USA
LATIN AMERICA
AFRICA
EUROPE
ASIA
Could TikTok be behind this apathy of sorts?
MIDDLE EAST
Just a day earlier this report was published online.
How does anybody support the Ayatollah's Iran, the world's largest sponsor of terrorism?
NY DA Bragg
Quote:Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg asked a trial court in New York to postpone the criminal trial of former President Donald Trump by 30 days. Trump faces prosecution for allegedly falsifying business records.
Trump’s attorneys had sought a 90-day postponement to consider new documents that had only been handed over recently by federal prosecutors. Bragg offered a 30-day postponement instead.
The New York Times reported:
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which accused Mr. Trump of covering up a sex scandal during and after the 2016 presidential campaign, said the delay would give Mr. Trump’s lawyers time to review a new batch of records. The office sought the records more than a year ago, but only recently received them from federal prosecutors, who years ago investigated the hush-money payments at the center of the case.
In response to the new records — tens of thousands of pages of them — Mr. Trump’s lawyers requested that the trial be delayed 90 days. Although the former president frequently requests such delays, prosecutors consenting to any postponement makes one far more likely.
Trump is not accused of “covering up a sex scandal,” but rather of falsifying business records of payments made to Stormy Daniels (née Stephanie Crawford) as part of a non-disclusure agreement prior to the 2016 presidential election.
Barefaced Senator Menendez
Quote:Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is federally accused of accepting gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for his influence as a senator, is reportedly mulling an independent reelection bid.
Citing a pair of sources “who spoke with him directly,” NBC News’s Julie Tsirkin, Carol E. Lee, and Kate Santaliz reported Thursday that Menendez is considering an independent run:
He is now making calls to allies about his record and career and is preparing to collect petitions to run in November as an independent, the sources said. If Menendez were to run as a Democrat, he would need to come up with 1,000 signatures by March 25th — so time is not on his side. But running as an independent would give him more time; in that case, he would only need 800 signatures by June 4th to qualify for the ballot.
A clearly frustrated Menendez did not deny that he’s planning to run as an independent when asked by NBC News Thursday afternoon, saying multiple times: “I don’t have to declare what I am doing. When I do, everybody will know.”
The report comes days after Menendez entered a not-guilty plea to newly added charges in what has grown into an 18-count indictment, as the Associated Press noted. The fresh obstruction of justice charges to which he and his wife Nadine Menendez pleaded not guilty on Monday “are related to what prosecutors say were efforts to cover up the illegal bribes,” per the outlet.
International Election Interference
Quote:Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued an extraordinary demand Thursday for Israel to hold new elections aimed at ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the Biden administration and Democrats dislike.
NBC reported:
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., said in remarks on the Senate floor that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.”
“The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past,” Schumer said in what was billed as a major address by the Democratic leader from New York.
Netanyahu has “lost his way,” Schumer continued, “by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Schumer said that Netanyahu has aligned himself with “far-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
Schumer has long been a critic of Netanyahu’s, and even attacked Netanyahu during a speech against antisemitism in November. But Thursday’s statement goes much further, interfering brazenly in Israel’s democratic politics — an action that, if taken by any foreign country against the United States, would be denounced as foreign election interference.
Netanyahu, who was briefly replaced by a center-left coalition, made a political comeback and was elected in November 2022 with a right-wing coalition that had one of the largest majorities in the recent electoral history of the Jewish state.
Popular Cereals
Quote:Kellogg’s is facing even more backlash amidst a mass boycott of their products after one of the company’s shareholders publicly demanded accountability for the “harmful additives” in their products.
Jason Karp, founder of health food company HumanCo and investor in Kellogg’s, has teamed up with celebrity attorney Alex Spiro to get the cereal manufacturer to get rid of “harmful artificial dyes, such as Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 1, as well as the preservative BHT.”
“When a company is knowingly harming our children to make a little extra money, we have to stand up and do what is right,” Karp wrote in a statement on X alongside an activist letter he filed with Spiro against Kellogg’s.
The Thursday letter is demanding the company to “stop their unethical behavior of selling inferior, more harmful versions of their products to American children.”
In other countries such as Canada, Japan, and the U.K, Karp pointed out that certain additives in American Kellogg’s products are completely banned. In EU countries, food companies must put a “warning label on products with these ingredients, stating they ‘may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children,’” the investor wrote.
“Kellogg knows that these artificial additives can harm children,” Karp alleged, citing research from the Center for Science in the Public Interest that said the dyes can cause organ damage, cancer, birth defects, allergic reactions, and behavioral problems in children.
Spiro, of the Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan law firm, has previously represented X owner Elon Musk, rockstar Mick Jagger, rapper Jay-Z, and renowned tennis player Naomi Osaka.
Chinese Influence or Subversion of US?
Quote:House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) on Thursday launched a “government-wide” probe into the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) ongoing attempt to “target, influence, and infiltrate every sector and community in the United States.”
The probe comes in the wake of Peter Schweizer’s new book, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans. Blood Money landed at number one on the New York Times bestseller list one week after its release by HarperCollins.
