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USA

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Many Articles

Pro-Palestinian Protesters Swarm White House Fence, Secret Service Deployed

Pro-Palestinian protesters swarmed the White House fence on Saturday, forcing the Secret Service and D.C. Police to get involved.

The protesters were seen shaking the fence as they yelled, “Fuck Joe Biden.” Secret Service agents dressed in riot gear were seen behind the fence.

At one point, the protesters shook the fence so hard that they forced it back.

In another instance, protesters climbed the Rochambeau Statue in Lafayette Square to wave Palestinian flags.

The protesters were later dispersed.

According to The Guardian, thousands of protesters swarmed Washington DC on Saturday “to call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to protest US aid to Israel.”

Gun Bans in Post Offices Violate 2nd Amendment, Judge Says

A federal judge in Florida ruled on Jan. 12 that the U.S. government’s decision to arrest a man for possessing a firearm in a post office violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle for the Middle District of Florida cited the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen case, in which the high court said that the Second Amendment protects a U.S. citizen’s right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense purposes.

That ruling also set up a new test for judging firearms laws, stating that such legal restrictions should be consistent with the country’s historical tradition of firearms regulation.

Postal worker Emmanuel Ayala was indicted by the United States on charges of violating Section 930(a) of the U.S. Code, which regulates the possession of firearms and dangerous weapons in federal facilities. Mr. Ayala argued that the law is “unconstitutional as applied to him” since historical records don’t support a law banning firearms in post offices.
The United States responded to the Ayala case by stating that “the Second Amendment allows it to punish the bearing of arms inside any government building.”
“But the Supreme Court has been clear: the government must point to historical principles that would permit it to prohibit firearms possession in post offices,” Judge Mizelle wrote.

Pentagon Denies Taylor Swift Is an Asset for Government Psyops

If you think the Pentagon’s psychological operations unit once floated the notion of turning singer Taylor Swift into an asset for psyops then you’d be wrong. No less an authority than the U.S. Department of Defense says so.

The official denial came after Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested this week pop star Swift could be “a front for a covert political agenda.”

Politico reports during his show Jesse Watters Primetime, the host told viewers, “around four years ago, the Pentagon’s psychological operations unit floated turning Taylor Swift into an asset.”

His allegation came with a clip from a 2019 conference organized by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence, where a presenter appears to name Taylor Swift merely as an example of a powerful influencer, further enhancing her previous efforts to make herself known beyond entertainment and in politics.

“It’s real. The Pentagon psy-op unit pitched NATO on turning Taylor Swift into an asset for combating misinformation online,” Watters said.

Well, maybe not, as Politico points out.

Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh pushed back against Watters claim, referencing one of  the left-wing singer’s big hits by saying in a statement, “as for this conspiracy theory, we are going to shake it off.”

Rapper Yo Gotti’s Brother Fatally Shot Outside Memphis Restaurant

Rapper Yo Gotti’s brother, Anthony “Big Jook” Mims, was gunned down and killed Saturday outside a Memphis restaurant, and police say he was the target of the attack.

The Memphis Police Dept. responded to the scene outside Perignons Restaurant & Event Center around 4:15 p.m. on January 13 and found two men shot, according to the New York Post.

Mims (pictured, right) was rushed to St. Francis Hospital where he was soon pronounced dead.

A second shooting victim was driven to the hospital but was later airlifted to Regional One Health in Memphis in critical condition.

Mims had been in attendance at a funeral for a relative that same day, police reported.

Investigators did not reveal a motive or a list of suspects, but they feel that Mims was deliberately targeted.

“We do feel that the individual that was shot was possibly targeted by the suspect,” Memphis Deputy Police Chief Paul Wright said at a Saturday press conference.

White did not tie the shooting to the “I Am” rapper., though it was not ruled out.

Big Jook worked for Yo Gotti’s Collective Media Group on the business side of the label.

