News of the World
USA
I wonder if that could be true only because his lackeys already knew what they were expected to do with Navalny.
As you can see, those "demonstrators" didn't care about the consequences of their misbehavior. The
police had to kick them out.
CANADA
EUROPE
Immigrants Should Work for US Navy!?
Quote:President Joe Biden’s Navy secretary wants to import skilled blue-collar migrants to build the U.S. Navy ships that protect Americans and their job opportunities.
“What we’ve got to do is open up the spigot a bit, basically, on legal immigration to allow blue-collar workers to come here … so they can actually work in our shipyards and be employed by the types of trades that are open to shipyard workers,” Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro told a meeting in Arlington Va.
Del Toro’s call for migrant shipbuilders comes amid a shipbuilding crisis where many U.S. warships are being delivered far behind schedule, sometimes with deep flaws, Forbes reported in 2021 that the United States:
builds less than 10 vessels for oceangoing commerce in a typical year. China builds over a thousand such ships each year. The entire U.S.-registered fleet of oceangoing commercial ships numbers fewer than 200 vessels, out of a global total of 44,000.
However, the administration’s support for mass migration reduces the pressure on state governments and companies to train the next generation of Americans for skilled jobs.
The government’s inflow of cheap migrants also provides CEOs and investors with an easy excuse to avoid the difficult task of raising per-person productivity. Boosting productivity usually requires executives to manage a painful mix of training, automation, reorganization, risk, and innovation.
The Navy is now spending more than $15 billion to upgrade productivity at the shipyards, the U.S. Naval Institute reported in February:
Unfortunately, GAO noted in the 2022 report, “While the condition of the shipyards’ facilities generally improved, they are still among the lowest scored depot facilities across DoD. All shipyards have an average facility condition that is in the ‘Poor’ category.”
Del Toro did say the Navy would “devote an enormous amount of resources into re-training [American] individuals so they can actually work in our shipyards and be employed by the types of trades that are open to shipyard workers, for example.”
That could be good news for Americans and their children. Amid Biden’s mass migration of roughly 10 million people, several million American men have fallen out of the economy, including because of addictions, and many millions more are sidelined in low-wage jobs that shrivel hopes for homeownership, marriage, and families.
But migration is a top priority for Biden’s administration. “President Biden continues to do everything possible in his authority to create more legal pathways [for migrants] to citizenship,” Fabiola Rodriguez, deputy Hispanic media director for the Biden campaign, told TheHill.com on April 25.
Many business groups are also eager to import more migrants for low-wage jobs that would otherwise go to Americans at higher wages. For example, business groups have persuaded many state legislatures to allow illegal migrants to get licenses for skilled jobs, such as plumbers, therapists, electricians, and ironworkers.
U.S. politicians and national security activists have repeatedly called for migrants to fill recruiting shortfalls...
Putin Didn't Kill Navalny!?
Quote:U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny in February, according to an official familiar with the determination.
While U.S. officials believe Putin was ultimately responsible for the death of Navalny, who endured brutal conditions during his confinement, the intelligence community has found “no smoking gun” that Putin was aware of the timing of Navalny’s death – which came soon before the Russian president’s reelection – or directly ordered it, according to the official.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Soon after Navalny’s death, U.S. President Joe Biden said Putin was ultimately responsible but did not accuse the Russian president of directly ordering it.
At the time, Biden said the U.S. did not know exactly what had happened to Navalny but that “there is no doubt” that his death “was the consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”
I wonder if that could be true only because his lackeys already knew what they were expected to do with Navalny.
Jim Biden & Qatari Officials
Quote:Hunter Biden was not the only family member who leveraged ties to President Joe Biden to win business deals with business partners linked to foreign governments, a Politico report details.
According to the outlet, Jim Biden, President Joe Biden’s brother, was in business with Qatari officials to fund his health care ventures in what would be “some of the closest known links between a Biden relative and a foreign government.”
Furthermore, according to public records and emails obtained by Politico, Jim Biden invoked his ties to his older brother and sought workarounds to restrictions on international money movements during these fundraising efforts.
Politico cited recent testimony by fund manager Michael Lewitt, a former business partner of Jim Biden’s, in a Kentucky bankruptcy court. Lewitt reportedly said in sworn testimony that two companies that facilitated Jim Biden’s efforts were part-owned by “members of the Qatari government.”
One company partnered directly with Jim Biden in multi-year fundraising efforts, and the second company provided financial backing for a series of loans that a hospital chain paid Jim Biden to arrange, according to documents and testimony submitted by Lewitt during the federal bankruptcy proceedings.
