IDF Airstrikes Kill 14 in Gaza Strip as American Activist is Buried in Turkiye

Palestinians gather amid the rubble near a fuel tank damaged in IDF bombing in Gaza City on 14 Sep 2024.

Israeli airstrikes hit central and southern Gaza overnight into Saturday, killing at least 14 people as friends and family members of a Turkish-American activist killed by an Israeli soldier honored her in a funeral in Turkiye.

The airstrikes in Gaza City hit one home housing 11 people, including three women and four children, and another strike hit a tent in Khan Younis with displaced Palestinians. The attacks followed airstrikes earlier this week that hit a tent camp on Tuesday and a UN school sheltering displaced people on Wednesday.

A campaign to inoculate children in Gaza against polio slowed down. The WHO reported that about 559,000 people under the age of 10 — seven out of every eight children the campaign aimed to vaccinate — have recovered from their first dose. The second doses are expected to begin later this month.

Relatives, officials, and others look at the coffin of Turkish-American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi (26) during her funeral ceremony at a mosque in Aydin Province, Turkiye, on 14 Sep 2024. She was shot and killed by the IDF in the occupied West Bank.

The war has caused vast destruction and displaced roughly 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times, and plunged the territory into a severe humanitarian crisis. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports over 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, adding women and children make up just over half of the dead.

Source:

Israel strikes Gaza as American activist killed by Israeli fire is buried (voanews.com)

Russia’s Medvedev Threatens Nuclear Strike Would Turn Kiev into ‘Gray Spot’ on the Map

Former Russian President and current Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev has hiked Moscow’s threat of the nuclear option. Vladimir Putin controls about 5,977 nuclear warheads, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, recently warned that Kiev could be turned into a “gray melted spot” if restrictions against Ukraine’s use of Western weapons were loosened.

Russian officials have threatened that a possible decision by the West to allow Kiev to use donated weapons to strike deeper into Russian territory would result in a major escalation of its war against Ukraine that could include the use of nuclear weapons.

Kiev has repeatedly said it needs to be able to conduct longer-range strikes into Russian territory to defend itself against invading Russian forces.

In an apparent reference to a recent US-UK summit, Medvedev wrote that “the Anglo-Saxon imbeciles” do not want to admit that there is an end to Russia’s “patience” and that experts who have suggested Russia could resort to using nuclear weapons against Ukraine would be proven correct if that patience is exhausted.

“What do Western leaders and their political establishments, playing at war, think our country’s reaction to probable missile strikes ‘deep into the territory [of Russia]’ would be?” wrote Medvedev, who has frequently used his position to voice threats against Kiev and the West since Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Medvedev said a nuclear conflict is a “very bad story with a very difficult outcome,” claiming that is why Russia has not decided to use “nonstrategic or strategic” nuclear weapons so far. However, he said, if it came to that there would be a “giant gray melted spot” on the site of Kiev, which he called the “mother city of Russia.”

Recent media reports claim Russia received Fath-360 missile systems from Iran. These missiles have an effective range of 19-75 miles and can carry a 330-lb warhead filled with high explosives.

Source:

Russia’s Medvedev Threatens Nuke Strike Would Turn Kyiv Into ‘Gray Spot’ On The Map (rferl.org)

Venezuela Arrests US and Spanish Citizens Over Alleged ‘Plot’

Three US citizens, two Spaniards and one Czech citizen were arrested in Venezuela for allegedly plotting to destabilize the country. Reportedly, hundreds of weapons had been seized and the detainees were plotting to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other top officials. The Spaniards were detained in Puerto Ayacucho, south of the capital Caracas.

The arrests come two days after Washington sanctioned 16 Venezuelan officials who are closely aligned with President Maduro, following his disputed election victory in July.

The Venezuelan government alleged the detained Spaniards are linked to Madrid’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI). However, Spanish government sources denied the two belong to the intelligence organization.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello alleged “the CIA is leading this operation, and that does not surprise us but they, the National Intelligence Centre of Spain, have always maintained a low profile knowing that the CIA operates in this area. These two detainees even tell us about a group of mercenaries they are looking for to bring to Venezuela with very clear objectives to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, myself, and another group of comrades who are leading our party and our revolution.”

The US has rejected the accusations.

Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of July’s presidential election by Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), which is closely aligned with the government. But the CNE has not published any detailed voting tallies supporting a Maduro victory. Data published by the opposition suggests its candidate, Edmundo González, won instead.

Sources:

Venezuela arrests US and Spanish citizens over ‘plot’ (bbc.com)

Former CIA Employee Sentenced Ten Years in Prison for Spying for China

A screenshot from a video by an FBI undercover agent taken of Alexander Yuk Ching Ma in Jan 2019 during a meeting. (Photo: AP)

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma (71) of Honolulu, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, was sentenced to ten years confinement and five years of supervised release for conspiring to gather and deliver national defense information to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Ma was arrested in August 2020, after admitting to an undercover FBI agent that he had facilitated the provision of classified information to intelligence officers employed by the PRC’s Shanghai State Security Bureau (SSSB).

Ma worked for the CIA from 1982 until 1989. His brother, who is now deceased, also worked for the CIA from 1967 until 1983. As CIA employees, both men held Top Secret security clearances that granted them access to sensitive and classified information, and both signed nondisclosure agreements.

After Ma and his brother were recruited by the SSSB, they provided Chinese intelligence officers with a “large volume of classified and sensitive information.” They were paid $50,000 in cash; an hourlong video showed Ma counting the money. Two years later, Ma applied for a job as a contract linguist in the FBI’s Honolulu field office. By then, US intelligence knew he was collaborating with Chinese intelligence officers, and they hired him in 2004 so they could keep an eye on his espionage activities.

Over the next six years, Ma regularly copied, photographed, and stole classified documents. He often took them on trips to China, returning with thousands of dollars in cash and expensive gifts, including a new set of golf clubs.

At one point in 2006, his handlers at the Shanghai state security bureau asked Ma to get his brother to help identify four people in photographs, and the brother did identify two of them. The fate of those he identified are not known.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ma confessed that he knowingly and willfully conspired with SSSB intelligence officers to communicate and transmit information that he knew would be used to injure the US or to advantage the PRC. Further, Ma must cooperate with the US and undergo polygraph tests for the rest of his life, as well as submit to debriefings by the USIC. Prosecutors told the court that Ma has been cooperative and has taken part in multiple interview sessions with government investigators.

Alexander Yuk Ching Ma (USMS# 12272-122) is incarcerated at FDC Honolulu, an administrative security federal detention center in Hawaii.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Former CIA Officer Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison for Conspiracy to Commit Espionage | United States Department of Justice

Former CIA officer sentenced to 10 years in prison for spying for China | Espionage | The Guardian

‘Catastrophe’ as Central Europe Deals with Deadly Floods

Flooding overwhelmed Slobozia Conachi, Romania (Photo: BBC)

In Glucholazy, southern Poland, firefighters built sandbag barriers to protect residents near the river. (Photo: BBC)

The flooded village of Krosnowice, southern Poland. (Photo: BBC)

Emergency services are shoring up flood defenses in central and eastern Europe after torrential rainfall caused by Storm Boris swelled rivers and damaged thousands of homes. Four people were killed in eastern Romania. In the Czech Republic, 51,000 households in the country’s northern areas were evacuated. Flood barriers have gone up in the capital Prague. Poland evacuated people from Glucholazy, a town near the Czech border, after a river burst its banks.

Extreme precipitation is becoming more likely in Europe, as across much of the world, due to climate change. A warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture, which can lead to heavier rainfall.

“We are again facing the effects of climate change, which are increasingly present on the European continent, with dramatic consequences,” Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said.

These flood victims face another peril. Floods greatly increase the risk of diarrheal disease along with other waterborne, water-related, and communicable diseases. Diarrheal pathogens—cholera, E. coli, Shigella, rotavirus, norovirus, Cryptosporidium, and others—can spread through direct contact with floodwater itself or through compromised water sources.

Standing water left by flooding can become a breeding ground for mosquitos that carry pathogens. Communicable diseases can spread like wildfire through refugee and evacuation shelters.

Sources:

Central Europe floods: Rush to shore up flood defences amid deaths and evacuations (bbc.com)

After the floods: Diarrheal disease threats lurk behind natural disasters (defeatdd.org)

Zika Cases in Pune, India, Reach 100, Five Deaths Reported

Pune continues to grapple with an increasing number of Zika virus cases, as the total number of patients in the city has now reached 100. The most affected area in Pune is Dahanukar Colony, which has recorded 20 cases, followed by Erandwane with 16. The five Zika-related deaths involved elderly individuals with pre-existing health conditions.

The virus is transmitted by daytime flying Aedes, or “tiger mosquitos.” An invasive species, Aedes is now found on all continents except Antarctica.

Alarmingly, 45 of these patients are pregnant women. Zika can cause birth defects in newborn babies.

Dr. Rajesh Dighe, Assistant Health Officer at Pune Municipal Corporation, provided updates on the situation, noting that efforts to control the spread of the Zika virus are ongoing. This recent spike in Zika cases follows a series of warnings from health authorities, who had anticipated a possible outbreak. The city is now facing increased pressure to manage the outbreak, particularly as the number of pregnant women affected by the virus grows.

On top of this, medical staff in Pune hospitals are dealing with an acute blood shortage.

Sources:

Zika Cases in Pune Reach 100, Five Deaths Reported | The Bridge Chronicle

Blood Shortage Hits Pune Amid Rising Zika, Dengue, Chikungunya Cases | The Bridge Chronicle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aedes

Donald Trump Confuses Nicky Jam for a Woman Ahead of Latin Star’s Endorsement Speech in Las Vegas

Former president Donald Trump held a campaign rally at the World Market Center in downtown Las Vegas, where Nicky Jam, a 43-year-old male reggaetón veteran took the stage to show his support for the GOP candidate. But in an inter-galactically embarrassing faux pas, the ex-POTUS mistakenly referred to Nicky as a ‘she‘ when introducing him to the crowd.

“Do you know Nicky? She’s hot. Where’s Nicky. As the male singer approaches the stage, Trump then says, “Oh, look, I’m glad he came up.”

Nicky Jam, wearing a black sweatshirt and a red ‘Make America Great Again’ baseball cap, then took the stage to deliver a brief statement.

Artist Art Candee wrote, “Guess Donald Trump doesn’t know what a woman is…” and Team Kamala mocked the former president by posting a video of the flub on social media:

“Trump: Latin music superstar Nicky Jam. Do you know Nicky? She’s hot (Nicky Jam is a man),” the campaign wrote.

This is just one of a series of imbecilic comments and gaffes that Donald Trump and his running mate JD Vance have made during the 2024 campaign. Political analysts, as well as his niece Mary Trump (a professional psychologist), have been raising alarms about the mental fitness of this elderly man who could be Commander-in-Chief of the world’s most powerful, and nuclear-armed, military.

Source:

Donald Trump Confuses Nicky Jam for Woman at Las Vegas Rally (billboard.com)

Endangered Cotton-Top Tamarin Triplets Born at Disney World

Three infant cotton-top tamarins are perched atop the back of one of their parents Saturday shortly after their birth at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. They are the second set of the critically endangered tamarins to be born at the resort this year. (Photo courtesy Walt Disney World)

The second set of critically endangered cotton-top tamarin triplets to be born this year at Walt Disney World have arrived.

The three tiny primates were born at Animal Kingdom’s Discovery Island on Saturday and are bonding with their parents and siblings. An earlier batch of the small-but-powerful monkeys were born there in January.

Weighing only one pound in adulthood, the cotton-top tamarin is found in the rain forests of northwestern Colombia. They are known for their sophisticated social behaviors and have demonstrated evidence of simple grammatical capabilities.

Despite their small stature, their athletic capabilities are impressive — they can leap 15 feet from a stationary branch — while their appearance is highlighted by a wild mane of bright-white hair atop their heads.

The male and female parents of newborn tamarins share infant care equally, carrying their young on their backs until approximately 14 weeks of age.

An estimated 6,000 cotton-top tamarins remain in the wild, making them one of the rarest primates in the world. Disney World says it is working with organizations such as Proyecto Titi in Colombia to help protect the species through its Disney Conservation Fund.

Source:

New set of endangered cotton-top tamarin triplets born at Disney World – UPI.com

Ukraine Update: 49 Ukrainians Freed in Prisoner Swap; Son of Prominent Kiev Rabbi KIA

49 Ukrainians were released from Russian custody and returned home as part of another prisoner swap. “[Representatives] of the Ukrainian armed forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and civilians are among those released,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram. Leniye Umerova, who was arrested in Crimea after she came to visit her sick father, soldiers who defended the Azovstal metallurgic plant in Mariupol, and noted military physician and Hero of Ukraine laureate Viktor Ivchuk were among the prisoners returning. Russia has yet to provide details of the swap.

Anton Samborskiy (AKA Matityahu) was killed in combat on Ukraine’s front lines. Samborskiy was the adopted son of Moshe Reuven Azman, one of the country’s most prominent rabbis. At his funeral, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine said Samborskiy’s death shows that Jews and other minorities are willing “to pay with their lives for Ukraine’s right to remain a free country.”

To the south, the US State Department approved the sale of 32 F-35A fighter jets to Ukraine’s neighbor, Romania, a NATO ally, in a deal worth $7.2 billion. Ukrainian pilots began training this week at a special center in Romania on US-made F-16 fighter jets.

Sources:

49 Ukrainians Freed In Latest Prisoner Swap With Russia (rferl.org)

Kyiv’s Jewish Community Mourns Top Rabbi’s Son Who Died In Combat (rferl.org)

U.S. Approves $7.2 Billion Sale Of F-35 Jets To NATO Ally Romania (rferl.org)

British Diplomats Ousted from Moscow for ‘Espionage’

© Russian Federal Security Service

The Kremlin is expelling six British diplomats for suspected espionage and “threatening Russia’s security” and “numerous unfriendly acts.”

The expulsions announcement came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Washington for talks with US President Joe Biden on allowing Ukraine to attack military targets deep inside Russia.

The FSB, a successor of the KGB, said the diplomats’ accreditation had been revoked on the basis of documentary evidence they were involved in “intelligence gathering and subversive activities” under the orders of a branch of the Foreign Office, “a special service whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country.”

Sky News had reported the six had returned to Britain prior to Friday’s announcement, citing a source in Whitehall who played down any link to Britain’s backing for Ukraine.

“They are already out,” said the source who categorically denied the diplomats were engaged in spying or other activities incompatible with their status.

Russia’s action, the source claimed, was more likely a fresh round of tit-for-tat ejections dating back to a 2018 nerve agent attack on British soil targeting former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia that London blames on Moscow.

Source:

British diplomats ousted from Moscow for ‘espionage’ as tensions mount over arming Ukraine – UPI.com

Kentucky Man Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on Capitol

Luke Hoffman (40) from Dover, KY was sentenced to 20 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution after he previously pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

From 1:25PM to 4:05PM Hoffman was one of the most dangerous attackers on 6 Jan. Amongst other things, he assaulted several police officers, attempted to steal a baton from another officer who was screaming, sprayed tear gas, and rallied other seditionists to continue rampaging.

Luke Hoffman’s wife was instrumental in his conviction by posting her husband’s actions on social media.

The FBI arrested Hoffman on 12 July 2023, in Dover, KY. This miscreant represents America’s “Fedayeen Saddam,” dead-enders desperately trying to hold on to a mythic belief of white Christian supremacy and that the country has been taken over by non-whites, liberals, LBGTQ activists, and immigrants.

In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

Source:

District of Columbia | Kentucky Man Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 27 in Sweden

Smörgåsbord is a combination of two words: smörgås, an open sandwich, and bord, a table. The term refers to any all-you-can-eat buffet with self-service and a variety of pan-global food. Popular in Sweden since the 18th century, smörgåsbord hosts a display of colorful, complex, and lavish foods and dishes such as herring, salmon, sliced cold cuts of meat, vegetables, breads, cheeses, wild berries, pastries, and jams. The dishes can be hot or cold and may range from appetizers to desserts.

Swedish health officials are searching for the source of a Salmonella outbreak that has affected almost 30 people. Whole genome sequencing has shown that 27 people have the same type of Salmonella Typhimurium. They are suspected of having been infected by a common food. The patients fell ill between 9 and 24 Aug and ranged in age from 4 to 89 with a median of 45 years old.

