News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

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Politics

RFK Jr. Says Biden ‘Much Worse Threat to Democracy’ Than Trump

Kennedy made the remark during an appearance on CNN’s Outfront with Erin Burnett, who asked, “A moment ago, you said you essentially see Trump and Biden as the same, different issues, but do you really believe that?”

“When people talk about the threats of democracy that Trump poses, do you really think that is as equal — equal to Biden?” she pressed.

In turn, Kennedy responded by stating, “I can make the argument that President Biden is a much worse threat to democracy,” pointing to the fact that Biden, 81, has weaponized federal agencies, using them to censor his political opponent.

RFK Jr. said:

And the reason for that is President Biden is the first candidate in history, the first president in history that has used the federal agencies to censor political speech, so to censor his opponent. I can say that because I just won a case in the federal Court of Appeals and now before the Supreme Court that shows that he started censoring not just me — 37 hours after he took the oath of office, he was censoring me.

“No president in the country has ever done that,” Kennedy continued, explaining that “the greatest threat to democracy is not somebody who questions election returns, but a president of the United States who uses the power of his office to force the social media companies, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter to open a portal and give access to that portal to the FBI, to the CIA, to the IRS, to CISA, to NIH to censor his political critics.”

“President Biden, the first president in history, used the Secret — his power over the Secret Service to deny Secret Service protection to one of his political opponents for political reasons,” Kennedy continued, concluding that Biden is “weaponizing the federal agencies.”

“Those are really critical threats to democracy,” he added.

But Burnett pressed Kennedy after he did not identify Trump as a bigger threat to democracy — a favorite narrative of the left.

“Donald Trump, of course, tried to overturn a free and fair election. He tried to overturn one, right? He’s still fighting in court,” she said, adding, “How is that not a threat to democracy?”

“Well, I think that is a threat to democracy if he — him overthrowing — trying to overthrow the election clearly is a threat to democracy,” Kennedy said, sticking by his original assessment that Biden is a worse threat to democracy.

He said:

But the question was, who is the worst threat to democracy? And what I would say is, I — I’m not going to answer that question, but I can argue that President Biden is, because the First Amendment, Erin, is the most important. But Adams and Hamilton and Madison said, we put the guarantee of freedom of expression in the First Amendment because all of our other constitutional rights depend on it. … If you have a government that can silence its opponent, it has license for any atrocity.

“So, just to be clear, you’re saying you could make an argument that President Biden is a worse threat to democracy than Donald Trump?” Burnett asked again.

“Absolutely,” Kennedy added, emphasizing that weaponizing federal agencies is abhorrent.

Joe Biden Moves to Slash Medicare Advantage

The Biden administration has finalized its move to slash Medicare Advantage as the 46th president has claimed former President Donald Trump seeks to slash entitlement programs.

The Biden administration on Monday will cut base payments for Medicare Advantage plans by an average of .16 percent despite pressure from Republicans and healthcare experts. This follows Biden making controversial moves in the risk adjusting coding system to allegedly make Medicare Advantage payments more accurate.

Biden’s move would impact more than half of Medicare enrollees, as many American seniors now look to Medicare Advantage for their healthcare needs. American seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage could see their supplemental benefits reduced or cost-sharing increased by $33 a month in 2025, according to experts.

Chris Meekins, an analyst, said, “President Biden’s team is gambling that MA beneficiaries won’t realize before the election the benefits Biden’s team is causing them to lose come January 2025.”

Biden’s move to slash Medicare Advantage comes as Trump told Breitbart News he will never touch Social Security or Medicare. This runs contrary to claims from Biden and Democrats that he would cut entitlement programs.

“I will never do anything that will jeopardize or hurt Social Security or Medicare,” Trump explained. “We’ll have to do it elsewhere. But we’re not going to do anything to hurt them.”

