Palestinian first responders remove a body from the rubble of a five-story residential building hit by an Israeli strike in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on 29 Oct 2024. (Photo: AFP)
Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike Tuesday hit a five-story residential building in northern Gaza, killing at least 115 people.
The Gaza Strip, Lebanon, and to a great extent the West Bank, is an “AKZ” or “Arab Killing Zone” for the Likud Party and the IDF. The Israeli term is “Nakba,” which is Arabic for “catastrophe.” Over the past 24 hours, the IDF liquidated 175 victims in the AKZ without trial, judicial hearing, or concern for collateral damage and nearby innocent victims. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch use the term “XJK,” short for “Extra-Judicial Killings.” The Likud Party definition of “co-existence” with Arabs is child-like in simplicity: “We exist, you do not.”
In the northern sector of the IDF AKZ, at least 60 people were liquidated in IDF attacks on Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley. Two children were among those killed in strikes which targeted 12 areas in the Baalbek region. 58 Arabs were wounded and rescue efforts were under way. Baalbek governor Bachie Khodr called the attacks the “most violent” in the area since Israel began its “special military operation” against Hezbollah last month.
Map: BBC News.
Israel has carried out thousands of air strikes across the northern AKZ (Lebanon) over the past five weeks. Unverified video posted on social media showed damage to buildings and forests ablaze, as rescuers searched for the injured.
Hezbollah fighters resisted Israeli troops near Lebanon’s southern border and fired rockets at a naval base inside Israel near Haifa.
Cross-border hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah broke out after the armed Lebanese group started firing rockets in and around northern Israel in support of Palestinians on 8 Oct 2023, the day after its ally conducted a brazen raid to seize Israeli citizens in order to conduct a future prisoner swap. Over 2,000 Palestinians (may be more by other accounts) had been held in IDF security detention without hearing or trial according to Amnesty International.
Israel invaded the northern AKZ (Lebanon) in a dramatic escalation on 30 Sep to destroy Hezbollah weapons and infrastructure in “limited, localised, targeted raids.” But Israeli Likud PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s “special military operation” has internally displaced up to 1.3 million Lebanese people, killing 2,600 of them and wounding over 12,400 in the AKZ. Lebanon’s medical infrastructure is being destroyed by the IDF in what Beirut says is deliberate and a war crime under the Geneva Convention.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticized legislation passed by the Israeli parliament banning the main UN aid agency for the Palestinians, UNRWA. The law is set to go into effect in 90 days, which Guterres said “could have devastating consequences” for Palestinian refugees.
The Likud Party and the IDF do not want witnesses to ethnic cleansing nor do they want Palestinians to receive any humanitarian or medical assistance. We are witnessing the Gaza Strip become the most inhospitable place in the universe for human beings.
In the north AKZ, the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah announced that Sheikh Naim Kassem is its new leader, following the killing of longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah in a Sep 2024 Israeli airstrike in Beirut.
The group’s Shura Council elected Kassem, announcing that these Shia Muslims would continue Nasrallah’s policies of resistance to Israel and support for Sunni Palestinians. Kassem served as Hezbollah’s deputy leader for more than three decades.
Israel’s Nakba against Gaza, the southern and western portion of the AKZ, has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians (half of them women and children). Israel alleges the death toll includes thousands of terrorists. At this rate, by year’s end approximately 50,000 Palestinians would have been eradicated while 150,000 will have been maimed. The Israeli Nakba campaign has devastated much of the Gaza Strip, while the fighting and Israeli evacuation orders have displaced around 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million Arabs.
Rene Lichtman, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, said on 24 Jan 2024: “Israel is committing war crimes in Gaza. We’ve got to fight back.”
Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman at a protest against Israel’s Nakba against Gaza. (WSWS© Photo: New York Post)
Monsieur Lichtman, these brave young Israeli teenagers below may have heard you.