The majority of those sick are women, and cases are spread across 11 different regions in the country. In 2023, 1,316 Salmonella infections were reported in Sweden.

Food contaminated with Salmonella bacteria does not usually look, smell, or taste spoiled. However, anyone can become sick with a Salmonella infection. According to the US CDC, infants, children, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of serious illness because their immune systems are fragile.

Symptoms of Salmonella infection can include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. Otherwise, healthy adults are usually sick for four to seven days. In some cases, however, diarrhea may be so severe that patients require hospitalization.

Sweden is also dealing with high levels of domestic Campylobacter infections, which causes a diarrheal disease in people. Approximately 200 cases per week were recorded this summer.

According to data from the National Veterinary Institute (SVA), the rise in human infections coincides with a previously increased occurrence of Campylobacter in broiler flocks.

Source:

Swedish Salmonella outbreak sickens 27 | Food Safety News

Congo Military Court Sentences Three Americans, 34 Others to Death on Coup Charges

AMCITs Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (L), Marcel Malanga (C), and Tyler Thompson, attend a court verdict in Congo, Kinshasa, 13 Sep 2024. They were sentenced for taking part in a coup attempt in May 2024. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)

A military court in Congo handed down death sentences to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt.

The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian, and Canadian, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include attempted coup, terrorism, and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial.

Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on social media.

Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga and two other Americans were convicted in the coup attempt. He told the court that his father had forced him and his high school friend to take part in the attack.

“Dad had threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders,” Marcel Malanga testified.

Other members of the ragtag militia recounted similar threats from the elder Malanga, and some described being duped into believing they were working for a volunteer organization.

The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr. (21) who flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (36), who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company in Mozambique.

Thompson had been invited on an Africa trip by the younger Malanga, his former high school football teammate in a Salt Lake City suburb. Teammates alleged that Marcel had offered up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in Congo, and they said he seemed desperate to bring along an American friend.

Congo recently lifted a more than two-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty as authorities struggle to curb violence in the country. The US State Department has not declared the three Americans wrongfully detained, making it unlikely that US officials would try to negotiate their return.

Sources:

Congo court sentences 3 Americans, 34 others to death on coup charges – Washington Times

https://web.archive.org/web/20240331012857/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/congo-reinstates-death-penalty-after-20-years-struggles-108156667

Serbia’s First Sex-Trafficking Case Involving Chinese Citizens Set for Trial

Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) exchange agreements during a signing ceremony 8 May in Belgrade.

A Serbian court opened proceedings this week in the country’s first publicly documented case of sex trafficking involving Chinese nationals. Two Chinese women were trafficked to Serbia, had their passports taken away, given only one meal per day, and forced under the threat of death to provide sexual services to men.

The two women were trafficked by a male Chinese citizen who “misled the victims” by promising to “find them a job as a masseuse” in Serbia and “provide housing and food” for them. He then forced them to have sex with men shortly after arriving in the Balkan country by threatening “to kill them” and warning “that he is powerful and can do anything to make them disappear.”

“After a few hours upon their arrival, he organized their sexual exploitation by” Chinese men in Serbia “under the threat that they… owed him money for the purchased [plane] tickets and that they needed to earn money to obtain work permits.”

The Chinese man, who has not been identified, was arrested in March by Serbian police in the eastern city of Bor and is set to begin his closed-door preliminary hearing after being charged with human trafficking by a court in the nearby city of Zajecar.

The Center for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, a Serbian state-run organization that provides support to trafficking victims, reports 35 documented cases of human trafficking in Serbia so far in 2024.

The legal case involving Chinese nationals is likely to test the increasingly friendly relations between China and Serbia. China has become a major investor and trade partner with Serbia, and the two countries provide visa-free travel for each other’s citizens.

Sources:

Serbia – United States Department of State

Serbia’s First Sex-Trafficking Case Involving Chinese Citizens Set For Court (rferl.org)

Serbian Deals With China On Extradition, Media Cooperation Could Have Lasting Impact

Pope Francis May Have Subtly ‘Thumbed His Nose’ at Donald Trump Again

Pope Francis sternly lectures US President Donald Trump at the Vatican about global climate change and the environment on 24 May 2017.

When Pope Francis said US voters must choose between the “lesser of two evils,” he didn’t outwardly make a judgment between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican rejection of immigrants and Democratic support of abortion rights equally weighted them both down.

But put in context, the statement represented a bigger swipe at Trump, argued Nayyera Haq, former President Barack Obama’s senior director of cabinet affairs.

Popes rarely discuss American politics, although Pope Francis has taken veiled shots at Trump in the past, saying in 2016 that “a person who only thinks about building walls and not bridges is not Christian,” and earlier this year calling the panic against migrants at the US border “madness.”

“This pope has thumbed his nose in somewhat diplomatic ways at Donald Trump before,” Haq reported. The first Jesuit pontiff gave Trump an encyclical entirely about environmental stewardship and climate change when they met in May 2017. Unlike the LGBTQ-hating GOP, the pope has been “rather generous, given the churches history, when it comes to tolerance of gay and lesbian individuals as well.”

“So in that sense, the Catholics who wished for a more conservative Catholic pope may not be swayed by this, but he certainly does speak to that broader sense of Christianity, social justice, and I think just faith-based social justice that the least among us, taking care of those, that is an immediate reference to refugees and immigrants,” said Haq.

Watch the video below or at the link here.

Source:

https://www.rawstory.com/pope-francis-trump/

Jack Russell Terrier Puppy Rescued from Highway Near Newark Int’l Airport, NJ

A Jack Russell terrier puppy who was found running on the highways around Newark Airport has been rescued and is slowly healing at the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge (RBARI) where he will await his fur-ever home. For weeks, reports came in of the Jack Russell terrier pup, since named Monkey, running around the busy and dangerous highways near the airport.

Last week the frightened puppy was finally caught by a professional trapper with Buddha Dog Rescue and Recovery and was taken in by RBARI.

“It is a true miracle that Monkey survived. Surprisingly, Monkey is not the first Jack Russell terrier dumped in the area in recent months,” said RBARI in a post on Facebook. “And, even more unexpectedly, it only took minutes for this adorable dog to warm up to human touch, despite evading rescuers for so long.”

Upon rescue, Monkey was treated for fleas, ticks and parasites. He received a thorough examination and vaccinations.

Source:

Jack Russell terrier Monkey rescued from highway near Newark Airport (northjersey.com)

US Army Soldier from Hawaii Arrested for Assaulting Law Enforcement with Weapon and Other Charges During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol

Alexander Cain Poplin (31), an active duty servicemember of the US Army, was arrested in Hawaii for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to his conduct during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

In addition to the felonies of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon and civil disorder, Poplin is charged with three misdemeanor offenses, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, and engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds.

On the morning of 6 Jan 2021, Poplin attended a rally held by the former President at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Poplin was observed wearing a black Columbia jacket, a black beanie, and an Army ACU camouflage backpack. Throughout the day, he was seen holding various flags.

At approximately 2:30 p.m., Poplin was at the Lower West Plaza of the US Capitol Building and within the restricted perimeter. He was holding an “Area Closed” sign in his left hand and a flagpole with a blue flag in his right. Poplin allegedly repeatedly struck a Metropolitan Police Department officer with the blue flagpole. Video footage from open-source media and body-worn cameras captured the assault. Poplin’s alleged actions at the Lower West Plaza contributed to the chaos as rioters confronted law enforcement officers who were defending the Capitol. After the attack, Poplin reportedly posted on Facebook “we beat their fucking ass and stood for something” and “we took our house back.”

Anyone with tips may call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

A complaint is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Civilian Cargo Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain Attacked by Russian Jets in Black Sea

Ukraine accused Russia of using strategic bombers to fire missiles at a civilian ship carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea.

The ship was in the maritime economic zone of Romania, a NATO member, when it was hit. The vessel was transporting the grain from Chernomorsk, Ukraine, to Istanbul when it was attacked. The ship’s cargo was bound for Egypt. Russia deployed Tupolev Tu-22 bombers to fire the missiles at around 11 PM local time on 11 Sep.

Tupolev Tu-22M-3 (Image courtesy of airliners.net).

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said the strike was “a brazen attack on freedom of navigation and global food security.”

The attack was confirmed by the Romanian Coast Guard, which said the vessel had a crew of 22 people on board. No one was injured and the ship headed to Constanta for damage assessment.

The ship was 55 kilometers from the town of Sfantu Gheorghe in the exclusive economic zone of Romania when the attack took place. The exclusive economic zone is the maritime area adjacent to a country’s territorial waters and can extend up to a maximum of 200 nautical miles.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said earlier that a cargo ship carrying wheat was hit by a Russian missile strike in the Black Sea as it was headed for Egypt.

“Today’s strike in the Black Sea was against an ordinary civilian vessel immediately after leaving Ukrainian territorial waters. According to preliminary data, fortunately, there were no casualties,” he said. “Ukraine is one of the key global donors of food security. The internal stability and life of dozens of countries in different parts of the world depends on the normal and smooth operation of our export food corridor.”

Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain producers and exporters, has been shipping about four million tons of grain each month through the Black Sea corridor, which was set up through a deal mediated by Turkey and the UN.

The US recently signalled that it may allow Ukraine to fire missiles more deeply into Russia. Aircraft like the TU-22M-3 could have easily sunk this unarmed cargo ship. This move by the Kremlin is probably a warning that if Ukraine is permitted to strike deep targets in Russia with Western hi-tech weapons, the Kremlin will retaliate with economic attacks like this.

Sources:

Civilian Cargo Ship Carrying Ukrainian Grain Hit By Russian Strike In Black Sea (rferl.org)

US reconsidering Ukraine missile restrictions on firing into Russia (voanews.com)

NYPD Commissioner to Resign After FBI Seized His Phone

Edward Caban (L) being sworn in as NYPD Police Commissioner on 17 July 2023. Mayor Eric Adams is on the right.

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said he would resign Thursday, one week after it emerged that his phone was seized as part of a federal investigation that touched several members of Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle.

Edward Caban (57) had been in charge of the nation’s largest police department for about 15 months. Of Puerto Rican heritage, he was the first Latino to lead the 179-year-old NYPD and oversee its annual budget of over $5 billion. There are approximately 36,000 sworn officers in New York’s Finest.

Caban was one of several high-ranking city officials whose electronic devices were seized recently by federal investigators. The subject of the investigation, which is being led by the SDNY US Attorney, remains unclear. Federal authorities are also investigating Caban’s twin brother, James Caban, who runs a nightclub security business.

Other NYC officials whose devices were recently seized include First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright; Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety; his brother David Banks, the Board of Education chancellor; and Timothy Pearson, a mayoral adviser and former high-ranking NYPD official.

Mayor Adams, a first-term Democrat, was subpoenaed in July, eight months after federal agents seized his cell phones and an iPad while he was leaving an event in Manhattan. Federal authorities haven’t publicly accused him or any officials of any crimes and Adams has denied any wrongdoing. The SDNY investigation may have to do with campaign fundraising.

Under Commissioner Caban, from 1 Jan 2024 to 1 Sep 2024, the NYPD tallied 243 murders, compared with 279 in the same period last year. Burglary, grand larceny, and auto thefts were also down. At the same time, there was a 17.8% spike in reported hate crimes, 11.1% jump in rapes and smaller increases in some other categories.

Caban was criticized for his handling of officer discipline. The NYPD has stifled more than 400 cases of alleged misconduct this year which an oversight board had investigated and substantiated. Two examples follow.

In April, Caban declined to take disciplinary action against two officers involved in the fatal 2019 shooting of Kawaski Trawick inside his Bronx apartment. Caban said the officers “acted within the law” and that the city’s police watchdog agency waited too long to bring administrative charges.

In August, Caban upheld a department administrative trial judge’s recommendation to drop a disciplinary case against Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, who was accused of ordering officers to void the November 2021 arrest of a retired officer who previously worked for him. The trial judge, Rosemarie Maldonado, said the watchdog agency didn’t have jurisdiction to investigate the case.

Mayor Adams named retired FBI Special Agent Thomas Donlon interim police commissioner. The timing of Caban’s resignation is astonishing with the UN General Assembly (UNGA) convening in NYC. Several weeks ago, the director of the US Secret Service resigned in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Sources:

New York City police commissioner to resign after his phone was seized in federal investigation (voanews.com)

FBI seized phones, iPad of NYC mayor amid campaign fundraising probe | CBC News

https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-tossed-out-police-misconduct-discipline-cases-edward-caban

Bomb Threats Reported in Springfield, Ohio, Amid False Malignant Claims Targeting Haitian Migrants

Donald Trump pandering to the Haitian vote during a 2016 visit to Little Haiti, Miami. Now Haitians have becoming a convenient scapegoat for him. Photo courtesy of Michael Bennett via miamitimesonline.com.

Local and federal law enforcement agencies responded Thursday to a bomb threat made against multiple facilities in the Ohio city of Springfield. City Hall, a driver’s exam station, an Ohio BMV facility, the Springfield Academy of Excellence, and Fulton Elementary School were all evacuated and cleared by explosive-detecting K9s.

The threat comes days after Donald Trump repeated baseless and dehumanizing claims made online that Haitian immigrants in Springfield were eating residents’ pets. He made the comments during his Tuesday debate against Vice President Kamala Harris which were echoed by his running mate, JD Vance.

The city of some 58,000 people has pushed back against the claims, with City Manager Bryan Heck explaining in a recorded statement “it is disappointing that some of the narratives surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified by political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle.”

The city manager added Springfield is experiencing challenges due to the rapid growth of its immigrant population, those challenges “are primarily due to the pace of the growth rather than the rumors.”

Sources:

Bomb threats reported in Springfield amid false claims targeting migrants – UPI.com

Trump, missing-in-action with Haitians, still draws handful of supporters – The Haitian Times

North Korea Releases Rare Images of Uranium Enrichment Site

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits a uranium enrichment facility, which produces weapon-grade nuclear materials. The photos were published by North Korean state media on Friday, 13 Sep 2024. No located or date were released for the photos and certain faces in the pictures had been blurred before their release. (Courtesy: KCNA / Rodong Sinmun)

New pictures of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un touring what state media described is a uranium enrichment facility have given an extremely rare glimpse inside the isolated nation’s closely guarded nuclear weapons program.

According to a report from Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim visited the facility – a bright, sterile warehouse filled with long rows of cylindrical machinery – which is used to produce weapons-grade nuclear material for the North’s growing arsenal. The report comes as North Korea continues to ramp up its illegal nuclear weapons program and strengthens relations with Russia, deepening widespread concern in the West over the isolated nation’s direction under Kim.

The location and exact date of Kim’s visit to the site were not disclosed in the report, but the purpose of his inspection was clear, according to KCNA: to lay out a “long-term plan for increasing the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.”

Experts say the images – which show Kim flanked by men in military uniforms and crisp white lab shirts – underscore North Korea’s growing confidence in its position as a nuclear power.

In a speech celebrating the 76th anniversary of North Korea’s founding on Monday, Kim pledged to “exponentially” expand the regime’s nuclear arsenal, reiterating bellicose rhetoric he has used in the past.

As reported here on Coriolanus, the North Korean supremo ordered the launch of a ballistic missile into the sea when the dust settled after the US presidential debate. For years the West kept “kicking the can down the road” regarding North Korea and the dynastic family which has been producing WMDs while starving their own people. Neighboring South Korea, Japan, and China, must be wondering how this dangerous dynasty will one day end and what type of fallout will ensue.

Sources:

North Korea releases images of Kim Jong Un visiting a uranium enrichment site | CNN

Four Black Rights Activists Convicted Over Nefarious Russian Links

Protesters gathered outside the US Embassy in London to support Omali Yeshitela (Imagery: BBC, circa Sep 2024)

Four activists for black rights have been convicted of federal charges of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents.

Omali Yeshitela (82), Penny Hess (78), Jesse Nevel (34), and Augustus Romain (38), face maximum sentences of five years in prison. A jury in Tampa, FL, found them not guilty of the more serious charge of acting as agents of a foreign government. A date has not yet been set for sentencing.

