#Asset Recovery Measures

[aiolegalservices]

Understanding Fraud in Cryptocurrency and How AIO Legal Services Can Help

  Cryptocurrency has gained significant popularity and acceptance over the past decade. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a host of other cryptocurrencies have revolutionised the financial landscape, offering decentralised and often anonymous transactions. However, this innovation has also opened new avenues for fraud. The unregulated nature of many cryptocurrencies, combined with their anonymity, has made…

[unknownimagineblog]

Just Say It // N.R

Warning(s): cursing, brief mentions of blood & gore, angst w/ a happy ending, long post

You were an anomaly to the team, mostly when it pertained to your abilities and their usage.

When working, rarely was it around the rest of the group. Rather, you’d be sent in after missions for reasons undisclosed to them, or sent alone altogether. If you were along with the team for a mission, it was hard to even entice you to speak.

The team wasn’t complaining about your presence tho, they were rather relieved you’d been around most of the time. Your proficiency in hand to hand combat rivaled that of Natasha’s, so you weren’t a hinderance to their mission, wether with them or away.

But another issue that cloaked you in mystery, was the fact you didn’t live at the compound like the rest of them, and rarely showed to any functions, events, or parties. Tony always extended an olive branch, yet you always denied him with a soft shake of your head.

Somehow, throughout your silent treatment, you got along well with two members of the team in particular.

Wanda was one of them, if outwardly appearance showed correctly. Anytime you were around, whether it be pre-mission planning or taking up space in the common room, you had always had an affliction to Wanda.

You’d sit down next to her with the warm smile you seemed to always bare, and she’d go on to tell you her activities that had transpired the past week. Sometimes she’d discuss her interests, and tried to prod at your own, but you only brushed her off with a wave of your hand.

Next was Natasha, although you were not as friendly to her as much as you were with Wanda. You’d always spar with her, and somehow give her a worthy opponent every time. With your soft smile, and kind eyes, you always lifted her off the mat after putting her on her ass.

And when you both weren’t sparring, you’d sit across the couch from her as she rewatched some spy movie for the millionth time. You never spoke up, and you never ruined the silence that always seemed to befall you both. In the beginning, Natasha felt uncomfortable about your silent presence, but now it had grown to be a constant. The movies never felt the same without you.

It made her wonder what Clint found so terrifying about you.

Clint always paled in your presence, and outright refused missions when you were involved. He’d go so far as to make his exit known whenever you arrived in the same room, and you looked almost sad to see him leave every time.

Natasha asked about it one night, turning the volume down on the TV in hopes that, maybe, you’d speak to her this one time. But you only shook your head, and the apologetic smile upon your face didn’t meet your eyes. You looked sad, and Natasha swore she watched tears well up in your eyes. She felt bad for even asking.

You had been scarce around the compound after that, much more than you were before. You did not linger after missions, and you no longer trained with the team. You’d give them a smile that never reached your eyes, then made your leave every time you had come into contact with them.

The next time Natasha had been around you was relieving, but questionable, considering the rather classified mission Fury had conscripted you both to do.

You both sat in the briefing room, minus the rest of the team, as Director Fury discussed your next mission. It was a recovery mission of a rather dangerous asset, and Fury was adamant on the retrieval of said asset be as easy as possible.

Quirking a brow in Natasha’s direction, Fury seemed to pick up on the question that hid within your gaze.

“She’s only a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of yourself, and the asset.” He said, and you were quick to push yourself from your chair. The stony glare on your face showed that you were not happy with this idea, and Natasha felt offended at the change in your demeanor.

“I know you work alone.” Fury said, not daunted by your uncharacteristic outburst. “But I assure you, she’s there if anything goes south. If the asset steps out of line in anyway, she will prioritize your safety over anything else.”

Fury seemed to turn to Natasha in a silent plea for support, but you were having none of it.

I do not need a guard dog. You signed aggressively, and Natasha was almost shocked to see you communicate with anyone so openly. You’d never signed to the team, and hadn’t even shown any indication that you even knew how.

Another issue came with the fact Natasha had no idea what you were signing to Fury. She had a basic knowledge of sign from what Clint had taught her, but nothing as advanced as you were using.

She almost felt left out of this squabble between you, and the Director.

“She will wear ear plugs throughout the duration of the mission.” Fury said, rubbing his temples to show his growing frustration. “Does that make you happy?”

You aggressively pushed the chair you had been occupying under the table, before slamming the door of the briefing room as you walked out.

“Is she that upset that I’m joining her on the mission?” Natasha spoke up a few moments after they had both been staring at the door in silence.

Fury sighed.

“If she was that upset about you joining her, she would’ve said it.” He said, before pointing toward the door. “Now go get your shit ready for the mission, you’re leaving now.”

—

The entire ride to the extraction point of the asset was silent, and you barely even acknowledged Natasha’s presence besides a few glances from the corner of your eye.

You were obviously upset from the way you kept sighing every time you looked at her, or the hunched way you sat in the copilot seat on the quinjet.

Natasha desperately wanted to discuss what happened in the briefing room, but the ear plugs within her ears caused every sound around her to be silent. Not even the quinjet could be heard, and it was almost unnerving.

She knew better than to question Fury on a precaution like ear protection, but it still left her with questions. What was so worth losing one of her greatest senses for? Why did you not have to wear them?

Finally, the jet landed in an open lot with various warehouses lining the perimeter.

Seemingly knowing the exact one the asset was within, you waved Natasha in the direction you had began walking toward. She followed at a slower pace, allowing herself to gain situational awareness with her vision, rather than relying on her hearing, or lack thereof.

Approaching the warehouse, Natasha noticed blood covering almost the entirety of the concrete floor and littered with corpses. She recognized the uniforms upon the mutilated bodies, and realized they were belonging to SHEILD agents.

Her hand moved to the gun holstered upon her thigh, but you caught her wrist to stop her. You shook your head, before trudging deeper in the darkness of the warehouse.

As both your eyes adjusted to the lack of light, there was a girl standing alone among the bodies. Like a grotesque centerpiece to the carnage.

The girl noticed your presence but before she could advance on your position, you opened your mouth to speak, causing the girl to stop in her tracks.

Natasha could not hear a single word coming from your mouth, and couldn’t exactly read your lips from standing next to you, but she knew you were speaking. It was daunting to see such a thing, and it seemed so out of character.

What the hell was going on?

You approached the girl, and when Natasha moved to follow, your jutted out your palm as an indication for her to stay behind. She felt uneasy about it, but listened to your instruction.

You continued to speak to the girl as you approached, if your jaw moving was any indication as Natasha was forced to stare at your back.

Minutes ticked by that felt like hours as your approached the mutant girl, and once you were within arms reach of her, the girl seemed to collapse into your arms. You hoisted up her unconscious form easily, and began to make your way back to the jet.

Even as Natasha piloted the quinjet back to the compound, the uneasy feeling had yet to leave her gut.

—

Upon returning, the recovered mutant asset was met with armored SHEILD agents anticipating her arrival. They took her unconscious body from your grasp before restraining her in a multitude of ways, and you watched from the jet as the carted her away.

Once the asset was out of sight with her cavalry of agents, Natasha was quick to rip the plugs from her ears. You turned to her with that warm smile upon your face again, but it fell the moment you noticed how tense she had become.

“What the hell was that?” Natasha said, and you seemed bewildered as you held up your hands in silent defense. She quickly slapped your hands down. “Don’t give me that, I know you can speak.”

You took a defensive step back, and your eyes glanced toward the door into the compound. The cogs of your brain started to turn, and Natasha noticed you were thinking of making a break for it. She then took a step to the left, ultimately blocking your exit.

You glared at her.

“Are you not going to answer me?” Natasha said, her tone still aggressive. She realized frustration began to tense at your muscles too, and she decided to see how far she could push this until your resolve for silence finally broke.

“Why is that murderous girl so worthy of you to speak to her, but not even the team? Not even me?” She spoke. Your frustrated glare turned questionable when you had realized her words, until you remembered you were upset with her sudden outburst, and your gaze became hostile again.

Your eyes were still glancing toward the door, calculating your possible escape even as she grew more aggressive toward you. Natasha realized she was going to have to push your frustration harder as she stepped into your personal space, practically chest to chest with you now.

“Seriously?” Natasha scoffed. She noticed the muscles of your jaw begin to tighten, but you made no effort to regain your personal space. Your eyes screwed shut, and you refused to even look at her anymore as she continued to assault you with questions.

“Did you think I was just going to let this go?” Natasha continued to chastise you, and you shook your head as your eyes remained shut. “Why have you never spoke to us?”

Your lips twitched, and Natasha froze as she watched you. She was hoping to hear you say something, but realized she had pressed you too far the moment she noticed the tears slipping down your cheeks.

Using her shoulder to shove her away, you retreated toward the doorway as you aggressively wiped the tears from your eyes.

Natasha watched the door slam shut behind you once again, and she felt guilt replace that uneasy feeling inside her. She realizes now she shouldn’t have chastised you as hard as she did, considering your desperation to even try to speak to her.

Then, without a sound Clint approached from behind her as she watched your retreat.

“She’s as silent as ever, I see.” Clint said, with a slight resentment in his tone, and his sudden presence caused Natasha to jump. He glanced her over, with a question on his brow. “She mess’ you up that bad?”

“What is that suppose to mean?” Natasha said, but Clint didn’t fail to notice her grow defensive once again.

“You mean to tell me she didn’t speak to you?” He asked, and now Natasha was growing confused all over again. “That’s not what that whole ordeal was about?”

“Great. Now you’re both being cryptic.” Natasha sighed, with a roll of her eyes. She shook her head, before sighing. “Why do you even despise her so much?”

“I don’t despise her.” Clint said, in a matter of fact tone that furthered Natasha’s sour mood. “I actually owe her our friendship, but it cost the friendship I had with her.”

“If you’re going to keep speaking in riddles, you might as well just shut up.”

“Natasha, I was going to kill you.” Clint said, with a heavy sigh as if the weight of that mission still sat upon his shoulders. “She’s the reason I didn’t release the arrow.”

—

He remembered the mission briefing, and how hesitant you had been to even participate in such an endeavor. Clint could see it on your face, especially when you glanced his way to see if he agreed with your uncertainties.

“Clint will deliver the killing blow.” Fury spoke, and you cringed at the idea. You were always the passive one in the friendship between you, and Clint. “And if he somehow misses-”

You raised a hand to stop Fury’s tangent, already knowing where it was going to go.

Even after the briefing was over you remained behind in silence, even as Fury had vacated the room. Clint stared at you in silence, and you could feel his gaze burning into the side of your face.

