Human Rights Watch (HRW): Israel Using Water as Weapon of War Against Palestinians in Gaza Strip

Palestinians struggling to collect drinkable water in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. (Photo: Hatem Khaled / Reuters)

Calling it an “act of genocide,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports that since October 2023 Israeli authorities have deliberately obstructed Palestinians’ access to the adequate amount of clean water required for survival in the Gaza Strip. Full report with graphs and photos linked at bottom.

“If we can’t find drinkable water, we drink the sea water,” a displaced Palestinian father testified to HRW. “It happened to me many times when I had to drink the sea water. You don’t understand how much we are suffering.”

Moreover, for years ecologists have accused Israel of using sewage as a weapon against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to spread disease and misery. See report linked at bottom.

A Gaza residential street is inundated by sewage. (Photo: Rosa Schiano / International Solidarity Movement)

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours the IDF killed 32 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including children, and at least four in the Tulkarem refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians mourn over the body of loved ones killed after an IDF strike at Al-Ahli Arab hospital (AKA the Baptist Hospital) in Gaza City. (Photo: Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

During this 14-month pogrom, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that a minimum of 45,129 Palestinians have been killed and 107,338 wounded or maimed, including non-combatant women and children. The number of deaths is likely to be far higher as many bodies are believed to remain buried underneath the rubble across the devastated Strip. The IDF claims that 17,000 of the deceased were militants. The retribution ratio for the 7 Oct 2023 raid that killed 1,200 Israelis is 40:1. The 250 innocent Israelis were seized to conduct a prisoner swap for any number of the thousands of Palestinians being held incommunicado without trial or hearing in security detention by the IDF. See full report linked at bottom.

This week Amnesty International projected “End Gaza Genocide” on the EU HQ building in 24 languages similar to this:

In a report released earlier this month, Amnesty International concluded that Israel’s devastating war on Gaza meets the legal threshold for genocide. Apologists for the brutal Likud regime have feebly attempted to parse the language of this damning report, but as the Immortal Bard wrote: “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

Amnesty has called on EU leaders meeting to halt all arms transfers to Israel, ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements, and ensure justice and accountability for Israeli crimes.

(The above photo courtesy of the Washington Post was verified as genuine by snopes.com)

The avuncular-looking Avi Dichter must have heard your plea, young lady.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter (Likud) said: “We’re rolling out Nakba 2023.” (Photo: Abir Sultan / Flash90)

The IDF certainly has, Sir.

Is Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague, Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman, the government of Ireland, or US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) incapable of describing ethnic cleansing or genocide– or are they antisemitic for calling out the patently and blazingly obvious? Are people all over the world blind?

Fortunately, not everyone in the world is blind to suffering.

For years, the US Democratic Party position for peace in the Middle East was based on crafting a Two-State Solution. The Likud Party’s interests are antithetical to that of the US Democratic Party. Not paying attention to the American peace movement cost Kamala Harris the White House in 2024.

That any world leader takes Benjamin Netanyahu’s telephone call or wants to be photographed next to him absolutely staggers the imagination.

Sources:

https://www.hrw.org/report/2024/12/19/extermination-and-acts-genocide/israel-deliberately-depriving-palestinians-gaza

https://theecologist.org/2013/nov/02/gaza-sewage-weapon-war

https://archive.is/xnHsM

https://www.un.org/unispal/document/anatomy-of-a-genocide-report-of-the-special-rapporteur-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-in-the-palestinian-territory-occupied-since-1967-to-human-rights-council-advance-unedited-version-a-hrc-55/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/a79363-report-special-committee-investigate-israeli-practices-affecting

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-11-12/ty-article/israeli-security-cabinet-member-calls-north-gaza-evacuation-nakba-2023/0000018b-c2be-dea2-a9bf-d2be7b670000

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/12/19/live-israel-kills-14-in-northern-gaza-as-it-continues-to-deny-un-access

https://amnesty.ca/human-rights-news/israel-opt-horrifying-cases-of-torture-and-degrading-treatment-of-palestinian-detainees-amid-spike-in-arbitrary-arrests/

https://www.snopes.com/

Ukraine/Russia Update

Janis Timma in an undated photo (Credit: Getty)

The body of Latvian basketball star Janis Timma was found after he reportedly fell from a Moscow apartment complex.

The 32-year-old, who played for teams like Zenit Saint Petersburg and Orlando Magic, was discovered in the stairway of a high-rise building on his ex-wife Anna Sedokova’s birthday.

The NBA ace had recently faced backlash when he announced his intention to play professionally in Putin’s Russia despite his brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Janis Timma told Latvian outlet LSM in Oct 2024:

 “It’s something interesting to me. I thought why not give it a try?”

Popular Ukrainian singer and actress Anna Sedokova was pictured crying after learning of her ex-husband’s completely unexpected demise in Putin’s Russia. (Credit: Instagram)

The preliminary cause of the young athlete’s death with his whole life and career ahead of him was ruled as a suicide.

Most likely thanks to the UK, Ukraine will have a new weapon to fight Russia.

A Ukrainian commander revealed the existence of the weapon, called “Tryzub,” during a defence conference on Monday.

Colonel Vadym Sukharevskyi, who commands Kiev’s unmanned forces, said Ukraine was only the fifth country to have an operational laser.

Ukrainian troops will use the laser to shoot drones and planes out of the sky (Photo: Reuters)

“As of now, we can use this laser to shoot down aircraft at altitudes of over two kms.”

Tryzub is the name of the golden trident on Ukraine’s coat of arms and is the symbol of the country. Ukraine developed the weapon most likely with help from the UK which designed the DragonFire DEW system.

Former UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps suggested in Apr 2024 the UK’s laser weapon DragonFire could be sent to Ukraine.

Finally and as expected, North Korean soldiers have become expendable “cannon fodder” for Vladimir Putin and the Russians are trying to cover it up.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says this blurred image from a video shows Russians burning the face of a dead North Korean soldier. (Volodymyr Zelensky’s official Telegram channel)

At least 100 North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia have been killed, with nearly 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region, according to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). The high casualties were attributed to the troops’ inexperience with drones and unfamiliar terrain.

A language barrier is hurting enemy efforts as well. North Korean soldiers opened fire on the vehicles of the so-called Akhmat battalion resulting in eight dead Kadyrovites (Chechens loyal to Ramzan Kadyrov). In military terms this is called “fratricide.”

North Korea has reportedly sent over 10,000 soldiers and significant artillery supplies to aid Russia’s war effort against Ukraine which neither Russia nor North Korea have officially confirmed.

Despite the reported losses, intelligence suggests North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is training additional troops for deployment. Experts say Kim is keen to acquire advanced technology from Russia and gain battle experience for his troops. Kim Jong-un will also neatly pocket the monthly $2,200 salary of each North Korean soldier sent to die for Russia.

A screenshot of an image released by the Ukrainian drone warfare unit Magyar’s Birds. The unit said it shows the bodies of North Korean soldiers killed in the Kursk region. Part of the image has been blurred by RFA. (Magyar’s Birds)

Sources:

https://www.the-sun.com/sport/13108326/basketball-star-janis-timma-dead/

https://www.the-sun.com/news/13119788/ukraine-laser-gun-drones-trident/

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-zelenskyy-wants-strong-trump-on-our-side/live-71103227

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2024/12/16/north-korea-ukraine-russia-casulaties/

https://www.rfa.org/english/korea/2024/12/17/north-korean-soldier-video-russia-12172024/

German Chancellor Scholz Loses No Confidence Vote Ahead of February Elections

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks on the day of a confidence vote called by him to pave way for snap election, at lower house of parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, 16 Dec 2024. Herr Scholz is no Frau Merkel. (Photo: © Liesa Johannssen / Reuters)

394 Bundestag deputies voted against Scholz while only 207 expressed confidence in the chancellor, with 116 abstentions.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier can now move to dissolve the legislature and formally declare the agreed 23 Feb 2025 election date.

Friedrich Merz – the top candidate of the conservative CDU-CSU opposition alliance of ex-chancellor Angela Merkel – is well ahead in opinion polls.

The political contest comes at a time when Europe’s top economy is struggling to revive its stuttering export-led industrial sector amid high energy prices and tough competition from China. Berlin also faces major geopolitical challenges as it confronts Russia over the Ukraine war and as Donald Trump’s looming return to the White House heightens uncertainty over NATO and trade ties.

Germany’s political turmoil comes as France has also been roiled by crisis and gridlock which saw President Emmanuel Macron asking centrist politician François Bayrou to try to form a new government.

German politics in the post-war era was long staid, stable and dominated by the two parties, the CDU-CSU and the SPD, with the small FDP often playing kingmaker.

The Greens emerged in the 1980s, but the political landscape has been further fragmented over the past decade by the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), a shock for a country whose dark World War II history had long made far-right parties taboo.

Formed as a Eurosceptic fringe party, the AfD grew into a major political force when it protested against Merkel’s open-door policy to migrants, and now has around 18 percent voter support.

(Map: Courtesy of BBC)

While other parties have committed to a “firewall” of non-cooperation with the AfD, some of them have borrowed from its anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric. Following the fall of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, some CDU lawmakers were quick to demand that the around one million Syrian refugees in Germany return to their home country.

The winter election is all the more heated as it comes at a time “the German model is in crisis,” said Berlin-based political scientist Claire Demesmay of Sciences Po Paris.

According to Demesmay, Germany’s prosperity “was built on cheap energy imported from Russia, on a security policy outsourced to the USA, and on exports and subcontracting to China.”

NATO members Germany, France, and Canada are experiencing political unrest and doubts for the future which is music to the Kremlin’s ears as Vladimir Putin wants to undermine America, NATO, and the EU.  In no surprising move, Elon Musk posted the following message:

“Only the AfD can save Germany.” 

 AfD Neo-Nazis Spent Election Day at Mar a Lago. The tall man on the left is a reputed porn star. (Image: Social media)

Source:

German Chancellor Scholz loses no confidence vote ahead of February elections

Twelve People Found Dead Inside Restaurant at Popular Ski Resort

Twelve people were found dead inside an Indian restaurant at a popular ski resort in the Caucasus Mountains of Georgia, apparently all employees.

The Mtskheta-Mtianeti Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Georgia said that the bodies were discovered in Gudauri — a popular and well-known ski resort near the Russian border located approximately 75 miles north of the country’s capital city of Tbilisi.

Gudauri ski resort in Georgia on 17 May 2019. (Photo: Reinhard Kaufhold / Picture-Alliance /DPA /AP)

“In the resting area on the second floor of the Indian restaurant located in Gudauri, the bodies of 12 people employed in the same facility were found,” Georgian officials said in a statement. “At the initial inspection, no signs of body injuries or signs of violence were detected.”

However, according to a preliminary investigation, authorities discovered that a power generator had been placed in a closed space within an indoor area of the resort near some bedrooms. An investigation under Article 116 of the Criminal Code of Georgia has been launched, suggesting that the deaths were due to negligent manslaughter.

The investigation into the deaths is ongoing. But prima facie, this mass manslaughter seems to be unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning.

Source:

12 people found dead inside restaurant at popular ski resort – ABC News

Democratic Republic of Congo: Mystery Illness Could Be Severe Malaria

The DRC has a population of 115,403,027; 75% of them live under the poverty line. (Map: CIA)

Health officials are narrowing in on the cause of dozens of unexplained deaths in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that a severe form of malaria is likely responsible.

The illness was considered a mystery for weeks. It has killed at least 37 people and sickened 592. Local authorities previously told Reuters that the death toll exceeded 140.

Health officials in Africa have been referring to the illness as “Disease X” while awaiting test results.

Concurrent health issues among the population, such malnutrition and known viral infections, could exacerbate the illnesses.

Millions of displaced people live in places like Bulengo IDP Camp. (Photo: Concern Worldwide)

An Anopheles stephensi mosquito feeding on a human host. (Photo: alchetron)

Mosquitos are man’s greatest acme predator. Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year – almost one in ten people. As the planet warms and climate change lengthens the mosquito season, the world’s deadliest creature will expand its geographical range to new regions and re-emerge in areas where mosquito numbers had subsided for decades.

Sources:

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/congo-disease-outbreak-severe-malaria-rcna183299

https://www.cdc.gov/global-health/impact/fighting-the-worlds-deadliest-animal.html

NYC Resident Pleads Guilty to Operating Secret Police Station of Chinese Government in Lower Manhattan

Chen Jinping is smiling now but five years in an FCI may slap that grin off his face. (Photo: FBI)

Chen Jinping (60) of New York, NY, pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in connection with opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station, located in downtown Manhattan, for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS).