Among several bombshells, Blood Money revealed how the Biden family bagged $5 million from the business partner of the “White Wolf,” the head of a gang involved in the drug trade. It also exposed how China is involved in the fentanyl crisis throughout North America. In addition, the book uncovered how the CCP uses TikTok as a “modern day Trojan Horse” to push propaganda into the United States.
“I’m thrilled that Chairman Comer is launching a major investigation on this,” Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute and a Breitbart News senior contributor, exclusively told Breitbart News. “I look forward to helping the committee in their efforts.”
Comer’s probe will demand federal agencies provide information on how the United States is combatting the CCP’s warfare that influences several significant sectors:
Education
Agriculture
Critical infrastructure
Research
Energy
Business
Space
Technology sectors
“Without firing a single bullet, the Chinese Communist Party is waging war against the U.S. by targeting, influencing, and infiltrating every economic sector and community in America,” Comer said in a statement:
Chicago in the Spotlight Again
Quote:Anti-Israel protesters outside a Jewish community-sponsored film screening in Chicago on Monday attacked a Jewish man in his late fifties who entered the theater with a small Israeli flag, allegedly punching him repeatedly in the head.
Local ABC affiliate WLS-7 reported:
As anti-Israel protesters tried to block people from entering a Monday night screening of “Nova,” a documentary about the October 7 Hamas massacre at the Nova Music Festival that killed hundreds, a Jewish attendee was attacked. Chicago police are now investigating.
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The man, who is in his late 50s, said one protester tried to yank the flag from his hand. The next thing he knew, he was being attacked by several protesters.
“A group of them was swinging me around and threw me into a parked car,” the victim said. “I was completely surrounded by maybe six or seven that started punching me in the head.”
The man spoke to local news on camera, but did not want to be identified, and said he feared for his children’s safety.
Chicago is home to a large Palestinian-American community, and frequently features radical anti-Israel protests that rival those in Detroit.
Biden & Haiti
Quote:Biden’s pro-migration deputies began facilitation the migration of critical reserves of better-educated Haitians, including policemen and politicians.
Haiti’s 10,000-man national police, for example, lost 1,600 police in 2023 — many of whom used Biden’s 2023 offer of “parole pathway” visas to join their relatives in the United States labor force.
“A lot of police officers have left in the Biden [visa] program,” Gary Victor, a Haitian writer told the Miami Herald in September 2023. “Haiti is a country that has no one governing it.”
“It’s the same brain drain issue [seen elsewhere] but dialed up to 11,” said Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies. He continued:
It’s the most extreme example of what U.S. immigration policy does, in drawing off — not just the elite of a country because the top people in any country can leave if they want to — all of the people under the elite who keep things functioning.
The poorest of the poor — whether in Haiti or anywhere else — aren’t usually the ones who leave. It is the ones with a little bit of resources, a little bit of social capital, who can leave. And that leaves society stripped of the necessary elements of a leadership class.
US Marines Dispatched to Haiti
Quote:The U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced on Wednesday that the Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) has been deployed to Haiti to “maintain strong security capabilities at the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince.”
SOUTHCOM said deploying a team like FAST to a theater where the U.S. Embassy is at risk is a “common and routine practice worldwide” that will relieve the pressure on Marine guards already in place and “allow additional non-emergency personnel to depart.”
“The U.S. Embassy remains open, and limited operations continue, focused on assistance to U.S. citizens and supporting Haitian-led efforts to secure a peaceful transition of power,” the statement said, referring to Monday’s announced resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Haiti, already unstable and infested by brutal street gangs, exploded into violence when Henry left the country to secure a deal for security intervention with Kenyan President William Ruto. Gang leaders declared a “bloody revolution” and blocked Henry from returning to the country. Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico.
The deal with Kenya, meanwhile, was scuttled by Kenyan courts and the pronounced lack of enthusiasm for intervening in Haiti among Ruto’s constituents.
SOUTHCOM said:
This week, the Department of Defense doubled our funding for the Multinational Security Support (MSS) mission, and we are working with Haitian, Kenyan, and other partners to expedite its deployment to support the Haitian National Police and to restore security in Haiti.
It remains unclear who will put boots on the ground for that multinational mission.
The exact details of Henry’s resignation are still being hammered out, and the gangs could launch a fresh rampage if he does not depart soon. U.S. and Caribbean officials seem nervous that the gangs could declare victory for toppling Henry and seize power for themselves if his departure is too abrupt.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Tuesday commended Henry for his “statesmanship” in “putting his country first and agreeing to step down when the transitional presidential council is established.”
Miller expected the transitional council to be formed soon — setting a timetable of “24 to 48 hours” that would prove incorrect — and Henry would resign soon after the council named an interim prime minister.
LATIN AMERICA
A Defiant Barbecue
Quote:Multiple political power brokers in Haiti – and the country’s most prominent gang boss, Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier – vocally rejected a plan on Wednesday enthusiastically backed by the administration of President Joe Biden to create a “Transitional Presidential Council” to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ariel Henry.
Haiti, an unstable country for decades, is experiencing an especially violent wave of chaos this month following Henry’s trip to Kenya to seek aid in the form of Kenyan police participation in a security support mission to stabilize the country. Henry has been prime minister since 2021, when then-President Jovenel Moïse appointed him days before assassins gunned him down in the presidential estate. Haiti has not had a president since Moïse’s assassination.
