north korea

After Killing Palestinian Resistance Leader, IDF Continues Special Military Operation in Gaza

Palestinian children line up for food in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, 17 Oct 2024. A UN-backed assessment has found some 345,000 Gazans face “catastrophic” levels of hunger this winter.

Israel conducted raids on Gaza on Friday, pressing its yearlong war to crush the Palestinians after killing resistance leader Yahya Sinwar. Like Osama bin-Laden who should have faced justice in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) for the 9/11 attacks on the US, Sinwar too was killed without judicial process.  

According to Gaza’s civil defense agency, rescuers recovered the bodies of three Palestinian children from the rubble of their home in the north of the territory after it was hit at dawn. The IDF is pressing its operation in Jabalia, where air and drone strikes killed at least 14 people on Thursday.

With the civilian toll in Gaza mounting, Israel has faced criticism over its conduct of the war, including from the US. Israel’s Nakba campaign and free the hostages seized by Palestinian fighters has killed 42,438 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, women, and children. Several more nations have cut diplomatic ties with Jerusalem and an American journalist suggested Israel be expelled from the UN because of its brutal pogrom against the Palestinians and for declaring UNGA Secretary-General António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres persona non grata.

These Israelis joyously celebrate the news of the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at a southern kibbutz, 17 Oct 2024. Note the elation on the faces of the celebrants, unaware of twice-GOP Presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey’s famous words, “You can’t shoot an idea with a gun,” as if the IDF killing of one man erases Palestinian nationalism. Urbane Israelis in Ramat Aviv or Haifa wonder how much taxes these kibbutzers pay or whether they ever served in the IDF like them (Photo: AP)

Sources:

Israel conducts raids on Gaza after killing Hamas chief Sinwar (voanews.com)

Moldovan Police Arrest ‘Provocateurs’ Trained in Russia, Balkans

Moldova has a population of 3,599,528 people comprised of these ethnic groups: Moldovan 75.1%, Romanian 7%, Ukrainian 6.6%, Gagauz 4.6%, Russian 4.1%, Bulgarian 1.9%, other 0.8% (2014 est.), GDP per capita: $15,700 (2023 est.) Map and information: CIA.

Moldovan authorities exposed a network of more than 100 people trained in Russia and the Balkans to provoke post-election unrest. Four suspects were arrested and placed in pretrial custody for 30 days following extensive searches by police and Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service (SIS).

Pro-Western President Maia Sandu is running for a second term on 20 Oct in an election that takes place simultaneously with a referendum to decide whether Moldovans want their impoverished country of 2.5 million people to pursue integration into the EU.

The pro-Kremlin network was financed by Russia-friendly fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, who is wanted in Moldova for his involvement in the theft of some $1 billion from the impoverished ex-Soviet republic’s banking system about a decade ago.

Authorities released hidden-camera videos purporting to depict training sessions in Russia, Serbia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina. In one video, young people standing on a stage in what appears to be a training hall mock a protest and chant slogans such as “Our language is Russian,” “No dual citizenship,” and “We don’t want to be in Europe.” Another video purportedly shows a training camp said to be in the Balkans where young men are appear to be learning how to make explosives and pilot drones.

The investigators said the approximately 100 young people who took part in the alleged training were around 20 years old. They started traveling to Russia in June and some of them underwent additional training at camps in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina belonging to Russian mercenary groups Ferma and Wagner. Among the coordinators of the action is Konstantin Potyomkin, who has ties with the notorious Wagner group. SIS chief Alexandru Musteata said Moldovan authorities “have the situation under control,” and the degree of risk regarding possible destabilization is now “low.”

Under Sandu’s government, Moldova secured EU candidate status in 2022 and opened accession talks with the bloc earlier this year after siding with Ukraine following Russia’s unprovoked invasion, in a radical U-turn toward the West and away from Moscow’s decades-long influence.

The two polls are seen as crucial for the future of the former Soviet republic and come amid a hybrid campaign of disinformation employed by Russia to scare Moldovans away from the EU and keep them in Moscow’s orbit.

Moldovan and several Western governments have warned that Russia and Shor plan to organize mass unrest if the elections and the referendum will have results contrary to the Kremlin’s liking. Russia’s eventual goal is to bring in a pro-Moscow government in Chisinau, which seems to be thwarted for now.

Sources:

Moldovan Police Arrest ‘Provocateurs’ Trained In Russia, Balkans (rferl.org)

Russia Pressures Central Asian Prisoners to Fight in Ukraine as ‘Expendable Force’

The Sakharovo migration center in Moscow (Photo: AP)

A 24-year-old migrant worker from Kyrgyzstan, Eleman enlisted in the military at a Russian prison in 2023 with the promise of parole, big money, and Russian citizenship in return for six months of combat in Ukraine. In jail for drug trafficking, he was sent to the front line after just a few days of training.

Eleman was forced to remain on the battlefield even after his contract had ended despite being wounded. His father said:


“If you’re alive and can shoot, it’s enough for them to send you to the combat zone.”


Eleman was finally discharged from the military earlier this year after he sustained even more severe injuries that left him disabled.  Eleman is one of thousands of inmates in Russia who were recruited to fight in Ukraine as Moscow struggles to replenish its depleting forces while trying to avoid another unpopular mobilization.

Russia’s Defense Ministry began enlisting inmates in early 2023, taking over from the notorious Wagner mercenary group that started the prisoner-recruitment scheme in July 2022 — five months after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Wagner had enlisted nearly 50,000 prisoners — 20 percent of whom were killed in Ukraine — as of May 2023, according to the group’s founder, Evgeniy Prigozhin. Prigozhin fell out of favor with the Kremlin before dying in a suspicious plane crash in Aug 2023.

The Defense Ministry has expanded the practice of recruiting inmates to the extent that dozens of penal colonies in Russia were emptied and closed. Pretrial-detention facilities and immigration-detention centers — which hold hundreds of migrant workers mainly from Central Asian countries have become recruitment hubs. Russian officials have made prison conditions unbearably harsh and inhumane in an effort to pressure inmates into joining the military.

“They keep you in a cold cell, you sleep on the floor with just a pillow underneath you holding plastic bottles filled with hot water to keep warm,” is how one Kyrgyz inmate described his bleak life in a prison in central Russia.

The father of another Kyrgyz inmate incarcerated in the Sverdlovsk region said his son told him that prisoners “had to drink their own urine after being kept in isolation for days without food or water.”

Once recruited into the military, the convicts are treated as an expendable force, with little consideration for their lives and are often thrown onto the front line with just a few days of military training.

Kyrgyzstan says some 1,500 Kyrgyz nationals are serving time in Russian prisons, most of them accused of drug trafficking. The number of Tajik inmates and detainees in Russia was estimated at about 10,000 before the Ukraine invasion. The exact number of Central Asian prisoners in Russia is unknown. Nor is it clear how many Central Asian inmates were recruited to war from Russian prisons.


Kyrgyzstan has repatriated about 100 of its nationals from Russian prisons to serve the remainder of their sentences in Kyrgyzstan. About 500 other such requests by Bishkek have been rejected by Russian authorities.

This cynical Kremlin strategy provides the Russian military with cannon-fodder for the front line against Ukraine while simultaneously depopulating itself of minorities (non-Slavic Muslims). Over a century ago, rumors spread that an abnormally high amount of the Czar’s casualties in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05) also came from minority groups, particularly at Port Arthur. But this is strictly anecdotal. And note North Korea sent troops to fight against Russia. ROK CIA (NIS) reported that 1,500 SOF personnel are being readied for combat in an unspecified location in Russia.     

Source:

Russia Pressures Central Asian Prisoners To Fight In Ukraine As ‘Expendable Force’ (rferl.org)

US Treasury Sanctions Chinese Drone Makers

The Garpiya has been deployed by Russia in its brutal war against Ukraine, destroying critical infrastructure and causing mass casualties.

The US imposed sanctions on two Chinese companies and an affiliated Russian company involved in making and shipping drones that Russia has used in its full-scale war in Ukraine.

The two Chinese companies designated by the US Treasury Department are Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Company, and the Redlepus Vector Industry Shenzhen.

Xiamen Limbach Aircraft Engine Company makes an engine that powers Russia’s Garpiya series long-range unmanned aerial vehicles. Redlepus Vector Industry Shenzhen is involved in shipping the attack drones.

A Russian national and company affiliated with the two Chinese companies were also designated in the sanctions: Artem Yamshchikov and TSK Vektor.

These are the first US sanctions imposed on Chinese entities that produce complete weapons systems in partnership with Russian firms. Previously imposed sanctions on Chinese entities have targeted those that provided components critical to Russia’s military-industrial base.

The drone was designed and developed by China-based experts and is produced at factories within China in collaboration with Russian defense firms before they are transferred to Russia for use against Ukraine, according to the department.

The sanctions freeze any assets held by the individuals and companies in US jurisdiction and bar US persons from conducting business with them.

Sources:

Treasury Targets Actors Involved in Drone Production for Russia’s War Against Ukraine | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Chinese Drone Companies Targeted By Latest U.S. Sanctions (rferl.org)

Justice Department Announces Charges Against Indian Government Employee in Connection with Foiled Plot to Assassinate US Citizen in NYC

Vikash Yadav from the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) allegedly orchestrated a failed bid to kill him. RAW is the Indian government’s equivalent of CIA. Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.

The Justice Department filed charges against Vikash Yadav (39) in connection to a foiled assassination plot of a US citizen in NYC. Yadav’s alleged co-conspirator, Nikhil Gupta (53) was previously charged and extradited to the US; Yadav remains at large.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun (above) is a Sikh dissident in NYC. He is reportedly a citizen of Canada as well.

Gurpatwant Singh Pannun is a vocal critic of the Indian government and leads a US-based organization that advocates for the secession of Punjab, a state in northern India that is home to a large population of Sikhs, an ethnoreligious minority group in India. The victim has publicly called for some or all of Punjab to secede from India and establish a Sikh sovereign state called Khalistan, and the Indian government has banned the victim and his separatist organization from India.

Vikash Yadav is a citizen and resident of India, and he directed the plot to assassinate the victim from India. His accomplice Gupta recruited a hit-man, who was in reality a confidential source (CS) of the DEA. Gupta specifically instructed his assassin not to commit the murder around the time of the Indian Prime Minister’s official state visit to the US on or about 20 Jun 2023. On or about 18 June 2023, approximately two days before the Indian PM Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US, masked gunmen murdered Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Sikh temple in British Columbia, Canada. Nijjar was an associate of the victim, and, like the victim, was a leader of the Sikh separatist movement and an outspoken critic of the Indian government.