Yeshitela is the founder of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) and Uhuru Movement. Hess and Nevel are white allies of the groups. Romain is the leader of a Georgia-based spinoff known as Black Hammer. The four carried out a number of actions in the US between 2015 and 2022 on behalf of the Russian government and received money and support from Aleksandr Ionov, the president of the Moscow-based group Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.

Mr. Ionov used the APSP, Uhuru Movement, and Black Hammer to promote Russian views on politics, the Ukraine war, and other issues. The US State Dept is offering a reward up to $10 million for information that would lead to his arrest.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | U.S. Citizens Convicted of Conspiring to Act as Illegal Agents of the Russian Government | United States Department of Justice

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov – Rewards For Justice

US black-rights activists convicted over Russian links (bbc.com)

Usutu Virus Threatens Blackbirds in Germany

The blackbird is one of the most common birds in Germany, but the spread of Usutu virus is threatening their population. Numerous cases have been identified in the Rendsburg and Eckernförde areas of Germany (see map). Infested birds become disoriented, begin to stagger, and often die within a few days.

The Usutu virus, which originated in South Africa, was first detected in Germany in 2011. Since the disease mostly affects blackbirds, the Usutu epidemic is also known as “blackbird death”. The virus is generally transmitted by mosquitoes. Humans can become infected with the virus – but serious illness is rare. Most recently, the pathogen caused a severe bird mortality in Germany in 2018.

Source:

Dead blackbirds: Usutu virus reaches the Rendsburg area | SHZ

Trump Tower Declared ‘Public Nuisance’ After Killing Thousands of Fish in Chicago

Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago. Locals have long derided the building as an aesthetical and architectural eyesore which doesn’t blend in with the Windy City’s marvelous architecture. (Courtesy Ghornephoto / Getty Images).

An Illinois Cook County judge has ruled that Trump International Hotel & Tower in Chicago has been conducting operations that violate state and federal environmental law, operates without a legitimate state environmental permit, and has killed thousands of fish over the years.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thaddeus L. Wilson on Monday found that Trump International Hotel & Tower “committed a continuing public nuisance through a series of failures to comply with state and federal law dating back to 2008.”

This ruling has taken years of litigation to achieve, with Friends of the Chicago River, the Sierra Club, and the Illinois Attorney General having filed the lawsuit in 2018.

Sources:

Trump Tower Declared ‘Public Nuisance’ After Killing Thousands of Fish | IBTimes

News Detail Page (illinoisattorneygeneral.gov)

Dog Rushes into Burning Ukraine Home to Save Helpless Kitten

A few years ago, an explosion occurred in a defense industry building near Donetsk City, Ukraine. Fire and smoke spread to nearby areas. As people rushed out of burning buildings and homes, they made sure that family members were with them, but some pets got left behind in the chaos. One dog re-entered a burning house to the surprise of the owner and neighbors. After a while, the dog emerged from the house fire with a tiny fluff ball in his jaws. The dog had gently picked up a kitten from the burning home and carried him to safety.

The lucky kitten has eight lives left.

Source:

Dog Rushes Into Burning Ukraine Home To Save Helpless Kitten (iheartdogs.com)

65 Million Americans Watched Kamala Harris Humiliate Donald Trump During Live Presidential Debate

WaPO/CNN poll showed Kamala Harris winning the debate 63 percent to 37 percent among debate-watchers. Time magazine cover by Tim O’Brien.

An estimated 65 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate between former President Trump and Vice President Harris, preliminary overnight television ratings revealed Wednesday. Ratings were high in battleground Pennsylvania, with the nation’s highest rating coming in Pittsburgh at 44.2. The No. 2 market was Philadelphia, where it drew a 43.4 rating. New York clocked in at a healthy 36.7, putting it at No. 7 among top markets.

Trump began to unravel at the debate after VPOTUS Harris said to the former NBC TV star of The Apprentice: “Your rallies are boring.”

The split-screen said it all: Trump glowered and grimaced, spewing old grievances and strange new attacks while Harris smiled and appeared amused. The former President repeated a baseless Internet rumor that migrant invaders were killing and eating pet dogs and cats in Springfield, OH, and claimed that Harris “wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in prison.”

Vice President Kamala Harris flummoxed Trump when she responded to his accusation that she wants to confiscate firearms.

“Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”

Immediately following the debate, Trump stamped away without shaking hands with VPOTUS Harris. Soon after, megastar Taylor Swift announced via social platform that she was endorsing Kamala Harris. Over 330,000 young people immediately flocked to a voter registration website.

In the aftermath of Trump’s debacle, both candidates found themselves the next day at the Flight 93 memorial ceremony in Pennsylvania honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks on America.

During this solemn ceremony, Donald Trump is caught winking at a female photographer.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1833870872341340407

Sources:

Time Magazine

IDF Kills 18 in Gaza School Sheltering Displaced Persons; Six UN Workers KIA

Palestinians search for missing people under the rubble of a destroyed UNRWA-run school, after an IDF strike on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. (Photo: Mohammed Saber/EPA)

An Israeli airstrike on a central Gaza school being used as a shelter for displaced Palestinians has killed 18 people, six were UN officials. The attack was the highest death toll among UNRWA staff in a single incident. Two airstrikes hit the school and its surroundings.

Earlier, Israel’s military said its air force had “conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command-and-control centre” on the school grounds, without elaborating on the outcome or the identities of those targeted.

Approximately 5,000 displaced people were sheltering at the school when it was bombed. According to UNRWA, “this school has been hit five times since the war began. It is home to about 12,000 displaced people, mainly women and children.”

Israeli forces have struck several such schools in recent months, saying Palestinian militants were operating and hiding among displaced persons.

At least 220 UNRWA staff have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war. Philippe Lazzarini, the head of UNRWA reported that “humanitarian staff, premises and operations have been blatantly and unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres: “What’s happening in Gaza is totally unacceptable.” The UN General Assembly recently convened in NYC and the world is waiting for action.

Palestinians mourn as the civil defence teams and civilians carry out search and rescue operations from the rubble after an Israeli attack on Nuseirat Refugee Camp. (Photo: Anadolu/Getty Images)

Earlier on Wednesday, the IDF struck a home near the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing 11 people, including six brothers and sisters ranging from 21 months to 21 years old, according to a European hospital which received the casualties.

The war in Gaza is now into its 11th month, with more than 41,000 Palestinians killed. The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes, but inexplicably his arrest warrant has yet to be issued. In contrast, the ICC both indicted AND issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes against Ukrainians on 17 Mar 2023 (St Patrick’s Day).

Sources:

Six Unrwa workers among estimated 18 killed in Israeli strike on Gaza school sheltering displaced | Israel-Gaza war | The Guardian

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx88l499vero

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-64992727

https://www.icc-cpi.int/

Canada’s Conservative Leader Plans No-Confidence Motion Against Trudeau’s Government

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau (L), Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre (C), NDP leader Jagmeet Singh (R)

Canadian Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said his party plans to put forward a no-confidence motion “at the earliest possible opportunity” in hopes of bringing down Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government.

Poilievre called on New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh to support the motion and trigger an election. Singh refused to say if his party would support the Conservatives. Last week the NDP withdrew from a supply-and-confidence agreement with Trudeau’s minority Liberal government that helped keep it in power. The deal, reached in 2022, meant the NDP would support the federal government on no-confidence votes in exchange for progress on shared priorities.

The next Canadian federal election is scheduled for October 2025. The Liberals currently have 154 seats in the 338 Canadian House of Commons. The Conservates hold 119 and the NDP 24. The Bloc Québécois, a party based only in Quebec and is devoted to Quebec sovereignty, has 32 seats.

Canada’s Parliament resumes next Monday. Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet has said his party is willing to support the government if the Liberals agree on issues like increased support for seniors and granting Quebec more powers in immigration matters.

Most polls show the Conservatives well ahead of the Liberals with the NDP sitting third. Trudeau said his government will continue to introduce programs that help Canadians like dental care for seniors and childcare.

In June, the Liberals suffered a major upset in a byelection losing a seat in Toronto the party had held for three decades. Two more byelections will be held Monday in Montreal and Winnipeg.

Poilievre also attacked Trudeau for appointing Mark Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, to act as chair on a task force on economic growth. Poilievre called Carney an unelected “phantom finance minister.”

Source:

Canada’s Conservative leader says his party plans no-confidence motion against Trudeau’s government – ABC News

US Police Brutality: Former Michigan Police Officer Sentenced for Civil Rights Violation for Violently Assaulting Arrestee

Matthew Rodriguez (49), a former Warren, MI, police officer was sentenced in federal court to one year and one day in prison for using excessive force against an arrestee while fingerprinting and photographing him at a local detention facility.

Warning: Some readers might find the below evidence disturbing.

Note the other two police officers do not restrain Rodriguez, the attacker, but help restrain J.S., the victim. There is no information whether these two officers faced disciplinary action.

On 13 June 2023, then-officer Rodriguez was fingerprinting and photographing an arrestee, J.S., who had recently been brought to the Warren Police Department’s jail for processing. During fingerprinting, Rodriguez and J.S. got into a verbal argument and began trading insults. In retaliation for one of J.S.’ remarks, Rodriguez struck J.S. multiple times and slammed J.S.’ head against the fingerprint room floor.

In connection with his plea, Rodriguez admitted to writing a report in which he made false statements.

Former police officer Matthew Rodriguez (Image: CBS Detroit/WWMT)

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Former Michigan Police Officer Sentenced for Civil Rights Violation for Violently Assaulting Arrestee | United States Department of Justice

New Workplace Assault Case Emerges as CIA Shields Sexual Misconduct in Ranks

CIA officer trainee Ashkan Bayatpour (seated left) in Fairfax, VA. 23 Aug 2023. The judge found Bayatpour guilty of attacking a fellow CIA trainee with a scarf in the stairwell of CIA HQ at Langley, VA. (Dana Verkouteren via AP). This previous case was one of several plaguing CIA.

At an impromptu party in the office to celebrate his 50th birthday, veteran CIA officer Donal Asquith got drunk, reached up a colleague’s skirt, and forcibly kissed her in front of stunned co-workers, prosecutors alleged in the latest case of sexual misconduct to spill from the spy agency into a public court.

A recent 648-page internal watchdog report that found systemic shortcomings in the CIA’s handling of such complaints was classified as “secret,” shielded as a potential threat to national security. … “It is inconceivable that sexual misconduct could be considered a state secret,” said Kevin Carroll, an attorney who represents several women in the agency who have made complaints. The watchdog report followed an earlier AP investigation that found at least two dozen women in the CIA came forward to authorities and Congress with accounts of sexual assaults, unwanted touching and what they described as a campaign to silence them. The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSIC) released a redacted report of their testimony last April (linked below).

Many women were emboldened by a CIA officer trainee who went to the police in 2022 after the agency failed to take action against a colleague she accused of assaulting her with a scarf in a stairwell at CIA headquarters. Some of those women now say they have faced retaliation, including the victim of the stairwell attack, who was terminated less than six months after suing the agency.

CIA invests a lot of time, money, and resources investigating, vetting, recruiting, and training these elite personnel who are also polygraphed. Incidents like this are costly to the American taxpayer, CIA, as well as to national security. And remarkable that this story would emerge nationally on 9/11, one of CIA’s darkest days.

Sources:

New CIA workplace assault case emerges as spy agency shields extent of sexual misconduct in ranks – WTOP News

addressing_how_the_central_intelligence_agency_is_responding_to_sexual_assault_and_harassment.pdf (house.gov)

The Associated Press

North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile Toward Sea

After the smoke cleared from the US presidential debate, like a baby wanting a bottle, North Korean supremo Kim Jong-Un ordered the launch of a ballistic missile toward the sea Thursday morning, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported. The launch came days after Kim Jong Un vowed to put his nuclear force fully ready for battle with its rivals. The launch took place off North Korea’s eastern coast but the ROK high command offered no details, such as how far the weapon traveled. Japan’s prime minister’s office also alerted on its X account that North Korea had launched a suspected ballistic missile, but it did not provide details.

The launch was North Korea’s first public weapons firing in more than two months. On 1 July, Pyongyang claimed to have tested a new tactical weapon capable of delivering a “super-large” 4.5 ton-class warhead.

In a speech Monday, Kim said he would redouble efforts to make his nuclear force fully ready for combat with the US and its allies. He said North Korea faced “a grave threat” because of what he called “the reckless expansion” of a US-led regional military bloc that is now developing into a nuclear-based one.

Kim has made similar vows numerous times, but his latest threat came as outside experts believe North Korea will perform a nuclear test explosion or long-range missile test-launches ahead of the US presidential election in November.

As posted on Coriolanus last week, North Korea also resumed launches of trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea.

Since 2022, North Korea has significantly accelerated its weapons testing in a bid to perfect its capabilities to launch strikes on the US and South Korea. The US and South Korea have responded by expanding military drills that North Korea calls invasion rehearsals.

Last month, Kim had held off from missile tests or other provocative military demonstrations as the US and South Korea conducted large-scale summertime military exercises. North Korea issued statements berating the allies for raising tensions.

Source:

North Korea fires ballistic missile toward sea, South Korea says (voanews.com)

Federal Authorities Seize Over 350 Website Domains Used to Import Illegal Switches and Silencers from China

US authorities seized more than 350 websites selling gun silencers and parts from China used to covert semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic machine guns.

Law enforcement conducted undercover purchases from those websites of gun-related items. The shipments from China falsely described their contents as “necklaces” or “toys.” In fact, the packages contained machine gun conversion devices known as “switches” and silencers that are prohibited from being imported under the federal National Firearms Act (NFA). Switches are parts designed to convert semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic machineguns and silencers are devices used to suppress the sound of a firearm when discharged.

Many of the websites sold counterfeit goods and misused gun manufacturer Glock Inc’s trademark to suggest the switches were produced by the company when they were not. Glock reportedly cooperated with the investigation.

The results of this investigation have resulted in the seizure of over 700 devices which would covert a firearm into a machine gun, 87 illegal suppressors, 59 handguns, 36 long guns, as well as the seizure of 355 websites which were used to facilitate the trafficking of these items.

According to the CDC, in 2022 there were more than 48,000 firearm-related deaths in the US. That’s about 132 people dying from a firearm-related injury each day and wartime casualty rates.

Source:

District of Massachusetts | Federal Authorities Seize Over 350 Website Domains Used to Import Illegal Switches and Silencers from China | United States Department of Justice

https://www.cdc.gov/firearm-violence/data-research/facts-stats/index.html

A Runaway Penguin Spent Two Weeks Missing at Sea in Japan. A Typhoon May Have Saved Her.

Pen, who was born and raised in captivity, survived two weeks lost at sea in Japan during a typhoon. Photo: Gekidan Penters

A runaway penguin has been found safe in Japan nearly two weeks after she first went missing, having paddled 28 miles during a typhoon in a survival story her keeper called “miraculous.”

The six-year-old Cape penguin, who goes by the name “Pen” and was born and raised in captivity, was swimming with staff from the traveling Gekidan Penters zoo at a beach on central Japan’s Himakajima Island on 25 August when she escaped.

African penguins can swim up to 40 kilometers (25 miles) a day, but in captivity, their muscle mass decreases. Pen had never swum in the sea before visiting that beach.

A powerful typhoon called Shanshan brought torrential wind and rain to the country at the end of August, killing at least six people, displacing millions, knocking out power and disrupting air travel.

But, amid the destruction, the typhoon was a boon for little Pen. With no boats at sea, Pen avoided collisions and getting caught in fishing nets. The record rainfall provided a reliable source of hydration and cooling.

“She survived because of the typhoon,” her owner said. “It was almost miraculous timing.”

Because of the typhoon, Gekidan Penters wasn’t initially able to send out rescue boats to search for Pen, so it was even more surprising when someone spotted her swimming near a beach about eight miles away from where she first went missing.

Pen had no injuries and was in good physical shape. She also passed “substantial droppings,” which means she must’ve found something to snack on during her journey – likely fish or crab, though Pen had never eaten live fish before.

Her owner said Pen was “sleeping very comfortably next to me.”

