Quote:Since the summer of last year, tens of thousands of border crossers and illegal aliens — many from Venezuela — have arrived in Chicago with little to no resources or plans to provide for themselves. Most remain living in city-subsidized housing or in police stations.

Now, according to Axios, a housing company is pitching city officials on a plan that would have six migrants live in a single 80-square foot “micro home,” costing $20,000 each to manufacture.
...
Inherent Homes has developed a prototype to provide an alternative to tents on sidewalks and under viaducts that can be built fast in their Lawndale facility.

Their new MicroHomes are 80 square feet and can house up to six people, Inherent CEO Tim Swanson tells Axios. They include a lofted bed, over 5 feet in headspace and a composting toilet.
...
If the city wanted these houses, Swanson said it would take less than a month for production to ramp up and they could produce several units per month.
...
Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is among a handful of Republican lawmakers who have highlighted immigration’s impact on housing costs for Americans, calling it “economic warfare” that cuts would-be first-time homeowners out of the market.

Quote:Israel has recalled for consultations its ambassador to South Africa following the “latest statements from South Africa,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.

South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party on Thursday had said it would support a parliamentary motion calling for the Israeli embassy in South Africa to be closed.

South Africa, which is highly critical of Israel’s campaign in Gaza against Hamas, has recalled its diplomats from Israel.
...
Earlier on Monday, a South African government minister called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by mid-December.

South Africa has already recalled its own ambassador and diplomatic staff from Israel, and the government has repeatedly described the Israeli campaign in Gaza as “genocide.”

The minister who called for the arrest of Netanyahu was Naledi Pandor. While calling for Netanyahu’s arrest, she has defended Russian president Vladimir Putin, criticizing calls for his arrest by the ICC and granting him immunity to visit South Africa.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) released a video Monday of soldiers working together with United Nations personnel to evacuate newborns and babies in incubators out of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, which has been a base for Hamas.

According to the IDF, the babies will be transferred to Egypt for further care there.

Israel has been criticized for military operations near hospitals, but the IDF counters that Hamas is using hospitals to house its military facilities, in violation of international humanitarian law; and that it is helping civilians evacuate to other facilities.
...
There are reports that the Israeli military is operating, as of Monday, near the so-called “Indonesian” hospital, a facility that the IDF has said is atop Hamas terror tunnels.

Quote:Soldiers from the Combat Engineering, Infantry and Armored Corps of the 36th Division are fighting to defeat the ‘Zaytun’ Battalion of the Hamas terrorist organization. The ‘Zaytun’ Battalion is one of Hamas’ main battalions operating in the area of Zaytun in Gaza City. The troops have encountered an enemy that is entrenched in the heart of residential neighborhoods, hospitals, schools and kindergartens, and attacks from within civilian infrastructure.

The soldiers of the Golani Brigade led the beginning of the fighting against ‘Zaytun’. The soldiers have engaged dozens of terrorists, conducting battles at close quarters with them, and have eliminated many of them.
...
In recent days, the soldiers located a laboratory for the production of rockets, explosion materials, a tunnel shaft, a large number of weapons and a UAV inside a mosque.

Soldiers of the Bislamach Brigade destroyed military targets of the Hamas terrorist organization in Zaytun, among them an Islamic Jihad weapons production post, where heavy and long-range rockets were located, as well as a lathe used for military purposes. The soldiers also destroyed tunnel shafts, took control of Hamas command centers, confiscated intelligence material used by the organization to learn about IDF soldiers, and struck additional buildings from which terrorists fired at IDF soldiers.

Quote:The Iranian regime has adopted the label “axis of resistance” to describe itself, its allies, and its terrorist proxies throughout the world, despite the precedent of the Axis powers — the losing, Nazi side — in World War II, and the “axis of evil” after 9/11.
...
The former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has warned that “new war fronts” could open if Israel continues its offensive in Gaza.

Mohsen Rezaee, now the head of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, told the Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen: “The axis of resistance will play a bigger role in the future and the Zionist regime will definitely lose in this war.”

U.S. President George W. Bush famously included Iran as one of the state sponsors of terror, what he called an “axis of evil”:
...
States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.

Quote:British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak signalled a claimed change in his approach to the economy in a speech on Monday, saying he was satisfied inflation had fallen enough to begin talking about tax cuts, perhaps the most powerful weapon he has in his electoral toolkit with only around a year to go to seemingly unwinnable national elections.

Yet despite the aspirational language of the address, the Prime Minister also made clear individuals should probably not expect to get a tax cut any time soon, and whatever little his government would be willing to give before the big vote for the next government in late 2024, would probably be going to businesses instead.

While batting away a question asking what specific taxes may be targetted in the Chancellor’s statement on Wednesday, Sunak did nevertheless say “taxes directly on investment… taxes to encourage innovation” were being targeted, underlining the idea personal taxes may get no relief.
...
Sunak repeated his well-worn line that inflation works like a tax and accused the left-wing opposition of wanting to create a “permanently… bigger government”. “I want to cut taxes. I believe in cutting taxes” he said, while also dismissing the Laffer Curve, saying that “no matter how much we might want them to history shows us tax cuts don’t automatically pay for themselves”.

He also appeared to imply that the reasons behind high rises were somehow external factors beyond his control. He said: “I can’t click my fingers and suddenly wish away all the reasons that taxes had to increase in the first place. Partly because of Covid and Putin’s war in Ukraine…”.

Quote:Two South Carolina daycare teachers face multiple charges for allegedly directing 3 and 4-year-olds in their care to fight each other and "allow[ing] the violence to proceed without correction," police said.

Kids Unlimited of Prosperity day care employees Ericka Jones, 27, and Serena Caldwell, 56, turned themselves in to authorities on Thursday after warrants were issued for their arrest, per the Newberry County Sheriff's Office.

Both are charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and unlawful conduct to a child, according to the department's Friday press release. Jones faces 14 counts of each charge, while Caldwell faces 15.

Daycare owner John David Dawkins wrote in a statement provided to local outlet WIS-TV that Jones and Caldwell were "immediately terminated" after staff reported their behavior and security footage was viewed.

The facility immediately notified the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the Newberry County Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Lee Foster told WLTX the daycare had cooperated fully in their subsequent investigation.

Investigating deputies discovered that the two women instructed children to shove, pull and hit each other, per the outlet.

Quote:Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has deported an illegal immigrant who is wanted for murder in Mexico and had been living illegally in the U.S. despite having been stopped at the border more than half a dozen times previously.

Juan Martinez Merida, a Mexican illegal immigrant, was deported in October, authorities said in a recent press release.

He had previously been detained at least seven times at the border, and had been allowed to depart voluntarily — where an illegal immigrant is allowed to leave the country by themselves and therefore avoid being given a final order of removal. He then escaped into the country as a got-away at an unknown time, according to ICE.

He was arrested in August by ICE’s branch in Philadelphia, and was charged with inadmissibility. Last month an immigration judge ordered his removal to Mexico, since there is an active warrant for his arrest.

In a statement, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) said Merida was wanted for murder in Mexico.

Quote:On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit found that Maryland’s Handgun Qualification License requirement violated the constitution.