Yadav and Gupta of India have been charged with several felonies and face possibly up to 40 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

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

The Canadian government recently expelled several Indian diplomats in connection with the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The Sikhs are an integral part of Canadian society and they were outraged by this brazen assassination. For several years, the right-wing government of Narendra Modi has been making life difficult for non-Hindus in India, as well as abroad. The US must tread carefully as India is seen as an ally against a growing Chinese military. Washington also doesn’t want Delhi to increase its support or trade with Russia.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Justice Department Announces Charges Against Indian Government Employee in Connection with Foiled Plot to Assassinate U.S. Citizen in New York City | United States Department of Justice

dl (justice.gov)

RAW officer Vikram Yadav ‘hired hit team’ to kill Pannun: Washington Post – Hindustan Times

Statement by the Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs on the RCMP’s findings regarding criminal activity in Canada with connections to agents of the Government of India – Canada.ca

Texas Fanatic Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on US Capitol

This lunatic shouted “Fuck you” at police officers all day and impeded the progress of a medical team that was trying to aid a rioter that was shot. (Photo: FBI)

Dana Jean Bell (66) of Princeton, TX was sentenced to 17 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution by US District Judge Timothy J. Kelly for her atrocious and felonious conduct on 6 Jan 2021. Her actions led to the eventual suicide of a police officer.

When the Trump-supporting mob began assaulting officers with pepper spray and ripping at least one police riot shield out of an officer’s hands, Bell made her way to the front of the rabble.  As the rioters inside the building forced the East Rotunda doors open, Bell reached out and grabbed the doors from the outside, disregarding that a USCP officer was pinned behind the doors.

After a rioter was shot in the Capitol, Bell refused orders to clear the way for a medical team, shouting “Don’t fuckin’ touch me!”  She told multiple officers to “get a real job” and that “no one support y’all, nobody!” This included Officer Jeffrey Smith, who tragically took his own life following severe personal injuries sustained in the line of duty on 6 Jan. As she was forced down the hallway, Bell also shoved her elbow multiple times into one officer’s chest.

When Bell finally exited the Capitol, she also assaulted two journalists. The FBI arrested the maniac on 7 Dec 2023 in Texas.

(Photos: FBI)

Erin Smith, whose husband Jeff Smith suffered a traumatic brain injury and a fracture while repelling the rioters, spoke at the sentencing hearing.

“Because of Dana Bell, (my husband) didn’t get the chance to keep serving as a police officer,” Smith said. “At 35, instead of becoming a mother, I became a widow.”

The presiding judge, a Republican and Donald Trump appointee, sentenced this maniac too lightly despite all the evidence he was presented. Although this was Dana Bell’s first offense, the US Sentencing Guidelines probably allows for upward departure in cases like this where significant harm arose subsequent to the instant offense. Here, a man received TBI and then committed suicide.

In the 45 months 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.

Sources:

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

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/erin-smith-january-6-widow-jeff-smith-testifies-sentencing-dana-bell/

Flesh-Eating Bacteria Infections Increase in Florida After Hurricanes Helene, Milton

Flesh-eating bacteria cases (necrotizing fasciitis) have surged in the last few weeks since Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton swept through, according to data from the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). Vibrio vulnificus, a naturally occurring but potentially fatal bacterial infection, thrives in warm floodwaters when hurricanes and tropical storms push brackish water along the coast and into rivers and canals, filling them and low-lying areas with rainwater, pollutants, sewage, and debris.

In southwest Florida, four new cases in Lee County and one in Collier County have been reported — an “unusual increase” due to the recent hurricanes. In 2022, Lee and Collier counties also experienced a spike in cases due to the impacts of Hurricane Ian. There have been 37 cases and four deaths reported statewide since mid-Sep 2024, with 13 cases and one death in Pinellas County. The 2024 total of Vibrio vulnificus in Florida is 70 confirmed cases and 11 deaths. In 2023, there were 46 cases all year, and 11 deaths.

If Vibrio vulnificus bacteria infects a person, such as by floodwaters coming in contact with a cut or other open wound, it can cause the skin and soft tissue around the wound to quickly break down. Treatment may require limb amputation to stop the rapid flesh deterioration, and the infection can be fatal.

Nationwide, vibriosis from Vibrio vulnificus and other Vibrio bacteria causes an estimated 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). About 52,000 of these illnesses are believed to come from eating contaminated food, but the bacteria are also often found in flood waters, something Florida has seen a lot of lately.

Sources:

Vibrio vulnificus | Florida Department of Health (floridahealth.gov)

About Necrotizing Fasciitis | Group A Strep | CDC

Christopher Columbus Wasn’t a Christian from Italy, But Instead A Sephardic Jew From Spain, New Study Alleges

Posthumous painting completed circa 1519

In 1492, Christopher Columbus embarked on a voyage that would change the course of history. While his disputed discovery of the New World is well-known, the mysteries surrounding both his final resting place and his origins have puzzled historians for centuries.

After his death in 1506, Columbus’ remains were reburied several times across different countries over the course of hundreds of years, sparking debates over whether his declared final resting place at Seville Cathedral in Spain was actually legitimate.

Now, thanks to groundbreaking DNA research, the question of his burial site has reportedly been solved. Furthermore, surprising details about his origins have come to light, with scientists claiming that he was born in Spain, not Italy, and that he was of Sephardic Jewish descent.

An illustration of Christopher Columbus’ death on 20 May 1506.

At 54 years old, famous explorer Christopher Columbus passed away in Valladolid, Spain in 1506. In the 14 years leading up to his death, Columbus had suffered from bouts of gout and arthritis. His health continued to deteriorate, and he was often bedridden for months at a time.

Upon his death, Columbus was buried at the Chapel of Wonders at the Convent of St. Francis in Valladolid. Then, he was moved at the request of his son to the monastery of La Cartuja in Seville. Then, in 1536, both Columbus’ remains and those of his son were moved to a church in Colonial Santo Domingo, now the Dominican Republic. In his will, Columbus requested to be buried there.

However, when France took control of the island in 1793, Columbus’ remains were interred in Havana, Cuba. They remained there until Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War and the relinquishing of Cuba in 1898. From there, Columbus’ remains were moved to the Seville Cathedral.

Christopher Columbus’ tomb at the Seville Cathedral. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

Evidently, the frequent shuffling of Christopher Columbus’ remains raised concerns among historians. An initial observation of the remains at Seville Cathedral revealed discrepancies with known information about Columbus’ age at death and general stature. Additionally, Dominican Republic authorities claimed that Columbus’ remains never left the island.

For years, people questioned whether Seville Cathedral really held the remains of Christopher Columbus, prompting Spanish scientists to tackle the mystery for themselves.

Beginning with the collection of DNA from the remains in the Seville Cathedral in 2003, scientists have just now received the answers they were looking for.

RTVE: Samples of Christopher Columbus’ bones that were tested by scientists.

In 2003, historians Marcial Castro and José Antonio Lorente opened the tomb of Columbus at Seville Cathedral and collected DNA evidence from bone fragments.

The DNA sample was then compared to the DNA of Columbus’ son Hernando, who is also buried at the cathedral. At the time, the results came back as a match, but there was still a large margin of error. Technology at the time simply could not confirm conclusively that the remains belonged to Christopher Columbus.

Then, in 2020, Spanish broadcaster RTVE began production of a documentary to not only discover the true location of Columbus’ burial site but also shed light on his mysterious origins. Led by Lorente, an expert forensic scientist, the documentary crew explored these historical mysteries.

The investigation involved comparing the 2003 DNA sample to remains from many of Columbus’ reported relatives. To increase the validity of the DNA testing, the research team had separate laboratories from Spain, the US, Mexico, and Italy test the items and come to their own conclusions.

“The process was carried out independently, with no communication between the clinics, ensuring the objectivity of the data,” Lorente told El País.

Ultimately, the labs confirmed that the remains at Seville Cathedral were indeed those of Christopher Columbus.

“Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” Lorente told Reuters.

“The process was carried out independently, with no communication between the clinics, ensuring the objectivity of the data,” Lorente told El País.

Ultimately, the labs confirmed that the remains at Seville Cathedral were indeed those of Christopher Columbus.

“Today it has been possible to verify it with new technologies, so that the previous partial theory that the remains of Seville belong to Christopher Columbus has been definitively confirmed,” Lorente told Reuters.

Christopher Columbus Painting

The 1856 painting Inspiration of Christopher Columbus. (Wikimedia Commons)

As for Christopher Columbus’ true origins, the investigation revealed that Columbus was a Sephardic Jew from Western Europe, likely Spain.

“We have DNA from Christopher Columbus, very partial, but sufficient. We have DNA from Hernando Colón, his son,” Lorente said in the documentary. “And both in the Y chromosome (male) and in the mitochondrial DNA (transmitted by the mother) of Hernando there are traits compatible with Jewish origin.”

However, some scientists have begun to cast doubt on these claims, with further debate likely to come when the new results are soon published in a peer-reviewed journal.

If the DNA testing confirms that Christopher Columbus was indeed a Sephardic Jew and not an Italian Catholic, what new name will the US-based Catholic Knights of Columbus choose?

Source:

Where Was Christopher Columbus Born? New Study Says Spain (allthatsinteresting.com)

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

Israel Invades Lebanon

IDF tanks and armored personnel carriers (APC) in northern Israel, 30 Sep 2024.

Israel invaded Lebanon early Tuesday to drive Hezbollah forces away from the Israeli border. The ground operation follows hours of artillery fire across the border and airstrikes in southern Beirut. Over the past 24 hours, Lebanon’s health ministry said nearly 100 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley, and Beirut.

As predicted by Coriolanus, in support of Lebanon’s Shias, Houthis began targeting Western ships with maritime drones in the Red Sea which sees $1 trillion worth of cargo passing through it every year.

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli air strike on a southern suburb of Beirut [Fadel Itani / AFP] 800 people have been killed and approximately 2,000 have been injured since Israel began its offensive against Lebanon with the booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies attack last month (which the OHCHR deemed a “war crime.”)

Filippo Grandi posts on ‘X’:

“The number of people who have crossed into Syria from Lebanon fleeing Israeli airstrikes — Lebanese and Syrian nationals — has reached 100,000. The outflow continues. UNHCR is present at four crossing points alongside local authorities and @SYRedCrescent to support new arrivals”.

Back in Israel, an unpopular prime minister received an earful from his constituents.

A group of protesters held a demonstration outside the private residence of Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, calling on the Israeli prime minister to reach a deal with the Palestinian leadership in Gaza to repatriate the 95 or so hostages. Police were unable to control the crowd, which made it through barriers to Netanyahu’s home.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), seven thousand Palestinians were being held in security detention by the IDF without hearing or trial in 2023. With no way to extricate them, armed Palestinian groups captured a total of 251 Israelis during its surprise attack at the Nova music festival near the Israel-Gaza border on 7 Oct 2023. The first prisoner swap freed 180 of those 7,000 Palestinians and 69 Israelis in Nov 2023.  

