News of the World
06-27-2024, 05:16 AM
USA
CANADA
LATIN AMERICA
EUROPE
All this effort for just 3 months worth of grain!?
I don't get it, guys.
AFRICA
It sounds a bit strange or even laughable to hear that he will send troops and
cops to Haiti to stop the very same kind of events that had taken place in Kenya itself in the past few days. 
Cuban Delegation Invited to Enter Airport Facilities... AGAIN!
Quote:The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) invited a second delegation from Cuba — a U.S.-designated state sponsor of terrorism — to visit airport facilities in Florida in May, Martí Noticias reported on Monday.
The FAA-sponsored visit occurred separately from a tour that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) hosted on May 20 that saw communist Cuban officials participate in a secret guided tour of TSA’s control facilities at the Miami International Airport — leading to an outcry of condemnation from the local Miami-Dade County administration, members of the United States Congress, airport personnel, and the Cuban diaspora in Florida that ultimately prompted TSA and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reportedly issue an apology.
Martí Noticias, a U.S.-based outlet focused on Cuba, stated on Monday that the FAA confirmed to it that it had hosted a tour for Castro regime officials in May. The outlet also stated that it had obtained access to internal documentation from the Cuban Foreign Ministry relevant to the visit, as well as statements from U.S. officials who spoke to the outlet under the condition of anonymity.
According to a brief statement that the FAA sent to the outlet, “the meeting took place in May, but the Cuban authorities will have to be contacted for information on their itineraries.”
The Cuban Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment from Martí Noticias.
A diplomatic note that the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued on March 27 that Martí Noticias accessed stated that the FAA allegedly invited four officials from the Civil Aviation Institute of Cuba to visit the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center in May “as part of the Miami/Havana and Houston/Havana Operation Agreement.”
U.S. officials told Martí Noticias on the condition of anonymity that the purpose of the Castro regime officials’ visit was to “discuss the continued safe and efficient movement of aircraft” between Miami and Houston’s air terminals and Cuba.
The anonymous officials asserted that the Castro regime officials were received by a delegation of 15 U.S. officials, including executives in charge of Airspace Support and Procedures from both Miami and Houston’s airports, as well as officials from the FAA’s Western Hemisphere and International Affairs offices.
CNN Journalists Are Biased
Quote:Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, CNN’s Thursday night presidential debate co-hosts, repeatedly showed nasty bias against former President Donald Trump during previous network remarks.
Tapper and Bash’s bias is significant because they could use their positions to produce an unfair debate in which Trump might have to contend with them while also debating President Joe Biden.
“Trump’s real debate opponent on Thursday will be CNN,” businessman David Sacks posted on X. “I’m sure the CNN debate will be fair and unbiased based on all of CNN’s actions for the last 8 years!” Donald Trump Jr. mocked.
The event already appears framed in favor of the president. Biden’s performance expectations are low while the debate rules benefit him.
In addition, CNN analysts will immediately fact-check Trump after the debate, CNN Political Director David Chalian told the New York Times, noting the debate is “not the ideal arena for live fact-checking.”
Tapper, one of Trump’s sharpest critics and who purports to be an unbiased journalist, previously moderated two Republican presidential debates.
Biden Against Drug Test
Quote:The Biden campaign has dismissed public calls for President Joe Biden to undergo a drug test before Thursday’s presidential debate on CNN despite polling showing that the vast majority of Americans support both candidates undergoing such testing.
Trump floated the proposal on Tuesday, posting on Truth Social, “DRUG TEST FOR CROOKED JOE BIDEN??? I WOULD, ALSO, IMMEDIATELY AGREE TO ONE!!!”
Biden campaign spokesman Adrienne Elrod quickly dismissed this call, acting as if it were a completely absurd request despite growing concerns about Biden and his mental fitness — particularly following the emergence of viral videos showing Biden in seemingly confused states.
“I mean, I don’t even really know what to say about that. I worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign, you know, she also debated him very effectively. He accused her of being on drugs,” she said.
[2 X Posts]
Biden is currently at what has been dubbed “debate camp” — the presidential retreat Camp David — with his advisers. He arrived on Thursday, June 20.
While it remains unclear what the prep looks like, there is much speculation following several concerning videos showing Biden seemingly confused. The White House hit back against the videos showcasing Biden malfunctioning in public, asserting that they were “cheap fakes.”
As Breitbart News detailed:
The White House invented the term “cheap fakes” after a video on Sunday showed former President Barack Obama walking Biden off stage after the president appeared to freeze at a fundraiser.