A 2021 Commonwealth Fund study found that 90 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollees were satisfied with their care, which is about the same as traditional Medicare. Research has even shown Medicare Advantage outperforms Medicare on 16 different clinical quality measures.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden once sponsored a bill that would sunset and subsequently review and reauthorize programs such as Social Security and Medicare:

Further, Biden may have forgotten that he sponsored a bill in 1975, when he was a senator from Delaware, that would have sunset and subsequently required review and reauthorization — or not — of federal programs, which reportedly included Social Security and Medicare. This proposal is remarkably similar to Sen. Rick Scott’s (R-FL) original proposal, which Biden has frequently attacked.

“We must… begin reviewing existing programs to determine whether they are still effective, and whether they are worth the money that we are putting in them. We must eliminate the wasteful ones,” Biden said when introducing the 1975 legislation.

Republicans and conservatives are crying foul about Biden’s axing of Medicare Advantage.

DHS Chief Mayorkas Pressed to Answer How Terrorists Were Reportedly Freed into U.S.

In a letter to Mayorkas on Wednesday, Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-TN), as well as Reps. Clay Higgins (R-LA) and August Pfluger (R-TX), who chair subcommittees, asked Mayorkas to provide them with a classified briefing on several reported cases of migrants on the Terrorism Watch List getting released into the nation’s interior.

The congressmen write:

The first case involves a member of the U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization alShabaab. According to a news report, the alien was “caught illegally crossing the southern border near San Ysidro, California on March 13, 2023;” however, he was deemed a “mismatch” and was subsequently released into the interior. Almost one year later, the Terrorist Screening Center “made a redetermination” and confirmed the alien as a terrorist member of al-Shabaab, and then Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) located and arrested him. [Emphasis added]

The second case involves a Pakistani man allegedly on the terrorist watch list who illegally entered the United States but was apprehended by the Border Patrol the following day. Less than two weeks later, the Terrorist Screening Center confirmed his status on the “terror watchlist;” however, ICE eventually released him through the Alternatives to Detention program. [Emphasis added]

In addition to these unanswered requests for information, we are now facing a consistent stream of cases highlighted in the news of aliens allegedly on the terrorist watchlist either being apprehended at the border or discovered in the interior. [Emphasis added]

The congressmen noted Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Christopher Wray’s testimony last month before the Senate Intelligence Committee where he warned he is “very concerned” over the possibility of human smuggling networks to the U.S. with ties to the Islamic State (ISIS).

“The Committee is concerned with DHS’s current practices in processing and releasing known or suspected terrorists encountered at the Southwest border,” the congressmen write.

Mayorkas has been accused of withholding information related to migrants caught crossing the border who matched for suspects on the Terrorist Watch List.

White House Using 4-Part Plan to Overthrow Netanyahu

The report, published by columnist Caroline Glick at the Jewish News Syndicate, cites text messages from activist Ami Dror, which were first reported by Israel’s Channel 14, the equivalent of Fox News in the local Israeli media.

Glick wrote:

Based on what he referred to as a conversation with his contacts in the White House, Dror set out in granular detail the White House’s four-part plan to overthrow the government. The components involved actions on the ground in Gaza; the use of the U.N. Security Council; extortion of government ministers; and mass protests.
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In his words, “Government ministers are receiving messages from ‘American friends’ that they will be accused of war crimes. Under our radar, the U.S. and the E.U. have framed the hunger in northern Gaza as a war crime. This is an excuse for seizing control over the territory from Israel (parachuting food continuously, including by the German military, and building a port), but the words “potential indictment” for all members of the government of destruction is the clincher. How does it work? There are many members of the government that don’t want to lose their physical or economic freedom. The immediate targets are [billionaire Economy Minister Nir] Barkat (by freezing assets and turning the millionaire into a wanted man) [and] the Haredi parties … they and their communities worldwide have many properties. … Ministers in the government will become potential fugitives if they don’t enable the formation of a government without Kahanists. … Don’t be surprised if [Shas party leader Aryeh] Deri and [Agudat Israel head Minister Yitzhak] Goldknopf bring down the government soon. The Hareidi draft is just an excuse—their Hareidi cronies in America don’t want to get in trouble with Uncle Sam.”
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“And the most important thing? Us, and President Biden’s request from us: The American method of dealing with misbehaving states, includes the destruction (economic and legal) that is centered on the leadership on the one hand, and driving a wedge between “the nation,” and “the leadership.” In our case … for this to work—the nation of Israel must show (in the streets!) that it is fighting the leadership. … The American administration needs to see the nation in Israel fighting the government of Israel.”