“You don’t think we should do it.” Clint’s voice filled the air, and you sighed even hearing such words spoke aloud.

This is not right. You signed, and it was his turn to sigh.

“She’s dangerous.”

She’s a victim.

“We don’t know her intentions.”

Why not help her?

“Let’s just go, perform the mission, and leave it behind us.” He groaned, and rubbed his hand across his face. “That’s all we can do.”

Weeks passed from such conversation between you, and your closest friend. And now, you both sat atop a roof within a city you couldn’t pronounce to track the target you had been searching for.

She had only moved below the cover of night, and her head swiveled around herself as she walked through the alleyway. Clint pulled the string of his bow taught as he trained his aim upon her back, he released a steady breath in preparation to release the arrow.

That was, until you spoke up.

“Don’t shoot.” You said calmly, barely loud enough for him to hear you.

Clint’s body began to tingle with a warm feeling prickling at his skin, opposing the harsh cold air of the night upon the rooftop. He turned toward you with an absolute look of betrayal upon his face.

His body worked against every plea he had to complete the mission assigned to both of you, to release the arrow within his hand. But rather, Clint replaced the arrow within his quiver.

“Stop!” Clint plead, but his body made no effort to oppose your words. “She’s dangerous, we can’t allow her to live.”

“Look at her.” You said, and his head snapped in her direction. “She’s not much different from a scared kid.”

“More like a cornered animal.”

“Either way, I think she’d be a good agent for SHIELD.” You said, and he grit his teeth at the words he knew were about to leave your mouth. With a look of sympathy, you spoke again. “Go recruit her.”

Clint grit his teeth in attempted defiance, before his body forced himself to perform your words. You watched as he approached the red headed woman in the alleyway below, before turning away to make your way toward the extraction point.

You were happy to see Clint arrive awhile after you, with the red head in tow.

During the debrief of the mission, Fury was beyond furious with both of your performances during the mission, although you took all the blame. You had betrayed Clint’s trust, and had gone off mission with an unauthorized use of your power against a fellow agent.

You were lucky that the only thing destroyed after the mission was your close friendship with Clint, considering Fury had half a mind to toss you into a super human prison for your insubordination. The only thing riding on your freedom was the possibility that Natasha might become a true asset to SHIELD.

—

“If you betrayed the agency, she was going to be sent to a maximum security prison for life.” Clint said in summary of his story, with a heavy sigh. “She risked everything.”

Natasha shook her head, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the story shared. “Why’d you listen if you were so adamant on killing me?”

“You don’t get it do you?” Clint said, with confusion creasing his brow. “She has the power of absolute suggestion. Everything she says has to be enacted out by anyone who hears, no matter the circumstance.”

Everything that conspired had suddenly began to make more, and more sense. Like your oath of silence, and Fury mentioning you would’ve said that you didn’t want Natasha to join you.

Suddenly, an overwhelming urge to chase after you flooded within Natasha. She quickly apologized to Clint, before rushing through the door she saw you escape to only awhile ago.

“Where is she?” Natasha asked the few teammates within the common room. Wanda hadn’t even looked up from the book in her lap, but rather just lifted a hand to point down the hallway behind her. She could hear Natasha’s rushed footsteps fade as she continued to chase after you.

Finally, Natasha was able to see your retreating form down the hallway, and her steps began to pick up.

“Wait!” She called out to you, fearing that you were once again going to run away from the questions, from the team, from her.

Much to her surprise, you stopped before turning her way. There were still tear tracks stained across your cheeks, and Natasha suddenly felt overwhelmingly guilty. You had risked everything to allow Natasha to be here, a part of the greatest team of superheroes to exist, and as payment she had left you crying.

Rather than speaking, Natasha simply rushed forward to wrap you within a hug. You seemed overwhelmed by the sudden display of affection from the usually bristly assassin, and wondered just where this uncharacteristic outburst had come from.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled into your shoulder, and she felt you tense under her grasp. Pulling away, Natasha placed her hands upon our cheeks to wipe away the aftermath of your crying.

You continued to stare at her in confusion, before shaking your head as much as you were able as a silent way to tell her don’t be.

“I am.” Natasha pleaded with you. She felt tears prick at her eyes, as the feelings bubbling within her began to grow overwhelming. Leaning forward, she placed her forehead against your own as she closed her eyes.

“You we’re the only person who believed in me, who thought I deserved a second chance.” Natasha said, her voice wavering as she willed herself not to sob. “You risked everything, and looking back, even I think that was a stupid decision! I was a loaded gun just waiting for the perfect opportunity to go off, and we both would’ve faced the consequences of those actions.”

You looked at her, and if she opened her eyes, she’d see the soft smile that sat upon your face. You had begun crying with her, and she continued to rant about you.

“Why?” She asked you before a sob ripped through her chest. “What made you look at me, and think I deserved mercy? I was cold blooded, and ruthless.”

Rather than waiting for her to finish her rant, you silenced her yourself as you leaned against her to place a gentle kiss upon her lips. You sighed into the kiss, and you felt her tension melt into you.

Pulling away from you, she shook her head as fresh tears began to fall down her cheeks. You reached up to wipe them away, before tucking a stray red lock behind her ear.

“Because I love you, Natasha Romanoff.”

[ivan-fyodorovich-k]

I will be curious to read the vituperative denials of the validity of this article's analysis, which is pasted below the cutoff:

“Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” That question, first posed by Ronald Reagan in a 1980 presidential-campaign debate with Jimmy Carter, has become the quintessential political question about the economy. And most Americans today, it seems, would say their answer is no. In a new survey by Bankrate published on Wednesday, only 21 percent of those surveyed said their financial situation had improved since Joe Biden was elected president in 2020, against 50 percent who said it had gotten worse. That echoed the results of an ABC News/Washington Post poll from September, in which 44 percent of those surveyed said they were worse off financially since Biden’s election. And in a New York Times/Siena College poll released last week, 53 percent of registered voters said that Biden’s policies had hurt them personally.

As has been much commented on (including by me), this gloom is striking when contrasted with the actual performance of the U.S. economy, which grew at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in the most recent quarter, and which has seen unemployment holding below 4 percent for more than 18 months. But the downbeat mood is perhaps even more striking when contrasted with the picture offered by the Federal Reserve’s recently released Survey of Consumer

The survey provides an in-depth analysis of the financial condition of American households, conducted for the Fed by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Published every three years, it’s the proverbial gold standard of household research. The latest survey looked at Americans’ net worth as of mid-to-late 2022 and Americans’ income in 2021, comparing them with equivalent data from three years earlier. It found that despite the severe disruption to the economy caused by the pandemic and the recovery from it, Americans across the spectrum saw their incomes and wealth rise over the survey period.

The rise in median household net worth was the most notable improvement: It jumped by 37 percent from 2019 to 2022, rising to $192,000. (All numbers are adjusted for inflation.) Americans in every income bracket saw substantial gains, with the biggest gains registered by people in the middle and upper-middle brackets, which suggests that a slight narrowing of wealth inequality occurred during this time. In particular, Black and Latino households saw their median net worth rise faster than white households did—though the racial wealth gap is so wide that it narrowed only slightly as a result of this change.

A big driver of this increase was the rising value of people’s homes—and a higher percentage of Americans owned homes in 2022 than did in 2019. But households’ financial position improved in other ways too. The amount of money that the median household had in bank accounts and retirement accounts rose substantially. The percentage of Americans owning stocks directly (that is, not in retirement accounts) jumped by more than a third, from about 15 to 21 percent. The percentage of Americans with retirement accounts went from 50.5 to 54.3 percent, a notable improvement. And a fifth of Americans reported owning a business, the highest proportion since the survey began in its current form (in 1989).

Americans also reduced their debt loads during the pandemic. The median credit-card balance dropped by 14 percent, and the share of people with car loans fell. More significantly still, Americans’ median debt-to-asset, debt-to-income, and debt-payment-to-income ratios all fell, meaning that U.S. households had lower debt burdens, on average, in 2022 than they’d had three years earlier.

The gains in real income (in this case, measured from 2018 to 2021) were small—median household income rose 3 percent, with every income bracket seeing gains. But that was better than one might have expected, given that this period included a pandemic-induced recession and only a single year of recovery.

The picture the survey paints, then, is one of American households not only weathering the pandemic in surprisingly good shape, but ultimately also emerging from it in better financial shape than they were going in. And that, in turn, points to the effect of the U.S. policy response to the crisis: Stimulus payments, enhanced unemployment benefits, the child-care tax credit, and the moratorium on student-loan payments boosted household income and balance sheets, helping people pay down debt and increase their savings. In the process, these policies mildly narrowed inequality.

The U.S. government’s aggressive response to the pandemic, including Biden’s stimulus spending, also helped the job market recover all its pandemic-related losses—and add millions of jobs on top. The resulting tight labor market has been a huge boon to lower-wage workers. In fact, because the Fed survey’s income data end in 2021, it understates the income gains for the bottom half of the workforce, and the shrinking income inequality they’ve produced.

Hourly wages for production and nonsupervisory workers (who make up about 80 percent of the American workforce) rose 4.4 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2023, for instance, ahead of the pace of inflation. And this was not anomalous: Arindrajit Dube, an economist at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, crunched the numbers and found that real wages for that same sector of workers are not just higher than they were in 2019, but are now roughly where they would have been if we’d continued on the upward pre-pandemic trend.

The reason for this is simple: Low unemployment has translated into higher wages. As a recent working paper by Dube, David Autor, and Annie McGrew shows, the tight labor markets of the past few years have given lower-wage workers more bargaining power than in the past, leading to a compression in the wage gap between higher-paid and lower-paid workers. Of course, that gap is still immense, but the three scholars found that the wage gains for lower-paid workers have rolled back about a quarter of the rise in inequality that has occurred since the 1980s.

So what should we take away from the Survey of Consumer Finances data, and from Dube, Autor, and McGrew’s work? Not that everything is fine, but that public policy and macroeconomic management matter a lot. Enhanced unemployment benefits, the child-care tax credit, the stimulus payments—these things materially improved the lives of Americans and helped set the economy up for a strong recovery. If the policy response had been less aggressive, the U.S. economy would be in worse shape now. This is something you can see by looking at Europe, where economies are growing far more slowly and unemployment is higher, while inflation is no lower.

Key to this story is the fact that lower-wage workers in particular would be worse off, because they have been among the chief beneficiaries of the low unemployment created by the robust recovery. It’s a useful reminder that stagnant wages are not an inevitable result of American capitalism: When labor markets are tight, and employers have to compete with one another for employees, workers get paid more.

So, even allowing for the high inflation we saw in 2022, no one could really look at the U.S. economy today and say that the policy choices of the past three years made us poorer. Yet that, of course, is precisely how many Americans feel.