Another video from June 13 appeared to show Biden wandering off into the distance in Europe before Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni turned him back to the group of world leaders watching a skydiving show.
A third video showed Vice President Kamala Harris and allies dancing at a Juneteenth event while Biden appeared to stare blankly, not moving, with an empty smile on his face.
CAIR Backs Antisemitic Protest in LA
Quote:The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) “condemn[ed]” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Wednesday for speaking out (belatedly) against an antisemitic protest at a synagogue on Sunday, saying the protest was legitimate.
As Breitbart News reported, a mob of pro-Palestinian activists targeted the Adas Torah synagogue in the Jewish neighborhood of Pico-Robertson, blocking the entrance to bar access to an event about buying real estate in Israel.
It was the second protest at a synagogue in Los Angeles in the space of three days. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers eventually cleared the protesters, after violence broke out aith pro-Israel counter-demonstrators.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D) and Mayor Bass (D) condemned the protest late on Sunday evening (after Breitbart News reported that neither had done so). On Monday, President Joe Biden also condemned the protest, calling it “dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American” for targeting a synagogue. The Israeli government also weighed in, calling the targeting of a Jewish house of worship, and the subsequent violence, “absolutely shocking.”
But CAIR objected to Bass’s words when she repeated her condemnation of the protest on Monday, June 24.
In a statement, CAIR said:
On June 24, Mayor Bass spoke at a press conference held in response to the violence that broke out when pro-Israel counter-protesters confronted pro-Palestinian demonstrators who were gathered outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles to protest a real estate event organized by an Israel-based agency that reportedly markets real estate in Israel and the illegally occupied West Bank.
During the conference, Mayor Bass condemned the pro-Palestinian protesters and characterized the demonstration as “violent” and “abhorrent.” She did not mention the violence that was perpetrated against the pro-Palestinian protesters by pro-Israel counter-protesters or the reports that law enforcement on the scene did little to stop the violence against them.
CAIR denied that the protest was antisemitic, claiming that there were Jews involved in the demonstration. CAIR did not explain why the protesters blocked access to a house of worship rather than protesting peacefully nearby.
Mayorkas Thinks the Border Was Closed in 2021 & 2022
Quote:On Wednesday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas responded to a question on why President Joe Biden didn’t take the executive action on the border he took recently earlier by arguing that “essentially, the border was closed” until May of last year.
BBC U.S. Special Correspondent and MSNBC Contributor Katty Kay asked, “Mr. Secretary, the flows of people across the border have caused the President a huge amount of political trouble. If this executive order has worked as well as you’re saying it’s worked this morning, why not just do it a year-and-a-half ago and save the Democrats all the kind of pushback they’ve had on the border?”
Mayorkas answered, “Well, let’s remember the chronology here. On day one of the President’s administration, he presented Congress with a legislative proposal to fix our immigration system. Up until May of last year, Title 42, the public health order, was in place. That prevented people from entering the United States, with some exceptions. It provided the government with the authority to expel people from the United States, essentially, the border was closed. Everyone expected pandemonium to break out when Title 42 was lifted. It did not. The President went to Congress and requested supplemental funding, the funding that we and the Department of Homeland Security and other departments that administer the immigration system so desperately need. He went for that funding to Congress in August, did not receive it. He went again in October, did not receive it. We then went into, very difficult, but ultimately successful, bipartisan negotiations for a legislative solution. That would have delivered the fixes that our system [has] long needed. It would have provided the immigration system with the resources we have long needed, 1,500 Border Patrol and Office of Field Operations personnel, 1,200 Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents, 4,300 asylum officers, more than 100 immigration judges. That was a bipartisan, practical solution that involved difficult compromises, but compromises that delivered success. Congress failed to act. The President has acted.”
Former ICE Director on Immigration
Quote:On Wednesday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” John Sandweg, who served as acting ICE Director under President Obama, stated that the report that DHS identified more than 400 migrants who were brought to the United States by a human smuggling network affiliated with ISIS “highlights the vulnerabilities we’re facing along our southern border,” and said that “we need to tighten up things here, especially on the vetting on the front end, because almost all of these individuals were apprehended and ultimately released into the United States to await their immigration court hearings.”
Sandweg said he has confidence in ICE to find these individuals, because they’re good at doing that, “But, obviously, look, a concerning story. And I think it highlights the vulnerabilities we’re facing along our southern border, and really emphasizes the need to address the issue permanently and get that — get the situation fixed.”