Jim Biden’s efforts to raise money from Qatari sources for ventures in the U.S. began “in the months” after his older brother left the vice presidency, the report said. Transactions related to the fundraising efforts are also “at the heart” of a recently-settled fraud case brought by the Securities Exchange Commission and are “being scrutinized as part of a federal criminal investigation in South Florida,” the report said.
Jim Biden had suggested to congressional investigations in February that his fundraising efforts “stalled for lack of viable projects to back,” but previously unreported testimony by Lewitt “indicates that Jim Biden forged closer ties to Qatar’s government than previously understood.” Lewitt is expected to testify to House impeachment inquiry investigators, Politico reported.
Joe Biden’s relationship with Qatar began around June 2017, when the country’s neighbors, led by Saudi Arabia, cut diplomatic ties with the country over its alleged support for terrorism, the report said. Qatar then began “showering well-connected Westerners with gifts and financial benefits, sometimes in the form of investment funding,” the report said.
Many Venezuelans Arrested in Chicago
Quote:The Chicago Police Department has made more than 1,000 arrests of Venezuelan migrants in the first three months of 2024, crime data that the Chicago Tribune published reveals.
The Tribune solely reviewed crime data of the sanctuary city’s Venezuelan population, as 40,000 have arrived since August 2022. The Chicago Police Department does not track arrests of migrants, but it does track the country of origin for those arrested, though that data is not recorded in about 14 percent of cases.
Of cases where that data was recorded, the Chicago Police Department made more than 1,000 arrests of Venezuelan migrants from January through March of 2024.
Put another way, while newly arrived Venezuelan migrants make up just 1.5 percent of Chicago’s 2.6 million residents, they have accounted for 11.11 percent of all arrests in the first three months of 2024, when officers recorded the arrestees’ country of origin.
Chicago City Councilman Raymond Lopez (D), who has advocated ending the city’s sanctuary policy and stopping the flow of illegal immigration, told the Tribune that “quality-of-life laws” are not being enforced, and crime is breaking out around migrant shelters as a result.
“Politically, we have an environment that is making excuses for those low-level offenses as something that should be forgiven or ignored without realizing that it has a very real snowball effect in our neighborhoods,” Lopez said.
More broadly, in the 19 months since migrants started arriving in Chicago, 21 arrests were made of Venezuelan migrants for violent felonies — including the arrest of 28-year-old Elvis Hernandez-Pernalete, who was charged in March for allegedly sexually assaulting and robbing a woman he followed off a subway.
Hours before, Hernandez-Pernalete allegedly followed another woman and assaulted her in an attempt to rob her but fled when a passerby noticed what was happening.
Biden The Protestor?
Quote:CLAIM: President Joe Biden, 81, recently claimed on The Howard Stern Show that he “got arrested” during the civil rights movement.
VERDICT: Likely false
There is no evidence authorities arrested Biden while defending civil rights, CNN reported:
There is no evidence Biden ever got arrested during a civil rights protest, as The Washington Post and PolitiFact found when they looked into this claim in 2022 — and Biden has at least twice told the story of his supposed presence at this particular Delaware protest without mentioning any arrest, instead claiming that the police merely took him home that day.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Biden made the comment while speaking with Howard Stern. The president recounted what his mother purportedly claimed while urging him to take Barack Obama’s offer to become vice president. Biden’s mom, he said, urged him to accept the post.
Biden told Stern:
She said, “Joey, let me — remember” — true story, she said — “Remember when they were desegregating Lynnfield, the neighborhood … suburbia — and I told you — and there was a black family moving in and there was — people were down there protesting; I told you not to go down there and you went down, remember that? And you got arrested standing on the porch with a black family? And they brought you back, the police?” And I said, “Yeah, Mom, I remember that.”
Biden’s statement came during an interview in which he delivered outlandish statements and perhaps some lies, according to Director of Communications for the State Freedom Caucus Network Greg Price:
He claimed he saved six people from drowning as a lifeguard.
He claimed he received “salacious pictures” from women in the 1970s that he handed to Secret Service.
He claimed he was a “runner-up in state scoring” in football.
He also told Stern that he would debate former President Donald Trump. Biden until then had been noncommittal about debating Trump. Trump has said he would be happy to confront Biden on his record, pledging in March to debate him anytime, anywhere.
AOC on Mayor Adams and Columbia University
Quote:Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) slammed Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the presidents of Columbia Univeristy.
Ocasio-Cortez responded to a post on X which referred to remarks made by Adams during a press conference earlier, in which he said the protest at Columbia University had been “co-opted by professional outside agitators.”