Pen (L) stands alongside her partner, Gan. Photo: Gekidan Penters

Source:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/12/asia/escapee-penguin-japan-typhoon-hnk-intl/index.html

Ukraine Strikes Moscow in Biggest Drone Attack to Date

A 46-year-old woman was killed and three people were injured. Ukraine asserted its right to strike Russian territory in response to Moscow’s ongoing attacks. (REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

Ukraine launched its biggest drone attack so far on the Russian capital, killing at least one woman and destroying dozens of homes. The Kremlin reported they destroyed at least 20 Ukrainian attack drones as they swarmed over the Moscow region and 124 more over eight other regions. Three of Moscow’s four airports were closed for more than six hours and almost 50 flights were diverted. Russia counter-attacked with 46 drones.

Meanwhile, in a rare joint trip, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was taking the train to Kiev with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose two-month-old Labor government has vowed to keep up Britain’s role as a key defender of Ukraine.

The pair, who boarded the train early Wednesday at the Polish border town of Przemysl, are expected to meet in Kiev with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has kept pressing the West for weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions.

US President Joe Biden, asked in Washington whether he would let Ukraine use longer-range weapons, said: “We’re working that out right now.”

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/03/politics/cnn-poll-trump-indictment/index.html

US, UK top diplomats head to Ukraine with eye on weapons (rfi.fr)Ukraine targets Moscow in biggest drone attack yet | Reuters

Israeli Man Pleads Guilty to Violating Export Restrictions Imposed on Russia

Gal Haimovich was arrested in southern Florida on 4 June 2023.

Gal Haimovich (49) of Israel, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit export control and smuggling violations in a scheme to illegally ship aircraft parts and avionics from US manufacturers and suppliers to Russia, including for the benefit of sanctioned Russian airline companies. Haimovich admitted to deceiving US companies about the true destination of the goods. The defendant and others attempted to conceal the scheme by submitting false information in export documents filed with the US government.

Haimovich owned an international freight forwarding company that facilitated the export of aircraft parts and avionics, including those with missile technology applications from the US to various third-party transhippers on behalf of Russian customers.

Russian Su-35 multi-purpose fighter jet (Wikimedia Commons)

As part of Haimovich’s plea agreement, he forfeits the sum of $2,024,435, as well as various aircraft parts and components. A sentencing hearing has been set for 22 Nov.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Israeli Freight Forwarder Pleads Guilty to Violating Export Restrictions Imposed on Russia | United States Department of Justice

EU Weighs ‘Strong’ Response to Iranian Deliveries of Ballistic Missiles to Russia

The EU has joined the US, UK, France, and Germany in accusing Iran of supplying short-range ballistic missiles for Russia to wage its war in Ukraine.

The 27-country bloc has received “credible” evidence of the deliveries, which adds that the weapons are likely assisting Moscow in its “escalatory bombing campaign against Ukrainian civilians, cities and civilian infrastructure, further increasing civilian casualties and destruction.”

The EU’s reaction came hours after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London, promised fresh sanctions on Tehran for its procurement of the deadly weapons.

The foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany also issued a joint statement describing the move as an “escalation” by both Iran and Russia and a “direct threat to European security.”

Source:

EU weighs ‘strong’ response to Iranian deliveries of ballistic missiles to Russia | Euronews

13 Die of Mysterious Illness Following High Fever in Gujarat, India

350-bed government hospital in Gujarat. (Undated public domain imagery)

Thirteen people have died in Gujarat’s Kachchh district due to a mysterious disease days after the region suffered from heavy rainfall. The doctors have yet to diagnose the disease accurately.

The patients who died from the mysterious disease had symptoms including fever, cold, cough, and pneumonia. Young patients had reduced immunity following high fever and died of lung and liver damage. Elderly patients died just two days after getting a fever. The health department could not verify the type of fever and are investigating the situation.

“Primarily, the deaths appear to have been caused by pneumonia. It does not appear to be from contamination nor does it seem like a communicable disease,” Amit Arora, an official from Kachchh said.

“Samples are being collected for testing against dengue, malaria, H1N1 swine flu, and pneumonia. The family members of the affected are being provided updates, and 22 teams from the Health Department are keeping a close watch on this.”

Source:

Gujarat News 13 Die Of Mysterious Illness Following High Fever In Gujarat, Probe Underway (ndtv.com)

Explosion Reported at US Military Facility Near Baghdad Airport Ahead of Iranian President’s Visit

Satellite imagery of Baghdad International Airport (circa 2023)

Iraqi security officials said an explosion targeted a site used by the US military next to Baghdad airport late Tuesday, one day before an expected visit by Iran’s president. The expected visit by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Baghdad Wednesday would be his first official trip abroad since taking office.

The explosion was heard at 11 PM in an area used by advisers to the US-led international coalition.Iraqi security forces were unable to determine the “type or causes of the explosion, and no party has claimed responsibility for it.” It added that the incident was under investigation and civilian air traffic continued as normal. There was no immediate information on damages or casualties.

Officials who were at the airport preparing for Pezeshkian’s visit heard “the sound of two strong strikes,” which apparently targeted a logistics support site for the coalition. Over the past 11 months, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have periodically targeted bases housing US forces in Iraq in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the war in Gaza.

One of those militias, Kataib Hezbollah, appeared to be trying to distance itself from Tuesday night’s strike. Jaafar al-Husseini, the group’s spokesperson, said the targeting of the airport was “carried out by suspicious hands and its aim is to disrupt the Iranian president’s visit to Baghdad.”

Sources:

Explosion reported at U.S. military facility near Baghdad airport ahead of Iranian president’s visit – Washington Times

Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center Or United States’ Air Base In Baghdad?! – Islamic World News (iswnews.com)

Rebel Army Captures Major Myanmar Navy Training Base

Map courtesy of http://www.globalsecurity.org

Insurgents in western Myanmar have captured an important military training base after a month of fighting, dealing what is likely to be a severe blow to the embattled military. The Arakan Army seized the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine state. The Rakhines are an ethnic minority insurgent force battling for self-determination.

This facility was the last naval base held by junta forces in Thandwe township, and it was defended on a “huge-scale” by the junta’s air force and navy as well as more than 1,200 soldiers, including new graduates trained at the base.

“More than 400 junta soldiers were killed during our attack, and junta weapons, ammunition, and equipment were seized,” the AA reported.

“Losing such a base will affect training as well as fighting. The AA destroyed the navy and weakened the army, like cutting a man off at the waist,” an AA spokesman said. “The military is like a bird with one wing now.”

Arakan Army forces after capturing the junta’s Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot in Rakhine state on 5 Sep 2024.

The loss of the base will not only damage the junta’s morale and reputation but also bring in more resources for the AA through the control of goods coming through a nearby port. The AA said it expected junta retaliation against civilians in the area. Human rights investigators say junta forces have been increasingly attacking civilian targets as they lose ground to insurgent forces in different parts of the country. The Myanmar military denies attacking civilians.

The Arakan Army, which launched a new offensive against the military in Nov 2023, controls nine townships in Rakhine state and one in neighboring Chin state, and is battling to take full control of three other townships.

In February, the military rulers enacted a draft law to bolster troop shortages and has since trained around 9,000 recruits for front-line fighting. Myanmar’s junta has also begun forcibly recruiting male civilians up to age 65 – including even those who are disabled – to protect villages, towns, and cities against encroaching rebel militias. Since the 2021 coup, junta forces have lost 76 towns across the country to ethnic rebels and other armed opposition groups.

The move comes amid mounting battlefield losses since the junta’s 2021 coup d’etat as rebel groups and ethnic armies have gained the upper hand in Myanmar’s three-year civil war.

According to Human Rights Watch:

“Since the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the junta has driven the country further into a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe. At least 55 townships are under martial law. Faced with opposition from the general population and pro-democracy armed groups, the military has struggled to maintain control over the country. The junta’s widespread and systematic abuses against the population—including arbitrary arrests, torture, extrajudicial killings, and indiscriminate attacks on civilians—amount to crimes against humanity and war crimes.”

“More than 600,000 Rohingya in Myanmar continue to live under apartheid conditions, facing persecution and effective imprisonment from the junta authorities. Of this population, roughly 140,000 Rohingya have been confined to camps in central Rakhine State since 2012, denied the right to return to their homes.”

Sources:

Rebel army captures major Myanmar navy training base — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Myanmar junta begins conscripting men up to age 65 to protect towns against rebels — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

World Report 2024: Myanmar | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Homepage » Myanmar Peace Monitor (mmpeacemonitor.org)

https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/myanmar/navy-bases.htm

Lebanon Judge Orders Arrest of Ex-Central Bank Governor

Riad Salameh is accused of amassing a fortune during three decades in the job and faces numerous charges, including embezzlement, money laundering, and tax evasion in separate probes. He is probably the worst central bank governor in history. (Undated photo courtesy of AFP)

Last week Lebanese authorities arrested Riad Salameh (74), the former governor of Lebanon’s central bank, after he was questioned over the alleged embezzlement of more than $42 million. Lebanon’s financial prosecutor initiated legal proceedings against Salameh over allegations of “embezzling” public funds, as well as “illicit enrichment and money laundering”, and the case was referred to an investigating judge.

That investigating judge questioned Riad Salameh for two and a half hours and then issued an arrest warrant against him. The warrant ended Salameh’s provisional detention and placed him under formal arrest, indicating that the investigating judge’s suspicions against Salameh strengthened.

The judge’s move follows an 18-month investigation into allegations that Riad and his brother Raja embezzled $300m from the Banque du Liban between 2002 and 2015.

Salameh, who has French nationality, is widely viewed as a key culprit in Lebanon’s devastating economic crash which began in late 2019. The World Bank called the crash one of the worst in recent history, leaving more than 80% of the population living in poverty and struggling to afford food and medicine.

A handful of protesters gathered outside Beirut’s justice palace on Monday, some trying to attack a convoy of vehicles transporting Salameh as he arrived for an interrogation, hitting the windows and yelling “Riad Salameh is a thief!”

“No to your corruption, conspiracy, indifference, yes to justice,” one of the protest signs read.

After questioning, Salameh was returned to the jail where he had been detained. Last year, Germany and France issued arrest warrants for Salameh over accusations including money laundering and fraud, though German prosecutors later cancelled their warrant. He is currently under sanctions by Canada, the UK, and the US.

Salameh has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and defended his three-decade legacy, saying he is a “scapegoat” for Lebanon’s catastrophic economic collapse.

The central bank governor’s departure and arrest raises questions over how Lebanon’s political and economic elite enriched themselves at the expense of the public—even as their actions helped bring about an enormous economic crisis. (The National Interest).

Sources:

Lebanon Judge Orders Arrest Of Ex-central Bank Chief: Official (hngn.com)

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1687

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64746658

How “Financial Engineering” Helped Push Lebanon’s Economy into Crisis | The National Interest

Bear Trying to Nap Loses Fight Against Pesky Hammock in Colorado

Source:

Watch: Large bear wrestles with hammock outside Colorado home (usatoday.com)

FBI: White Supremacist Leaders of “Terrorgram” Group Plotted Assassinations, Inspired Attacks

Undated social media image of Dallas Humber.

Dallas Humber (34) of Elk Grove, CA and Matthew Allison (37) of Boise, ID, leaders of the Terrorgram Collective transnational terrorist group, were charged with a 15-count indictment for soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The FBI arrested Humber and Allison.

The indictment alleges that the defendants spread videos and publications called “The Hard Reset,” “White Terror,” and “The List,” and solicited group members to carry out attacks against “racial enemies” and on crucial infrastructure. The following incidents attacks were inspired or guided by Terrorgram:

An individual shot three people (killing two) outside of an LGBT bar in Slovakia (Oct 2022);
An individual who planned an attack on energy facilities in New Jersey (July 2024);
An individual who stabbed five people near a mosque in Turkey (Aug 2024).

The defendants also allegedly produced several videos and instructional manuals on how to construct and detonate a “dirty bomb” (an explosive device with radioactive materials) to “fumigate the cities” of minority groups.

Terrorgram is the white supremacist version of the Islamic State (IS), motivating and inspiring “useful idiots” to murder and attack innocent people, as well as cause carnage and chaos.

If convicted of all charges, Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison each face a maximum penalty of 220 years in prison. These two young miscreants caused innocent people to be hurt or killed while throwing away their own lives over hatred.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists | United States Department of Justice

https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1366641/dl?inline

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/terrorgram-collective-federal-charges-white-supremacists-california/

IDF Missile Strike on Gaza Humanitarian Area Kills and Wounds Dozens; Israel Pressing Congress for Help Against South Africa at ICJ

Plumes of smoke rise above the tents of displaced Palestinians following an Israeli military strike on the al-Mawasi camp for internally displaced people, near the city of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza Strip, on 13 July. Israel said warplanes struck a Hamas compound within the Khan Yunis humanitarian zone early Tuesday. File Photo by Saber Arar/UPI | License Photo

Israel’s military conducted a missile strike of early Tuesday that targeted a humanitarian area in the Gaza Strip, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians. The Mawasi coastal community area is home to many Palestinians displaced after the IDF devastated the wider Gaza Strip after 7 Oct 2023. The Palestinian news agency WAFA said dozens had been killed and wounded, without providing precise casualty figures. It described five missiles striking the area, cratering the ground.

The IDF described the strike as hitting “significant Hamas terrorists who were operating within a command-and-control center,” without immediately providing additional evidence.

Gaza’s Health Ministry reports over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began. The war has caused vast destruction and displaced approximately 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, often multiple times.

Meanwhile, the IDF halted a UN convoy for more than eight hours on Monday who were trying to work on a polio vaccination campaign in northern Gaza and Gaza City. “The convoy was stopped at gun point just after the Wadi Gaza checkpoint with threats to detain UN staff,” a UN official posted on the social platform X. “Heavy damage was caused by bulldozers to the UN armored vehicles.”

The convoy later returned to a UN base but it was unclear if the polio vaccination campaign resumed Tuesday in northern Gaza.

Discreetly and audaciously during this unprecedented IDF carnage against the Palestinians, Israel is reportedly lobbying members of the US Congress to press South Africa to drop its legal proceedings in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over alleged war crimes in Gaza. Israeli officials want members of Congress to make clear to South Africa that there will be consequences for continuing to pursue the legal case. The official filing is linked below.

Last December, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention, alleging Israel’s actions “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of the Palestinian population in Gaza. Israel has rejected the accusations.

Israeli diplomats were instructed to ask members of Congress and Jewish organizations in the US to reach out directly to South African diplomats in the US and make clear South Africa would pay a heavy price if it doesn’t change its policy. But the US wants to maintain a positive relationship with South Africa in order to counter the influence of Russia and China.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already been indicted by the ICC for alleged war crimes and now he has exposed Israel to international legal jeopardy at the ICJ. The UN General Assembly convenes in NYC within a matter of weeks.

Sources:

Israeli missile strike on Gaza humanitarian area kills and wounds dozens, authorities say (voanews.com)

Spain files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Court’s Statute (icj-cij.org)

Israel asks Congress to press South Africa to drop ICJ genocide case (axios.com)

https://www.un.org/en/high-level-week-2024

Two More Russian Ex-Convicts Recruited by Wagner Mercenary Group Sentenced for Murders

Freeze frame image of sociopathic Wagnerites in Syria using a sledgehammer to execute Mohammed Taha Ismail Al-Abdullah (31) who reportedly deserted Bashar al-Assad’s government army (Summer 2017).

On 9 Sep a court in Siberia sentenced Andrei Ashcheulov to eight years in prison for shooting a man to death for questioning his parking. He was serving an 18-year prison term for leading a criminal gang when he was recruited by Wagner to fight in Ukraine in 2023. Ashcheulov was pardoned after he returned from the war.

On the same day, a different court sentenced Sergei Kozlov (36) to 19 years prison for killing his pregnant 18-year-old girlfriend in October 2023. He was also ordered to pay 12 million rubles ($11,060) to the victim’s family. Before Wagner recruited him from prison in 2022, Kozlov was serving a 6 ½ year term for attacking a woman and her daughter with an ax.

In July, the Agentstvo Telegram channel reported that as of 4 Oct 2023, 27 people had been killed in 20 incidents by former military personnel who returned home from the war in Ukraine; 12 of the registered deadly incidents involved former Wagner mercenaries.

Courts in Russia tend to hand mitigated sentences to such felons, citing their “patriotism” and “contributions” they made to Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Wagner’s late leader and founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, said in late June 2023 that 32,000 former inmates recruited by his group from prison had returned home after being granted clemency as part of their remuneration for fighting in Ukraine.