Upon Henry’s departure to Kenya, criminal gangs led by Cherizier orchestrated a massive prison break that put an estimated 4,000 violent criminals on the streets. The armed militias surrounded the airport, stranding Henry in Puerto Rico, and Cherizier announced that his gangs would facilitate a “genocide” if Henry did not resign. Henry announced he would resign days later, but only on the condition that a “Transitional Presidential Council” be established to replace him and organize a presidential election.
As of Wednesday evening, the possibility of establishing a functional Council appeared dim, as multiple parties invited to form it rejected the plan as unacceptable foreign intervention. Opponents noted that the Council plan was concocted and adopted during a meeting on Monday of the Caribbean Community (Caricom), attended by American Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Among those rejecting the plan is Guy Philippe, one of Haiti’s most prominent political figures following his overthrow of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in 2004. Philippe was elected senator in 2016 but was indicted in a U.S. court and extradited to America, ultimately being convicted on charges of laundering money originating in Colombia’s illicit cocaine trade. The Biden administration deported him in November 2023, allowing him to return to political activity in Haiti.
Philippe’s participation in the Transitional Presidential Council is a “non-starter,” the Miami Herald reported, because he has a criminal record; Caricom agreed to ban convicted felons from joining the Council.
Philippe published a video on social media on Tuesday claiming the Council is a conspiracy to “ridicule the Haitian people” by deciding their future.
Dominican Republic & Haiti
Quote:The Dominican Republic’s Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez said on Wednesday that his country will continue to deport illegal Haitian migrants, rejecting a United Nations request that urged the country to stop “forced deportations” of Haitian citizens.
Neighbors Haiti and the Dominican Republic each occupy one side of the territory of Hispaniola Island, one of the four Caribbean Greater Antilles alongside Cuba, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico.
Haiti has experienced a multi-year intense period of turmoil and criminal violence that worsened in 2021 with the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, who was shot dead in the presidential residence.
The already precarious situation deteriorated this week after organized armed militias led by Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier took control of the country, forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry on Monday. Henry is currently stranded in Puerto Rico, finding himself unable to return to Port-au-Prince as the militias control the airport.
In light of Haiti’s worsening situation. Dominican authorities launched a deportation campaign to remove illegal Haitians this week, transporting them in trucks, and dropping them at the border with Haiti.
In a press conference on Wednesday, U.N. Secretary-General spokesman Stéphane Dujarric urged the Dominican Republic, as well as other countries, to “respect the human rights” of Haitians and avoid “forced deportations.”
“We don’t want mass or forced deportations of people to a country that is clearly not safe,” Dujarric said.
Dominican Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez rejected Dujarric’s statements minutes later in remarks given during his participation in a private media encounter.
Bolsonaro's Son Complains About Lula & Biden
Quote:More than a dozen Brazilian lawmakers led by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro and current member of the chamber of deputies, denounced the persecution that opponents of radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are being subjected to in a Tuesday Congress hearing.
The group of lawmakers, as well as Brazilian journalist Paulo Figueiredo, recounted their personal experiences to Congress, detailing the growing persecution and censorship that the government led by Lula is using to single out opposition members.
The hearing was led by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations Subcommittee. Rep. Smith stated, “Since late 2022, Brazilians have been subject to human rights violations committed by Brazilian officials on a large scale.”
In his remarks, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who represents Sao Paulo in the Brazilian lower house, denounced the persecution that his father, former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, is being subjected to, claiming that “not even a single word” has been said by the Biden administration with regards to Bolsonaro’s persecution.
“I have always warned in my speeches in [Brazil’s] Congress about dangers of my country turning into a Cuba or Venezuela with their concentration camps,” Eduardo Bolsonaro said. “Today, unfortunately, I live in my own movie about the gulag. My father is now persecuted and slandered in the various ways, and as in any tyranny, the limit of the ridiculous no longer exists.”
“We are living this right now and with not even a single word from the Biden Administration, State Department, or any governmental authority from the homeland of democracy — the United States of America,” he continued. “Brazil, unfortunately, is not a democracy anymore.”
Bolivia's Political Prisoner
Quote:Former Bolivian President Jeanine Áñez marked three years as a political prisoner of the current Bolivian socialist government on Wednesday, releasing a public letter in which she reaffirmed her innocence and demanded the Bolivian courts free her.
Áñez, a lawyer and a conservative politician, assumed the presidency of Bolivia between November 12, 2019, and November 8, 2020, as a result of a political crisis caused from former socialist president Evo Morales’s voluntary resignation. Morales and his cabinet, members of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) Party, fled the country after his resignation.
The absence of Bolivia’s cabinet of ministers and other high-ranking officials left Áñez, who at the time was the second vice-president of the Bolivian Chamber of Senators, as the next in line in Bolivia’s presidential line of succession.
Morales, who is still presently attempting to return to power by trampling over the nation’s constitutional term limits, is believed to have forced the nation’s courts in 2017 to issue a ruling to allow him to run a fourth time claiming that term limits were a “violation of his human rights.”