Fmr Obama Official: Biden ‘Owns’ Border Surge, He Sent Message that ‘We Wanted People to Come’

During an interview aired on Friday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Wall Street Week,” Steve Rattner, who served as counselor to the Treasury Secretary in the Obama administration, stated that President Joe Biden “conveyed a sense that we wanted people to come here back from the first day of his Inauguration, and the result is you have 3 million people a year now crossing the southern border and going through our crazy, convoluted system.”

Rattner said, “We take in a million a year legally, and if you just want to maintain our population, given our fertility rate, you have to take in 4 million a year, or else our population will start to decline. So, we need these people. We have a 3.7% unemployment rate. They are not going to take away American jobs. But it is the most divisive political issue. And frankly, President Biden didn’t say open borders, but he conveyed a sense that we wanted people to come here back from the first day of his Inauguration, and the result is you have 3 million people a year now crossing the southern border and going through our crazy, convoluted system. And the Republicans, therefore, have no political incentive really to solve this problem. Biden owns it. The country, including Democrats, are very unhappy with our immigration policy. And there could be a deal in Congress.

Pentagon Gives Update on Austin’s Health After Outcry Over Secret Hospitalization

The Pentagon said in a Jan. 13 update on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s condition that he remains in the hospital.

The update comes two weeks after the 70-year-old was secretly moved to an intensive care unit after suffering from a post-surgery infection.

“Secretary Austin remains hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and is in good condition,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in the update.

“He’s in contact with his senior staff and has full access to required secure communications capabilities and continues to monitor DOD’s day-to-day operations worldwide.”

Over the past two weeks, members of Congress from both sides of the aisle have been criticizing the Pentagon for its lack of transparency and delays in disclosing Mr. Austin’s Jan. 1 hospitalization and the nature of his condition.

Complications from a urinary tract infection and fluid collecting in his abdomen following a surgery caused Mr. Austin, 70, to return to the hospital on Jan. 1, when doctors transferred him to the intensive care unit for an expelling procedure and close monitoring.

House Moves Forward on Hunter Biden Contempt Vote, Rejecting ‘Stunts or Delay’ Tactics

The House will move forward during the week of January 15 to hold Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress despite his offer to sit for a deposition if once again subpoenaed, committee chairmen said Friday.

The denial of Hunter’s offer suggests House investigators do not trust the president’s son. He and his lawyers frequently engage in delay and public relations tactics.

Hunter proposed on Friday to sit for a closed-door deposition if Congress reissued a subpoena, arguing the prior subpoenas “are legally invalid” because the impeachment inquiry “did not yet exist when the subpoenas were issued.”

Hunter’s offer appeared to be another public relations ploy to provide Attorney General Merrick Garland with a reason not to prosecute him upon a successful contempt vote.

The vote remains set for the week of January 15 despite Hunter’s offer, which the committee chairmen deemed another delay tactic.

“For now, the House of Representatives will move forward with holding Hunter Biden in contempt of Congress until such time that Hunter Biden confirms a date to appear for a private deposition in accordance with his legal obligation,” House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) and House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) said Friday.

“While we will work to schedule a deposition date, we will not tolerate any additional stunts or delay from Hunter Biden. The American people will not tolerate, and the House will not provide, special treatment for the Biden family,” they explained.

Denver Mayor: Abbott Doesn’t See Migrants Are Following Statue of Liberty, Also Stop Sending Us So Many of Them

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stated that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ® doesn’t see people crossing the border as people “who are trying to do exactly what the Statue of Liberty says, which is, send us your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” He also stated that he hopes Texas stops sending migrants to Denver during the winter storm and “A strategy of having folks just sent to New York and Chicago and Denver I think is not setting them up for success or setting our cities up for success.”

Host Kaitlan Collins asked, “[T]he Governor of Illinois, Gov. Pritzker (D), he sent a letter to a fellow Gov., Greg Abbott of Texas, asking him to stop sending migrants during the dangerous winter storm, warning that it could kill people. Do you expect that Gov. Abbott — who’s also sent migrants to Denver, I should note — do you expect that he’ll heed that warning?”