Mercenaries from the Wagner Group have been accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine, including decapitating captured Ukrainian servicemen. On top of fighting professional soldiers and unwilling conscripts, the Ukrainian army must also deal with homicidal sadists and maniacs on the battlefield.

Sources:

Two More Ex-Cons Recruited By Wagner Mercenary Group Sentenced For Murders (rferl.org)

In Omsk, a soldier who killed an 18-year-old pregnant woman was sentenced to 19 years (sibreal.org)

Wagner Group Accused of Beheading Ukrainian Servicemen – Newsweek

Traces of Prigozhin Maniacs: “Wagner” as an Instrument of Russian Expansion in the World (spravdi.gov.ua)

The Latest Protests in Cuba Are About Thirst: Over 600,000 People Live Without Drinking Water

Cubans lining up to get drinking water in Pinar del Río province, Cuba, in Oct 2022. Ramon Espinosa (AP)

The water crisis in Cuba is not new, but the country’s overall deterioration, the impossibility of adequate pipeline maintenance, and the shortage of fuel have clearly exacerbated the problem. The water management sector is the second largest consumer of electricity in the country. Cuban authorities have acknowledged that more than 600,000 people suffer from a lack of water. In Havana alone some 130,000 clients are affected by the water shortage, and that there are several provinces in the interior of the country with thousands of clients without service.

Breakdowns of pumping equipment, constant power outages, and water leaks are blamed. At the end of 2023, there were approximately 2,000 of these water leaks in Havana that remained unrepaired “for days and months.”

The constant complaints about the poor maintenance of the water management system and the proliferation of sewage in the Cuban capital are also blamed on the poor work of Aguas de La Habana, the company in charge of the water, sewage, and sanitation services. There are very few people who want to work for the state company today because of low wages.

Last year, the president of the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) said that 478 population centers had a total or partial lack of water supply; that some 2.7 million people received water every three or more days, and that some 475,000 Cubans received water via tanker trucks. Although the government has tried to solve the water problem by sending tankers, they often cannot be transported due to the shortage of fuel or tires. An entire informal market has also been created. Cubans who can afford to pay up to 8,000 pesos ($25) can access water from these tanker trucks.

Source:

The latest protests in Cuba are about thirst: Over 600,000 people live without drinking water | International | EL PAÍS English (elpais.com)

New Tick-Borne Virus Discovered in China Can Affect Brain

A newly described virus is carried by the tick species pictured above which can spread to humans through bites. (Image credit: Bramborica, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

A new tick-borne virus discovered in China can spread to humans and can cause neurological disease. The germ, dubbed Wetland virus (WELV), was first detected in a hospital patient who was treated in the city of Jinzhou in June 2019, according to a recent report in The New England Journal of Medicine.

The 61-year-old experienced fever, headache, and vomiting approximately five days after visiting a park in a large wetland in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region of northern China. He told doctors he’d been bitten by ticks at the park. Antibiotics didn’t ease the man’s symptoms, indicating that the infection wasn’t caused by bacteria.

An analysis of DNA and RNA in the man’s blood revealed a never-before-seen orthonairovirus — a group of related viruses that includes several carried by ticks. Other examples of these viruses include the one behind Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, a rare and deadly illness that can spread to humans via tick bites or through exposure to infected people’s bodily fluids.

WELV had not previously been seen in animals or humans. After uncovering the virus in the hospital patient’s blood, the researchers went looking for it in ticks and animals in northern China, including in the wetland park the man had visited.

They collected nearly 14,600 ticks and grouped them by location and species for analysis. Roughly 2% of the ticks tested positive for WELV genetic material. Five tick species could harbor the virus, but proportionally, ticks in the species Haemaphysalis concinna tested positive most often. The virus was also detected in a small percentage of the sheep, horses, and pigs the researchers examined, as well as in a handful of rodents called Transbaikal zokor (Myospalax psilurus).

Sources:

New tick-borne virus discovered in China can affect the brain, scientists report | Live Science

A New Orthonairovirus Associated with Human Febrile Illness | New England Journal of Medicine (nejm.org)

Mountain Lion Loose in Northern California Community

The mountain lion was initially spotted on Auburn Folsom Road and Eagles Nest, the Auburn Police Department said before posting screenshots of surveillance footage of the cougar. The Department of Fish and Wildlife was notified and residents who encounter the cat should call 911 or Fish and Wildlife officials at 916-358-2917.

Mountain lion sightings have grown in prominence since a deadly attack on two brothers last spring near Georgetown in the Sierra Nevada Foothills. Facebook pages have been created to report mountain lion sightings in California. This sighting came nearly three weeks after a mountain lion was spotted in downtown Vacaville on 17 Aug.

Experts say mountain lions rarely attack people and they often try to avoid human interaction. The attack last spring was the state’s fourth that resulted in a death of the 21 known attacks since records started being kept in 1986.

Two isolated mountain lion populations in southern California’s Santa Ana and Santa Monica Mountains are at risk of local extinction, perhaps as soon as within 50 years, according to a study published in the journal Ecological Applications.

The study showed the extinction risk is due to low genetic diversity and mortality that affects the stability of the population. Mountain lion mortality is often caused by humans, but can also result from changes in the environment, such as wildfire and fluctuations in prey density.

Sources:

Mountain lion spotted in Auburn, according to police | Fresno Bee

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/local-extinction-southern-california-mountain-lions-possible-within-50-years

US Army Brigadier General: Trump is ‘Cacophonous Buffoon’ Who Will ‘Weaken Our National Security’

Retired US Army Brigadier General Steve Anderson (Official US Army portrait)

Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson shredded Donald Trump as a danger to American national security on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.” He and several other senior military officials signed a letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, which was released last week.

“[Trump’s] going to weaken our national security in the most profound ways,” Anderson said. “I mean, first of all, all of our allies think that he is really a cacophonous buffoon. And whenever I travel overseas, people are always saying, what is going on with America? You can’t seriously be looking at bringing Donald Trump back into office.”

BG Anderson said that he’s forced to tell international audiences that there are 50 million-plus people who have bought into Trump’s “con.”

The retired US Army general urged Americans to “step up” and “understand what’s going on.”

Someone important who does understand is Mary Trump, a psychologist and Donald Trump’s niece. She reports that her uncle’s mental condition is declining and that he is now “demonstrably untethered from reality.” She addressed the former president’s cognition after his rambling, incoherent answer to a question about childcare. Asked last week at the Economic Club of New York what legislation he would advance to make childcare more affordable, Trump blathered on incomprehensibly for almost two minutes.

“It’s deeply disturbing that somebody as unhinged and incoherent as Donald Trump is allowed to run for the presidency in the first place (and that leaves aside all of the other disqualifying things about him),” Mary Trump wrote, lamenting a lack of urgency from the media “in the face of Donald’s increasingly bizarre behavior.”

“Surely a political press corps that spent months arguing that President Biden’s age rendered him mentally unfit, wouldn’t look the other way when the Republican candidate, the oldest person to run for president in American history, is not only old but decompensating before our very eyes. The difference of course is that Biden is aging while Donald is dementing.”

Sources:

‘Cacophonous buffoon’ Trump will ‘weaken our national security’: Brigadier general – Raw Story

https://archive.ph/2024.09.09-095700/https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-psychologist-niece-mary-says-donald-is-dementing

As Debate Looms, Trump Is Now the One Facing Questions About Age and Capacity – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Scores Killed in Vietnam by Asia’s Most Powerful Storm of 2024

Aerial imagery of damaged buildings and debris on a street after Typhoon Yagi hit Ha Long, in Quang Ninh province. (8 Sep 2024; Nhac Nguyen / AFP)

Nearly 60 people were killed in Vietnam as the region’s most powerful storm of the year swept across the north of the country.

Typhoon Yagi made landfall on Vietnam’s north coast on Saturday, battering Quang Ninh and Hai Phong with winds of up to 149 kilometers per hour (92 mph) and injuring 247 people. More than 8,000 homes were damaged by winds which tore down power and telecommunications lines; waves as high as 13 feet sank 25 boats and swept away fish farms. Torrential rainfall – as much as 16 inches in some provinces – destroyed more than 120,000 hectares (297,000 acres) of rice and other crops.

Scientists say extreme weather, fueled by rising temperatures, will have an increasing impact on this region in coming years, warning of more intense and unpredictable storms in a warming world.

In the US, Louisiana is bracing for Tropical Storm Francine which is predicted to make landfall this week as a Category II hurricane.

Sources:

Scores killed by Asia’s most powerful storm of the year — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Tropical Storm Francine strengthens, expected to hit Louisiana | AP News

Beachgoers Rescue Kitten Hiding Under Snow-Covered Rocks in Milwaukee, WI

Kitten here >

If you look carefully to the right, you can see her little face. (Phoro: Urban Cat Coalition)

As soon as Karen Hendrickson heard about the stray kitten hiding amongst the rocks at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee, WI, she knew she had to rescue her. It was cold and stormy, and the waves of Lake Michigan were crashing against the rocks, not far from where the kitten had taken refuge.

“It was freezing out there,” Hendrickson, a volunteer at the Urban Cat Coalition said. “The waves were really starting to crash in …. and if she would have gotten wet, I don’t think she would have made it.”

But catching this kitten — a tortoiseshell who was about 5 months old — wasn’t easy. “I was thinking, ‘Well, it’s a kitten and they like to play,’” she said. “I didn’t have any toys on me, but I took the shoe string out of my boots and started playing with her under the rocks. I also had a bit of deli ham with me and I started feeding her a little bit of it.”

Slowly but surely, Hendrickson gained the kitten’s trust. When the kitten ventured out from her rock shelter, Hendrickson managed to grab her and took her to the vet. Despite having lived out in the cold for several weeks, the kitten was in relatively good health, although she had to be treated for fleas and worms. She also got a name — Ruby.

Photo of Ruby (Urban Cat Coalition)

Since her adoption, Ruby has changed into a playful, confident kitten. “She just loves attention. Ruby comes running over and she’s very talkative.” The kitten now happily lives with a new owner and feline brother to boss around.

Sources:

Urban Cat Coalition

Facebook

Beachgoers Notice A Tiny Face Hiding Under The Snow-Covered Rocks – The Dodo

Three Israeli Border Guards Killed at West Bank-Jordan Border Crossing

Israeli security forces secure the entrance of the Allenby Bridge, between the West Bank and Jordan, after a Jordanian truck driver killed three Israeli border agents. (Photo: Debbie Hill)

Three Israeli border guards were shot dead by a Jordanian truck driver at the Allenby Crossing on the border between Jordan and the occupied West Bank, the Israeli Emergency Services said Sunday.

The IDF described the shooting as a terror attack and is investigating whether the truck was rigged with explosives. The truck driver was identified as Maher Dhiab Hussein al-Jazi (39). The gunman got out of the truck during an inspection at the terminal and opened fire at several of the workers.

Security guards returned fire at the terrorist, killing him. Two other crossings between Israel and Jordan — Rabin and Jordan River — were closed after the attack. Palestinians can only use the Allenby Bridge Crossing to enter Jordan from the West Bank, while Israelis generally use the Rabin and Jordan River crossings.

The three Israeli victims were settlers from Ma’ale Efraim, Na’ama, and Ariel. Two weeks ago, the IDF carried out raids, bulldozing highways, and launching airstrikes in multiple parts of the occupied West Bank.

Last week, the IDF shot and killed a 26-year-old Turkish-American female humanitarian who was protesting the dislocation of Palestinians from the West Bank.

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi in an undated photo via social media. She was shot in the head and the UN called for a complete investigation.

More than 670 West Bank Palestinians have been killed since the Gaza War began in Oct 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. The IDF alleged most of the Palestinians were gunmen killed in exchanges of fire, rioters who clashed with troops, or terrorists carrying out attacks.

Jordan, which signed a peace deal with Israel in 1994, has been highly critical of Israel’s military operations in the West Bank and Gaza. And the UK recently restricted some military aid to Israel so that the weapons may not be used to perpetrate war crimes against Palestinians. See previous posting.

Meanwhile, Israelis held massive demonstrations nationwide demanding a deal to return the remaining Jewish hostages, as protesters flooded the streets 11 months after the start of the war in Gaza.

One of the largest demonstrations was in Tel Aviv, where videos showed what appeared to be many thousands of protesters choking Begin Road. Family members of some of the estimated 101 remaining hostages implored Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to close a cease-fire deal to gain their release.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday demanding a cease-fire and calling for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Organizers claimed 400,000 demonstrators took part as the country marked 11 months since militants kidnapped hundreds of Israelis on 7 Oct 2023. Photo by Abir Sultan/EPA-EFE.

A recent editorial from Canada dubbed Israeli PM Bejamin Netanyahu “the curse of Israel.” Already indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, a cessation of hostilities is not in Netanyahu’s best personal interest. He is playing for time with the Gaza War, using it to avoid his criminal bribery and corruption trials, as well as an inquiry into whether he could have prevented Hamas’ surprise attack last October. The longer everything is put off, the better it is for Netanyahu.

Sources:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/09/08/border-guards-killed-West-Bank-Jordan-crossing/6331725803551/

Netanyahu is Israel’s curse – The Hill Times

Trial of Benjamin Netanyahu – Wikipedia

Hundreds of thousands march across Israel to demand return of hostages – UPI.com

Filipino Pastor on FBI’s Most Wanted List Captured by 2,000 Police Officers

Influential pastor Apollo Quiboloy, the self-proclaimed “owner of the universe” and “appointed son of god” who was wanted in the US for child sex trafficking, was arrested in the Philippines on Sunday.

Over 2,000 police were deployed for more than two weeks to search a 74-acre compound in the southern city of Davao owned by his church – the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) – on suspicion that he was hiding there in a bunker.

Quiboloy’s followers had blocked the gate of the compound to prevent shield-carrying police from enforcing a court order to arrest him. Police also used helicopters to circle over a cathedral, a college, and a 75,000-seat stadium. The police reportedly recorded the warmth and heartbeat of a human body, deep in the earth, using thermal imaging and radar technology.

Apollo Quiboloy, a longtime friend of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, was charged by the US Justice Department in 2021 with sex trafficking of girls and women between the ages of 12 and 25 to work as personal assistants, or “pastorals”, who were allegedly required to have sex with him.

He is also accused of bulk cash smuggling and a scheme that brought church members to the US using fraudulently obtained visas. They were then forced to solicit donations for a bogus charity, raising funds that were instead used to finance church operations and the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.

The evangelist preacher, who is followed by millions of people in the Philippines, has denied wrongdoing.

A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

Apollo Quiboloy: How Filipino Pastor On FBI’s Most Wanted List Was Arrested By 2,000 Cops (ndtv.com)

Wildfires Force Thousands to Evacuate as Heat Wave Scorches Western US

A wildfire east of Los Angeles exploded overnight — more than doubling in size — as strong winds and dry conditions keep it raging out of control. Evacuation orders are in place for some mountain communities and neighborhoods near Highland, California — east of San Bernardino.

Meanwhile, in Nevada, the Davis Fire has torched a reported dozen buildings south of Reno and knocked out power to thousands as crews struggle to establish any containment.

Triple-digit heat will keep baking the Western US until Tuesday, offering fire-friendly conditions and straining crews working on the ground. In the cities, meanwhile, the heat could force power outages. Controlled outages may be implemented to help prevent broader outages or any new fires. However, no power also means no air conditioning as temperatures soar.

Source:

Wildfires force thousands to evacuate as heat wave scorches Western US (scrippsnews.com)

Dozens of ‘High-Risk’ Viruses Discovered on Fur Farms in China

Two workers at the Jiaozuo leather factory in Henan province, China, in 2006. (Guang Niu / Getty Images)

An international team of scientists offers insights into where and how the next pandemic may be brewing. Researchers analyzed the organs of 461 animals from dozens of species raised on fur farms in China, one of Asia’s leading producers. All the animals had died for unknown reasons.

The results reveal the presence of more than 100 different viruses, many of them unknown. Among them are 39 that are defined as “high risk,” as they have the ability to jump between species and potentially to humans. The research describes several viruses from wild animals that have spread to domestic species, often raised in their thousands in overcrowded cages and without sanitary controls. Samples were collected between 2021 and 2024 in more than a dozen provinces, mainly the four major fur-producing provinces of Hebei, Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning, in the northeast of the country. The results were published 4 Sep in the journal Nature.