He added, “I think, first of all, Natasha, look, we have — there’s a problem with vetting. They recently did — the DHS inspector general came out and highlighted some concerns that they found in their kind of audit evaluation of the DHS vetting operations. So, the first thing we need to do is make sure that all accessible federal databases, when an individual is apprehended at the border, we take their biometrics, they’re run against various databases, we need to ensure that, in real-time and incredibly quickly, we get the results, right? If there’s any derogatory information, any intelligence to suggest the individual’s a threat or linked to ISIS, that that is known right away.”
Sandweg continued, “Now, part of the challenge here is we still don’t know what the nature of this threat is. So, I don’t want to overemphasize it, right? We know that a smuggling organization has been bringing individuals from Central Asia and then that smuggling organization had some links to ISIS. That doesn’t necessarily mean that these individuals were plotting an attack against the United States or actually were members of ISIS. Moreover, Natasha, it’s really important to emphasize that we have an incredibly robust intelligence apparatus focused on terror threats like ISIS…Secretary Mayorkas was on TV today, indicated that there is no known threat stream. So, we don’t have any of that corroborating intelligence that would suggest these terror groups are looking to exploit our border. Nevertheless, it’s really clear that we need to tighten up things here, especially on the vetting on the front end, because almost all of these individuals were apprehended and ultimately released into the United States to await their immigration court hearings.”
Sandweg concluded, “[G]enerally, we have incredible intelligence services in the United States. And before these individuals get to the United States, we should know about that, right?”
House Speaker Johnson on Hostages
Quote:Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) wrote to President Joe Biden on Wednesday to demand that the administration do more to support Israel against Hamas, and do more to free American and Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Johnson’s letter comes as the Biden administration has admitted that Hamas, not Israel, rejected a proposed deal to achieve a ceasefire and the release of at least some of the hostages. Hamas wants Israel to end the war in any deal.
In the letter, first obtained via the Jewish Insider news website, Johnson says that Biden’s current stance makes it more difficult, not easier, to reach a deal on Hostage releases:
It has been 8 months since Iranian-backed terrorists invaded Israel and murdered over 1,200 Israelis, took 235 people– including American citzens — hostage, and committed acts of rape and other horrific atrocities that are clear violations of international law and human rights.
The failure to resolutely support Israel in its military objectives to eliminate Hamas has made it harder to facilitate the release of those being detained, including American hostages that Hamas brutally kidnapped on October 7, 2023. Instead of focusing on bringing home the Americans and Israelis held hostage, your administration has spent months pressuring and attempting to micromanage Israel. The United States must do everything in our power to support Israel’s right to self-defense, and work toward the immediate release of hostages, including the remaining American citizens.
Since the massacre on October 7th, multiple decisions by your administration have undercut Israel’s efforts to bring U.S. Hostages home, weakened the U.S.-Israel relationship, and eroded America’s ability to deter our enemies.
The letter says that Biden has not shown the “ironclad” commitment to Israeli security that he promised earlier in the war, and urges the administration to “put maximum pressure on Hamas and its enablers.”
Johnson closes by asking the White House to brief him and other congressional leaders by July 10 on the administration’s plans to address the situation, and on what is being done to help Israel fight Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
House on J6 Committee
Quote:Steve Bannon will receive a boost from the House of Representatives as he fights a prison sentence orchestrated by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ).
The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG), the House’s internal legal body, voted 3-2 Tuesday to file a legal brief supporting the former Trump adviser’s fight to remain a free man. The group took action after an uprising of Republican support on Capitol Hill to aid Bannon’s appeal.
Bannon is set to report to prison July 1 for a four-month sentence for defying a Congressional subpoena from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) now-defunct January 6 Committee. Bannon insists executive privilege protects him from being forced to divulge information to the committee.
BLAG – comprised of the Speaker and the majority and minority leadership of the House – operates at a staff level as part of the House General Counsel’s Office and is responsible for articulating the House’s institutional position in legal filings with federal, state, and local courts.
“The Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group voted 3-2 to file a brief with the D.C. Circuit in the case against Steve Bannon,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) – the Republican BLAG members – said in a joint statement Wednesday.
The statement continued:
The amicus brief will be submitted after Bannon files a petition for rehearing en banc and will be in support of neither party. It will withdraw certain arguments made by the House earlier in the litigation about the organization of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol during the prior Congress.
House Republican Leadership continues to believe Speaker Pelosi abused her authority when organizing the Select Committee.
Wall Street Journal on American Journalist Detained in Russia
Quote:Wall Street Journal (WSJ) editor-in-chief Emma Tucker wrote a fiery editorial on Tuesday denouncing Russia’s secret trial for captive reporter Evan Gershkovich.