Morales then “won” in a highly fraudulent October 2019 that was met with local protests and international condemnation, resulting in his voluntary resignation and flight to Mexico a month later.
Although eligible, Áñez chose not to present her candidacy in the 2020 election. The election saw the return of MAS to power through current socialist President Luis Arce.
AFRICA
Egypt in Crisis, I wonder why...
Quote:Egyptian Finance Minister Mohamed Maait said on Sunday that Egypt’s $24 billion sale of Mediterranean resort real estate to Abu Dhabi, plus a $20 billion “support package” from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will balance the national budget despite the painful loss of Suez Canal revenue due to relentless attacks in the Red Sea by the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen.
“The positive part is the Ras al-Hikma deal, a not-small portion of which will enter the general budget in pounds. The total deficit will be less than targeted because of Ras al-Hikma,” Maait told reporters on Sunday.
Ras al-Hikma is a coastal Egyptian city that will be developed into a major vacation destination — a “fully functional urban community and not just a beach resort,” as Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly put it in February — with a total price tag of $150 billion. Work on the extensive construction project is scheduled to begin in 2025.
Egypt sold the development rights to Ras al-Hikma to a consortium from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for $24 billion, plus a 35-percent stake in the development. $10 billion from the sale has already been deposited in Egypt’s central bank, with the rest due by May.
Ras al-Hikma is the largest development project, and biggest land sale, in Egypt’s history. The proceeds were large enough to significantly strengthen the Egyptian pound against the U.S. dollar, which was a condition the IMF set for its $20 billion financial support package.
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Egypt has been so desperate for foreign currency that a huge black market developed for currency trades. The government response was a stringent crackdown that infuriated Egyptian citizens, who complained of vigorous police searches (and seizures) whenever they made cash withdrawals from banks.
The Suez Canal has long been a major source of revenue for Egypt, but with Iran’s Houthi terrorist proxies attacking cargo ships and tankers in the Red Sea, canal revenues fell by almost 50 percent in 2024.
Students Kidnapped in Nigeria
Quote:The gunmen who kidnapped 286 students and staff from a school in northwestern Nigeria threatened on Tuesday to kill the hostages unless a ransom of one billion Nigerian naira — roughly $620,000 — is paid within 20 days.
A swarm of gunmen attacked the elementary and secondary schools in the town of Kuriga on March 7, killing one person and abducting almost the entire student body and faculty from both institutions. At least 100 of the victims are less than 13 years old.
It was the second and worst mass kidnapping of that week; a third followed two days later when 15 children were taken from a school in the town of Sokoto.
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu sent a detachment of troops to rescue the Kuriga abductees, but they remain in captivity.
According to Jubril Aminu, a community leader acting as spokesperson for the families of victims, the kidnappers threatened to “kill all the students and the staff if the ransom demand is not met” during a phone call on Tuesday.
Sky News pointed out that one billion naira works out to more than $2,000 per hostage — more than the average annual income in Nigeria.
Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters on Wednesday that President Tinubu has directed his security forces to ensure that “not a dime is paid” of the ransom. Instead, Tinubu ordered the recovery of all hostages without paying any money.
“I have received briefings from security chiefs on the two incidents, and I am confident the victims will be rescued. Nothing else is acceptable to me and the waiting family members of these abducted citizens. Justice will be decisively administered,” Tinubu himself said on Friday, referring to the child abductions in Kuriga and Sokoto.
EUROPE
UK Accusses Russia of Signal Jamming Airplane Systems
Quote:A government jet carrying the British defence minister back from a NATO military exercise was subjected to signal jamming leaving the aircraft’s GPS navigation system and cell phones onboard non-operational, with the finger of blame pointed at Russia.
The Dassault 900LX Falcon jet returning Grant Shapps, the British Defence Secretary from observing part of Operation Steadfast Defender, the largest NATO military exercise in decades passed by Russian territory in northern Europe and found itself experiencing without satellite navigation for around 30 minutes, it is claimed. The apparent jamming by Russian forces took place close to Kaliningrad, an isolated remnant of Russia’s old European empire stuck between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic.
The territorial exclave is notorious for the GPS jamming which has appeared to emanate from the area for years. It is not clear whether the aircraft was deliberately targeted, given it was not flying dark and had its transponder on, or if it flew through typical Russian interference.
A report in The Times of London states mobile phones could not access mobile data and the aircraft’s GPS system did not function during the period of alleged jamming. An unnamed defence source speaking to the paper said that while military flights can deal with interference, it nevertheless “puts an unnecessary risk on civilian aircraft and could potentially endanger people’s lives”. The spokesman called Russia’s attacks on the radio spectrum “wildly irresponsible”.
Shapps had been in Poland to observe NATO exercises and while in the country had announced the United Kingdom was extended the deployment of a contingent of soldiers it has in the country operating an air defence missile system, which the minister sais is keeping Poland “safe from growing threats and aggressive forces”. He also called for a considerable increase in UK defence spending, but shrugged off responsibility for actually doing so, saying it would be a question for after the election.