British virologist Edward Holmes theorized that the COVID-19 pandemic virus originated in bats and reached humans through other animal carriers sold in Chinese markets. “Breeding animals for fur is an obvious way in which a pandemic coronavirus, or flu virus, could emerge in humans,” Holmes said. Another researcher emphasized: “Our study shows that viruses have jumped from wild species to farm animals. Because humans are in close contact with these animals, there is also a risk of contagion, and in fact we see that some human viruses have been transmitted to animals.” Researchers have so far detected no cases of human-to-human infection.

Raccoon dogs, members of the fox family, are nocturnal carnivores that are bred by the millions on Chinese fur farms for their pelts. Another coronavirus that emerged in China in 2002 and killed nearly 800 people — severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — was also detected in a Guangdong animal market in raccoon dogs. The new work points to this mammal, along with mink, guinea pigs, rabbits, and arctic foxes, as the major carriers of viruses classified as “high-risk” to humans.

Among the pathogens isolated are viruses from many families, including coronaviruses and influenza viruses. The most “worrying” of these, according to Holmes, may be the HKU5 coronavirus, which originated from the common bat and was found in mink that died of pneumonia. This pathogen is related to MERS, which has been detected in 27 countries and has killed nearly 900 people since 2012. The jump from bats to mink is “alarming” and requires monitoring.

The research is published just as the world is witnessing the worst avian flu epidemic ever recorded. A new, highly pathogenic H5N1 virus emerged in wild birds in 2021. It has since spread to domestic species, forcing the culling of hundreds of millions of birds, and infected wild and domestic mammals, including dairy cows in the US and mink on fur farms in Spain. It has already spread to humans and reached Antarctica, the most isolated and pristine continent on the planet. If H5N1 gains the ability to transmit efficiently between people, a new pandemic would ensue.

Source:

Dozens of ‘high-risk’ viruses discovered on fur farms in China | Science | EL PAÍS English (elpais.com)

Human Rights Group: Chechen Forces Coerce Gay Men into Military Service; Seven Sent to Frontlines in Ukraine

A serviceman listens to Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechen Republic, as he addresses troops in Grozny, the regional capital of Chechnya, on 29 March 2022. Source: AP Photo

Security forces in Chechnya are forcibly sending detained homosexual men to Ukraine by blackmailing them into “volunteering” for the frontlines, according to a report from the human rights group NC SOS («СК СОС»). The human rights activists have reported at least seven such cases, with one of the men sent to the front already having been killed.

SK SOS reports that these forced conscription methods began before 21 Sep 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of the army. In early Sep 2022, six men in Chechnya were detained on suspicion of being homosexual. They were threatened with fabricated criminal charges and warned they would be sent to pre-trial detention, where their orientation would be revealed to fellow inmates.

The detainees were given the choice of paying a ransom or volunteering for the war in Ukraine. Three of the men were forced to become “volunteers,” as the ransom amount — 1.5 million rubles (over $17,000) — was unaffordable for their families. One of these men was reportedly killed in action. In 2023, several members of the LGBTQ+ community were arrested. The women among them were released to their families later that evening, while four men were forcibly sent to Ukraine. Their fate remains unknown.

Source:

Human rights group reports Chechen forces coercing detained gay men into military service, with at least seven sent to frontlines in Ukraine (theins.ru)

‘Very Dangerous’ British Prisoner Among Five to Escape High-Security Prison in Portugal

Top (L-R): Fernando Ferreira, Fabio Loureiro, Shergili Farjiani; Bottom: Mark Roscaleer, Rodolfo Lohrmann

Mark Cameron Roscaleer (39) had been serving a nine-year sentence for kidnapping and robbery at the Vale de Judeus Prison, 43 miles north of Lisbon. He and four others escaped the high-security prison Saturday morning. According to the Portuguese prison service (DGRSP), the convicts received “external help” from accomplices who provided a ladder which “allowed the inmates to scale the wall.” With three accomplices outside the prison, the five prisoners fled the scene in a Mercedes and a Volvo.

Vale de Judeus Prison. The prison guards’ union has criticized a lack of staffing at the high-security prison, saying there were not enough guards to properly watch the perimeter wall

The four other escapees are:

Fernando Ferreira (61), Portuguese, serving 25 years for drug trafficking, theft, robbery, and kidnapping.

Fabio Loureiro (33), Portuguese, jailed for 25 years for extortion, theft, and money laundering.

Rodolf Lohrmann (59), Argentinian, sentenced to 18 years and 10 months for theft, robbery, and money laundering.

Shergili Farjiani (42), originally from Georgia, given a seven-year term for violent crimes theft and forgery.

Luis Neves, national director of the Judicial Police, said that with the exception of Shergili Farjiani, all the prisoners were “very dangerous” and their escape was “very well prepared”.

He also told a news conference on Sunday they have “already tried to escape from prison several times” and will do “anything to remain free”, direly warning:

“When I say everything, I mean everything, including the fact that human life may be at stake here.”

Source:

‘Very dangerous’ British prisoner among five to escape from high-security prison in Portugal | World News | Sky News

Thieves Snatched Phone in London; One Month Later It Was in China

In April, a thief on the back of an electric bike snatched Akara Etteh’s phone in central London, making him another victim of an estimated 78,000 “snatch thefts” in England and Wales.

Mr. Etteh put his iPhone 13 into “lost” mode so the thieves couldn’t access its contents. He then turned on the Find My iPhone feature using his laptop. This allowed Akara to track his phone’s rough location as shown in the illustration above.

Stolen phones often end up in Shenzhen – where if devices can’t be unlocked and used again, they are disassembled for parts. The city is home to 17.6 million people and is an enormous hi-tech hub, sometimes referred to as China’s “Silicon Valley.”

One phone snatch victim, James O’Sullivan (44), says he lost more than £25,000 when thieves used his stolen device’s Apple Pay service. Another victim, Katie Ashworth, said her phone was snatched in a park along with her watch, and a debit card in the phone case. The phone contained the last photos of her mother while she was healthy.

Devastated by the loss of the photos, Ms. Ashworth says there was a lack of action from the constabulary.

“The police never even followed it up with me, despite my bank transactions showing exactly where the thieves went. The police just told me to check Facebook Marketplace and local second-hand shops like Cex.”

Source:

Thieves snatched his phone in London – he tracked it to China (bbc.com)

Baby Beavers Born in Urban London for First Time in Over 400 Years

The beavers constructed six dams and two lodges

At least two kits have appeared just eight months after the pioneering reintroduction of a beaver family to west London. The last time beavers had a presence in London was during the time of William Shakespeare.

The births of the kits mark the end of a more than 400-year absence of breeding beavers in urban London. At least two new kits born in the spring appear to be thriving, announced organizers of The Ealing Beaver Project.

In what is being called “a huge advancement in urban rewilding”, the successful reintroduction of beavers to London – and now the birth of the kits – is the fruit of a collaboration between multiple organisations and bodies.

The babies have been spotted venturing outside of their lodge in recent weeks at what is a publicly accessible site in Paradise Fields, a wetland in Greenford, west London. Beavers used to be permanent residents in the capital, before hunting, habitat destruction, and persecution led to the loss of the species throughout the UK. Their arrival shows that humans and wildlife can thrive side by side in urban environments, said Dr Sean McCormack, the license holder at the Ealing Beaver Project and chair of Ealing Wildlife Group.

“I had every confidence our beaver family would settle in at Paradise Fields, but to discover they’ve had new baby kits this spring is really the icing on the beaver cake,” he said. “These are not a wilderness species, they are an important animal we once lived alongside up and down the country and welcoming them back, even to our towns and cities, is the right thing to do. We may need to learn to live alongside them again, and sometimes manage their behaviour, but the ecosystem services they provide have been clearly demonstrated here already at the Ealing Beaver Project.”

Since their reintroduction, water quality has improved, flooding has reduced, and more insects and other wildlife have already been attracted to the site.

Source:

Ealing: First baby beavers born in urban London for 400 years (bbc.com)

Heads of CIA and MI6 Issue Joint Public Call for Ceasefire in Gaza

CIA Director William Burns (L) and MI6 Chief Richard Moore (R) said their agencies had “exploited our intelligence channels to push hard for restraint and de-escalation” in the Middle East.

In an opinion piece for the Financial Times (linked below), the two spymasters said a ceasefire in Israel’s Gaza war “could end the suffering and appalling loss of life of Palestinian civilians and bring home the hostages after 11 months of hellish confinement.”

Burns has been heavily involved in efforts to broker an end to the Israeli war, travelling to Egypt in August for high-level talks aimed at bringing about a captive release deal and at least a temporary halt to the conflict.Burns said ending the war would require “some hard choices and some political compromises” from both Israel and Hamas.

The US and the UK are both staunch allies of Israel, though London diverged from Washington by suspending some arms exports to Israel because of the risk they could be used to break international law.

Burns and Moore stressed the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship in the face of “an unprecedented array of threats,” including an assertive Russia, an ever-more powerful China, and the constant threat from international terrorism.

Nota Bene: When the two heads of Western intelligence make a public joint appeal, we should heed their good counsel. CIA and MI6 have access to a mountain of classified information A-to-Z about all the players and activities in the region derived from signals intercepts, HUMINT sources, satellite imagery, low-level informants, defectors, diplomatic cables, and simple wiretaps. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud Cabinet should heed this joint communique.

Sources:

Bill Burns and Richard Moore: Intelligence partnership helps the US and UK stay ahead in an uncertain world (ft.com)

Heads of the CIA and MI6 issue joint call for a ceasefire in Gaza – War on Gaza – War on Gaza – Ahram Online

Organized Crime Increasingly Uses Commercial, Cargo Flights to Move Drugs, Arms, Gold

According to a report by risk intelligence company Osprey Flight Solutions (OFS), transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) have been increasingly using commercial and cargo flights in Latin America to move drugs, arms, and gold. OFS analyzed post-incident alerts between Feb 2021 to Feb 2024 on the seizure of illicit goods with connections to the US, Europe, and Africa.

For example, on 4 Jul Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) arrested a Chinese citizen attempting to board a flight bound for Hong Kong with 17 gold bars in coffee bags. Following his arrest, the PF found that the man was involved in another similar seizure on 8 May with a kg of gold. In 2023, Colombian antinarcotics found 1.5 tons of cocaine inside a shipment of 57 boxes containing vegetables and apples in a cargo aircraft bound for the US.

Data shows that alerts generated at Latin American airports, in warehouses, and aboard aircraft, increased by 147 percent between 2021 and 2023, with the highest numbers in Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

Brazil recorded the highest number of seizures: 1,737. The incidents mainly had to do with gold and drug trafficking. According to the PF regarding drug seizures (cocaine, marijuana, skunk, ecstasy, amphetamine, and methamphetamine) at Brazilian airports, the amount jumped from 4.4 tons in 2021 to 9.8 tons in 2023, an increase of more than 120 percent.

Although the increase in alerts coincides with the return to normality of international flights, following the removal of COVID-19 travel restrictions, the data reflects greater international drug flow and demand.

Thiago Moreira de Souza Rodrigues, a security researcher from Fluminense Federal University in Rio de Janeiro says that “Global air traffic has grown a lot in the last three decades. So, surveillance, whether by radiometry, physical surveillance, dogs, in short, specialized personnel, is very complicated, always done by samples. Even if some drug shipments are seized, the volume that passes through is much greater than what is seized in the surveillance networks. In air traffic, although it is smaller and more spread out, shipments are multiplied by the large number of air routes and flows. If you take airports like the world’s major hubs, there are thousands of flights a week.”

TCOs use many methods to smuggle drugs and other illicit goods via air routes. Common tactics include placing goods in hidden compartments built into legal shipments, setting up export companies to conceal illegal shipments, corrupting airport authorities, and using smugglers who transport the goods on their flights.

“Since the golden age when drug trafficking began as a transnational economy, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, commercial air travel has always been used, and basically for the same reason, the link between airport employees on the ground, the logistical maintenance of the airport itself, the airlines, in short, the yield is so high that many people take the risk,” InSight Crime said in a report.

Mexico registered 700 alerts during the period studied, highlighting the flow of synthetic drugs via domestic flights from Culicán and Querétaro to cities on the US-Mexico border, such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez. Colombia, which came in third place with 488 alerts, recorded cocaine as the most common substance trafficked via air cargo through Bogotá, San Andrés Island, and on to Belgium, France, the UK, and Australia. Alerts at Colombian airports increased by 275 percent between Feb 2021 to Feb 2024.

According to the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC), only two percent of containers that travel around the world by air, sea, roads, and railways, are adequately inspected to detect contraband.

Sources:

Organized Crime Increasingly Uses Commercial, Cargo Flights to Move Drugs, Arms, Gold – Diálogo Américas (dialogo-americas.com)

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (unodc.org)

InSight Crime – Investigation and Analysis of Organized Crime

Indonesia Arrests Seven Over Pope Francis ‘Terror Threats’

A security detail of approximately 4,000 personnel, including snipers, soldiers, police and his personal security team of Swiss Guards, protected the Pope before he departed for the rest of his trip in Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. Roads around key sites were re-routed or closed.

Indonesia arrested seven people for making online “terror threats” against Pope Francis during his visit to the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country this week. The 87-year-old pontiff made Southeast Asia’s biggest economy the first stop of an arduous Asia-Pacific tour, delivering a message of religious unity to counter extremism and intolerance.

Indonesia’s elite counter-terrorism unit Densus 88 arrested the suspects in Jakarta, West Sumatra, and Bangka. They are accused of posting statements and images online that threatened bomb attacks on the pope’s public meetings in Jakarta.

The first Jesuit pontiff’s schedule had included visits to Southeast Asia’s biggest mosque, Jakarta’s cathedral, the presidential palace, and the national football stadium.

Fortunately, no serious terrorist plots were exposed. Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an al-Qaida-linked terror group, was rendered ineffective years ago. Ji was responsible for the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, the deadliest attacks in the country’s history.

In Papua New Guinea, a country that has struggled with tribal conflicts throughout its history, Pope Francis made a heartfelt appeal for peace. Earlier this year, 26 people were killed in a gunfight in Enga Province, a region that has been plagued by violence between tribal groups.

Sources:

Indonesia Arrests Seven Over Pope Francis ‘Terror Threats’ (hngn.com)

Pope Francis to Papua New Guinea: Protect nature, end tribal violence, embrace diversity | Catholic News Agency

Jemaah Islamiyah – Wikipedia

Missouri Reports First Confirmed Case of Avian Flu in Human; US Total Now 14

Missouri reported its first confirmed human case of bird flu in a person who reported no exposure to animals. The case brings the national total to 14 so far this year. The latest case in Missouri was in an adult with underlying medical conditions. He was hospitalized on 22 Aug and has since recovered.

“The patient has reported no exposure to animals,” the Missouri health department said. The information is preliminary and would require further investigation by health authorities.

The case of bird flu, also known as H5, was initially detected through the state’s normal influenza surveillance testing program. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also confirmed it to be a human case of the H5 subtype of flu.

Source:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/missouri-reports-first-human-case-bird-flu-in-state/story?id=113474247

Enlisted US Sailor Detained in Venezuela as Tensions Between the Two Countries Simmer

Undated photo of Venezuelan riot police detaining a protestor. Image: European Pressphoto Agency

An enlisted American sailor was detained by authorities in Venezuela and being held incommunicado. The sailor was “not authorized to travel, on official travel or approved leave” when he was detained. The State Department is working with the Venezuelan authorities to secure the sailor’s release.

The news of the sailor’s detention also comes just days after the Department of Justice announced the seizure of a private jet that was used by Venezuela’s leader, President Nicolás Maduro.

The sailor’s detention, which was first reported by CNN, seems to be the latest in a series of events that has showcased the growing tensions between the US and Venezuela. Those tensions have been building since Venezuela’s 28 July election between Maduro and Edmundo González, which officials from several countries say was stolen by Maduro.

The State Department has long warned US citizens not to travel to Venezuela, citing “a high risk of wrongful detention.”The travel warning also notes that Venezuela’s “security forces have detained US citizens for up to five years” and the US “is not generally notified of the detention of AMCITs in Venezuela or granted access to them.”

The unnamed sailor is just the latest in a string of service members to find themselves in the jail of a hostile nation after failing to heed travel warnings.