Chen Jinping and co-defendant “Harry” Lu Jianwang conspired to act as illegal agents of the PRC government and also obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communications with an MPS official. While acting under the direction and control of the MPS official, the defendants worked together to establish the first known overseas police station in the US on behalf of the Fuzhou branch of the MPS. The police station — which closed in the fall of 2022 — occupied an entire floor in an office building in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

The clandestine police station was situated on the third floor of the Changle Association of America on East Broadway in Chinatown.

Lu and Chen helped open and operate the clandestine police station. None of the participants in the scheme informed the US government that they were helping the PRC government surreptitiously open and operate an undeclared MPS police station on US soil.

China may have more illegal police stations operating in the US. (Map courtesy of the UK Daily Mail.)

The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the US. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit:

https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/transnational-repression.

Chen faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Per Chen’s plea agreement, the government has agreed to dismiss the obstruction of justice charge against him. Lu has pleaded not guilty to both of the charges against him and is awaiting trial.

One Police Plaza and 26 Federal Plaza are sneezing distance away from this ex-Chinese spy post. This was both remarkable and brazen of China. Apparently Canada is also coming to grips with the same problem of clandestine illegal Chinese government police stations.

No doubt the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will uncover these illegal and nefarious Chinese mouchards,

Sources:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/new-york-resident-pleads-guilty-operating-secret-police-station-chinese-government-lower

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11988889/China-six-illegal-police-stations-US.html

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca

https://www.cbc.ca/

China: Food Poisoning Afflicts 15 Tourists from Hong Kong

15 individuals from Hong Kong were affected by food poisoning after returning from a group tour in Guangdong, China. The incident has raised alarms about food safety and hygiene, prompting health officials to remind the public of the importance of maintaining personal and environmental hygiene, especially when travelling abroad.

The affected group, comprising five males and ten females aged between 57 and 94, began experiencing symptoms including abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, and fever after dining at two restaurants in Zhanjiang. Fourteen of the individuals sought medical treatment either while on the Mainland or after returning to Hong Kong. Among them, one person required hospitalization but has since been discharged following treatment.

The group consumed a variety of seafood dishes, including oysters, abalone, shrimp, sea cucumber, and fish. Preliminary assessments suggest that the food poisoning may have been caused by norovirus or Vibrio parahaemolyticus, both of which are known to be associated with seafood consumption and can lead to severe gastrointestinal symptoms.

In response to the outbreak, the CHP has reached out to Mainland health authorities, sharing the details of the cases to facilitate further investigations. They are also appealing to other participants from the three-day tour organized by E King Travel (International) Limited to come forward for follow-up and medical surveillance.

Health officials are urging anyone who experiences symptoms related to foodborne illness—such as fever, gastrointestinal distress, or general malaise—to seek immediate medical attention.

Source:

Fifteen tourists affected in Hong Kong food poisoning cluster linked to Guangdong trip

Tiger Has Been Chained Up Her Whole Life

Meet Susu from Thailand:

If Susu could purr, she would. Thank you kind tiger rescue folks in SE Asia.

International Arrest Warrants Finally Issued for Benjamin Netanyahu

The Israeli government did its utmost to fight the indictment and issuance of the arrest warrant but failed to stop justice at the Hague. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued the following statement:


“The Chamber issued warrants of arrest for two individuals, Mr. Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Yoav Gallant, for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed from at least 8 October 2023 until at least 20 May 2024, the day the Prosecution filed the applications for warrants of arrest.”

“The arrest warrants are classified as ‘secret’, in order to protect witnesses and to safeguard the conduct of the investigations.”

Any nation that is a signatory to the ICC has an obligation to execute these arrest warrants.

The US, India, Indonesia, and China are not state parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court which founded the ICC in 2002. The US has observer status at the ICC where Special Counsel Jack Smith completed an assignment prosecuting PIFWCs (Persons Indicted For War Crimes) before investigating Donald Trump.


An arrest warrant was also issued for Palestinian resistance leader Mohammed Deif who the IDF killed without trial and Yoav Gallant, the ex-Defense Minister. The Israeli PIFWCs can therefore safely travel to those four countries without fear of being detained.


This was a long time coming and a national black eye for Israel. Moreover, at the nearby International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague, several countries have charged the State of Israel with committing genocide. See official charging document at link below. But none of these actions dissuaded Netanyahu from continuing his Murder-Death-Kill campaign against Arabs. At time of publication, the IDF killed 133 victims in AKZ-L, AKZ-G, and AKZ-S.

Palestinian residents and civil defence teams launch a search and rescue operation following an Israeli attack on the Remal Clinic on al-Wehda Street in Gaza City (Photo: Dawoud Abo Alkas / Anadolu Agency)

The Israeli Death Forces pounded northern Gaza, killing 88 Palestinians in two waves of attacks on Beit Lahiya and the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City (AKZ-G). The IDF also killed nine in Tyre (AKZ-L) and 36 in Palmyra (AKZ-S).

The Likud Party and the IDF have killed at least 43,985 Palestinians and wounded 104,092 since 7 Oct 2023. An estimated 1,139 Israelis were killed during the attack to seize hostages for a prisoner swap; more than 200 were taken alive.

In AKZ-W, the IDF continued ethnic cleansing operations, arresting four Palestinians arrested near West Bank’s Hebron, Nablus. Israeli forces stormed the nearby village of Qabalan and tore down a barracks.

In Lebanon (AKZ-L), at least 3,558 people have been killed and 15,123 wounded in IDF since Oct 2023. UNICEF stated that increased Israeli violence is the ‘horrific new normal’ for children in Lebanon.

The Likud Party and the IDF are robbing the happiness, health, and future of Arab children within arm’s length of their US-provided weapons.

Members of a family rest in a tent after fleeing their home in Lebanon. (Photo: UNICEF/Fouad Choufany)

Meanwhile the US Senate voted overwhelmingly against three resolutions sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) that would have blocked the sale of certain US weapons to Israel. Even this token measure failed.

And, of course, the US cast the single veto against a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the UN Security Council supported by 14 of the 15 UNSC members. US representative Ambassador Robert Wood said that the US could not support an unconditional ceasefire unless it was tied to releasing the Israeli hostages being held in Gaza by resistance fighters. This statement mirrors Likud Party policies.

Tor Wennesland, the out-going Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and Personal Representative of the Secretary-General stated bluntly without naming the US: ‘We are at the point where diplomacy has failed.’

To no one’s surprise, US President Joe Biden called the ICC war crimes arrest warrant for Netanyahu “outrageous” and vetoed a ceasefire initiative at the UNSC. Biden and the Democrats will be out of office in two months, just like in 1968 when Hubert Humphrey and his coterie were ingloriously kicked out over the Democrat’s failed policies on Vietnam. “Crime Minister” Benjamin Netanyahu will maintain his firm grip on power while receiving enormous amounts of lethal aid from the hard-working American taxpayer. The IDF will continues its vindictive Nakba across several Arab Killing Zones (AKZ). Over 50,000 Arabs will be killed by 1 Jan 2025. While the Cold Warrior got it right dealing with the Kremlin these past three years, Joe Biden just didn’t get it at all dealing with Israel. We trust President Biden enjoys his retirement next year.   

Sources:

LIVE: Israel kills dozens in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria; US defends UNSC veto | Israel-Palestine conflict News | Al Jazeera

United States vetoes Gaza ceasefire resolution at Security Council | UN News

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-state-palestine-icc-pre-trial-chamber-i-rejects-state-israels-challenges

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

Bolivia files a declaration of intervention in the proceedings under Article 63 of the Statute

Dozens of Palestinian detainees abused, Israeli rights groups say – Ya Libnan

The Ukrainian military destroyed a location where North Korean generals could have been present alongside senior Russian military leaders.

According to Ukrainian outlet Defense Express, the use of multiple Storm Shadow missiles indicates the likely presence of high-ranking military personnel in the area or High-Value Targets (HVTs).

Debris analysis confirmed the use of UK-provided Storm Shadow missiles rather than French SCALPs.

(Credit: Will Stewart)

Defence Express highlighted the use of these cruise missiles on similar high-value military targets in the past, including a reserve command post of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The attack underscores the strategic importance of targeting such facilities, noting the implications of Ukraine’s authorization to use Storm Shadow missiles within Russian territory.

Hours later, the Defense Secretary announced the Armed Forces will be hit by £500 million worth of cuts, The Telegraph reports.

The announcement came after the US gave Kiev permission to use ATACMS long-range missiles against Russian targets. Britain initially allowed Storm Shadows to target Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine, but it now appears Kiev has permission to use them against targets inside Russia.

The £800,000 missiles are highly effective, designed to evade air defenses and hit targets with GPS-guided precision at speeds of up to 600mph. With a range of 180 miles, these weapons can strike deep into Russian territory.

As pointed out in a previous post, the Ukrainians must “strike firstest with the mostest” against North Korean military interlopers sent to help Russia. Eliminating the North Korean High Command in Russian territory will de-moralize the troops and ruin their command and control. Kiev and NATO have two months to maximize their offensive before the next US presidential administration takes over and cuts military, intelligence, and economic aid to Ukraine.

Source:

Fiery moment ‘British Storm Shadow missiles explode inside Russia targeting underground control room’ | The US Sun

Danish Military Keeps Watch on Chinese Ship Suspected of Baltic Undersea Cable Sabotage

(Photo of the Yi Peng 3 by Mikkel Berg Pedersen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images)

The Danish Defense Command is monitoring the Chinese cargo ship Yi Peng 3, which is anchored off the coast of Denmark and suspected of being involved in recent damage to fiber-optic communications cables in the Baltic Sea.

Suspicions have been growing in Western capitals that damage to two key Baltic Sea cables was likely the result of deliberate actions.

The Chinese ship, reportedly captained by a Russian naval officer, was sailing from the Russian port of Ust-Luga. The Yi Peng 3 is suspected of having traveled over the area in the Baltic Sea where the cables connecting Sweden and Lithuania are located.


European governments and Washington have not tied Moscow directly to the damage, but they have accused Russia of orchestrating “hybrid attacks” on Western infrastructure to punish European countries for their assistance and support for Ukraine’s military as it tries to repel invading Russian forces.

Some analysts say the ship may have damaged the cables when dragging its anchor. Ukraine’s allies pointed to past incidents of alleged sabotage by Moscow, especially following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which recently hit the 1,000-day mark amid devastating losses on both sides.

Authorities in states bordering the Baltic Sea are investigating the cutting of the cables — the second connects Finland to Germany — following similar suspicious occurrences in the sea in recent years. Denmark and Germany are already NATO allies and share critical intelligence with Washington.

A year ago, Finland said it couldn’t exclude that a “state actor” was responsible for damage to the Balticconnector gas pipeline and a telecommunications cable in the Baltic Sea. The pipeline was damaged by an anchor dropped from the deck of the Chinese container ship Newnew Polar Bear. The ship was not detained and sailed away. Neutral Finland joined NATO on 4 Apr 2023 out of concern of Russian aggression, as did Sweden on 7 Mar 2024.

Moscow has said such allegations are being fabricated by the West to discredit Russia. Chinese officials have not commented on the situation surrounding the Yi Peng 3.

This is a troubling sign that China seems to be working with Russia to conduct sabotage against NATO and the EU. Beijing and Moscow have been increasing their military cooperation. Chinese and Russian jets were intercepted near the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) this past 24 July 2024.

(24 Jul 2024 Photo: NORAD)

Any future Chinese military invasion against the island republic would involve severing such communications cables to isolate Taiwan. Taipei would then be forced to communicate in a less secure digital environment vulnerable to MSS interception and hacking. Two Taiwanese undersea cables were sabotaged in 2023.

(Illustration: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

The Chinese and Russians don’t have to rely on frog-men or spy subs to sabotage these cables. The Russians have a special naval sabotage unit called the GUGI. But why deploy them when Russia and China have access to hundreds of commercial ships?

Once vulnerable telecommunication or energy cables/pipes are located, the Russians or the Chinese can sever or break them cheaply with tremendous anchors like above from ships like the Yi Peng 3. The ship captain can claim ignorance if he is boarded by NATO naval personnel.

This recent maritime sabotage incident in the Baltic Sea may be a Chinese rehearsal on behalf of the Kremlin. Sabotage against gas/power lines during winter would bring hardship to energy-dependent European countries while punishing them for supporting Ukraine.


Sources:

https://www.rferl.org/a/danish-defense-chinese-ship-yi-peng-baltic-sea-cable-damage/33209361.html

https://www.norad.mil/Newsroom/Press-Releases/Article/3849184/norad-detects-tracks-and-intercepts-russian-and-prc-aircraft-operating-in-the-a/

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_213448.htm

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/news_223446.htm

The Future Will Look Like the Past: Texas Offers Trump 1,402 Acres for Mass Deportation Camps

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is offering the incoming Trump administration 1,402 acres the state purchased along the Texas-Mexico border to be used in a mass deportation operation. The Extermination Camp Auschwitz-Birkenau reportedly covered 500 acres and it was the largest camp in the Third Reich.