Johnston answered, “I would hope that he would. It is incredibly dangerous for us to have folks arriving in the middle of this polar vortex where we’ll have record-low temperatures, but we also think this underscores part of the challenge that the country is facing right now, which is — what we need to make this work is not to have a system where one Governor decides where every migrant in the country gets sent, but instead, a place where we have federal dollars that support new arrivals, they arrive with the ability to work when they get to cities like Denver, and we have a coordinated entry plan so actually all of the cities and states in the country can figure out what their capacity is and take up to that capacity. A strategy of having folks just sent to New York and Chicago and Denver I think is not setting them up for success or setting our cities up for success.”

ASIA

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A Few Articles

Anti-Communist Lai Ching-te Wins Taiwan Presidential Election, Disappointing China

Anti-communist Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Lai Ching-te won Taiwan’s presidential election on Saturday, defeating his two leftist rivals on a campaign emphasizing Taiwan’s sovereignty in the face of mounting threats from China.

Lai, sometimes referred to by his Western name, William Lai, is the current vice president and the first candidate to secure a third term for a political party in the young history of Taiwanese democracy. As a former physician, Lai rose to prominence as an authority figure during the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, during which Taiwan distinguished itself as the first nation to alert the World Health Organization – in vain – to the spread of a novel disease in China and for its performance in containing infections and preventing widespread death.

Lai will succeed current President Tsai Ing-wen in an inauguration ceremony on May 20.

By the way, go check out the Encyclopedia Britannica webpage on Taiwan's history to learn how the island has never been an actual Chinese province as the CCP loves to claim.

China Expands IVF Access in Bid to Raise Catastrophic Birth Rate

China’s state-run Global Times reported on Wednesday that several cities have “ramped up their efforts for the reimbursement of medical bills for fertility services,” including in vitro fertilization (IVF), in China’s latest bid to arrest crashing birth rates.

China’s demographic crisis goes far beyond couples with biological fertility problems, but the Global Times noted infertility rates climbed from 12 percent to 18 percent between 2007 and 2020, presenting a problem that might actually be soluble with policy changes and financial investments.

IVF is expensive, with “costs amounting to tens of thousands of yuan as it often takes multiple attempts to achieve success,” so Chinese municipalities have been reluctant to cover the procedure until now. The capital city of Beijing joined the list of cities offering IVF benefits in 2023, and the big central provinces may follow suit in 2024.

The Global Times reported other aspects of childbirth are receiving more medical benefits as well, including prenatal exams, outpatient care, reimbursement for female employees who need time off for birthing, and subsidies for hospital expenses.

Kim Jong-un Says North Korea Has ‘No Intention of Avoiding War’ with South Korea ‘Scum’

North Korea’s communist dictator Kim Jong-un declared that his country has “no intention of avoiding war” with South Korea on Tuesday during an inspection of a military munitions factory.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korea’s flagship government propaganda outlet, referred to South Korea as the “Republic of Korea,” a change in style that appeared to acknowledge that South Korea is a separate state from the North. For years, KCNA would refer to the country as “south Korea,” a territory under the dominion of a rogue faction that North Korea considered rightfully territory under Pyongyang’s rule.

KCNA’s summary of Kim’s remarks relayed that the dictator declared that “the time has come at last” to recognize South Korean sovereignty in anticipation of the return of active hostilities.

“Saying that the historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea (ROK),” KCNA narrated, “which has pursued a history of vicious confrontation with bloodshot eyes to overthrow our regime … he stressed that our state should recognize this unavoidable and irrevocable reality as it is.”

Kim reportedly added that Pyongyang must “properly settle the historic problem.”

North and South Korea – and its allies, China and America respectively – are technically in a state of war that began in 1950. The Korean War’s active phase ended with an armistice agreement that did not result in a peace treaty or surrender. American troops remain in South Korea to help preserve the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the border between the Koreas, to this day.

