News of the World

[kyonides]

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

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White House Refuses to Freeze Iran’s $6 Billion

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan refused on Tuesday to commit to freezing the $6 billion of Iranian funds that the United States unfroze before Hamas attacked Israel.

“You just laid out all the ways that Iran is complicit and facilitated it … is that reason enough to re-freeze the $6 billion that the U.S. helped unlock for them?” a reporter asked Sullivan during a press conference.

“We have not yet had a dollar of that $6 billion spent, and I will leave it at that,” he replied.

Iranian security officials reportedly played a key role in planning Hamas’s surprise strike over the weekend. Iran helped plan the attack and “gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday,” senior members of Hamas and Hezbollah told the Wall Street Journal.

The Washington Post confirmed the Journal’s report. Hamas planned the attack “with key support from Iranian allies who provided military training and logistical help as well as tens of millions of dollars for weapons,” current and former Western and Middle Eastern intelligence officials told the Post.

It remains unclear what precise role Iran played in terror.

President Joe Biden’s Tuesday speech about the attack notably ended without mentioning Iran. He did mention that Hamas took American hostages.

“We now know that American citizens are among those being held by Hamas,” the president said.

“I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” he added. “Because as president, I have no higher priority than the safety of Americans being held hostage around the world.”

The Biden administration’s mild handing of Iran comes as Senate Republicans demanded the Biden administration freeze the funds after Hamas attacked Israel.

“We write today to affirm our unwavering support for Israel, our greatest ally in the Middle East, and call on the U.S. Department of State to freeze the accounts in Qatar containing $6 billion in Iranian funds that were released from South Korean accounts in September,” 18 Senate Republicans wrote President Joe Biden.

Israeli Soldiers Find Dead Babies After Palestinian Hamas Attack

Israeli soldiers discovered dead babies after the Palestinian Hamas invasion of the nation that began Saturday, i24news correspondent Nicole Zedeck recounted.

“I’m talking to some of the soldiers and they say what they’ve witnessed as they’ve been walking through these different houses, these different communities,” Zedeck reported in the town of Kfar Aza, Israel, which is located near the border of the Gaza Strip. Kfar Aza is a small town located in southern Israel between Netivot and Sderot.

“Babies, their heads cut off. That’s what they said,” she recalled. “Gunned down families — completely gunned down in their beds.”

CNN reported the gruesome nature of the mutilated bodies found (via Mediaite):

CNN correspondent Nic Robertson went into horrifying detail as he described the carnage Hamas militants left behind at the Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel.
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Israeli forces were able to liberate the town after two days of fighting Hamas gunmen, but in a video Robertson posted to CNN’s Instagram account, he explained there were “bodies everywhere,” some of which were decapitated.

“There were so many murdered members of this Kibbutz,” he said. “Men, women, children, hands bound, shot, executed, heads cut.”

Biden Preparing More Oil Sanctions Relief for Top Iran Ally Venezuela

The administration of President Joe Biden and the socialist regime of Venezuela are in talks that could lead to Washington lifting more oil sanctions, according to a report published by Reuters on Monday.

If granted, the prospective oil sanctions relief would come at a time when Venezuela is moving ahead with a joint plan alongside the violent, anti-American regimes of Iran and Syria to build an oil refinery in the Syrian town of Homs, yielding profits for all three regimes.

The planned oil refinery in Homs and its prospective profits may potentially fund international terrorism. Despite being a Shiite regime, Iran has maintained deep ties with the Sunni Hamas terrorist organization, providing financial and military backing.
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The Maduro regime itself maintains longstanding ties with both Iran and Palestinian groups. The socialist regime, which broke diplomatic ties with Israel in 2009, justified Hamas’ heinous actions against Israel by blaming them on the alleged “impossibility of the Palestinian people to find in the multilateral international law a space to assert their historical rights.”

Iran has provided significant aid to the Maduro regime in the past year, particularly in restoring its rundown oil refineries after more than two decades of socialist mismanagement left Venezuela’s oil industry in a near-ruined state. Since last year, Iran has also begun refining its own oil in Venezuela’s repaired refineries.