Nota Bene: The International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague indicted Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with PM Benjamin Netanyahu, for war crimes. Inexplicably, their international arrest warrants have inexplicably not yet been issued. You may read the specific charges here: 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)

Sources:

Israel launches limited ground incursion into southern Lebanon – UPI.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)

Israel Gaza war: ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas leaders (bbc.com)

Why Does Israel Have So Many Palestinians in Detention and Available to Swap? | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

A drone boat loaded with explosives has struck a ship in the Red Sea in a suspected Houthi attack – ABC News (go.com)

Exploding pagers and radios: A terrifying violation of international law, say UN experts | OHCHR

Anti-Semitic Lunatic Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Attempting to Murder Two Jewish Men Leaving Los Angeles Synagogues

Jaime Tran (30) was sentenced to 35 years in prison for shooting and wounding two Jewish men last year as they left religious services in the Pico-Robertson area of Los Angeles. He had pleaded guilty on 3 Jun to two counts of hate crimes with intent to kill and two counts of using, carrying, and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Tran had a history of personally threatening Jews. He described himself as a “ticking time bomb” and maintained social media accounts with the handle “k1llalljews.”

As a result of previous mental health holds, Tran was prohibited from purchasing firearms. In Jan 2023, Tran asked someone in Arizona to buy two firearms for him. That person has since pleaded guilty to firearms violations.

In early Feb 2023, Tran sent an online message stating: “it’s time to kill all Jews.” On the morning of 15 Feb 2023, shot a Jewish victim wearing a yarmulke as he was leaving religious services at a synagogue. Tran shot him at close range centimeters from his spine, intending to kill him. Tran then fled the scene in his car. The next morning Tran shot a second Jewish victim, also wearing a yarmulke and leaving a synagogue after attending religious services. Tran shot the victim at close range, intending to kill him, as the victim crossed the street. Tran again fled the scene.

Both victims survived the attacks. Law enforcement arrested Tran on 17 Feb 2023, after a witness reported seeing someone shooting a firearm behind a motel. When he was arrested, Tran told law enforcement that he was “practicing” with his assault weapon. The AUSA stated that if the defendant wasn’t caught the night of his second shooting, Tran’s campaign of terror would likely have continued.

This miscreant needs intensive psychiatric care. For the next 35 years Tran will not be contributing towards social security and will therefore be destitute when he finally departs federal prison at the tender age of 65.  

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Former California Man Sentenced to 35 Years in Prison for Attempting to Murder Two Jewish Men Leaving Los Angeles Synagogues Last Year | United States Department of Justice

Central District of California | Ex-Riverside Man Agrees to Plead Guilty to Hate and Gun Crimes for Shooting Two Jewish Men Leaving L.A. Synagogues Last Year | United States Department of Justice

US Ports Shut Down as Dockworkers Strike

Talks have been stalled for months and the current contract between parties expired on Monday. Getty Images

Tens of thousands of dockworkers have gone on strike indefinitely at ports across much of the US, threatening significant trade and economic disruption ahead of the presidential election and the busy holiday shopping season. Members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) walked out on Tuesday at 14 major ports along the east and gulf coasts, halting container traffic from Maine to Texas. The action marks the first such shutdown in almost 50 years.

Time-sensitive imports, such as food, are likely to be among the goods first impacted.

The ports involved handle about 14% of agricultural exports shipped by sea and more than half of imports, including a significant share of trade in bananas and chocolate. Other sectors exposed to disruption include tin, tobacco and nicotine, Oxford Economics said. Clothing and footwear firms, and European carmakers, which route many of their shipments through the Port of Baltimore, will also take a hit.

Imports in the US surged over the summer, as many businesses took steps to rush shipments ahead of the strike. The stand-off injects uncertainty into the US economy at a delicate time.

The economy has been slower and the unemployment rate is ticking higher as the US election approaches in six weeks. President Joe Biden has the power to suspend the strike for 80 days for further negotiations, but the White House has said he is not planning to act.

This is a challenge for the incredibly competent Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to help mediate during this critical run-up period before the November election. Pres. Biden’s international legacy has already been tarnished thanks to bellicose Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu; POTUS gave his farewell address at the UN General Assembly with the world at war. One columnist used the term “purgatory” to describe the state of the world after Biden’s speech. Now, this domestic economic challenge can further damage Joe Biden’s legacy and potentially harm Kamala’s chances in November.

Source:

US ports strike: Trade warning as dockworkers walk out (bbc.com)

American Warzone: Suspect in Fatal Los Angeles Bus Hijacking Charged with Murder

A man suspected of fatally shooting a bus passenger and hijacking the vehicle in Los Angeles before leading police on a pursuit for more than an hour has been charged with multiple counts, including murder and kidnapping.

One victim died of gunshot wounds at a local hospital. A SWAT team rescued the bus driver and a passenger. Lamont Campbell (51) was immediately arrested and charged with 12 felony counts,including murder, attempted murder, carjacking, kidnapping, assault, and robbery. Campbell faces more than 90 years to life in prison if convicted as charged. He is set to be arraigned on October 1, according to the DA’s Office.

The charges stem from the six victims who were on the bus when it was carjacked: The driver, the gunshot victim, identified asAnthony Rivera (48), a woman who was robbed, and three other passengers. The suspect’s motive remains unclear and he has a history of being in and out of California prisons.

The bus hijacking is one of the latest examples of ordinary Americans being terrorized by gun violence in places they once believed were safe, from schools to supermarkets to public transit.

In an average year, 3,299 people die by guns in California. With a rate of 8.2 deaths per 100,000 people, the Golden State has the 45th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. Nationally, 44,341 people die by guns in an average year, a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people.

Sources:

LA bus hijack: 1 dead and suspect in custody, Los Angeles police say | CNN

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

Accused LA bus hijacker previously spent time in prison – NBC Los Angeles

Former Iranian President Says Mossad Infiltrated Iranian Intelligence Unit Charged with Spying on Israel

Iran’s former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, alleged that Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency managed to infiltrate the top echelons of Iran’s intelligence service.

Mr. Ahmadinejad says an intelligence group tasked primarily with spying on Israel was all-but taken over by Mossad, which managed to recruit the head of the Iranian group — as well as most of his lieutenants — as a double agent. The goal of the Mossad operation, according to Mr. Ahmadinejad, was to steal information about Iran’s nuclear program.

Mr. Ahmadinejad — who was barred from running in this year’s special presidential election following the death of President Raisi in a helicopter crash — made the claims during a recent interview with CNN Türk. 

Mr. Ahmadinejad said “the highest person in charge of the counter-Israel unit at the Iranian Intelligence Ministry was an Israeli agent.” The former president claims that Mossad infiltrated the intelligence services in order to conduct “complex operations,” including stealing “crucial nuclear documents.”

He says that nearly two dozen Iranians were a part of the Mossad operation, according to a report in Turkiyetoday, which reports that Mr. Ahmadinejad made the comments shortly after his plan to run again for the top office was rejected.

This would not be the first time Israel has operated within Iran’s borders to obtain classified information about the country’s nuclear development program. In 2018, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced that his country had obtained a trove of files related to Iran’s quest for a nuclear weapon. He later delivered a presentation of those documents from a stage at Tel Aviv.

In a daring operation six years ago, Mossad agents infiltrated a warehouse at Tehran in the middle of the night and stole more than 100,000 documents detailing Iran’s development of nuclear weapons, according to the New York Times. Over the course of just six hours, more than two dozen agents cut through safes inside the warehouse to access the documents, which were later verified as authentic by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

Mr. Netanyahu conducted a private briefing for President Trump after the documents were in his possession, which then motivated the American president to recklessly pull out of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran.

Coriolanus cannot confirm these allegations, but both the MOIS (AKA VAJA) and Mossad are familiar with each other’s practices. For years the Mossad and CIA trained the Shah’s notorious SAVAK, the predecessor to the MOIS. Many of those SAVAK officers remained in place out of pragmatism. History is full of examples of highly-placed spies, moles, informants, and traitors operating in elite or tightly-guarded environments. One of the IRA’s most prolific assassins was in reality a British military spy. Freddie Scappaticci, codenamed STAKEKNIFE, was linked to 14 murders and 15 abductions; he worked in a ruthless IRA unit known as the “Nutting Squad.” The “Cambridge Five” were well-placed Kremlin spies operating in the halls of British power and espionage during the Cold War, like Kim Philby below.

MI6-KGB double agent Kim Philby bragged about how he smuggled top-secret documents out of the Secret Intelligence Service HQ and betrayed British and American CIA spies during Philby’s hour-long espionage masterclass to East German Stasi spies in 1981.

Sources:

Former Iranian President Says Mossad Infiltrated Iranian Intelligence Unit Charged With Israel Spying | The New York Sun (nysun.com)

Stakeknife spy report a damning indictment of the state, says solicitor for victims’ families – BBC News

Cambridge Five – Wikipedia

Ministry of Intelligence (Iran) – Wikipedia

‍Kim Philby: Who Is the Real MI6-KGB Spy Behind ‘A Spy Among Friends’? (spyscape.com)

Mosquito-Borne Illnesses Increasing Worldwide

Photo: iStock, AbelBrata.

Mosquitos are man’s acme predators, not sharks in the oceans, grizzly bears in North America, or dangerous hippos in African rivers. Mosquitoes are the most dangerous creatures on Earth regarding the number of human deaths they cause yearly. And because of global climate change, mosquitos have more opportunities to prey on mankind because of longer summers and increased latitudinal migration into new territories.  

In Bangladesh, in 24 hours eight people died of dengue fever and 1,221 were hospitalized, bringing the 2024 death toll to 158 people. Five deaths were reported from Dhaka South City Corporation, one from Dhaka North City Corporation and one each from Barishal and Khulna divisions.

Of them, 206 dengue patients were admitted in the hospital under Dhaka North City Corporation while 228 were hospitalized in Dhaka South City Corporation. Some 830 patients are receiving treatment in different hospitals across the country.

A total of 29,786 dengue cases have been reported since 1 Jan 2024.

Last year, Bangladesh recorded 321,179 cases of dengue fever. 1,705 people died, making it the deadliest year on record. As reported previously on Coriolanus, Trinidad and Tobago is experiencing a dengue fever outbreak.

In New Hampshire, two patients are being treated for Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). Their cases reportedly bring to four the number of encephalitis cases in the Granite State so far this year. The last cases diagnosed in the state date back to 2014.

To avoid mosquito bites, people should use mosquito nets and insect repellent. Wearing long sleeve shirts and clothing to cover the legs will help, as well as staying indoors from dusk to dawn. Stagnant water should be removed from residential areas as these are breeding grounds for mosquitos.

Sources:

Health Officials: Two New Hampshire Residents Treated for Eastern Equine Encephalitis – The Pulse of NH

New Age | Eight die of dengue in Bangladesh in 24 hours (newagebd.net)

Where Do Mosquitoes Go During Daytime? » ScienceABC

South Korea Unveils Missile That Can Destroy North Korea’s Bunkers

The Hyunmoo-5 surface-to-surface missile on parade the 76th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day, in Seongnam, South Korea, 1 Oct 2024. Dubbed the ‘monster missile,’ the Hyunmoo-5 is reported to have capacity comparable to that of a nuclear weapon. The missile can carry a warhead weighing up to nine tons and is capable of striking deeply buried command centers.