“If any kid is hurt tonight, responsibility will fall on the mayor and univ presidents,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote. “Other leaders and schools have found a safe, de-escalatory path. This is the opposite of leadership and endangers public safety.”
Ocasio-Cortez added that it was a “nightmare in the making.”
“I urge the Mayor to reverse course,” Ocasio-Cortez added.
Officers from the NYPD dressed in riot gear staged a raid of the campus and began removing anti-Israel protesters from Hamilton Hall, which protesters seized control of in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Anti-Israel protesters were seen on video footage smashing the glass doors of Hamilton Hall, an academic building on campus, carrying barricades into the building, and hanging pro-Palestinian banners from the windows.
Hours after the building was occupied, the university announced that it was restricting access to its campus for the remainder of the spring semester and that students occupying the building would “face expulsion.”
As you can see, those "demonstrators" didn't care about the consequences of their misbehavior. The
police had to kick them out. University of Florida & Anti-Israel Protesters
Quote:The University of Florida campus is “not a daycare,” the University of Florida said in a statement following the arrest of protesters on Monday.
Protesters the University of Florida rallied together, deeming themselves the anti-Israel “University of Florida Divest Coalition.”
They released a list of demands, which included disclosure of the university’s investment portfolio over the last ten years, student oversight of future investments, the termination of partnerships who are “directly implicated in human rights violations including the Gaza genocide,” divestment “from funding & partnering with weapons manufacturers that are implicated in human rights violations in the Gaza genocide,” and much more, including a revamp of speaker policy.
That includes not allowing speakers “affiliated with the Israeli military or spreading misinformation about the history of Palestine.” They also demand UF President Ben Sasse to “public denounce violence & discrimination against pro-Palestinian students and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.” There was no mention of calling for a public denouncement of the violence and hatred shown toward Jewish students at various campuses across the country.
On Monday, some protesters were arrested, and the university stuck to its guns.
“This is not complicated: The University of Florida is not a daycare, and we do not treat protesters like children — they knew the rules, they broke the rules, and they’ll face the consequences,” UF President Ben Sasse said in a statement, explaining that they have told protesters — some of which he said are “outside agitators” — for “many days” that they could exercise their right to free speech and assemble.
“And we also told them that clearly prohibited activities would result in a trespassing order from UPD (barring them from all university properties for three years) and an interim suspension from the university,” he explained.
“For days UPD patiently and consistently reiterated the rules. Today, individuals who refused to comply were arrested after UPD gave multiple warnings and multiple opportunities to comply,” he added.
Police on University of Wisconsin's Campus
Quote:Law enforcement officials began clearing an anti-Israel encampment on Wednesday that had been established at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Officers from the University of Wisconsin Police Department (UWPD), along with other law enforcement agencies began clearing the anti-Israel encampment after giving the protesters a warning and several chances to leave “peacefully,” according to a statement from UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin.
Mnookin wrote:
As you may be aware, this morning around 7 a.m., the University of Wisconsin Police Department (UWPD), in concert with partner law enforcement agencies and with my authorization, cleared the unlawful tent encampment on Library Mall. Over the last few days, we have repeatedly asked the protesters to bring their demonstration into conformity with the law that prohibits camping on UW grounds. They declined to do so.
This morning, those present at the encampment were given several warnings during which time they were offered the opportunity to peacefully leave the encampment with their belongings and avoid being either cited or arrested. These warnings followed prior communications, including two messages from campus leaders, that clearly delineated the expectation of consequences if the encampment was not removed.
We appreciate that many protesters chose the option of avoiding legal consequences in exchange for removing tents and other camping supplies from campus grounds. A set of individuals, including some faculty and staff, obstructed law enforcement efforts to remove the tents and were cited.
The encampment at UW-Madison was established on campus grounds on Monday.
MTG & Massie VS Speaker Johnson
Quote:Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) earned the endorsement of House Democrat Leadership Tuesday. He will need to cash in on that endorsement only days later.
Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) announced to a packed press conference outside the Capitol Wednesday that they would force a vote on Greene’s motion to vacate “next week.”
With the Capitol dome behind them, Greene and Massie accused Johnson of “three betrayals” on government funding, allowing surveillance of American citizens, and funding Ukraine without first securing the border.
The move has long been expected, but Wednesday’s escalation makes clear Johnson’s perilous path toward maintaining his gavel — if not in the short term, certainly beyond November.
“This motion is wrong for the Republican Conference, wrong for the institution, and wrong for the country,” read a short Johnson statement issued after the announcement and a day after Johnson accused Greene of not being a serious lawmaker.