The Maduro regime is long suspected of having close ties to the Iran-backed Shiite terrorist group Hezbollah, going as far as to reportedly provide Venezuelan regular and diplomatic passports to members of the terrorist organization that grant them greater freedom of movement around the world.

The Reuters report, which cites five unidentified sources, stated that the sanctions relief being negotiated would allow at least one additional oil company to extract Venezuelan oil to be used in repaying debts if socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro agrees to resume negotiations with representatives of the Venezuelan establishment “opposition” in Mexico. Those negotiations have remained frozen since November.

White House: Even Though Iran’s Oil Sales Are Increasing, We’re Enforcing Sanctions, ‘Supply and Demand’ Must Balance

White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that the Biden administration has been enforcing sanctions on Iranian oil, but “Iranian oil is still on the market, and it is a global market. Supply and demand have to be balanced.”

Co-host Bret Baier said, “[M]oney is fungible. You get $6 billion over here for humanitarian and food, so then you can move money someplace else, and then you have the not enforcing sanctions that allows Iran to cash in on its oil around the world.”

Kirby responded, “Bret, with all due respect, I’ve just got to push back on you there. It’s not that we’re not enforcing sanctions. We have been enforcing them. As a matter of fact, we’ve added sanctions. We’ve sanctioned 400 entities in Iran, just in the beginning of this administration, let alone the sanctions that came before us. And as for the fungibility, again, that money was never going to be tapped by the Iranian regime. They were never going to see it themselves. It was always going to go to vendors that we approved, to go to buy humanitarian assistance, medical, and food, to get directly to the Iranian people. The regime was never going to see that or feel that, and they haven’t asked for it. And the other thing I’ll say, Bret, just before we get off this topic –.”

Baier then cut in to say, “I want to push back on one thing. You said that the sanctions are being enforced. The Iranian exports of oil to China, 2020, 6.6 billion. 2021, 23.1 billion. 2022, $30 billion. So, how is that enforcing the sanctions on Iran?”

Kirby responded, “We’re mindful that Iranian oil is still on the market, and it is a global market. Supply and demand have to be balanced. But I’m telling you that we are enforcing the sanctions and we’re adding sanctions to the regime.”

And all you've managed to get from all those "sanctions" is watching Iran get richer and richer, add another $6 billions they might spend later on, like once the war against Hamas ends...

White House Confirms More than 20 Americans Unaccounted for in Israel, Unknown Number Held Hostage

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed during a White House press conference Tuesday that at least 20 Americans are unaccounted for in Israel, after attacks on Saturday by Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas that left over 1,000 dead.

“We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who at this point are missing,” Sullivan said at the press conference. He said he did not know about their condition, and could not confirm a “precise number” of those missing.

“That does not mean necessarily that there are 20 or more hostages. Just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for,” he added.

“We do not know the number of hostages at this time,” he said.

He also confirmed that the number of Americans killed has risen to 14.

Black Lives Matter Organization Shows Support for Hamas Amid Terror Attack on Israel

Black Lives Matter Grassroots, which represents 26 local BLM chapters across the country, issued a lengthy statement “in solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel from Gaza over the weekend on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the final day of the annual High Holy Day cycle. The attack has resulted in over 900 deaths and at least 2,500 wounded, according to the latest reports. At least 11 Americans were also killed during the violent terror attacks.

The statement references the violent attacks on Israel as an understandable “desperate act of self-defense.”

“As the world is faced with deep questions about self-determination, as well all desire and pray for a world of peace, we must stand unwaveringly on the side of the oppressed,” the statement read. “When a people have been subject to decades of apartheid and unimaginable violence, their resistance must not be condemned, but understood as a desperate act of self-defense.”
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Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family who are currently resisting 57 years of settler colonialism and apartheid. As Black people continue the fight to end militarism and mass incarcerations in our own communities, let us understand the resistance in Palestine as an attempt to tear down the gates of the world’s biggest open air prison.

The organization also recognized what it claims are “clear parallels between Black and Palestinian people.”

