39 anti-government activists have died in a fire at Odessa’s Trade Unions House. Some burned to death, while others suffocated or jumped out of windows, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported. The building was set ablaze by pro-Kiev radicals.

A total of 46 people have died in Odessa’s violence on Friday and almost 200 others have sustained injuries, Odessa Region prosecutor Igor Borshulyak told journalists on Saturday. 39 of the dead lost their lives in the fire at the Odessa Trade Unions House, according to the Ukrainian emergencies agency. “31 of the dead were found inside the building, eight more were found outside by law enforcement officers,” the agency’s statement reads. Police detained over 130 people following Friday’s bloody clashes and opened up 10 criminal investigations with charges including premeditated murder and violence against law enforcement officers. According to the ministry, the Friday standoff on Odessa included “anti-Maidan” activists on one side and “football fans” from Odessa and Kharkov, as well as "euro-Maidan" activists, on the other. A criminal case on the charges of mass unrest has been opened.

RT.com: Odessa slaughter: How vicious mob burnt Ukraine anti-govt activists alive - Graphic Images
RT.com: Street battles in Kramatorsk, E.Ukraine after overnight assault killed 10 – self-defense
RT.com: Over 10 shot dead by Right Sector radicals near Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine - reports
Stephen Lendman: Right Sector Thugs Attack Odessa Activists
Mike Head: Washington responsible for fascist massacre in Odessa
RT.com: Moscow: Kiev and western sponsors directly responsible for bloodshed in E.Ukraine

Bill van Auken: Appearing with Germany’s Merkel, Obama backs Ukraine crackdown ■ Appearing at a joint White House press conference Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Barack Obama voiced full backing for the bloody crackdown against pro-federalization protesters in eastern Ukraine, while ratcheting up US threats against Russia. Even as the scale of bloodletting by the Kiev regime’s troops and its fascist allies in the Right Sector was becoming clear, the American president issued an explicit endorsement of the government’s military attack on the pro-Russian population in the east and south of the country. Obama stated, “As Ukrainian forces move to restore order in eastern Ukraine, it is obvious to the world that these Russian-backed groups are not peaceful protesters.” He continued, insisting that “The Ukrainian government has the right and responsibility to uphold law and order within its territory.” The onus fell on Moscow, he claimed, “to use its influence with these paramilitary groups so that they disarm and stop provoking violence.” As Obama spoke, a fascist mob led by the neo-Nazi Right Sector was carrying out a massacre of pro-Russian demonstrators in Odessa, killing dozens.

On the day of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s trip to the US, the German government made clear that it would thwart any further investigation into the spying activities of America’s National Security Agency (NSA). ● While Merkel was being welcomed at the White House Friday by President Barack Obama, the Bundestag (parliamentary) Committee of Inquiry into the NSA received a government file on the questioning of whistle-blower Edward Snowden. Over 27 pages, the government made unmistakably clear that under no circumstances would it permit the questioning of Snowden on German soil, claiming it would endanger the “welfare of the state.” The Süddeutsche Zeitung cited the last draft of the document as saying that inviting the former NSA contractor would be inconsistent with “important political interests of the Federal Republic of Germany” and would permanently threaten its relationship with the United States. [...] This position is remarkable. It openly subordinates the interests of the people, whose personal lives are being spied on, to the interests of the state. The legal duty of the federal prosecutor to investigate the accusation of mass spying is simply brushed aside. As in a despotic regime, the criterian of “what is good for the state” is being elevated above the law and the Constitution.

Israeli police on Thursday challenged Washington’s inclusion of Jewish extremist attacks on Palestinians in a global terror report, saying such incidents could not be likened to militant attacks. ● For the first time, the State Department’s 2013 Country Reports on Terrorism, published Wednesday, included a reference to a growing wave of racist anti-Palestinian vandalism, euphemistically known as “price tag” attacks. “Attacks by extremist Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents, property, and places of worship in the West Bank continued and were largely unprosecuted,” the report said, citing UN and NGO data. But Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the incidents were far from the global terror threats outlined in the report.

U.S. Deptartment of State: Country Reports on Terrorism 2013 - Report

In this episode of Capital Account, we speak with author and former Goldman Sachs managing director Nomi Prins about revelations from the bank of international settlements that notional OTC derivatives have now reached all-time highs of 708 trillion dollars. This is over 100 trillion dollars more than the notional amount 6 months ago.

We also ask Nomi about recent revelations that then secretary of the treasury Hank Paulson provided inside information about the nature of the government's soon to be intervention in Fannie Mae and Freddie mac to a select group of hedge fund managers and friends.

Take this with the ever unfolding scandal of Jon Corzine and the missing billions from MF Global, and you have more signs of crony capitalism, fraud, embezzlement and insider trading everywhere.

Paul Craig Roberts & Nomi Prins: The Real Libor Scandal