In May 2024, SSG Gordon Black was arrested in Russia and has been in prison there ever since. PVT Travis King drew international attention in July 2023 when he left a tour group and dashed across the Demilitarized Zone into North Korea, which detained him for about two months.

Source:

Enlisted US Sailor Detained in Venezuela as Tensions Between the 2 Countries Simmer | Military.com

US Egg Recall: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Illnesses in Nine States

A salmonella outbreak linked to eggs sold in Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois has resulted in 24 hospitalizations and 65 illnesses in nine states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The egg recall reported Friday applies to Milo’s Poultry Farms and Tony’s Fresh Market eggs including those labeled cage-free or organic.

Food recalls have reached a peak the US hasn’t approached since before the COVID-19 pandemic, an April report found. Recalled food products led to 1,100 sickened people and six dead in 2023, per the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.

People have been reported sick in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin, where most cases have been reported.

Symptoms of salmonella — including diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps — typically begin six hours to six days following infection, and most of those infected recover without treatment within a week. Children younger than five years, adults 65 years and older, and people with weakened immune systems may experience more severe illnesses that require medical treatment or hospitalization.

Sources:

Egg recall: Salmonella outbreak linked to illnesses in 9 states (axios.com)

Despite Warnings, Sarajevo Police Use Controversial Chinese-Made Body Cameras

Sarajevo police officers from the traffic unit wear Hytera body cams at a press event for the launch of the pilot program on 1 July. D/CIA William Burns recently visited Sarajevo and presumably advised his Bosnian counterpart of the perils associated with Chinese technology.

Amid a growing push for transparency, Sarajevo police have chosen to use body cameras from a controversial Chinese company that is under scrutiny in Canada and the EU and blacklisted in the US over national security concerns.

Despite those warnings, which also include charges from the US Justice Department of industrial espionage, the Sarajevo Canton’s Interior Ministry decided to purchase 200 police body cams in 2023 from Hytera, a partially state-owned Chinese manufacturer, for a pilot program launched on 1 July.

This local-level episode comes amid an evolving conversation across Europe over the use of Chinese telecommunications equipment in government programs. While the US has been the strictest — banning surveillance cameras and other equipment made by Chinese giants like Huawei, ZTE, Dahua, and Hikvision — European governments like Britain, Germany, France, and the Baltic states are also updating their procurement systems amid growing probes into security risks caused by Chinese firms.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere across the Balkans, budget-conscious governments have increasingly turned to affordable Chinese equipment with little public debate about the potential security implications.

In the case of the 200,000-euro ($222,000) sale of the police body cams — small video cameras worn by an officer to record arrests and provide evidence from crime scenes — Sarajevo Canton Interior Minister Admir Katica has not said publicly that the equipment is made by Hytera or that the company has been blacklisted in the US and is under increased scrutiny.

Unidentified Chinese military computer installation. Source: “Chinese Hackers Persist in Attacking US Networks” by Bill Gertz, 2 Oct 2012. Chinese intelligence services, including the MSS, have the manpower and computers to conduct massive worldwide surveillance and hack Western networks.

Sources:

Sarajevo Police Use Controversial Chinese-Made Body Cams, Despite Warnings (rferl.org)

https://www.fcc.gov/supplychain/coveredlist

American Warzone: Junior Sailor Fatally Shot in San Diego; Multiple People Shot Near Lexington, KY

18-year-old sailor Albert Lee Soto died Saturday after being shot in San Diego, according to the US Navy and police. He was assigned to the destroyer Pinckney. Police received reports at 12:49 a.m. of shots fired in San Diego’s East Village neighborhood, and a responding officer found Soto suffering from at least one gunshot wound. After CPR was administered at the scene, Soto was transported to a local hospital and died from his wounds shortly after.

Soto was involved in an altercation with a group of men inside a nearby nightclub before the shooting, but detectives have not confirmed whether the two incidents involving the sailor are related. The suspects in Soto’s shooting are described as four Black males wearing dark clothing who were last seen running eastbound on F Street.

Individuals with pertinent information are urged to contact the San Diego Police Department Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293 or Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477.

To the east, a manhunt is underway for 32-year-old Joseph A. Couch, suspected in shooting at least five people along Interstate 75 in a rural area south of Lexington, KY. All the victims are in stable condition. The Kentucky State Police urged people to stay indoors as the suspect is “armed and dangerous.”

Joseph A. Couch is “armed and dangerous.” (Imagery: NBC News)

State Firearms Data:

Kentucky: 108,833 firearms licenses reported; 54.6% of adults have firearms at home. In average year, 728 people die and 1,036 are wounded by guns in the Bluegrass State.

California: 406,360 firearms licenses reported; an estimated 28.3% of adults have guns in their homes. In an average year, 3,299 people die by guns in the Golden State.

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

Junior sailor fatally shot in San Diego (militarytimes.com)

Multiple people shot near Kentucky highway, ‘armed and dangerous’ person of interest ID’d (nbcnews.com)

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear says a shooting has occurred on Interstate 75 – Washington Times

4. California – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

British Four-Year-Old Heroine Uses Amazon Alexa to Save Mom During Epileptic Fit‌ ‌

Lyla Leathem with a trophy and certificate for helping her mother. (LEAH BIGGS VIA SWNS)

When her mother suffered an epileptic seizure on 25 Aug, quick-thinking Lyla Leathem ran upstairs and asked Alexa to call her great-grandmother after she was unable to unlock her mother’s phone. Lyla explained to her great-grandmother that her mother had “a big fit” in the night and bitten her tongue. Lyla’s great-grandmother then rushed over from her home and helped stay-at-home mother Leah Leathem. She was treated at her home and recovered.

Family members had previously shown Lyla how to use Alexa for phone calls as her mom often suffers from nocturnal seizures which can be “life-threatening.” But they had no idea the youngster had listened – until she was called into action.

Proud Leah Leathem with quick-thinking Lyla. (LEAH BIGGS VIA SWNS)

Sources:

4-Year-Old Hero Uses Amazon Alexa To Save Mom During Epileptic Fit‌ ‌ – MEA Magazine

IDF Kills US-Turkish Humanitarian in West Bank

Undated image of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.

A 26-year-old Turkish-American activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot in the head and killed during an anti-settlement protest near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The IDF admitted to firing at the demonstrators and has not said if any other gunmen were present.

She was shot during a weekly demonstration against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Beita. Eyewitnesses and Palestinian officials said the Israeli military was responsible.

The IDF stated its forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.” It said that it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area.”

Protests at Beita are common. The Palestinian town is next to a ramshackle Israeli settler outpost known as Evyatar. The settlement was unauthorized by the Israeli state until it was legalized earlier this year. All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.

Eygi was volunteering in the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the same group as Rachel Corrie (23), a US citizen who was killed in 2003 while trying to block an Israeli bulldozer from razing Palestinian homes. (Getty Images)

In 2012, IDF Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner smashed the face of an unarmed activist named Andaers in the West Bank with his US-made M16 rifle. His expression looks like contempt. This protestor can consider himself lucky just to be alive.

Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah and the UN, who have called for a full investigation of Aysenur’s killing.

Sources:

Aysenur Eygi: US activist killed after Israeli military fires at protest in West Bank | CNN

Aysenur Ezgi Eygi: UN urges inquiry into killing of US-Turkish protester in West Bank (bbc.com)

Massachusetts Physician Sentenced Nine Months for Punching Police Officer During 6 Jan Attack

A medical doctor who punched a police officer during a mob’s attack on the US Capitol was sentenced to nine months of imprisonment followed by nine months of home confinement. Jacquelyn Starer (70) was inside the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021 when she struck the officer with a closed fist and shouted a profane insult.

Jacquelyn Starer told US District Judge Timothy Kelly that she isn’t proud of her actions that day, including her “regrettable encounter” with the officer. “I accept full responsibility for my actions that day, and I truly wish reason had prevailed over my emotions,” she said.

Starer also turned to apologize to the officer whom she assaulted. The officer, identified only by her initials in court filings, told the judge she feared for her life as she and other officers fought for hours to defend the Capitol from the mob of Donald Trump supporters. “Do you really take responsibility for your actions or are you just going to say: ‘It wasn’t my fault. Fight or flight’?” the officer asked Starer before she addressed the court.

Starer of Ashland, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in April to eight counts, including a felony assault charge. Starer’s attorneys asked the judge to sentence her to home confinement instead of incarceration.

In the 43 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,488 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the attack on the US Capitol, including nearly 550 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Sources:

District of Columbia | Massachusetts Woman Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

https://www.yahoo.com/news/physician-sentenced-9-months-prison-214655876.html

US Sees Increasing Risk of Sabotage of Key Undersea Cables by Secretive Russian Military Unit

The USIC has detected increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables and assesses Russia may now be more likely to carry out potential sabotage operations aimed at disabling a critical piece of the world’s communications infrastructure. Russia has been building up a dedicated military unit called the “General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research,” or GUGI.

“We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia’s decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing,” a US official told CNN. “Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines, and naval drones.”

The US and NATO regularly tracks Russian ships that patrol close to critical maritime infrastructure and undersea cables often far from Russian shores.

Undersea cables form a critical backbone of internet and telecommunications traffic around the world. Most communications and internet traffic travels across a vast network of high-speed fiber-optic cables installed along the ocean floor. A coordinated attack could significantly disrupt private, government and military communications along such cables as well as industries that rely on such communications, including financial markets and energy suppliers. Undersea cables also carry vast amounts of electricity among several European countries.

Commanders aboard a NATO patrol vessel in April 2023 told CNN they had witnessed an increase of military surveillance over undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and the waters around Northern Europe.

Last year, a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland found that Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in northern European waters for potential sabotage of both undersea cables and wind farms. Using data analysis, intercepted radio communications, and intelligence sources, the broadcasters tracked over several years some fifty ships operating in the area, using underwater surveillance to map sites for potential attacks.

Taiwanese and US intelligence have observed similar activity by the Chinese Navy in waters around Taiwan. “The activity looks like targeted harassment by Beijing – or an exercise in preparation for cutting off the whole of Taiwan,” Elisabeth Braw wrote in Foreign Policy magazine in February 2023.

Russia’s covert naval program has not been disrupted by its ongoing war against Ukraine, continuing to fund GUGI even while waging war in Ukraine. Sabotage of US or allied undersea infrastructure would be a significant escalation in Russian aggression outside of Ukraine.

Sources:

Exclusive: US sees increasing risk of Russian ‘sabotage’ of key undersea cables by secretive military unit (yahoo.com)

To Secure Undersea Cables, Take Lessons from the British Empire’s All-Red Line | Proceedings – July 2024 Vol. 150/7/1,457 (usni.org)

Pakistani Accused of Plotting to Kill Jews in NYC on Behalf of Islamic State

The lone unarmed suspect was arrested by an army of police officers Wednesday in the town of Ormstown, Quebec, 60 km south of Montreal. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan is described as a Pakistani citizen residing in Toronto.

A Pakistani citizen living in Canada has been charged with planning an attack in NYC in support of the Islamic State group. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan AKA Shahzeb Jadoon (20) is accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center around 7 Oct 2024, the first anniversary of the Gaza War. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Khan aimed to kill “as many Jewish people as possible” in the name of Islamic State. Khan attempted to travel from Canada to the US but was arrested on 4 Sep before reaching the border. He had told two undercover law enforcement officers of his plans to create “a real offline cell” of Islamic State supporters to carry out an attack.

The suspect, who was unarmed when arrested in Canada, requested the undercover officers to acquire AR-style rifles, ammunition, and other equipment for the NYC attack, including hunting knives in order to slit throats.

There is no information regarding Muhammad Shahzeb Khan’s mental faculties or whether he has any military or firearms training in order to carry out this extraordinary mega-attack with accomplices whom he has never personally met.

A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Pakistani National Charged for Plotting Terrorist Attack in New York City in Support of ISIS | United States Department of Justice

Pakistani Accused Of Plotting To Kill Jews In New York On Behalf Of Islamic State (rferl.org)

Locals Accuse Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump of ‘Taking What is Ours’ for Billion Dollar Resort Project in Albania

Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump, daughters of former US President Donald Trump, look on during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on 18 July 2024 in Milwaukee, WI. The land they plan on developing in Albania is subject to several disputes. (Getty Images)

Local residents in Albania are accusing Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump of attempting to take land away from them for two luxury resort projects.

The daughter and son-in-law of former President Donald Trump are looking to invest almost $1bn in the area. Kushner previously announced his plans to build a hotel and a number of beach villas on a part of land that has been farmed by an Albanian family for generations but which was seized from them after the end of the Communist regime in 1991, according to The New York Times.

“They are trying to take from us what is ours,” Bledar Alexandros Konomi told the paper. Konomi used to help take care of cattle on the part of the mainland where Kushner now wants to build a hotel. His claim to the land is supported by court records. Kushner is also seeking exclusive development rights on the small island of Sazan, where the Soviet Union stored military supplies during the Cold War.

2024 CIA World Factbook

A second bid to develop the island was submitted by Albanian-American developer Evi Kokalari-Angelakis. When her proposal to the Albanian government was disregarded, she insinuated the regime wants to ingratiate themselves with the former president in the event he returns to the White House in January.

Opposition party member in the Albanian parliament Agron Shehaj said the process of choosing a developer had lacked transparency, which “makes it look like this is a private deal that is in the political interest of the prime minister of Albania.”

Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kushner both rejected the notion that the former president had anything to do with the development process.

“The fact that such a renowned American entrepreneur shows his interest on investing in Albania makes us very proud and happy,” said a spokesperson for the prime minister. “It shows on another level to the US and the world that there is a new rising star in the beautiful Mediterranean world of tourism named Albania.”

“We have this 1,400-acre island in the Mediterranean and we’re bringing in the best architects and the best brands,” Ivanka Trump said on the Lex Fridman Podcast earlier this summer.

The projects on the Albanian coastline are not connected to the Trump Organization, which is partly owned by Trump, and it will not be linked to the Trump name.

Jared Kushner established an investment company called Affinity Partners, which is supported mostly by funds coming from the Saudi Arabian government. Over the years, Saudi NGOs built 200 mosques in Albania and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia donated one million copies of an Albanian-language version of the Quran.

A University of Cincinnati professor of statistics said it’s “very obvious that a big corruption scheme is going on.”

On the mainland, villagers in Zvernec, near the site where one of the projects is planned, have notified Kushner that they claim to own the land, which is subject to several disputes.

Source:

Locals accuse Jared and Ivanka Trump of ‘taking what is ours’ for billion-dollar resort project in Albania | The Independent (the-independent.com)

US-Iraq Deal Would See Hundreds of Soldiers Withdraw by Sep 2025

The US and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq. Hundreds of troops would leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026. The US and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some US forces remain in Iraq after the drawdown. The US has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Islamic State as it rampaged through the two countries. The group once held roughly a third of Iraq and Syria but was territorially defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Iraq had demonstrated its ability to handle any remaining threat.

The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on US forces stationed at Iraqi bases. The rocket and drone attacks have killed three American troops and wounded dozens more, resulting in several rounds of deadly US retaliation that threatened government efforts to stabilize Iraq after decades of conflict.

Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025. US and other coalition troops are expected to remain in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region, for approximately one additional year, until around the end of 2026, to facilitate ongoing operations against Islamic State in Syria.

In other news, Switzerland reopened its embassy in Baghdad, 33 years after closing its previous representation due to the 1991 Gulf War. By reopening the embassy, the Swiss Federal Council aims to strengthen bilateral relations with the populous country and deepen cooperation in economic, security, and migration matters

Sources:

US-Iraq deal would see hundreds of troops withdraw in first year, sources say (voanews.com)

Swiss embassy in Baghdad reopens (admin.ch)

12 Students Hospitalized, One Dead from Unidentified Cause in Northern Vietnam

Two hospitals have been tasked with uncovering the cause of the death of a student from Thai Nguyen Industrial College in northern Vietnam and the hospitalization of 12 others.

All 13 victims had developed fevers, headaches, stomach aches, and nausea, with the cause still unknown. The deceased student was diagnosed with multi-organ failure, acute heart failure, myocarditis, and hepatitis B. One student is in a critical condition and on a ventilator. The ten remaining students are in stable condition.

The two hospitals were ordered to identify appropriate treatments for the patients and control the infection, if any, to minimize the number of people likely to catch the disease.