“The ROK scums are our principal enemy,” Kim reportedly said, according to a translation of KCNA’s Korean language reporting by the U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA). “While we will not unilaterally decide on a major upheaval in the Korean peninsula through the overwhelming force of ours, we also have no intention of avoiding war.”

Xi Jinping Vows More Severe ‘Corruption’ Purges After Year of Disappearing Chinese Ministers

Chinese dictator Xi Jinping ordered the Communist Party’s discipline agency to engage in a more intense campaign against the “cancer” of corruption, the state news outlet Xinhua reported on Wednesday, calling the situation within the Party “grave and complex.”

Xi made his remarks on Monday at the opening of a meeting of the Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI), a body that Xi revitalized following his ascent to power in 2014 and has used to purge thousands of Communist Party officials at all levels of authority for the past decade. Xi announced a “mass line” campaign in 2014 – reviving a Mao Zedong-era term for the purge of government workers and officials deemed insufficiently loyal to the communist cause or otherwise corrupt.

The CCDI’s mandate is to identify and punish officials accused of abusing their power, engaging in corruption, or failing to uphold “family virtues.” It is one of China’s most secretive and feared bureaucratic bodies.

Xi suggested that he would expand the mandate of the CCDI even further this week, as corruption was a “cancer threatening the vitality and ability” of the Chinese Communist Party, the largest organization of its kind in the world.

Xi has both empowered the commission and attempted to brand it as a beloved institution. The Chinese government aired a state-run propaganda “documentary” on Sunday narrating the alleged successes of Xi’s corruption purges, featuring imprisoned former officials offering effusive apologies to the camera.

MIDDLE EAST

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Hezbollah Kills Two Civilians with Anti-tank Missile in Northern Israel

Barak Ayalon, a man in his 40s, and his mother Miri Ayalon, 76, were killed when an anti-tank missile slammed into their home in the border community, in an attack claimed by the Hezbollah terror group.

Barak Ayalon was declared dead at the scene by Magen David Adom medics, while Miri Ayalon died a short time later after being rushed to a hospital in serious condition.

A 74-year-old man, identified in media reports as Barak Ayalon’s father, was treated for acute anxiety, MDA said.

The deaths were the first civilians killed by Hezbollah since a November attack on electrical workers whom Hezbollah appears to have mistaken for soldiers. (Breitbart News was present near the border shortly before that attack.)

The attack came after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) located and killed Hezbollah operatives who had infiltrated into Israel.

But i haven't seen anybody in the international community crying out that Hezbollah is committing war crimes against humanity, even if they are committing them!

LATIN AMERICA

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3 Articles

Ecuador Declares State of Emergency After Jailbreak by Nation’s Most Wanted Criminal

The President of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa, declared a 60-day nationwide state of exception and curfew on Monday in response to a new wave of gang violence that erupted following the disappearance of José Adolfo Macías, Ecuador’s “most-wanted criminal.”

Macías seemingly vanished from the prison housing him in Guayaquil over the weekend.

Macías, commonly known as “Fito,” is the leader of Los Choneros, one of the most dangerous gangs in Ecuador, with extensive ties to Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. Macías was serving a 34-year sentence that began in 2011 on organized crime, drug trafficking, and murder charges.

Macías was missing from his cell on Sunday just before he was scheduled to be transferred to a maximum security prison, automatically prompting the dispatching of 3,000 law enforcement agents to search for him throughout the Guayaquil regional prison system. Local authorities announced on Monday that they do not know Macías’s current whereabouts.

Sunday’s incident marks the second time Macías has escaped prison. In February 2013, the gang leader briefly escaped captivity until local authorities captured him again three months later.

Macías’ disappearance prompted riots in several of Ecuador’s prisons. Argentine news outlet Infobae reported on Monday that it had reviewed and confirmed footage of prison staff being subdued by inmates and being forced to deliver a statement to Noboa urging him to reconsider broad security measures he announced in the new year.