UK Forgets About Making a Payment
Quote:The British government is planning on giving failed asylum seekers up to £3,000 to voluntarily leave the country and relocate to Rwanda in a desperate bid to clear the ever-growing backlog of alleged asylum seekers.
A new separate deal with Rwanda will see failed asylum seekers will receive financial aid from the British taxpayer if they voluntarily choose to move to the East African nation.
The government, which has been bogged down in legal limbo over its previous Rwanda deportation scheme for illegal aliens, said that it does not believe new legislation would be necessary to pay failed asylum seekers to go to Rwanda as long as it is on a voluntary basis, the BBC reports.
Under current law, the government can provide up to £3,000 to failed asylum seekers to return to their “country of origin”. However, the voluntary returns scheme has never included a third-party country, meaning that the new deal with Rwanda would be the first of its kind.
The government handout would be made available to any migrant who had their asylum application rejected and therefore would encompass tens of thousands of people currently residing in the country.
Upon reaching Rwanda, the failed asylum seekers would also receive housing assistance from the government in Kigali, as well as being afforded assimilation assistance, education and training for work. Additionally, they would be given the opportunity to work towards citizenship in Rwanda.
UK & Extremist Groups
Quote:The UK has announced it is working on a new, broader definition of extremism that will cover groups that until recently even worked with the government, a tacit admission that Britain has been funding and providing succour to Islamist groups for years.
Conservative minister Michael Gove addressed the Commons on Thursday, reassuring the public that the United Kingdom is “stronger because of our diversity” even if that is now “under challenge” from extremists. Unveiling a new definition of the term, he said, will increase scrutiny and stop the government from inadvertently supporting such groups in the course of misguided community outreach. In particular, Gove said the definition would cover groups that do not technically break the law, but which nevertheless agitate against liberal democracy.
“Most extremist materials and activities are not illegal and do not lead to terrorism or the national security threshold. For instance, Islamist and Neo-Nazi groups in Britain are operating in Britain lawfully, but they advocate and work towards the replacement of democracy with an Islamist or Nazi society,” he said.
Gove named five organisations as examples of such groups, three Islamist and two Neo-Nazi. Of the Islamists, he cited the Muslim Association of Britain, Guantánamo Bay campaigners CAGE, Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND), and of the Nazis he spoke of Patriotic Alternative and the 1960s-era white supremacist group the British National Socialist Movement.
In naming groups from just two extremes, Gove appeared to be presenting a perceived dichotomy of extremism, yet despite recent warnings from the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption on the left-wing threat, no such groups have yet been cited. Lord Walney had cautioned that far-left groups were making an “unholy alliance” with radical Islamists, and there is presently a “gap in the government’s understanding of damage that the anti-democratic far-Left can do… They are now at the forefront of the threat to our democratic institutions.”
A fuller list of extremist groups that fall under the new definition will be released “in the coming weeks”, a government spokesman said after Gove finished his speech.
UK's Trade Agreement... with 1 of the US States?
Quote:Downing Street announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to a Statement of Mutual Cooperation trade pact with Texas, the second-largest economy in the United States with a GDP of £1.9 trillion ($2.4 tn) in 2022, which if counted as a single country would be the eighth largest economy in the world, beating out Italy and just trailing behind France.
With the Biden White House shutting down any hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal between the two allies, the UK has taken to doing deals with individual states in America. The agreement with the Lone Star state marks the eighth such deal but by far the largest agreement to date.
Number 10 said that the UK is already the eighth-largest international goods export market for Texas, with trade in goods hitting £14.7 billion in 2023.
The British government said that the agreement with Texas will seek to make it “quicker, easier, and cheaper for UK and Texas firms to do business” together by reducing trade barriers and increasing investment.
The agreement will specifically seek to increase cooperation in “areas of opportunity and future growth, such as aerospace, advanced technologies, supply chains and critical minerals, infrastructure, transport services, and chemicals.”
The relationship between the United Kingdom and Texas stretches back to even before the state was annexed and incorporated into the Union. A physical representation of this relationship remains in central London, with the building which housed the Texas Legation diplomatic mission to the British Empire from the Republic of Texas between 1836 and 1845 still standing today — marked with a plaque — in Pickering Place near St James’s Palace.
Commenting on the agreement Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said: “Today’s signature with Texas marks the UK’s eighth US state-level pact, meaning UK firms now have access to states with a combined GDP of £5.3 trillion – equivalent to a quarter of the whole US economy. This shows our US state-level strategy is working and really delivering for British businesses. ”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott said: “As our ninth largest trade partner, the United Kingdom plays a critical role in the Texas economic juggernaut. Strengthening the bond between Texas and the United Kingdom is crucial for our shared economies to prosper.
Belgian Farmers & Ports
Quote:Farmers disrupted traffic around Europe’s second biggest port of Antwerp and two other Belgian harbors Thursday during yet another demonstration to protest against what they say is excessive environmental rulemaking.
Dozens of tractors disrupted morning rush hour traffic to and from the harbor facilities, though they shied away from a full blockade following warnings by port authorities they would hold them legally liable for suffered losses.