The text messages were first reported March 17, a few days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called for new elections in Israel to oust Netanyahu, and President Joe Biden endorsed Schumer’s statements. Several days later, the Biden administration took the extraordinary step of allowing a United Nations Security Council resolution to pass that accepted Hamas’s terms — ceasefire first, then hostage releases — and isolated Israel.

Several days before that, Israeli opposition figure Benny Gantz — a main rival to Netanyahu, who currently serves alongside him in an emergency government of national unity — visited the White House. According to Dror, Gantz was supposed to have done more to destabilize the Netanyahu government, and was rebuked by the administration. On Wednesday (April 3), Gantz — who had originally criticized Schumer — reversed himself, calling for new elections.

Gantz appeared to have seized the opportunity for three reasons: one, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza had escalated, with the accidental killing of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen; two, the Netanyahu government faced its first serious internal disagreements over the issue of drafting ultra-Orthodox men into the military; three, a four-day protest was organized by the Israeli left outside Netanyahu’s office (and briefly outside his personal home).

Moreover, U.S. intelligence agencies had also predicted protests to overthrow Netanyahu, just before Gantz’s visit. At the time there were no serious antigovernment protests; the country was focused on war, and on the hostages in Gaza.

What looks like a “color revolution” in Israel — the second such attempt, after the Biden administration’s involvement in last year’s divisive protests over judicial reform — appears to have been in the works for several weeks. One of the early signs — matching Dror’s predictions — was Vice President Kamala Harris’s attempt to distinguish between the Israeli government and the Israeli people.

Meanwhile, Israel faces Iranian-backed terrorists on all four of its borders.

Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden Defeated in Attempt to Throw Out Tax Case

Hunter Biden’s attempt to have all his tax charges thrown out was defeated Monday, letting the criminal case against him move forward.

A federal judge in California decided against the younger Biden, The Hill reports.

The decision confirms Biden faces three felony charges and six misdemeanor charges in connection to tax evasion, filing a false return and failing to pay taxes between 2016 and 2019.

Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

His attorneys argued last month the case was politically motivated and tainted by two IRS agents who later became whistleblowers, as Breitbart News reported.

The president’s son filed eight separate motions to dismiss the charges, citing different legal rationale for each including immunity claimed from a previous plea deal he had negotiated, all of which were denied.

U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi determined the case was not political, sidelining Biden’s main argument by noting Biden’s attorneys did not provide evidence for the claim.

“The motion is remarkable in that it fails to include a single declaration, exhibit, or request for judicial notice,” he wrote. “Instead, Defendant cites portions of various Internet news sources, social media posts, and legal blogs. These citations, however, are not evidence.”

Scarsi added the sources, mostly media reports about the case, “contain multiple levels of hearsay.”

The Hill report sets out the judge similarly threw out Biden’s claim of selective and vindictive prosecution.

Trump & Jack Smith

Jack Smith: Order in Donald Trump documents case based on ‘flawed’ premise

Special prosecutor Jack Smith says the judge in the classified documents case against Donald Trump has issued an order that would distort the trial.

Smith told U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in a court filing Tuesday that her order for the prosecution and defense to propose jury instructions is based on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”

The premise Smith is referring to is an interpretation of the Presidential Records Act argued by Trump’s defense. The former president’s attorneys argued that he had the authority to take and keep classified documents after he left the White House. Cannon ordered the prosecution and defense to offer proposals based on the concept that Trump’s argument is valid.

“That legal premise is wrong, and a jury instruction for Section 793 that reflects that premise would distort the trial,” Smith writes. “The PRA’s distinction between personal and presidential records has no bearing on whether a former president’s possession of documents containing national defense information is authorized under the Espionage Act, and the PRA should play no role in the jury instructions on the elements of Section 793.”

Smith argues that the Presidential Records Act does not apply because the charges against Trump relate to actions taken after he was president.