Ecuador Gang War: 178 People Being Held Hostage in 7 Prisons Nationwide

Penitentiary authorities in Ecuador confirmed on Thursday that violent gangs are holding at least 178 people hostage across seven prisons in the country as part of a wider war between the nation’s organized crime syndicates and the newly minted government of President Daniel Noboa.

Noboa, the 36-year-old son of a banana magnate, began his presidential term in November, committing to policies intended to eliminate organized crime in the country. On January 4, Noboa announced that he had greenlit a plan to build two new “mega-prisons” in the country modeled after a sprawling prison complex built in El Salvador, where President Nayib Bukele has similarly waged war on Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) and other violent gangs.
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Inside the prison system, organized inmate uprisings have resulted in the mass abduction of prison guards and office staffers. Ecuador’s National Service for Whole Attention to Adults Deprived of Liberty and Adolescent Violators (SNAI), the national-level agency in charge of prisons, confirmed on Thursday afternoon that 178 people remained hostage in seven prisons around the world:

“Due to the disturbances and incidents in the penitentiary system, at the moment security operations and protocol are in place to liberate 158 penitentiary security agents and 20 administrative services personnel who are detained,” a statement published online by SNAI reported. “We are working permanently, continuously, and responsibly to safeguard the integrity of the [hostages].”

“We request that citizens follow reports from official channels and do not generate disinformation while work continues to safeguard human lives,” the agency added:

SNAI also confirmed the escape of three prisoners on Wednesday, a number expected to grow as prison authorities subdue prison riots and begin confirming who remains in the facilities.

Brazil Issues Dozens of Warrants, Prepares Trials on Anniversary of Pro-Bolsonaro Riot

Brazil’s Federal Police (PF) acted to fulfill 46 search and seizure warrants and one arrest warrant on Monday against people suspected of financing the January 8, 2023, Brasilia riot.
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Monday’s police warrants are part of the 23rd phase of Operation “Lesa Pátria,” (a Portuguese idiom that roughly translates to “crimes against the state”). The operation is a broad permanent investigation against individuals or organizations suspected of having financed, organized, and/or participated in the January 8 riot. The warrants in this latest wave were issued for locations in 11 of Brazil’s 27 States.

Brazil’s TV Globo reported on Monday that the preventive arrest warrant was issued against Wagner Ferreira Filho, a Brazilian citizen accused of paying 24,000 Brazilian reais ($4,917) to charter a bus for the January 8 protesters. According to local police investigations, Ferreira Filho’s fingerprints were found on a glass frame inside the Brazilian Congress.

The Brazilian police did not disclose the identities of the targets of the 46 search and seizure warrants.

The broad permanent operation was authorized by STF Minister and self-styled “anti-fake news crusader” Alexandre de Moraes, who has issued over 6,200 orders since January 8, 2023, related to the riot investigation.

As of September, Brazilian courts have sentenced over 30 people convicted of participating in “undemocratic acts,” “violent abolition of the democratic rule of law,” “staging a coup d’etat,” and other charges related to the January 8 events.

EUROPE

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A Few Articles

Prosecutors Have File on Parliamentary Researcher Accused of Spying for China

Reported on Jan. 4, 2024

The police have given prosecutors a file on two alleged spies, including a well-connected parliamentary researcher, according to the Metropolitan Police.

The men in their 20s and 30s, who allegedly spied for China, were arrested in March last year and released on bail. The researcher has previously denied all allegations against him.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, The Met said a file has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The investigation into the allegations “is being carried out by officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, which has responsibility for investigations relating to allegations of Official Secrets Act and espionage-related offences,” a spokesperson said.

“Officers have been in liaison with CPS in relation to this investigation and a case file has now been passed to them for consideration. Both men remain on police bail at this time and enquiries continue.”

The men, who have not been officially named, were arrested on March 13, 2023 on “suspicion of offences under section 1 of the Official Secrets Act, 1911, according to the Met.