Although that pessimism does not bode well for Biden’s reelection prospects, the real problem with it is even more far-reaching: If voters think that policies that helped them actually hurt them, that makes it much less likely that politicians will embrace similar policies in the future. The U.S. got a lot right in its macroeconomic approach over the past three years. Too bad that voters think it got so much wrong.

[soon-palestine]

Damages to Physical Structures Estimated at $18.5 billion as of end January

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2024 – The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank and the United Nations, with financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Interim Damage Assessment report used remote data collection sources to measure damage to physical infrastructure in critical sectors incurred between October 2023 and end of January 2024. The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing accounts for 72% of the costs. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove.

The report also looks at the impact on the people of Gaza. More than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Over a million people are without homes and 75% of the population is displaced. Catastrophic cumulative impacts on physical and mental health have hit women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities the hardest, with the youngest children anticipated to be facing life-long consequences to their development.

With 84% of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate remaining facilities, the population has minimal access to health care, medicine, or life-saving treatments. The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5% of its previous output, with people dependent on limited water rations for survival. The education system has collapsed, with 100% of children out of school.

The report also points to the impact on power networks as well as solar generated systems and the almost total power blackout since the first week of the conflict. With 92% of primary roads destroyed or damaged and the communications infrastructure seriously impaired, the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to people has become very difficult.

The Interim Damage Assessment Note identifies key actions for early recovery efforts, starting with an increase in humanitarian assistance, food aid and food production; the provision of shelter and rapid, cost-effective, and scalable housing solutions for displaced people; and the resumption of essential services.

About the Gaza Interim Damage Assessment Report The Gaza Interim Damage Assessment report draws on remote data collection sources and analytics to provide a preliminary estimate of damages to physical structures in Gaza from the conflict in accordance with the Rapid Damage & Needs Assessment (RDNA) methodology. RDNAs follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple post-disaster and post-conflict settings. A comprehensive RDNA that assesses economic and social losses, as well as financing needs for recovery and reconstruction, will be completed as soon as the situation allows. The cost of damages, losses and needs estimated through a comprehensive RDNA is expected to be significantly higher than that of an Interim Damage Assessment.

[sophia-zofia]

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2024 – The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank and the United Nations, with financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Interim Damage Assessment report used remote data collection sources to measure damage to physical infrastructure in critical sectors incurred between October 2023 and end of January 2024. The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing accounts for 72% of the costs. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove. The report also looks at the impact on the people of Gaza. More than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Over a million people are without homes and 75% of the population is displaced. Catastrophic cumulative impacts on physical and mental health have hit women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities the hardest, with the youngest children anticipated to be facing life-long consequences to their development. With 84% of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate remaining facilities, the population has minimal access to health care, medicine, or life-saving treatments. The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5% of its previous output, with people dependent on limited water rations for survival. The education system has collapsed, with 100% of children out of school. The report also points to the impact on power networks as well as solar generated systems and the almost total power blackout since the first week of the conflict. With 92% of primary roads destroyed or damaged and the communications infrastructure seriously impaired, the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to people has become very difficult. The Interim Damage Assessment Note identifies key actions for early recovery efforts, starting with an increase in humanitarian assistance, food aid and food production; the provision of shelter and rapid, cost-effective, and scalable housing solutions for displaced people; and the resumption of essential services.   About the Gaza Interim Damage Assessment Report The Gaza Interim Damage Assessment report draws on remote data collection sources and analytics to provide a preliminary estimate of damages to physical structures in Gaza from the conflict in accordance with the Rapid Damage & Needs Assessment (RDNA) methodology. RDNAs follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple post-disaster and post-conflict settings. A comprehensive RDNA that assesses economic and social losses, as well as financing needs for recovery and reconstruction, will be completed as soon as the situation allows. The cost of damages, losses and needs estimated through a comprehensive RDNA is expected to be significantly higher than that of an Interim Damage Assessment.

[constelationprize]

The Kayleigh Day Lives AU - Part 3

Also known as Congratulations, Wymack, it's a boy! He is also already 20 years old and horribly traumatised

So I think that after the banquet Kayleigh goes to some ERC after party to schmooze a bit, maybe with the explicit intention of undermining the rumor of Kevin being better than Riko. Like "do you think I'd let anyone hold MY son back? *Nervous laugh*"

Smash cut to the match between Riko and Kevin

Kayleigh is halfway back to the hotel when she gets Kevin's call. He's immediately locked himself in a bathroom while Jean helps distract Riko.

Now she knows this is BAD bad for a couple reasons. For one, hands have very delicate bones, and full recoveries from severe blunt trauma injuries are hard and rare. Second, there's the fact that this confirms her suspicions that Kevin was being mistreated from behind her back. Third, she knows they won't let her take him to a hospital right now. And last, but not least, it's going to be very hard to get away with double homicide once she gets her hands on Tetsuji and Riko.

Kayleigh has to make a snap judgment if she wants to help her son, in a way that won't put either of them in more danger. She can't trust Tetsuji anymore, so she goes over him.

Now, I don't think she would have access directly to Kengo, but during her years as a Moriyama asset she has amassed enough goodwill she has a few contacts in the main branch. People who are worried about Tetsuji overeaching with his little project.

She calls them and very carefully chooses her words. She says that Riko has dealt Kevin a potential carreer-ending injury and that the best way to control that narrative is going to be playing it off as an accident and taking Kevin out of the public eye for a while, transfering him out of Edgar Allan so people focus on that drama instead of questioning the origin of his injury. She doesn't necessarily threaten going public with what she knows if they don't allow her to take him safely out of the Nest, because she isn't stupid, but it IS implied.

Kayleigh gets half an hour to take Kevin out of the hotel before she herself has to report back. Wherever he's going, she can't come with, as insurance.

That... Somewhat hinders her options.

But, well. David Wymack is in town.

Kevin has found the letter in this universe too, because Tetsuji would have it regardless, but he took Kayleigh at her word when she explained it was for the best that Wymack not know.

This is not a can of worms Kayleigh ever intended to open. But there is a saying about desperate times and desperate measures.

Which is how she ends up picking up Kevin, badly bandaging his hand, and going after the Palmetto State Foxes.

She catches up with them right as they are piling onto the bus to leave. She almost his the bus with her car. It's a mess.

It gets worse once she and Kevin get out, though.

Wymack is alarmed and confused and oh my God Kayleigh what the fuck is your badly injured son doing here.

And she says something to the likes of "First of all, that's OUR badly injured son"

There is a lot of screaming. Dan thinks she's having a stroke. Wymack is torn between confusion and rage. Kevin is going into shock, like, the medical condition. Abby is trying to weave her way to him because someone has to give that boy some actual first aid. Kayleigh's time is running out and she doesn't have time to stand here in this parking lot and justify every questionable decision she has made in the last thirty years. Tetsuji just found out about everything and starts blowing up her phone.

Andrew is crashing from his meds cycle and sleeps through the whole thing.

There is literally no time to untangle any of this, so Kayleigh just tells Wymack that Kevin will explain everything after they take him to the hospital. Preferably in South Carolina because the farther they are from Riko, the better.

No one is happy with this turn of events. It's for certain, though, that things will get a lot worse before it gets better.

On another note, Aaron just won himself like 200 dollars, and it might just be enough to ask that cute cheerleader in his class on a nice date.

[casteliacityramen]

MUNDAY LORE POST: DEFENSE MECHANISM - ALTO MARE [DM-A204]

DESCRIPTION:

DEFENSE GRID AREA 124 - 204: ISLAND OF ALTO MARE. LAST-DITCH SECURITY FOR ORDER OF ARCEUS PERSONNEL IN EVENT OF TOTAL COLLAPSE. DM-A204 DEFENSE GRID COVERS THE ISLAND OF ALTO MARE IN ADDITION TO 5 KILOMETERS AWAY FROM COASTAL LINES.

DEFENSE TYPE:

ISLAND-WIDE HYDRO-KINESIS AND MAGNO-KINESIS VIA TACTILE OPERATING SYSTEM.

OPERATION:

TWIN GUARDIAN CONDUIT SYSTEM.

WARNING: OVERUSE WILL RESULT IN SEVERE MENTAL AND PHYSICAL TRAUMA TO BOTH USER AND CONDUIT.

USER MAY BE INCLINED TO DEPUTIZE POTENTIAL HUMAN SUBJECT FOR CONTROL OF DEVICE, OR ANY SUBJECT THAT CAN FIT IN THE OPERATING POD.

IN EVENT OF DM-A204 ACTIVATION:

FIRST DEFENSIVE LINE: KINESIS

WATER SURROUNDING AND OCCUPYING ISLAND TERRITORY CAN BE EFFECTIVELY REPURPOSED AS BOTH AN OFFENSIVE OR DEFENSIVE MULTI-TOOL. ALL METALLIC CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS USED WITHIN ALTO MARE'S ISLAND LIMITS CAN BE MANIPULATED FOR ADDITIONAL REINFORCEMENT AND WEAPONRY.

SECOND DEFENSIVE LINE: SENTINELS

DESIGNATION: ALT-001-KA, ALT-001-AE

AUTONOMOUS SENTINEL DRONES TO PERFORM RECONNAISSANCE AND KEY THREAT ELIMINATION. FOSSILIZED REMAINS ARE TO BE CONCEALED NEAR DM-A204'S OPERATING MECHANISM AND RE-ANIMATED FOR USE IN DM-A204'S DEFENSE.

KEY SENTINEL OBJECTIVES ARE TO DEFEND DM-A204 AND REPORT ALL ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE OF DM-A204 OPERATING CHAMBER

FINAL DEFENSIVE LINE: CATACLYSM

CATACLYSM EVENT VIA HYDROKINESIS WILL BE ACTIVATED TO ENSURE DESTRUCTION OF ORDER ASSETS.

WARNING: DM-A204 WILL AUTOMATICALLY LAUNCH CATACLYSM IN THE EVENT OF OPERATOR DYSFUNCTION OR MULTIPLE CONDUIT OVERLOADS. THIS WILL RESULT IN THE COMPLETE ANNIHILATION OF ALTO MARE AND ITS INHABITANTS.

ENGAGING THE FAIL SAFE PROTOCOL FOR THIS EVENT WILL RESULT IN THE EXPENDITURE OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF POWER.

