Undated image of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi.
A 26-year-old Turkish-American activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was shot in the head and killed during an anti-settlement protest near Nablus, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The IDF admitted to firing at the demonstrators and has not said if any other gunmen were present.
She was shot during a weekly demonstration against an Israeli settlement near the Palestinian village of Beita. Eyewitnesses and Palestinian officials said the Israeli military was responsible.
The IDF stated its forces “responded with fire toward a main instigator of violent activity who hurled rocks at the forces and posed a threat to them.” It said that it was “looking into reports that a foreign national was killed as a result of shots fired in the area.”
Protests at Beita are common. The Palestinian town is next to a ramshackle Israeli settler outpost known as Evyatar. The settlement was unauthorized by the Israeli state until it was legalized earlier this year. All Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Eygi was volunteering in the West Bank with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), the same group as Rachel Corrie (23), a US citizen who was killed in 2003 while trying to block an Israeli bulldozer from razing Palestinian homes. (Getty Images)
In 2012, IDF Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner smashed the face of an unarmed activist named Andaers in the West Bank with his US-made M16 rifle. His expression looks like contempt. This protestor can consider himself lucky just to be alive.
Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah and the UN, who have called for a full investigation of Aysenur’s killing.
Sources:
Aysenur Eygi: US activist killed after Israeli military fires at protest in West Bank | CNN
Aysenur Ezgi Eygi: UN urges inquiry into killing of US-Turkish protester in West Bank (bbc.com)
Massachusetts Physician Sentenced Nine Months for Punching Police Officer During 6 Jan Attack
A medical doctor who punched a police officer during a mob’s attack on the US Capitol was sentenced to nine months of imprisonment followed by nine months of home confinement. Jacquelyn Starer (70) was inside the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021 when she struck the officer with a closed fist and shouted a profane insult.
Jacquelyn Starer told US District Judge Timothy Kelly that she isn’t proud of her actions that day, including her “regrettable encounter” with the officer. “I accept full responsibility for my actions that day, and I truly wish reason had prevailed over my emotions,” she said.
Starer also turned to apologize to the officer whom she assaulted. The officer, identified only by her initials in court filings, told the judge she feared for her life as she and other officers fought for hours to defend the Capitol from the mob of Donald Trump supporters. “Do you really take responsibility for your actions or are you just going to say: ‘It wasn’t my fault. Fight or flight’?” the officer asked Starer before she addressed the court.
Starer of Ashland, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty in April to eight counts, including a felony assault charge. Starer’s attorneys asked the judge to sentence her to home confinement instead of incarceration.
In the 43 months since 6 Jan 2021, more than 1,488 suspects have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the attack on the US Capitol, including nearly 550 seditionists charged with feloniously assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The FBI investigation remains ongoing.
Sources:
District of Columbia | Massachusetts Woman Sentenced to Prison for Assaulting Law Enforcement and Other Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | United States Department of Justice
https://www.yahoo.com/news/physician-sentenced-9-months-prison-214655876.html
US Sees Increasing Risk of Sabotage of Key Undersea Cables by Secretive Russian Military Unit
The USIC has detected increased Russian military activity around key undersea cables and assesses Russia may now be more likely to carry out potential sabotage operations aimed at disabling a critical piece of the world’s communications infrastructure. Russia has been building up a dedicated military unit called the “General Staff Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research,” or GUGI.
“We are concerned about heightened Russian naval activity worldwide and that Russia’s decision calculus for damaging US and allied undersea critical infrastructure may be changing,” a US official told CNN. “Russia is continuing to develop naval capabilities for undersea sabotage mainly thru GUGI, a closely guarded unit that operates surface vessels, submarines, and naval drones.”
The US and NATO regularly tracks Russian ships that patrol close to critical maritime infrastructure and undersea cables often far from Russian shores.
Undersea cables form a critical backbone of internet and telecommunications traffic around the world. Most communications and internet traffic travels across a vast network of high-speed fiber-optic cables installed along the ocean floor. A coordinated attack could significantly disrupt private, government and military communications along such cables as well as industries that rely on such communications, including financial markets and energy suppliers. Undersea cables also carry vast amounts of electricity among several European countries.