Plaintiffs in the case include Maryland Shall Issue, Inc., Atlantic Guns, Inc., Deborah Kay Miller, and Susan Brancato Vizas.

The case reached the Fourth Circuit panel on appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, at Baltimore
...
Richardson wrote the majority opinion, noting numerous gun controls surrounding firearm purchases in Maryland and then pointing to a specific gun control — the Handgun Qualification License — pertaining to handguns:

For handguns specifically…there is an additional, preliminary step: You must also obtain a “handgun qualification license.” … Getting that license requires, among other things, submitting fingerprints to undergo a background “investigation” and taking a four-hour-long “firearms safety training course” in which you must fire at least one live round. Then, after submitting your application for this extra license, you must wait up to thirty days for approval before you can start the rest of the process.
...
Plaintiffs seek to enjoin the state from enforcing only this additional, preliminary handgun-licensure requirement. And Plaintiffs’ challenge must succeed. The challenged law restricts the ability of law-abiding adult citizens to possess handguns, and the state has not presented a historical analogue that justifies its restriction; indeed, it has seemingly admitted that it couldn’t find one. Under the Supreme Court’s new burden-shifting test for … these claims, Maryland’s law thus fails, and we must enjoin its enforcement.

Quote:A U.S. Navy plane with nine crew aboard overshot a runway Monday at a military base in Hawaii and ended up in the shallow waters of Kaneohe Bay. No injuries have been reported, authorities said.

UPI reports the P-8A Poseidon multi-mission aircraft came to grief around 1:57 p.m. The plane was seen sitting upright off Marine Corps Base Hawaii on the island of Oahu.

“All nine passengers aboard the aircraft at the time of the incident are accounted for, and no injuries are reported,” base spokesman Marine Maj. Jordan Fox said.

Images posted on Hawaii News Now show the white airplane surrounded by water some 50 yards offshore. The bay’s depth in that area ranges from 5 to 25 feet, according to nautical charts. Sand, mud and coral cover much of the bottom of the picturesque bay.

The Navy’s P-8A Poseidon aircraft is a surveillance jet with the airframe of a Boeing 737 passenger plane, according to Marine Corps spokesperson 1st Lt. Hailey Harms.

The crew, assigned to Whidbey Island in Washington, was performing “routine training” at the time of the crash which is still under investigation, the UPI report sets out.

Quote:Chinese state media commentators declared it “impossible” on Monday for Argentina to cut ties with Beijing following the election victory this weekend of anti-communist libertarian president-elect Javier Milei, who vowed not to promote cooperation with the Communist Party in favor of “civilized” nations.

Milei won Sunday’s presidential election in a landslide, besting opponent Sergio Massa, the socialist current economics minister, by over 11 percentage points. As a candidate, Milei vowed to dramatically limit the size of Argentina’s federal government, curb inflation by making the U.S. dollar an official national currency, and reorient the nation’s foreign policy towards the United States and Israel.

Under current President Alberto Fernández and several similar Peronist socialist governments, Argentina has dramatically increased cooperation with China, Russia, Iran, and other rogue nations. Argentina is a member of China’s predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and received approval for membership in the China-led BRICS coalition, scheduled to begin in January.

Milei has referred to China as a “murderer” regime and his aides have indicated he has no interest in joining BRICS, an economic and security bloc including China, Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa. Diana Mondino, the likely Argentine foreign minister under Milei, reportedly told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the Milei administration would “stop interacting with” China.
...
“It would be a huge foreign policy mistake for Argentina to cut ties with major countries like China or Brazil. China is Argentina’s important trading partner,” Mao said, according to the transcript of her regular press briefing on Tuesday. “The newly elected Argentine government values its relations with China, especially the business ties between the two countries.”

Quote:Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a group of Arab foreign ministers in Beijing on Monday for a discussion of the Gaza war.

The meeting was decidedly pro-Hamas in tone, with China demanding an immediate ceasefire to protect the terrorist organization, demanding a state for the Palestinians, and criticizing Israel’s counter-terrorist operation in Gaza.

The meeting included the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, plus the Palestinian Authority and Indonesia. 

“China is a good friend and brother of Arab and Islamic countries. We have always firmly safeguarded the legitimate rights and interests of Arab (and) Islamic countries and have always firmly supported the just cause of the Palestinian people,” Wang said when he convened the meeting, as quoted by the Associated Press (AP).

The AP noted that China has “long backed the Palestinians” and has stubbornly refused to criticize the hideous atrocities perpetrated against Israeli civilians on October 7. No denunciation of the Hamas atrocities was reported at the dialogue in Beijing.

Quote:The Israeli government approved a deal Tuesday night that will see the Palestinian Hamas terror group release at least 50 female, child, and elderly hostages over four days, in return for a pause in the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

In return, Israel will release a greater number of convicted Palestinians — though none who have been convicted of murder. Israel will resume the fight as soon as the hostages are delivered and the four-day period is over, as it works to destroy Hamas.
...
According to the developing deal, Hamas will release at least 50 Israeli hostages, mainly women and children, in exchange for a ceasefire of four days, the release of between 150 and 300 Palestinian prisoners, and the entry of fuel and other goods into Gaza.

Some 12-13 hostages will be released per day as the ceasefire takes effect, the source says, adding that Israel will release women and minor prisoners, with each returning to the city or town where he lived prior to imprisonment, including the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
...
Update: Israel’s Army Radio reports that up to 80 hostages will be released, with Hamas able to secure an additional day of relief from fighting for every 10 additional hostages it releases.

Quote:Israel on Tuesday banned the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), perpetrators of the horrific Mumbai massacre in November 2008.

The Indian government did not request Israel’s action but appeared to heartily approve of the decision. Israel has likewise asked India to ban Hamas, which tortured, raped, and slaughtered 1,200 Israeli civilians on October 7.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, whose name means “Army of the Righteous,” is a Salafist jihadi organization like the Islamic State. The group became active in the late 1980s as a proxy force for the Pakistani government to oppose India in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir regions.

By the mid-1990s, LeT had expanded from paramilitary operations against Indian military targets to suicide bombings and murdering Hindu and Sikh civilians, and it began launching attacks outside Kashmir in the early 2000s. Pakistan responded to intense international pressure by banning LeT and freezing its assets in 2002. Most of the group’s members are Pakistani nationals, and its training camps and headquarters are located in Pakistan.
...
Gilon noted that most of India’s key allies, including the United States, Canada, European Union, and Australia, have designated Hamas as terrorists. The Indian government has not yet taken that step, although it does officially describe the October 7 Hamas atrocity as a terrorist attack.

Quote:A vehicle exploded at a checkpoint on the American side of a U.S.-Canada bridge in Niagara Falls Wednesday, leaving two people dead and prompting the closing of four border crossings in the area, authorities said.

There was no immediate information on the cause of the explosion, but it raised concerns on both sides of the border. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials were “taking this extraordinarily seriously,” and the White House said President Joe Biden was “closely following developments.”

The two deceased people were in the vehicle, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. The official was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“This is obviously a very serious situation in Niagara Falls,” Trudeau said in Parliament before excusing himself from Question Period in the House of Commons to be briefed further.