South Korea unveiled its latest domestically produced ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, on Tuesday as President Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea that it would face the end of its regime if it attempted to use nuclear weapons.

Incorporating an advanced cold-launch system, compressed gas is used to propel the missile from its launcher before ignition, minimizing damage to the launcher and increasing operational stability.

Media have drawn parallels between the Hyunmoo-5 and China’s Dongfeng-31 intercontinental ballistic missile, with the former estimated to have a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles), capable of targeting critical infrastructure in North Korea and beyond. 

The new missile is a centerpiece of the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation plan, designed to respond to damage caused by a North Korean nuclear weapon by targeting its leadership and military headquarters in a retaliatory strike.

“Our military will immediately retaliate against North Korea’s provocations based on its robust combat capabilities and solid readiness posture,” Yoon said at a ceremony to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the founding of South Korea’s armed forces, where the new missile was showcased for the first time. 

“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the South Korea-US alliance. That day will be the end of the North Korean regime,” Yoon added. 

Denouncing North Korea for threatening the South with its nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as other provocations, Yoon urged the North to abandon “delusions” that nuclear weapons could guarantee its security

“False peace, based on the enemy’s goodwill, is nothing but a mirage. History has proven that the only way to safeguard peace is by strengthening our power so the enemy cannot dare challenge us,” he added, vowing to build a strong military and strengthen security based on the strong alliance with the US, as well as trilateral cooperation involving Japan.

The South Korean military would reportedly aim to use dozens of Hyunmoo-5s to destroy the North Korean military command’s underground bunkers and devastate Pyongyang in the event of war.

In Japan, Shigeru Ishiba was sworn in as Prime Minister and his platform is one of increased security cooperation with South Korea, Taiwan, and the US, because of the growing nuclear menace of North Korea and China’s increasing military power. The only person in the Universe NOT afflicted with “Kim Jong-Un fatigue” is Russian President Vladimir Putin who receives military aid from him.

Source:

South Korea unveils missile that can hit the North’s bunkers — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Barn Cat Gets Upgraded to House Cat

Hitchcock is a lucky cat. Undated photo: Jennifer Whipple

Jennifer Whipple wrote on Cat Stories:

“I first saw him on one of my trips to the barn where I board my donkey; a tiny black kitten with his left ear still healing from a TNR tip. The other barn cats bullied him, and he seemed starved for attention, so I wound up bringing him home. He was more than happy to turn in his barn cat card and has taken to indoor-only life like a duck to water! There was never a sweeter, funnier, snugglier cat. I guess some cats just aren’t cut out to be barn cats. Hitchcock is definitely one of these!”

Source:

Tiny Cat Stories – Spring/Summer 2024 – Modern Cat

Two Florida “Proud Boys” Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Attacking Capitol on 6 Jan

Trump supporters sprayed tear gas and trampled police officers when they stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC on 6 Jan 2021. (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)

Tom Vournas (63) of Bradenton, FL, pleaded guilty to a felony charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon and inflicting bodily injury. Leonard Lobianco (53) of North Port, FL, pleaded guilty on 23 Sep 2024 to a single felony charge of civil disorder.  

The Honorable US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth will sentence Vournas on 17 Jan 2025 and Lobianco on 28 Jan 2025.

On 6 Jan 2021, Vournas and Lobianco, members of the “Zone 5” Proud Boys joined in an attack against a police barricade. Members of this mob violently trampled the metal barriers, moved the barriers aside, and surged past officers to advance toward the Capitol. For the next hour, police struggled to contain the mob, while certain members of the Proud Boys assaulted and engaged with police. Vournas sprayed pepper gel, a dangerous weapon, twice toward a line of police officers, hitting a USCP officer in the face and causing bodily injury. After penetrating police lines, Vournas and Lobianco blithely took pictures together in the “Crypt” before leaving through the Senate Wing Door at approximately 2:25 PM.

The FBI arrested the two men on 4 Jan 2024 in Florida. 

Leonard Lobianco (L), Tom Vournas (R). These two runamoks represent America’s Fedayeen Saddam (FS), white supremacist dead-enders clinging on to the last vestiges of white privilege in the US.

MAGA supporters and white supremacists heeded the call of Donald Trump, but the Proud Boys have since turned on him. “Trump will go down as a total failure,” one member of the Proud Boys said in a chat on Telegram; another called Trump a “shill.” Imagery: SITE Intelligence Group

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.

Sources:

District of Columbia | Two Florida “Proud Boys” Plead Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

Proud Boys turn on Donald Trump calling him a ‘total failure’ | news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site

Two Russian Nationals Charged in Connection with Operating Billion Dollar Money Laundering Services

The US imposed sanctions on an alleged Russian money-laundering operation that caters to cybercriminals around the world and unsealed indictments against two Russian nationals for their alleged involvement in the operation.

The US and the Netherlands shut down the “prolific” money-laundering operation known as Cryptex and recovered millions of dollars in cryptocurrency.

The two Russians named in the indictment, Sergei Ivanov and Timur Shakhmametov, remain at large. They are charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, money laundering using stolen credit and debit card information, and other charges. The State Department announced rewards of up to $10 million each for information leading to the arrest or conviction of Ivanov or Shakhmametov.

Ivanov’s services have been used by cybercrime marketplaces, ransomware groups, and hackers responsible for significant data breaches of major US companies.

Cryptex advertises its virtual currency services in Russian and has received over $51.2 million in funds derived from ransomware attacks.

Ivanov also allegedly created and operated Russian payment and exchange services UAPS, PinPays, and PM2BTC, which provided money-transfer and -laundering services directly to criminals.

For nearly two decades, Ivanov operated as a professional cyber-money-launderer, advertising his services to other cybercriminals on exclusive Russian-speaking criminal forums.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on Ivanov and Cryptex, which is based in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but operates in Russia.

The Treasury Department also identified PM2BTC as a “primary money-laundering concern” in connection with Russian illicit finance. PM2BTC has long-standing ties to Russian or Russian-affiliated financial institutions that are under U.S. sanctions or other restrictions.

Individuals visiting the sites now see a message indicating that the site has been seized by the federal government. The seizure prevents the owners and third parties from using the sites for money laundering.

Law enforcement authorities in the Netherlands seized the servers hosting PM2BTC and Cryptex. Those servers have been taken offline, and the Dutch have seized cryptocurrency from those servers worth more than $7 million.

The State Department is also offering rewards of up to $1 million each for information identifying the leaders of PM2BTC and stolen credit-card marketplaces PinPays and Joker’s Stash.

Sources:

Office of Public Affairs | Two Russian Nationals Charged in Connection with Operating Billion Dollar Money Laundering Services | United States Department of Justice

Imposition of Special Measure Prohibiting the Transmittal of Funds Involving PM2BTC | FinCEN.gov

U.S. Moves To Break Up Cyber-Money-Laundering Operation Allegedly Run By Russians (rferl.org)

US Offers $20M for Details About Iranian Allegedly Behind Plot to Kill John Bolton

The US State Department announced a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the alleged Iranian mastermind behind a plot to assassinate former Republican White House official John Bolton.

In Aug 2022, US officials uncovered a plot by Shahram Poursafi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to kill Bolton, who served as national security adviser to former President Donald Trump. The announcement came as Donald Trump (78) claimed there were “big threats” on his life by Iran.

Bolton, considered a foreign policy hawk, is a fierce critic of Iran and advocated that Trump unilaterally and recklessly withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.

Poursafi allegedly offered an unidentified person inside the US $300,000 to kill Bolton in the capital area. The plan was likely set in motion after the US killing of top IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq on 3 Jan 2020  by a US drone strike outside Baghdad Int’l Airport (BIAP). But the reprisal plot never made headway because the ostensible assassin became an informant of the FBI. Iranian authorities have dismissed the allegations as “fiction.”

General Qasem Soleimani was a popular figure and hero in Iran, as well as an effective combat leader against ISIS in Syria and Iraq. When the US invaded Afghanistan in Oct 2001 after the 11 Sep 2001 attacks, General Soleimani’s Quds Force collaborated with the US and led the 2001 uprising in Herat against the Taliban. Ethnic Hazaras, the Northern Alliance, and the Quds Force liberated the city before US forces entered. Undated image: Wikimedia

The United States designated the entire IRGC a “foreign terrorist organization” in 2019, after previously designating its external operation wing, the Quds Force.

On 4 Dec 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order 12333. Part 2.11 of E.O. 12333 reiterates a proscription on US intelligence agencies sponsoring or carrying out an assassination. It reads:

No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination.

Sources:

Rewards for Justice – Reward Offer for Information on Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Member Shahram Poursafi  – United States Department of State

US offers $20M for details about Iranian allegedly behind plot to kill official (voanews.com)

Iranian Special Forces Reportedly Fight Alongside US in Battle for Herat – SpongoBongo Blog (wordpress.com)

Federal Register :: Executive Order

Bashkirs, Tatars Bear Brunt of Putin’s War Against Ukraine

Tatarstan soldier Ruslan Sadykov was killed near Ukraine’s Mariupol in 2022.

According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, more soldiers from the central Russian regions of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan have died than any other region in the country. The burden of the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine is disproportionately falling on more distant regions of Russia, further away from the wealthy population centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg. The reason for the recent increase in minority casualties is unclear, but it comes two years after President Vladimir Putin stunned the country by announcing a “partial” mobilization that called up some 300,000 men to fight.

Overall, Russian casualties — killed or wounded in action — are believed to exceed 500,000 according to Western estimates, with more men killed over the past 30 months than in an entire decade of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s.

The last official casualty announcement from the Kremlin came in September 2022, with 5,937 Russian soldiers reported killed. At the time, Ukraine was reporting Russian losses at nearly ten times that figure. Analysis reveals that nonethnic Russians, like Bashkirs and Tatars, have been disproportionately represented among the country’s military casualties.

Bashkortostan, a mid-Volga republic with a population a little over four million, had 3,026 confirmed deaths as of 26 Sep according to open-source analysis. In Tatarstan, which has a similar population, 2,740 deaths were registered.

Recent analysis by BBC Russian/Mediazona, which used a similar methodology, listed 2,705 confirmed deaths in Bashkortostan and 2,259 in Tatarstan.

Russia’s Bashkortostan region has borne more fatalities in the Ukraine invasion than any other region of Russia.

In Jan 2024, Bashkortostan saw a wave of nonviolent protests over the sentencing of Fail Alsynov, a popular activist longtime advocate for minority rights and the Bashkir language and culture, to four years in prison for purportedly stoking interethnic enmity. The protests were fueled in part by simmering discontent about the costs of the Ukraine war for the region. Map: kickassfacts.com

In addition to mobilized soldiers sent to fight in Ukraine, other fighters include prison inmates and private military company mercenaries, as well as “kontraktniki”— men who voluntarily sign contracts to fight, induced by extraordinarily high wages and veterans benefits for widows and survivors. Among kontraktniki, Bashkortostan leads Russia in the number of confirmed deaths: 965, according to the RFE/RL tally. Tatarstan ranked second, with 557 volunteer deaths.