Smith also expresses concern that Cannon may wait to make a decision after jeopardy attaches. If she determines at that point that Trump is allowed to possess the documents in question, the case would end and the government would not have the ability to appeal. It would also not be allowed to try Trump again due to double jeopardy.

“Whatever the court decides, it must resolve these crucial threshold legal questions promptly,” Smith says. “The failure to do so would improperly jeopardize the government’s right to a fair trial and deprive it of its right to seek appellate review.”

Two scenarios are meant to be under consideration under Cannon’s order.

The first is that the Espionage Act allows a former president to possess any document that a jury determines is a personal record, as defined by the Presidential Records Act. Jurors would be instructed to make those determinations.

The second is that a president can remove any document from the White House when he leaves office, and that those records are his personal records. This would effectively end the prosecution if adopted. Smith says the prosecution should be entitled to a prompt review in the court of appeals in that case.

Baltimore

First Vessel Transits New Temporary Route Into Baltimore Harbour

A temporary channel has been marked with buoys to allow a small amount of priority traffic to go in and out of Baltimore, the first step in a “phased” effort to reopen the port, Maryland’s governor said.

The deep shipping channel, dredged and maintained at a depth of 45 feet to allow the largest ships — including the Evergreen A-class container carriers which have a carrying capacity over double that of the MV Dali, which brought down the bridge last week — will remain blocked for weeks yet, but a small secondary channel has been opened. The temporary undredged route goes underneath the first standing span of the destroyed bridge over the Patapsco, giving it limited clearance and is only 11 feet deep.

Buoys mark out the new channel for safety, but the narrow, shallow space means the amount of traffic able to use it will be very limited, and likely confined mainly to the barges and tugs being used to clear the main part of the bridge to get the port open again. It is certainly not large enough for any container ship to pass.

Speaking on Monday Maryland governor Wes Moore said a second temporary channel was planned to the south of the disaster site which would have a slightly deeper draft at 15 feet to open “in the coming days”. Regardless, the area is crowded with obstructions and limited by air draft and is still far removed from a full re-opening. This is all part of the “phased” reopening of the Port, he said.

Moore told the public:

A temporary channel on the north east side of the collapse opened earlier today and it will help us to get more vessels in the water around the site of the collapse. The temporary channel will be marked with government lights to aid navigation, and will have a controlling depth of 11 feet. Now, we are also moving forward on creating a south-west channel for deeper draft vessels that will allow for a deeper draw. That channel will measure about 15 feet deep and will be open in the coming days.

Coast Guard Rear Admiral Gilreath also spoke of this progress, saying while he was proud of the new temporary route under the bridge’s remaining part to the north, getting the deep water channel in the centre remains his first priority. He said: “what we are finding, is it is more complicated than we hoped for initially… conditions on the diving, it is very complicated down below… more challenged than we hoped it might be.” RAdm. Gilreath said more cranes were being brought up to clear the water and the first lift of steel debris had taken place, and another was to follow Monday afternoon.

CANADA

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Trudeau on Immigration

Trudeau to Canadians: My Migration Policy Cuts Your Wages

“Increasingly, more and more businesses are relying on temporary foreign workers in a way that is driving down wages in some sectors,” Trudeau told reporters on April 2 as he announced plans to slightly reduce his mass migration that has imposed much poverty and chaotic diversity on Canadians.

He continued:

So we want to get those numbers down. It’s a responsible approach to immigration that conntinues on our permanent [immigration] residents as we have, but holds the line a little more on the temporary immigration that has caused so much pressure in our communities.

The partial reversal comes as his polling numbers crash because he has been importing roughly one million people per year — or roughly three migrants for every Canadian birth.  That massive inflow is roughly twice the per-person inflow engineered by President Joe Biden and his pro-migration deputies.

His flood of migrants is boosting the country’s stock market as it suppresses wages, spikes inflation, makes homes unaffordable, deters marriages and births, creates homeless encampments, and also fuels civil strife.