Greene explained her initial hopes when filing and why she waited more than six weeks to force a vote on her motion. “I was being conscious and caring about my conference in our majority. It was a warning to stop serving the Democrats and support our Republican conference and support our agenda. And he didn’t do it.”
After Greene filed her motion, Johnson proceeded to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) after casting the deciding vote to kill the warrant requirement and then folded on Ukraine funding.
“Now we have Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats coming out, embracing Mike Johnson with a warm hug and a big wet sloppy kiss,” Greene said, arguing Democrats endorsed Johnson “because Mike Johnson is giving them everything they want. Everything. Every single thing.”
Judge Merchan on Trump's Posts
Quote:New York County Judge Juan Merchan has ruled that former President Donald Trump violated a gag order during his trial, holding him in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.
Merchan also ordered Trump to remove the “seven offending posts” from Truth Social.
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate continued willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” the judge wrote in the order:
ORDERED, that Defendant pay a $1,000 fine for each of the nine violations of this Court’s lawful order by the close of business on Friday, May 3, 2024; and it is further ORDERED that Defendant remove the seven offending posts from Defendant’s Truth Social account and the two offending posts from his campaign website by 2:15pm Tuesday, April 30, 2024.
Merchan had the authority to send Trump to jail for up to 30 days for allegedly violating his gag order. Democrat Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg backed down from asking the judge to jail Trump for allegedly violating the order, according to court reporters.
Trump appeared to call Bragg’s bluff. Trump said in April that it would be a “GREAT HONOR” to become a “modern-day Nelson Mandela” in the “clink” for speaking the truth about Merchan.
The gag order prevents Trump from making public comments about witnesses participating in the trial, counsel other than Bragg, “members of the court’s staff and the District Attorney’s staff, or … the family members of any counsel or staff member, if those statements are made with the intent to materially interfere with … counsel’s or staff’s work” on the case. It also encompasses prospective jurors.
“The gag order has to come off,” Trump previously told reporters outside the Manhattan courthouse. “People are allowed to speak about me, and I have a gag order, just to show you how much more unfair it is.”
CANADA
Trudeau is a Wacko
Quote:The leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Pierre Poilievre, was removed from question period at the Parliament’s House of Commons on Tuesday after condemning radical leftist Justin Trudeau, branding his policies “wacko” and refusing to withdraw the insult.
Trudeau responded to Poilievre’s condemnation by referring to him as “spineless” and accusing him of fraternizing with “white nationalist” groups, comments for which Speaker Greg Fergus neither demanded a retraction nor expelled Trudeau from the session.
The heated exchange occurred during a debate around Liberal Party support for policies to decriminalize the use of some drugs – and specifically the provincial government of British Columbia choosing to enact a program that decriminalized the use of opioids, methamphetamine, cocaine, and several other hard drugs, including in public places.
The policy, announced in May 2022, came in vigor in January, prompting widespread outrage and disgust from the general population of British Columbia, which is clamoring for the government to walk the policy back. The original plan implemented in 2022 called for the decriminalization to last three years.
British Columbia Premier David Eby announced last week that he was withdrawing part of the policy, allowing police to once again stop people from doing hard drugs in public.
“While we are caring and compassionate for those struggling with addiction, we do not accept street disorder that makes communities feel unsafe,” Eby asserted.
EUROPE
Protests in UK
Quote:Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists blockaded the entrance to a UK government department building in central London on Wednesday to protest against Britain providing military support to Israel in its conflict with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
An estimated 600 activists gathered outside of the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) at the Old Admiralty Office in the centre of London, preventing civil servants from entering the building and clashing with police, GB News reports.
Activists were seen waving banners demanding a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hamas terrorists and calling for the UK to stop selling weapons to the Jewish state.
The protest was organised by the Workers for a Free Palestine as its action for May Day, an ancient European holiday which was co-opted by socialists following an 1889 meeting of the Marxist International Socialist Congress in Paris. The leftist group also organised demonstrations in Lancashire, Scotland, and Wales on Wednesday.
“If arms company bosses and Britain’s political elite won’t impose an arms embargo, we, the workers, will continue enforcing it from below,” Workers for a Free Palestine said on social media.
Footage on social media showed police clashing with some activists, prompting at least three arrests. A Met spokesman said according to leftist Novaramedia: “We are policing a protest in Admiralty Place and Horse Guards Parade. Officers have made three arrests after protesters blocked access to a building. Protesters must stay within the law.”
It comes amid a spreading movement of student activists blockading universities, starting with Ivy League Colombia and Harvard in the United States last week, and the movement being picked up by young radicals in France.