By comparison, only 135 volunteers from Moscow — with an official population of more than 13 million — have been confirmed killed. Over the last four weeks, RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service has added 575 names to its list of dead soldiers from the two regions, nearly 20 per day.

The confirmed figures are assumed to be a major undercount given the difficulty in identifying deaths amid official secrecy. The exact number of men, kontraktniki, prison inmates, or mobilized troops sent from Bashkortostan and Tatarstan to fight in Ukraine is unclear.

Moscow is paying “special attention” to the Volga region, Tatar political analyst Ruslan Aysin said, as part of what he said was a deliberate Kremlin attempt to “confuse the political status” of the so-called ethnic republics, as the regions of Russia with large nonethnic-Russian populations are called.

Putin’s government, he said, is trying to bolster support for the war — or at least temper discontent — among ethnic Russians in large cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg by minimizing their casualty burden.

Aysin said that for the Russian authorities, each military death is “just a statistic. But for the republic, for the ethnic group, for the individual family, this is a great tragedy. There is a big gap between the leadership and the average citizen.”

Bashkortostan region head Radiy Khabirov (L) meets with volunteer soldiers near the front line in Ukraine earlier this month. In July 2022, Khabirov was sanctioned by the British government for openly supporting the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. He is a member of the ruling United Russia party.

As pro-Ukraine Chechens have been fighting against pro-Kremlin Chechens (Kadyrovtsies), Kazan Tatars have been battling pro-Ukrainian Crimean Tatars. During the American Civil War, approximately 7,000 Jewish soldiers fought for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy; some 600 of them were killed in combat. Irishmen fought for both the Union (150,000) and the Confederacy (30-40,000; including six rebel generals). They fought each other fiercely during the day, but at night argued with each other across the picket lines about whose cause was right. The Northern Irish contended the Southern Irish were betraying the country that adopted them. The Southern Irish countered the Confederacy was like Ireland, seeking independence from an oppressor (Great Britain). You wonder what discussions today’s combatants would have with each other if circumstances allowed.  

Our immense gratitude to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, designated by the Kremlin as an ‘Undesirable Organization” in Feb 2024, for their comprehensive analysis.

Source:

RFE/RL Reveals Spike In War Deaths From Russia’s Ethnic Regions (rferl.org)

Military history of Jewish Americans – Wikipedia

‘The Violence is Getting Out of Hand’: Crime Grips Cuba’s Streets

19-year-old Jan Franco (L) was stabbed to death in Havana. “So many young people have been killed this year… The violence is getting out of hand,” said his sister, Samantha Gonzalez.

Few could deny that Cuba’s streets have traditionally been among the safest in the Americas. But this is changing. Samantha González will be the first to tell you. Her younger brother, an aspiring music producer named Jan Franco, was murdered two months ago in an apparent gang-related dispute. From the low-income Havana neighborhood of Cayo Hueso and just 19 years old when he was killed, Jan Franco was stabbed twice in the chest outside a recording studio. He was caught in the middle of an argument when someone pulled a knife. Cuba has a growing drug and gang problem where disputes are settled with knives, machetes, or sometimes guns.

The situation has been worsened by a new drug in Cuba called “quimico” – a cheap chemical high with a cannabis base. Samantha says that it’s increasingly popular among Cuban youth in the parks and on the streets.

The Cuban authorities have always been fiercely protective of their island’s reputation as crime-free and quick to point out that the streets are demonstrably safer than those of most cities in the US. Anything that highlights Cuba’s social problems is generally painted as biased criticism of their socialist system or as anti-revolutionary fabrications originating from Miami or Washington.

In August, an edition of nightly talk program Mesa Redonda – in which Communist Party officials are invited on air to deliver the party line – was titled Cuba Against Drugs. During the broadcast, Colonel Juan Carlos Poey Guerra, the head of the interior ministry’s anti-drug unit, acknowledged the existence, production, and distribution of the new drug, químico, and its impact on Cuba’s youth. He insisted the authorities were tackling the issue.

“Quimico” is allegedly prepared with epilepsy pills, formaldehyde, and animal anesthesia, and smoked in cigarettes like marijuana. Michael Fischer /Pexels/ Getty Images

For its part, the government largely blames the old enemy, the US, for both the existence of synthetic opioids in Cuba and for the decades-long US economic embargo on the island which they say is the reason some Cubans have resorted to crime.

According to http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com, 82 people died in Cuba from drug use in 2020. By contrast, drug use killed 3,686 people in Canada.

Sources:

Cuba’s crime rate soars, fuelled by gang crime and drugs (bbc.com)

Drug Use in Cuba (worldlifeexpectancy.com)

People Exposed to Pigs at Minnesota State Fair Contract Variant Flu Strain

A pig is guided through a showing during the closing weekend of the Minnesota State Fair. Nicole Neri for MPR News 2024

The Minnesota Department of Health has reported two human cases of H3N2v, a strain of influenza A, after people were exposed to pigs at the State Fair. The CDC said the two fairgoers are under the age of 18 and sought health care in early September.

One patient is said to have had direct contact with pigs while the other had indirect contact. Neither of them had been in contact with one another at the fair. 

The Minnesota Department of Health does not anticipate further spread. A spokesman said that “typically, humans don’t pass it to another human in the way that they would a normal human flu strain.” She added infection can occur in cases where people who are not typically exposed to pigs come in close contact and are exposed to respiratory droplets, but it does not always happen.  

“It’s not a very severe illness in humans, it’s like the regular flu. It can be mild to severe, but it’s not symptomatically, or in terms of severity, all that different from human flu.”

The Minnesota Department of Health encourage people to wash their hands after visiting agricultural farms or events and to maintain distance from the animals.  

Both fairgoers have recovered from their symptoms and were not hospitalized.  

The CDC reported that nine other variants of influenza have been reported during the 2023-2024 season. 

Sources:

People exposed to pigs at the Minnesota State Fair contract variant flu strain | MPR News

ROK Intelligence: North Korea May Conduct Nuclear Test After US Election

Getty Images / STR / Contributor; iStock / KREMLL

North Korea may conduct its seventh nuclear test after the US presidential vote in November, according to the NIS (formerly known as KCIA).  

This would be North Korea’s first nuclear test since 2017. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. All six have been underground.

The NIS also reported that the North possesses about 70 kgs of plutonium and a significant amount of highly enriched uranium (HEU), enough to build dozens of nuclear weapons.

Regarding the North’s disclosure of an HEU facility for the first time this month, the NIS said Pyongyang appeared to have the US election in mind, but it could be also trying to “instill confidence” in the domestic audience struggling with a crippled economy and food insecurity.

North Korea unveiled details of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time this month, with leader Kim Jong Un calling for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment so it can build up its nuclear arsenal for self-defense. 

The South Korean intelligence agency said the North’s test launch of new tactical ballistic missiles on 18 Sept was aimed at verifying its precision strike capability. 

Calling it a “slight improvement from the past,” the NIS said one of the two missiles fired successfully reached the target, adding that the agency recognized it as a “grave threat” to South Korean security.

The NIS also said that North Korea-Russia relations were “improving and strengthening considerably and continuously” and that it was “watching closely with concerns about Russia’s economic support to North Korea, including the supply of refined oil and technical cooperation such as reconnaissance satellites, as a compensation for North Korea’s weapons supply.”

On Sino-North Korea relations, the NIS reported that they had “deteriorated over the crackdown on North Korean foreign currency earners operating in China.”

This undated photo released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency via KNS on 13 Sep 2024 shows North Korean supremo Kim Jong Un inspecting the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. STR/KCNA via KNS/AFP

North Korean supremo Kim Jong-Un keeps holding his neighbors hostage with his growing nuclear prowess while his people starve. The US, South Korea, and Japan will continue their policy to contain and deter North Korea, as the alternatives are grim, including catastrophic radioactive fallout. Beijing disapproves of Pyongyang’s nuclear progress, but is also concerned about the massive instability if North Korea collapses.

Sources:

North Korea may conduct nuclear test after US election: South’s spy agency — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

National Intelligence Service (nis.go.kr)

https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2017/08/contain-deter-transform-a-winning-strategy-on-north.html

Bear Charges at British Columbia Man Inside His Garage

A British Columbia man came face-to-face with a bear inside his garage and the startling encounter was caught on camera.

Coquitlam resident Alex Gold posted a security camera footage to Instagram showing what happened when he was recently unloading groceries from his vehicle in front of his garage.

The video shows Gold’s extremely close encounter with a bear that wandered in through the open garage door.

“I came back to my car and I bumped into the bear,” Gold told CTV News. “She was kind of hissing.”

The video shows the bear charging at Gold multiple times as he claps his hands, makes loud sounds and slowly backs away.

Gold was able to get back into his SUV and honk the horn, which finally scared the mother bear — and her nearby cub — away from his property.

Lisa Lopez of the non-profit WildSafeBC praised Gold’s behavior during the tense encounter.

“The important thing to always remember is to not run,” Lopez said. “Because then it could become a predator-prey kind of situation.”

Source:

Watch: Bear charges at British Columbia man inside his garage – UPI.com

Israel on Warpath: 22 Killed in Gaza, 37 in Beirut; Two Lebanese Hezbollah Commanders Dead

Palestinians inspect a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city after it was hit by an Israeli strike. Reuters

An Israeli air strike on a school sheltering displaced people in Gaza city’s Al Zeitoun neighbourhood has killed at least 22 people as strikes across the enclave intensified.

Israel’s strikes on Gaza have killed at least 119 people in the past 72 hours, the enclave’s Health Ministry said on Saturday, excluding the latest toll from the attack on the school.

A separate strike hit Al Falah school in the same area, injuring a number of people. The Israeli military claimed it was targeting Hamas operatives in the school. The Israeli military often accuses Hamas militants of hiding in schools where thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. The group has repeatedly denied this claim.

The death toll in the enclave since 7 Oct 2023 has risen to 41,391, while 95,760 have been wounded. Over the past three days, 209 people were injured.

Beirut after IDF airstrike. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the attack showed Israel “gives no weight to any humanitarian, legal, or moral considerations”.

The latest Israeli attack killed senior Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Aqil along with at least 37 people on Friday. The strike, which destroyed a residential building in Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh, also wounded 68 people.

Calls for blood donations for the victims were multiplying on social media. People searching for their loved ones also took to social media to ask for help, sharing pictures of their missing relatives, including children. Lebanon’s medical infrastructure, already under strain from the massive pager and walkie-talkie sabotage attack, was taxed again. UN human rights chief Volker Turk  denounced the rigged device attacks carried out in Lebanon, saying they constitute a breach of international human rights law and could amount to a war crime.