The man in his 30s was arrested in Oxfordshire. The parliamentary researcher, who is in his 20s, was arrested in Edinburgh.

Police officers have also searched both men’s homes, as well as an address in London.

They were initially on bail until early October last year, but the bail period was later extended to a date in January. The Met didn’t confirm whether it has been extended again.

King of the Danes: Frederik X Takes the Throne of Denmark After Queen’s Abdication

Denmark’s prime minister proclaimed Frederik X as king on Sunday after his mother Queen Margrethe II formally signed her abdication, with massive crowds turning out to rejoice in the throne passing from a beloved monarch to her popular son.

Margrethe, 83, is the first Danish monarch to voluntarily relinquish the throne in nearly 900 years. Many thousands of people gathered outside the palace where the royal succession took place, the mood jubilant as the Nordic nation experienced its first royal succession in more than a half-century, and one not caused by the death of a monarch.

Denmark’s monarchy traces its origins to 10th-century Viking king Gorm the Old, making it the oldest in Europe and one of the oldest in the world. Today the royal family’s duties are largely ceremonial.

Margrethe signed her abdication during a meeting with the government at the Christiansborg Palace, a vast complex in Copenhagen that has been the seat of Danish power for centuries. It now houses the Royal Reception Rooms and Royal Stables as well as the Danish Parliament, the prime minister’s office and the Supreme Court.

Convicted Russian Mayor Has Prison Sentence Cut in Exchange for Fighting in Ukraine

A disgraced former Russian mayor convicted over bribery had his prison sentence cut short after signing a contract to fight with Russia’s military in Ukraine, local media reported Sunday.

Oleg Gumenyuk, who served as mayor of the far eastern city and cultural hub of Vladivostok between 2018 and 2021, was convicted last year of accepting bribes worth 38 million roubles (about $432,000) and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.

However, he was released after agreeing to bear arms and fight as part of his country’s military operation in Ukraine that started nearly two years ago, his lawyer Andrei Kitaev told Russian news outlet Kommersant.

He said that the politician’s whereabouts were unknown, but that Gumenyuk was instructed to report to his military unit on Dec. 22.

Local officials for the Federal Penitentiary Service in the Primorsky region where the former mayor was held did not confirm the reports.

Photos circulating on social media show a man resembling Gumenyuk carrying a gun while being surrounded by other servicemen.

Russia has gone to extraordinary lengths to replenish its troops in Ukraine, including deploying thousands of prisoners directly from the country’s jails. Inmates who sign up for six months on the frontline are pardoned upon their return.

Volcano Erupts in Iceland, Sending Lava Toward Nearby Settlement

volcano has erupted in southwestern Iceland for the second time in less than a month, sending semi-molten rock spewing toward a nearby settlement.

The eruption just before 8 a.m. Sunday came after a swarm of earthquakes near the town of Grindavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. The community was evacuated overnight, Iceland’s RUV television reported.

“Lava is flowing a few hundred meters north of the town, this is 400 to 500 meters,” Kristín Jónsdóttir from the Icelandic Meteorological Office told Iceland’s RUV television. “Lava flows towards Grindavik.”

Residents of Grindavik were previously evacuated from their homes in November and had to stay away from the town for six weeks following a series of earthquakes and an eventual volcanic eruption. They were allowed to return on Dec. 22.

At Least Four Dead in Suspected Boat Migrant Drowning Off French Coast

Four people were found dead overnight in another suspected drowning of migrants trying to cross the dangerous English Channel from northern France, authorities said Sunday.

Another person rescued in critical condition is being treated in a hospital in the French coastal town of Boulogne-sur-Mer, according to the French maritime authorities for the English Channel and the North Sea.

The maritime prefecture said the drama happened in the early hours of Sunday near Wimereux, a coastal village north of Boulogne, and that people appeared to have been trying to reach a boat off the beach there.

It said it had no immediate details about those who died.