Tucker said the trial, which began on Wednesday, was a “travesty of justice” and denounced the espionage charges against Gershkovich as entirely false.
Gershkovich was arrested in Yekaterinburg in March 2023 and has been held in pre-trial detention ever since. Russian officials refused to detail the espionage charges against him, vaguely insisting he was caught “red-handed” spying for American intelligence services.
When Russian prosecutors announced the reporter’s closed-door trial this month, they accused him of “collecting secret information” for the CIA about a tank manufacturer near Yekaterinburg.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has frankly described Gershkovich as a hostage, a bargaining chip who would only be freed if the United States agrees to reward him by releasing high-profile Russian detainees. Prisoner swap deals involving Gershkovich have reportedly been negotiated over the past year, but none ever came to fruition, possibly because the Russians generally do not trade prisoners until after they have been convicted and sentenced.
The WSJ has steadfastly denied all charges against its reporter, as Tucker did again on Tuesday.
“Let us be very clear, once again: Evan is a staff reporter of The Wall Street Journal. He was on assignment in Russia, where he was an accredited journalist,” Tucker wrote.
“But the Kremlin has clamped down severely on independent reporting, effectively turning journalism into a crime. Evan was seized by Russia’s security services, falsely accused of being a U.S. spy and thrown in prison,” she continued.
Tucker noted that Gershkovich would be tried in secret, with no evidence revealed to the outside world, and that the verdict was a foregone conclusion: “This bogus accusation of espionage will inevitably lead to a bogus conviction for an innocent man who would then face up to 20 years in prison for simply doing his job. And an excellent job he was doing, at that.”
Tucker noted that covering the trial in a fair and impartial manner was difficult, given the restrictions imposed by the Russian government and its growing hostility towards journalists, but she promised the WSJ would provide “impartial and accurate reporting” that avoids “baseless allegations” – not least because lobbing such allegations at the Russian regime would give it even more excuses to treat Gershkovich harshly.
Tucker concluded by endorsing diplomatic efforts to secure Gershkovich’s freedom and hoped “Evan and other U.S. detainees in Russia will return home soon.”
CANADA
Utter a Speech on Free Speech Before Getting Arrested. No Joke!
Quote:English political activist Tommy Robinson was arrested on Monday evening in Canada after delivering an address in Calgary on the importance of free speech following which around 10 plain-clothed under-cover police officers detained him.
Tommy Robinson, an outspoken critic of mass migration, and commentator on the incongruity of Islamic beliefs with Western society, particularly majority-Muslim child rape gangs in England, was arrested on an alleged immigration offence after giving a speech to around 150 people in Calgary during his planned three-stop tour of Canada hosted by Ezra Levant’s Rebel News.
Footage posted on social media showed Robinson being handcuffed and put in the back of a police car by what appeared to be undercover officers in street clothes. The right-wing activist was seen laughing while describing his arrest as “absolutely insane”.
“What have I got a warrant out for?” Robinson was heard questioning, to which an officer replied: “You’ve got an outstanding immigration warrant, we’ll talk about it in the vehicle.”
[x Post]
At the time of this reporting, Calgary Police have not made any statement on why the English political campaigner was arrested. However, Robinson has previously been convicted of entering the United States with a friend’s passport.
After spending several hours behind bars, Robinson was released, but said that he had his passport seized and was told to not leave the province of Alberta, potentially preventing him from continuing his speaking tour, which had planned stops in Edmonton and Toronto.
“OK I’m free, well, sort of. None of this makes sense, I’m now detained in Calgary, prevented from leaving the city, these conditions stop me from continuing my tour of Canada and meeting with guests for podcasts. I’m not even allowed to leave to travel home,” Robinson wrote on social media following his release.
Rebel News, the right-wing Canadian news outlet which was sponsoring Robinson’s tour, said they have hired legal representation for the activist with the hopes of receiving a prompt judicial review in order to allow him to continue his tour and then return to England.
LATIN AMERICA
A Bolivian Coup d'Etat?
Quote:Bolivian police have arrested the leader of an attempted coup, hours after the presidential palace in the capital La Paz was stormed by soldiers.
Armoured vehicles and troops had taken up position on Murillo Square where key government buildings are located. They all later withdrew.
The rebel military leader in charge, Gen Juan José Zúñiga, had said he wanted to "restructure democracy" and that while he respected President Luis Arce for now, there would be a change of government. He is now under arrest.
President Arce condemned the coup attempt, calling on the public to "organise and mobilise... in favour of democracy".