The U.S. FBI’s field office in Buffalo was investigating the blast, along with other agencies. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was traveling to Buffalo from the state capital, Albany.

The blast happened on the U.S. side of the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the two countries across the Niagara River.

Photos and video taken by bystanders and posted on social media showed thick smoke, flames on the pavement and a security booth that had been singed. Videos showed that the fire was in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection area just east of the main vehicle checkpoint. The agency had no immediate comment.

Speaking to WGRZ-TV, witness Mike Guenther said he saw a vehicle speeding toward the crossing from the U.S. side when it swerved to avoid another car, crashed into a fence and exploded.

Quote:Low-income New Yorkers living in public housing say newly arrived migrants have been first in line for free turkeys ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, as public resources are strained from illegal immigration.

According to local reports and interviews, New Yorkers living in public housing are competing against tens of thousands of newly arrived migrants to New York City when it comes to meals this Thanksgiving.

“Why do we have to take the butt of everything,” New Yorker Georgia Butler told FOX5 New York in an interview. “This community is already suffering.”

“[The migrants] were first in line for the turkeys this morning,” Butler continued. “They tell you to be there at 11 o’clock. You get there at like 10:30, 10:45, but they are already out there. The line is from over there to over here.”

According to FOX5 New York, New Yorkers living in public housing have seen some 8,000 migrants move into their neighborhoods after having arrived at the United States-Mexico border and being released into the nation’s interior.

Quote:Cuomo, who resigned more than two years ago amid allegations of sexual harassment and claims his administration covered up the number of Covid-19 deaths tied to nursing homes, has begun in recent days to gauge the viability of a potential mayoral bid, according to eight people who have talked to him or his inner circle.

“I got the impression that he is ready,” Rev. Ruben Diaz Sr, who chatted with Cuomo last week, told Politico. “No one knows what’s going to happen in the city.”

“My opinion is if he runs, he will win,” Diaz added. “People are in need of a leader. Even though Governor Cuomo and I have our differences, we’ve had many fights in the past, and besides the differences, I think he was a great governor.”

Chatter about Cuomo comes as New York City’s current mayor, Eric Adams, is facing less than stellar polling numbers. Only 37 percent of Big Apple voters approve of the job Adams is doing, according to a Marist College poll.

Adams is under fire over his plan for sweeping budget cuts as the cost to house migrants continues to be a drain on Gotham’s coffers.

Quote:Pyongyang claimed on Wednesday that the satellite had taken images of American military bases in Guam less than 24 hours after being launched, a claim that South Korean officials dismissed as “exaggerated” and likely impossible, as it takes days for such a satellite to find its orbit and begin its surveillance functions.

The launch of the “Malligyong-1” was the third such attempt this year and the first successful one. According to North Korea’s National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA), the satellite left North Phyongang Province shortly before 11 p.m. local time on Tuesday. South Korea confirmed the launch and its defense minister suggested that the success may have been the result of collaboration with Russia.

Kim Jong-un visited Russia in September, making an extended stop at one of the country’s top aerospace research facilities alongside strongman leader Vladimir Putin. Putin promised to make his own visit to Pyongyang in the near future.

“The launch of reconnaissance satellite is a legitimate right of the DPRK [North Korea] for strengthening its self-defensive capabilities and it will make a significant contribution to definitely ramping up the war preparedness of the armed forces,” North Korean state propaganda declared, “in conformity with the security environment created in and around the country owing to the enemies’ dangerous military moves.”

Quote:Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted for the 2020 murder of George Floyd, was seriously injured in a stabbing incident at a federal prison in Arizona on Friday.

The assault on Chauvin, occurring at the medium-security Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Tucson, happened at around 12:30 p.m. local time, a source told The Associated Press. The convicted murderer was stabbed in the prison known for its security lapses and staffing shortages, the AP said, and has become a scene of yet another violent incident involving a notable prisoner.

Newsweek has sought additional information and verification from relevant sources and will update this article as more details become available.

Chauvin's case drew international attention following the death of Floyd after Chauvin knelt on his neck for over nine minutes. The incident, captured on video, sparked global protests against police brutality and racism.

Bidencrisis

No Americans Included in Hamas Hostage Release Puts Biden in GOP Crosshairs

Quote:President Joe Biden has come under fire on social media after no Americans were included in the 24 hostages released by Hamas on Friday during a temporary ceasefire.

Hamas fighters seized around 240 hostages and killed 1,200 people in a surprise attack on southern Israel, which began in the early morning of October 7. Israel responded with an air and ground offensive that has killed more than 12,700 Palestinians, the Associated Press reported, citing the Hamas-run Health Ministry.

On Friday, Hamas freed 13 Israelis as part of a deal that should see 50 hostages released during a four day ceasefire, in return for 150 Palestinian women and children being held in Israeli jails and more humanitarian aid. The first 39 Palestinians were freed in return whilst Hamas also released 10 Thai citizens and one Filipino who had been working in Israel.

However, none of those released on Friday were American, sparking some conservative anger against Biden who has enthusiastically supported the agreement that he said would "bring home additional American hostages."
...
Podcaster Alec Lace commented: "Apparently no Americans are being released in the hostage deal between Hamas and Israel which Biden claimed to broker! NEVER FORGET: Biden traded away the Merchant of Death for an anti-American basketball player."

Biden Receives Concerning News From 'Key Pillar' of His Economic Agenda

Quote:President Joe Biden got a record low approval rating from small business owners, who he has pledged to support through his "Bidenomics," according to a new survey.

Biden's approval among small business owners stood at only 30 percent in a new CNBC/SurveyMonkey Small Business Survey. The survey took feedback from more than 2,000 small business owners across the country from November 16 to 21.

In his early days in office in 2021, Biden had a 43 percent approval rating from small business owners, signaling a 13 percent drop in confidence, according to the survey. Currently, 56 percent of business owners strongly disapprove of his presidency's performance, while only 13 percent strongly approve.

On Tuesday, the Biden administration pledged $50 million to support small businesses under American Rescue Plan funds. In its announcement, the administration called small businesses a "key pillar of Bidenomics." Bidenomics is a term that encompasses the president's economic vision.

"Under President Biden, we've achieved the fastest growth in Black business ownership in over 30 years," the White House said in a statement.

Between 2019 and 2022, the number of Black households owning a business more than doubled after falling between 2007 and 2019.

Across the board, the Biden-Harris Administration awarded a "record-breaking" $163 billion in federal procurement opportunities to small businesses in 2022, the White House said in its statement. That included $69.9 billion to Small Disadvantaged Businesses (SDBs) and over $28 billion to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses.

No, Mr. Biden. You're not making people open new shops with a healthy financial status. What you're doing is just creating a strong dependency on federal funds to keep those businesses running... for a while at least.

Will those funds end up like all those granted by Obama to green companies that filed for bankruptcy a few months or years later?  

Quote:Argentina's President-elect Javier Milei on Friday declared the closure of the nation's central bank a "non-negotiable" aspect of his administration. The move, aligning with his libertarian principles, has set the stage for sweeping changes in Argentina's economic policy and governance.