Volker Turk advised the UN Security Council that using devices disguised as “apparently harmless portable objects” is an act of violence aimed at spreading “terror among civilians”. The human rights chief called for an independent, thorough, and transparent investigation, and for those who ordered and carried out the attacks to be held to account.

Lebanese Hezbollah counterattacked with rocket launches into Israel; four casualties were reported.

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is making conditions for a ceasefire or eventual peace in the Middle East impossible. IDF attacks are not only enraging the Arab population, but adding to deep-seeded resentments with every loss or maiming of a family member. The Lebanese people (and the Iraqis) already rank as the world’s angriest population for manifold reasons; the next generation of anti-Israeli enemies has been spawned. Meanwhile, the Biden Administration has been attempting in good faith some sort of cease-fire or deal to release the remaining hostages being held by armed Palestinian groups. At one point, Washington must restrain the bellicose Likud Party or the US will be needlessly sucked into a war of Netanyahu’s making.

Sources:

Israel rules out political solution as strike on Beirut kills Hezbollah commanders | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Booby-trapped device attacks in Lebanon breach international law, says UN rights chief | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Israeli strike on Gaza school-turned-shelter kills at least 22 people | The National (thenationalnews.com)

Lebanese, Iraqis among world’s angriest populations: report (newarab.com)

Ohio “Man of God” Sentenced for Organizing and Rallying 6 Jan Attackers

(Images: US Dept of Justice)

Pastor William Dunfee (59) of Frazeysburg, OH, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution for one felony offense of civil disorder and a misdemeanor offense of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds on 6 Jan 2021. He rallied seditionists to storm the US Capitol to disrupt the peaceful transition of Presidential power.

As the seditionists attacked and threatened the lives of members of Congress after a Donald Trump speech urging them to “fight like hell”, Dunfee used a bullhorn to egg them on, falsely proclaiming the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.

A pastor of the New Beginnings Ministry Warsaw in Ohio, Dunfee pushed a metal barricade against officers with the US Capitol Police who were attempting to hold the line and then entered the Capitol building without authorization.

During sentencing the Honorable Judge Reggie Walton asked Dunfee, “What kind of man of God would do that, Sir?”

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 | Ohio Man Sentenced to Prison on Felony and Misdemeanor Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice

American Warzone: Four KIA, 20 WIA in Late Night Shooting in Alabama

US Army medics treating wounded soldiers in Vietnam on 2 Apr 1967. In the US, 44,341 people die by firearms in an average year, a rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people. Americans suffer from wartime casualty amounts every year without going to war. Image: http://www.flickr.com

Four people were killed and more than 20 wounded following a shooting in a nightlife area in Birmingham, AL. Just after 11 PM, “multiple shooters fired multiple shots on a group of people” in the Five Points South area.

Two men and a woman were found dead at the scene; a fourth victim died at a hospital. Other victims were transported to hospitals in private vehicles. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital was treating 11 victims and their conditions have not been released.

The victims were all located on the sidewalk or the streets and detectives are trying to determine if the shooters walked up to the victims or drove by a vehicle.

The Five Points South area of Birmingham has numerous entertainment venues, restaurants, and bars and is often crowded on Saturday nights. Police said there were no immediate arrests.

In an average year, 1,175 people die by guns in Alabama. With a rate of 23.9 deaths per 100,000 people, the Cotton State has the fourth-highest rate of gun deaths in the US.

Alabama Firearms Licenses in 2021: 194,920

An estimated 55.5% of adults in Alabama have guns at home.

Sources:

At least four killed, multiple injured in late night shooting in Alabama (archive.md)

EveryStat – EveryStat.org

10. Alabama – Gun map: Ownership by state – statistics and rates (cbsnews.com)

Ukraine Destroys 71 of 80 Russian Drones Overnight

A Ukrainian police officer stands next to a destroyed car following a Russian missile attack in Kharkiv late on 21 Sep. At least 12 people were injured. Photo: AFP

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that air-defense systems shot down 71 of 80 Russian attack drones launched overnight. It said six more drones were neutralized by electronic warfare. The air force also said Russia had launched two guided missiles from occupied parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. It did not say what happened to the missiles. Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said air-defense units had destroyed 15 drones that Ukraine launched overnight. Late on 21 Sep, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said explosions rang out in Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city — with a guided bomb hitting a residential high-rise, injuring at least 12.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to kick off his US visit on 22 Sep with a stop at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant, a Pennsylvania factory producing key munitions for his country’s fight against Russia. Scranton is Pres. Biden’s birthplace. This ammunition plant manufactures 155 mm artillery shells used in howitzer systems that can strike targets from up to 32 kms away. The US has so far provided Kiev with more than three million of the shells and Ukraine fires up to 8,000 of them daily.

An employee handles 155 mm shells at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant on 16 Apr. Photo: Charly Triballeau / AFP.

Pres. Zelensky addresses the UN General Assembly in NY on 24 Sep and will meet separately at the White House with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on 26 Sep. Pres. Zelensky will reportedly meet with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump as well at an undisclosed time.

Sources:

Ukraine Says It Destroyed 71 Of 80 Drones Fired By Russia Overnight (rferl.org)

Ukraine’s Zelenskiy To Begin U.S. Trip With Visit To Pennsylvania Munitions Factory (rferl.org)

Possible Widespread Labor Action by Longshoreman’s Union at East Coast Ports on 1 Oct

ILA’s Dennis A. Daggett says union will be on the “right side of history” if it must strike on 1 Oct 2024. “Corporate greed must end,” he emphasized.

A major strike is on the horizon for thousands of maritime workers, posing a threat to East Coast ports responsible for offloading billions of dollars of goods. 

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), the largest union of maritime workers in North America, has vocalized plans to go on strike at all of its Atlantic and Gulf Coast ports 1 Oct if a new contract agreement can’t be reached with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX). The union is arguing for better wages and continued protections against automation and new technology in its terminals.

“A sleeping giant is ready to roar on Tuesday, 1 Oct 2024, if a new Master Contract Agreement is not in place,” ILA President Harold J. Daggett said in a statement Monday.  “My members have been preparing for over a year for that possibility of a strike.”

According to a statement from USMX, negotiations with the ILA began in the last week of May. Now, the union’s current six-year contract is less than two weeks away from expiring.

The Port Authority of NY and NJ is “closely monitoring developments and remain hopeful. For the over 600,000 regional jobs our port supports and the $240 billion in goods moved through here each year, we urge both sides to find common ground and keep the cargo flowing for the good of the national economy,” said a spokesperson for the Port Authority. 

The ILA has argued that the USMX is denying workers fair contracts with adequate wage raises and proper benefits. 

“USMX claims to offer industry-leading wages, however, their interpretation of ‘leading wages’ is polar opposite to ours,” a statement from the ILA on Monday said. 

“Our members are struggling to pay their mortgages and rent, car payments, groceries, utility bills, taxes, and in some cases, their children’s education. USMX’s corporate greed has made them delusional — profits over people. They have taken advantage of a low entry-wage and a tiered progression system for thirty years,” the statement continued. 

The union said its rank-and-file members will no longer accept contracts that include small wage increases of a dollar or less. It argued further that for more than three decades, ILA workers only saw annual wage increases of 2.02% per year on average — with some years having wage raise percentages of zero, according to the ILA statement. 

The ILA is the largest union of maritime workers in North America, representing upwards of 85,000 longshoremen on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, Great Lakes, major U.S. rivers, Puerto Rico and Eastern Canada, and the Bahamas. The longshoremen of the ILA kept cargo moving non-stop during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources:

ILA Union

Layout 1 (usmx.com)

Major maritime strike could threaten ports across the East Coast (nbcnews.com)

Possible widespread strike on East Coast ports poses a serious risk – Internewscast Journal

Taiwan: Pesticide Found in Food Poisoning Victims

Taiwan’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed that eight people who fell ill due to suspected food poisoning had terbufos, a hazardous chemical compound found in some pesticides, in their systems.

Terbufos, which can potentially kill humans, is used on various crops, including bananas, beans, citrus, coffee, groundnuts, sorghum, and maize as soil cover to combat wireworms, mossy beetles, beet flies, and the black bean louse.

Four of the eight sampled patients were all found to have reduced acetylcholinesterase, reflecting organophosphorus poisoning. The suspected food poisoning happened last week when an 83-year-old woman died after eating millet dumplings she prepared. Several relatives and friends who came to mourn her death ate the leftover dumplings and exhibited symptoms such as vomiting and convulsions.

A sample of the millet dumplings known as “Abai,” a traditional cuisine of some of Taiwan’s Indigenous peoples at the center of the food poisoning incident. CNA photo 18 Sep 2024.

Even at low levels of exposure, terbufos can lead to serious negative health effects, including neurological harm. Terbufos is used in 19 American states.

Sources:

Terbufos found in suspected food poisoning victims’ systems: CDC – Focus Taiwan

Terbufos in the United States: Harmful Health Effects and Widespread Use – Earthjustice

North Koreans Are Getting Sick of Propaganda Song “Friendly Father”

North Korean military choir members sing on the eve of the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day in Pyongyang, DPRK, 8 Sep 2018.

North Koreans are growing weary of being bombarded by “Friendly Father,” an upbeat propaganda song praising leader Kim Jong Un that has been blanketing the country for months now.

People are forced to sing it before every public event and a loudspeaker car drives through cities blaring it.

“He is holding his 10 million children in his arms and taking care of us with all his heart,” go the lyrics.

“The love you give me is like the sea. The trust you give me is like the sky,” says verse two. “You are always by our side, and make all our wishes come true.”

“Every factory, company, school, work unit, and neighborhood-watch unit in the province has both children and adults sing this song whenever the opportunity arises,” according to an anonymous informant.

North Korean students sing in music class at the Pyongyang Orphans’ Secondary School in Pyongyang, DPRK, 1 Sep 2016. (Jon Chol Jin/AP)

The government created a high-quality music video for the song depicting people from all walks of life enthusiastically singing along to it.

Friendly Father was inspired by an earlier propaganda song called “Friendly Name” that sung the praises of Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il. The melody is different but many of the lyrics in “Friendly Father” are callbacks to the earlier song, which most North Koreans know by heart.

The order to promote the song comes from the Central Party of the ruling Korean Workers’ Party.

It’s gotten to the point where people actively avoid places where the song is played publicly if they can help it. For example, in the city of Hyesan, on the border with China, there is a park where retired people gather to spend their free time by talking, singing, dancing, playing games, or exercising. 

But when the park turned off their music and began playing “Friendly Father” over the park’s public address system, the senior citizens went home. The park, which used to teem with old folks from sunrise to sunset, is now empty almost every day.

Another problem with the song stems from Korea’s Confucian culture. Often complete strangers are expected to grant older people a certain amount of respect simply because they are older, with the promise that they will receive the same respect from the young when they reach the same age.

