News of the World

[kyonides]

US Begins First Mass Evacuation Effort of Citizens From Sudan

The U.S. State Department confirmed that it’s launching the first mass evacuation of its citizens from Sudan amid fighting between rival factions that started earlier this month.

A U.S. government-backed convoy carrying U.S. citizens arrived at Port Sudan on April 29, the State Department said in a statement over the weekend. Port Sudan, which sits near the Red Sea, is located hundreds of miles away from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.
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“We encourage U.S. citizens who want to leave Sudan but chose not to participate in this convoy to contact the Department of State using the crisis intake form on our website.”

The evacuation was triggered after “intensive negotiations by the United States with the support of our regional and international partners,” the State Department said, noting that Americans shouldn’t travel to the war-torn country.

Texas Shooting Suspect
Who Gunned Down 5 Neighbors Is Still on the Run

A male gunman is still at large after allegedly shooting and killing five people, including a child, in Texas late last week in an incident that started with a noise complaint, according to officials.

The suspect, 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza, was allegedly asked to stop firing a rifle in his yard because a baby was trying to sleep, according to the San Jacinto County Sheriff’s Office. The suspect then allegedly opened fire, killing five people, including an 8-year-old, during the early morning hours of April 29 in Cleveland, Texas.

In an update posted on social media that night, the sheriff’s office stated, “An extensive manhunt for Oropeza has not yielded his location.”
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“While en route, the communications center received multiple 911 calls of an active shooter incident at the dispatch location,” Capers said. “Multiple deputies arrived at the residence and located multiple victims deceased in a residence and several others in critical condition from multiple gunshot wounds.”

He described Oropeza as a Mexican male, and he said the victims were from Honduras. It’s not clear whether the suspect was in the country illegally.

California Approves Rule Banning Diesel Trucks by 2036

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) approved new regulations and voted to ban the sale of diesel big rig trucks by 2036 and require all trucks to be zero-emissions by 2042, the company announced Friday.

The Advanced Clean Fleets rule is added to a list of California’s zero-emissions regulations in an effort to become more environmentally friendly and decrease the state’s high pollution.

California is the first state to require new commercial trucks, including garbage trucks, delivery trucks, and other medium and heavy-duty vehicles, to be electric.

It'll be a disaster as it happened in New York City this past winter.

2 Killed, 4 Wounded in Mississippi Shooting; Man Arrested

Police have charged a 19-year-old man with killing two teenagers and wounding four others in an early Sunday shooting at a house party on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Cameron Everest Brand of Pass Christian is charged with murder and aggravated assault, jail records show. Bay St. Louis Police Chief Toby Schwartz said in a news release that police identified Brand as the sole shooter through witness and victim statements.

An 18-year-old and a 16-year-old died in a New Orleans hospital, Schwartz said.
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Brand was arrested at his home in neighboring Pass Christian and taken to jail, Schwartz said. Bay St. Louis Municipal Court Judge Stephen Maggio denied Brand bail, and he was being held in the Hancock County jail. It is unclear if Brand has a lawyer to speak for him.

Students had gathered for a party at the home on a sparsely populated road after Bay High School’s prom. Local news outlets reported that trails of blood could be seen on the pavement Sunday outside the home, while cars were peppered with bullet holes. The home is less than a mile from Bay High.

CCP Infiltrating Solomon Islands, Preparing Pacific Expansion

An ousted Solomon Islands politician is speaking out against China’s communist regime, which he claims has infiltrated his own government and is seeking to do the same elsewhere.
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“People need to be aware of the way that the CCP is dealing with development in our country,” [former Malaita Province Premier Daniel] Suidani said at an April 28 talk at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

“They do not share our values at all.”

Suidani was ousted as premier after a vote of no confidence by the provincial Legislature in February.

He maintains that multiple members of the Solomon Islands national government who promoted his ouster have been receiving bribes from the CCP, and he has condemned the government’s decision to sign a security pact with the regime last year that will allow China to deploy its military in the Solomon Islands to protect its own people and companies from anything it deems to be a threat.

The national government also moved in 2019 to revoke its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in favor of the CCP, which Suidani also opposed.

China Expands Anti-Espionage Law
Targeting Foreign Companies and Dissidents

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) passed its newly revised anti-espionage law, which will come into effect on July 1 this year.

The revision has expanded the definition of espionage, making it broader and vaguer. Human rights observers believe that it is an escalation in the repression of the Chinese people and will be used to further target foreign individuals and companies in China.

The regime’s rubber-stamp legislature published the revised law on its website on April 26. It was the first modification from its November 2014 release.
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the scope of subjects of stealing secrets is expanded to “other documents, data, materials, and items related to national security and interests.”

The newly revised anti-espionage law also classifies selling out to espionage organizations and their agents as espionage, as well as “conducting cyberattacks against state organs, secret-related units, or key information infrastructure” as espionage.

The new revision also includes “establishing a management system for key anti-espionage and security units.”
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Nikkei, a Japanese media company, reported that China’s restriction of the transmission of any information related to national security under the updated anti-espionage law had sparked concerns that the CCP is stepping up its targeting of foreign individuals and companies. The expanded law would lead to arbitrary law enforcement, such as detaining individuals without concrete evidence.

An executive at Japan’s Astellas Pharmaceuticals’ Beijing office was arrested last month over alleged espionage. The incident has shaken the Japanese business community, with some companies already reassessing risks and halting business travel to China.

What some people might ignore about the CCP is that this law will allow the Chinese government to get even more access to proprietary data than ever before just to make sure those companies aren't spying on them.

Biden Courts Mega-Donors at Luxury Washington Hotel

President Joe Biden is taking part in an April 28 Democratic National Committee (DNC) reception at the luxury Salamander D.C. Hotel in Washington.

It’s part of a multi-day meeting with 150 top Democratic donors
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The Biden 2020 war chest included more than $93 million from Bloomberg LP and more than $63 million from Future Forward USA.

According to OpenSecrets, top 2020 donors to that organization included Facebook billionaire Dustin Moskovitz. More than $45 million also came from Asana, the project management software company Moskovitz founded after leaving Facebook.
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Future Forward USA also received millions from accused FTX fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried. Significant sums came through both direct donations from Bankman-Fried and through his cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research.

China Detains Taiwan-Based Publisher
Who Released Books Critical of CCP

A Taiwan-based book publisher was detained while visiting Shanghai, Chinese officials confirmed Wednesday. Taiwanese officials said the move displays the communist regime’s intimidation against the self-ruled island.

Li Yanhe, known by his pen name, Fu Cha, was born in China but has lived in Taiwan since 2009. He has served as the editor-in-chief of Gusa Publishing, a company that has released books critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Li traveled to Shanghai to visit relatives in March, but his friend later lost contact with him. Concerns about Li’s safety and whereabouts grew after news emerged in the past week that the Chinese police had secretly detained Li.

Chinese officials confirmed Li’s detention on Wednesday. Li is under investigation “on suspicion of engaging in activities endangering national security,” Zhu Fenglian, a Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson, told reporters at a briefing.