As Milei prepares to take office on December 10 after defeating his opponent Sergio Massa, his commitment to shutting down the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BRCA) and dollarizing the economy signals a dramatic shift from traditional economic policies. His controversial approach is igniting debates among economists about the future of Argentina's financial stability and sovereignty.

Milei, a 53-year-old economist and a political outsider, is steering Argentina toward uncharted territory, experts say. His plan to replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar is a direct response to the country's crippling hyperinflation, which has surpassed 142 percent.
...
Economists warn that the process of dollarization is complex and dependent on significant dollar reserves, which Argentina currently lacks. Experts say that reliance on U.S. monetary policy, following the abandonment of local currency, would strip Argentina of crucial economic tools and potentially lead to a reduction in real wages and purchasing power among Argentinians.

Quote:A turncoat Ukrainian official was killed in a car explosion on Russian soil.

Oleksandr Slisarenko, the former deputy head of the Russian-imposed administration in the occupied Kharkiv Oblast, died after succumbing to his injuries after his car exploded in Belgorod, Russia, on November 16, according to Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform.

The car that Slisarenko had been driving collided with another vehicle, causing the explosion that resulted in his death. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) is believed to be behind the incident.

Slisarenko had previously worked in Ukraine's internal affairs agencies but was an active participant in Kharkiv's 2014 pro-Russia demonstrations, which came in response to the ousting of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was seen as Russian-leaning.

In 2021-2022, he fought against Ukrainian forces as part of the Rys special unit of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic (LNR). He was appointed deputy head of the occupation administration of the Kharkiv region for internal policy in the summer of 2022.

Quote:Ilya Andreev, a former Russian state news correspondent who quit to avoid pushing propaganda, is being held in a "punishment pit" after being sent to the front lines of the Ukraine war, according to his wife.
...
The Russian military has faced myriad challenges amid the conflict, including troubles recruiting and maintaining well-trained, disciplined troops. Military analysts have noted that Putin's troops lack motivation, and questions about the treatment of troops have been raised after a video emerged online appearing to show soldiers being thrown into a pit for refusing to fight.

Andreev is among the troops who have allegedly been sent to the "punishment pit," his wife told Russian Telegram channel Astra.

Andreev is a former reporter for state-run media outlet Channel One, which has toed Putin's line on the war. He quit this position to avoid pushing propaganda but was given a "black mark" from the organization, preventing him from finding another job, according to Astra's report.

Facing financial difficulties due to lack of employment, Andreev joined the Russian military but was told he would not be stationed outside of capital city Moscow on September 1, according to the report.

Quote:A group of Russian soldiers stationed in Ukraine recently released a video in which they accused their military commander of giving them an assignment in the hopes that it would kill them.

The soldiers alleged the commander's motivation for wanting them dead was to cover up his past mistakes that resulted in other troops dying.

The soldiers originally posted their video on Telegram, but WarTranslated, an independent media project that translates materials about the Russia-Ukraine war into English, shared the clip on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.

Newsweek could not independently verify the video and reached out to Russia's Ministry of Defense via email for comment.

WarTranslated frequently posts videos of Russian soldiers airing their grievances with Russian President Vladimir Putin or his military leaders. Over the weekend, WarTranslated's X account shared a video that allegedly showed naked Russian soldiers being forced to stay in a pit because they refused to fight.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has reported that unspecified Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip violated a nascent ceasefire after only 15 minutes, telling Newsweek it intercepted a rocket fired towards southern Israel.

Rocket sirens sounded in the evacuated southern Israeli towns of Kissufim and Ein HaShlosha early on Friday morning, shortly after a four-day ceasefire came into effect that will allow a prisoner exchange and the delivery of humanitarian aid into the besieged and devastated Gaza Strip.

"There was a rocket and it was intercepted," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit told Newsweek of the reports, noting it was fired at 7:15 a.m. local time; 15 minutes after the ceasefire—which the IDF is calling an "operational pause"—came into effect.

It is not yet clear which group was responsible for the alleged rocket launch, though the IDF has previously said Hamas bears responsibility for any attacks from Gaza into southern Israel given it holds influence over other local militant groups.

Quote:Police in Niagara Falls have confirmed the identities of the two people killed when their vehicle crashed near a bridge linking the United States and Canada on Wednesday afternoon, causing it to explode and sparking false speculation that it was a terrorist attack.

In a statement, the Niagara Falls Police Department (NFPD) said the victims were 53-year-old Kurt P. Villani and his wife Monica Villani, also aged 53, both from Grand Island, New York.

It added: "The incident is currently under investigation by the NFPD Crash Management Unit, no further details are available at this time.

"The City of Niagara Falls would like to extend our sincere condolences to the families as they deal with this tragedy."

The accident took place when a 2022 Bentley containing the couple hit a concrete barrier whilst travelling at speed down Niagara Street, launching it into the air before it exploded near the customs plaza, according to Niagara Falls Police Superintendent John Faso.

CCTV video released by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) showed a car travelling at high speed and then flying into the air immediately prior to the crash. This took place on the U.S. side of the border.

One CBP worker also suffered light injuries from the incident and received hospital treatment, though they've since been released.

In a statement published on Thursday, the FBI's Buffalo office said there was no indication the incident had been terrorism-related.

The office said: "FBI Buffalo has concluded our investigation at the scene of the Rainbow Bridge incident. A search of the scene revealed no explosive materials, and no terrorism nexus was identified. The matter has been turned over to the Niagara Falls Police Department as a traffic investigation."

In the immediate aftermath of the crash, four bridge crossings from western New York state to Ontario in Canada, including Rainbow Bridge, were closed by U.S. authorities. Police patrols were stepped up in Toronto whilst additional security checks were introduced for vehicles entering Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
...
According to local newspaper The Buffalo News, the two victims may have been planning to attend a concert in Toronto on Wednesday night.

Quote:The left-wing American Immigration Council released the analysis recently, giving a glimpse into the electoral power that the nation’s annual importation of more than a million legal immigrants has given to naturalized citizens.

“As more immigrants naturalize and become eligible to vote, they continue to gain political power,” the analysis states. “The number of immigrant voters is only projected to rise in the next decade, and in some states, foreign-born voters are already capable of deciding elections.”

Based on 2021 figures, there are more than 23 million immigrants in the U.S. who are eligible to vote ahead of next year’s election. Nearly 24 million immigrants have naturalized American citizenship.

The analysis indicates that foreign-born eligible voters will again account for about 1-in-10 of all eligible voters in 2024 — likely an unprecedented level of foreign-born eligible voters in the American electorate, giving enormous voting power to those who were not born in the U.S.

Quote:Election officials are scrambling to ensure trust in the voting system as voters and local leaders alike are sounding the alarm, a Saturday Politico report revealed.

Northampton used Election Systems & Software touchscreen machines for the first time in 2019 and saw a “programming glitch” that caused a significant “undercount” of votes in the local judge’s race, the publication reported. Then, on November 7, 2023, suspicion grew when voters discovered that their printouts meant to confirm their votes on the devices did not match their choices for two down-ballot judges races.
...
According to one county executive, voters are at their “peak of mistrust” with the voting system.