Farmers from across the 27-nation European Union have protested against what they see as unnecessary bureaucratic rules, clean-air and soil targets and unfair competition from abroad that, they say, is driving them toward bankruptcy. EU nations and environmentalists have said a thorough revamp of the way the EU farms is necessary to contain climate change and pollution and meet global green targets.
The farmers counter that their sector is unfairly singled out and that more measures should be targeted at industry instead.
Last week, Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers. Last month, f armers clashed with police in Belgium outside EU headquarters in a show of force as the European Union´s agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address the protesters´ concerns.
The tractor protests have had a stunning impact on political decision-making. At national and EU levels, several concessions toward the farmers have already been made, angering environmentalists.
EU & Weapons Database
Quote:A commission drawn from the European Parliament and Council has agreed on the creation of a database to track millions of guns believed to be in civilian hands across the European Union.
Politico reported the upwards of “35 million” firearms are believed to be privately held and tracking those guns is being presented as a way of fighting gang violence and terrorism.
The database follows a 2022 move to switch from paper records in gun stores to electronic records, the latter of which can now be rolled into a centralized list.
Bernd Lange, a member of the parliament’s trade committee, said, “There are still inadequate controls on the import and export of handguns. In Latin America for instance, many illegal activities and shootings use handguns smuggled in from Europe; revising the inadequate rules was more than overdue.”
Gun control moved insidiously in Europe during the 20th century, particularly in Britain.
On September 14, 2014, Breitbart News pointed to a 2009 Daily Mail online report which examined The Firearm Act of 1997–the culminating point of all Britain’s 20th century gun controls–and found violence had exploded following the Act.
In fact, the Daily Mail online described Britain as “the most violent country in Europe.” They noted that Britain’s home figures showed “the UK [had] a worse rate for all types of violence than the U.S. and South Africa.”
ASIA
North Korea
Quote:North Korean state media claimed on Thursday that dictator Kim Jong-un personally drove a new model tank to “stormy cheers of hurrah” during exercises to prepare for a land war, presumably with South Korea.
In Kim’s remarks at the event, which reportedly took place on Wednesday, Kim said that North Korea produced the “most powerful tanks in the world” and “expressed great satisfaction over the fact that the new-type main battle tank successfully demonstrated its very excellent striking power and maneuverability,” according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
“He [Kim] said it is the fact to be proud of that the KPA is equipped with the most powerful tanks in the world,” KCNA asserted. “After reviewing the tank crews, [Kim] mounted a new-type main battle tank, seized the control lever and drove the tank himself, adding to the high militant spirit of the tankmen of our army and deeply instilling firm outlooks on the enemy and war into them.”
“All the officers and men of the tank units raised stormy cheers of hurrah, looking up to the invincible and iron-willed brilliant commander,” KCNA thundered.
KCNA published several photos of Kim allegedly driving a tank, greeting soldiers, and observing military exercises.
The South Korean newspaper Korea JoongAng Daily reported that outside experts believe the tanks in the photos to be “an upgraded version of a similar vehicle displayed for the first time during a military parade in Pyongyang in October 2020 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.”
China Mocks Biden & Trump
Quote:China’s state-run Global Times newspaper predictably observed the occasion of President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump formally cementing the nominations to their respective parties on Wednesday by lamenting that both are “unpopular” candidates and proof that American democracy has “failed to express or address issues of public concern.”
The Chinese government’s media arms regularly use American elections, and especially the hard-fought presidential races, to argue that the American political system is obsolete and repressive, and only totalitarian communism can free the American people.
While the Global Times derided the nominations of Biden and Trump as negative developments for humanity, the Chinese Foreign Policy touted the Communist Party-controlled Chinese legislatures as an example of successful “whole-process people’s democracy” for the world to emulate. The two federal lawmaking bodies, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the advisory Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), act on the orders of genocidal dictator Xi Jinping, do not debate policies, and effectively blindly approve the demands of the Politburo in their annual “two sessions.” The “two sessions” concluded last week.
Following a series of state primaries in 2024 in which both candidates were overwhelmingly dominant, the incumbent president and his predecessor secured enough delegates for the Republican and Democrat national conventions to be nominated this week.
“Our Party is UNITED and STRONG, and fully understands that we are running against the Worst, Most Incompetent, Corrupt, and Destructive President in the History of the United States,” Trump declared in a statement in response to the development.
“Donald Trump is running a campaign of resentment, revenge, and retribution that threatens the very idea of America,” Biden said in his statement about his own nomination, which he shared with reporters via email. “He is glorifying dictators and pledging to become one himself on day one. … Voters now have a choice to make about the future of this country.”
The Global Times, citing pro-regime “observers,” declared Americans “unenthusiastic” about their options and concluded that “the election mechanism and US democracy have become rigid and failed to express or address issues of public concern.” The candidates’ statements, the Chinese propaganda outlet said, “reminded observers of the farcical development of their first matchup in 2020” and lamented the “repeat of the bitter 2020 election.”
Could TikTok be behind this apathy of sorts?
Taiwan & China
Quote:Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen warned the legislature on Monday that China will probably increase its already heavy levels of pressure against the new administration of President-elect Lai Ching-te after his inauguration on May 20.
Director-General Tsai expected China to “push and pull” even harder on every lever of pressure it brought to bear after the election of Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen.