"We cannot allow once again coup attempts to take Bolivian lives," he said in a televised message to the country from inside the presidential palace.
His words clearly resonated, with pro-democracy demonstrators taking to the streets in support of the government.
Mr Arce also announced he was appointing new military commanders, confirming reports that Gen Zúñiga had been dismissed after openly criticising Bolivia's former leader, Evo Morales.
Mr Morales also condemned the coup attempt and called for criminal charges to be brought against Gen Zúñiga and his "accomplices".
The public prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation.
It is increasingly clear that this was a short-lived and ill-judged military uprising rather than any wider unravelling of power.
Nevertheless, the coming weeks will be key in establishing whether Gen Zuñiga's military insurrection was just an isolated incident.
Certainly, the government now looks more vulnerable, and others may try to dislodge Mr Arce's administration - albeit through politics rather than via the military.
Furthermore, he could count on the support of Evo Morales, the influential former president and the elder statesman of Bolivia's left.
Mr Morales called on his supporters, particularly in the country's indigenous coca-growers movement, to take to the streets to demand an end to the attempt coup.
That display of popular power may well have helped strengthen the resolve against Gen Zuñiga's plans, which also included freeing "political prisoners" including former leader Jeanine Áñez.
Speaking from Murillo Square after it was taken by troops, Gen Zúñiga had said: "We are going to recover this homeland.
"An elite has taken over the country, vandals who have destroyed the country."
He was sacked after appearing on television on Monday, saying he would arrest Mr Morales if he ran for office again next year, despite the former president being barred from doing so.
Maduro & Trudeau
Quote:Venezuela’s socialist regime accused Canada on Sunday of being a “destabilizing factor” for allegedly meddling in the territorial dispute between Venezuela and Guyana over the Essequibo region.
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil condemned Canada in response to statements that High Commissioner in Guyana Mark Berman reportedly issued, in which he expressed the Canadian government’s support of Guyana in the territorial dispute and urged respect for international law. Berman made the comments during an official event to observe Canada Day.
“The Canadian Government is concerned with the tensions between Guyana and Venezuela, and we reiterate that we stand with the Guyanese people. We stand with the Government, and we call for respect of international law,” Berman reportedly said. “In this complex, ever-changing global environment, good relations are paramount, and I can’t emphasize enough the importance we place on our relationship with Guyana.”
Gil responded to Berman’s statements by accusing Canada of conspiring with Guyana and Venezuelan “right-wing lackeys” to hand the contested territory to U.S. companies.
[X Post]
Petro the "Anti-Nazi" Didn't Mind Wiretapping Judges
Quote:Colombia’s far-left President Gustavo Petro denied on Tuesday that his government engages in illegal wiretapping after several magistrates — including members of the highest branch of the Supreme Court of Justice — accused government intelligence officials of spying on them.
Petro dismissed the accusations as “fake news” and accused local media of being “Mossad press” for reporting on the subject. Petro compared the media to both the Israeli intelligence agency and Nazi Germany Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. The Colombian president also urged Colombian Supreme Court Justice Jorge Enrique Ibáñez, who issued the formal denouncement that led to the ongoing investigations, to “stop falling into naiveté that Nazi groups build.”
Petro has not at press time explained his reference to the Mossad – which could be interpreted as an accusation of foreign interference by Israel in Colombian politics – or his repeated references to Nazi Germany in response to the scandal.
Justice Ibáñez is a member of Colombia’s Constitutional Court, the nation’s highest court. Last week, the head of the Constitutional Court José Fernando Reyes presented a letter to the nation’s Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo in which Ibáñez accused Colombian intelligence agents, under the control of Petro, of targeting him and his family with illegal wiretapping and persecution. The alleged wiretapping occurred for “several months,” the letter read.
Ibáñez added that the auxiliary magistrates who work in his office have also been the target of the illegal wiretapping and did not rule out that other members of the Constitutional Court could be subject to the same illegal practices.
While the complete details of the complaint were presented in a confidential manner and are not publicly known at press time, Ibáñez reportedly became aware of the alleged illegal wiretapping this month after his cell phone began to experience technical issues, which prompted the Colombian justice to send a text message on the WhatsApp messaging platform warning his contacts about the alleged wiretapping situation.
The leaders of the four branches of the Colombian Supreme Court issued a press statement on Tuesday condemning the alleged wiretapping, stressing that if the wiretapping is verified it would put the independence of the judicial branch at risk. The message also described the alleged illegal acts as an “affront to democracy in Colombia.”