However, “people in their 70s and 80s are being forced to call Kim Jong Un, who is only in his 40s and is about the same age as their sons, their ‘friendly father.’”

North Koreans sing at a picnic gathering at a park in Pyongyang, 18 Apr 2012, a national holiday celebrating the birthday period of the late leader Kim Il Sung.  (Vincent Yu/AP)

People scoff at the notion that Kim Jong Un could be their “friendly father,” because they do not trust his leadership abilities, the second resident said.

“They have no hope in their leader, but they are forced to familiarize their eyes, ears, and mouths with the image of him as their friendly father through the song.”  Propaganda efforts are getting bigger and louder as people’s dissatisfaction with society and food insecurity increases.

Source:

North Koreans are getting sick of propaganda song “Friendly Father” — Radio Free Asia (rfa.org)

Iceland Locals Save Baby Puffins by Tossing Them Out to Sea

Imagery and Story: Kyana Sue Powers, Megan Cook, Andy Witchge

People in Iceland patrol the streets at nights with flashlights and boxes. They are rescuing baby puffins, also known as pufflings. If found, they would be rounded up and gently tossed off the cliffside in the morning. At six weeks old — when their fluffy down matures and their beaks are still black — a puffling is ready to fly the nest. Once they head out to sea, they will spend three to four years of their life flying abroad, before returning to the cliff sides to start a family of their own. 

However, each year (in late August or September) pufflings come crashing down on streets and residential homes, as their internal compass ushers them to the moon… and the “moon” turns out to be the electronic lights of the city. In the same way that baby sea turtles can be disoriented — and misdirected — by city lights in coastal towns, pufflings will often fall for the allure of artificial lights. 

Thankfully, the residents of Vestmannaeyjar know to keep an eye out for wandering pufflings, and they take the volunteer position seriously. Residents can find between four to ten pufflings in a single night during puffling season. Before they release pufflings, locals are encouraged to record the weight of each puffling on an official “Puffin Patrol” website. 

Image via Andy Witchge / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

The baby puffins are gently picked up and placed in a box and brought to the south side of Iceland where they are released. Typically, instinct takes over and the pufflings are able to fly toward the ocean without issue. 

Volunteer work is critical to keeping puffin populations up. Globally the Atlantic puffin is considered vulnerable, but in Europe, it’s on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. And in Iceland, specifically, they are critically endangered. 

This is due in part to declining fish populations, rising sea temperatures, and oil spills. 

For puffin patrollers, caring for the wayward baby birds is akin to helping little, lost friends. In fact, the scientific name for the Atlantic puffin subspecies, Fratercula arctica, literally translates to “little brother of the North.”

Sources:

Inspired by Iceland

Beautiful Puffin and Shore View

Why Icelanders are tossing baby puffins off of cliffs (goodgoodgood.co)

Ukraine Intelligence Chief: North Korean Aid to Russia Poses Biggest Threat to Kiev

North Korea has recently bolstered military ties with Russia, with President Vladimir Putin making a rare visit to Pyongyang in Jun 2024, where he signed a mutual defense agreement with Kim Jong-Un.

North Korean military aid to Russia is the most damaging for Ukraine, intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on 14 Sep. “Our biggest problem from all these allies of Russia is from North Korea. Because with the volume of military products that they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting.” His remarks came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen ties with Russia. Kyiv has been monitoring arms deliveries from Pyongyang to Moscow and feels their effect on the battlefield. “There is a direct correlation. They are supplying huge volumes of artillery ammunition, which is critical,” Budanov said.

Western powers have accused cash-strapped North Korea of selling ammunition to Russia in defiance of sanctions over the more than 30-month war in Ukraine.

North Korean state media showed leader Kim Jong Un (R) meeting with Russia’s Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu (L) at an undisclosed location (Image: AFP)

Russian security chief Sergei Shoigu held talks with Kim Jong-Un this weekend at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Experts suspect it was the Kumsusan Guest Palace in Pyongyang, which has hosted both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Shoigu heads Russia’s Security Council after stepping down as defence minister in May. He last met with Kim in July 2023, during a celebration in Pyongyang for the 70th anniversary of the 1953 Korean War armistice. Their latest meeting comes two days after North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the testing spree was possibly of weapons meant “for export to Russia.”

Using debris analysis, a recent Conflict Armament Research report indicated “that missiles produced this year in North Korea are being used in Ukraine.”

An Ilyushin IL-76 transport aircraft belonging to North Korean air carrier Air Koryo takes off from Beijing airport after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un left Beijing, China, on 20 Jun. Photo by Wu Hong/EPA

Observers of North Korea detected increased air travel between the two pariah states after the Jun 2024 meeting between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un. Five North Korean flights flew to Vladivostok, a trip unusually involving cargo planes.

Three cargo planes and two passenger flights of the North Korean national carrier Air Koryo traveled to Russia’s far-eastern port city. The trip involved three unusual cargo flights of the model used to transport personal armored vehicles of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his overseas trips, including his visit to China in June. The IL-76 cargo aircraft hasn’t made a trip to Vladivostok since 2010 and the cargo is unknown.

Two passenger flights make regular round-trips between Pyongyang and Vladivostok on Monday and Friday. And extra passenger flights were spotted flying during weekdays. One report cited an anonymous source saying the extra cargo flights were sent to bring back North Korean workers in the Russian city as their work permit expires soon.

As posted here on Coriolanus.page, North Korea recently released images of its uranium enrichment facility for the first time, and Kim stressed “the need to further augment the number of centrifuges in order to exponentially increase the nuclear weapons for self-defense”.

Russia, a historical ally of North Korea, is one of a handful of nations with which Pyongyang maintains friendly relations. Ties have warmed since the 2022 start of the Ukraine war ruptured Russia’s relations with the West.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million, as Moscow’s brutal invasion of Ukraine drags on for more than 2 ½ years.

Sources:

North Korean Aid To Russia Poses Biggest Threat To Ukraine, Intelligence Chief Says (rferl.org)

North Korean cargo flights fly to Russia in unusual trip – UPI.com

N. Korea Pledges Deeper Ties With Russia As Security Chief Visits | IBTimes

Putin orders military to boost troop numbers by 180,000 to 1.5 million as Ukraine fighting continues – ABC News (go.com)

IDF: ‘High Probability’ Three Hostages Mistakenly Killed in Airstrike in Nov 2023

People hold cut outs of yellow ribbons at a protest calling for a hostage deal outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office in Jerusalem after six hostage bodies were recovered by the IDF from a tunnel in Rafah in Gaza, on 1 Sep. File photo by Debbie Hill/ UPI | License Photo

Israel’s military on Sunday concluded in an investigation there is “high probability” three Israeli hostages were killed during an airstrike in Nov 2023 intended to take out a Hamas northern Gaza brigade chief. The IDF informed the families last week that a comprehensive inquiry revealed they died by IDF actions. IDF officials and hostage families started to leak the results of the investigation.

On 14 Dec, three bodies were recovered from a tunnel in Jabaliya. The tunnel included a large elevator, large rooms, and split into side rooms, such as command centers, medical stations, prayer rooms, and rooms for manufacturing weapons. The three were abducted on 7 Oct.

Evidence included where bodies were found and their condition; a pathological report and one by the state’s forensic institute; and operations research into the battlefield situation and activities. Initially, the families were initially told the hostages had been killed by Hamas captors. In January, the IDF rejected Hamas’ assertions that they were killed in an Israeli airstrike.

In a video released by Hamas, the three hostages were seen holding up pieces of paper with their names and personal information. In a statement posted alongside the video, Hamas claimed that “they tried to keep them alive – but Netanyahu insisted on killing them.”

The airstrike on 10 Nov was intended to take out Ahmed Ghandour, who was taking cover in a tunnel.

“At the time of the strike, the IDF did not have information about the presence of hostages in the targeted compound,” the military said. “Furthermore, there was information suggesting that they were located elsewhere, and thus the area was not designated as one with suspected presence of hostages.”

In December, the IDF revealed finding five hostage bodies, three of whom were the ones later confirmed likely killed by IDF. In the same month, the Israeli military said its troops killed three hostages in Gaza after mistakenly identifying them as a threat.

Six to seven thousand Palestinians were being held in detention for alleged security violations, the majority who have never been convicted of a crime. 2,000 of the incarcerated Palestinians are being held in administrative detention, in which the Israeli military holds a person without charge or trial. Such detention can be renewed indefinitely based on secret information, which the detainee is not allowed to see. Administrative detainees are held on the presumption that they might commit an offense at some point in the future. Israeli authorities have held children, human rights defenders, Palestinian political activists, and healthcare workers, in administrative detention, often for prolonged periods.

Palestinian armed groups conducted a surprise attack on Israel on 7 Oct 2023 and seized hundreds of valuable Israeli hostages presumably for a prisoner swap. An estimated 101 Israelis remain hostage. Keeping them alive gives Palestinians a bargaining chip to release some of the thousands being held in Israeli prisons.

Sources:

Israel’s military: ‘High probability’ 3 hostages mistakenly killed in airstrike in November – UPI.com

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2023/12/15/IDF-Gaza-hostages-remains/6761702640286/

Dozens killed, injured in Gaza humanitarian zone as Israeli warplanes target Hamas

Hundreds of thousands march across Israel to demand return of hostages

Why Does Israel Have So Many Palestinians in Detention and Available to Swap? | Human Rights Watch (hrw.org)

Donald Trump Unharmed After Assassination Attempt at Florida Golf Resort

This screengrab taken from AFPTV on 16 Sep 2024 shows Ryan Wesley Routh speaking during an interview at a rally calling for humanitarian corridors for the evacuation of civilians and Ukrainian servicemen from Mariupol in central Kiev, Ukraine, on 27 Apr 2022.

Former US President Donald Trump was unharmed late Sunday, after what the FBI said was an apparent assassination attempt at his golf club in West Palm Beach, FL. The incident, in which Trump was not hurt, came two months after he was grazed in the ear during a campaign event in Butler, PA.

Members of Trump’s security detail were securing areas of the golf course ahead of where Trump was playing Sunday when they spotted a gunman in the bushes. Secret Service agents fired at the suspect, who fled the area and was later arrested.

The local sheriff said the suspect left behind an “AK-47-style rifle” with a scope, a GoPro camera and two backpacks.

US President Joe Biden said in a Sunday evening statement that he was relieved Trump was unharmed. Vice President Kamala Harris said she was “deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump.”

Various national media sources cited unnamed law enforcement officials who identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh (58) of Hawaii. Social media posts show Routh backing Trump’s 2020 election campaign, but more recent posts expressing support for Biden and Harris. Routh also repeatedly discussed the war in Ukraine and appeared to try to recruit soldiers to aid in Ukraine’s war effort.

Trump has not announced any changes to his schedule and is set to speak live on X on Monday night from his Mar-a-Lago resort to launch his sons’ crypto platform.