Israeli conscientious objectors. Approximately 63 high school students signed a public letter declaring that they will refuse to be drafted into the IDF to participate in the Nakba. One brave young man has already been imprisoned for refusing induction into the IDF. (Image by AFSC.org)
Meanwhile, International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes prosecutor Karim Khan KC is patiently awaiting Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and DM Yoav Gallant at the Hague for creating the horrendous AKZ in the Middle East called the Gaza Strip. (Photo: BBC)
Sources:
Lebanon says 60 killed in Israel strikes on Bekaa Valley in east (bbc.com)
Israeli strike kills at least 60 in northern Gaza, health officials say (voanews.com)
Israeli Teens Tell Netanyahu They Won’t Serve IDF (forward.com)
ICC statement on arrest warrants of Israeli and Hamas leaders (bbc.com)
Israeli strikes in Gaza kill 115, most in apartment building in Beit Lahia in the north – UPI.com
Israel/OPT: Horrifying cases of torture and degrading treatment of Palestinian detainees amid spike in arbitrary arrests – Amnesty International(7) Middle East Live Updates: Israel’s Parliament Passes Bill That Threatens UNRWA’s Work – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Drones Attack ‘Spetsnaz University’ In Russia’s Chechnya
Fire atop the roof of a building on the campus of “Spetsnaz University” after drone attacks on 29 Oct. (Photo: RFE/RL)
For the first time since Moscow launched its full-scale of illegal invasion of Ukraine in Feb 2022, the territory of Russia’s North Caucasus region of Chechnya has been targeted by drone attacks. Chechnya’s Kremlin-backed authoritarian leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Telegram on 29 Oct that drones had attacked the building of the so-called “Spetsnaz (Special Forces) University” named after President Vladimir Putin in the Chechen city of Gudermes, some 500 km from Ukraine’s borders and west of the capital, Grozhny.
(Map: worldatlas.com)
According to Kadyrov, there were no casualties and a fire atop the roof was extinguished. Kiev did not comment. The Chechen warlord had said thousands of men went through special training in the facility before joining Russian troops in Ukraine.
Chechen personnel in Ukraine. Akhmat Special Forces have distinguishing trademark sideburns. Undated photo: east2westnews.com via www.ar15.com)
Russian air defenses were unable to neutralize this drone attack which made it completely through Chechen territory. This symbolic attack alerts the Chechens that the Ukrainians can reach out to them and that there is a price to pay for assisting Vladimir Putin.
Kremlin satrap Ramzan Kadyrov stands proudly in the center. (Undated photo: Yelena Afonina /TASS / Reuters)
Sources:
Drones Attack ‘Spetsnaz University’ In Russia’s Chechnya (rferl.org)
Ukrainian Imprisoned for Assassinating Ex-Commander of Russian Submarine
The late Stanislav Rzhitski fired drones at Ukrainian civilians. (RFE/RL file photo)
The Krasnodar regional court in Russia’s southwest has sentenced Serhiy Denysenko, a Ukrainian-Russian dual citizen, to 25 years in prison for killing the former commander of a Russian submarine implicated in the shelling of Ukrainian territories in 2022.
The court also ordered Denysenko to pay five million rubles ($51,350) to the father of Stanislav Rzhitsky as compensation in the shooting death.
The court pronounced the ruling on 29 Oct after finding Denysenko, who obtained Russian citizenship in March 2023, guilty of murder, illegal weapon possession, and high treason.
Denysenko was arrested on 11 July 2023, a day after Rzhitsky (42) was killed in the city of Krasnodar while jogging. The assailant fired several shots from a pistol with a silencer and struck Rzhitsky four times. Rzhitsky, who served at the time as a deputy head of the department for mobilization work in Krasnodar, died at the scene.
(Map: Britannica.com)
Russian prosecutors claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was behind the attack. The chief of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, rejected the claim, saying the anti-war sentiments among Russian military may have triggered the assassination.
Rzhitsky used to command the Krasnodar submarine in the Russian Navy.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Krasnodar is a diesel-electric submarine built for the Black Sea Fleet and designed “to fight surface ships and submarines, lay mines, and conduct reconnaissance.”
The Krasnodar is equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles, and Ukrainian authorities claimed that the vessel had participated in the shelling of the Ukrainian city of Vinnytsya in July 2022, firing its Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea.
(Graphics: iswnews.com)
In addition, a person with the same name as Stanislav Rzhitski is in the database of a Ukrainian website that collects information on war crimes allegedly conducted by the Russian military.
The website claims that Rzhitski was the commander of the Alrosa submarine and was directly involved in the military invasion of Ukraine. Unclear is when Rzhitsky left the submarine fleet for the post of deputy head of the department for mobilization work in Krasnodar.