Police Officer & Protests in UK
Quote:A British police officer is facing terror charges for showing support for Hamas on WhatsApp, a police watchdog said Wednesday.
West Yorkshire constable Mohammed Adil shared images supporting Hamas, which is banned and designated a terror group in the U.K., the Independent Office for Police Conduct said.
Adil faces two counts of publishing an image in support of a proscribed organization in violation of the Terrorism Act.
He allegedly shared the images on WhatsApp in October and November.
Adil has been suspended by the West Yorkshire force. He is scheduled to appear Thursday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
Protests in Paris
Quote:Far-left pro-Palestinian student activists blockaded the entrances of the Sorbonne University in Paris on Monday following similar attempts last week to shut down the elite Sciences Po research university.
Following the example of activists in the United States at top universities such as Colombia in New York City and Harvard University, pro-Palestinian leftists set up a makeshift blockade of the entrance to the prestigious Sorbonne University in Paris, preventing other students from attending class and forcing the cancellation of exams.
Around 150 activists gathered and erected tents outside of the entrance with a large Palestinian flag placed in the centre while signs read: “Israel assassin, Sorbonne complicit” and “Don’t look at us, join us,” Le Figaro reports.
National Rally candidate for the European Parliament, Matthieu Valet commented: “These far-left activists want to make France a lawless zone. Bravo to the police officers who evacuated these activists from the disorder by force.”
“We are here following the appeal of students from Harvard and Columbia,” Lorélia Fréjo, a student activist of the Le Poing Levé (the raised fist) told the AFP. “After the actions at Sciences Po, we are here to ensure that it continues.”
Last week, dozens of radical students blockaded the Sciences Po research university in Paris, demanding a debate on the conflict in Gaza and the lifting of the suspension of other activists.
The blockade, enacted by around 200 activists, ended on Friday as the leadership of the university bowed to their demands, in what has been described as an act of “capitulation” as an American-style town hall on Palestine was agreed to and no sanctions were levied against the student activists.
More on France
Quote:Inspired by student leftists in the United States, pro-Palestinian activists have spread their blockades of French universities nationally after taking on the Sorbonne and the Sciences Po in Paris over the past week.
Pro-Palestinian activists occupied several provincial Institutes of Political Studies (IEP) — more commonly known as Sciences Po — throughout France on Tuesday, with students blockading entrances to the research universities in Lyon, Menton, Rennes, and Strasbourg.
It follows similar actions in the United States on the campuses of major universities such as Colombia in New York City and Harvard. It also followed the occupation of Paris’ Sciences Po last week and the blockade of the prestigious Sorbonne University on Monday, which forced school administrators to cancel exams and classes.
According to Le Figaro, the activists waved flags condemning Sciences Po research universities in France of being complicit in the supposed “genocide” in the Gaza Strip during Israel’s military operation to root out Hamas from the area after the October 7th terror attacks waged on the Jewish state by the Islamist Palestinian group.
At the Sciences Po in Rennes, students stacked chairs outside the gates of the university while waving Palestinian flags and a banner reading “Sciences Po Rennes supports Palestine.”
A young woman at the demonstration said on social media that the student group “voted to block the IEP in support of the Palestinian people and in support of all the mobilized students, in the United States, at Sciences Po Paris etc.”
Burn Truck! Burn!
Quote:A large group of Amazon delivery vans were totally destroyed during a night of “traditional” left-wing protests in Berlin, which is believed to possibly have been an act of arson, despite the conflagration police said was “mostly trouble-free”.
While May First is now known worldwide for left-wing protests, in Germany things tend to get started the night before on Walpurgisnacht, an old religious festival for the 8th-century Anglo-Saxon missionary Saint Walpurga since becoming synonymous with leftist violence. Berlin Police deployed 3,100 officers overnight in Berlin and despite some clashes and incidents of thrown eggs and stones, Die Welt notes the force said the five protests city-wide were “mostly trouble-free”.
Yet the night was not totally uneventful, and in Berlin, a group of 16 Amazon delivery vans were torched, and totally destroyed. Newspaper Bild reports the initial police investigation indicates it was an act of arson, and that “Witnesses claim to have seen several masked perpetrators at the Amazon vans.”
Such fire attacks against an obvious symbol of the high-tech Western capitalist society would not be in any way unusual for the European hard left. As long reported, beyond attacks on Amazon itself, internet and telephone cables, railway signalling equipment, and power supply infrastructure are frequently targeted by the hard left.