“We’re at the peak of mistrust of one another, but until that subsides, counties like ours need to be nearly perfect, and I think this system allows us to do that,” Lamont McClure told the outlet before the vote was certified on Tuesday, arguing that the glitch resulted from human error.

Politico noted that “ES&S and Northampton officials acknowledged that pre-election software testing, which is conducted jointly, should have caught that problem.”

“We deeply regret what has occurred today,” Linda Bennett, senior vice president of account management at ES&S, said at an Election Day press conference.

However, she claimed, “We are sure and positive that the voter selections are actually being captured” because the error supposedly only affected the paper cards.

Quote:The Irish Prime Minister addressed the nation on Friday morning after a night of fiery protests in Dublin in reaction to a mass stabbing against schoolchildren, but the leader had much more to say about violence against the state than violence against children.

Leo Varadkar spoke about “two terrible attacks” that took place on Thursday, one “on innocent children” and the other “on our society and the rule of law”. Speaking for almost six minutes, the Irish progressive-centrist Fine Gael politician spent 42 seconds condemning the man who had loitered outside a school before launching a knife attack the previous day, and then four minutes and 20 seconds unloading on those who came out to riot over the attack that evening.

Calling the multiple stabbings a “horrifying act of violence”, Varadkar spent most of those 42 seconds narrative building, praising those who had stepped in to try and stop the violence, and praising those who work in the Irish health service.

Following up with the considerably longer part of his speech on the protests and riots that followed, the Prime Minister noted: “yesterday evening some people decided the best way to respond to this terrible attack would be to take to the streets of Dublin to try to terrify, intimidate, loot and destroy. Their first reaction to a five-year-old child being stabbed was to burn our city, attack its businesses, and assault our [police].”

Quote:Thirteen Israeli women and children taken hostage by Hamas on October 7 are crossing back into Israel after a transition through Egypt via the Red Cross on Friday evening local time. 12 Thai hostages and one Filipino hostage have also been freed.

In return, Israel has released 39 Palestinian terror convicts, all women or teenagers. It has also allowed additional fuel trucks and other supplies into Gaza, after a four-day pause in fighting took effect earlier on Friday, under the terms of the agreement.

Over 200 hostages remain in custody in Gaza.

Israeli initially withheld the names of the hostages to be released, though names began to trickle out during the transfer.

One hostage released, Hanna Katzir, had been erroneously reported by Palestinian Islamic Jihad to have died in captivity. She was reportedly among the 13 Israeli hostages seen transferring from Gaza to Israel via the Red Cross through Egypt.

Quote:Hamas separated a mother and her daughter in the second release of hostages on Saturday, violating what Israel says was an agreement not to split families, and showing a degree of cruelty that undermines its effort at a more humanitarian façade.

Hamas released 13 Israeli hostages — eight children and five women — and four Thai nationals, in return for an Israeli release of 39 convicted female and juvenile Palestinian terrorists, plus additional fuel and supplies for the Gaza Strip.

Among the hostages released was Hila Rotem, 12, whose mother, Raya Rotem, 54, was not released. The Times of Israel reports that Israel believes that to be a violation of the agreement with Hamas, which is to see at least 50 hostages released over a four-day pause in fighting.

Another hostage was dual Irish-Israeli citizen Emily Hand, who turned nine years old in captivity. Her father had initially been told that she had died in the October 7 attack; he said it was better that she had died than have to endure torture by Hamas.

When it was reported that she was still alive, he prayed for her release — and it finally came on Saturday night. A photo of the reunion of father and daughter showed her looking extremely pale but relieved, holding a teddy bear that had been given to her.

Quote:A federal judge in Georgia has ruled that there is substantial evidence of cybersecurity deficiencies in the state’s election machines, potentially violating plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

The judge set a trial date for January 9, 2024, for the case filed by election integrity advocates and individual voters, who are requesting the use of hand-marked paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines.

The lawsuit includes expert reports highlighting weaknesses in the election system, prompting concerns and calls for compromise and legislative action.

“The Court notes that the record evidence does not suggest that the Plaintiffs are conspiracy theorists of any variety. Indeed, some of the nation’s leading cybersecurity experts and computer scientists have provided testimony and affidavits on behalf of the Plaintiff’s case in the long course of this litigation,” the judge wrote.

“The Court cannot wave a magic wand in this case to address the varied challenges to our democracy and election system in recent years, including those presented in this case.”

Quote:A man pleaded guilty this week to the 2022 firebombing of a Wisconsin pro-life organization — an attack which occurred just days after someone leaked the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the invented constitutional “right” to abortion.

Madison resident Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 30, signed a plea agreement on November 20, admitting to attacking the Madison headquarters of Wisconsin Family Action. Roychowdhury signed the agreement in exchange for the recommendation he not receive a maximum punishment of 20 years behind bars, LifeSite News reported Wednesday. A judge is set to review the plea deal on December 1.

The fiery attack occurred early in the morning on May 8, 2022. Law enforcement responded to an active fire at the organization’s building and found the remnants of two mason jars, one of which was singed but had not successfully caught fire. The outside of the building was spray-painted with, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either,” as well as a large “A” and the number “1312” a derogatory acronym that numerically stands for “ACAB” (All Cops are Bastards).

Quote:Actress Bridget Shergalis was among a handful of radical anti-Israel activists with the group Palestine Action US arrested this week for vandalism after a New Hampshire office of Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems was ransacked.

According to its Twitter page, the US branch of Palestine Action is dedicated to “dismantling Elbit Systems and the Zionist War Machine.”

The group shared several posts with photos of their hit of Elbit’s New Hampshire offices.
...
The three alleged vandals were eventually released on bail. One of them, Calla Walsh, went to Twitter and spewed: “I am facing an extreme level of political repression from the state and need all the support I can get. History will absolve us and Palestine will be free.”

Quote:During an interview with CNBC on Tuesday, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Commander Gen. Laura Richardson stated that American companies haven’t been bidding for contracts on critical infrastructure in Latin America and the U.S. is getting beaten in that national security area by China.

Richardson said, [relevant remarks begin around 6:05] “I would say that the U.S. is investing the U.S. quality investment, and we are investing in the hemisphere. The problem is, is that leaders don’t see it, the presidents of the countries don’t see it. We have over 800 U.S. companies in Colombia, over 250 U.S. companies in Panama, over 200 in Honduras, who knew? We don’t talk about it, we don’t brag. We don’t talk about the great things that quality U.S. investment brings, transparency, labor rights, environmental standards, we hire local workers. With the People’s Republic of China and the Belt and Road initiative, they bring in their own Chinese laborers ... we also have to have our U.S. companies competing on the contracts for critical infrastructure. We’re not competing on those for deepwater ports, for space or telecommunications and energy. And we need to do that.

Quote:Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar sparked equal measures of anger and dismay Saturday when he greeted the release of Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand by saying “an innocent child who was lost has now been found.”

Varadkar used social media to make his statement neglecting to mention the nine-year-old Hand had been held hostage for 50 days in Gaza by Hamas terrorists after she was taken from a sleepover with her friend on October 7 during the terror group’s devastating attack on Israel.