…

CATACLYSM EVENT AVERTED (5/16/03)

ASSET RECOVERY CREW

SHEPHERD AYR

ARTIFICER LEO

STEWARD MIN

DM-A204 PERSONNEL

STEWARD JIN:

LOST

REINCARNATED AS NEW CONDUIT FOR DM-A204

STEWARD LIA:

DEBRIEFED AND RELOCATED TO ORDER HQ

IN POSSESSION OF DM-A204'S CONDUIT

DM-A204 RENDERED INERT BY ASSET RECOVERY CREW. ALL ASSETS IN ALTO MARE HAVE BEEN DISCREETLY REALLOCATED TO OTHER DEFENSE MECHANISM SITES. ALL WITNESSES SILENCED.

COUNCIL EXECUTIVE ORDER 7132.ALT - USAGE OF DM SITES TO BE CONSIDERED AS MAJOR THREAT TO ORDER OPERATIONS. REVISION OF SECURITY MEASURES AND PERSONNEL TO FOLLOW ON LATER DATE

…

My condolences go out to Steward Lia. No one should have to lose their father and their brother like this, let alone by something that I built to protect them. Gods. I'm so sorry. - SCRIBE AND ARTIFICER J

[zerosecurity]

Ransomware Attacks Target VMware ESXi Infrastructure Following Interesting Pattern

Cybersecurity firm Sygnia has shed light on a concerning trend where ransomware attacks targeting VMware ESXi infrastructure follow a well-established pattern, regardless of the specific file-encrypting malware deployed. According to the Israeli company's incident response efforts involving various ransomware families, these attacks adhere to a similar sequence of actions.

The Attack Sequence

- Initial access is obtained through phishing attacks, malicious file downloads, or exploitation of known vulnerabilities in internet-facing assets. - Attackers escalate their privileges to obtain credentials for ESXi hosts or vCenter using brute-force attacks or other methods. - Access to the virtualization infrastructure is validated, and the ransomware is deployed. - Backup systems are deleted, encrypted, or passwords are changed to complicate recovery efforts. - Data is exfiltrated to external locations such as Mega.io, Dropbox, or attacker-controlled hosting services. - The ransomware initiates execution and encrypts the "/vmfs/volumes" folder of the ESXi filesystem. - The ransomware propagates to non-virtualized servers and workstations, widening the scope of the attack.

Mitigation Strategies

To mitigate the risks posed by such threats, organizations are advised to implement the following measures: - Ensure adequate monitoring and logging are in place - Create robust backup mechanisms - Enforce strong authentication measures - Harden the environment - Implement network restrictions to prevent lateral movement

Malvertising Campaign Distributing Trojanized Installers

In a related development, cybersecurity company Rapid7 has warned of an ongoing campaign since early March 2024 that employs malicious ads on commonly used search engines to distribute infected installers for WinSCP and PuTTY via typosquatted domains. These counterfeit installers act as a conduit to drop the Sliver post-exploitation toolkit, which is then used to deliver more payloads, including a Cobalt Strike Beacon leveraged for ransomware deployment. This activity shares tactical overlaps with prior BlackCat ransomware attacks that have used malvertising as an initial access vector, disproportionately affecting members of IT teams who are most likely to download the infected files.

New Ransomware Families and Global Trends

The cybersecurity landscape has witnessed the emergence of new ransomware families like Beast, MorLock, Synapse, and Trinity. The MorLock group has extensively targeted Russian companies, encrypting files without first exfiltrating them and demanding substantial ransoms. According to NCC Group's data, global ransomware attacks in April 2024 registered a 15% decline from the previous month, with LockBit's reign as the top threat actor ending in the aftermath of a sweeping law enforcement takedown earlier this year. The turbulence in the ransomware scene has been complemented by cyber criminals advertising hidden Virtual Network Computing (hVNC) and remote access services like Pandora and TMChecker, which could be utilized for data exfiltration, deploying additional malware, and facilitating ransomware attacks. Read the full article

[pi-cat000]

BNHA: Kakashi dimension hops crossover (8)

Summary: Kakashi gets dumbed into the My Hero Academia universe through random plot devise.

Characters:  Kakashi Hatake

Fandoms: My Hero Academia and Naruto

WARNINGS: Mentions of violence/injury

START/ PREV/

The view from the window in Wada’s office is of tall, glass covered buildings and what must be a railway looping around them. The train that zips along the tracks travels at speeds far surpassing similar technologies available in the Land of Snow. The Land of Snow’s chakra rich atmosphere allowed its trains and other technology to run on a mix of chakra and steam generated electricity. It was a combination prone to overheating and blowing up, meaning it was only really viable in cold climates. Kakashi hadn’t cared enough to follow up on the Land of Snow’s rail system after delivering the initial intel to Konoha’s intelligence division. Large scale infrastructure was only an asset in a country so isolated that there was no major risk of it getting targeted by enemy nations. The speed of the trains in Hosu have him reevaluating that assessment.

“Hatake?”

Konoha used steam to generate its own electricity as far as Kakashi was aware, the specifics of which escaped him. All he knew was that it was resource intensive, its exact location was marked ‘need to know’ and only half the village’s buildings were connected to it. The power generation system used to move Hosu’s trains at such a speed might be worth investigating. It was obviously more efficient than Konoha’s system if it powered the train and all the infrastructure around him.

“Hatake?”

Kakashi shifts his gaze back to Wada’s office and away from the city, propping up his elbow on the arm of his wheelchair so he can lean against it.

“Hatake,” Wada crosses his arms, pushing back on his chair so he rolls out from behind his desk, “Are you listening? If you’re tired, we can have this conversation tomorrow.”

He tilts his head to the slide to meet the doctor’s disapproving stare.  

“You want my personal information for a residency application. We were also about to run through my diagnosis and tests results,” Kakashi idly summarises Wada’s last few minuets of lecturing. “I would like to hear what the quirk specialist has to say about my quirk,” he adds, trying to inject a little enthusiasm into his voice so he is not immediately wheeled back to his room for another week of rest.

“Please call me Kakashi,” he throws in as an afterthought.

“Yes. Yes. Kakashi then.” Wada waves the correction away, “I’m going to need more than a name if you want further aid from the City. After your discharge you’ll be left high and dry at this rate. Don’t think I don’t see you trying to avoid the topic.”

Wada’s irritation has Kakashi nodding along for good measure, prompting the doctor to continue talking with a sigh of mild frustration, “This is all quite complicated. At the moment, you’re being treated under Tokyo’s District Collateral Damage Scheme which would usually extend to relocation, occupation support, and asset recovery. However as the investigation into the attack on your person hasn’t linked it to any credible Villain activity, you’ll need to be a resident of Japan to receive further support.”

Wada frowns at him, “That’s a problem seeing as we see can’t find any of your records.”

“Hmm,”

“You have no birth certificate, citizenship information, school records, place of residence, career history or passport,” Wada lists, “Are you absolutely sure Hatake Kakashi is the name we need to be searching under?”

There is another pause where a reply would usually go. Kakashi finally lets his full attention sit squarely on Wada, taking in his mildly irritated expression and how his eyebrows are drawn together in a slight frown. The man is leaning forward, arms crossed, irritate but keen for a response. Kakashi habitably scans for signs of deception.

“Why.” Kakashi finally asks, voice dropping flat as be briefly lets his suspicions seep into this tone.  The medical attention he could understand. Doctor Wada was being paid by the hospital to give him medical care because of its poor patient vetting. This other help wasn’t medical attention. Kakashi wasn’t Wada’s friend, ally, or family member. He doesn’t have ties to the man outside of being his patient and he knows Wada doesn’t pay this much attention to his other patients.

Wada huffs, throwing up his hands, moving from vaguely annoyed to openly exasperated. If Wada hears the underlining threat in Kakashi’s question, he wilfully ignores it.

“You walk out of hospital like this, and you’ll be jobless on the streets by sunset. Rent. Jobs. Bank accounts. They all need identification. Best we get this sorted while you still have access to the hospital’s resources.”

“And you do this for everyone?” Kakashi asks sceptically, because Wada has obviously misunderstood him.

“Humph.” Wada grunts, “Most of my patients have relatives and friends visiting every few days and aren’t missing all their personal records. Helping people isn’t just for the Heroes you know. Us regular people like to give it a go every now and then as well.”

Kakashi stares as the man gives a resolute nod like his had given a valid answer to Kakashi’s question.  What did being a Hero have to do with anything?

“I see.”  He really didn’t but maybe this was a normal doctor thing to do? This world was so strange.

“Unfortunately, I don’t remember anything else of use,” Kakashi repeats. It was probably the most truthful he has been since waking. Kakashi has no further information for Wada revenant to his lack of records.

“Yes, very unfortunate,” Wada sounds ever so slightly disappointed, “unfortunate for you. I’m not a miracle worker. You’re going to have issues with this lack of records.” He rolls back behind his desk, yanking out a stack of paper held together with thick metal clips. As he shifts objects on the desk around to clear space, Wada continues, “I might be able to get you a job interview with a friend of mine and I might be able to get you into some city subsidized housing. But that’s an iffy might…all I can promise.”

Never mind that Kakashi hasn’t asked for anything since his arrival.

Wada slaps the stack of paper down on the desk flipping it in Kakashi’s direction and sliding across towards him. “You can show your appreciation by paying attention. Your medical records are the only thing we do have at the moment.”

Kakashi examines the booklet, raising a questioning eyebrow. On top of it is one of those plastic communication rectangles. Phones. It is black with a black screen.

“This is my old phone, no sim card but you’ll be able to connect to the Hospital’s internet. I’ll see if I can get you a charger tomorrow and set you up with patient access account.”

Wada moves the phone to one side.

“This is you’re recovery plan. I took the liberty of printing it out for you. Though with your quirk it’ll probably be a waste of paper.” Wada follows the sentence up with a quick, “Once you’re cleared to use it. Which you’re currently not. Don’t even think about it.”

Kakashi raises a hand in a loose calming motion.

“…and on the topic of your quirk….” Wada fusses around, patting himself down muttering, “Where is it. I swear if I lose another pen…Ah.” He pulls out a pen, leaning forward to scribble out a line of numbers and letters.

“You’re Registry ID. Won’t be for active for another week at least. But, once it is, if anyone gives you trouble for using your quirk in public you can tell them to go look up your file. I sent all your information off to be assessed and your quirk is probably going to be registered as ‘passive biological’ which is an automatic Licence Waiver if I’m remembering my law correctly.”

“Don’t quote me on that. I’m a doctor, not a legal professional. And just because you can use it, doesn’t mean you should. High Stress quirks need to be carefully managed.”

Wada reaches over and flips the booklet open, tapping the page.

“Your quirk puts a huge strain on your brain. Specifically, it strains your memory and vision processing centres. The expert opinion is that your body’s fast regenerative factor has naturally evolved to offset this physical stress.” Wada hums, pausing in his explanation to check that Kakashi is following. “Unfortunately, even with this mutation your quirk is maladaptive at best actively destructive at worst.”