Protests naturally carried on into May Day, which — as previously noted — is another ancient European holiday which has been co-opted by Leftists for their own purposes, in this case, “following an 1889 meeting of the Marxist International Socialist Congress in Paris”. The day of left-wing protest and violence has been going so long it too is now said to be a German “tradition“.
In addition to the five protests registered overnight, a further 20 are taking place on Wednesday, leading to a deployment of over 5,000 police officers in the German capital, and including other emergency services there are 6,200 deployed in all, 2,400 from other cities.
Macron on Nuclear Weapons
Quote:President Emmanuel Macron has been accused of undermining French sovereignty and military deterrence after the head of state “opened the debate” about creating a common European defence armed with nuclear weapons.
In an interview published on Saturday evening with the Ebra group of regional French newspapers, Mr Macron said per Le Figaro: “I am in favour of opening this debate which must include anti-missile defence, the firing of long-range weapons, nuclear weapons for those who have them or who have American nuclear weapons on their soil.”
“Let’s put everything on the table and look at what truly protects us in a credible way,” he continued, but maintained that France would keep “its specificity but is ready to contribute more to the defence of European soil”.
“Being credible also means having long-range missiles that would deter the Russians. And there is nuclear weapons: French doctrine is that we can use them when our vital interests are threatened. I have already said that there is a European dimension to these vital interests,” the president said.
Macron’s comments drew condemnation from both sides of the political aisle in France, with François-Xavier Bellamy, the leader of the centre-right Les Républicains (LR) in the upcoming European Parliament elections, declaring: “A French head of state should not say that.”
“This is exceptionally serious because this touches on the very nerve of French sovereignty,” Bellamy added.
Conservative populist National Rally MEP Thierry Mariani responded: “Macron is becoming a national danger… After nuclear weapons, there will follow France’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council, which will also be sold off to the European Union.”
The suggestion was also criticised by the left, with the La France Insoumise (LFI) parliamentary group proclaiming that Macron “has just dealt a new blow to the credibility of French nuclear deterrence”.
Multiple Attacks in East London
Quote:One person has died and four people were injured in East London after a man is alleged to have driven a van into a residential building before drawing a sword and attacking people, including police officers.
UPDATE 1430 — 14 Year Old Boy Has Died
Bad news from East London, where one of the five people reported injured in this morning’s sword attack has died. London Chief Superintendent Stuart Bell said at the scene:
It is with great sadness that I confirm one of those injured, a 14-year-old boy, has died. He was taken to hospital after being stabbed and sadly died shortly afterwards.
The child’s family are being supported by specially trained officers. Everyone across the Met is keeping them in our thoughts at this unimaginably difficult time.
Two members of the public and two police officers were injured. Chief Superintendent Bell said the injured officers sustained “significant” but not life-threatening stab wounds while the members of the public remain in hospital.
One important detail: the Guardian newspaper has spoken to an eye witness who said the suspected killer performed some kind of victory ritual after stabbing a “young victim” who may have been the boy who has now died. The paper quoted the witness — who wished not to be named — as saying the alleged swordsman as raising his arms in celebration, as if to say ” yay, yay I’ve done it, sort of proud”.
The original story continues below:
Five people were taken to hospital, including two police officers, in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a swordsman went on an apparently rampage near Hainault station in East London. While the government had appealed to the public not to speculate and not to share footage on social media, copious video and stills showing a light-skinned male holding a long, curved blade — described in some reports as being a “samurai sword” type — squaring off with police.
Police say they arrested a 36 year old man, and that four people were stabbed. They say there is no indication the incident is terrorism related.
Where Are The Immigrants Now?
Quote:The first “illegal migrants” to be deported under the UK government’s Rwanda Scheme have been detained by officials this week in advance of their flights, but thousands have already slipped through the net or gone missing.
The Home Office announced Wednesday the first “illegal migrants” were taken into custody “following a series of nationwide operations this week” by “operational teams”. The government said more such detentions prior to deportation are due to take place “in the coming weeks”.
The action comes after the UK Conservative Party-led government finally passed its Rwanda plan-enabling legislation last week. The move to disincentivise illegal and irregular migrant arrivals by people smuggler boats across the English Channel has been talked about for years but has been repeatedly held up by legal delays. The latest legislation steps around these roadblocks by essentially declaring Rwanda a safe country by government fiat, and “disapplies” some human rights legislation.
The government says the first actual deportation flights will take place in two to three months time.
Speaking in response to the first pre-relocation detentions, Home Secretary James Cleverly called the Rwanda plan to pay that government to host migrants on Britain’s behalf “pioneering”, and said: “Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground.”
“This is a complex piece of work, but we remain absolutely committed to operationalising the policy, to stop the boats and break the business model of people smuggling gangs.”
