49 Ukrainians were released from Russian custody and returned home as part of another prisoner swap. “[Representatives] of the Ukrainian armed forces, National Guard, State Border Guard Service, and civilians are among those released,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram. Leniye Umerova, who was arrested in Crimea after she came to visit her sick father, soldiers who defended the Azovstal metallurgic plant in Mariupol, and noted military physician and Hero of Ukraine laureate Viktor Ivchuk were among the prisoners returning. Russia has yet to provide details of the swap.
Anton Samborskiy (AKA Matityahu) was killed in combat on Ukraine’s front lines. Samborskiy was the adopted son of Moshe Reuven Azman, one of the country’s most prominent rabbis. At his funeral, Israel’s ambassador to Ukraine said Samborskiy’s death shows that Jews and other minorities are willing “to pay with their lives for Ukraine’s right to remain a free country.”
To the south, the US State Department approved the sale of 32 F-35A fighter jets to Ukraine’s neighbor, Romania, a NATO ally, in a deal worth $7.2 billion. Ukrainian pilots began training this week at a special center in Romania on US-made F-16 fighter jets.
Sources:
49 Ukrainians Freed In Latest Prisoner Swap With Russia (rferl.org)
Kyiv’s Jewish Community Mourns Top Rabbi’s Son Who Died In Combat (rferl.org)
U.S. Approves $7.2 Billion Sale Of F-35 Jets To NATO Ally Romania (rferl.org)
British Diplomats Ousted from Moscow for ‘Espionage’
© Russian Federal Security Service
The Kremlin is expelling six British diplomats for suspected espionage and “threatening Russia’s security” and “numerous unfriendly acts.”
The expulsions announcement came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Washington for talks with US President Joe Biden on allowing Ukraine to attack military targets deep inside Russia.
The FSB, a successor of the KGB, said the diplomats’ accreditation had been revoked on the basis of documentary evidence they were involved in “intelligence gathering and subversive activities” under the orders of a branch of the Foreign Office, “a special service whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country.”
Sky News had reported the six had returned to Britain prior to Friday’s announcement, citing a source in Whitehall who played down any link to Britain’s backing for Ukraine.
“They are already out,” said the source who categorically denied the diplomats were engaged in spying or other activities incompatible with their status.
Russia’s action, the source claimed, was more likely a fresh round of tit-for-tat ejections dating back to a 2018 nerve agent attack on British soil targeting former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia that London blames on Moscow.
Source:
British diplomats ousted from Moscow for ‘espionage’ as tensions mount over arming Ukraine – UPI.com
Kentucky Man Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement During 6 Jan Attack on Capitol
Luke Hoffman (40) from Dover, KY was sentenced to 20 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution after he previously pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement during the 6 Jan 2021 attack on the US Capitol.
From 1:25PM to 4:05PM Hoffman was one of the most dangerous attackers on 6 Jan. Amongst other things, he assaulted several police officers, attempted to steal a baton from another officer who was screaming, sprayed tear gas, and rallied other seditionists to continue rampaging.
Luke Hoffman’s wife was instrumental in his conviction by posting her husband’s actions on social media.
The FBI arrested Hoffman on 12 July 2023, in Dover, KY. This miscreant represents America’s “Fedayeen Saddam,” dead-enders desperately trying to hold on to a mythic belief of white Christian supremacy and that the country has been taken over by non-whites, liberals, LBGTQ activists, and immigrants.
In the 44 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,504 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to attacking the US Capitol, including more than 560 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with tips can call 1-800-CALL-FBI (800-225-5324) or visit tips.fbi.gov.
Source:
Salmonella Outbreak Sickens 27 in Sweden
Smörgåsbord is a combination of two words: smörgås, an open sandwich, and bord, a table. The term refers to any all-you-can-eat buffet with self-service and a variety of pan-global food. Popular in Sweden since the 18th century, smörgåsbord hosts a display of colorful, complex, and lavish foods and dishes such as herring, salmon, sliced cold cuts of meat, vegetables, breads, cheeses, wild berries, pastries, and jams. The dishes can be hot or cold and may range from appetizers to desserts.
Swedish health officials are searching for the source of a Salmonella outbreak that has affected almost 30 people. Whole genome sequencing has shown that 27 people have the same type of Salmonella Typhimurium. They are suspected of having been infected by a common food. The patients fell ill between 9 and 24 Aug and ranged in age from 4 to 89 with a median of 45 years old.
The majority of those sick are women, and cases are spread across 11 different regions in the country. In 2023, 1,316 Salmonella infections were reported in Sweden.
Food contaminated with Salmonella bacteria does not usually look, smell, or taste spoiled. However, anyone can become sick with a Salmonella infection. According to the US CDC, infants, children, seniors, and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of serious illness because their immune systems are fragile.
Symptoms of Salmonella infection can include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and fever within 12 to 72 hours after eating contaminated food. Otherwise, healthy adults are usually sick for four to seven days. In some cases, however, diarrhea may be so severe that patients require hospitalization.
Sweden is also dealing with high levels of domestic Campylobacter infections, which causes a diarrheal disease in people. Approximately 200 cases per week were recorded this summer.
According to data from the National Veterinary Institute (SVA), the rise in human infections coincides with a previously increased occurrence of Campylobacter in broiler flocks.
Source:
Swedish Salmonella outbreak sickens 27 | Food Safety News
Congo Military Court Sentences Three Americans, 34 Others to Death on Coup Charges
AMCITs Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (L), Marcel Malanga (C), and Tyler Thompson, attend a court verdict in Congo, Kinshasa, 13 Sep 2024. They were sentenced for taking part in a coup attempt in May 2024. (AP Photo/Samy Ntumba Shambuyi)
A military court in Congo handed down death sentences to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of participating in a coup attempt.