EUROPE
Macron on Possible Civil War
Quote:An increasingly desperate Emmanuel Macron has warned the public that “civil war” awaits France if they fail to vote for his brand of centrist neo-liberalism in the upcoming legislative elections.
Voting for either of the “two extremes” of the populist right-wing National Rally or the leftist-socialist New Popular Front will lead to “civil war”, Macron said in an interview in which he castigated the leadership of the two main opposition parties “and those who follow them”.
The embattled French leader, who’s party is trailing in third place in the snap elections he called, said that the “response of the extreme right” to France’s current problems would lead to insecurity “because it refers people to a religion or an origin, that is what divides them and pushes them towards civil war,” Le Figaro reports.
On the other hand, Macron said that the agenda of Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) the leftist party at the head of the New Popular Front electoral coalition proposes a form of “communitarianism”, which he said also has a form of “civil war behind it”.
The hyperbolic comments from Macron were backed up by his second in command, 35-year-old Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who said on Monday: “La France Insoumise feeds the National Rally and the National Rally feeds La France Insoumise with speeches of division, hatred, stigmatisation, which feed off each other.”
“In our country, some people have hatred, impulses, desires to attack certain communities or certain French people… Probably the victory of the extremes would release these impulses and could lead to violence.”
Labour Party & its Net Zero Office
Quote:The left-wing Labour Party will reportedly establish a new bureaucracy to push forward the ‘net zero’ green agenda if it wins the July 4th general election.
In the mad dash towards eliminating carbon emissions in Britain, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s transition team, headed by former top bureaucrat and Starmer’s chief of staff Sue Gray will look to establish an “Office of Net Zero”, Sky News reports.
Gray — known for leading the investigation into the lockdown party scandal which contributed to the collapse of the Boris Johnson government before controversially jumping ship and joining the Labour Party — will reportedly seek to draft a group of civil servants dedicated to speeding up the green transition.
While Labour has tried to make the green agenda a point of differentiation with the governing Conservatives, in reality, there is little room between the two Westminster establishment parties on the issue.
Indeed, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak already established the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Desnez) last year, although the office only has an oversight role while Labour’s reported plans would make their office more active in policy.
Further demonstrating the similarities between the two establishment parties, Labour set out its leftist vision of decarbonising the power system by the end of the decade, while the supposedly conservative party has promised to do so by 2035.
Under the “Conservatives”, the government also banned fracking, meaning that the country was more susceptible to international price shocks such as those sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
King Charles Welcomes Japanese Emperor Naruhito
Quote:A guard of honour and a lavish banquet awaited Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako in London on Tuesday as King Charles III was set to receive them at the start of a three-day state visit to Britain.
The couple, who arrived on Saturday and held informal engagements over the weekend, were to be met by the British monarch and Queen Camilla on Horse Guards Parade in central London at around noon.
The three days of pomp and pageantry will begin with royal salutes, the firing of guns and the playing of the two countries’ national anthems, while Naruhito, 64, and Charles, 75, will inspect the guard of honour.
The royals will then travel the short distance to Buckingham Palace in a carriage procession.
The king, hosting his first state visit since it was revealed in February that he has cancer, will later take the emperor and empress to a special exhibition of items from the Royal Collection relating to Japan.
They then head to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior.
The state banquet at Buckingham Palace — the showpiece of a state visit to the UK — will take place in the evening.
Norway's Obsession With Grain
Quote:The Norwegian government on Tuesday signed a deal to start stockpiling grain, saying the COVID-19 pandemic, a war in Europe and climate change have made it necessary.
The deal to store 30,000 tons of grain was signed by agriculture and food minister Geir Pollestad and four private companies. The wheat, that will belong to the Norwegian government, will be stored by the companies in facilities across the country.
In a statement, Norway´s ministry for agriculture and food said “the building up of a contingency stock of food grains is about being prepared for the unthinkable.”
Norway will sign further stockpiling contracts in the coming years, with the goal of building up the reserve until 2029. The aim is to have some 82,500 tons of grain in store by the end of the decade “so that we then have enough grain for three months´ consumption by Norway´s population in a crisis situation that may arise,” Pollestad told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
[X Post]
As of the first quarter of this year, Norway has 5.6 million inhabitants.
Last year, the Scandinavian nation said that it would spend 63 million kroner ($6 million) per year on stocking up on grain.
Norway had stored grain in the 1950s but closed down its storage sites in 2003 after deciding they were no longer needed.
All this effort for just 3 months worth of grain!?