Kakashi glances at the page Wada is scribbling on. It has a diagram of a brain with serval areas now circled in blue pen ink.

“See this area here. This shows high activity. And see how it how activity increases when your quirk is active.” Wada flips the page, “And then activity in these outer sections of your brain drops to practically zero? None of this is good in the long term.”

Wada clears his throat, “A lot of your body’s resources are being devoted to vision and memory processing and it has led to enlargement and increased activity in these areas. This sort of imbalance in the brain has been connected to depression, paranoia, anxiety, chronic stress and panic disorders. Something you’ll need to keep an eye on it and I have noted on your registry file when it comes time for your annual quirk check-up. I have also taken the liberty of scheduling some initial psychologist appointments with Hosu General.”

All this sounds somewhat familiar. He thinks in he has ben given similar warnings about sharingun and dojutsu users being more prone to severe paranoia episodes by medic-nin.

Honestly, with the rate Uchiha went loopy, he is not surprised to find out that the sharigun messed with the brain in other ways. He had always just chalked it up to the unpleasantness of having to retain perfect memories of comrades dying gruesomely.

Of course, he had never hung around the hospital long enough to get a proper diagnosis and assessment of his sharingun beyond an understanding that he should keep use to a minimum. The Uchiha had had their own medical centres for sharingan related ailments which he’d been unwelcome in before they had all disappeared along with the clan. Not like knowing meant much in the long run. It wouldn’t stop him from using it. The sharingan was the most powerful weapon at his disposal. Better to overuse it and suffer hypothetical future consequences then underuse it and watch his allies die.

“…and there is no cure for this?” he asks to cover his bases because he wasn’t the only shinobi with a dojutsu that messed with brain activity and maybe this strange world had something useful to bring back.

“Unfortunately, research into ocular quirks is still in its infancy. However, these sort of maladaptive characteristics aren’t uncommon in third generation quirks. An unfortunate result of a quirk mutating quicker than the body can handle or an individual inheriting a quirk from their parents but not developing the accompanying physical mutations necessary for that quirk to function properly. For now, your memory loss has been diagnosed as an Externally Triggered Quirk Incompatibility Event resulting in detriment or damage to the quirk user. ETQI Events are quite common in individuals with high stress quirks.”

The way Wada waits again for Kakashi to respond is more evidence towards his growing suspicion that Wada was beginning to doubt that his memory loss was as extensive as he had been implying.

This time Kakashi doesn’t answer because his attention is pulled away to focus on unusual movement above the city.

A large bat-like creature flashes across the now dark sky, diving in between the buildings. Since arriving in this world Kakashi has seen serval types of loud flying vehicle hovering or passing over the city. Enough to have grown use to the sight and sound of them passing overhead. Nothing this large and organic and this creature was definitely organic.

“Kakashi? Are you…. What in the world?”

In amongst the buildings there is a breif flash of orange light, and a trail of smoke can be seen raising upward. Despite it being mostly obscured by the tall structures, Kakashi knows an explosion when he sees one.

Wada stands abruptly, “Oh my…that’s the city centre,” he pushes around his desk so he can stand next to Kakashi.

There is another flash of light and the creature shoots back into the air above the buildings. Wada startles at the sight. So large flying creatures aren’t a normal occurrence for Hosu. Good to know.

“-Announcement; all staff refer to personal devises. Event level 2.-”  can be heard through Wada’s office door, the announcement coming in from the hallway’s intercom. Wada is immediately distracted searching his pockets.  

“A Level 2? In Hosu?” Wada questions, staring at the screened devise – phone, Kakashi mentally corrects- he frees from his pocket, reading through something. Emergency orders from the hospital.

Kakashi notes the alert as he flips up the soft medical eyepatch and pulls off the bandage-tape covering his sharingun so he can better track the creature’s trajectory across the darkened skyline. The fact that Wada isn’t yelling at Kakashi about his sharingun use tells him that a Level 2 is serious business.

The creature’s flight is sporadic, like it has sustained an injury to one of its wings and trying to escape whatever caused it. The creature is also on a collision course with one of those highspeed trains Kakashi had noted earlier.

“-Announcement; all staff refer to personal devises. Event level 2.-”

Kakashi watches, his sharingun catching the moment the creature rams into a train in perfect detail even at the considerable distance. The side-carriage buckles inward and the train is flung partially off its rails, momentum abruptly slowing.

He can’t hear collision at this distance, but Kakashi thinks the hospital building tremors ever so slightly. Whether the tremor is from the train crash or another explosion closer in the city he can’t tell.

At this point Wada has stopped staring at his phone and is following Kakashi’s line of focus. The man inhales sharply in alarm, rushing forward to press against the window.

“That’s the main line!”

‘-Announcement; all staff refer to personal devises. Event level 2.-’

Cautiously, Kakashi stands from his wheelchair to follow, approaching and eyeing the train and then the city. He can pick out four smoke trails wafting up from among the buildings but nothing is close to the hospital. Yet. In a citywide attack a hospital is a logical target.

The flying creature falls away from the smashed-up side-carriage like it has been blown backward by a powerful shockwave. It flounders in the sky for a second, disoriented, raising higher then dropping into uncoordinated wonky dive. Of course, the dive puts it in line with the hospital, his eye allows him to make the calculations automatically, tracking the trajectory.

It is on a collision course with the section of building Kakashi is currently occupying. If the creature didn’t slow or turn, its impact with the building would probably take out a portion of the upper floors, including Wada’s office.

A little chakra enhancement and Kakashi kicks the glass from the window in front of him. It was best not to retreat into the hospital as he doesn’t know if the building’s structure was sound enough to withstand the collision. It was a safer bet to escape outside where he would have more room to manoeuvre.

The window shatters, glassing spraying out and falling onto the pavement that ran the perimeter of the hospital.

“Holly S…. “Wada begins to exclaim and is interrupted when Kakashi snags the doctor by the arm and throws the man over his shoulder, winding him in his haste. He then turns and in one sweeping motion swipes his recovery plan and phone off Wada’s desk, crouching fit through the window frame, and jumps, dropping straight down.

There is the loud crunch and screech of metal and glass twisting up above him as the creature rams the side of the building. Kakashi lands and darts further along the path and away to avoid falling brick and glass.

Around him the civilians, who had been distracted staring at the explosions and smoke rising from further in the city, turn at the noise created by the impact. Then there is a lot of panicked yelling as people scatter in all directions.

“Back away! Move away from the wall! Please stay back from the road!” Two uniformed policemen come jogging towards the crash site, unsuccessfully attempting to re-direct the streams of fleeing people. It’s a lot of uncoordinated chaos as people spill out onto the roads around the hospital and get in the way of oncoming vehicles which subsequently crash into one another.

It is all very chaotic up until a short grey-haired man in a yellow onesie drops to the pavement few meters from where Kakashi had initially landed, right under the flying creature. Yellow-onesie-man turns to order the policemen to keep civilians back before propelling himself up the building in long leaps worthy of any respectable shinobi, kicking out and knocking the creature off the building, manoeuvring around several uncoordinated retaliatory attacks. A ‘pro-Hero,’ Kakashi decides, tracking yellow-onesie-man’s quick decisive strikes and dodges. He had noted that Heroes tended dress bright and flashy to attach as much attention as possible.  

It obviously works as, around him, the civilians who had previously been fleeing in blind adrenalin fuelled fear seam to calm, focusing on yellow-onesie-man and his efforts to redirect the creature away from the hospital.

Kakashi watches the fight long enough to confirm that it was not headed in his direction. Relatively certain he is not about to be suddenly attacked or rammed into by the panicking crowd he loosens his grip on Wada, bending to let the man down. Kakashi slouches, attention split between his immediate surroundings and tracking the fight as it moved out onto the road.

“Offices,” Wada, who had been uncharacteristically silent, exclaims. He stumbles back and plonks down onto the pavement, landing on his ass, “Those are the third and fourth floor are offices,” The man is staring up at the damaged upper floors of the hospital. “It’s afterhours…there won’t have been anyone working…I should have been the only one in this late,” he mutters.

Kakashi habitually scans the structure. The damage isn’t bad all things considered. There is a lot of broken windows and a significant hole on the fourth floor, but it is shallow, only penetrating a few meters into the building, meaning the flying beast had attempted to pull up at the last second, lessoning the impact. Probably hadn’t managed to smash through any of the supporting walls so they wouldn’t have to worry about the building immediately collapsing. The third floor has broken windows and damage to the outer wall which wasn’t dangerous unless you were standing right next to the glass at impact.

“Hmm, probably no casualties…the rooms on the fourth floor are empty. Aside from us,” Kakashi confirms. He had stalked the doctor enough to know when there were and weren’t people in the rooms surrounding his office. The air also lacked that strong stench of blood that so often accompanied a person being crushed by rubble. Even the stink of this people-filled city wouldn’t have been able to block that out.

Wada blinks up at him. “How did you get us down here so fast?”

“I believe I jumped.”

“… how in the world does a memory quirk let you land a four-story drop on a leg that is still injured?”

Kakashi gives a bland smile, scratching his chin thoughtfully, “You know what, I don’t know. Must be an ETQI Event, you did say it affected memory.” He holds up his recovery plan for emphasis.

Wada’s response to that is silent, open-mouthed disbelief.

“I should have retired last year and followed my sons advise. I’m getting too old for this,” the doctor finally mutters, rubbing his eyes, hand shaking ever so slightly. He lets out a long breath.

“You’re not injured, are you?” Kakashi asks, reminding himself that Wada is a civilian without chakra and thus doubly susceptible to injury.

Wada makes a show of checking himself over, “No. I suppose I’m not. Aside from the heart attack.”

“Isn’t that good news.”

“Oh yes, wonderful news,” Wada huffs, “Always good news when my patient who shouldn’t be walking jumps out a window to save my life.”

Kakashi hums, watching the man struggle to stand. All shaky. Adrenaline would do that if you weren’t used to it.

He bends and grabs a hold of the doctor’s shirt to pull him to his feet, holding him still for a second until he was sure Wada could support his own weight. Aside from looking a little windswept the man is no worse for wear.

Once standing, Wada finally takes proper stock of his surroundings, “Well, isn’t this terrible.”

By now the Hero has drawn the flying creature down the road and far enough away from the building that a number of the hospital staff are rushing out to inspect the damage. Several alarms are sounding in the building at varying levels of shrillness, there is the loud crunch of metal hitting metal as the Hero’s fight knocked into hastily abandoned vehicles, and behind it all people are yelling instructions and questions at each other.

“I’m going assist with any evacuating or patient care where I can. You need to follow the directions of hospital staff and get yourself settled somewhere safe. We can discuss all this later,” the doctor orders as his shakiness dies down.