The defendants, most of them Congolese but also including a Briton, Belgian, and Canadian, have five days to appeal the verdict on charges that include attempted coup, terrorism, and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial.
Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on social media.
Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga and two other Americans were convicted in the coup attempt. He told the court that his father had forced him and his high school friend to take part in the attack.
“Dad had threatened to kill us if we did not follow his orders,” Marcel Malanga testified.
Other members of the ragtag militia recounted similar threats from the elder Malanga, and some described being duped into believing they were working for a volunteer organization.
The other Americans are Tyler Thompson Jr. (21) who flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a free vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun (36), who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company in Mozambique.
Thompson had been invited on an Africa trip by the younger Malanga, his former high school football teammate in a Salt Lake City suburb. Teammates alleged that Marcel had offered up to $100,000 to join him on a “security job” in Congo, and they said he seemed desperate to bring along an American friend.
Congo recently lifted a more than two-decade-old moratorium on the death penalty as authorities struggle to curb violence in the country. The US State Department has not declared the three Americans wrongfully detained, making it unlikely that US officials would try to negotiate their return.
Sources:
Congo court sentences 3 Americans, 34 others to death on coup charges – Washington Times
Serbia’s First Sex-Trafficking Case Involving Chinese Citizens Set for Trial
Chinese leader Xi Jinping (L) and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic (R) exchange agreements during a signing ceremony 8 May in Belgrade.
A Serbian court opened proceedings this week in the country’s first publicly documented case of sex trafficking involving Chinese nationals. Two Chinese women were trafficked to Serbia, had their passports taken away, given only one meal per day, and forced under the threat of death to provide sexual services to men.
The two women were trafficked by a male Chinese citizen who “misled the victims” by promising to “find them a job as a masseuse” in Serbia and “provide housing and food” for them. He then forced them to have sex with men shortly after arriving in the Balkan country by threatening “to kill them” and warning “that he is powerful and can do anything to make them disappear.”
“After a few hours upon their arrival, he organized their sexual exploitation by” Chinese men in Serbia “under the threat that they… owed him money for the purchased [plane] tickets and that they needed to earn money to obtain work permits.”
The Chinese man, who has not been identified, was arrested in March by Serbian police in the eastern city of Bor and is set to begin his closed-door preliminary hearing after being charged with human trafficking by a court in the nearby city of Zajecar.
The Center for the Protection of Victims of Human Trafficking, a Serbian state-run organization that provides support to trafficking victims, reports 35 documented cases of human trafficking in Serbia so far in 2024.
The legal case involving Chinese nationals is likely to test the increasingly friendly relations between China and Serbia. China has become a major investor and trade partner with Serbia, and the two countries provide visa-free travel for each other’s citizens.
Sources:
Serbia – United States Department of State
Serbia’s First Sex-Trafficking Case Involving Chinese Citizens Set For Court (rferl.org)
Serbian Deals With China On Extradition, Media Cooperation Could Have Lasting Impact
Pope Francis May Have Subtly ‘Thumbed His Nose’ at Donald Trump Again
Pope Francis sternly lectures US President Donald Trump at the Vatican about global climate change and the environment on 24 May 2017.
When Pope Francis said US voters must choose between the “lesser of two evils,” he didn’t outwardly make a judgment between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. The Republican rejection of immigrants and Democratic support of abortion rights equally weighted them both down.
But put in context, the statement represented a bigger swipe at Trump, argued Nayyera Haq, former President Barack Obama’s senior director of cabinet affairs.
Popes rarely discuss American politics, although Pope Francis has taken veiled shots at Trump in the past, saying in 2016 that “a person who only thinks about building walls and not bridges is not Christian,” and earlier this year calling the panic against migrants at the US border “madness.”
“This pope has thumbed his nose in somewhat diplomatic ways at Donald Trump before,” Haq reported. The first Jesuit pontiff gave Trump an encyclical entirely about environmental stewardship and climate change when they met in May 2017. Unlike the LGBTQ-hating GOP, the pope has been “rather generous, given the churches history, when it comes to tolerance of gay and lesbian individuals as well.”
“So in that sense, the Catholics who wished for a more conservative Catholic pope may not be swayed by this, but he certainly does speak to that broader sense of Christianity, social justice, and I think just faith-based social justice that the least among us, taking care of those, that is an immediate reference to refugees and immigrants,” said Haq.
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Source:
https://www.rawstory.com/pope-francis-trump/
Jack Russell Terrier Puppy Rescued from Highway Near Newark Int’l Airport, NJ
A Jack Russell terrier puppy who was found running on the highways around Newark Airport has been rescued and is slowly healing at the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge (RBARI) where he will await his fur-ever home. For weeks, reports came in of the Jack Russell terrier pup, since named Monkey, running around the busy and dangerous highways near the airport.
Last week the frightened puppy was finally caught by a professional trapper with Buddha Dog Rescue and Recovery and was taken in by RBARI.
“It is a true miracle that Monkey survived. Surprisingly, Monkey is not the first Jack Russell terrier dumped in the area in recent months,” said RBARI in a post on Facebook. “And, even more unexpectedly, it only took minutes for this adorable dog to warm up to human touch, despite evading rescuers for so long.”
Upon rescue, Monkey was treated for fleas, ticks and parasites. He received a thorough examination and vaccinations.
Source:
Jack Russell terrier Monkey rescued from highway near Newark Airport (northjersey.com)
Coriolanus 