In a letter to President-elect Donald Trump, Buckingham said she’s offering the land “to be used to construct deportation facilities.”

So, Madame Commissioner, here is what America will look like thanks to Donald Trump and people just like you.


Jews in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in Jan 1945. (Photo: EPA)


Bosnian Muslims in Serbian concentration camp circa 1995. (Photo: ICTY)

DHS camp for Hispanic migrants of separated children during Trump’s first reign of terror.


Palestinian children crammed in Israeli prison cell circa 2016. (Photo: AP)


Sub-Saharan migrants in detention center in Zawiyah, Libya, in Jun 2017. (Photo: Taha Jawashi / AFP/ Getty Images)



Loyal Japanese-Americans dining in their mess facility in an internment camp (photo circa 1942).

Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham is a true humanitarian, isn’t she?

Source:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/texas-land-commissioner-offers-acres-trump-deportation/story?id=116048937

Nationwide Food Recall: Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls 167,000 Pounds of Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli

Wolverine Packing Co. in Detroit, MI is recalling approximately 167,277 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the USDA Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The fresh products have a “use by” date of 11/14/2024 and the frozen products are labeled with production date 10/22/24.

Please check these links: View full product listView labels.

The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 2574B” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to restaurant locations nationwide. 

The problem was discovered when FSIS was notified by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture of a group of 15 patients who had reported that they consumed ground beef prior to their illness.

Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider. E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps 2–8 days (3–4 days, on average) after exposure the organism. While most people recover within a week, some develop a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). This condition can occur among persons of any age but is most common in children under 5-years old and older adults. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor, and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately.

FSIS is concerned that some product may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers. Restaurants are urged not to serve these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

Consumers and members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Don Tanner, company representative at (248) 762-1533.

Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-MPHotline (888-674-6854) or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov.

For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.

Sources:

Wolverine Packing Co. Recalls Ground Beef Products Due to Possible E. Coli O157:H7 Contamination | Food Safety and Inspection Service

Wolverine Packing Co. | Your Complete Protein Solution

French Defense Minister Calls on Arab Gulf States to Aid Lebanese Forces

Lebanese children wave French flags as they stand in front of a Lebanon’s national flag, at a ceremony to open a French-built bridge by the coastal town of Naameh, south of Beirut, on 18 Sep 2006. (Photo: Petros Karadjias / AP)

“I have reiterated to each counterpart that we need them to support the Lebanese armed forces,” French DM Sébastien Lecornu said after visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

Lecornu’s appeal came following talks with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed of the UAE in Abu Dhabi.

“To secure the border between Israel and Lebanon, and to reinforce Lebanon’s sovereignty, the armed forces must be properly armed,” he added.

Israel expanded the focus of its lethal operations from Gaza to Lebanon in Sep 2024, making southern Lebanon inhospitable to Shias while devastating the country’s medical infrastructure. More than 3,510 people in Lebanon have been killed, with most fatalities recorded since late September.

Last month, a conference in Paris raised $200 million to support the Lebanese armed forces, on top of $800 million in humanitarian aid for the country.

The Lebanese military, which plays a crucial role in maintaining stability in the deeply divided country, struggles to meet the basic needs of its 80,000 soldiers. The Lebanese Army previously received financial assistance from Qatar and the US to pay salaries.

Lebanese Army Soldiers at double time. The IDF has killed at least 41 of them over the past few weeks. (Undated photo: Getty Images).

Next month French President Emmanuel Macron travels to Saudi Arabia. His visit is expected to focus on defense contracts and investment in new technologies. Perhaps he can persuade Crown Prince Muhammad Bin-Salman (MBS) to withdraw the hideous blockade on Shia Yemenis which has caused them a man-made famine. The Sunni Saudi alliance with Sunni Yemenis is what drove the Shia Houthis right into the Shia Crescent led by Tehran. This is why the Houthis fire drones at Western or Israeli shipping in the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden: Gratitude and loyalty to their Shia benefactors in Lebanon and Iran.

There was a time when France was seen as Lebanon’s big brother and protector. An estimated 23,000 French citizens live in Lebanon and more than 300,000 Lebanese reside in France.

But now Paris has become a schnorrer asking other countries to step in.

Quite simply, France has lost its political clout in Lebanon: “In 10 years French influence has collapsed,” said a political scientist. Another French diplomat noted the dramatic drop in the use of French.  

“Years ago, if you went to bars where middle-class youth gathered, you’d hear Arabic or French. If you go there now, you’ll hear Arabic and English – people under the age of 30 don’t speak French.”

Cuts in the French diplomatic corps did not help. A former senior French official describing Paris’ diplomacy as “disoriented.” Moreover, France miscalculated by supporting Sunni rebels against Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. Germany paid the price of absorbing thousands of Syrian refugees. Berlin then put a stop to France’s policy of using EU funds to favor its foreign policy, notably in Lebanon.

France “no longer has a say” in Beirut: the foreign powers that matter are Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the US.

David Schenker, once in charge of Near East affairs at the US State Department, told the Lebanese on a visit to Beirut: “‘Don’t forget! It’s the Americans and the Saudis who sign the cheques.'”

Sources:

France’s defence minister calls on Gulf states to aid Lebanese forces

Macron promises €100m for Lebanon at aid conference in Paris

From protector to onlooker: how France lost its influence in Lebanon

Laos: Methanol-Tainted Alcohol Kills Several Tourists; Dozen Stricken

Laos has a population of nearly eight million people. Real GDP per capita is $8,400 (2023 est.)

Several Western tourists died after drinking tainted alcohol in the tourist town of Vang Vieng in Laos. So far, two Danish, one unidentified American, and a British citizen have been reported dead and at least ten have been stricken. The numbers could be more.

The late lawyer Simone White (28) from the UK was travelling South East Asia. (Image: Facebook)

The parents of two 19-year-olds from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than.

Bianca Jones (L, 19) and Holly Bowles (R, 19) below were staying at a backpacker hostel in Vang Vieng, a popular party town north of Vientiane. Their parents from Melbourne are at their bedsides in separate Thai hospitals — one in Bangkok and the other in Udon Than. Sadly, a late report indicated that Ms. Holly Bowles (R) succumbed to the poison.

(Undated images: Social media)

Vang Vieng is a popular destination for backpackers travelling in Laos. (Photo: Basile Morin via Wikimedia Commons)

Duong Duc Toan, the manager of Nana Backpack hostel displays a bottle of vodka, in the bar of the hostel in Vang Vieng, Laos, Tuesday, 19 Nov 2024. (Photo: AP / Anupam Nath)

Methanol is a clear liquid chemical that is often illegally added to alcoholic beverages as a cheaper alternative to ethanol. Consuming even a small amount can be fatal.

Westerners seeking inexpensive vacations in exotic locations should take heed of this cautionary tale. Drink cocktails from a Western-owned hotel or stick to bottled or canned beer that should be opened in one’s presence (like bottled water).

Sources:


https://apnews.com/article/australian-laos-thailand-alcohol-poisoning-a5a4035fff9ac6e0960c0ffa4a2ef576

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2024/11/22/laos-methanol-poisoning/5591732171277/


https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/fifth-person-died-methanol-laos/

CIA

Canada Fears Trump’s Mass Deportations Will Push Migrants North

RCMP officers confront migrants arriving at the Roxham Road border crossing in Quebec from New York State in 2023. (Photo: Nasuna Stuart-Ulin for The New York Times)

Story written by Matina Stevis-Gridneff and Hamed Aleaziz and extracted from the New York Times.

Canadian authorities fear that Mr. Trump’s promised mass deportations will push migrants north, while Republicans have raised alarms over a recent spike in undocumented migrants crossing from Canada to the US.

Canadian officials are planning to add patrols, buy new vehicles and set up emergency reception facilities at the border between New York State and the province of Quebec in preparation for a surge of undocumented migrants following Donald Trump’s promised mass deportation program.

The new border czar, Tom Homan, who is a native of a NY town near the US-Canadian border, called the northern border a “huge national security issue.”

Mr. Homan said “special interest aliens” — a term used for migrants with possible criminal links, including to terrorism — might use the northern border because there are “a lot less, fewer officers here.”

Concerns over the northern border highlight a key shift in Canada’s view of migration between the first and second Trump administrations. During the first, PM Justin Trudeau made clear that asylum seekers were welcome in Canada just as Mr. Trump was tightening asylum rules and introducing policies like family separation at the US southern border.

Today, the mood in Canada is very different. Many Canadians believe the arrival of more legal migrants since the end of the COVID pandemic has strained resources such as affordable housing and access to medical care. Many blamed Mr. Trudeau’s government, which is now taking steps to significantly limit legal immigration.

The Canadian authorities also intend to wield a key agreement between the two countries to send back people crossing into Canada to seek asylum. The agreement designates Canada and the US as “safe third countries” in which to make asylum claims, so when asylum seekers travel from one country to the other, they can be sent back, with few exceptions.

Provincial leaders in Quebec are also anxious about the need to harden its border with New York and have already raised complaints about the growing number of legal immigrants and refugees who have settled there in recent years.

From Oct 2023 to Sep 2024, more than 19,300 undocumented migrants were apprehended by US authorities at the border between Quebec and Vermont, NYS, and New Hampshire, a 300-percent jump from the 6,925 apprehended during the same period the previous year. The figure for Oct 2020 to Sep 2021 was just 365 people.

More than 12,000 of the 19,300 people detained were Indian nationals, underscoring a booming migrant smuggling route from India to the US via Canada.

Some of this smuggling is encouraged online. Videos circulate on TikTok from “travel agencies’’ marketing smooth transport to the US in exchange for thousands of dollars.

One TikTok ad shows a group of men with US flag emojis hiding their faces advertising a “100% safe route.” The provider says it can take travelers from Brampton, a city outside Toronto with a large South Asian population, to New York, by taxi.

Six Indian nationals, aged 19-21 years, were arrested by the US border authorities after they were apprehended on a sinking boat during a failed attempt to be smuggled into America from Canada.  They were charged with “Improper Entry by Alien.” (Undated photo: Reuters)

Despite the immigration agreement between the US and Canada, the process to turn back people claiming asylum can take weeks at a time as migrants try to find a lawyer and gather evidence to try to make a case to avoid being sent back to Canada.

With minimal resources at the northern border, few people were being sent back to Canada earlier this year. Instead, migrants were being released from custody with notices to appear in US immigration courts, which face an enormous backlog.

But starting this summer, US officials deployed more federal officials to the northern border to help process people and transferred more people into detention.

They also made a key change to make the process to return migrants to Canada easier: Starting in Aug 2024, migrants who had been detained had only four hours to find a lawyer and collect evidence for their case. Before, migrants were given at least a day to do both.

Since then, the numbers of crossings have dropped dramatically — from roughly 3,600 crossings in June to around 1,800 in September — while the number of migrants returned to Canada has increased. More than 400 people were returned to Canada between Aug and Oct 2024.

Migrants who had crossed the border from Canada, many of them from India, talking to taxi drivers in Plattsburgh, NY, who were offering rides to NYC. (Credit: Anna Watts for The New York Times)

Elise Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from upstate NY who has been chosen by Mr. Trump to serve as UN Ambassador, called the increase in arrivals an “invasion” in a social media post.

Still, Canadian officials say they are fortifying the border and will deport migrants who attempt to enter Canada to escape Mr. Trump’s crackdown.

Xenophobia is tragically affecting both sides of the world’s largest undefended border, whose G-7 economies grew thanks to the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of immigrants toiling in the farms, factories, mines, fisheries, and slaughterhouses for two hundred years in the US and Canada. Every year thousands of migrants sacrifice their life savings or indeed their very lives trying to make their way to places such as the US, Canada, the EU, or Australia just to merely survive.

 

At least 8,565 people died on migration routes worldwide in 2023 according to the International Office of Migration (IOM). Undated photo above of migrants courtesy of the Vatican News Service.

Sources:

Canada Prepares for Immigration Surge After Trump Vows Mass Deportation – The New York Times

Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement – Canada.ca

Mysterious Chemical By-Product in US Tap Water Finally Identified

Scientists discover formula and structure of chlorine-related molecule and urge tests for possible toxicity.

A mysterious byproduct of a chemical used to disinfect the tap water of about one-third of Americans has finally been identified, and the international research team behind the discovery is advocating rapid assessment of its potential toxicity.

The research, reported in the journal Science, does not claim the byproduct is unsafe to drink or that the finding represents any kind of emergency. All water, including bottled water, contains contaminants.

But the discovery of a new and previously unknown chemical, called chloronitramide anion, could have implications for municipal water systems that use a class of chlorine-based disinfectants called chloramines. For decades these disinfectants, derived from the mixture of chlorine and ammonia, have been added to many municipal water supplies to kill bacteria and prevent waterborne illnesses.