Serhiy Denysenko, a karate black belt, will suffer a brutal sentence in a Russian prison or gulag. Sensei Serhiy has a slight glimmer of hope, though. Since he was not executed, he may be exchanged in a future prisoner swap between Kiev and Moscow.
Sources:
Ukrainian Jailed For Murdering Ex-Commander Of Russian Submarine (rferl.org)
Disgraced US Navy Reserve Officer Sentenced for Bribery Scheme Involving State Dept Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) Program
Heroic-looking Cmdr. Jeromy Pittmann, seen here as a lieutenant commander in Afghanistan in 2014. (Photo: Patrick Gordon / US Navy)
Disgraced US Navy Reserve Commander Jeromy Pittmann (53) of Pensacola, FL, was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for his role in a years-long bribery scheme involving Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) for Afghan nationals.
He accepted bribe payments from Afghan nationals in exchange for drafting, submitting, and verifying fraudulent letters of recommendation for Afghan nationals who applied for SIVs with the US Department of State.
Pittmann signed over 20 letters in which he fraudulently represented that he personally knew and had supervised the Afghan national visa applicants while they worked as translators in support of the US military and NATO. Pittman testified in those letters that the applicants’ lives were in jeopardy because the Taliban considered them to be traitors. He also wrote that he believed the applicants did not pose any threat to the national security of the US. In fact, Pittmann had no knowledge of the applicants whatsoever. In exchange for the fraudulent letters, Pittmann received several thousands of dollars in bribes.
To avoid detection, Pittmann received the bribe money through an intermediary and created false invoices purporting to show that Pittmann was receiving the money for legitimate work unrelated to his military service.
The SIV system has come under scrutiny after an Afghan man living in Oklahoma was charged earlier this month with allegedly plotting a terror attack on Election Day on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi (27) worked for CIA as a security guard in Afghanistan before entering the US in 2021 on a SIV. Authorities assess that Tawhedi became radicalized after he arrived in the US.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is seen making the “Tawhid” gesture in an undated photo. He is under arrest. (Photo: FBI)
This disgraced USNR field grade officer endangered US national security and threw his life and career away over sheer greed. As a US Navy Reserve Commander (O-5) on active-duty, Pittmann’s monthly base pay was between $6,725.70 to $11,426.70.
If any of Pittmann’s Afghan SIV applicants conduct an attack in the US, his sentence has the potential to be reviewed and increased. There is no public information available whether the US Navy is recalling him to active-duty for court-martial, reduction in grade and pay, or dishonorable discharge under the UCMJ.
Source:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-navy-reserve-officer-sentenced-bribery-scheme-involving-department-states-approval
US: Iowa Resident Dies of Rare Lassa Fever
The current risk of Lassa virus transmission in the US is “incredibly low,” Iowa’s medical director says. (Image: CS Goldsmith, P. Rollin, M. Bowen/CDC)
A resident of eastern Iowa who had recently traveled to West Africa died after catching Lassa fever. The virus, which is in the same viral hemorrhagic fever category as Ebola, is rarely seen in the US.
The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services announced the death Monday but did not release the person’s name and disclosed few details about them. Preliminary tests were presumptively positive for the virus and the CDC is working to confirm the diagnosis.
The department said the person was middle-aged and had traveled to West Africa, where it is believed they contracted the virus. The current risk of transmission in the US is “incredibly low,” according to Iowa State Medical Director Dr. Robert Kruse.
Each year, about 100,000 to 300,000 people become infected with Lassa fever in West Africa, where the disease is endemic, according to the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota. Since 1969, there have been only eight known cases in the US, all of them travel-related.
It’s even rarer for someone to die from Lassa fever. The disease has an overall fatality rate of just 1%, according to the World Health Organization. In severe cases, the patient may have bleeding; difficulty breathing; pain in the chest, back and abdomen; and vomiting. Someone with milder symptoms may develop a slight fever, feel tired or have a headache. Most people who are infected with Lassa virus have no symptoms at all.
Lassa fever can spread between humans but not through casual contact. Typically, the virus spreads only when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
Lassa fever most commonly spreads through the multimammate rat in West Africa. People can get sick after touching objects contaminated with rat feces or urine, or after eating food that’s been contaminated. Some people also get sick after eating the rats themselves, according to the CDC.