“Hmm.”

Kakashi flicks open his recovery plan, sharingan stamping the information into his brain. He would devote some time to considering it later. Now that the cat’s out of the bag he doesn’t need to worry about maintaining a façade in front of Wada.  Quickly, he flips through the booklet. The whole process takes barely a minuet.

“Thank you, but I think I’ll be off,” Kakashi says simply, handing his recovery plan back to Wada, “you were right about the waste of paper.”

Kakashi pulls the eye patch back over his eye, turning away from the hospital. “I’ll keep this though,” he holds up the phone.

As he begins to wonder away, Wada splutters, “Wait. Where are you going?”

“Mah,” he waves a hand lazily without turning, “I’m going to find my memories. I’ve lost them on the road of life and I need to retrace my steps.”

In some ways he is glad to have had this opportunity to save Wada’s life. It meant he could walk away without feeling indebted. It was also the push he needed to finally make a decision on what he wanted to do with three years of prospective down time. Explore this world a little. Gather intel without having to worry about hospital staff and other civilians getting in the way. Watch everything from afar for a while before trying to seriously integrate in with the locals. Find somewhere secure to get a proper night’s sleep and to properly start experimenting with his chakra and other potential ways home. Idly, he scans the road full of stopped cars and scattered civilians, picking a direction that would take him adjacent to the Hero’s fight. This would be a good opportunity to observe Heroes and see quirks used in proper combat.

“You’re not even dressed properly?” Wada calls after him.

“My first stop.” Of course, he would need to acquire a set of cloths that weren’t a hospital gown, pyjama pants, and flimsy slippers.

“Hold on a second,” Wada hurries around to stand in front of him, forcing him to stop. Kakashi arcs a brow at the forwardness.

“Whatever trouble you were in before now doesn’t matter. I don’t care enough about the memories you may or may not have or your quirk. I’m too old to worry about all that stuff these days. You’re young enough to deserve options. Think about it. A sensible job and a place to live. Sure, it’s not exciting, and it all gets a bit dreary every now and then but it’s a far cry better than bleeding out in an ally after being stabbed in the chest.”

Kakashi eyes the man not bothering with a smile. He lets his stare stay bland, face expressionless in that way that would have any sensible person dropping the topic of conversation.

Wada keeps talking, “I’ve seen plenty Villains find their place in society and make honest men of themselves. Not exactly easy but it is doable…with help. Help the hospital can give you.”

Ah…this man was like Naruto in a way… he’s concocted some backstory for Kakashi that likened him to this word’s version of missing-nin and is now attempting to reintegrate him whatever passed for a hidden village here. He is still parcelling out the details on how everything fit together in this world but he thinks he has this analogy somewhat correct.

“That wouldn’t quite work for me,” Kakashi loosens, slipping around Wada fast enough that the man stumbles, hopping up onto the roof of a crashed vehicle so he can jump between them and more easily cross the road.

“Bye bye.”

[navarro-adrian]

❛❛  within the shadows of our own CREATION, we are both sculptor and SCULPTURE, forever bound to the DUALITY of our being.

every man HARBORS a secret self; the more we disguise it, the more it LURKS BENEATH, waiting to emerge.

contains mentions of: black market operations, crime, psychological abuse

— BASICS .

Name: Adrián Navarro Moretti

Nickname: Doc, Navarro, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Age / D.O.B.: 45 / November 17, 1979

Gender, Pronouns: Cisman. He/Him

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Hometown: Havana, Cuba

Occupation: Surgeon / Black Market Worker

Affiliation: The Syndicate

Languages: Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, German, Portuguese, Farsi, Russian

Relationship Status: Married

Children: Two

Residence: Manhattan

— APPEARANCE .

Hair Color: Black

Eye Color: Dark Brown

Height: 5'9 (1.74m)

Tattoos: None

— STATS .

Personality Type: ISTP

Moral Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Positive Traits: Resourceful, Adaptable, Pragmatic, Skilled, Determined, Strategic, Innovative, Detail Oriented, Resilient, Decisive

Negative Traits: Secretive, Morally Ambiguous, Detached, Paranoid, Impetuous, Manipulative

Narcotics of use: None

— FAMILY .

Parents: Vincenzo Moretti, Celina Moretti née Dubois

Siblings: TBD Moretti, TBD Moretti, TBD Moretti

Cousins: TBD

Children: Eloise Moretti, Maya Moretti ( NPC )

— INFORMATION .

Adrián Navarro’s journey began far from the glamorous world of New York City. Born in Cuba, his newborn days were marked by uncertainty until a wealthy European couple adopted him as a baby. Settling in Manhattan, this couple was not just affluent but deeply entrenched in the criminal underworld. Grew up in a home with three siblings, their parents' visions for them were meticulous and strategic; each child groomed for a specific role within their covert empire.

From the moment Adrián entered their lives, it was clear that he was destined for greatness - or at least for a role of significant influence within their shadowy realm. His adoptive parents poured their resources into his education, ensuring he would become an exceptional asset. Adrián was immersed in an environment designed to cultivate his intellect and skills, setting the stage for his future.

He pursued his medical education at Johns Hopkins Medical School, where his talent quickly became evident. Specializing in reconstructive and transplant surgery, Adrián distinguished himself with groundbreaking techniques in organ extraction. His innovations, which minimized surgical trauma and improved recovery times, garnered widespread acclaim. Medical journals hailed him as one of the brightest minds of his generation, a prodigy who had redefined the boundaries of surgical practice.

Yet, despite his professional accolades, Adrián’s life was intricately linked to the criminal network that had shaped him. The time came when his family’s influence over him turned into an explicit arrangement with The Syndicate. Now a pivotal player in their operations, Adrián’s expertise was harnessed to further their interests. remaining emotionally detached from the broader moral implications of his work.

In his clandestine role, Adrián navigates the shadows with a detached precision, his demands clear and uncompromising. He insists on state-of-the-art facilities for his surgeries, requiring equipment and conditions that reflect his high standards. Additionally, he maintains stringent measures to ensure the safety and security of his wife and daughters, safeguarding his family amid the perilous world he inhabits.

[usabinances59]

Buy Verified Binance Account Features: 

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Why Choose Binance?

Overview Of Binance And Its Feature Highlights

Binance is one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges globally, operating in over 100 countries. It was founded in 2017 by changpeng zhao and has grown to be a market leader in the industry. Some of the features that make binance stand out are:

Availability of over 600 cryptocurrencies: Binance offers access to a wide range of digital assets, including the most famous coins like bitcoin, ethereum, and ripple, as well as the trending ones.

User-friendly interface: Binance is designed with a user-friendly interface, making it easy for beginners to navigate the platform and execute trades easily.

High liquidity: Binance’s high trading volumes make it one of the most liquid exchanges in the market, ensuring that traders can always find a match for their orders.

Advanced trading tools: Binance offers a range of advanced trading tools like limit orders, stop-loss orders, and margin trading for advanced traders.

Benefits Of Using Binance

Trading on binance comes with several benefits, including:

High-security measures: Binance employs state-of-the-art security measures, including two-factor authentication, cold storage, and security audits, to ensure the safety of its users’ funds.

Lower trading fees: Binance charges some of the most competitive trading fees in the industry, with a 0.1% fee for trades. Users also get lower fees when they use binance’s native coin, binance coin (bnb).

Fast trade execution: Binance’s trading engine is designed to handle a massive amount of transactions per second, ensuring fast trade execution and quick order fills.

Supports multiple languages: Binance is available in multiple languages, making it accessible to people from different regions and facilitating global adoption.

Provides educational resources: Binance offers educational resources for newcomers to the cryptocurrency space, including articles, videos, and webinars, to help them understand how the market works and how to trade successfully.

If you’re looking for a secure, user-friendly, and feature-rich cryptocurrency exchange, binance is the perfect choice for you. Join the millions of traders who trust binance and start trading today!

How To Create A Binance Account

Buy Verified Binance Account: How To Create A Binance Account

Are you interested in creating your own binance account? Binance is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and a popular platform for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. If you want to create a binance account, follow this step-by-step guide.

Step-By-Step Guide On Creating A Binance Account

Go to binance.com and click on the ‘register’ button located at the top right-hand corner of the screen.

Enter your email address and create a secure password.

Solve the captcha security puzzle, and then click on the ‘register’ button.

Binance will send you a verification email. Go to your email inbox and find the verification email, then click on the link provided.

Once you have followed the link, binance will prompt you to complete a kyc (know your customer) verification process, which will require you to provide personal information such as your name, address, date of birth, and identification documents such as a passport or driver’s license.

After submitting your verification, binance will check your information and approve your application if the information you provided is correct.

After approval, you can start using binance to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Required Information And Verification Process

Binance requires every new user to complete a kyc verification process. The verification process involves providing personal information and identification documents. The following information is required:

Full name

Address

Date of birth

Identification documents (passport, driver’s license, national id, or any government-issued id)

Your uploaded documents will typically be processed within 24-48 hours. It’s worth noting that binance may require additional documents or information to approve your account, so be prepared to provide any necessary information promptly.

Tips For Account Safety

Binance takes security seriously, and there are several steps you can take to maximize your account’s safety:

Enable 2-factor authentication (2fa) to add an additional security layer to your account.

Always use a strong, unique password and avoid reusing passwords across multiple platforms.

Avoid sharing your account login details with anyone, and don’t fall for phishing scams that ask you to provide your account information.

Use reputable anti-virus and anti-malware software on your computer and mobile devices.

Creating a binance account is a simple, yet necessary process for anyone interested in trading cryptocurrencies. By following these guidelines, you can set up your account with ease and ensure that it is secure.

How To Verify Your Binance Account

The Importance Of Verifying Your Binance Account

Verifying your binance account is crucial for a variety of reasons, including:

Ensuring the security of your account against potential hacking and fraudulent activities.

Avoiding any service disruptions or deposit/withdrawal interruptions.

Gaining higher withdrawal limits for increased flexibility in trading cryptocurrencies.

Step-By-Step Guide On Verifying Your Binance Account

Follow these easy steps to verify your binance account:

Log in to your binance account and click on the “account” tab.

Click on the “verify” button and select your country of residence.

Choose the type of identification document you possess and input the required information.

Upload a clear and legible photo of your identification document, along with a selfie of yourself holding the same document.

Wait for the verification process to complete (usually within 15 minutes).

Additional Verification Requirements For Higher Withdrawal Limits

If you want to have access to higher withdrawal limits, you will need to complete additional verification requirements. These include:

Providing proof of residential address (i.e. Utility bill, bank statement, etc. Dated within the last three months).