I don't get it, guys. They Support Von der Leyen
Quote:Populist surge or not in the recent elections, centrists still dominate the European Union and Merkel acolyte and arch-globalist Ursula von der Leyen is set up for another term at the top job despite having presided over a dramatic decline in economic welfare and the erosion of individual liberties.
Despite significant gains from conservatives and populists in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, neo-liberal and leftist factions within Brussels closed ranks to agree on the European Council nomination of German politician Ursula von der Leyen for a second term as the president of the European Commission, the top post in the bloc.
The nomination came, POLITICO reports, as a result of an agreement between six negotiators, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk representing Von der Leyen’s globalist-centrist European People’s Party, the socialists, represented by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez, and the neo-liberals represented by French President Emmanuel Macron and outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte.
Despite Von der Leyen showing interest before the EU elections of potentially including the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) led by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni in a coalition, this was shot down by the socialists and liberals, who demanded that Meloni be barred from talks as a pre-requisite for supporting a second term for the EU chief.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán slammed the closed-loop negotiations, saying on Tuesday that the deal backing Von der Leyen was “made with the leftists and the liberals runs against everything that the EU was based on.”
“Instead of inclusion, it sows the seeds of division. EU top officials should represent every member state, not just leftists and liberals!” the populist leader added.
The Next NATO Chief
Quote:Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, so spectacularly rejected by his own voters in last year’s elections, has been confirmed as the next Secretary General of NATO, and will take up the post later this year.
Mark Rutte, who fell from grace in the Netherlands over the migration crisis and his aggressively unwavering implementation of European Union green directives that critics said would have destroyed Dutch agriculture, will be the next Secretary General (SG) of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The departure of Jens Stoltenberg in October, after his term was extended, will come at a critical time for the defensive alliance after it became massively involved in the defence of a non-member state, Ukraine, from Russian aggression.
When his term ends later this year, Stoltenberg will have been Secretary General for ten years, the longest of any SG since the end of the Cold War.
[X Post]
Rutte’s appointment appears to confirm the emerging 21st century norm that Secretary Generals of NATO are the former Prime Ministers of small northern European countries. He will be the fourth Dutch NATO leader, meaning the country will have had more SGs than any other NATO state.
Stoltenberg wrote of his successor on Wednesday: “Mark is a true transatlanticist, a strong leader and a consensus-builder. I wish him every success as we continue to strengthen NATO. I know I am leaving NATO in good hands.”
Indeed, while Rutte is unmistakably part of the elite European centrist-globalist managerial class and pursued the European agenda as the Prime Minister of the Netherlands to the very breaking point of the electorate, he is also regarded as a “Trump whisperer” who gets along well with the man who may be the next U.S. President. As previously reported:
While the men may not agree on their political views, Rutte has been diplomatic towards Trump in the past and even chided other European leaders for their non-stop criticism of the former President.
In 2019, Rutte said he felt annoyed by the “white wine-sipping elite” who rolled their eyes at Trump’s criticism of bodies like NATO, saying the President was right to point out they had problems and needed to improve… [Rutte] pointed out that, in fact, the former President was right to point out how little some European states pay for their defence, in defiance of their NATO treaty obligations. Amid the news cycle of commentators losing their heads over Trump’s latest NATO comments, which as a report at the time noted the more grounded leaders realised should be taken “seriously but not literally”, Rutte had said “We should stop moaning and whining and nagging about Trump”.
Russia on Islamic Sleeper Cells
Quote:Sergei Melikov, the governor of Dagestan, said on Monday that Islamic “sleeper cells” under foreign direction carried out the bloody attacks on churches and synagogues that killed at least 21 people on Sunday.
The Islamic State congratulated the attackers but did not take direct responsibility for the slaughter.
Russian police said they killed five gunmen in an “anti-terrorist operation” to end the killings in the cities of Makhachkala and Derbent on Sunday. Before they were brought down, the terrorists attacked two Orthodox churches, two synagogues, and a police checkpoint.
A 66-year-old Russian Orthodox priest, Rev. Nikolai Kotelnikov, was among the murder victims. Sunday was the Pentecost or Trinity Sunday holiday on the Orthodox calendar.
The official death toll from the attack rose to 21 on Tuesday after a police officer succumbed to his wounds in the hospital. Sixteen of the dead were police officers, according to Dagestan officials. Another 46 people were injured, including 13 police officers.
Russian officials have revealed few details about the attackers, probably because the regime of strongman Vladimir Putin is still calculating the best political use of the crime. Although Dagestan has a history of Islamist extremism, and ISIS perpetrated a horrific massacre at a concert hall in Moscow three months ago, Russian officials quickly suggested Ukraine, the United States, and NATO could be the true masterminds behind the Dagestan attack.