“We need to investigate it. We don’t know the toxicity,” said environmental engineer Julian Fairey, an associate professor at the University of Arkansas and lead author of the paper. “This work was 40 years in the making in terms of trying to identify the compound, and now that we have identified it, we can delve into how toxic is this thing.”

Cigarettes like the ones advertised above were once touted as a cure for asthma, wheezing, or coughing. Medical quackery like the above example has killed countless victims over the centuries.

Now the US is on the verge of official government medical quackery with the potential Trump nominations of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead HHS and Dr. Mehmet Oz to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Therefore, the FDA, USDA, HHS, EPA, CDC, have two months to solve this issue before it’s swept under the carpet in 2025. Anti-Vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr can use a case like this to ban fluoride from American drinking water or come up with other wacky solutions.

Blue States will have to step up their Air Quality Index (AQI), food, health, workplace, and environmental inspections over the next four years to protect their citizens. Red State governors and their constituencies don’t seem to mind if they are killed by firearms violence, sickened by spoiled food, work in dangerous work sites, breathe polluted air, or drink unsafe water.

Sources:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adk6749

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/11/21/tap-water-byproduct-chloronitramide-anion/

Minnesota Authorities Restore EagleCam to Delight of Viewers Worldwide

Watch eagle emerge from snow-covered nest after storm.

Israel’s Devastating War in Gaza in Numbers

Displaced Palestinian child sitting in a tent at a camp in the city of Rafah, Gaza, Mar 2023. The NYT reported the IDF onslaught created 19,000 orphans. (Photo: AFP)

One year ago, Israel launched one of the deadliest and most destructive bombing campaigns in modern history in the Gaza Strip.

The reprisals came just hours after armed Palestinian groups carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel. The multipronged attack on Israel from Gaza killed 1,139 people, including 685 Israeli civilians and 71 foreigners. At the time of this surprise attack, the Israeli government was holding 7,000 Palestinian Gazans in “administrative detention” without trial or hearing. As a bargaining chip to free some of the detainees, Palestinian guerillas took 251 Israelis hostages with them. In Nov 2023, the first prisoner exchange took place.


Since then, 117 Israelis have been released, rescued, or freed. 101 hostages are still believed to be in Gaza and 35 are believed to be dead. Some were inadvertently killed in Israeli strikes.

Israel’s goal of destroying resistance in Gaza has taken a huge toll on civilians and infrastructure in the Palestinian enclave, one of most densely populated areas in the world. 24,955 Palestinian adults and 16,500 children were killed; 95,878 wounded, and 10,000 people are missing, presumably still buried under the rubble of residential buildings in Gaza. At least one-quarter of those wounded face life-changing injuries, with many requiring amputations and major rehabilitation, said WHO.

UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in April that “every 10 minutes, a child is killed or wounded” in Gaza. Children, he said, are “disproportionately paying the ultimate price in this war.”


Israel reports 648 IDF and police personnel were killed and 1,902 injured in the offensive.
 
Israeli Likud Cabinet Minister Avi Dichter had called for “Nakba 2023” against the Palestinians and the IDF has certainly delivered. And to the east, over 700 Palestinians, including 150 children, have been killed in the occupied West Bank; 5,700 have been injured.  


Israeli forces have been accused of unlawfully using lethal force against Palestinians, including deliberately executing Palestinians who posed no apparent security threat. Foreign aid workers, UN employees, journalists, and international volunteers have also been killed. According to the UN, more than 250 aid workers lost their lives.

At least 116 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). At least five reporters were directly targeted by Israeli forces in what the NY-based media watchdog classified as “murders”.


Human Rights Watch reported in Dec 2023, Israel has used the starvation of Palestinian civilians as a weapon of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime. The UN estimates over 85% of Gazans (+1.9 million people), were internally displaced in the enclave by the end of 2023.


Amnesty International has documented cases of IDF soldiers torturing Palestinian detainees, including “severe beatings” and “humiliation.” The human rights group said that such torture had been occurring “for decades” before the surprise attack on 7 Oct 2023.


The UN reports that Israel has destroyed over half of all the structures in Gaza Strip, another 360,000 residential units have been damaged. Satellite imagery shows that at least 53 schools have been destroyed since Oct 2023, the world body said.

Protesters march towards Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s private residence in Jerusalem to mark one year since the 7 Oct 2023 surprise attack by Palestinian armed groups to seize captives for a prisoner swap. (Photo: 7 Oct 2024/ Reuters).

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague indicted Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes, but the international arrest warrant has inexplicably not yet been issued.  You may read the specific charges at the link below. Now the IDF is conducting a “limited ground offensive” into Lebanon. Russian President Vladimir Putin, similarly indicted for war crimes by the ICC, described the invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation.” Putin’s international arrest warrant has been issued and it is incumbent for any signatory to the ICC treaty to arrest him. Mongolia already ignored their obligation when Putin came and left for a state visit last month.  

Sources:

Israel’s Devastating War In Gaza In Numbers (rferl.org)

Palestinian prisoners face rape, death in Israeli prisons, commission alleges – UPI.com

Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests   – Amnesty International

‘We’re Rolling Out Nakba 2023,’ Israeli Minister Says on Northern Gaza Strip Evacuation – Israel News – Haaretz.com

The War in Gaza Is Making Thousands of Orphans – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC: Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine | International Criminal Court (icc-cpi.int)

Chinese Hackers Breached US Court Wiretap Systems

Chinese hackers accessed the networks of US broadband providers and obtained information from systems the federal government uses for court-authorized wiretapping.

Verizon Communications, AT&T, and Lumen Technologies are among the telecoms companies whose networks were breached by the recently discovered intrusion.

The hackers might have held access for months to network infrastructure used by the companies to cooperate with court-authorized US requests for communications data. The hackers had also accessed other tranches of internet traffic.

China’s foreign ministry responded that it was not aware of the attack but said the US had “concocted a false narrative” to “frame” China in the past.

Beijing has previously denied claims by the US government and others that it has used hackers to break into foreign computer systems. The attack was carried out by a Chinese hacking group with the aim of collecting intelligence. US investigators have dubbed it “Salt Typhoon.”

Earlier this year, US law enforcement disrupted a major Chinese hacking group nicknamed “Flax Typhoon,” months after confronting Beijing about sweeping cyber espionage under a campaign named “Volt Typhoon.”

China’s foreign ministry that Beijing’s cybersecurity agencies had found and published evidence to show Volt Typhoon was staged by “an international ransomware organization.”

Beijing and its internal proxies will continue their relentless campaign of cyber-espionage, hacking, and intelligence collection against Western targets. China has the budget, resources, will, and manpower for this mission as they wish to replace the US as the number one military and economic superpower in the world. Stealing technology is cheaper than years of research and development (R&D) is one method of catching up with the US and Europe. The “thousand grains of sand” approach allows Beijing’s analysts to construct an intelligence mosaic of the enemy. This particular breach may harm US counterintelligence efforts against China’s spies since Beijing will see who the USG is investigating through the names and telephone numbers associated with the FISA warrants (AKA “wiretaps”).

Source:

Chinese hackers breached US court wiretap systems, WSJ reports  (voanews.com)

Canadian World War II Pistols Slated for Destruction Will Be Donated to Ukraine

The Browning Hi-Power 9mm pistol has a 13-round magazine capacity and is one of the most widely used military pistols in history. The Hi-Power has armed the militaries or security services of over 50 countries.

Second World War-era handguns that had been earmarked for destruction by the Canadian Armed Forces will instead be sent to Ukraine starting in December. The original plan was to destroy 11,000 of the Browning Hi-Power pistols. But now 10,500 of the 9-mm pistols will be shipped to Ukraine.

Delivery of the handguns is expected to start in December.

The Canadian Forces pulled the Browning Hi-Powers from service after receiving new modern handguns. It was having trouble keeping the Second World War pistols in service because of a lack of parts and concerns they were no longer functioning properly.

Since Feb 2022, Canada has committed more than $19.5 billion in total assistance to Ukraine, including $4.5 billion in military equipment. This includes Leopard II main battle tanks, armored combat support vehicles, anti-tank weapons, small arms, M777 howitzers, and associated ammunition as well as high-resolution drones.

In response to a specific request from Ukraine, Canada was donating decommissioned chassis from 29 M113s and 64 Coyote light armored vehicles. These surplus vehicles will be repurposed or used for spare parts by Ukraine.

Ottawa will also donate and transport 80,840 additional CRV-7 rocket motors and 1,300 warheads to Ukraine. This follows Canada’s initial delivery of 2,160 CRV-7 rocket motors.

Canada donated an unspecified number of Teledyne SkyRanger drones to Ukraine. Canadian military personnel are not involved in that training which is being conducted by Teledyne employees.

The SkyRanger is a next-generation, small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS)

The Browning Hi-Power pistol is a capable weapon that the Ukrainian security services will put to excellent use. The SkyRanger is reported to be a multi-functional, durable drone that Kiev will be able to employ for a myriad of missions from civil defense to sophisticated stealthy offensive operations. The Ukrainian government is no doubt grateful for all of these donations.

 
Source:
Military pistols slated for destruction will go to Ukraine | Ottawa Citizen

Two Indiana Men Plead Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on Capitol

Donald Lee Moss (62) of Elizabethtown, IN and James Link Behymer (61) of Hope, IN, each pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.


During the “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 Jan 2021 outside the US Capitol, a group of Metropolitan Police (MPD) officers in riot gear became surrounded by angry and violent rioters who began shouting obscenities and curses at them. Behymer and Moss ignored commands to step back. Shouting “USA! USA! USA!”, “This is our f— house!”, the two defendants assaulted the police officers. When a rioter shouted: “Y’all surrounded,” Behymer grabbed an officer’s baton while the officer attempted to keep Behymer away. Behymer re-engaged with another officer, attempting to steal his baton.


After the assault, Behymer and Moss entered the US Capitol building and encouraged other members of the mob to enter. He is seen leading rioters in the top photo. The FBI arrested the two miscreants on 6 Mar 2024.

The Honorable Judge Tanya S. Chutkan will sentence these two morons on 13 Feb 2025.  Of the approximately 30 defendants who have come before her, she has sentenced every one of them to at least some prison time. Judge Chutkan is overseeing Donald Trump’s election conspiracy trial.

No doubt the Honorable Judge Chutkan will recommend FCI Terre Haute, IN for their incarceration.

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.

This is a fine time for two men in their early sixties to get “jammed up” by Federal agents for believing Donald Trump’s idiotic lies about a stolen election. Their white supremacist attitudes have undone them. At least they will most likely be incarcerated close to their families in Indiana.    

Sources:


District of Columbia | Indiana Men Plead Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

FDA Recalls Eggs That ‘Will Cause Serious Adverse Health Consequences or Death’

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recalled eggs that it said “will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” These products, sold in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois, have been linked to a salmonella outbreak.  


The FDA told people not to eat, sell or serve recalled chicken eggs from Milo’s Poultry Farms and Tony’s Fresh Market.

The FDA issued the first recall on 6 Sep but has upgraded the recall to Class I, a product that “will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”


The recall covers all expiration dates for the following eggs:

All carton sizes and all egg types labeled with “Milo’s Poultry Farms” and all carton sizes of “Tony’s Fresh Market” branded eggs.


Across nine states, 65 people were sickened from the same strain of Salmonella, 24 people were hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.


“This outbreak may be difficult to treat with some commonly recommended antibiotics and may require a different antibiotic choice for people who need them,” said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).


FDA said symptoms could occur 12 to 72 hours after eating food that is contaminated with Salmonella, and the symptoms usually last four to seven days. Symptoms could include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps.


Sources:


Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Eggs (Sept 2024) | FDA
CDC warns of recalled eggs sold in Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, linked to Salmonella outbreak | CDC Newsroom
 
 
 

Over 180 People on Royal Caribbean Cruise Sick After Salmonella Outbreak

The Radiance of the Seas is manned by 894 crewmembers.

Over 180 passengers aboard a Royal Caribbean Cruise got sick after a salmonella outbreak. The cruise ship was traveling from Vancouver to Alaska between 20 Sep and 27 Sep.
 
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that 180 of the 2,172 passengers and three of the 894 crew members on the cruise ship, Radiance of the Seas, were affected by the illness.


Passengers and crew members symptoms included diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache, and muscle aches.
 
CDC reported the Royal Caribbean Cruise ship took these actions:


Made announcements to notify onboard passengers and crew of the outbreak, encouraged case reporting, and encouraged good hand hygiene.

Collected stool specimens from gastrointestinal illness cases for testing.

Increased cleaning and disinfection procedures according to their outbreak prevention and response plan.
 