Natal multimammate rat. (Photo: http://www.iNaturalist.org)
Prompt treatment is considered key for Lassa fever. Ribavirin, a broad-spectrum antiviral that works well against RNA viruses and is also used to treat hepatitis C, is the primary treatment.
The Iowa Department of Health is investigating and monitoring the situation in conjunction with the CDC and local public health partners. The agencies are trying to determine who may have had close contact with the patient, who had been treated in isolation at the University of Iowa Health Care Medical Center.
The CDC says the patient was not sick while traveling, so the risk to other airline passengers is extremely low.
Sources:
About Lassa Fever | Lassa Fever | CDC
Iowa resident dies of rare Lassa fever, officials say | CNN
Vladimir Putin Oversees Large-Scale Nuclear Response Drills as Tensions with NATO Run High
RS-24 Yars (MIRV-equipped, thermonuclear armed intercontinental ballistic missiles AKA SS-29s), Each missile is thought to be able to carry up to four warheads.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has overseen an extensive nuclear exercise simulating a retaliatory strike involving missile launches, putting Russia’s nuclear capabilities front and centre as tensions with the West over Ukraine continue to escalate.
Speaking via video with military leaders on Tuesday, Putin confirmed the drills are designed to simulate the actions of top officials in a nuclear response, involving launches of both ballistic and cruise missiles.
Defence Minister Andrei Belousov stated that the exercise aims to practice “strategic offensive forces launching a massive nuclear strike in response to a nuclear strike by the enemy”.
The drills included the test-firing of a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk launch site, intercontinental ballistic missiles launched from submarines in the Barents Sea and the Sea of Okhotsk, and long-range cruise missiles deployed by Tu-95 strategic bombers.
The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that all missiles successfully hit their targets.
Putin, who has frequently highlighted Russia’s nuclear capabilities to discourage Western support for Ukraine, described Russia’s nuclear arsenal as a “reliable guarantor” of sovereignty and security.
He reiterated Russia’s stance that nuclear weapons are a last resort, and announced ongoing modernization efforts for Russia’s nuclear forces to improve their precision, speed, and resistance to missile defenses.
In recent months, Putin has also issued a stern warning that if Western arms donors permit Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with weapons they have supplied, they would be risking a direct war between his country and the NATO alliance.
He has also revised Russia’s nuclear doctrine, which now considers a conventional attack by a non-nuclear country allied with a nuclear power as grounds for a joint response, potentially including nuclear weapons.
These exercises follow other recent drills with Belarus, a Russian ally hosting some of Moscow’s tactical nuclear arms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is saber-rattling ahead of the US presidential election. These drills are a message that the Kremlin is serious about Western assistance to Ukraine. Nuclear delivery systems do undergo routine readiness drills, but the timing of this is political. After many years, the US relocated nuclear delivery systems closer to Europe after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Source:
Illinois Militant Pleads Guilty to Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol
Joseph Bierbrodt
Joseph Bierbrodt (55) of Sheridan, IL pleaded guilty to obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers, both felony offenses, for his atrocious conduct on 6 Jan 2021. The Honorable US District Judge Christopher R. Cooper will sentence Joseph Bierbrodt on 3 Feb 2025.
Bierbrodt and his brother, William Bierbrodt, attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on 6 Jan 2021, in Washington, DC and then made their way toward the US Capitol building. The two eventually arrived at the Northwest Terrace and approached the Parliamentarian Door, which was locked to prevent rioters from further accessing the building. William Bierbrodt then used his cane to smash the door window and reach his hand inside, unlocking the door.
William Bierbrodt used his cane to break into the Capitol. (Photo: Roberto Schmidt / AFP via Getty Images)
With the door now open, Joseph Bierbrodt and other rioters entered the Capitol. Immediately upon entering the Capitol, Joseph Bierbrodt grabbed a USCP officer by the upper torso and pushed him into a wall. He then spun the officer around and shoved the officer into the arms of another rioter. After the assault, Joseph Bierbrodt moved to a location in the Senate Wing, where he met a line of police officers restricting his access further into the building. Both brothers finally departed the US Capitol hours later.
Joseph Bierbrodt (L) and William Bierbrodt (R) at the US Capitol on 6 Jan 2021. Both brothers are military veterans. (Photo: FBI)
The FBI arrested both Joseph Bierbrodt and William Bierbrodt on 26 July 2023, in Sheridan, IL. William Bierbrodt is still on trial.
