News of the World

[kyonides]

EUROPE

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Protests in Paris & More

Blockade of Paris Announced as Farmers Reject Government’s ‘Concessions’

After a week of shutting down motorways across the country, forcing politicians of all stripes to come to meet them on their turf, the farmer uprising is set to descend upon the French capital as they were unimpressed by the compromises proposed by newly-installed Prime Minister Gabriel Attall.

With their demands not being met, farmers have decided to ramp up the pressure on the metropolitan liberal elites who vote for green agenda policies without feeling the consequences and allowing the rural population to suffer.

What is being dubbed as the “siege of Paris”, farmers are planning on shutting down at least seven critical entry points to the city and have hinted at enacting a blockade of the Rungis Market, the second largest wholesale food market in the world which serves as the main hub for food deliveries into Paris.

“The idea is that there are no trucks that can serve the capital, to ensure that no product enters Paris, to make Parisians understand that they need farmers to live. I say to our friends in the capital region: it’s going to be a long week,” the head of the Young Farmers Union Maxime Buizard said per Le Figaro.

France’s interior ministry said it will deploy a large number of security forces around Paris.

Climate Activists Hurl Soup at Mona Lisa Painting in Paris’ Louvre Museum

In the latest assault on famed pieces of art for the purpose of a political stunt, two members of the “Riposte Alimentaire” (Food Response) managed to sneak cans of butternut squash soup into the Louvre Museum in Paris and hurled them onto the most famous painting in the world.

Fortunately, the Mona Lisa painting was covered with armoured glass, and therefore was apparently not damaged by the political stunt.

The green activists said that their actions were meant to “kick-off a campaign of civil resistance, which carries a clear demand, beneficial to all: social security for sustainable food.”

“What’s more important?” Art or the right to healthy and sustainable food? Our agricultural system is sick! The farmers are sick,” a woman shouted after throwing the soup at the Mona Lisa according to Le Parisien.

Following the incident, the museum was evacuated and a cleaning crew was dispatched to the Salle des Estates room in which the painting is housed.

The famed painting from da Vinci has been forced to be behind protective glass since 2005 after previous attempts at vandalism.

Germany Green Party Foreign Minister Once Again Stranded by Government Executive Jet Failures

Germany’s Air Force One equivalent has again let the government down, with one aircraft suffering an engine failure and another forced to divert because Eritrea wouldn’t permit it to use its airspace, stranding the Foreign Minister in Saudi Arabia.

Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a Green party politician, is due to make a three-day tour of diplomatic visits to East Africa, but her attempt to travel was once again interrupted by a series of failures and mishaps with her government-operated executive flights.

Attempting to fly on Wednesday, her first aircraft, a government executive flight white-painted Airbus A319 has to be cancelled as it developed an engine failure, reports Die Welt. Baerbock flew on a militarised Airbus A321LR painted in the military grey of the Luftwaffe, but even this second aircraft was destined to not reach its destination as hoped.

Baerbock’s flight to Djibouti necessitated transiting Eritrean airspace, and the captain of the German executive flight carrying the Green party politician aboard was unable to get permission from their air traffic control to enter. Remarkably, even calls directly to the Eritrean government to get the permission signed off failed, as a power cut in Djibouti meant the nation’s Foreign Ministry was unable to receive communications.

Counter-Terror Police Hunt Vigilante Group Cutting Down and Blowing Up Speed Cameras

London is not the only city where vigilantes are destroying traffic cameras, as Italian counter-terror police have been deployed to catch the people behind the destruction of cameras in the north of the country.

A team of counter-terrorism and anti-mafia police officers are working to track down the people destroying speed cameras in several Italian areas, with cameras sawn down, shot out, and even exploded. The elite police squad finally got their first hit this week, reports Il Giornale, which reports security cameras at the scene of one strike against the traffic cameras caught a man in the act, allowing him to be identified and later arrested.

Calling themselves ‘Fleximan’, a play on words on the Italian name for a popular brand of battery-powered angle-grinder, this particular individual was caught after two months but police understand there were more perpetrators on the loose, all using the same name.

Remarkably, in some Italian areas, the Fleximan appears to be winning. AFP reported this week that while some mayors decry the vigilantes as dangerous menaces, in others there is tacit support for their actions from local governors. The wires service states Marco Schiesaro, mayor of Cadoneghe in Veneto said after cameras were vandalised in his town that he was “already unconvinced” they were a good idea and simply decided not to replace them.

A report in The Times of London notes one Fleximan has been leaving notes, taunting police. On Monday, one left on a downed camera read “The Fleximan is coming.”

Two Teenage Boys Killed in Group Stabbing Attack in Bristol

Two teenage boys were killed after suffering stab wounds in Britsol, England after being descended upon by a group of attackers who fled the scene together in a car.

In the late hours of Saturday evening, two teenagers were attacked in a group stabbing on Ilminster Avenue in the Knowle West neighbourhood in the South Western English city of Bristol. A group of suspected attackers reportedly fled the scene in a car following the stabbing, which took place around 11:15 pm.