The civic damage is so great that Canada’s version of the FBI — the Royal Canadian Mounted Police — is warning of a coming economic and civic collapse:

The coming period of recession will also accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations. For example, many Canadians under 35 are unlikely ever to be able to buy a place to live.  The fallout from this decline in living standards will be exacerbated by the fact that the difference between the extremes of wealth is greater now in developed countries than it has been in any time in several generations.

Trudeau tried to shift the blame for his policy catastrophe to the subset of migrants — mostly Indians — who rationally use his “temporary” border loopholes to move into Canada.

At least barefaced Trudeau admits it's his fault.  I don't think Biden ever will.

LATIN AMERICA

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Haiti

United Nations: More Than 53,000 Flee Capital of Haiti in Three Weeks

More than 53,000 people have fled Port-au-Prince, Haiti, from March 8 to 27, 2024, as a result of rampant gang violence escalating following Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s trip to Kenya, the United Nations revealed Tuesday.

Armed gangs led by boss Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier have been trying to forcefully take control of the country since February, leading thousands to seek refuge in neighboring areas, including Haiti’s rural southern region, which is still devastated from the 2021 earthquake.

“The International Organization for Migration tells us that between 8 and 27 March, more than 53,000 men, women and children left Port-au-Prince,” U.N. Spokesman for the Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said during a Tuesday press briefing. “The majority of them are heading towards the Grand Sud departments.”

“Our humanitarian colleagues emphasized that these departments do not have the sufficient infrastructure and host communities do not have sufficient resources to cope with the large number of people fleeing Port-au-Prince,” he continued.

The armed gangs control large swathes of Port-au-Prince, including its main port and many of the city’s access roads. The gangs have vandalized or outright destroyed several of the nation’s hospitals and pharmacies.

The gangs have also taken control of the State University of Haiti Hospital (HUEH) in Port-au-Prince, turning it into a “fortress” for their continued war against Haiti’s national police forces, one of the last functional institutions left in the country.

The gangs used the seized hospital’s facilities to stage a new attack on the National Palace on Monday. At least one policeman was reported shot while fleeing an armored car alongside other officers after gang members set it on fire with them inside. The National Palace and the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince have remained under police protection since the start of the wave of violence in February.

American Pastor on Nicaragua

U.S. Pastor Persecuted by Nicaragua Urges America to ‘Continue Applying Pressure’ to Dictators

“Our nation has to stand for what it believes – that all men are created by God and have the right to freely worship Him,” Pastor Jon Britton Hancock told Breitbart News on Tuesday, urging the U.S. government to help his Evangelical organization, Mountain Gateway, after communist Nicaragua arrested its pastors on vague charges.

Mountain Gateway is currently locked in a legal battle with the regime of dictator Daniel Ortega and his wife, “vice president” Rosario Murillo, after a court convicted 11 of its pastors on charges of “aggravated money laundering.” Hancock has maintained repeatedly that his organization has not engaged in any illicit financial behavior, that the Nicaraguan government has access to all of the organization’s financial records, and that mounting a legal defense in the case has been impossible because the regime will not detail exactly what the charges are.

The persecution of Mountain Gateway followed years of increasingly repressive measures against the majority Christian population of the country. Following the wave of anti-communist protests in 2018, Ortega accused the Catholic Church, which offered sanctuary to peaceful dissidents, of attempting to politically destabilize the country, and has since engaged in mass arrests and deportations of priests and bishops, in addition to Catholic laymen. Ortega has exiled 97 clergyman so far, including two bishops, and declared the Vatican a terrorist organization.

The persecution expanded to Evangelicals in late 2023.

Hancock said he has been moved by the support Mountain Gateway has received from Congress and other sectors of the U.S. government, stating, “God is stirring their hearts for our people, and they are responding with action. I’m continually blown away at how God is connecting me with the right people.” He added, however, that the pressure on the Nicaraguan government and advocacy by the American government around the world for religious freedom must continue, as religious freedom is a core value of the country and a “basic human right.”

Hancock and wife Audrey founded Mountain Gateway in 2009 and moved its activities to Nicaragua about a decade ago, citing a calling from God to serve the country. The organization was active in Nicaragua for a decade by the time the Sandinista Marxist regime of dictator Daniel Ortega targeted it for destruction. For most of its time in the country, Mountain Gateway focused on humanitarian aid, from helping educate farmers in remote regions on the value of their crops to emergency response actions to help survivors of hurricanes and other natural disasters.