In the nearly four years since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,532 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 571 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.
These two whiteist neanderthals, US military veterans, heeded the idiotic call of Donald Trump that the US is being undermined by liberals and the minorities stole the 2020 election. After the cane-swinging imbecile is found guilty in court, both siblings would have thrown their lives away with these federal felony convictions over ignorance and hatred.
Source:
Joseph Bierbrodt Statement of Facts.pdf (justice.gov)
French Brand Tops Mercury Contamination in Europe’s Tuna
Mercury contamination has been found in cans of tuna tested across Europe, with some samples containing four times the permitted level, two NGOs warned. The highest level was found in cans sold by French brand Petit Navire.
Bluefin tuna fished off Calabria, Italy. (According to the NGOs, tuna remains the most consumed fish in Europe. Photo: Reuters / Tony Gentile)
Tests carried out by NGOs Bloom and Foodwatch showed all 148 cans tested positive for mercury contamination. The samples were bought in France, Germany, England, Spain and Italy.
Mercury is “one of the ten substances of greatest concern in the world, like asbestos or arsenic,” said the organisations. Its derivative, methylmercury, is classified as a “possible carcinogen” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
More than half the tested cans contained mercury levels higher than those permitted for other fish species.
While mercury content in fish like pollack or cod must not exceed 0.3 mg/kg, the limit for tuna is set at 1 mg/kg.
The NGOs criticized this discrepancy and called for authorities to impose the lower 0.3 mg/kg limit on tuna – Europe’s most consumed fish.
“This metal is a powerful neurotoxicant and low doses consumed regularly are enough to cause serious disorders of the nervous system in children and attack the brain functioning of adults,” said the NGOs.
The highest concentration was found in French brand Petit Navire at 3.9 mg/kg. Spain’s Carrefour products followed with 2.5 mg/kg, while Italian brand As do Mar showed levels up to 1.5 mg/kg.
Bloom and Foodwatch demanded authorities stop the sale of tuna products exceeding 0.3 mg/kg of mercury. They also called for bans in nurseries, hospitals, maternity wards, retirement homes, and school canteens.
Source:
French brand tops mercury contamination in Europe’s tuna (rfi.fr)
A Mutt Known as ‘Houdini’ for Ability to Elude Capture Finally Nabbed in New Orleans
(Photo: Brett Duke / The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Dubbed on social media as the “Houdini” of New Orleans’ Mid-City neighborhood, Scrim — a scruffy, mixed-breed dog that was on the lam for more than six months after escaping his yard — has finally been caught.
The 13-pound runaway was captured with the use of a tranquilizer dart. New Orleans news outlets report that he is missing a chunk out of his ear and has various abrasions. Also, X-rays revealed two projectiles — possibly small bullets or air rifle pellets — were lodged inside his little body.
Veterinarian Dr. Mary Miller told The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate she couldn’t be positive what type of weapon had been used, since she decided to leave the projectiles embedded in the dog’s flesh. “We’re probably not going to remove them,” Miller said, “because they’re not going to cause an issue.”
Despite his injuries, Miller said, Scrim’s condition “wasn’t awful.”
Michelle Cheramie, owner of the nonprofit Zeus Rescues in New Orleans, said she had rescued Scrim from a south Louisiana dog pound where he was in jeopardy of euthanasia. Scrim was eventually adopted by a family in Mid-City, but soon escaped.
He soon became the talk of the neighborhood, and a bit of a star on social media where people posted videos from cellphones and security cameras whenever he was spotted. He managed to elude traps and would-be captors with nets and tranquilizer guns.
Finally, Cheramie got a call that Scrim had been sighted. She grabbed her tranquilizer gun and a group of volunteers showed up at the scene.
“WE GOT HIM!!!!” Cheramie posted on social media.
Once he’s fully healthy, he will be adopted again. Tammy Murray, co-founder of the nonprofit New Orleans Animal Welfare Society, told the newspaper she plans to take him in.
Scrim being taken for walk at animal hospital in New Orleans, LA. (Photo: Brett Duke / The Times-Picayune / The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Source:
Dog dubbed ‘Houdini’ finally captured in New Orleans | AP News
Coriolanus 