The statement also seemed to call on the United States to stop funding Israel.

Where the heck did they ever get that crazy idea that their so called victims can go on a rampage, kill the elderly and even  babies just because!? When did a German girl, a self proclaimed pacifist, threaten their survival for even a split second? How can simple farmers working at a kibutz or observing a Jewish holiday become a powerful army that can destroy Gaza?

No matter how you view things here, Israel did not start the attacks. It never went after old people except for some select terrorist leaders trained by Iranian officials, leaving common civilians alone. And certainly didn't search for babies living in any community to kill them like Hamas did in the last few days. I agree with Najib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, Hamas has proven to be a bunch of animals that have to be stopped right away. Call the enemy Hamas or Maras (MS-13), they deserve to be heavily punished for committing thousands of atrocious crimes against mere civilians.

US NEWS

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Policies, Special Counsel Hur & Joe Biden, Walk-outs

NYC Mayor Eric Adams: The World’s Migrants Have a ‘Right’ to American Jobs

During his trip to Mexico, Ecuador, and Colombia this past weekend, Adams sought to ask would-be illegal aliens not to travel to the sanctuary city of New York City, saying there is “no more room.”

That message has seemingly fallen on deaf ears as migrants traveling through Mexico told the Daily Mail that they are planning to make the journey up to the U.S.-Mexico border and head northeast to New York City.

At the same time, while in Colombia, Adams suggested that the world’s migrants deserve a “right to work” in the U.S. regardless of the impact that mass immigration has on the job prospects and wages of Americans.

“When you look at Colombia they have really shown how to absorb individuals into their societies, and one of the most important ways to do it is to allow people to work,” Adams said:

Nothing is more humane and, nothing is more American than your right to work, and we believe that is a right we should extend.

Special Counsel Interviewed Joe Biden for Two Days over Classified Documents

President Joe Biden sat down for two days for an interview with Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating his handling of classified documents from his time as vice president that were found in his possession.

White House spokesman Ian Sams said the “voluntary interview” concluded Monday.

Sams said in a statement:

The voluntary interview was conducted at the White House over two days, Sunday and Monday, and concluded Monday. As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation. We would refer other questions to the Justice Department at this time.

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur to investigate Biden in January after the federal government learned last November Biden maintained possession of classified documents in one of his offices and his garage.
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Hur’s interview with Biden comes after he has interviewed many of Biden’s closest aides and advisers, according to the New York Times.

As the Times reported:

Among them are Steve Ricchetti, a top White House aide, and Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, the people familiar with the case said.

Prosecutors have also spoken to Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who has been a key Biden foreign policy adviser for decades; Ron Klain, who served as White House chief of staff until earlier this year; and Michael R. Carpenter, the former managing director of the Penn Biden Center, who is currently ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Mr. Blinken’s interview was previously reported by ABC News.

Hundreds of Walgreens Pharmacy Workers Walk Out, Claiming Dangerous Conditions

Walgreens employees across the country are temporarily striking in protest of working conditions which “put their lives and your life in danger.”

Speaking with CNN, protest organizers within the drugstore chain claimed that over 500 of the corporation’s approximately 9,000 locations – about 5.5 percent – are interested in joining the walkout from Monday to Wednesday. The publication confirmed that some pharmacies at locations in the left-leaning states of Arizona, Washington, Massachusetts, and Oregon have already shut down due to the demonstrations.

While several Walgreens have already been forced to close, many that remain open are reportedly severely understaffed, with the majority of employees not showing up for work. An organizer told the outlet that some stores will try to get by with only their drive-throughs staying operational, while others will eventually have to close.

The complaints of the workers include being faced with increased demands to perform vaccinations and other medical tasks while having to deal with bullying and harassment from customers.

“It’s a hard job on a good day. It’s an incredibly rewarding job, but it’s hard,” interim executive director of the Kansas Pharmacists Association, Amanda Applegate, told the publication. “And so the idea of pharmacists essentially being turned into ATMs in these environments, encouraging volume over quality, is why this is happening.”