Paramedics arrived on the scene shortly after the attack and the two boys, aged 15 and 16, were rushed to hospital, however, both sadly died in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Bristol Post reports.

Police have so far arrested two suspects, a 44-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy, both of whom remain in police custody. Officers also said that they seized a car during the arrest. At the time of this reporting, the police have yet to identify the two victims or the two suspects.
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“The victims sustained stab wounds and were taken to two hospitals – Southmead Hospital and Bristol Royal Hospital for Children – by ambulance, where they sadly died in the early hours of this morning (Sunday, January 28).”

Daily Telegraph: U.S. Planning to Deploy Nuclear Weapons to Britain Amid Growing Tensions with Russia

In the midst of increasing warnings about the potential of a hot war between NATO and Russia, plans are reportedly being made to upgrade the Lakenheath Royal Air Force base in Suffolk to store American nuclear weapons.

U.S. Department of Defense documents seen by the Daily Telegraph broadsheet in Britain reportedly laid out plans for a “nuclear mission” to proceed “imminently” at the base where American nuclear warheads were previously held during the Cold War but removed in 2008 as the Russian threat diminished.

The procurement documents are said by the newspaper to show that the Pentagon has ordered new equipment for the British base, including ballistic shields to protect “high-value assets”. They also reportedly showed that the Defense Department is planning to begin constructing a facility in June to house American military personal who will work on the base.

According to the report, RAF Lakenheath is set to house American B61-12 gravity bombs, which have a blast yield of 50 kilotons or over three times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima during the Second World War.

The reported decision to deploy nuclear weapons to Europe comes amid increasing tensions between the West and Russia. This week, Britain’s top military commander Chief of the General Staff General Sir Patrick Sanders said that the UK needs to make “preparatory steps to enable placing our societies on a war footing” and that given the UK’s diminished military capabilities, it may be necessary to field a “citizen army” to wage war with Russia.

The top general went on to say that the time has come to “think the unthinkable” and “look carefully at conscription”. Downing Street rejected the notion, saying that the British Army would remain a voluntary service.

Earlier this month, Estonia — which shares a land border with Russia — warned that NATO only has “three to five years” to prepare for a Russian attack. Sweden, which is likely to join the NATO alliance this year, has also warned its population to ready itself for war.

UKRAINE

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Corruption & Plane Crash

Ukrainian Defence Officials Charged With Stealing $40 Million From Weapons Budget

The SBU said late Saturday that five people have been charged, with one person detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. If found guilty, they face up to 12 years in prison.

The investigation comes as Kyiv attempts to clamp down on corruption in a bid to speed up its membership in the European Union and NATO. Officials from both blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms before Kyiv can join them.

...Both the president and his aides have portrayed the recent firings of top officials, notably that of Ivan Bakanov, former head of the State Security Service, in July 2022, as proof of their efforts to crack down on graft.

Security officials say that the current investigation dates back to August 2022, when officials signed a contract for artillery shells worth 1.5 billion hryvnias ($39.6 million) with arms firm Lviv Arsenal.

After receiving payment, company employees were supposed to transfer the funds to a business registered abroad, which would then deliver the ammunition to Ukraine.

However, the goods were never delivered and the money was instead sent to various accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators said. Ukraine’s prosecutor general says that the funds have since been seized and will be returned to the country’s defense budget.

Ukraine Claims No Evidence It Shot Down Plane Carrying Own Prisoners of War

Officials in Ukraine said Russia has provided no credible evidence to back its claims that their own forces shot down a military transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners of war who were to be swapped for Russian POWs.

The Ukrainian agency that deals with prisoner exchanges said late Friday that Russian officials had “with great delay” provided it with a list of the 65 Ukrainians who Moscow said had died in the Wednesday plane crash in Russia’s Belgorod region.

Ukraine’s Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War said relatives of the named POWs were unable to identify their loved ones in crash site photos provided by Russian authorities. The agency’s update cited Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, as saying that Kyiv had no verifiable information about who was on the plane.

The Russian Defense Ministry said Wednesday that missiles fired from across the border brought down the transport plane that it said was taking the POWs back to Ukraine. Local authorities in Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, said the crash killed all 74 people onboard, including six crew members and three Russian servicemen.

“We currently don’t have evidence that there could have been that many people onboard the aircraft. Russian propaganda’s claim that the IL-76 aircraft was transporting 65 Ukrainian POWs (heading) for a prisoner swap continues to raise a lot of questions,” Budanov, who heads Ukraine’s POW agency, said.

Social media users in the Belgorod region posted a video Wednesday that showed a plane falling from the sky in a snowy, rural area, and a huge ball of fire erupting where it apparently hit the ground.

MIDDLE EAST

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Turkey & Iran

Two Masked Attackers Kill Man During Assault on Catholic Church in Istanbul

Two masked assailants attacked a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during Sunday services, killing one person, Turkish officials said.