Sources:


Over 180 people on a Royal Caribbean Cruise are sick after salmonella outbreak (local12.com)

Radiance of the Seas September 2024 | Vessel Sanitation Program | CDC

New Zealand Navy Ship Manawanui Sinks Off Coast of Samoa

HMNZS Manawanui, which sunk after becoming grounded on a reef in Samoa (Photo Christopher Weissenborn / AP)

A Royal New Zealand Navy vessel has run aground and sunk off Samoa – the first time the navy has lost a ship since the second world war.


Manawanui, the navy’s specialist dive and hydrographic vessel, ran aground near the southern coast of Upolu as it was conducting a reef survey last Saturday. All 75 crew and passengers were safe.


An oil spill was “highly probable” as a result of the sinking. Several vessels responded and assisted in rescuing the crew and passengers who had left the ship in lifeboats. The cause of the grounding was unknown and under investigation. 

Video and photos published on local media showed the Manawanui, which cost the New Zealand government NZ$103m in 2018, listing heavily and with plumes of thick grey smoke rising after it ran aground. The vessel later capsized and was below the surface by 9am local time.

The Manawanui was used to conduct a range of specialist diving, salvage, and survey tasks around New Zealand and across the south-west Pacific.New Zealand’s navy is already working at reduced capacity with three of its nine ships idle due to personnel shortages.

This is a quadruple blow as cases like this are career-ending in most naval services. This incident also caused an oil spill, further threatening the coral reefs the ship was sent to survey. Besides costing the New Zealand taxpayer $NZ103 million dollars, this accident also further reduces their naval readiness.

Source:

New Zealand navy ship Manawanui sinks off Samoa | New Zealand | The Guardian

North Korean Defector Crashes Stolen Bus in Failed Bid to Return Home

Military sentry posts of North Korea, rear, and South Korea, front, are seen in Paju, near the border with North Korea. Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

A North Korean defector living in South Korea has been detained after ramming a stolen bus into a barricade on a bridge near the heavily militarized border, in a failed attempt to return to his isolated homeland.


The man – who fled to the South in 2011 – ignored warnings from soldiers to stop while attempting on Tuesday to drive through the Tongil Bridge in Paju, just south of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone (DMZ).


“He lives under difficult economic conditions as a construction worker and misses his family still in the North,” an investigator told Agence France-Presse, explaining the man’s reasons for the attempted crossing. The police are considering charging the suspect, who is in his 30s, with theft and violating national security laws.


Crossings from the South to the North are rare, with defectors typically heading in the opposite direction, though many struggle to adapt to life in their democratic, capitalist neighbor.


More than 34,000 North Koreans have defected to the South since the 1950-53 Korean war, mostly after arduous, sometimes life-threatening journeys, usually via China, to escape poverty and oppression at home. But this defector didn’t realize that he would have been severely punished by the Kim Jong-Un regime for defecting in the first place. He would have made a public apology and announcement about how terrible life is in South Korea before being whisked away by security personnel.
 

Source:
North Korean defector crashes stolen bus in failed bid to return home | North Korea | The Guardian

Tiny Kitten Seen on the Road Begging to Be Rescued Ends Up Having All Her Wishes Come True

A few months ago, a Good Samaritan spotted a tiny kitten crawling on the side of the road and stopped. The kitten cried out and inched towards the person. “She was lucky someone saw her and jumped to save her,” said Ellen Carozza LVT, VTS (CP-Feline). “Right from the beginning, she was the sweetest kitten who wanted to be rescued.”


A local animal rescue, To The ResQ, took her in and gave her immediate medical care but realized the kitten would need additional help. They contacted Ellen, whose Chris Griffey Memorial Feline Foundation (CGMFF) is dedicated to saving the most critical kittens.

Poppy was found on the side of the road emaciated, covered in ticks, and suffering with broken legs. Photo: Ellen Carozza

Poppy was given a thorough bath and fresh splints for her front legs. Photo: Ellen Carozza

Healing well, Poppy (R) enjoyed playtime with another kitten. Photo: Ellen Carozza

Fast forward to today. Poppy was adopted by a loving family and has a new home: A dream come true.

Photo: Ellen Carozza

Mexico’s First Female President Takes Oath of Office, Promises to Help Poor

Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum addresses supporters during a rally in the Zocalo, Mexico City’s main square, on her inauguration day, 1 Oct 2024. Photo: AP

Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in Tuesday as Mexico’s new president, becoming the country’s first female president and the first president of Jewish descent in the largely Roman Catholic country. Her win comes 70 years after women in Mexico won the right to vote. President Sheinbaum is also the first woman to lead a government in North America. Should Kamala Harris win the US election next month, the continent will have two women in charge of their nations, another first.

The daughter of activist academics, Sheinbaum (62) was also the first female mayor of Mexico City, Mexico’s capital. She stepped down from that position last year for her presidential campaign, which had the support of her predecessor and political mentor, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

She has promised to continue the social welfare programs for the country’s poor that Lopez Obrador initiated, despite Mexico’s current massive budget deficit and sluggish economy.

Sheinbaum is also facing a country beset with violence, such as battles between drug cartels that often erupt onto the streets of the northwest city of Culiacan, where many cartels are located. Local security forces have had little luck in quelling the violence.

As mayor of Mexico City, Sheinbaum was applauded for reducing the city’s homicide rate by increasing the salaries of an expanded police force, a strategy she has promised to duplicate across the country.

Sheinbaum is also assuming Mexico’s helm just as the country is implementing a judicial overhaul, a move spearheaded by Lopez Obrador. The controversial reform will eventually replace all of Mexico’s judges with new ones elected by popular vote.

Former President Ernesto Zedillo, who has been critical of the overhaul, said in a recent guest essay in Britain’s Economist magazine that “our hard-won democracy will be transformed, for all practical purposes, into a one-party autocracy.”

Sheinbaum, however, said, “The reforms to the judicial system will not affect our commercial relations, nor private Mexican investments, nor foreign ones. Rather, the opposite. There will be a greater and better rule of law and democracy for everyone.”

The first trip for the new president, a former climate scientist who has a doctorate in energy engineering, will be to Acapulco, the resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, which was brutalized last week by the rains of Category III Hurricane John, after being devastated last year by Hurricane Otis.

Population of Mexico: 130,739,927; GDP per capita: $22,400 (2023 est.) Data and map: CIA

Sources:

Mexico’s first female president takes oath of office, promises to help poor (voanews.com)

Mexico Factsheet – The World Factbook (cia.gov)

Russian Forces Execute 16 Ukrainian POWs Near Pokrovsk

In 2022, Vadim Shishimarin, a 21-year-old tank commander, was sentenced to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian in Ukraine’s first war crime trial following Russia’s invasion. He had pleaded guilty to killing a 62-year-old citizen in north-eastern Ukraine. There will be more war crimes trials in the future. Photo Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

Russian forces appear to have shot 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Donetsk Oblast, the largest recorded case of mass execution of surrendered soldiers on the battlefield, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said on 1 Oct.

Evidence of the execution appeared on social media earlier on 1 Oct. The POWs were reportedly killed after surrendering on the front line near Pokrovsk. The Prosecutor General’s Office said it was verifying the material published online and investigating the circumstances around the case.

The execution of POWs is a “cynical and gross violation of the Geneva Conventions,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said.  

“This is the most massive known case of execution of Ukrainian POWs on the front line,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said.

“The murders and torture of prisoners are not an accident, but a purposeful policy of the Russian military and political leadership,” he added.

In early September, Russian forces executed three Ukrainian POWs near Toretsk in Donetsk Oblast. The Prosecutor General’s Office said earlier this year that it was investigating more than 50 cases of execution of Ukrainian POWs.

The US Department of Justice has been investigating Russian war crimes as well. Last year the DOJ charged four Russian soldiers with torture, inhumane treatment, and unlawful confinement of a US national in Ukraine.

Sources:

Russian forces execute 16 Ukrainian POWs near Pokrovsk, prosecutors say (kyivindependent.com)

Office of Public Affairs | Four Russia-Affiliated Military Personnel Charged with War Crimes in Connection with Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine | United States Department of Justice

Russian soldier jailed for life in Ukraine’s first war crime trial (brusselstimes.com)

Iran Counterattacks Israel on Behalf of Lebanese Hezbollah with Ballistic Missiles

Photo: AP

Iran launched a massive ballistic missile attack at Israel on 1 Oct in retaliation for Israel’s campaign against Lebanon’s Hezbollah in a new escalation of the conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed resistance group.

Israeli air defenses intercepted many of the estimated 180 missiles that were fired, though some landed in central and southern Israel. There were no reports of any injuries and after about an hour after the attack was launched it was safe for them to leave their bomb shelters.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a big mistake” and said Tehran “will pay for it.” He added: “Whoever attacks us, we attack them.”

US President Joe Biden said he would discuss a response with Netanyahu. Asked what the response would be, Biden replied: “That’s in active discussion right now. That remains to be seen.”

He added that the attack appears to have been “defeated and ineffective, and this is a testament to Israeli military capability and the US military” and said the US is “fully supportive of Israel.”

Israeli police reported that at least six people were killed and nine wounded in a shooting and stabbing attack in Tel Aviv. Police said it was a “terrorist” attack carried out at a light rail station and the two attackers were later killed by civilians and inspectors using their own firearms. There has been no claim of responsibility.

While the missile attack sent Israelis scurrying to take cover in bomb shelters, it prompted people in Iran to celebrate. State television broadcast images from the city of Mashhad showing people in the streets waving the yellow flag of Hezbollah and portraits of the group’s slain chief, Hassan Nasrallah. Similar celebrations also took place in the capital Tehran and in several provincial cities.

World leaders urged Iran and Israel to step back from the brink and negotiate a cease-fire.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned the “broadening conflict in the Middle East” following fighting in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

To a hammer, everything is a nail as Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is demonstrating. He has ignored the entreaties of the UN and world leaders for a cease-fire, as well as the pleas of his citizens to make a deal to release the remaining hostages. The widening conflict will keep Netanyahu’s bribery and corruption trial in abeyance while casualties begin to mount.  In this “David versus Goliath” conflict, Israel and her supporters should expect asymmetric attacks or lone-actor reprisals against soft civilian targets, ranging from runamok knife attacks (like in Germany earlier this year), vandalism against synagogues, or bomb threats against Jewish hospitals (like earlier this year in Canada).  

Lebanese man stands in remains of a building destroyed by the IDF in Beirut on 1 Oct 2024. The Lebanese economy was already in shambles before the Israeli onslaught. Photo: Fadel Itani / UPI.

A French naval ship is deploying to Lebanon to assist with any evacuations of French citizens. Approximately 23,000 French and Franco-Lebanese residents live in Lebanon. The French embassy in Beirut has established a hotline and started coordinating evacuation options for civilians who wish to leave. Two French nationals have already been killed by the IDF.

Sources:

Iran Launches Massive Ballistic Missile Attack On Israel (rferl.org)French navy deploys near Lebanon as Israel launches ground raids on Hezbollah (rfi.fr)

Florida Man Found Guilty of Felony Destruction of Property and Other Charges During 6 Jan Capitol Breach

Supporters of then-US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol’s Rotunda on 6 Jan 2021, in Washington, DC. Photo: NBC News.

A federal jury in the District of Columbia found Marcus Smith (47) of Fleming Island, FL, guilty of a felony offense of destruction of government property and several misdemeanor charges during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Joining the mob that stormed the US Capitol, Smith noticed some rioters trying to breach a locked door inside the building. The defendant joined them in breaking down the door. The Architect of the Capitol later determined that the value of the damage to the door, which was part of the original construction of the Senate Wing of the Capitol and dated back to the 1850s, necessitated the door being replaced at a cost of approximately $21,000.

After further trespassing within the US Capitol, this runamok finally departed at approximately 2:50 PM. The FBI arrested Smith on 26 Jan 2024, in Fleming Island. 

This brontosaurus represents America’s Fedayeen Saddam (FS), dead-ender white supremacists clinging on to the last vestiges of white privilege in the US. Marcus Smith is lucky that he wasn’t charged with any crimes of violence against USCP officers. The Honorable US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich will sentence Smith on 10 Jan 2025.

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 | Florida Man Found Guilty of Felony Destruction of Property and Other Charges During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

US Targets Israeli-Occupied West Bank Settler Violence with Sanctions

Hilltop Youth settlers in West Bank (Photo credit: REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen)

The US sanctioned one informal organization and two people as the Biden administration continues to tighten its financial grip on those it accuses of perpetrating violence against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The US Treasury designated Hilltop Youth, an extremist group of West Bank settlers accused of attacking Palestinians and destroying their homes and property. The US government listed Hilltop Youth as a “criminal organization.”

The Treasury said the group of settlers has “conducted a campaign of violence against Palestinians,” which includes killings, arson, assaults and intimidation, with the goal of driving Palestinians out of the West Bank. It conducts what are called “price tag” assaults, which are revenge attacks conducted in reprisal for actions carried out against settlers.

The late author and Israel Prize laureate Amos Oz who was known as: “The humane heart of Israel.”