While there is no official union leader in charge of the coordinated protest, Walgreens employees have been spreading the word like wildfire via social media, word-of-mouth, and fliers. Under the “#OperationSpotlight” hashtag, pharmacy workers are making their voices heard.

ASIAN NEWS

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Massive Earthquake Kills over 2,400 in Northwest Afghanistan

Afghanistan was struck by its deadliest earthquake in years on Sunday, with more than 2,400 casualties reported at last count from the northwestern city of Herat and its surrounding province.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) rated the quake at magnitude 6.3 and said its epicenter was in the rural district of Zindajan, about 20 miles northwest of Herat.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said “one hundred percent of homes are estimated to have been completely destroyed” in Zindajan. Herat itself suffered relatively minor damage to its ancient minarets. Eyewitnesses said one reason the disaster response was slow for rural communities was that Herat was left largely intact and, since cellphone service was out, rescuers in Herat did not immediately realize how badly damaged the surrounding villages were.

The Taliban regime struggled to produce solid estimates of how many people were killed, or even how many people live in Zindajan, since its population includes a large number of displaced persons.

Reuters explained on Monday that houses in earthquake-prone Afghanistan, which straddles at least two active fault lines, are not really built to handle tremors:

Structures are either made of burnt bricks with cement mortar or are sun-dried brick masonry buildings with load bearing walls. The thickness of the walls ranges from 20 to 30 cm for the burnt bricks and about 40 cm to 80 cm for the sun-dried brick structures. These homes can be covered by large and often heavy roofs that can cave into the structure, making them extremely vulnerable to seismic activity, according to the report.

China Declares America the Villain in Hamas Brutality Against Israel

China’s state propaganda outlet, the Global Times, declared America the “enemy of world peace” in its Monday coverage of the ongoing Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, downplaying the jihadists’ responsibility for the mass murder, abduction, torture, and rape of civilians.
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The Palestinian terror attack happened on the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret, the final day of the annual High Holy Day cycle.

The Communist Party of China, which is currently engaging in acts of genocide against the Muslim indigenous populations of occupied East Turkistan, initially responded to the wave of atrocities by parroting Hamas’s demand for carving a Palestinian state out of Israel. Beijing declared itself a “friend to both Israel and Palestine” but discouraged Israel from defending itself against further Hamas attacks.

“To end the cycle of conflict between Palestine and Israel, it is essential to restart the peace talks, implement the two-state solution,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning asserted on Monday, “and settle the Palestine question fully and properly through political means at an early date so as to take care of each party’s legitimate concerns.”

On Monday, the Global Times, a Chinese government mouthpiece, held the United States responsible for the outbreak of radical Islamic terrorism, claiming Washington’s “inflammatory, reckless, and crazy talks [sic]” drove Hamas to pillage the homes of random Israeli nationals. Beijing also condemned military support for Israel in the face of its neighbor Iran and its terrorist proxies routinely holding events chanting “death to Israel” and vowing the genocide of Israelis and Jews. The Times condemned Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley by name for supporting Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu in any operation in pursuit of the eradication of Hamas.

“In [the] case of Israeli-Palestinian puzzle, what is genuinely needed is far from a few politicians making a show, or the so-called humanitarian concern which comes along with a childlike narrative in which all virtue is on one side and all evil on the other,” the state outlet claimed. “Neither providing weapons nor sending an aircraft carrier group can bring peace to the region, not to mention manipulating public opinion.”
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In a separate editorial on Monday, the Global Times bashed America’s history of condemning radical Muslim pro-Palestinian groups as “extremely cruel.”

“All acts of violence and attacks targeting civilians are unacceptable in any civilized society and must be strongly condemned by the international community, regardless of the perpetrators,” the Global Times, which is owned by a regime that imprisoned as many as three million Muslims in concentration camps between 2017 and 2020, asserted.

So China loves to blame its enemies for everything while asking the whole world to ignore the crimes committed by terrorists and terrorist states like Khameini's radical Iran and the Red Dragon nation itself.  What else should we expect from China now? Proposing the Siberian Bear Vladimir Putin or Hamas and Hezbollah for the Peace Nobel Prize now?