According to a statement posted on X by Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, the armed assailants attacked the Santa Maria Church in the Sariyer district at 11:40 a.m. local time. He did not specify what kind of weapons were used or whether anyone else was wounded.

Yerlikaya condemned the attack and said authorities are working on capturing the assailants. An investigation has been opened.

Speaking to reporters, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu offered his condolences and support for religious minorities in the city, which like Turkey as a whole is primarily Muslim.

“There are no minorities in this city or this country. We are all actual citizens,” he said.

In remarks to the public in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, Pope Francis noted the attack. “I express my closeness to the community of (the church) in Istanbul, which during the Mass suffered an armed attack with one dead and some wounded,” the pontiff said.

Iran’s President Demands Reforms to Make U.N. More Anti-Israel

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi dismissed the United Nations as an irrelevant and unhelpful organization in remarks alongside Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, demanding “reform” to make the U.N. more favorable to Tehran’s pro-jihadist ideology.

Raisi, in Ankara to sign a package of bilateral trade and diplomacy deals, railed that the United Nations had not done enough to prevent Israel from protecting itself from the Iran-funded Sunni terrorist organization Hamas and called support for Hamas and Palestinian terrorism “the top issue of humanity,” according to the Iranian state propaganda outlet PressTV.
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Iran has funded Hamas and a fellow jihadist organization in the region, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars; a Hamas official told the BBC on the record that Iran offered “direct backing” for the October 7 attack on that day.

“The United Nations has lost its effectiveness in this matter and has gone to the sidelines,” Raisi lamented on Wednesday. PressTV reported that Raisi “called for the reform of the United Nations and other global bodies, lamenting that they have failed to prevent the Israeli genocide in Gaza.” Iran falsely refers to the Israeli counter-operation as “genocide.”

“Those who claim to defend human rights and whose mission is to defend global peace and security have been on the sidelines and are no longer effective,” PressTV quoted Raisi as saying, adding that he declared “the Palestinian issue the top issue of humanity.”

“The Iranian president said international organizations have failed the test of Gaza and showed they’re no longer effective,” the PressTV report continued. “He said the world should move toward forming new mechanisms to deal with threats to international peace and security.”

Erdogan did not similarly condemn the United Nations in the joint conference, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, though the Turkish strongman has often called for the complete dismantling of the current U.N. system. Erdogan spearheaded efforts to get the U.N. to adopt an international day against “Islamophobia” and has, for years, led a campaign called “the world is bigger than five,” demanding an end to the permanent seat system at the U.N. Security Council.

GAZA'S UNRWA

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The Latest Controversy

UK, Italy, Canada, Australia, and Finland Halt U.N. Agency Funds over Alleged Involvement in October 7th Terror Attacks on Israel

The United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, Canada, and Australia have all announced that they will suspend funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) over allegations that staff actively participated in the October 7th Hamas terror attacks on Israel.

On Friday, UNWRA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini that his agency has fired several staff members after receiving Israeli intelligence claiming that at least 12 UNWRA staff members participated in the Hamas terror attacks on Israel that saw the Palestinian Islamists butcher around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnap over 250 more, some of whom remain in captivity to this day.

Following the revelations from Lazzarini, the Biden administration announced that it would suspend its funding towards the organisation.

In 2018, former President Donald Trump cut off funding entirely to the agency — which operates in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria — over evidence suggesting that schools run by UNRWA were indoctrinating Palestinian schoolchildren with anti-Jewish propaganda and staff members supporting terrorism.  Yet, Biden’s White House reversed this decision and sent upwards of $700 million to the agency before suspending money on Friday.

On Saturday, several other Western nations announced that they would also halt funding to the U.N. agency.  The British Foreign Office said in a statement per the BBC: “The UK is appalled by allegations that UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned.

“The UK is temporarily pausing any future funding of UNWRA whilst we review these concerning allegations.”

U.N. Chief Guterres Cries Poor: Implores World to Keep Funding UNRWA

Keep sending money. That was the urgent call Saturday from U.N. Secretary Secretary-General Antonio Guterres as he implored the world not to stop funding the embattled National Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) — the special refugee agency for Palestinians — after staff members were shown to have been part of the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.

The veteran Portuguese socialist promised anyone caught having been involved in the attack would be sternly dealt with, but in the interim seeks no halt to the flow of money from countries that donate to UNRWA coffers, the Times of Israel reports.

“Any U.N. employee involved in acts of terror will be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution,” the U.N. chief promised in a statement. “The Secretariat is ready to cooperate with a competent authority able to prosecute the individuals in line with the Secretariat’s normal procedures for such cooperation.”

Guterres then called on the nations which have suspended funding to go back on their decisions even as it continues to be challenged over the veracity of its claims on the ongoing troubles in Gaza.

“While I understand their concerns – I was myself horrified by these accusations – I strongly appeal to the governments that have suspended their contributions to, at least, guarantee the continuity of UNRWA’s operations,” Guterres added.