In 2014, the late Amos Oz condemned the perpetrators of “price tag” attacks, saying “‘Price tag’ and ‘Hilltop Youth’ are cute nicknames for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups.” Oz went on to say that the only difference between neo-Nazis around the world and those who commit hate crimes in Israel is that “our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo- religious justification.”

The State Department sanctioned Eitan Yardeni and Avichai Suissa, who leads Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli non-government organization the US sanctioned in late August.

Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territory and the establishment of settlements are widely viewed as illegal under international law and have attracted the repeated criticism and condemnation of the UN and the wider international community.

The US has been a critic of Israel’s occupation and has said it represents an obstacle to a two-state solution. The Biden administration has sanctioned 27 individuals and entities accused of perpetuating violence there under an executive order that President Joe Biden signed in February.

The Biden administration has used the sanctions to criticize Israel for not doing more to curb violence in the West Bank, while critics have called on the administration to use its sanctioning power against those in the Israeli government who enable the violence against Palestinians.

“The Biden administration imposes more sanctions on settlers for violence against West Bank Palestinians but still hasn’t imposed sanctions on any of the Israeli officials who are encouraging the settler violence,” Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch and current visiting professor at Princeton, said on X.

According to an update from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there have been some 1,390 attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians between the start of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 Oct and 23 Sep.

Of those attacks, 135 involved the killing and wounding of Palestinians, 1,110 saw Palestinian property damaged and about 150 caused both casualties and property damage. The report added that some 1,628 Palestinians, including 794 children, have been displaced by the settler violence. The AP reported that 623 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank.

Sources:

Sanctions List Search (treas.gov)

U.S. targets Israeli-occupied West Bank settler violence with sanctions – UPI.com

Amos Oz: Hilltop youth are Hebrew neo-Nazis – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)

French Far-Right Leader Marine Le Pen on Trial for Misusing EU funds

Marine Le Pen sits in the European Parliament, Strasbourg, in Jan 2017.  She looks quite pleased with herself. Photo: AP / Jean-Francois Badias

Marine Le Pen, her father, and 25 colleagues – including current and former French lawmakers and MEPs – are accused of embezzling public funds and collusion. Prosecutors claim that the defendants set up a fake jobs scheme using European parliamentary funds to pay for assistants who in fact worked for her National Rally party, formerly called the National Front, rather than on European affairs.

The scheme, which ran from 2004 to 2016, was in breach of EU rules.

The EU Parliament estimated in 2018 that 6.8 million euros had been embezzled. Marine Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing.

The trial runs through to 27 Nov. If found guilty, Le Pen could face a maximum ten years behind bars and a €1 million fine. That’s unlikely, but she also faces a possible five-year ban on standing for public office. This would rule her out of the 2027 presidential election she is preparing for, and which a recent poll suggests she has a stronger than ever chance of winning.

A total of 11 members of the European Parliament, 12 of their parliamentary assistants and four party collaborators are to be tried as well, while the RN party itself faces charges of concealing the wrongdoing. Among the high-profile figures are Le Pen’s father Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the National Front, her former partner Louis Aliot – the mayor of the southern city of Perpignan – and RN spokesperson Julien Odoul.

Jean-Marie Le Pen, who is 96 years old, will not be present in court after a medical report in July diagnosed him as “unfit” to stand trial.

The National Rally is not the only party to be accused of misappropriating MEP funds.

In February this year the centrist MoDem party, currently part of President Emmanuel Macron’s Ensemble coalition, was fined €350,000 for similar charges.

MoDem’s leader, Francois Bayrou, was acquitted due to reasonable doubt, but the eight people found guilty were ordered to pay fines, sentenced to prison terms of 10 to 18 months and were banned from serving in public office.

Sources:

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on trial for misuse of EU funds (rfi.fr)

Far right election gains ensure a financial jackpot for Le Pen’s National Rally

Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused of Spying

German police arrested a Chinese woman accused of spying on the country’s defence industry while working in a logistics company.

Named only as Yaqi X., she allegedly reported to another suspected Beijing agent now under arrest, Jian G., who was working in the office of a German far-right member of the European Parliament, Maximilian Krah. The woman arrested on Monday is “strongly suspected of acting as an intelligence agent for a Chinese secret service.”

Yaqi X. worked for a company that provides logistics services at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany.

She allegedly used her position to gather information on “the transport of military equipment and persons with connections to a German arms company.”

Between mid-2023 and February, she “repeatedly sent information on flights, cargo and passengers at the airport to an employee of a Chinese secret service — namely Jian G., who is being prosecuted separately,” prosecutors said.

Jian G., a German national, was arrested in April on suspicion of spying while working in the Brussels office of German MEP Krah of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Her Leipzig home and workplace were also searched.

Justice Minister Marco Buschmann told Bild daily that “the arrest of a suspected Chinese spy in Leipzig shows us once again that foreign intelligence services have long had Germany in their sights.

Citing unnamed security sources, news site Der Spiegel reported that Yaqi X., a 38-year-old, in particular had targeted the arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights.

Her alleged handler Jian G. was arrested on suspicion of sharing European Parliament information with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany.

The European Union assembly, which had listed Jian Guo as an accredited assistant to Krah, moved to suspend him earlier this year. Krah posted on X at the time that prosecutors had confirmed to his lawyer that he was “not a suspect in the investigation”. The allegations involving China were among a series of controversies to hit Germany’s AfD, including claims that some of its members have links to Russia.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the allegations against Guo “very serious” and said that, if confirmed, it was “an attack on European democracy from within”.

According to German broadcasters ARD, RBB, and SWR, Guo was no stranger to German intelligence. He had reportedly offered his services as an informer at least a decade ago but was turned away on suspicion he might be a Chinese double agent.

Source:

Germany Arrests Chinese Woman Accused Of Spying | Barron’s (barrons.com)

California Wildfires One Million Hectares This Year

Map: FIRMS US / NASA

The total hectares burned in California this year surpassed one million as spiking temperatures Tuesday added to the challenges facing firefighters struggling to contain a stubborn blaze in the mountains northeast of Los Angeles that flared up over the weekend.

Evacuation orders were expanded again Monday for remote communities northeast of Los Angeles as the Line Fire that has been burning for nearly a month spread over nearly 176 square kilometers (68 square miles) of the San Bernardino Mountains, and containment dropped from 83% to 76%.

“The dry vegetation, steep slopes and wind aligned … to create conditions for the rapid fire spread,” according to a statement late Monday from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.

The risk of wildfires increased across California as an autumn heat wave scorched much of the state. Some inland areas could see temperatures up to 20 degrees above average for this time of year, according to the National Weather Service.

San Francisco, where residents typically break out the sweaters in October, could hit 32 degrees Celsius (90 degrees Fahrenheit), while triple digits 38 C were predicted for Sacramento. The weather service office in the state’s capital urged residents to stay indoors during the heat of the day on Tuesday.

Dry, hot winds in the northern part of the state prompted Pacific Gas & Electric to pre-emptively cut power to small clusters of customers in high-risk areas. The utility routinely stops electricity service in counties where weather conditions increase the probability of fires.

In Southern California, the Line Fire’s surge pushed the total hectares burned across the state in 2024 to 405,492 (1,001,993 acres) as of Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire. The milestone surpasses the total scorched during the same time last year — 118,719 hectares (293,362 acres) — but is roughly on par with the five-year average for the period, the Los Angeles Times reported.

At its height, the blaze threatened more than 65,000 homes in and around the Big Bear Lake area.

A 34-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to starting the Line Fire on 5 Sep. Justin Wayne Halstenberg of Norco, CA, was charged with 11 arson-related crimes.

Firefighters monitor the advancing Line Fire in Angelus Oaks, CA, 9 Sep 2024.

Sources:

Wildfires in California have burned 1 million hectares so far this year (voanews.com)

NASA | LANCE | FIRMS US/Canada

Vietnam: 25 Students Suspected of Poisoning After Drinking Free Soft Drinks; Other Cases of Possible Food Poisoning Reported This Summer

Pediatric patient treated at the hospital. Photo: BVCC

After drinking free soft drinks at the gate of Binh Minh Secondary School, Thanh Oai, 25 students showed signs of poisoning; 12 were hospitalized with headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. Physicians suspect food poisoning. Three more serious patients were transferred to Intensive Care, the rest were treated at the Infectious Diseases Department. The children drank free bottled soft drinks outside the school gate. There is no information yet regarding the brand or the ingredients, but the product was distributed for free for advertising purposes.

Authorities recommend that schools in the area, as well as parents, educate their children not to eat snacks outside the school gate and absolutely not to accept food from strangers.

On 21 Sep, 70 people at Primary and Secondary School in Nong Thuong commune, Bac Kan city vomited, had abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, and were hospitalized. The day before, 88 students and five teachers ate rice, fried chicken, vegetable soup with melons, stir-fried potatoes, and watermelon.

The next morning, 20 students appeared with hot fever, abdominal pain, headache, diarrhea, and were admitted to the emergency city health center. The number of sick patients increased to 70 with similar symptoms. The cause is unknown.

On 16 Sep, 34 students of Ton Duc Thang Secondary School in Pleiku drank milk tea at the Mid-Autumn Festival. Within a few hours, 21 students had abdominal pain, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. They received emergency medical treatment and doctors suspected food poisoning.

The City Health Center took food samples for testing to find the cause.

Without further information, these incidents appear to be isolated examples of poor quality control over food and beverage production in Vietnam, and not a sinister plot to murder innocent children.

Sources:

25 students suspected of poisoning after drinking soft drinks are given out for free – VnExpress Health Newspaper

70 people in Bac Kan were hospitalized with the same symptoms of vomiting and headache – VnExpress Health Newspaper

21 students suspected of poisoning after the Mid-Autumn Festival party – VnExpress Health Newspaper

Used Baby Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch

Story: Andy Corbley; Photo: Mandy Watson

When an Australian nurse working at a hospital with outdated incubators happened upon a kangaroo rescue center, she realized she could help save lives.

Once used to help save premature human babies, the incubators are now mimicking the conditions of a mother kangaroo’s pouch, where her joey will live for the first eight months of its life.

Every year dozens of orphaned joeys and pinkies, or marsupial pups who haven’t opened their eyes yet, are brought into Kununurra Kangaroo Rescue Haven in East Kimberly, Australia.

Since they are the largest terrestrial animal in Australia, an adult kangaroo rarely has to worry about predators and their populations can balloon quite dramatically. This, unfortunately, renders them much like whitetail deer in the US—at extreme risk of becoming roadkill.

Mandy Watson, director of the Kununurra Haven, has saved hundreds of orphaned joeys from their moms who have been hunted or struck by vehicles. Young, pinky joeys can struggle to survive without the warmth and humidity of their mother’s pouch. She has seen hundreds of orphans return to the wild, but thousands not make it to adulthood.

“In 20 years, we’ve released 823 back into the wild. It’s really hard, especially in the dry season, for us to keep up that constant temperature,” Watson told ABC News Down Under. “The humidicrib (incubator) is going to be a constant temperature that’s going to dramatically help [to] save a few more lives.”

The humidicribs were donated by nurse Jane Darlington, a clinical pediatric nurse at the Kununurra District Hospital. The hospital needed to get rid of them as the rapid march of medical technology had seen them become obsolete.

Darlington got the idea while shopping in town. She saw a volunteer from the rescue center helping to raise awareness of their work by walking around in a wallaby costume, holding one of their orphaned joeys.

Mandy Watson (left) and a volunteer play with some joeys next to their truck-mounted incubator. Photo: Jane Darlington

Source:

Old Incubators Help Save Orphaned Kangaroos by Imitating Their Mother’s Pouch (goodnewsnetwork.org)

“What? The right-wing in Europe is linked to Russian and Chinese intelligence? And involved in financial chicanery? Who knew?!”

IDF Investigating Soldiers for Throwing Bodies of Palestinians from West Bank Rooftop

The IDF said it was investigating soldiers after footage emerged that appeared to show troops throwing bodies from the roof of a building in the occupied West Bank in the aftermath of a “counter-terrorism” operation jointly conducted with the Israeli Security Agency. Photo by Alaa Badarneh/EPA-EFE.

The Israeli military launched a major investigation after a video shot in the north of the occupied West Bank appeared to show its troops tossing bodies from the roof of a building in contravention of international law.

Three Israeli troops on a rooftop are seen pushing a body over the building’s edge but the feet get caught in electrical or telephone cables leaving it hanging before one of the soldiers leans over the side and frees it, plunging the body head-first to the ground, evidenced on the graphic footage obtained by CNN.

Two soldiers lift another body by the hands and feet and swing it back and forth before launching it over the edge like luggage. A soldier then approaches a third body and kicks it off the top of the building, falling out of sight.