Venezuela & Tren de Aragua

Venezuela Using Brutal Tren de Aragua Gang to Hunt Down Dissidents Abroad

Venezuela’s socialist regime is using the Marxist National Liberation Army (ELN) terrorist organization and the Tren de Aragua transnational criminal organization to persecute Venezuelan dissidents abroad, according to a report published by Colombia’s Caracol Televisión on Sunday.

Caracol based its report on alleged secret documents obtained by the broadcaster – including documents from the United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the Pentagon branch operating in Latin America — and testimonies that accuse the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro, through the Venezuelan General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM), of carrying out illegal operations in Colombian and Chilean territory with the assistance of ELN and Tren de Aragua members.

Caracol claimed the documents showed that DGCIM has been acting in Colombia “for years” in alliance with ELN and other criminal groups to access national security secrets and persecute opponents of the socialist regime.

Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Granko, the head of DGCIM’s special affairs unit, is described as the “brain” of the regime’s illegal operations on foreign soil. America sanctioned Granko, also known as “Black Hand” and “The Man of a Thousand Faces,” alongside three other DGCIM leaders in 2019 during the administration of former President Donald Trump for systemic human rights abuses and the repression of dissent in Venezuela.

In 2022, the United Nations Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela identified DGCIM as one of the repressive agencies that the Maduro regime uses to carry out crimes against humanity against dissidents, including the use of extreme acts of torture, sexual violence, and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatments to punish them for disagreeing with the government.

Attempts to silence opponents of socialism abroad are part of the regime’s plans to dismantle purported conspiracies to overthrow Maduro. The Colombian news channel identified three dissidents targeted in Colombia and Chile.

The three dissidents in question met in Cúcuta, Colombia, on December 13, 2023, allegedly to discuss how to overthrow Maduro with ideas that were more “quixotic” than real, and reportedly not armed. The group was reportedly unaware that the regime knew of their intentions.

Keep in mind that this Tren of Aragua, tren stands for train, has already reached NYC...

Milei & China

Javier Milei Mulls Formal Inspection of Secret Chinese ‘Space Station’ in Argentina

Argentina is considering a formal inspection of a Chinese “space station” on Argentine territory built during a previous socialist presidency, the government confirmed on Tuesday.

The Chinese base, located 18 miles from the village of Bajada del Agrio in the southwestern province of Neuquén, was built as part of an agreement signed between China and the administration of socialist former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2014. The base, which operates under total secrecy, completed construction in 2017 during the administration of center-right former President Mauricio Macri.

The base features a 16-story antenna and covers a 200-hectare area controlled by China via a 50-year lease. The base is manned by personnel from China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), a group that ultimately answers to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force.

China maintains complete secrecy over the base’s operations and does not offer the Argentine government any oversight. The Fernández de Kirchner agreement provides that Argentine authorities “cannot interfere” with its activities. The Chinese Communist Party claims the station is used for “peaceful space observation and exploration.”

A report published by the Pentagon in 2019 warned that China could use the base to monitor and potentially target American and allied satellites.

A source from the Argentine presidential office told the news outlet Infobae on Tuesday that President Javier Milei is considering issuing an inspection request to the secretive Chinese base. The source said the intention is to “analyze if there is something strange with the base in Neuquén,” noting that “contracts can be reviewed.”

ASIA

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Taiwan

Taiwan: 9 Dead, 50 Missing, over 800 Injured, Dozens Trapped in Tunnels After Massive Quake

Taiwan was hit by its strongest earthquake in 25 years during rush hour on Wednesday, with nine dead, 50 missing, and over 800 injuries reported.

The quake triggered landslides in mountainous regions and caused buildings and tunnels to collapse, trapping 137 people in cars, buses, and tunnels. 87,000 homes are reportedly without power.