China reviled Tsai as a dangerous “separatist” and waged a harsh diplomatic campaign to peel away Taiwan’s few allies. The Chinese sought to isolate Taiwan from international bodies, meddle in its politics, exhaust its morale with relentless “gray zone” tactics, and intimidate it with threats of invasion.
Taiwan’s security chief warned that all of these tactics would intensify as Lai’s inauguration drew near. He said China is already making a push to “normalize” provocative military drills near Taiwan’s waters and airspace, turning gray zone warfare into a weekly event.
Tsai said:
We found that whenever other countries pass resolutions friendly to Taiwan, or foreign vessels pass through the Taiwan Strait, or when foreign dignitaries visit Taiwan, China will coordinate their existing regular patrols to coincide with these diplomatic events.
On the bright side, Tsai said his agency saw no “risky signal that could catalyze a war” before Lai’s inauguration. He said allied intelligence agencies concurred that despite China’s heightened belligerence before the election and a brief flaring of tensions after two Chinese fishermen died while fleeing the Taiwanese Coast Guard in February, there is no indication that Beijing intends to start a war in the near term.
“After all, stability in the Taiwan Strait is also in [Beijing’s] interest and we have noticed that they have employed certain risk control measures following the incident,” Tsai said, as quoted by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
India & Immigration
Quote:The Indian government on Monday announced its plans to implement a controversial 2019 citizenship law that fast-tracks immigration for non-Muslims from three neighboring Muslim-majority nations.
India’s parliament ratified the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in December 2019, sparking massive and violent protests by Muslims across the country, in addition to stern criticism from civil rights advocates and Indian opposition politicians who denounced the new law as blatantly discriminatory.
At least 31 people were killed during the protests, which continued for months despite a police ban on demonstrations and thousands of arrests. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ultimately backed away from implementing the law, although it remained on the books.
Critics dismissed the CAA as a Hindu nationalist flex by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while advocates insisted the reasoning behind the law was sound and extended fast-track immigration to many groups besides Hindus.
The idea at the heart of the CAA was that religious minorities are not well-treated in the Islamist nations of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan, so non-Muslims from those countries should be given special consideration when they immigrate to India. Muslims living in those countries, on the other hand, cannot claim to be fleeing religious oppression, so they would not be granted fast-track immigration status.
One of the points raised by critics of the CAA is that Muslims of certain denominations are persecuted in majority-Muslim nations, as with Pakistan’s Ahmadis and Myanmar’s Rohingya. The CAA also does not offer citizenship to refugees from non-Muslim nations who have a substantial presence in India, such as the Tamil of Sri Lanka.
MIDDLE EAST
Erdogan The Hypocrite
Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, hoping to broker peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, warned on Tuesday that negotiations will only be possible if NATO avoids antagonizing Russia by expanding its membership and influence.
Erdogan said at a Ramadan dinner with foreign ambassadors in Ankara that he supports Ukraine’s sovereignty, but Russia’s security concerns must be addressed for a ceasefire deal to take shape.
“While putting forth our support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, we have already said that peace plans excluding Russia will not yield any results,” Erdogan said.
“We are working to re-establish navigational safety in the Black Sea and ensure grain trade can be done safely. We believe steps that would exacerbate conflicts in the region, that would spread to NATO as well, must be avoided,” he said.
Erdogan offered to host a peace summit during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday, arguing that Turkey’s good relations with Russia made it better suited to play peacemaker than any other NATO member.
“Since the beginning, we have contributed as much as we could toward ending the war through negotiations. We are also ready to host a peace summit in which Russia will also be included,” he said after meeting with Zelensky on Friday.
Erdogan keeps stressing that Russia must be involved in negotiations because Zelensky has said his country will not directly bargain with Moscow. Instead, he reiterated his ten-point peace plan – really a list of Ukraine’s demands, including the withdrawal of Russian troops and release of all prisoners of war – when he met with Erdogan in Istanbul.
Just a day earlier this report was published online.
Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears to be preparing for another military incursion into the border regions of Syria and Iraq to fight the PKK, a violent Marxist Kurdish separatist group seen by Erdogan’s government as the primary threat to Turkey’s security.
Erdogan said after a cabinet meeting last week that he was preparing a decisive operation against PKK positions in Syria and Iraq.
“Hopefully, this summer, we will have permanently resolved the issue regarding our Iraqi borders. Our will to create a security corridor 30-40 kilometers deep along our Syrian borders remains intact,” Erdogan said.
“We have preparations that will give new nightmares to those who think that they will bring Turkey to its knees with a ‘terroristan’ along its southern borders,” he added.
According to independent Turkish media outlet Duvar, Turkish forces have already crossed the Iraqi border and moved about 30 kilometers inland. Airstrikes against PKK positions in Iraq and Syria have been ongoing since January 12, when nine Turkish soldiers were killed during a PKK raid on a military outpost in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region of Iraq.
This attack, coupled with the killing of 12 Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq three weeks previously, prompted Turkish officials to declare they would “fight to the end” to eradicate the PKK.
Erdogan laid the groundwork for his latest cross-border assault on the PKK by sending envoys to meet with officials from Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as well as the United States and Russia. Erdogan personally met with KRG President Nichirvan Barzani on March 1.