Submitting a video verification (in some countries).

Once you complete these steps, you will be able to enjoy higher withdrawal limits. It is important to monitor your account and continue to comply with all regulations to ensure continued access to binance’s services.

The Pitfalls Of Buying An Unverified Binance Account

Buying verified binance account may seem like an attractive proposition. It can save you time and get you access to trading cryptocurrencies without waiting for a lengthy verification process. However, the risks of purchasing an unverified account far outweigh any potential benefits.

Here are some pitfalls to avoid:

Risks Of Buying An Unverified Binance Account

To better understand what you are getting into, let’s take a closer look at the major risks involved:

Unauthorized access: If you buy an unverified binance account, the initial owner can still have access to it. The owner can use your account for illegal activities or access your sensitive information, causing you both legal and financial problems.

Monetary loss: Because there is no assurance that your unverified account has not been hacked, your funds are not secured. You will run the risk of losing all of your hard-earned crypto money, which can be devastating.

Fraudulent activities: Unverified accounts are not monitored by binance authorities so who knows if your seller has used or continues to use it for fraudulent activities such as money laundering. If this happens, you may get implicated and face legal action.

Avoiding Scam Websites

It’s understandable to feel anxious when it comes to trusting someone else, especially when it comes to trading cryptos. To ensure that you are not being scammed by purchasing an unverified binance account, follow these steps:

Verify the seller’s identity by checking their online reputation and conducting due diligence on their past transactions.

Use only a reputable intermediary or escrow service to complete your transaction.

Ensure that the seller uses a verified binance account, which is safeguarded and validated by the platform.

Keep your purchase as a private affair, and never reveal your account details to anyone else.

Remember, the verification process of opening and using a binance account is in place to protect both the platform and the users. When you sidestep this process, you put yourself at risk. Always exercise caution and purchase a verified binance account.

The Benefits Of Buying A Verified Binance Account

If you’re looking to engage in cryptocurrency trading, you cannot ignore the importance of having a binance account. Binance is one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, catering to millions of customers globally. While opening a binance account is a straightforward process, the issue of verification can cause unnecessary headaches.

This is when buying a verified binance account can save you time and effort.

The Advantages Of Buying A Verified Binance Account From A Reputable Seller

Buying a verified binance account from a reputable seller can offer you numerous benefits, such as:

Immediate access to the platform: A verified binance account allows you to sign in and start trading immediately. You don’t have to wait for the verification process to complete, which can take several days.

A higher deposit and withdrawal limit: A verified account comes with a higher deposit and withdrawal limit that enables you to carry out more significant trades.

No limit on cryptocurrency withdrawals: Non-verified accounts have restrictions on cryptocurrency withdrawals. A verified account, on the other hand, comes with no such restrictions.

Enhanced account security: By buying a verified account, you can rest assured that the account is secure, backed by superior security features and software updates.

24/7 account support: Reputable sellers offering verified binance accounts provide round-the-clock account support to cater to your needs at any time of the day.

When buying a verified binance account, it is imperative to analyze and choose the right seller carefully. You should ensure that the seller you choose eliminates the risk of scams and frauds by providing clear verification policies.

The advantages of buying a verified binance account from a reputable seller are plenty. Not only does it offer you immediate access to the platform, but it also provides an enhanced security feature, higher withdrawal and deposit limits, and 24/7 account support.

With the right seller, it’s a decision that can streamline your cryptocurrency trading process.

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[hanitrash]

Cap Bottom Bingo Masterpost!

Here are all the fics I posted for the @cabottombingo!

I can't believe how many I actually got done! I'd hoped to make a few more full lines, but I was sick in December and January and didn't get as much writing done as I'd hoped.

A3 - "til the end of the line" Soldat i Volkodav (The Fist and The Fang) (steve/bucky, 5k)

Summary:

While on a mission in Canada, the Asset suddenly finds himself free. He follows his partner, the giant wolfhound, because he doesn’t know what else to do. The two end up in the United States, and as his memories begin to return, his need for vengeance grows. Together, they take out hidden HYDRA bases and safehouses across North America. What they find in one base, however, will change everything Bucky ever thought he knew about his time in captivity.

A4 - "Starvation" Some Like It Hot (steve whump, 3k)

Summary:

Steve has been captured by HYDRA. The STRIKE team is having a fun time trying to break him.

Notes:

this is just trash, plain and simple. HTP, hurt no comfort, Steve whump.

A5 - "teleportation" Drastic Measures (steve/thor, 4k)

Summary:

Steve is a barren Omega in a world where his only purpose in life is to create more. In a last-ditch effort to heal himself where science has failed him, he summons the God of Fertility. What he gets, though, is much more than he ever could have hoped for.

B2 - "AU: Bakery" Dashing Through the Snow (steve/bucky, 7k)

Summary:

Steve hates Bucky. Bucky hates him, too, so that’s fine. But when they’re forced to work together and co-teach a class, that anger begins to fade as they slowly learn more about each other. A work trip gone wrong, though, forces them to become much closer than either one ever expected…(aka, the coffee shop college au enemies to lovers snowed in one bed a/b/o that Marv asked for…)

B3 - adopted prompt "truth serum" Careful What You Say (steve/bucky, moodboard + 700 words)

Summary:

Steve is captured and given a truth serum…but his captors get more than they bargained for with the results.

B4 - "Beta Steve" Leg Day (steve/bucky, moodboard + 300 words)

Summary:

Bucky posts some pictures online, creating quite a fuss

B5 - "Much needed hug" Mine (steve/bucky, 5.9k, co-write with @neonbat666)

Summary:

Steve is captured by Hydra while on a mission. Naturally, that doesn't sit very well with Bucky, and he makes every person involved pay dearly for hurting his Steve. Once Steve is safe at home and on the road to recovery, Bucky takes measures to ensure anyone else will think twice about touching what belongs to Bucky.

notes: htp, branding

C3 - free space Smooth Talker (steve/bucky, 7.7k)

Summary:

When Steve decided to try waxing instead of shaving to avoid catching his body hair in the Cap suit, things don't go quite the way he expected. Between misunderstanding the listing on the website and thirsting over the man doing the procedure, he's not sure he'll survive the appointment.

C5 - picture prompt, person restrained My Heart Has Teeth (steve/bucky, 4.7k, with art by @mxaether)

Summary:

During a mission gone wrong, Bucky gets captured. Whoever has him proves particularly hard to track down, and while Steve does his best to ignore how much he’s spiraling, Bucky tries to keep a thread of hope—and his sanity—alive.

Notes: Vampire Bucky

D2 - "Back Alley Fight" I Love Watching You (With Other Men) (chapter one) (steve/bucky, 6.6k total)

Summary:

During the heat wave of 1936, Bucky discovers a secret that Steve has been keeping from him.

He also discovers a few things about himself in the process.

In the future, they find new ways to recreate the past.

D3 - "Saliva" You Make This All Go Away (chapter two)

Summary:

Six months after the helicarrier fight, strange security breaches at the Smithsonian have Steve, Natasha, and Sam running stakeouts, hoping to catch the person responsible—the person they believe to be one very elusive Bucky Barnes.

In what is probably his most bizarre undercover op ever, Steve finally makes contact with the man he thought he’d lost forever.

What he’s not prepared for is what happens after, when Bucky appears in Steve’s apartment in the middle of the night.

D4 - "Creature: Has Tentacles" Into this night I wander (It's morning that I dread) (steve/bucky, steve/johann schmidt, 784 words)

Summary:

Steve gets captured by HYDRA and learns more about Johann Schmidt than he ever wanted to know

notes: htp, oviposition, hurt no comfort

D5 - "skinnydipping" Resurfacing (steve/bucky, moodboard + 1.8k)

Summary:

While Steve is visiting Bucky in Wakanda, Bucky takes Steve to his favorite swimming spot for a heart to heart conversation.

E1 - adopted prompt: "Tied to a Table" I Love Watching You (With Other Men) (chapter three) (steve/bucky, 6.6k total)

Summary:

During the heat wave of 1936, Bucky discovers a secret that Steve has been keeping from him.

He also discovers a few things about himself in the process.

In the future, they find new ways to recreate the past.

E5 - "Sexting" Nineteen Hours (and thirteen hundred miles) (steve/bucky, explicit moodboard + 614 words)

Summary:

Bucky and Nat are on their way home from a mission that has taken far too long for Steve's liking. He sends Bucky some incentive to move a little faster ;)

[mariacallous]

China’s recently announced GDP target for 2024  remains unchanged from last year, at 5 percent. But even if the country hits that number, its economic problems run deep. In January, China published economic data for the last quarter of 2023 which put its annual GDP growth rate at 5.2 percent, beating the government target. Yet, to put things in perspective, China’s real GDP growth rate from 2011 to 2019 averaged 7.3 percent while 2001-10 saw average growth of 10.5 percent.

After the figures dipped in 2020 to 2.2 percent owing to COVID-19, expectations for post-pandemic recovery were high. This was rooted in the assumption that China lifting its dynamic zero-COVID policy in January 2023 would unlock pent-up demand in the economy, which remained suppressed during the two-year-long lockdown. But that hasn’t happened. Some observers even doubt the recently released GDP data’s authenticity and suspect the numbers are far below the official figures.

But even if the figures are accurate, the wider trends of the Chinese economy suggest a worrying state of affairs. To begin with, this was the first time since 2010 that China’s real GDP growth rate exceeded its nominal GDP growth rate (4.8 percent). The nominal growth rate is calculated on the previous year’s numbers without accounting for inflation. Discounting inflation is necessary to remove any distortion arising from a mere increase in the prices of goods and services. Thus, the real GDP figure is calculated after adjusting for inflation to reflect the increase in output of goods and services. This is also the number economists and governments refer to when stating GDP growth numbers.

Usually, the nominal growth rate should be higher than the real growth rate. But in a deflationary year, the real growth rate can give a distorted picture, because deflation or negative inflation amplifies the real numbers. Thus, the fact that China’s real GDP number exceeded its nominal number indicates that Beijing’s gross value of output in real terms was amplified thanks to negative inflation, i.e. a general decrease in the prices of goods and services. If not for deflation, China’s real GDP growth in 2023 would have been even lower and would have certainly missed the national target of 5 percent.

The news on China’s gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) isn’t encouraging either. The term refers to the acquisition of fixed assets such as land and machines or equipment intended for production of goods and services. It is one of the four components of GDP (besides exports, household consumption, and government expenditure) and a measure of investment in the economy. For decades, China relied on a high GFCF rate to power its economy, but it has witnessed a sustained decline under President Xi Jinping’s leadership. For reference, the GFCF growth rate in the last 9 years (2014-22) averaged 6.7 percent as compared to 13 percent in the 21 years before that (1994-2014). It hit over 10 percent only on four occasions in the last nine years, once  in 2021 thanks only to a significantly low base due to the pandemic year.