Source:

12 students hospitalized, 1 dead from unidentified cause in northern Vietnam | Tuoi Tre News

Lioness Rescued in Ukraine from a Tiny Cage Tentatively Walks on Grass for First Time

A UK animal rescue charity evacuated two lionesses from Ukraine and one has just been filmed taking her first steps on grass. Yuna the lioness had never felt grass beneath her paws, having been raised in captivity in a small concrete enclosure. She had been traumatized long before the Russian invasion.

In concert with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England, organized the retrieval and air transport of the lionesses out of Ukraine in a 30-hour operation.

Yuna safely arrived at a 32-acre facility in Kent, and another lioness was delivered to a similar sanctuary in Belgium. Fundraising and preparations are underway to rescue another three lionesses from Kyiv.

Source:

The Good News Network and YouTube

US Charges Former Trump 2016 Campaign Adviser Dimitri Simes for Working with Sanctioned Russian Media

Undated image of Dmitri Simes.

The US government has charged a Russian-born US citizen and former adviser to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign with working for a sanctioned Russian state television network and laundering the proceeds. Dimitri Simes (76) and his wife allegedly received over $1 million dollars and a personal car and driver in exchange for work they did for Russia’s Channel One. The state television network was sanctioned by the US in 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Simes and his wife, Anastasia (55), have a home in Virginia and are believed to be in Russia. Simes ran a think tank based in Washington that advised Trump’s campaign.

A second indictment alleges that Anastasia Simes (55) received funds from sanctioned Russian oligarch Alexander Udodov. If convicted of the charges, the two face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

TV Presenter Who Worked for Channel One Russia Charged with Violating U.S. Sanctions Imposed on Russia

https://apnews.com/article/trump-simes-russia-election-fbi-f0b0fe681c821f735c4e951736f041c8

US Indicts Six Russian Hackers for Attacking Ukrainian and US Computer Systems

This image released by the US State Department shows Russian military officers charged for allegedly conducting cyberattacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the Russian invasion.

A grand jury in Maryland has charged six Russians, including five who are officers in Russia’s military intelligence agency (GRU), with conspiracy to hack into computer systems and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The indictment, unsealed on 5 Sep, alleges that the Russians conspired to hack into computer systems associated with the Ukrainian government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Their original targets included Ukrainian government systems and data with no military or defense-related roles and later included computer systems in countries around the world that were providing support to Ukraine, including in the US. The whereabouts of the men are unknown, and the State Department has issued a reward for information leading to their arrest.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Five Russian GRU Officers and One Civilian Charged for Conspiring to Hack Ukrainian Government | United States Department of Justice

US widens indictment of Russians in ‘WhisperGate’ conspiracy to destroy Ukrainian and NATO systems | AP News

China’s Consul General in NY Departs After Aide Charged with Acting as Agent for Chinese Government

The State Dept reported that Huang Ping was not expelled, but had rather reached the end of a regularly scheduled rotation and departed his post at the end of August.

China’s consul general in New York departed after a former aide for New York governors Kathy Hochul and Andrew Cuomo was charged with acting as an agent for the Chinese government.

“I have conveyed my desire to have the counsel general from the People’s Republic of China and the New York mission expelled, and I’ve been informed that the counsel general is no longer in the New York mission,” Hochul said during an off-topic portion of an unrelated press conference. The governor was on the phone with a high-ranking State Department official at the request of Antony Blinken. He was later identified as Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of State.

Hochul’s announcement comes after Linda Sun, a former deputy chief of staff to Hochul and Cuomo aide, was charged with violating and conspiring to violate the Foreign Agents Registrations Act, visa fraud, alien smuggling and money laundering conspiracy.

If Huang Ping was not expelled, Beijing won’t reciprocate by expelling a US diplomat from China.

Beijing has presented the USIC and federal law-enforcement with a complex and challenging counterintelligence threat that will not go away any time soon. The USIC has also been dealing with nefarious Russian espionage and election interference attempts and the FBI must spend precious resources investigating dead-ender 6 Jan insurrectionists that were allegedly inspired by then-President Donald Trump.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/04/us/china-consul-general-ny-expelled/index.html

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/chinese-consulate-says-envoy-not-162531466.html

German Police Kill Gunman in Shootout Near Israeli Consulate in Munich

(Image Credit: X/Hans92183466101)

German police shot dead an Austrian gunman in Munich close to the Israeli consulate. The 18-year-old man fired shots from an old carbine rifle with a bayonet in Munich’s Maxvorstadt district, near both the consulate and a Nazi history museum, before being killed in a shootout with five officers.

The incident occurred on the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 attack at the Munich Olympics in which Palestinian militants killed 11 Israeli athletes. “There may be a connection between the two,” Bavarian state Premier Markus Soeder told reporters, adding that this was being investigated.

The teenage gunman was already known to Austrian authorities for alleged membership in an extremist group.

The use of lethal force in Germany is rare. Since 1952, German law-enforcement personnel have killed a total of 529 people; between 1961 and 1989, perhaps 140 people were killed by East German security services at the infamous Berlin Wall.

German police will be unable to interrogate the corpse of this 18-year-old suspect and will have to speculate as to his motivation for the attack. As long as injustices and brutality continue against Palestinians or Arabs, Western intelligence services should expect more lone actor attacks or IS-inspired plots against soft civilian targets like the Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna or the recent stabbing spree in Solingen, Germany. That attack left three people dead and eight injured. The suspect, a young Syrian asylum seeker, was taken alive and will be thoroughly interrogated and prosecuted.

Sources:

German police kill suspected Islamist gunman in shootout near Israeli consulate | Reuters

List of killings by law enforcement officers in Germany – Wikipedia

The East German secret police and the Berlin Wall – DW – 08/12/2021

Suspect in custody after stabbing spree in Germany killed three people – ABC News

Greta Thunberg Detained by Danish Police at pro-Palestinian Demonstration: “Protests Should Be Everywhere.”

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (C) participates in a march from the University of Copenhagen to Vor Frue Square in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 4 Sep 2024. (EMIL HELMS via Getty Images)

Danish police detained activist Greta Thunberg (21) at a Copenhagen University protest against the war in Gaza and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. The activist was part of a group occupying a University of Copenhagen building to call for an academic boycott of Israeli universities. Thunberg was later released from detention and the daily Ekstra Bladet showed video footage of her walking out of a police station.

Students Against the Occupation posted on Instagram that “while the situation in Palestine only gets worse, the University of Copenhagen continues cooperation with academic institutions in Israel.”

Widely known for her campaign to end man-made climate change, Swedish-born Greta Thunberg has increasingly taken up the Palestinian cause and in May said such protests “should be everywhere”.

Since last spring, pro-Palestinian protesters have set up encampments at universities around the US and Europe to demonstrate against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and the occupation of Palestinian territories. The IDF have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and injured at least 94,398 others, according to Al Jazeera’s tracker of the conflict.

A UN special rapporteur on human rights said earlier this year that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israel’s military offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide. The International Criminal Court (ICC) indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes, but his arrest warrant has inexplicably not been issued yet.

Insensitive bloggers, on supposedly liberal websites in the US, have already began robotically demonizing defenseless Greta Thunberg for daring to protest Western complicity in what US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) described in April 2024 as “ethnic cleansing.”

“It is not antisemitic to oppose Israel’s US-backed massacre of over 33,000 Palestinians. I don’t think there’s any doubt that what Netanyahu is doing now, displacing 80 percent of the population in Gaza, is ethnic cleansing.”

Greta Thunberg and those Danish students agree with you, Senator.

Sources:

Greta Thunberg arrested at pro-Palestinian protest in Denmark (lemonde.fr)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/greta-thunberg-detained-by-danish-police-at-pro-palestinian-protest/ar-AA1pZ4CB?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=EDGEXST&cvid=051174ff722246fb9930b3a85efd7a76&ei=27

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2024/09/04/greta-thunberg-arrested-at-pro-palestinian-protest-in-denmark_6724752_4.html

Sanders: It Is Not Antisemitic to Oppose Israel’s Assault of Gaza | Truthout

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx88l499vero

New Hampshire Man Tests Positive for EEE and Two Other Mosquito Viruses Fighting for His Life

Joe Casey. (Family photo)

A New Hampshire man is fighting for his life because of a mosquito bite. Fifty-four-year-old Joe Casey of Kensington has tested positive for three mosquito-borne viruses, including eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), West Nile Virus, and St. Louis Encephalitis

Casey started to feel sick back in early August. He now has swelling in the brain and is barely able to communicate at Exeter Hospital.

Last week, 41-year-old Steven Perry of Hampstead, N.H., died after contracting EEE.

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services said Kensington has had at least one mosquito pool test positive for EEE. The town has sent out postcards notifying residents and the threat level has been raised to high.

This is another danger that global climate change is causing. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports current and future climate will affect mosquito and parasite biology, but that “temperature is not the only driver of change.” Other environmental factors include rainfall, humidity, land use, and human population density.

To avoid mosquito bites, people must cover up their skin, use mosquito repellant, and avoid being out from dusk to dawn. Leave dragonflies and spiders alone, as they help catch virus-spreading mosquitoes.

Sources:

New Hampshire man tests positive for EEE and 2 other mosquito viruses, now fighting for life – CBS Boston (cbsnews.com)

Researchers Discuss Impact of Climate Change on Mosquito-Borne Diseases | NIH Record

North Korea Launches More Trash-filled Balloons Across Border

North Korea resumed launching hundreds of trash-filled balloons into the South. 20 balloons carrying paper and plastic bottles fell in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, with no hazardous substances detected. (File Photo by Yonhap)

The South Korean High Command confirmed that North Korea had launched more than 420 garbage balloons across the border with South Korea, continuing its latest nuisance campaign for the second day in a row. While Beijing launches sophisticated spy balloons against the West, Pyongyang launches petty balloons filled with garbage and manure against her southern neighbor.

This marked the first time in 25 days that North Korea has launched the balloons, ramping up the back-and-forth Cold War-style psychological warfare that has emerged along border areas in recent months. North Korea has conducted 13 rounds of launches since early June, sending thousands of balloons carrying scrap paper, shredded clothing, and manure into the South — including one that spilled trash on South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s compound.

In response, South Korea started propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts near the DMZ in mid-July, blasting K-pop songs and South Korean news and information. The broadcasts reportedly call for soldiers working in border areas to escape and include news of the defection of a North Korean diplomat from Cuba last year. South Korea’s military claims the speakers can be heard as far as 15 miles away.

A pair of North Koreans, including one soldier, defected across the inter-Korean border on two separate occasions last month, prompting speculation that the broadcasts may be having an impact. The balloon launches come as US and South Korean officials held high-level talks in Washington. The US and South Korea are also currently staging a 13-day military amphibious landing exercise and the allies concluded their annual summertime Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercise last week.

Pyongyang frequently condemns the joint drills as preparation for an invasion and maintains that its own nuclear and weapons programs are a necessary form of deterrence.

Source:

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/09/05/north-korea-trash-balloons-dmz-launch-border/4631725522632/

Dangerous Pennsylvania Man Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan 2021 Capitol Attack

Joshua Lee Atwood (31) of Burgettstown, PA, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Atwood traveled from his home in Burgettstown to Washington, D.C., to attend the 6 Jan 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall. After the rally, Atwood made his way toward the US Capitol building and arrived at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel, the site of some of the most violent attacks against law enforcement that day. Atwood observed law enforcement officers actively attempting to prevent members of the crowd from entering the building.

Atwood climbed into the Capitol building through a broken window next to the Tunnel and entered into a Senate room near the Lower West Terrace exterior doors. Atwood exited the building and joined the mob gathered around the Tunnel entrance, which law enforcement officers were actively defending. Atwood started throwing several objects at officers in the Tunnel, including a plastic bottle and a metal pole, both of which struck police officers.

The defendant then picked up a wooden pole and used it to forcibly strike at the riot shields of officers, struck an officer’s helmet, then threw the pole at the USCP. Next, Atwood drew a canister of pepper spray and continuously sprayed the police until the canister was depleted, which he then threw at police. This maniac then hurled additional items at the police, including a baseball bat and a plastic bottle.

Atwood then used a police riot shield to strike at officers guarding the Tunnel. When striking police with the riot shield, Atwood yelled, “F— off, you guys are all pieces of s—”, and “Everyone of you should be ashamed of yourself. Everyone of you m—f—are pieces of s—. Betraying your country like this, why would you betray your country. Do you love your country, or do you want civil…communist f—.”

Shortly after, the defendant picked up a metal scaffolding pipe and threw it at police which bounced off a riot shield and struck another officer in the head and neck. Moments later, Atwood picked up a heavy black speaker and threw it toward the USCP. The FBI arrested Atwood on 17 April 2024, in Pennsylvania.

This dangerous member of America’s “Fedayeen Saddam” (FS), dead-ender white supremacists, has been in custody since his arrest and will be sentenced on 20 Dec 2024. Remarkably, this miscreant is reportedly the owner of an HVAC company and the father of two children, with a third on the way.

In the 43 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,488 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including nearly 550 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/pennsylvania-man-pleads-guilty-assaulting-law-enforcement-dangerous-weapon-during-jan-6

https://triblive.com/local/regional/federal-judge-keeps-accused-jan-6-rioter-from-burgettstown-behind-bars-pending-trial/

Ukraine Names Career Diplomat Andrii Sybiha as New Foreign Minister in Government Shake-Up

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on 5 Sep 2024. Photo: Ukrainian Parliament Press Office.

Ukrainian lawmakers appointed Andrii Sybiha (49) as the country’s new foreign minister in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s reshuffling of his top advisers. He replaces Dmytro Kuleba, who had been instrumental in lobbying Ukraine’s Western allies for military assistance for Ukraine’s 30-month fight against Russia’s invasion.

Sybiha, who speaks English and Polish, has been the deputy foreign minister and had also served as ambassador to Turkey. He is considered to be closer to Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, than Kuleba, who is the most prominent departure from Zelenskyy’s list of top officials.

While Kuleba’s diplomatic skills were acknowledged, his removal was part of a bid by Zelenskyy to exert a tighter grip on foreign policy, Ukrainian sources suggested. A source in Zelenskyy’s party said the presidency had been growing frustrated with Kuleba:

“He was giving interviews, speaking beautifully, going on trips, this handkerchief in his jacket. … He was engaged in self-promotion, instead of improving the work of embassies, working systematically on countries and getting their support.”

Zelenskyy, when asked about the rationale for his government shake-up, told reporters, “We need new energy. And these steps are related to strengthening our state in various areas.”

Ukraine’s parliament also approved new nominations for several other posts, naming two new vice prime ministers and six other new ministers.

On the battle front, Ukraine’s military shot down 60 of 78 Russian drones that targeted regions across the country. In Kherson, officials reported Russian strikes that hit two medical facilities and injured two people. Russian forces struck an educational institution in Poltava, but there was no information about casualties. Russia’s defense ministry said it destroyed a rocket and two Ukrainian aerial drones over the Belgorod region, injuring one person and damaging a home. Russian air defenses also shot down three drones over the Kursk region and two drones over Bryansk.

Source:

Ukraine names career diplomat Andrii Sybiha as new foreign minister (voanews.com)

Sumatran Tiger Cub Born at San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance announced the birth of a baby Sumatran tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

The alliance said first-time mother Jillian gave birth to a cub 23 Aug in the park’s Tull Family Tiger Trail habitat. Care specialists said Jillian quickly bonded with the newborn and has been displaying the expected maternal behaviors.

“We are thrilled at the birth of this very special tiger cub at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park,” said Lisa Peterson, senior vice president and executive director of the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. “This birth adds Jillian’s incredibly important genes into the pool of the population, furthering the genetic diversity and health of the Sumatran tiger species.”

Sumatran tigers are considered critically endangered, with only 400-600 of the big cats believed to live in the wild. Officials said the mother and cub will remain in their den for the next few weeks while specialists continue to monitor the duo and their milestones.

Animal lovers can “adopt” a tiger at the International Tiger Project, linked below.

Sources:

Watch: Sumatran tiger cub born at San Diego Zoo – UPI.com

https://www.internationaltigerproject.org/adopt/

Coriolanus

Informed analysis on global affairs and intelligence matters

Author: Coriolanus

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US Charges Former Trump 2016 Campaign Adviser Dimitri Simes for Working with Sanctioned Russian Media