CNN said it was not able to confirm if the victims were still alive when they were thrown — but they do appear to be dead or unconscious.

“This is a serious incident that does not coincide with IDF values ​​and the expectations from IDF soldiers. The incident is under review,” the military said in a statement.

Filmed by residents of Qabatya, near Jenin, and witnessed by an AP reporter, the incident occurred amid an IDF operation which killed seven people. The identities and cause of death of the rooftop victims were not yet known.

Al-Arabi correspondent Ameed Shehadeh said he saw troops first attempt to retrieve the bodies on the roof by unsuccessfully trying to demolish the building with a bulldozer before heading to the rooftop and throwing them down.

Rule 113 of the Geneva Conventions titled “Treatment of the Dead,” requires state parties to conflicts, both international and civil, to treat the remains of deceased enemy combatants with respect and that failure to do so is a war crime.

Rule 114 requires parties to the conflict to return remains upon request to the other side or to their families, if asked to do so, along with their personal effects.

The latest incident came two weeks after the IDF mounted one of the largest “anti-terror” operations in 20 years targeting Jenin and the Palestinian refugee camp there. At least 36 Palestinians were killed and several were seriously injured. Among the Palestinian dead were children and elderly people.

As reported in open press and posted here on Coriolanus, IDF soldiers were captured on video raping a Palestinian man in prison this summer. Rather than being outraged at this indefensible transgression, Likud cabinet members were outraged that an IDF soldier leaked the video. And as you read on Coriolanus, several anonymous IDF soldiers with a conscience informed the Israeli press that Palestinians were being used as “human booby-trap detectors” to enter tunnels or suspicious-looking locations in Gaza in front of nervous IDF soldiers.

These alleged incidents of brutality are the results of years of de-humanizing Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims as inferior and sinister. Right-wing nationalists in Israel and the US conflate Palestinians or Arabs with Hamas or Al-Qaida. Palestinians or Iranians are a perennial bête noire that must be destroyed.

The US required roughly 100 years, say 1790 to 1890 (the Wounded Knee Massacre) to pacify and relocate the non-white indigenous peoples of North America, euphemistically under “Manifest Destiny.” To facilitate this deplorable end, subtle and not-so-subtle messaging that “Indians” were “savages” or “heathens” was rampant in written and spoken discourse.

Part of the “white man’s burden” was saving the white woman and civilization from the darker savages, like this clean-cut cowboy saving “Penelope” from a perennial bête noire, a “redskin.” (Public domain imagery)

The same applies to Israel which was born in 1948. Since then, Palestinians have been called so many horrendous non-human slurs in Israeli discourse, Wikipedia devotes an entire page to this hideous practice (linked below). For example, 86 of 522 Israeli children’s books depicted Palestinians as “inhuman, war lovers, devious monsters, bloodthirsty dogs, preying wolves, or vipers.”

Should anybody be therefore surprised when so-called inferior beings like the Palestinians are treated so inhumanely, alive or dead?

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, most of Gaza’s 40,000 dead are women and children.

Sources:

IDF investigating soldiers for throwing bodies of Palestinians from West Bank rooftop – UPI.com

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

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153216

Four Russian Soldiers Charged with Torturing and Killing Pro-Kremlin American Volunteer

US citizen Russell Bentley joined pro-Kremlin forces and was allegedly tortured and killed by Russian soldiers in April. Undated image: WIKIMEDIA / CREATIVE COMMONS (C).

Russell Bentley, a Texas man who as the “Donbas Cowboy” gained notoriety for joining Russian-backed forces in eastern Ukraine, was ironically tortured before being killed in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Russian authorities said.

They also said that his alleged abductors tried to cover up the death by detonating a car containing his body.

In a statement released on 20 Sep, the Investigative Committee said four members of the Russian armed forces — Vitaly Vansyatsky, Vladislav Agaltsev, Vladimir Bazhin, and Andrei Iordanov — had been charged in connection with Bentley’s death in April.

Bentley (64) was a fixture in the low-level Russian incursion in Ukraine dating back to 2014. Calling himself the “Donbas Cowboy”, Bentley became a popular figure on Russian propaganda networks for his criticism of the US government.

Bentley, whose military call sign was “Texas”, went missing in Donetsk in April.

Margarita Simonyan, Russia’s leading pro-Kremlin journalist and editor in chief of the state-controlled broadcaster RT, wrote on X at the time that Bentley died for “our people” in Donetsk.

The commander of the Russia-backed separatists’ Vostok Battalion, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, said on Telegram then that “those who killed Russell Bentley” will face “punishment.” But the message was removed from Telegram shortly after it was posted.

Bentley’s wife, Lyudmila, then claimed that Russian soldiers from a tank battalion abducted him.

According to the Investigative Committee, Vansyatsky, Agaltsev, and Iordanov tortured Bentley on 8 Apr and he died shortly afterward. Vansyatsky and Agaltsev are suspected of blowing up a car with Bentley’s body in it and ordering Bazhin to get rid of what was left of his remains.

The four men have been charged with abuse of power, torture that led to a death, desecration of a body, and conspiracy to hide a body.

The Investigative Committee did not specify why the four men tortured Bentley to death, but many of his friends in Donetsk have suggested that the Texan may have been mistaken for a spy.

Bentley fought for the Vostok battalion between 2014 and 2017 and obtained Russian citizenship in 2021.

Source:

Russian Soldiers Charged With Involvement In American’s Death (rferl.org)

Four Proud Boys Who Led Charge During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol Sentenced

Since their founding during the 2016 presidential race, the Proud Boys have been ardent defenders of Donald J. Trump, well before the 6 Jan 2021, Capitol attack. Photo credit: Victor J. Blue for The New York Times

Four men from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia were sentenced to various terms after they were convicted of multiple felony and misdemeanor charges related to attacking the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. This group of violent Make America Great Again (MAGA) “Proud Boys” were the vanguard of the attack on the restricted Capitol grounds on 6 Jan 2021, injuring several USCP officers. Their attack paved the way for thousands of rioters to storm the Capitol grounds.

The Honorable US District Judge Jia M. Cobb sentenced the following miscreants: Stephen Chase Randolph (34) of Harrodsburg, KY; James Tate Grant (31) of Cary, NC; Jason Benjamin Blythe (28) of Fort Worth, TX; and Paul Russell Johnson (38) of Lanexa, VA.

Stephen Chase Randolph leading the attack. Randolph received eight years in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

James Tate Grant assaulting a police officer. He received 36 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. Image: DOJ

Jason Benjamin Blythe received 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Paul Russell Johnson was sentenced to five years of probation, conditions of which include, intermittent confinement on the weekends for the first year, followed by two years of home confinement and ordered to pay a $25,000 fine as well as $2,000 in restitution. 

A fifth defendant, Ryan Samsel (40) of Bristol, PA, will be sentenced on 4 Feb 2025.

All five white supremacists were convicted of civil disorder and some were convicted of assault with a deadly or dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury.  

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 | Four Men Sentenced for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Satellite Photos Show Expansion of Suspected North Korean Uranium Enrichment Site

Satellite photos taken by Planet Labs of the Kangson complex show construction work expanding facilities on the southwestern side of the main building in Feb 2024. (Planet Labs)

A suspected North Korean uranium enrichment facility that may have been toured by leader Kim Jong Un recently has grown significantly since construction was first spotted there in Feb 2024.

The Kangson facility, just outside of the capital Pyongyang, is being monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for possible production of enriched uranium, which can be used for nuclear power generation – but is also a vital ingredient for an atomic bomb.

North Korea is extremely secretive about its nuclear program, and has not allowed IAEA inspectors back into the country after expelling them in 2009. In Feb 2024, the IAEA said that construction began on a new annex along the side of the main building of the Kangson complex.

That is corroborated by a satellite photo of the complex taken in February by Planet Labs, an US-based private satellite imagery company, which shows the expansion work is visible.

North Korean state media reported on Kim’s visit to an unnamed “production base of weapons-grade nuclear materials” last week, saying that he expressed “great satisfaction” with the improved nuclear capabilities, which would help North Korea’s “revolutionary cause.”

Experts disagree which site the North Korean supremo visited. Regardless of which facility Kim toured, the photos of the visit do not reveal anything that changes North Korea’s military threat and is a reminder of just how menacing Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal is. Kim Jong-Un had stressed that ramping up production of nuclear materials was a priority, even though his people continue to suffer from food insecurity.

According to the World Food Program (WFP), 10.7 million North Koreans are undernourished and 18% of children are stunted (impaired growth and development due to chronic malnutrition). With a population of 25.9 million, that means approximately 40% are suffering from malnourishment under Kim Jong-Un’s regime.

Sources:

Satellite photos show expansion of suspected North Korean uranium enrichment site — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Application of Safeguards in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (iaea.org)

DPR Korea | World Food Program (wfp.org)

Ukraine Offers to Help Flood-Affected European Countries

Ukraine, fighting for its survival against Russia, has offered to send its emergency service units to neighboring Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to help overcome the ongoing floods.

Several European countries are dealing with severe floods caused by the heaviest rainfall in years. The floods had claimed at least seven lives, as thousands of houses were damaged across Europe, with tens of thousands of people forced to evacuate from the disaster areas.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was moved by Ukraine’s offer of help and Czech Republic Foreign affairs minister Jan Lipavský confirmed the offer in a statement on X (Twitter).

Ukraine has also suffered from a major humanitarian disaster caused by flooding after the Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine’s south 6 July 2023, which President Zelensky called one of Russia’s “most serious crimes against the environment and people.”

In the Ukrainian-controlled part of the area flooded after the dam’s destruction, emergency service rescuers and volunteers evacuated thousands of locals, even under heavy shelling from Russian forces.

Since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukraine has sent its emergency service workers on a mission abroad at least once: to help Turkey after a deadly earthquake hit it on 6 Feb 2023, claiming over 50,000 lives across Turkey and Syria.

Source:

Ukraine offers neighbor countries help with deadly floods (kyivindependent.com)

Recent Analysis of 2019 Wuhan Market Animals May Help Find COVID-19 Origin

The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market sits closed in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei province, 21 Jan 2020. Some scientists believe infected animals were first brought to the Wuhan market in late November 2019, which then triggered the pandemic. 

Scientists searching for the origins of COVID-19 have zeroed in on a short list of animals that possibly helped spread it to people, an effort they hope could allow them to trace the outbreak back to its source.

Researchers analyzed genetic material gathered from the Chinese market where the first outbreak was detected and found that the most likely animals were raccoon dogs, civet cats, and bamboo rats. The scientists suspect infected animals were first brought to the Wuhan market in late November 2019, which then triggered the pandemic.

Scientists say they found which sub-populations of animals might have transmitted the coronavirus to humans. That may help researchers pinpoint where the virus commonly circulates in animals, known as its natural reservoir.

While the research bolsters the case that COVID-19 emerged from animals, it does not resolve the polarized and political debate over whether the virus instead emerged from a research lab in China.

An expert group led by the World Health Organization concluded in 2021 that the virus probably spread to humans from animals and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely.” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus later said it was premature to rule out a lab leak.

An AP investigation in April found the search for the COVID origins in China has gone dark after political infighting and missed opportunities by local and global health officials to narrow the possibilities.

Scientists say they may never know for sure where exactly the virus came from.

In the new study, published Thursday in the journal Cell, scientists from Europe, the US, and Australia analyzed data previously released by experts at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It included 800 samples of genetic material Chinese workers collected on 1 Jan 2020, from the Huanan seafood market, the day after Wuhan municipal authorities first raised the alarm about an unknown respiratory virus.

Chinese scientists published the genetic sequences they found last year, but did not identify any of the animals possibly infected with the coronavirus. In the new analysis, researchers used a technique that can identify specific organisms from any mixture of genetic material collected in the environment.

One researcher said the new study, while significant, left some critical issues unanswered.

“There is no question COVID was circulating at that market, which was full of animals. The question that still remains is how it got there in the first place.”

Source:

New analysis of 2019 Wuhan market animals may help find COVID-19 origin (voanews.com)

Israel Detects First Case of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF)

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF) was discovered for the first time in Israel in grazing beef cattle in the Golan Heights, the eastern Jezreel Valley, and southern Carmel, as well as in ticks collected from the said animals. CCHF is a zoonotic disease, transmittable from animals to humans. The health ministry emphasizes that it is not possible to contract the disease by eating meat or drinking milk. Workers near grazing cattle must take extra precautions to prevent infection.

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever is a viral disease that affects cattle, sheep, and humans. Most of the time, the disease appears without symptoms in animals but can cause severe morbidity in humans. 30% to 40% of people diagnosed with CCHF die from the disease. The virus is transmitted through the bite of a tick that feeds on the blood of infected cattle and sheep or through contact with their body fluids. This is the first time that the virus has been diagnosed in Israel, despite the fact that the virus is prevalent in the countries of the Middle East, Africa, West Asia, and Southeast Europe.