“This is a day of enormous joy and relief for Emily Hand and her family,” Varadkar’s official account tweeted on X, formerly Twitter. “An innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned, and we breathe a massive sigh of relief. Our prayers have been answered.”
...
Emily Hand was not “lost”, she was “kidnapped”, taken as hostage by Hamas. Kidnapping is against the law, being lost is not.

Israel Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he had ordered his staff to call in Ireland’s ambassador for a reprimand.

In a post on X directed at Varadkar earlier on Sunday, Cohen wrote: “It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check!”

Quote:A stampede during a music festival at a university in southern India on Saturday killed at least four students and injured 60 others, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

The disaster happened at the Cochin University of Science and Technology in Kerala state where students were enjoying a live musical event that was interrupted by rain, leading the audience to scamper for shelter that resulted in a stampede.

At least two people among the injured are in critical condition, news website Indian Express reported.

Quote:Taliban authorities in Afghanistan arrested four local employees of Germany’s main government-owned aid agency, according to the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

“I can confirm that the local employees of GIZ are in custody although we have not received any official information on why they are detained,” a ministry spokeswoman told the Associated Press in a statement late Saturday.
...
The German Agency for International Cooperation, or GIZ, is owned by the German government. It operates in around 120 countries worldwide, offering projects and services in the areas of “economic development, employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security,” according to the agency´s website.

The Taliban took over Afghanistan in August 2021, after the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from the country. Many foreign missions, including the German embassy in Kabul, closed down their offices.

The Taliban initially promised a more moderate approach than during their previous rule from 1996 to 2001 but gradually reimposed their harsh interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Quote:The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has greatly narrowed the submarine warfare gap, which could spell big trouble for U.S. plans to defend Taiwan with submarines.

Two particularly troubling events took place in 2023. First, satellite photos showed China putting together the hull for a new sub that would be dramatically larger than any previous PLAN undersea vessel, and then China field-tested a nuclear sub using the same quiet hydrojet propulsion system American subs employ.

Hydrojet or “pump-jet” technology is the next step beyond noisy propellers, which tend to be the greatest source of noise from underwater vehicles. Propeller technology has evolved tremendously over the last few generations of subs, but hydrojets are even more silent, efficient, durable, more functional in shallow water, and best of all, less prone to cavitation.
...
If China can produce big submarines with pump-jet propulsion, it will have entered the same era of undersea warfare as the U.S. Navy. The Chinese are also reportedly beefing up their anti-sub defenses, including a vast network of sensors deployed in the South China Sea that has inevitably become known as the “Underwater Great Wall,” plus more sophisticated tactics for using aircraft in anti-submarine warfare (ASW).

China’s string of fortified islands in the South China Sea would make excellent platforms for ASW planes and helicopters — and unlike ships that carry such aircraft, islands cannot be sunk with torpedoes by hard-pressed sub commanders. China’s rapidly expanding surface fleet is well-provisioned with submarine detection systems, as well.

Quote:The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Jens Stoltenberg again spoke of NATO membership for Ukraine as a definite matter — despite previous dissent from within the alliance — as he spoke of a forthcoming meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council this week.

“Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”, Stoltenberg said as he said discussions this week would focus on “priority reforms” for the country to make it fit to join the organisation. Recent direct support for Ukraine cited by the Norwegian politician turned alliance leader included the air defence coalition, billions in new funding, and the opening of the F-16 training centre in Romania for Ukrainian pilots.
...
He told press during a morning briefing that: “All Allies agree that in the midst of a war full membership is not possible. But of course, we will continue to look into to address how we can move Ukraine and NATO even closer together”.
...
Germany has also recently urged caution on the rush to make Ukraine an alliance member, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying after the war Ukraine will have been equipped with western-made weapons, and that would be the time to start talking about security guarantees. He said 2023 was the time for “concentrating on what is coming up”, and that NATO is “far from” being ready for Ukraine as a member so far, remarking “NATO’s criteria include a whole series of conditions that Ukraine cannot currently meet”.

Quote:The Associated Press obtained internal documents from the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), it claimed on Wednesday [15th], that showed the agency was offering a paltry $250 compensation to women sexually abused by its employees in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

To avoid the money appearing to be “reparations” for criminal behavior, the report revealed, the women were forced into career “training.” Women forced into sexual relations with W.H.O. workers in exchange for jobs during the Ebola outbreak in the country that began in 2018 told the AP that the United Nations agency did offer the $250, but only if they took baking classes.

The W.H.O., like many U.N. agencies, is struggling to address rampant rape and sexual assault by its workers in some of the world’s most impoverished areas.  Following the revelation of at least dozens of cases of women and girls forced into sex by W.H.O. employees in Congo, the agency’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus promised a “profound transformation” in 2021. Tedros had already faced over a year of widespread criticism for his poor handling of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, including a failure to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for the pandemic and telling the public that the Wuhan coronavirus was not contagious weeks after documented evidence existed that it could, indeed, spread from human to human.

Publicly available information on the abuse indicates that most took place when the W.H.O. expanded operations in Congo to address the Ebola outbreak that erupted there from 2018 to 2020. The operation created job opportunities for local health workers and others. Over 100 women have claimed, however, that to obtain the jobs – which they often desperately needed given the widespread poverty in the country – W.H.O. employees demanded sexual favors, raped them, or fired them. Several of the women claim they were impregnated and left to care for the resulting children on their own.

Quote:The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is refusing to release an infant Israeli hostage, Kfir Bibas, who was nine months old at the time of his abduction, among the 50-70 hostages it is letting go as part of a four-to-six-day “pause” in the fighting.

The IDF’s Arabic spokesperson Avichay Adraee indicates to Sky News that the Bibas family — father Yarden, mother Shiri, 10-month-old baby Kfir and 4-year-old Ariel — will not be released today from Hamas captivity.

Adraee explains that the family was taken hostage by Hamas during the October 7 massacre, and was then transferred to another Palestinian terror faction in Gaza. They are currently being held in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The Bibas family confirms that their loved ones will not be released today.

Hamas claims that it lost track of some of the Israeli hostages it took during its terror attack October 7, when it also murdered 1,200 people in Israel.

Quote:Hochul vetoed a proposal last week that would have created a 15-member task force of appointed experts to tackle organized retail crime, to the “chagrin” of store owners, the New York Post reported.

“Retailers throughout the state are extremely disappointed to learn that Governor Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill that would have established the New York State Organized Retail Crime Task Force,” the Retail Council of New York State said in a statement on November 20.

“Stores that invest in New York communities lose $4.4 billion to retail theft, and this illegal activity certainly has community safety implications.”

Council president and CEO Melissa O’Connor said she spoke with Hochul “at length” to discuss the “need for immediate action and an effective, collaborative response to this problem,” but reported that her administration has disappointed store owners throughout the state with her inaction.

A spokesperson for Hochul excused the veto by saying that the task force would have cost the state $35 million that was not in the budget, the Post noted.