The bulk of this investment came from the real estate sector, which constituted a quarter of China’s total investments in fixed assets. Between 1994 and 2014, the sector witnessed a year-on-year growth rate of around 30 percent. But in the last eight years, the property sector has witnessed average growth of only 4.2 percent—and shrank by 10 percent from 2021 to 2022.

In part, the drop in investment can be attributed to the conscious decision of the central leadership under Xi to deflate the property bubble, which had become unsustainable, and reallocate and redirect capital from speculative to more productive forces. The decelerating impact this decision has had on China’s GDP has forced leadership to reverse its policies to some degree, trying to prop up the bubble. But the forced deflation is now proving too resistant to change, as is evident from the 2023 numbers that suggest the real estate sector shrunk by 9.6 percent.

But that’s not the only reason for the drop in investment. In the past year, China’s economy has witnessed an increasing securitization of its development. On numerous occasions, including at the 20th Party Congress in 2022 and the Two Sessions in 2023, Xi has underlined that the idea of development cannot be isolated from that of security. In a meeting of the Chinese Communist Party’s National Security Commission last year, Xi reiterated the need to “push for a deep integration of development and security.”

Consequently, in the first half of 2023, Chinese authorities carried out a series of crackdowns on foreign and domestic consultancy companies that offered consultancy services to help overseas businesses navigate China’s challenging regulatory environment. The infamous instances included raids on U.S. companies Mintz in March and Bain & Company in April. In May, Shanghai-based consultancy Capvison saw its offices raided for stealing state secrets and transferring sensitive information to its foreign clients. Weeks later, China’s Cyberspace Administration announced that U.S. chip giant Micron failed to obtain security clearance for its products.

This need to put security over the economy further became apparent in China’s revision of its counter-espionage law, which came into effect in July 2023. The updated law not only broadens and dilutes the definition of espionage but also confers wide-ranging powers on local authorities to seize data and electronic equipment on account of suspicion. China’s new developmental security approach, which manifested in its crackdown on foreign and domestic consultancies alike, has spooked private investors since then.

The government has issued repeated assurances to both domestic and foreign investors to improve the business environment and spur investment. However, investment in fixed assets by private holding companies has been declining since 2018. It briefly rebounded in 2021, only to drop again in 2022. The data for 2023, although not yet updated, is unlikely to pick up.

In contrast, investment by the state has gone up to compensate for the decline in private investment. But this can’t be a substitute in the long run for two reasons. First, rising government debt at a time when private investment is declining can lead to crowding out of capital, thereby shrinking the resource pool for private businesses. And second, the government has already stretched itself as its debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 55.9 percent in 2023. Given the mounting debt situation, there exists very little room for the government to even sustain, let alone expand, its current expenditure.

The data on China’s net exports suggests their contribution to GDP, although steadily picking up since recording a low in 2018, is unlikely to return to the glory years of 2001-14. While China will continue to be a leading export nation, the contribution of net exports to its growth rate might not be high. Poor external demand also means that export-oriented investments will see a decline, thereby pulling the overall investment rates further down albeit with a lag.

China’s strategy in the wake of this situation has been to seek to boost domestic consumption and household spending. Yet for domestic consumption to emerge as a new engine of growth requires not only sustaining its previous momentum but also increasing its share as a percentage of GDP to compensate for the loss of growth due to falling investment (in property and export-oriented sectors) rate.

However, a look at China’s household consumption expenditure as a percentage of GDP suggests that it has remained significantly low compared to other consumption-driven advanced and emerging economies. For instance, in both the United States and India, household consumption makes up more than 55 percent of GDP. In contrast, China’s household consumption has historically hovered around 40 percent—and dropped to 37 percent in 2022.

To add to the misery, the growth of China’s household consumption expenditure is also declining in the wake of a pandemic that left the public deeply insecure about their financial future. For ten years (2010-19), growth remained stable at around 10 percent before the pandemic forced the household consumption growth rate to drop to zero in 2020. After recording an uptick in 2021from that low, the growth rate dropped again in 2022. The negative difference between the nominal and real GDP in 2023, indicative of deflation, further confirmed the sluggish demand in the economy.

Thus, domestic consumption seems unlikely to be able to fuel China’s growth. The rising unemployment rate, declining consumer confidence, aging population, and rising dependence ratio will further burden any attempt to raise China’s consumption.

These trends may be baked in the near to medium term. China will not see a return to the high growth rates witnessed in 1980-2010 and will instead stabilize near 4 percent. This will likely derail China’s plan to transition from a middle- to a high-income country and certainly dent Xi’s dream of transforming China into an advanced socialist country. The much-dreaded fear of the “middle-income trap” is real for China.

[evasblog1]

Navigating the Maze of Crypto Scams: Effective Strategies for Prevention and Recovery

Introduction: The Rising Threat of Cryptocurrency Scams

As cryptocurrencies gain widespread acceptance, the lure of quick profits has not only attracted investors but also cybercriminals, leading to a surge in crypto-related scams. Protecting your digital assets against these threats requires a proactive approach, encompassing awareness, prevention, and recovery strategies.

Understanding Crypto Scams: The Basics

Identifying Common Types of Cryptocurrency Scams

Cryptocurrency scams can take various forms, each designed to part unsuspecting victims from their digital assets. Some prevalent types include:

Investment Scams: These scams promise extraordinary returns through crypto investments and are often structured like traditional Ponzi schemes.

Exchange Scams: Victims are tricked into using fake cryptocurrency exchanges, which may disappear overnight.

Wallet Scams: Scammers create fake wallets to steal user credentials and drain their holdings.

ICO Scams: Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) that are fraudulent, where the crypto token is either non-existent or the ICO itself is based on false promises.

Red Flags and Warning Signs

The key to avoiding cryptocurrency scams is recognizing warning signs, such as:

Promises of guaranteed high returns with little risk.

Anonymous teams or unverifiable developer identities.

Pressure to invest quickly or offers that seem too good to be true.

Techniques for Investigating Crypto Scams

Unraveling crypto scams requires a blend of technical expertise and investigative rigor. Effective techniques include:

Blockchain Analysis: Tools and software are used to analyze transactions and track the flow of stolen funds across the blockchain.

IP Address Tracking: Identifying the IP addresses associated with fraudulent activities can help pinpoint the scammer’s location.

Collaboration with Regulatory Bodies: Working with cryptocurrency exchanges and regulatory authorities can help in freezing fraudulent accounts.

Strategies for Recovering Lost Cryptocurrencies

Losing cryptocurrency to a scam can be devastating, but there are ways to attempt recovery:

Act Quickly: Immediate action can increase the chances of recovering stolen assets.

Crypto Recovery Services: Specialized services can assist in tracing lost or stolen cryptocurrencies and negotiating their return.

Legal Recourse: In some cases, legal intervention might be required to recover large sums.

Preventative Measures to Secure Your Assets

Implementing robust security measures is crucial in safeguarding your cryptocurrencies:

Utilize two-factor authentication (2FA) for all transactions.

Store large amounts of cryptocurrency in cold storage solutions.

Educate yourself continually about new types of scams in the crypto space.

Conclusion: Staying One Step Ahead of Crypto Scammers

As the crypto market continues to evolve, so too do the tactics of scammers. Staying informed, vigilant, and proactive is your best defense against these digital threats. For victims of crypto fraud, recovery may be challenging but not impossible, with the right guidance and support. For comprehensive support in crypto fraud investigation and recovery, visit www.einvestigators.net, your trusted partner in protecting and recovering your digital wealth.

[cryptoexpert2024]

Recover Your Crypto with the Best Crypto Recovery Experts

Are you in distress after falling victim to a cryptocurrency scam or losing access to your digital assets? Don't despair – help is at hand! Welcome to Broker Complaint Alert, your trusted partner in the realm of crypto recovery.

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[maffickingcowplants]

Day 6 of 7, Winter 2005

TOP SECRET

INVESTIGATING AGENT: SILHOUETTE

AGENCY: ACUMEN CONSULTING

REPORT NUMBER: SV-011

SUBJECT: Investigation Report - Strange Phenomena in StrangerVille

Following comprehensive efforts to combat the extraterrestrial flora threat in StrangerVille, significant progress has been achieved through the collaboration with Agent Catalyst (formerly referred to in communication as Brooklyn Fay). Utilizing data gathered from initial vaccine trials, Agent Catalyst has synthesized a fully effective vaccine to counteract the control exerted by the so-called Mother Plant on affected individuals.

Agent Catalyst's expertise has been instrumental in overcoming the challenges presented by the Mother Plant's influence. Her ability to synthesize a working vaccine from the collected data marks a significant breakthrough in our operations within Strangerville. The successful deployment of this vaccine not only neutralizes the immediate threat but also provides us with a potent tool against further infections.

Upon completion of the vaccine, a series of administrations were conducted on identified targets within the town, specifically Sergeant Alijah Crain, Corporal Jess Sigworth, and local conspiracy theorist Rebekah MacDonald. Each individual exhibited signs of substantial recovery, with immediate alleviation of symptoms associated with the alien plant's influence.

To facilitate the trust necessary for vaccine administration and to harness their cooperation in our ongoing efforts against the Mother Plant, disclosure of Acumen Consulting's headquarters and a cursory overview of the agency's purpose and operations were deemed necessary. While this action deviates from standard protocol regarding the concealment of agency operations, the exceptional circumstances warranted such measures.

It is assessed with confidence that the aforementioned individuals possess a deep understanding of the stakes involved and exhibit a strong commitment to the eradication of the threat. Their firsthand experience with the plant's influence and subsequent recovery serve as potent motivators for their continued discretion regarding the agency's involvement and existence.

Sergeant Crain, Corporal Sigworth, and Rebekah MacDonald have demonstrated exceptional resilience and a strong commitment to the safety and security of Strangerville. Their unique experiences and insights into the Mother Plant's influence make them invaluable assets to our ongoing operations. It is this agent's recommendation that, pending the outcome of this mission, that formal recruitment as operatives be taken under consideration.

In light of these developments, it is recommended that the agency continue to monitor the situation in StrangerVille closely, with particular attention to any potential resurgence of the Mother Plant's influence. Additionally, the integration of Agent Catalyst into agency operations has proven invaluable, and her continued involvement in our research and field operations is highly endorsed.

This report confirms the successful mitigation of immediate threats posed by the extraterrestrial flora in StrangerVille, sets the stage for further action against the Mother Plant, and underscores the importance of discretion, trust, and collaboration in our operations.

END OF REPORT

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