There is no vaccine available for either people or animals. General supportive care with treatment of symptoms is the main approach to managing CCHF in people. The antiviral drug ribavirin has been used to treat CCHF infection with apparent benefit. Both oral and intravenous formulations seem to be effective.

Sources:

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (who.int)

אבחון ראשון בישראל של נגיף בבקר במרעה ובקרציות בקר, הגורם למחלת קדחת דימומית קרימיאן-קונגו משרד החקלאות וביטחון המזון (www.gov.il)

Unknown Mozart String Trio Discovered in German Library

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 Jan 1756 – 5 Dec 1791). Mozart composed over 800 pieces and enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. Mozart had an ear for languages, as well as music. His cause of death is still not known, although records indicate he was suffering from “severe military fever.”

A previously unknown piece of music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he was probably in his early teens has been uncovered at a library in Germany. The piece dates to the mid- to late-1760s and consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting around 12 minutes.

Born in 1756, Mozart was a child prodigy and began composing at a very early age under his father’s guidance. Researchers discovered the work at the city’s music library while compiling the latest edition of the so-called Koechel catalogue, the definitive archive of Mozart’s musical works.

The newly discovered manuscript was not penned by Mozart himself but is believed to be a copy made around 1780. The piece was performed by a string trio at the unveiling of the new Koechel catalogue in the Austrian city of Salzburg and will its German premiere at the Leipzig Opera on Saturday.

The piece is referred to as “Ganz kleine Nachtmusik” in the new Koechel catalogue, according to the Leipzig libraries. The manuscript consists of dark brown ink on medium-white handmade paper and the parts are individually bound and was probably written before Mozart’s first trip to Italy.

Earlier this year, musical scholars wrote about a previously unknown system of dynamics, or code, in Ludwig van Beethoven’s original manuscripts.

Who knows what other centuries-old manuscripts or secrets of the Masters researchers will discover hidden in libraries and archives?

Source:

Unknown Mozart string trio discovered in Germany – Raw Story

A Secret Code May Have Been Hiding in Classical Music for 200 Years (msn.com)

A Lost Cat’s Mysterious Two-Month, 900-Mile Journey Home to California

Rayne Beau (pronounced Rainbow) in Roseville, CA in Aug 2024, before being returned to his owners. (Alexandra Betts via AP)

Benny and Susanne Anguiano and their two cats arrived at Yellowstone’s Fishing Bridge RV Park on 4 Jun for the cats’ first trip to the forest. But soon after they arrived, Rayne Beau was startled and ran into the nearby trees.

The couple looked for him for four days, even laying out his favorite treats and toys. When they finally had to drive back to Salinas, CA, on 8 Jun, Susanne Anguiano said she was crushed but never lost hope she would find him.

In Aug, the Anguianos received amazing news when a microchip company messaged them that their cat was at the SPCA in Roseville, CA, nearly 900 miles from Yellowstone. He was only about 200 miles away from his home in Salinas.

A woman who first saw Rayne Beau wandering the streets of the northern California city fed him and gave him water until she trapped him on 3 Aug and took him to the local SPCA. The next day, the Anguianos drove to Roseville and picked up their cat, who had lost six pounds.

The couple still doesn’t know how their cat got to Roseville but believes he was trying to get home. They have reached out to the media hoping to fill in the blanks.

Benny Anguiano said that besides microchipping their cats, they now have also fitted two of them with air tags and Rayne Beau with a GPS global tracker.

The cats love traveling in the camper and looking out the big windows to see deer, squirrels, and other animals. But the family is not ready to get on the road with their pets again any time soon.

This photograph provided by Susanne Anguiano shows her cats Rayne Beau and Starr Jasmyn snuggling in Salinas, CA, 10 Sep 2024. (Susanne Anguiano via AP)

Source:

Rayne Beau, lost cat, makes mysterious 2-month, 900-mile journey home to California – Washington Times

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.

Related: Tick season: What to know about bites, removing ticks and tick-borne diseases

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

CIA Director Makes Stop in Kosovo as Part of Unannounced Visit to Balkan Region

CIA Director William Burns enters the building of the Kosovar presidency on 22 August.

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Kosovo after stops earlier this week in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia on an unannounced trip amid concerns about US relations with Kosovo and Russian influence in the Balkans.

Burns traveled from Sarajevo to Belgrade, Bulgaria, and North Macedonia before arriving in Kosovo. According to the flight-tracking website Flightradar24, a US military plane believed to be used to fly the CIA chief made stops in those countries. On 22 August, the aircraft was seen parked at the VIP gate at Pristina’s international airport.

D/CIA Burns’ visit to Kosovo follows concerns about the partnership between the US and Kosovo, especially regarding the government’s handling of issues related to the country’s Serb minority.

Since 2001, the US has provided Kosovo with $97,830,378 in foreign assistance.

Sources:

CIA Chief Makes Stop In Kosovo As Part Of Unannounced Visit To Balkan Region (rferl.org)

U.S. Foreign Assistance by Country

Mass Bomb Threat E-Mailed to Dozens of Jewish Institutions Across Canada

Canada’s oldest synagogue Temple Emmanu-el, c1900 (Photo: Courtesy of Congregation Emanu-El, Victoria, BC)

Multiple synagogues, Jewish community centers, and hospitals in Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa were targeted with an emailed bomb threat early Wednesday morning. In response to the threat, Toronto Police evacuated buildings near an intersection in a heavily Jewish neighborhood.

A Jewish organization reported the threat was not credible, though it is still being investigated by Toronto, Montreal, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). This incident comes just a few months after shots were fired at a Chabad-Lubavitch girls’ school in Toronto. Soon afterward, a synagogue in Vancouver was attacked. In November, shots were fired at two Orthodox Jewish day schools in Montreal. No injuries were reported in any of the attacks.

A representative from the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs stated “all indications point to these threats being nuisance emails designed to disrupt lives. There is no imminent threat.”

Likud Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, a man indicted as a war criminal by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and his policies towards the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is stoking antisemitism worldwide. Nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since October 2023. The US Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that 190 of the 312 antisemitic incidents from 7 Oct 2023 to 23 Oct 2023 were directly linked to the war in Israel and Gaza.

Sources:

Mass bomb threat sent to dozens of Jewish institutions across Canada – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)

How the Gaza crisis is stoking antisemitism across the U.S. (nbcnews.com)

ICC statement on arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders (bbc.com)

Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential – The Lancet

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries

“It is time to end the forever war,” President Biden said in 2021, when he ordered the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan.

A July poll shows that a majority of the American public does not support sending US soldiers to defend Taiwan or Ukraine, suggesting that Americans appear to be warming to restraint and non-interventionism in international affairs.

Another poll found that a majority of Americans (56%) do not believe that the US should pick a side in Israel’s war on Gaza. Another recent survey found that just 4 in 10 support the US sending soldiers to defend Israel if attacked by its neighbors.

Notably, the US recently deployed two aircraft carrier groups and a nuclear-powered submarine armed with 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East. Israel is expecting an Iranian counterattack for its continuous airstrikes on Shia targets in Lebanon and Syria, as well as the 31 July assassination of Palestinian resistance leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

After the 11 Sep attacks against the US in 2001, the media helped to normalize the idea of deposing Saddam Hussein. By January 2002, 73% of the American public supported the use of force in Iraq, believing the Bush administration falsehoods about WMDs in Saddam’s hands. After years of hindsight, only 32% of Americans considered the Iraq War the right thing to do according to a 2024 survey.

Sources:

More Americans Unwilling to Die for Other Countries – Truthdig

https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/2-us-carrier-strike-groups-in-middle-east-send-very-powerful-deterrence-message-to-iran-pentagon-3689711

American Drug Firms Accused of Unethical Clinical Trials in Uyghur Region of China

Since 2017, the Chinese government has been operating a vast detention and “sinicization” program, focused on eliminating Uyghur life and culture.

American pharmaceutical companies are carrying out drug trials in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, where the US says a genocide of the Uyghur population is taking place. In a letter to the Federal Drug Administration (FDA), the two top lawmakers on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party requested an explanation of the practice, which they said is recorded in “hundreds” of entries on the FDA website “clinicaltrials.gov.”

In the letter, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-MI) and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) questioned “the ethics of conducting these trials in Xinjiang,” where they said Chinese officials “force ethnic minorities … to participate in gruesome medical procedures, which likely overlap with FDA-approved research.”

Given that China does not allow independent evaluators to examine facilities in Xinjiang for rights violations, there was reason to query if Uyghurs were being forced to undergo medical testing. The involvement of China’s People’s Liberation Army, they added, also raised “serious concerns” that the intellectual property of U.S.-based companies had been compromised and “co-opted” by Chinese firms.

Even precious metals have not been untouched, with a report last year accusing US brands of links to gold being mined through slavery.

In 2021, the US government declared that a genocide was taking place against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority in China, after years of mounting evidence about mass internment camps, torture, forced labor and forced sterilization taking place in Xinjiang.


Sources:

American drug firms accused of clinical trials in Uyghur region — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Home | ClinicalTrials.gov

https://www.glanlaw.org/copy-of-uyghur-forced-labour

INTERVIEW: ‘There’s exposure across Wall Street’

Report: US brands linked to Uyghur-mined gold

US imported cars tied to Uyghur slave labor, Senate report says

Vladimir Putin Humiliated as Hackers Take Over Russian State TV

Getty/X

Hackers from Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR) broke into servers of several Russian television channels and broadcasted “objective videos about the war in Ukraine.” HUR‘s footage was displayed three times on prime-time TV channels: Pervouralsk TV, Eurasia 360, Eurasia Pervyi Kanal, and others.

The targeted channels further reportedly included Lugansk 24, Pervyi Respublikanskyi, SpB, Oplot, TV-3, and Pervyi Rosiyskyi. Some of the channels belong to Russian oligarch Andrey Komarov. The nine channels had to suspend their broadcasting as a result of the hack.

The TV company Pervouralsk issued an apology on the VKontakte social network, saying that unspecified “attackers gained access to the live broadcast and launched unauthorized video materials that contradict the TV channel’s policy.”

This comes on the heels of Ukraine’s successful offensive into Russia and the largest drone attack against Moscow to date.

Source:

Ukrainian hackers show war footage on Russian TV, source says (kyivindependent.com)

Haiti: Suspect in Killings of US Missionary Couple and Nonprofit Director Arrested

A funeral procession for mission director Judes Montis, killed by gangs alongside two of his US missionary members, makes its way to the cemetery in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 28 May 2024. (Imagery: Odelyn Joseph / AP)

Police in Haiti have arrested a suspect in the fatal shooting of a US missionary couple and a Haitian man who headed a nonprofit organization in May. The 23 May murders of missionaries Davy Lloyd and his wife, Natalie Lloyd, and Jude Montis, the country’s director for Missions in Haiti Inc., was blamed on gangs rampaging across Haiti’s capital and beyond.

A video posted on social media late Wednesday by Haiti’s National Police shows a 52-year-old man in handcuffs, accused of being involved in the killings of the Lloyds and Montis. Police allege the suspect’s phone was used to make calls after the killings, but the man rejected that accusation.

The young couple — Davy was 23 and Natalie just 21 — were supposed to celebrate their two-year wedding anniversary in June.

From January to May, more than 3,200 killings were reported across Haiti, with gang violence leaving more than half a million people homeless. In February, gangs launched coordinated attacks on key government infrastructure, raided police stations and opened fire at the main international airport, forcing it to shut down for nearly three months. Gunmen also stormed into Haiti’s two biggest prisons, freeing thousands of inmates.

U.N.-backed police force from Kenya arrived in June to lead a multinational mission, nearly two years after Haiti’s government requested urgent deployment of a foreign force.

Source:

Suspect in killings of U.S. missionary couple and nonprofit chief arrested in Haiti – CBS News

Deadly Floods Leave Millions Stranded in Bangladesh

The Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC) reports with the rains continuing, water levels could rise further, raising concerns about additional flooding and displacement. [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]

At least 13 people have been killed and 4.5 million affected by floods triggered by heavy rains in eastern Bangladesh. Water-borne diseases such as diarrhea, dysentery, fever, skin infections, and other waterborne diseases are increasing amongst the displaced. An estimated 100,000 Bangladeshis already suffer from cholera which will no doubt increase with these floods.

Floods triggered by torrential rains have swamped swaths of low-lying Bangladesh and rescuers are scrambling to evacuate flooded communities. Nearly 190,000 people were taken to emergency relief shelters and 11 of the country’s 64 districts were affected by the flooding.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen frequent floods in recent decades and is among the countries most vulnerable to disasters and climate change.

Sources:

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2024/8/23/deadly-floods-leave-millions-stranded-in-bangladesh

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/health-concerns-emerge-bangladesh-flood-waters-recede-2022-06-23/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-33576-3