New York City has seen major increases in retail theft, with a 64 percent surge in reported incidents over the four-year period between mid-2019 and June of this year, according to a Council on Criminal Justice report.

Quote:More than 100,000 Chinese nationals have migrated into the United States since 2021, and the federal government is doing little to block them or to send them home, the New York Times reported on November 24.

“When [President Joe] Biden and Mr. Xi met last week during an international summit in San Francisco, for instance, immigration was absent in their discussion,” the newspaper reported:

Instead, they talked about fentanyl, American business investment in China and export controls, among other topics.

In the past, American diplomats have tried to work with the Chinese government to persuade it to repatriate its citizens, and the response has tended to be the same.
...
In 2015, for example, federal officials tried to deport more than a dozen violent Chinese migrants back to their home country, Reuters reported. “But, not for the first time, China failed to provide the necessary documents, and three months later not one of those arrested has been deported, and many have been released from custody,” Reuters said.

U.S. officials do not pressure China to accept deported migrants largely because U.S. corporations and investors want to preserve their lucrative exports from China to U.S. markets.

Without China’s approval, Chinese migrants would have to be flown to a third country — and officials of both parties have done little to enable that policy.

Similarly, Biden’s officials do not pressure Mexico’s government to take back illegal migrants because they rely on Mexico to streamline the flow of worldwide economic migrants into the United States.

Quote:President Joe Biden bragged Wednesday of his ability to “blow up the world” through a special code his staff possess. The revelation came in Colorado as he made light of nuclear weapons during a visit to the world’s largest windmill factory.

The president went on to mistakenly call his predecessor “Congressman Trump” in an awkward appearance that saw him stumble from one verbal mishap to the next.

It began as he approached three yellow-vested workers at the facility in Colorado and one of them appeared to pose an inaudible question to the president.

Biden retorted: “Now look, my, my marine carries that. It has a code to blow up the world. That doesn’t, this is not….nuclear weapons is it….alright, ok…you think I’m kidding.”

The so-called nuclear football holds the codes the president would use to authenticate an order to launch nuclear missiles should he or she not be at the White House.

Officially named the “ Presidential Emergency Satchel, ” the bulky briefcase is carried by a military officer who is never far behind the president, whether the commander-in-chief is boarding a helicopter or exiting meetings with world leaders.

Quote:On Tuesday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Boston, Massachusetts, arrested the 62-year-old Brazilian national who is wanted in his native country for raping a child.

According to ICE, the Brazilian national fled the city of Florianopolis in Santa Catarina, Brazil, after he was convicted of raping a child earlier this year. Sometime after his conviction but before his sentencing, the State Department awarded him a B-2 tourist visa which he used to enter the United States via New York in April of this year.

The following month, in May, Brazilian law enforcement issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to appear in court to serve his 12-year sentence for child rape.

Following the warrant, ICE agents located the Brazilian national in the Boston area and served him with a Notice to Appear (NTA) before a federal immigration judge. He remains in ICE custody pending his deportation to Brazil.

Quote:Protesters once again stormed banks in China’s Henan province last weekend, a little over a year after the authoritarian regime violently crushed mass demonstrations by depositors who wanted to pull their life savings out of collapsing financial institutions.

Images shared online by Chinese dissident outlets on Tuesday suggested that groups of depositors organized on November 26 outside of banks in Nanyang, a city in Henan province, demanding the bank hand over their money.

“They were all subsequently arrested,” an anonymous citizen journalist in China known as “Mr. Li is not your teacher” reported, sharing a video of the protest. The citizen journalist claimed the protesters had not been able to access their own money for over 600 days.
...
The Henan bank crisis erupted in the summer of 2022 after thousands of customers were told they could not withdraw their money from a half-dozen rural banks, which had attracted their business by offering high interest rates.

The banks began refusing to allow withdrawals after a liquidity crisis. Roughly $6 billion in funds were frozen, mostly from small depositors who said they could not feed their families or pay rent without access to their money. Crowds of frustrated bank customers began staging protests outside the banks that stole their money, and eventually outside Chinese central banking offices in some Henan cities.

Several Articles

UNRWA Teacher, Gaza Doctor Kept Israeli Child Hostages

Quote:Israeli children were kept as hostages in Gaza by a variety of civilians — including a teacher for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and a Palestinian doctor who isolated the Israeli child from his own children and denied him food.

That is the report from Israel’s Channel 13, and it goes beyond previous evidence of torture committed against Israeli hostages.

News that a UNRWA employee was involved in keeping hostages is further evidence of the agency’s incorporation by terrorist organizations. The agency, created by the UN to cater specifically to Palestinian refugees after Arabs declared war on Israel in 1948, in an unsuccessful effort to destroy the country at its birth, has long been an incubator for radical Palestinian ideology.

Hamas is known to have imprisoned hostages in homes as well as tunnels, and gave hostages to other terror organizations.

Earlier this month, as Breitbart News noted, it was revealed that some UNRWA employees applauded Hamas’s terror attack on Israel on October 7, and that several of the known terrorists involved in the attack had been graduates of UNRWA’s schools.

Hamas Gunmen Kill Three, Injure Eight in Jerusalem Terror Shooting

Quote:Terrorist gunmen killed three people and wounded eight more in Jerusalem on Thursday, Israeli police said, just minutes after a six-day truce between Israel and Hamas was extended to a seventh day, and just hours after an American hostage was freed.

Both attackers were shot dead at the scene, near a bus stop on the western side of Jerusalem, where there are no checkpoints guarding the city entrance.

“Two terrorists arrived in a car, one of them armed with an M-16 and the other with a pistol,” and opened fire during the morning rush hour, Jerusalem police chief Doron Torgeman told reporters at the scene, AFP reports.

The two gunmen were shot dead “after the attack by two off-duty IDF soldiers and another civilian who fired at them,” police said in a statement.

A security search of the vehicle found large amounts of ammunition.

Keep in mind that Hamas and its fellow terror organizations are supposed to stop attacking Israel, yet, they keep launching rockets, attacking civilians... just business as usual for Hamas.

Negotiators in Qatar Have Divided Hostages into Groups, Like Cattle

Quote:The description of negotiations between Hamas, Qatar, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Israeli Mossad was published by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Tuesday evening.

Ignatius wrote:

The negotiators agreed on five categories of Israeli hostages for future releases, the knowledgeable source said. The five groups are: men too old for reserve military duty, female soldiers, male reservists, active-duty male soldiers, and the bodies of Israelis who died before or during captivity. The total is well over 100, but the source said he couldn’t provide a precise number as yet.

Hamas has expressed “willingness to negotiate on all five categories,” the source said. He added that parameters of the exchange — such as how many Gaza captives would be freed each day, how many Palestinian prisoners would be exchanged for each Israeli, and how much humanitarian assistance would be sent into Gaza — haven’t been worked out.

One complication is that Hamas has spread the hostages out among different groups — they did this with the Bibas family, whose infant was given to another terrorist group.

Already, previous exchanges have presumed that only women and children would be released — which has resulted in the cruel spectacle of mothers and children being liberated while husbands and fathers are still in captivity.