Commanders aboard a NATO patrol vessel in April 2023 told CNN they had witnessed an increase of military surveillance over undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and the waters around Northern Europe.
Last year, a joint investigation by the public broadcasters of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland found that Russia has a fleet of suspected spy ships operating in northern European waters for potential sabotage of both undersea cables and wind farms. Using data analysis, intercepted radio communications, and intelligence sources, the broadcasters tracked over several years some fifty ships operating in the area, using underwater surveillance to map sites for potential attacks.
Taiwanese and US intelligence have observed similar activity by the Chinese Navy in waters around Taiwan. “The activity looks like targeted harassment by Beijing – or an exercise in preparation for cutting off the whole of Taiwan,” Elisabeth Braw wrote in Foreign Policy magazine in February 2023.
Russia’s covert naval program has not been disrupted by its ongoing war against Ukraine, continuing to fund GUGI even while waging war in Ukraine. Sabotage of US or allied undersea infrastructure would be a significant escalation in Russian aggression outside of Ukraine.
Sources:
Pakistani Accused of Plotting to Kill Jews in NYC on Behalf of Islamic State
The lone unarmed suspect was arrested by an army of police officers Wednesday in the town of Ormstown, Quebec, 60 km south of Montreal. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan is described as a Pakistani citizen residing in Toronto.
A Pakistani citizen living in Canada has been charged with planning an attack in NYC in support of the Islamic State group. Muhammad Shahzeb Khan AKA Shahzeb Jadoon (20) is accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish center around 7 Oct 2024, the first anniversary of the Gaza War. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Khan aimed to kill “as many Jewish people as possible” in the name of Islamic State. Khan attempted to travel from Canada to the US but was arrested on 4 Sep before reaching the border. He had told two undercover law enforcement officers of his plans to create “a real offline cell” of Islamic State supporters to carry out an attack.
The suspect, who was unarmed when arrested in Canada, requested the undercover officers to acquire AR-style rifles, ammunition, and other equipment for the NYC attack, including hunting knives in order to slit throats.
There is no information regarding Muhammad Shahzeb Khan’s mental faculties or whether he has any military or firearms training in order to carry out this extraordinary mega-attack with accomplices whom he has never personally met.
A complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Sources:
Pakistani Accused Of Plotting To Kill Jews In New York On Behalf Of Islamic State (rferl.org)
Locals Accuse Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump of ‘Taking What is Ours’ for Billion Dollar Resort Project in Albania
Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump and Tiffany Trump, daughters of former US President Donald Trump, look on during the fourth day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum on 18 July 2024 in Milwaukee, WI. The land they plan on developing in Albania is subject to several disputes. (Getty Images)
Local residents in Albania are accusing Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump of attempting to take land away from them for two luxury resort projects.
The daughter and son-in-law of former President Donald Trump are looking to invest almost $1bn in the area. Kushner previously announced his plans to build a hotel and a number of beach villas on a part of land that has been farmed by an Albanian family for generations but which was seized from them after the end of the Communist regime in 1991, according to The New York Times.
“They are trying to take from us what is ours,” Bledar Alexandros Konomi told the paper. Konomi used to help take care of cattle on the part of the mainland where Kushner now wants to build a hotel. His claim to the land is supported by court records. Kushner is also seeking exclusive development rights on the small island of Sazan, where the Soviet Union stored military supplies during the Cold War.
2024 CIA World Factbook
A second bid to develop the island was submitted by Albanian-American developer Evi Kokalari-Angelakis. When her proposal to the Albanian government was disregarded, she insinuated the regime wants to ingratiate themselves with the former president in the event he returns to the White House in January.
Opposition party member in the Albanian parliament Agron Shehaj said the process of choosing a developer had lacked transparency, which “makes it look like this is a private deal that is in the political interest of the prime minister of Albania.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama and Kushner both rejected the notion that the former president had anything to do with the development process.
“The fact that such a renowned American entrepreneur shows his interest on investing in Albania makes us very proud and happy,” said a spokesperson for the prime minister. “It shows on another level to the US and the world that there is a new rising star in the beautiful Mediterranean world of tourism named Albania.”