Meanwhile, the leaders of a congressional bipartisan task force investigating the 13 Jul assassination attempt on Trump said they have requested a briefing by the USSS. The previous director the USSS resigned after the 13 Jul assassination attempt in Butler, PA, and several agents from the Pittsburgh Field Office were re-assigned.

Source:

Trump unharmed after second assassination attempt, authorities say (voanews.com)

Canada and Australia Sanction Iran

An Iranian walks next to a wall painting of Iran’s national flag at a street in Tehran, Iran, on 2 Jun 2022. Canada on Sunday expanded its list of Iranian government officials who are not admissible to the country. File Photo by Abedin Tahereknareh/EPA-EFE

Canada and Australia are banning more Iranian officials over the Middle Eastern country’s involvement in human rights violations and alleged terrorism on the second anniversary of the jailing and death of Mahsa Jina Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman was arrested in Sep 2022 for ‘improperly’ wearing her hijab.

In Nov 2022 Public Safety Canada designated Iran as a terrorist regime under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Iranians who have served as senior officials since 15 Nov have been barred from entering the North American country. Canada changed the inadmissibility date to 23 Jun 2003 — the day when Iranian authorities detained Iranian-Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi. She was detained while working as a journalist outside Iran’s infamous Evin prison. She was reportedly beaten and died from her injuries on 10 Jul 2003.

Any senior official who served in the Iranian government at any time since 23 June 2003, is now inadmissible to Canada. The move also opens those with temporary or permanent resident status to undefined “enforcement action” that could include removal from the country. Accord to statistics from the Canada Border Services Agency, some 17,800 applications were reviewed under the inadmissible rule as of 26 Aug, resulting in 82 visas cancelled.

Fifteen people were also reported inadmissible under the rule, with two issued deportation orders, adding that another person was removed from the country and five cases were pending. Canada’s Iranian diaspora community has a population of more than 200,000, according to government statistics.

Australia is also imposing more sanctions on Iranian officials on the second anniversary of the jailing and death of Mahsa Jina Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman was arrested in September 2022 for ‘improperly’ wearing her hijab.

Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said that Australia stood in solidarity “with Iranian women and girls in their struggle for equality and empowerment.”

Wong announced financial sanctions and travel bans on senior security and law enforcement officials who have allegedly been involved in the ‘violent repression’ of protests in Iran. Female activists continue to be detained and handed death sentences. She said that abuses by Iranian authorities have continued since the death of Amini two years ago.

“We have sanctioned five Iranian security and law enforcement officials who have been involved in these law enforcement so-called activities, which are ultimately a repression – a violent repression – of the Iranian people,” Wong said.

Australia has now imposed sanctions on almost 200 individuals and organizations with links to Iran, including those associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Sources:

Canada expands entry ban on Iranian officials – UPI.com

Australia imposes more sanctions on Iran over human rights concerns (bignewsnetwork.com)

Zimbabwe Orders Cull of 200 Elephants Amid Food Shortages from Drought

Elephants and giraffes near a watering hole in Zimbabwe which is home to an estimated 100,000 elephants – the second-biggest population in the world after Botswana. Photograph: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Zimbabwe will cull 200 elephants as it faces an unprecedented drought that has led to food shortages, a move that tackle a ballooning population of the animals, the country’s wildlife authority has said. Zimbabwe had “more elephants than it needed”, the environment minister said in parliament, adding that the government had instructed the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) to begin the culling process.

The 200 elephants would be hunted in areas where they had clashed with humans, including Hwange, home of Zimbabwe’s largest natural reserve. Due to conservation efforts, Hwange is home to 65,000 of the animals, more than four times its capacity, according to ZimParks. Zimbabwe last culled elephants in 1988.

Neighbouring Namibia said this month that it had already killed 160 wildlife animals in a planned cull of more than 700, including 83 elephants, to cope with its worst drought in decades.

Zimbabwe and Namibia are among a swathe of countries in southern Africa that have declared a state of emergency because of drought. About 42% of Zimbabweans live in poverty, according to UN estimates, and authorities say about six million will require food assistance during the November to March lean season, when food is scarcest.

The move to hunt the elephants for food was criticized by some, not least because the animals are a major draw for tourists. Namibia’s cull of elephants has been condemned by conservationists and the animal rights group Peta as shortsighted, cruel and ineffective.

But the government said the 83 to be culled would be only a small fraction of the estimated 20,000 elephants in the arid country, and would relieve pressure on grazing and water supplies.

Source:

Zimbabwe orders cull of 200 elephants amid food shortages from drought | Zimbabwe | The Guardian

281 Inmates Escape After Floods Bring Down Prison’s Walls in Northeast Nigeria

Nigeria Prison Escape© Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Nigerian authorities said 281 inmates escaped after devastating floods brought down a prison’s walls in the country’s northeast. Security personnel were able to recapture seven of the inmates and an operation is still ongoing to locate the rest.

A major dam collapsed on 10 Sep, unleashing severe flooding that left 30 people dead and over one million people displaced, prompting evacuations across the state of Borno.

Map: Researchgate.net

The collapse caused some of the state’s worst flooding since the same dam collapsed 30 years ago. The state government said the dam was at capacity due to unusually high rains. Two years ago, heavy flooding in Nigeria killed more than 600 people across the country. West Africa has experienced some of the heaviest flooding in decades this year, affecting over 2.3 million people, a threefold increase from 2023, according to the UN.

This summer Africa experienced two other prison breaks. Thirteen inmates escaped a police station in Nairobi, Kenya, including a suspect who police say confessed to the murders of 42 women and was being detained over the discovery of dismembered bodies.

An attempted jailbreak in Congo’s main prison left 129 people dead, including some who were shot and others who died in a stampede at the overcrowded facility. A provisional assessment showed that 24 inmates were fatally shot by “warning” shots fired by guards as they tried to escape from the Makala Central Prison in the capital of Kinshasa. There were 59 injuries including some cases of rape.

The main prison holds both male and female inmates and it was not known if all 129 fatalities were inmates. Also, it wasn’t immediately clear how the stampede occurred as details of the jailbreak remained sparse. Makala, Congo’s largest penitentiary with a capacity for 1,500 people, holds over 12,000 inmates, most of whom are awaiting trial, Amnesty International said in its latest country report.

Sources:

281 inmates escape after floods brought down prison’s walls in northeast Nigeria – ABC News (go.com)

Mass Prison Break Includes Man Who Confessed to Killing 42 Women – Newsweek

Jailbreak attempt at Congo prison kills 129 people as chaos erupts with a stampede and gunshots (nbcnews.com)

Over 30 Killed in Mexico Cartel Stronghold After Sinaloa Leaders Detained in US

A Mexican Army soldier stands guard after an armed attack against a business selling new and pre-owned cars in Culiacan, Sinaloa State, Mexico, on 12 Sep 2024. The US issued a security alert because of “reports of car thefts, gunfire, security forces operations, roadblocks, burning vehicles, and closed roadways” in the vicinity.

Eleven more people have been killed in a wave of violence in a Mexican cartel heartland shaken by gang infighting. The latest fatalities included five men whose bodies were found on a highway south of the city of Culiacan.

More than 30 people have been reported dead in a week of bloodshed in Sinaloa, although authorities did not specify how many were believed to be linked to the cartel infighting.

The clashes follow the dramatic arrest on US soil on 25 July of Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who claimed he had been kidnapped in Mexico and delivered into US custody against his will. Zambada pleaded not guilty last week in New York in a drug trafficking case that accuses him of engaging in murder plots and ordering torture.

Zambada (76) was detained along with Joaquin Guzman Lopez, a son of El Chapo, who is serving a life sentence in the US. The violence is believed to pit gang members loyal to El Chapo and his sons against others aligned with Zambada, who pleaded not guilty to a raft of charges in a New York court.

Schools were closed Thursday and Friday due to the violence and the governor said Sunday’s Independence Day festivities had been canceled.

In an unexpected twist, last month Mexican prosecutors said they were bringing charges against Guzmán for apparently kidnapping Zambada — but it also cited another charge under an article of Mexico’s criminal code that defines what he did as treason.

Nowhere in the statement does it mention that the younger Guzmán was a member of the Chapitos — “little Chapos” — faction of the Sinaloa cartel, made up of Chapo’s sons, that smuggles millions of doses of the deadly opioid fentanyl into the US, causing about 70,000 overdose deaths each year. According to a 2023 indictment by the US Justice Department, the Chapitos and their cartel associates used corkscrews, electrocution, and hot chiles to torture their rivals while some of their victims were “fed dead or alive to tigers.”

El Chapo, the Sinaloa cartel’s founder, is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado after being convicted in 2019 on charges including drug trafficking, money laundering and weapons-related offenses. Last year, El Chapo sent an “SOS” message to Mexico’s president, alleging that he has been subjected to “psychological torment” in prison.

This year Mexico elected its first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. Vladimir Putin was invited to attend the 1 Oct inauguration in Mexico City.

Source:

Over 30 killed in Mexico cartel stronghold as violence rages after Sinaloa leaders detained in U.S. – CBS News

A Cat Named Drifter is Safe After Being Trapped in Sewer for Nearly Eight Weeks

A cat aptly named Drifter is safe at home after sneaking outside and getting trapped in a sewer for nearly eight weeks.

The 3-year-old tabby — an indoor feline who had aspirations of being an outdoor cat — went missing from the home of Clifton Nesseth and Ashley Comstock in the northeastern Minnesota city of Duluth on 18 Jul. His owners presume that he went to check out the construction underway in their neighborhood at some point.

The family, including their 12-year-old daughter, April Dressel, hung up posters and searched across the city without luck. They were beginning to plan a small memorial service for Drifter on Tuesday when neighbor kids came over and said they heard meowing coming from a storm drain at the construction site. The family also heard him meowing as they started digging through the dirt and cutting through the landscape fabric.

“A little paw shot out of a tear in the fabric,” Nesseth said. “It was a tabby cat paw. We tore the fabric more and then his head popped through.”

A neighbor, Dahlia Boberg (16) captured the reunion on video.

“Drifter!” Nesseth is seen exclaiming as he lifts the cat high, while neighbors who are gathered around laugh with delight and amazement. “He’s been under there the whole time! He’s really skinny.”

Source:

A cat named Drifter is safe after sneaking out and getting trapped in a sewer for nearly 8 weeks | AP News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

NYPD Commissioner to Resign After FBI Seized His Phone

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

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

North Korea Releases Rare Images of Uranium Enrichment Site

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

Four Black Rights Activists Convicted Over Nefarious Russian Links

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov – Rewards For Justice

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

Usutu Virus Threatens Blackbirds in Germany

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

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

Source:

Dead blackbirds: Usutu virus reaches the Rendsburg area | SHZ

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

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

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

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

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

Sources:

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

News Detail Page (illinoisattorneygeneral.gov)

Dog Rushes into Burning Ukraine Home to Save Helpless Kitten

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

The lucky kitten has eight lives left.

Source:

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