Scottish PM Quits
Quote:In a spectacular act of political self-immolation, far-left censorship czar Humza Yousaf announced his resignation as Scottish First Minister on Monday morning before facing the prospect of being forcibly removed by a vote of no-confidence.
UPDATE 1730: Political jockeying is already underway as the Scottish National Party (SNP) seeks a new leader to replace Humza Yousaf, who said following his resignation that he would stay on as caretaker until a replacement is decided. Early indications point towards former Deputy First Minister John Swinney, a longtime veteran of the party who has served in the devolved Scottish parliament since 2004.
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn, who was previously rumoured to be a potential candidate, ruled himself out on Monday and backed Swinney, saying: “There’s only one person with the experience to do the job and unite the party – I would encourage John Swinney to stand,” arguing that Swinney has the experience necessary to mend the fences with the Green Party and put back together the pieces of the shattered coalition government Yousaf left behind.
Flynn also rejected calls for a snap election, despite the SNP previously arguing that there should have been an election in the UK following the departure of both Boris Johnson and Liz Truss as prime ministers because the public did not get to decide their next leader.
Another prominent name floating around Edinburg as a potential next SNP leader is former finance secretary Kate Forbes, who lost out to Yousaf in the leadership contest last year to replace Nicola Sturgeon as first minister. Forbes faces an uphill battle, however, given that her traditional Catholic views on issues, like abortion and same-sex marriage, are largely out of step with the leftist party as a whole.
The original story continues as follows…
Infamously censorious, race-baiting Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has announced he is stepping down, a victim of his own political machinations after he summarily dismissed his coalition partners in an apparent bid to avoid them doing the same to him, first.
Humza Yousaf said he is resigning as the leader of the Scottish government, the 25-year-old devolved assembly in North Britain which rules on certain domestic policy within the United Kingdom, bringing to a near-close 13 months of hard-left law-making. Yousaf was installed just over a year ago after his predecessor, Nicola Sturgeon, left office in another cloud of scandal, which is still set to bedevil the party, with Sturgeon’s husband being charged with allegedly embezzling party funds earlier this month.
Controversy in Spain
Quote:Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has refused to step down amid allegations of corruption against his wife and is in turn vowing to launch a government crackdown against the right-wing online media over supposed fake news.
In a roller coaster of events, Prime Minister Sánchez announced on Monday that he would not resign after announcing last week that he was taking five days off to contemplate his political future. This followed the opening of a corruption case against his wife Begoña Gómez, who is facing claims of using her role as the unofficial but de-facto First Lady of Spain to allegedly dole out lucrative government contracts to firms she has been linked to financially.
The centre-right El Confidencial newspaper alleged that the Africa Centre of the Institute of Business, where Gómez worked, received a “sponsorship agreement” from the travel firm Globalia.
At the same time, Globalia was in talks with the Sánchez government to secure a €475 million ($506m/£407m) bailout for its airline Air Europa during the Chinese coronavirus crisis. According to the paper, at least 15,000 was given to Gómez’s Africa Centre for first-class plane tickets for the first lady and her team.
In response to the reports, the trade unionist anti-corruption pressure group Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) lodged a formal complaint against Gómenz, prompting a judicial investigation into her alleged corruption. Questions have been raised, however, about the veracity of the claims, with Manos Limpias admitting that at least one of the articles cited in its complaint appeared to be false.
While neither Sánchez nor his wife have directly denied the allegations, the prime minister returned from his period of contemplation coming out swinging, vowing to crack down on what he branded as the “mud machine” right-wing online media.
He promised a programme of “democratic regeneration”, targeting the spread of alleged fake news and vowing transparency laws surrounding donations to news websites. Sánchez also said that he would seek to pass legislation granting the government new powers to remove judges.
Ukraine & Men Fleeing Away from Military Service
Quote:Dozens of Ukrainians attempting to escape being forced into the military to fight Russia have died, the national border guard reveals.
Tens of thousands of military age males successfully fled abroad, as many again were caught trying to flee, after Russia re-invaded Ukraine in 2022, but now the numbers of people escaping the draft who were killed in the attempt has been revealed. Speaking this week Andrii Demchenko, who wears the uniform of a Colonel and is cited as an “aide to the chief of the State Border Service of Ukraine” spoke out against human traffickers who take cash in return for helping sneak out refugees from Ukraine’s martial law to Europe.
Since Russia’s renewed invasion in 2022, it became illegal for any man of military age to leave Ukraine except with express permission of the government.