British Air-Warfare Destroyer Deployed to Persian Gulf, Joining Frigate and Other Warships

Quote:Britain on Thursday announced that it was sending one of its most advanced naval vessels to the Gulf to shore up its presence in the region.

The HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, will conduct operations to ensure freedom of navigation, reassure merchant vessels and ensure the safe flow of trade, the defence ministry said.

“It is critical that the UK bolsters our presence in the region, to keep Britain and our interests safe from a more volatile and contested world,” said Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.

The deployment follows the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Hamas and the seizure of an Israeli-linked cargo vessel by Iranian-backed Yemeni Huthis in the Red Sea on November 19.

The Huthis have launched a series of drone and missile strikes targeting Israel since Hamas militants poured over the border into Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240.

The ministry said around 50 large merchant ships each day pass through the Bab-el-Mandeb, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, while around 115 major merchant ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Quote:The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spent the first 48 hours of renewed fighting by attacking targets throughout Gaza, and fighting deep into southern portions of the Gaza Strip — apparently surprising Hamas, which expected Israel to stay in the north alone.

The U.S. had openly opposed an Israeli invasion of the southern Gaza Strip, saying that Israel had to account for civilians first. Whether Israel defied the U.S, or the U.S. participated in the ruse, Hamas does not appear to have expected the southern push.

Israel also released a map to help civilians avoid fighting, with different areas of the Gaza Strip numbered. The U.S. suggested that the map satisfied its concerns, though the administration has at times offered conflicting signals about Israeli tactics.

Reports on social media suggested that Israel had cut begun to cut a path across the southern Gaza Strip, entering from the east and progressing toward the Mediterranean coast, effectively dividing Gaza into three smaller sections — north, central and south.

Fighting in the south centered around the city of Khan Yunis, where Hamas leadership is thought to have fled — and where many of the remaining 137 Israeli hostages may be imprisoned. Talk among Israeli officials has shifted from negotiating for the release of hostages to the possibility of freeing them by force.

Israel announced the elimination of a senior Hamas commander, Haitham Khuwajari, an alleged leader of the October 7 terror attack on Israel, on Sunday, and the IDF and Israel Security Agency [ISA] released video of the airstrike in which he was killed.

Quote:A “war of liberation” surpassing the unprecedented October 7 terror attacks is coming soon, vowed a senior Hamas official who expressed no regrets over the U.S.-designated terrorist group’s brutal massacre in Israel — the deadliest against Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust — which saw the torture, rape, execution, immolation, and abduction of hundreds of Israelis of all ages, mostly civilians, and dozens of Americans.

Hamas political bureau member Osama Hamdan made the remarks during a broadcast Wednesday on the Lebanese media outlet Bel Moubashar Online.

During the interview, which was translated and published by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), Hamdan was asked if he would repeat the October 7 massacre if given the opportunity to go back, to which he responded: “Why would some people assume that we would go back on our acts of resistance?”

He also expressed no regret for “shattering an entire division of the occupation army.”

Hamdan then said he could “promise that a war of liberation is coming, not just another October 7,” adding that he thinks such an event is not far off.

In October, Hamas senior political official Ghazi Hamad declared that the terror group intends to repeat its October 7 terror attack until Israel is annihilated.

Quote:Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warned at the Reagan National Defense Forum on Saturday that Israel could face “strategic defeat” if it was not more careful about how it fought Hamas, because more Palestinians might be driven to support the terrorist group.

Austin seemed not to know that the vast majority of Palestinians already support Hamas, at least in one recent opinion poll.

A wartime poll of Gaza and West Bank residents last month by Birzeit University’s Arab World for Research & Development (AWRAD) found that “the majority of (59%) strongly supported or (16%) supported to some extent the October 7 attacks carried by the Hamas-led factions.” Hamas received the support of 76% of respondents. The poll is marred somewhat by the fact that there is no free speech in Hamas-run Gaza or the Palestinian Authority-run areas of the West Bank. Still, the results are notable.

The majority of Palestinians also voted for Hamas in the last Palestinian election of any kind, the parliamentary elections of 2006.

Moreover, Palestinian civilians from Gaza participated in the Hamas atrocities on October 7, and many celebrated the attack: the world watched on video as mobs cheered terrorists who brought back hostages and joined in abusing the bodies of dead Israelis.

Austin warned that Israel could face “strategic defeat” in the war, and claimed that the U.S. had learned that by fighting ISIS

Quote:A U.S. Navy warship and multiple commercial vessels came under attack Sunday in the Red Sea,  the Pentagon said, marking a potential escalation in a series of maritime attacks in the Mideast linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

“We’re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea and will provide information as it becomes available,” the Pentagon confirmed, according to AP.

The USS Carney (DDG-64) is an Arleigh Burke-Class guided-missile destroyer. There is no indication yet it returned fire on its attacker(s).

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said the attack began about 10 a.m. in Sanaa, Yemen, and had been going on for as much as five hours.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis. However, a Houthi terrorist spokesman earlier said an “important” statement would be released shortly, the AP report said.

Quote:Danielle Aloni, 45, a freed Israeli hostage who was purportedly the author of a “thank you” letter to her Hamas captors, told Israeli television this weekend how brutal her abduction was, and how she and her six-year-old daughter, Emilia, endured hell.

As Breitbart News reported last week, anti-Israel activists circulated a “thank you” letter, purportedly from Aloni, thanking the terrorists profusely for how they treated her daughter like a “queen,” and wishing that they could be friends outside of the war:

We are apparently parting tomorrow, but I would request to thank you from the depths of my heart for the extraordinary humanitarianism that you showed to my daughter, Emelia.

You were, to her, like two fathers, you invited her to your room at every opportunity that she wanted.

She is leaving with the feeling that you are all her friends, and not just friends, but very, very good friends.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the many hours of babysitting.

Quote:The October 18 interview, published by Politico on Saturday, is thought possibly to be Kissinger’s last. It includes the following:

I am in favor of a peaceful outcome. I don’t see a peaceful outcome with Hamas involved in the conflict. I would favor negotiations between the Arab world and Israel. I do not see, especially after these events, that direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are very fruitful.
...
A formal peace doesn’t guarantee a lasting peace. The difficulty of the two-state solution is shown by the experience of Hamas. Gaza was made quasi-independent by [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon in order to test the possibility of a two-state solution. It has led, in fact, to a much more complex situation. It has become so much worse in the last two years than it has been in 2005. So the two-state solution doesn’t guarantee that what we saw in the last weeks won’t happen again.
...
I believe the West Bank should be put under Jordanian control rather than aim for a two-state solution which leaves one of the two territories determined to overthrow Israel. Egypt has moved closer to the Arab side, so Israel will have a very difficult time going forward. I hope that at the end of it there will be a negotiation, as I had the privilege to conduct at the end of the Yom Kippur War. At that time, Israel was stronger relative to the surrounding powers. Nowadays, it requires a greater involvement of America to prevent a continuation of the conflict.

Kissinger was referring to the “disengagement” by Israel from Gaza in 2005, when it pulled out all of its soldiers and civilians.
...
The “Jordanian option” has long been favored by the Israeli right, though it has been, until now taboo in foreign policy circles.