Putin also tried to blame the March massacre on shadowy Western puppet masters, even though ISIS took credit for the attack. On Monday, an ISIS-affiliated Russian-language outfit called Al Azaim Media applauded the Dagestan massacre and claimed ISIS inspired it, but stopped short of claiming direct responsibility or identifying the killers as Islamic State operatives.
“Our recent call did not keep us waiting long,” Al Azaim Media wrote, implying the attackers responded to calls for violence from Islamic State leadership.
“Our brothers from the Caucasus let us know that they are still strong. They showed what they are capable of,” the statement said.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington, D.C. said on Monday that Wilayat Kavkaz, the Islamic State branch in the Northern Caucasus, was the likely perpetrator of the “complex and coordinated attack.”
ISW pointed to social media video that appeared to show Russian police capturing two suspects in the attack alive on a public beach and a post on Telegram from a source close to Russian security services that identified two of the attackers in Makhachkala as the sons of a Dagestani official named Magomed Omarov.
Police raided Omarov’s house on Sunday night, detained him for questioning, and local officials sacked him from his position as a district official. He was also expelled from the Putin-supporting United Russia political party, which scrubbed his profile from its website.
AFRICA
Kenya & Haiti
Quote:An unnamed official of the Kenyan Interior Ministry told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday that a force of police officers is finally ready to depart for Haiti after almost a year of political and legal hurdles.
If the information the Interior Ministry official and police sources provided is accurate, two “advance teams” have already been dispatched, and an unspecified number of police officers will depart for Haiti on Tuesday.
Kenyan President William Ruto has been promising to send a thousand Kenyan police officers to Haiti since July 2023, an offer the United States and United Nations welcomed, as Haiti has degenerated into gangland chaos since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021. The Haitian government is clearly unable to control the gangs on its own, but no major power is eager to put troops on the ground.
The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) voted to authorize Kenyan deployment to Haiti in October 2023. It was the first time the UNSC authorized a multinational intervention since the African Union sent forces into Somalia to fight Islamist gangs in 2007.
Ruto’s deployment plan was blocked in January by Kenya’s high court, which ruled the president lacked the constitutional authority to deploy police on foreign soil. Kenyan opposition leaders vowed to file more lawsuits to prevent Ruto from sending officers to Haiti.
Ruto told the BBC in May that he had, nevertheless, sent a “planning team” to Haiti and would commence his deployment at the earliest opportunity. The Biden administration urged all relevant parties to withdraw their objections and allow the deployment to commence, stung by the murder of three missionaries by gangsters, two of them American citizens.
“We shouldn’t be losing people. We shouldn’t be losing missionaries. We are doing this to stop more people from losing their lives to gangs,” Ruto told the BBC.
Kenyan President Won't Sign the Bill
Quote:Kenyan President William Ruto announced on Wednesday morning that he would back down from signing a proposed tax hike bill that prompted a series of TikTok-fueled riots that left at least 13 dead and dozens injured.
Ruto, who was elected in 2022 after successfully running as an anti-China candidate seeking to reduce the communist nation’s growing influence on Kenya, was slated to sign a finance bill into law that included tax increases targeting a wide array of goods and services, ranging from bread to car insurance. Ruto previously asserted that the tax hikes were necessary to balance the budget of the economically struggling nation.
Opponents of the bill communicated on the Chinese TikTok social media platform to organize protests and riots against the Kenyan government. The protests escalated on Tuesday as local lawmakers voted to pass the bill; protesters stormed the premises of the Kenyan Parliament, and there were reports of police responding by firing live ammunition.
Tuesday’s reports indicated that the riots left at least five dead and at least 45 injured, including Auma Obama, former U.S. President Barack Obama’s 64-year-old sister.
Ruto — who, on Tuesday, claimed that the protesters had been infiltrated by “criminals” and “hijacked by dangerous people” — addressed his nation on Wednesday morning, announcing that he would “concede” to the protesters’ demands and would thus not sign the finance bill into law.
“Listening keenly to the people of Kenya who have said loudly that they want nothing to do with this Finance Bill 2024, I concede,” Ruto said. “And, therefore, I will not sign the 2024 Finance Bill, and it shall, subsequently, be withdrawn. The people have spoken.”
It sounds a bit strange or even laughable to hear that he will send troops and
cops to Haiti to stop the very same kind of events that had taken place in Kenya itself in the past few days.
"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