Duvar quoted various sources who said Erdogan is waiting for either the end of the Muslim Ramadan holiday season or local elections on March 31 in Iraq, before pulling the trigger on a major military operation against the PKK. Erdogan has predicted the operation would be complete by the end of the summer.
US Warship & a New Gazan Port
Quote:Four U.S. Army supply ships loaded with tons of equipment and steel pier segments left Virginia on Tuesday heading to Gaza ready to fulfill President Joe Biden’s promise to build a pier linking the war-torn territory to the rest of the world.
AP reports the vessels pulled out of docks at Joint Base Langley-Eustis and headed toward the Atlantic Ocean for what could be a month-long voyage to the Mediterranean Sea.
There, at a yet-to-be-announced location along the Gaza shore, the ships and troops from the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) will build and operate a floating dock courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden used his recent State of the Union address to propose the U.S. military build a new port in Gaza to link it to the world.
This is despite the Israeli government repeatedly pointing out unlimited amounts of aid already enters Gaza; the problem is distribution, especially as Hamas steals much of the aid.
And the White House itself admitted in a briefing that trucking aid in is a more efficient and effective approach. Despite that, the four latest ships follow the General Frank S. Besson which left a base in Virginia and is now on its way to the Eastern Mediterranean also laden with equipment for construction.
The latest Pentagon plan calls for the U.S. military to build what is called a modular causeway system. Offshore, the Army will build a large floating platform where ships can unload large containers of aid, the AP report notes.
Biden Administration's Hypocrisy
Quote:President Joe Biden’s administration slapped more sanctions on Israelis over so-called “extremist settler violence” on Thursday — including on two outposts in the West Bank, marking the first sanctions on Israel relating to a specific area.
The sanctions are a virtual gift to the anti-Israel and antisemitic “boycott, divestment, sanctions” (BDS) movement, at a time when Biden is trying to shore up flagging Arab- and Muslim-American support. The news also came on the same day that the Biden Administration sent senior White House officials to meet with Palestinian-Americans in Chicago.
The sanctions also came a day after the Biden Administration renewed a sanctions waiver on Iran that will allow the regime to gain access to up to $10 billion in assets. The waiver is aimed at encouraging diplomacy, as Iran funds attacks on Israel, as Iranian-backed militias attack U.S. troops elsewhere in the region, and as the Iranian-backed Houthis are continuing their attacks on international shipping and the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea, disrupting the global economy.
The Times of Israel reported:
The US State Department offers information explaining the decision to sanction two Israeli illegal outposts in the West Bank and three extremist settlers.
The two sanctioned outposts are Moshe’s Farm, also known as Tirza Valley outpost, which was established in January 2021; and Zvi’s Farm, near the Halamish settlement.
The three settlers sanctioned are Moshe Sharvit, who runs the former outpost, Zvi Bar Yosef, who runs the latter outpost, and Neriya Ben Pazi, from the Rimonim Farm in the West Bank.
How does anybody support the Ayatollah's Iran, the world's largest sponsor of terrorism?
Israel About to Strike Rafah?
Quote:Israel declined to confirm or deny reports Thursday that the Biden administration had given it a “green light” for limited strikes against Hamas in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, which it had previously opposed.
President Joe Biden has repeatedly warned Israel against operating in Rafah, saying that there were too many civilians there. The White House has insisted Israel prepare a plan for evacuating those civilians before any attack on Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly said that defeating Hamas in Rafah is the key to winning — and ending — the war, because the last four Hamas battalions are stationed there, with Hamas leaders and hostages.
The Israeli government released a plan Wednesday to evacuate civilians to “humanitarian islands” near Rafah, and Politico reported that the Biden Administration had privately told Israel that it could support limited Rafah strikes.
Politico said:
Senior U.S. officials have told their Israeli counterparts the Biden administration would support Israel going after high-value Hamas targets in and underneath Rafah — as long as Israel avoids a large-scale invasion that could fracture the alliance.
...
In private conversations, top administration officials have signaled to Israel that they could support a plan more akin to counterterrorism operations than all-out war, four U.S. officials said. That, the administration officials argue, would minimize civilian casualties, decimate Hamas’ ranks and avoid scenes that have led to souring public opinion on Israel’s campaign and Biden’s handling of the war.
...
For months, the Biden administration has pushed Israel to consider a military plan requiring specialized, more-precise troops to fight roughly 3,000 Hamas militants in Rafah — the same number that Hamas used to attack Israel on Oct. 7. They want to avoid Israeli forces turning the city to rubble and killing many Palestinians [sic] civilians. A large-scale campaign, Biden and his top aides have said publicly, would not be acceptable.
Avy Hyman, from Israel’s National Public Diplomacy Directorate, responded to a question from Breitbart News at a briefing on Thursday, declined to address the Politico article directly: “I’ve seen the reports that you’re referencing. Israel is a sovereign state. Israel needs to eliminate the last four Hamas battalions in Rafah. It’s a matter of time. We will destroy Hamas, we will bring home the hostages, and we will ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to the people of Israel.”
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
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Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE