed brown water gushing into fields and streets, submerging cars and causing rivers to breach their banks. Emergency responders were seen wading in waist-deep water to rescue victims.

The Department of Irrigation and Drainage (DID) has warned of more floods in the comings days as the monsoon season, which lasts from October to March, carries on. Authorities urged residents to evacuate if possible.

Experts have said rapid urbanisation and conversion of forests into settlements and industrial agriculture have made even inland areas, including capital city Kuala Lumpur, increasingly vulnerable to extreme floods as rainstorms intensify due to climate change.

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Stipulated, Cadillac Frank Salemme was a murderer and a thug.

But at least he had impeccable taste in reading materials, as you can see from this photo the feds took of the back seat of his Mercury when he was lugged for the last time in 2016.

On top of the dictionary and the thesaurus is my New York Times bestseller, “Hitman.”

Now Frank Salemme is dead at the age of 89 in a federal prison hospital in Missouri, and it makes me sad.

I always hate it when I lose a customer.

But Frank left behind at least one remarkable document, an interview he gave to a US House committee back in April 2003 on, among other subjects, FBI corruption over the generations in Boston.

The lesson from the late Francis Patrick Salemme is that the FBI has always been corrupt, a disgrace.

Nothing has changed. These Twitter files being released are incredible – in 2020, the G-men paid Twitter $3.4 million to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop, which the feds knew was legit, because they wanted to rig the election for the senile, corrupt vegetable who was the Democrat nominee.

It’s right there, in Twitter’s own records. Undeniable. Under the guise of battling “disinformation,” the Democrats’ secret police were using taxpayers’ money to violate the same taxpayers’ own First Amendment rights to free speech.

Horrible, but nothing new for the FBI, as Cadillac Frank knew only too well from personal experience. Only the scale of their corruption has changed. The feds used to just want to steal and whack their enemies.

Now the G-men’s ambitions are more grandiose. They’re trying to overthrow the Republic for their comrades in the Democrat party.

When he testified in 2003, Salemme had just been a witness in the corruption trial of an FBI agent named Zip Connolly who moonlighted as a Mob hitman (or was it the other way around?) Salemme described Zip perfectly as a “windbag.”

But even a bigger crook than Zip Connolly in the local FBI office was the agent who was in effect his mentor, both in the FBI and organized crime (but I repeat myself).

H. Paul Rico and his partner, Dennis Condon, framed four North End guys for a 1965 murder they did not commit. Two of the innocent men died in prison and the others served more than 30 years. In 2007 they or their estates were awarded a total of more than $100 million for wrongful imprisonment.

After the conviction of the innocent men in 1968, Rico and Condon stopped by Salemme’s garage in the South End on what amounted to a victory tour.

“They were ecstatic that they had pulled this off,” Salemme recalled.

Condon was the more excited of the two bent feds. Condon would later go on to get a big job with Gov. Mike Dukakis, who always knew how to pick ‘em.

One of those falsely convicted by the FBI was a low-level hood named Louie Greco. He was a World War II combat veteran who’d been in Florida on the night of the murder he’d been convicted of in Boston. Salemme described Condon as “elated.”

“He made the statement, I wonder how Louie Greco likes it on Death Row, and he wasn’t even there. I was thinking, why was he saying this?”

Why, Frank? The answer is… FBI. Condon was a bigshot in the Knights of Columbus, and Salemme pointed that out to him, that as a Knight he was supposed to observe certain moral standards, you know, like, thou shalt not lie.

Rico was even more corrupt than his partner. He set up gangland hits for his favorite hoods. When Salemme was having problems lining up Punchy McLaughlin, Rico gave him the address where he was hiding out.

One time Rico needed a throw-down for a hit he was planning himself on Punchy’s fugitive brother. Salemme got him the gun (although Flemmi also took credit for it). There were a group of five feds who were going to whack out McLaughlin and then claim that he had resisted arrest. But in the end, instead of killing him the feds arrested McLaughlin.

The next day Flemmi asked Rico what had happened with the planned hit.

“There were five of us going in,” Rico told him. “Four of ‘em, I knew I could trust, but the fifth one, I couldn’t be sure of. So we couldn’t kill him.”

In other words, back then, maybe 20% of the G-men weren’t totally corrupt. Those were the good old days.

When Salemme et al. blew a hit, Rico would critique them – “boy, that was a sloppy piece of work,” the decorated G-man told them one day.

In 2003, Rico was called before a Congressional committee and asked about framing the four guys including Louie Greco.

“What do you want from me?” he sneered. “Tears.”

A few months later, Rico was dead – in a Tulsa prison hospital, after being arrested for yet another Mob murder he’d arranged, on his post-FBI boss.

At least, though, Rico paid somewhat of a price for his horrible crimes, which is more than you will probably be able to say for any of the FBI’s current miscreants.

As for Salemme, in 1993 he was trying to take over the Boston Mafia, so the feds planted a story in this newspaper about him wanting to muscle in some of the East Boston crews. The Eastie guys responded to the FBI-planted story in the traditional way.

They machine-gunned Cadillac Frank as he walked into the old IHOP in Saugus.

“I got shot,” Salemme explained to Congress. “I got riddled, and I didn’t say who did it.”

No he didn’t. But eventually he did get to testify against Zip Connolly, if not Paul Rico.

In his testimony, Salemme also went on at some length about the old days in Boston organized crime. It’s pretty good stuff. Maybe I’ll get into some of that testimony over the Christmas break. I know I used some of it in Cadillac Frank’s favorite book, “Hitman.”

By the way, “Hitman” remains available at fine bookstores everywhere. And what better recommendation could it have than from Cadillac Frank himself?

FILE – This 1995 file photo taken in West Palm Beach, Fla., and released by the FBI shows Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme. Salemme, the once powerful New England Mafia boss who was serving a life sentence behind bars for the 1993 killing of a Boston nightclub owner, has died at the age of 89, according to the Bureau of Prisons. Salemme died on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022, according to Bureau of Prisons’ online records. (Federal Bureau of Investigation via AP, File)
MEETING OF THE MINDS: Mobsters, from left, Darin ‘Nino’ Bufalino, Francis ‘Cadillac Frank’ Salemme, the late Richard ‘Richie the Hatchet’ Devlin and Bobby ‘Cigar’ DeLuca talk shop in this undated photo.
Law enforcement surveillance caught a picture of, from left, Steven DiSarro, Frank Salemme Jr., Thomas Leonard Hillary and New England Mafia godfather ‘Cadillac Frank’ Salemme in 1990.
BACK HOME: ‘Cadillac Frank’ Salemme, seen here with his wife, Donna, returned to Boston after a stretch in the Witness Protection program after being charged in the May 10, 1993, murder of Stephen DiSarro.
NAMING NAMES: At the trial of Francis ‘Cadillac Frank’ Salemme, Stephen ‘The Rifleman’ Flemmi testified that he paid off former FBI agent John Connolly, shown here, among others. (Herald file photo.)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is travelling to the United States to meet President Joe Biden and address Congress on Wednesday in his first known overseas trip 300 days after Russia’s invasion of its neighbour.

Zelenskiy said he was going to Washington for talks with Biden to strengthen Ukraine’s “resilience and defence capabilities” amid repeated Russian attacks on energy and water supplies in the dead of winter.

Biden will announce a package of military assistance for Ukraine valued at nearly $2 billion that will include a Patriot missile battery to help it defend itself against barrages of Russian missiles, a senior U.S. official said.

Zelenskiy’s visit, details of which emerged on Tuesday night, was expected to last several hours.

He will hold talks with Biden and top national security aides at the White House, participate in a joint news conference with Biden and then go to Capitol Hill to address a joint session of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

“The visit will underscore the United States’ steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, including through the provision of economic, humanitarian, and military assistance,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 with the aim of capturing Kyiv in days, a goal that quickly proved out of reach. Russian President Vladimir Putin casts what he calls Russia’s “special military operation” to “denazify” Ukraine as the moment Moscow finally stood up to the West seeking to capitalize on the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by destroying Russia.

Thousands of troops and civilians have since been killed, millions have been forced to flee their homes and entire cities have been turned to ruins.

Biden will be face-to-face with the man he has spoken with regularly over the past 10 months but not met in person since the war broke out. With Biden’s support, the West has rallied behind Ukraine and sought to isolate Moscow without getting involved in a direct conflict with Russia.

Biden will not use the talks to push Zelenskiy towards the negotiating table with Putin, the U.S. official said. There are currently no peace talks under way.

The Biden administration has provided about $20 billion in military assistance to Ukraine, including artillery ammunition, munitions for NASAMS air defence systems and for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS).

Zelenskiy has repeated calls to the West for more weaponry.

On Tuesday, he made a surprise trip to the eastern frontline city of Bakhmut, his office said, underlining Russia’s stuttering but persistent attempts to capture it.

In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy called it a trip to “Fortress Bakhmut” in Donetsk, a province Russia claimed in September. Most countries reject Russia’s claim as an illegal occupation.

Dressed in combat khaki, Zelenskiy handed out medals to soldiers in a tumble-down industrial complex to applause, video released by his office showed.

In contrast, Putin awarded medals in the comfort of the Kremlin to the Russian-appointed leaders of four regions of Ukraine that Russia claims to have annexed.

Video footage released on Ukrinform TV, part of Ukraine’s state news agency, showed servicemen in Bakhmut handing Zelenskiy a Ukrainian flag with their signatures on it.

“We will turn it over to the Congress and to the U.S. president from the guys,” Zelenskiy said in the video. “We are grateful for the support. But it’s not enough,” he added.

He has urged the troops to keep up their spirits, as the battle for Bakhmut illustrates the grinding brutality of the war.

“The east is holding out because Bakhmut is fighting. In fierce battles and at the cost of many lives, freedom is being defended here for all of us,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Putin on Tuesday acknowledged problems for Russian forces in parts of Ukraine, including what Russia calls the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the east.

Ukraine’s Luhansk regional military administration said Russian mining had slowed down Ukrainian forces in the area.

“The most difficult direction along the entire frontline is Bakhmut,” it said on Telegram. “Russians set a goal to win at least some victory there.”

The U.S. Senate has advanced a government-funding bill that includes $44.9 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies. The money would be used for military training, equipment, logistics and intelligence support, as well as for replenishing U.S. equipment sent to Ukraine.

The World Bank on Tuesday said it had approved an additional financing package for Ukraine totalling $610 million to address urgent relief and recovery needs.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukrainians should prepare for new attacks by Russia on energy infrastructure because it wanted them to spend Christmas and the New Year in darkness.

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Female university students in Afghanistan were turned away from campuses on Wednesday after the Taliban-run administration said women would be suspended from tertiary education.

The decision to bar women was announced on Tuesday evening in a letter to universities from the higher education ministry, drawing condemnation from foreign governments and the United Nations.

“We went to university, the Taliban were at the gate and told us ‘you are not allowed to enter the university until further notice’ … everyone was crying,” said Shaista, a business studies student at a private university in Kabul.

A professor at another university in Kabul who declined to be identified said staff turned female students away at the gate as they had no choice but to implement the instruction.

The bar on women students is likely to complicate the Taliban administration’s efforts to gain international recognition and to get rid of sanctions that are severely hampering the economy.

Third-year political science student Hassiba, based in Kabul, said she was studying for her exams when she heard about the announcement.

“It’s too hard to accept, it’s unbelievable, I can’t believe it’s happening,” she said.

“When there is no education for women in a society, how can we be hopeful for a bright future?”

According to the late Tuesday announcement, the decision was made by the Taliban administration’s cabinet.

Several Taliban officials, including the deputy foreign minister and administration spokesperson, have spoken out in favour of female education in recent months.

The supreme Taliban spiritual leader, based in the southern city of Kandahar, has the final say on major decisions.

Diplomatic and Taliban official sources have told Reuters the issue had been under discussion by the leadership.

“This decision had been anticipated for weeks, prompting some Western officials to start talking about additional sanctions and further economic restrictions,” said Graeme Smith, senior consultant at International Crisis Group.

“But the flood of outrage from the West will strengthen the resolve of the Taliban leadership, which defines itself as a bulwark against the outside world.”

Taliban leadership have said they want peaceful relations with the international community but that foreigners should not interfere in domestic affairs.

Most girls are unable to go to school beyond primary classes. The Taliban administration has said it is working on a plan for girls’ secondary education but has not given a time frame.

The administration made a surprise U-Turn on signals it would open all high-schools for girls in March.

German multinational industrial engineering and steel production company ThyssenKrupp AG was the target of a cyberattack.

German multinational industrial engineering and steel production giant ThyssenKrupp AG announced that the Materials Services division and corporate headquarters were hit by a cyberattack. At this time the company has yet to disclose the type of attack that hit its systems and no cybercriminal group has yet to claim responsibility for the attack.

A company spokesman declared that there are no indications of a data breach.

“Thyssenkrupp is currently the target of a cyberattack — presumably by organized crime” and that “at the present time, no damage has been done, nor are there any indications that data has been stolen or modified.” a spokesperson told Agence France Presse. “At the present time, no damage has been done, nor are there any indications that data has been stolen or modified,”

This isn’t the first attack suffered by the company, in 2012, the company was targeted by another cyber attack that was classified as “heavy” and of “exceptional quality.”

In 2016, alleged Asian threat actors targeted ThyssenKrupp to steal company secrets. The investigators speculated the attack was carried out by a group of professional hackers from Southeast Asia that were interested in the technological know-how and research activities of the company.

On December 28, 2020, ThyssenKrupp Materials group of companies based in U.S. and Canada were breached by the NetWalker ransomware group. The hackers managed to access sensitive HR information and documents about the company’s current and former employees.

The confidential information accessed by the attackers included the SSN and bank account information of employees.

In August 2020, ThyssenKrupp System Engineering was hit by the Mount Locker ransomware group. In

In January 2021, a ThyssenKrupp subsidiary was a victim of a ransomware cyberattack that caused the encryption of its servers and employee workstations.

Follow me on Twitter: @securityaffairs and Facebook and Mastodon

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – ThyssenKrupp, hacking)

The post German industrial giant ThyssenKrupp targeted in a new cyberattack appeared first on Security Affairs.

Chalffy/Ika Rahma/Getty Images

• Sales of certain household products have soared in the UK as the energy crisis takes its toll.
• They include air fryers, heated electric blankets, mattress protectors, and hot water bottles.
• British homeowners are trying to keep the bills down, while also keep warm this winter.

Bills have skyrocketed in 2022, leaving many UK households struggling to keep warm this winter.

Richard Baker / In Pictures via Getty Images

Natural gas prices soared worldwide after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in late February and restricted supplies to Europe.

Consumers in the UK are seeing their bills for natural gas and electricity increase by 80% — that’s an average of £3,549 ($4,200) a year, according to industry regulator Ofgem.

Ofgem attributed the sky-high energy bills to “an aggressive economic act by the Russian state.”

On top of this, the weather has become especially cold since snow hit the UK last week.

Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images

Source: Met Office.

Consumers are trying to find ways to keep the bills down while the government, led by UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, grapples with the energy crisis.

Daniel LEAL / AFP via Getty Images

This has resulted in random items surging in popularity, such as air fryers.

Plan Shooting 2 / Imazins/ Getty Images

Sales of air fryers, which circulate hot air inside to cook food, have jumped since the energy crisis hit because they use less energy than ovens — a saving grace when trying to reduce bills.

Research from energy supplier Utilita shows that an electric oven costs more than £315 a year, whereas an air fryer costs around £53.

Tesco, Britain’s biggest grocer, said in October sales of air fryers have skyrocketed by 200% year-on-year as customer look for more energy-efficient options.

Noel Jackson, Tesco’s home electricals category manager, told Insider in a statement: “We’ve been blown away by just how popular air fryers are proving with our customers — so much so that we’ve ordered even more of them to cope with demand in the run-up to Christmas.”

Tesco will receive an extra 40,000 air fryers before Christmas because of the demand, it added.

Sky News reported that price comparison website PriceRunner said sales of some air fryers were up 2,000% since the summer.

Electric heated blankets have also become a popular household item for people in Britain.

Freer Law/Getty Images

“As the nights draw in and the weather gets colder, our customers are looking for ways to keep cosy without breaking the bank,” Kate Davis, Tesco’s buying manager for home textiles, said in a statement to Insider. “We’ve seen a 500% rise in sales of electric blankets compared to this time last year, as customers look to keep warm at the touch of the button.”

Lakeland, a British kitchenware chain, told Insider sales of its heated textiles, including heated throws, were up 800% year-on-year.

As well as electric blankets, heated mattress protectors are also part of the sales boom.

Chalffy/Getty Images

Lakeland has always sold heated mattress protectors and throws, but this was the most demand it has ever seen, a spokesperson said. They partly attributed the demand to people trying to find savings during the cost-of-living crisis.

“They’re a great way to heat yourself instead of your full house, with lots of the lines dipping out of stock,” the spokesperson said.

One retailer said sales of hot water bottles were up 300%.

Firma V/Shutterstock

John Lewis, one of Britain’s best-known high-street retailers, has noticed various items fly off the shelves as the energy crisis sets in.

Rosie Chalk, a home buyer for John Lewis, told Insider that sales of hot water bottles are up 300% compared with this time last year.

“Customers look for alternative ways to keep warm and save money,” she added.

Slippers are also a customer favorite, with sales exploding this year compared to last.

Macy’s

John Lewis said sales of slippers in its in-house line “Anyday” were up more than 50% compared to this time in 2021.

Many British homeowners are eager to keep the cold out with the help of draught excluders.

Daisy-Daisy/Getty Images

Using draught excluders could save homeowners up to £125 a year on energy bills, according to research from The Energy Saving Trust.

Next, a British retailer, said it has seen searches for draught excluders increase more than 143% since the start of December.

A spokesperson for Next told Insider the high demand was likely because of “the continued low temperatures across the UK, as households look to preserve heat indoors.”