“We have this 1,400-acre island in the Mediterranean and we’re bringing in the best architects and the best brands,” Ivanka Trump said on the Lex Fridman Podcast earlier this summer.
The projects on the Albanian coastline are not connected to the Trump Organization, which is partly owned by Trump, and it will not be linked to the Trump name.
Jared Kushner established an investment company called Affinity Partners, which is supported mostly by funds coming from the Saudi Arabian government. Over the years, Saudi NGOs built 200 mosques in Albania and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia donated one million copies of an Albanian-language version of the Quran.
A University of Cincinnati professor of statistics said it’s “very obvious that a big corruption scheme is going on.”
On the mainland, villagers in Zvernec, near the site where one of the projects is planned, have notified Kushner that they claim to own the land, which is subject to several disputes.
Source:
US-Iraq Deal Would See Hundreds of Soldiers Withdraw by Sep 2025
The US and Iraq have reached an understanding on plans for the withdrawal of U.S.-led coalition forces from Iraq. Hundreds of troops would leave by September 2025, with the remainder departing by the end of 2026. The US and Iraq are also seeking to establish a new advisory relationship that could see some US forces remain in Iraq after the drawdown. The US has approximately 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in neighboring Syria as part of the coalition formed in 2014 to combat Islamic State as it rampaged through the two countries. The group once held roughly a third of Iraq and Syria but was territorially defeated in Iraq at the end of 2017 and in Syria in 2019. Iraq had demonstrated its ability to handle any remaining threat.
The agreement follows more than six months of talks between Baghdad and Washington, initiated by Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in January amid attacks by Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups on US forces stationed at Iraqi bases. The rocket and drone attacks have killed three American troops and wounded dozens more, resulting in several rounds of deadly US retaliation that threatened government efforts to stabilize Iraq after decades of conflict.
Under the plan, all coalition forces would leave the Ain al-Asad airbase in western Anbar province and significantly reduce their presence in Baghdad by September 2025. US and other coalition troops are expected to remain in Irbil, in the semi-autonomous northern Kurdistan region, for approximately one additional year, until around the end of 2026, to facilitate ongoing operations against Islamic State in Syria.
In other news, Switzerland reopened its embassy in Baghdad, 33 years after closing its previous representation due to the 1991 Gulf War. By reopening the embassy, the Swiss Federal Council aims to strengthen bilateral relations with the populous country and deepen cooperation in economic, security, and migration matters
Sources:
US-Iraq deal would see hundreds of troops withdraw in first year, sources say (voanews.com)
Swiss embassy in Baghdad reopens (admin.ch)
12 Students Hospitalized, One Dead from Unidentified Cause in Northern Vietnam
Two hospitals have been tasked with uncovering the cause of the death of a student from Thai Nguyen Industrial College in northern Vietnam and the hospitalization of 12 others.
All 13 victims had developed fevers, headaches, stomach aches, and nausea, with the cause still unknown. The deceased student was diagnosed with multi-organ failure, acute heart failure, myocarditis, and hepatitis B. One student is in a critical condition and on a ventilator. The ten remaining students are in stable condition.
The two hospitals were ordered to identify appropriate treatments for the patients and control the infection, if any, to minimize the number of people likely to catch the disease.
Source:
12 students hospitalized, 1 dead from unidentified cause in northern Vietnam | Tuoi Tre News
Lioness Rescued in Ukraine from a Tiny Cage Tentatively Walks on Grass for First Time
A UK animal rescue charity evacuated two lionesses from Ukraine and one has just been filmed taking her first steps on grass. Yuna the lioness had never felt grass beneath her paws, having been raised in captivity in a small concrete enclosure. She had been traumatized long before the Russian invasion.
In concert with the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England, organized the retrieval and air transport of the lionesses out of Ukraine in a 30-hour operation.
Yuna safely arrived at a 32-acre facility in Kent, and another lioness was delivered to a similar sanctuary in Belgium. Fundraising and preparations are underway to rescue another three lionesses from Kyiv.
Source:
The Good News Network and YouTube
Coriolanus 