Col. Demchenko revealed there were a remarkable 450 “criminal groups specializing in illegal transportation of people across the border” that had been discovered during the period of martial law, and in most cases of “illegal border crossings” the individuals were being assisted by smugglers.
Around 30 Ukrainians trying to escape the country undetected have been found dead since the war began, Demchenko said. Given an explanation for those deaths, he cited the difficulty of swimming across mountain rivers to escape Ukraine, and even of fleeing citizens having “encounters with wild animals in the mountains, which can be seriously life-threatening.”
In earlier reports, it was stated some Ukrainians had frozen to death while trying to cross the Carpathian mountains to escape military service.
Ukrainian Castle Burns
Quote:Five people were killed and dozens injured in a missile strike on Ukraine’s third city, Odesa, with an ornate seafront building locally known as the ‘Harry Potter Castle’ burnt out.
Ukraine’s military stated an Iskander-M ballistic missile “with a cluster warhead” fell on Odesa, the south-eastern coastal city which is now one of Ukraine’s main ports after Russia occupied Crimea in 2014. According to state media five people were killed in the strike, and 32 were injured, including a young child and a pregnant woman.
Among the buildings damaged was a campus of the Odessa Law Academy, a private school run by a prominent former Ukrainian member of parliament, Serhii Kivalov. Kivalov’s former party is now banned in Ukraine. He is said to have been among the injured overnight in the missile strike.
The seafront building of the Law Academy, unroofed and burnt out in the strike, was hit during the attack. Built in a French Renaissance Revival chateau style, the building was reportedly known to locals as the ‘Harry Potter Castle’, a common nickname given to any relatively ornate building in a world where J.K. Rowling’s eponymous best-sellers are a key cultural touchstone.
One student of the Academy who witnessed the destruction of the building said it was hit by a missile falling from the sky after it was shot down. They said: “In front of my eyes, a missile was shot down, this was just in front of me. My doors were blown open and the glass was shaking.”
Ukrainians Killed in Germany
Quote:Two Ukrainian citizens stabbed to death in Germany on Saturday were wounded soldiers recuperating away from the front lines, Kyiv says.
A Russian citizen was arrested on suspicion of murder on Saturday after two men were stabbed to death at a shopping centre in southern Germany, close to a U.S. Army base. The victims, both Ukrainian citizens, are now revealed to have been convalescing Ukrainian soldiers.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said per state media that: “the deceased citizens were soldiers undergoing medical rehabilitation in Germany”.
It further alleged that: “The killer took advantage of the fact that the Ukrainian veterans were wounded and could not properly fight back the knife-wielding attacker.”
Ukraine thanked German authorities for the prompt arrest of the 57-year-old Russian citizen suspect. Reuters states the investigation into the attack has now been handed to prosecutors in Munich, who are considering a “political motivation” for the crime. Investigators apparently believe the two men were already known to the suspect.
The prosecutor said: “The motive for the crime is currently unclear, although a political motivation cannot be ruled out and is being investigated in all directions”.
The attack took place in the village of Murnau in Bavaria, only a short distance from the United States Army Garrison Bavaria’s Garmisch base. Large numbers of Ukrainian troops, including tank crews, have been trained on the U.S. Army’s estates in Germany, including at USAG Bavaria.
One of those locations, the USAG Bavaria garrison at the Grafenwoehr Training Area was the focus of a spy scare this month, with two Russian-German dual citizens arrested, accused of hostile reconnaissance and attack planning against the location.
The German Federal Prosecutor claimed the activity was intended to “undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression” and included a potential “explosives and arson attacks, especially on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany”.
Russia: Police & Gunmen Killed in Shootout
Quote:A group of militants attacked a police checkpoint in Russia’s North Caucasus region, killing two officers, officials said Monday.
Four other officers were wounded and all five attackers were killed in the shootout in the Karachay-Cherkessia region late Sunday, according to the regional branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry.
The Investigative Committee, the country’s top state criminal investigation agency, said the same gunmen had raided another police checkpoint in the region a week before, killing two police and injuring another. It didn’t describe the attackers’ affiliation or motive.
While Chechnya has stabilized under the rule of Moscow-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov after two separatist wars, violence linked to Islamist groups has occasionally erupted in other parts of Russia’s volatile North Caucasus.
The Karachay-Cherkessia region in particular has experienced a series of raids on police by extremists.
In December, Russia’s Federal Security Service, the nation’s top domestic security and counter-terrorism agency, reported the arrest of 14 suspected members of a radical Islamist group in Karachay-Cherkessia. It followed earlier arrests of other suspected members of the same group in the region.
"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.
![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
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
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