Taiwanese officials said the quake was magnitude 7.2, while the U.S. Geological Survey recorded 7.4 and Japanese seismologists reported an even stronger reading of 7.7. The epicenter of the earthquake was located roughly 11 miles from the city of Hualien, which suffered a magnitude 7.3 earthquake in September 1999.

Taiwanese seismologists said the 1999 quake unleashed more destructive energy, and struck an area where more buildings were in danger of collapse, but Wednesday’s quake came close to its intensity. Both quakes were strong enough to not only knock people off their feet, but actually fling them into the air.

Lower intensity quake effects were felt in other major cities, including the capital of Taipei, where damage was reported to the building that houses the national legislature.

Seismologists warned dangerous aftershocks are possible over the next three to four days.

Transportation Minister Wang Kwo-tsai said on Wednesday morning that the transportation system in eastern Taiwan was paralyzed by the earthquake, including both road and rail traffic. He anticipated it would be several days before rail services could be restored.

Wang said his ministry is establishing maritime transportation along the mountainous eastern coast, plus extra passenger flights to the area. He cautioned that landing capacity at Hualien regional airports was limited, and airlines were already dealing with high travel demand for the annual Tomb Sweeping Festival holiday, which runs from April 4-7 this year.

Eyewitnesses in the earthquake region reported seeing landslides and huge clouds of dust in the mountains, while buildings partially collapsed or were tilted at strange angles in Hualien.

Japan & UNRWA

Japan Resumes Funding to Hamas-Linked UNRWA After October 7 Pause

The Japanese government said on Tuesday it will lift its suspension of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)

Japan, like many other donors, suspended funding in January after evidence surfaced that UNRWA staff participated in the savage October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.

Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko announced the resumption of funding after meeting with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini in Tokyo.

Kamikawa did not address the allegations of terrorism against UNRWA employees directly but implied that the urgency of providing humanitarian relief to Gaza was too great to continue withholding funds.

“Japan will lift the moratorium on its financial contributions to UNRWA and provide assistance while ensuring and confirming the appropriateness of Japan’s funds,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

“The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza continues to worsen. It is our country’s responsibility to respond to the crisis as a member of the U.N. Security Council,” she said, describing UNRWA’s work as “indispensable.”

INTERNATIONAL

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WHO

‘Utter Disgrace’ — W.H.O. Chief Slammed over ‘Abhorrent’ Gaza Hospital Post Ignoring Hamas’ Terror HQ Within

The United Nations World Health Organization (W.H.O.) chief is facing backlash after publishing an “abhorrent” post effectively blaming Israel for turning Gaza’s Shifa hospital into a “battlefield,” while ignoring Hamas’s takeover of the facility and use of it as a terror base — the very reason for Israel’s operating there.

Following attacks from the hospital, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spent roughly two weeks neutralizing approximately 200 terrorists and detaining around 500 at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, remarkably managing to do so without civilian casualties or endangering any medical staff or patients.

On Sunday, the IDF released photographic evidence of an extensive arsenal hidden within the hospital’s maternity ward, amidst their ongoing anti-terror operations.

The IDF had previously evacuated the hospital in November, uncovering numerous terror tunnels. However, terrorists reoccupied and resumed operations from the medical facility, blatantly contravening international humanitarian norms.

On Monday, W.H.O. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus shared an image of Shifa’s damaged complex, remarking that “hospitals must be respected and protected; they must not be used as battlefields.”

In response, many took to social media to call out the public health official for having chosen to “cover for terrorists.”

“The World Health Organization couldn’t find evidence of COVID origins in Wuhan and can’t find evidence of Hamas at Shifa,” wrote Senate Republican Policy Committee Chair Joni Ernst (R-IA), co-chair of the Abraham Accords Caucus and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

“Who needs WHO?” she added.

Former Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy noted that when hospitals are “abused for military purposes, like Hamas did using Shifa as a stronghold,” they cannot “give terrorists immunity.”

“The hospital was full of Hamas terrorists and weapons and they were shooting from inside the complex,” wrote former Trump administration U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman. “There was no ‘Israeli siege,’ just a very effective and humane Israeli anti-terror operation.”

“You had zero credibility before this statement and your record remains intact,” he added.