News of the World
12-20-2024, 07:38 PM
EUROPE
I don't recall the Black Sea asking anybody, especially the Russians, to paint it black literally.
AFRICA
MIDDLE EAST
UK: Brothers Charged over Manchester Airport Assault on Police After Five Months
Quote:After nearly five months, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced charges against two men over alleged attacks on police officers caught on CCTV at the Manchester Airport.
Brothers Mohammed Amaaz, 20, and Muhammed Amaad, 25, have been charged with assaulting police officers and will appear at the Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on January 16th, the BBC reports.
The charges stem over a incident at the Manchester Airport in July in which multiple police officers were injured, including a female officer who reportedly suffered a broken nose.
Initially, the police were accused of racism after a clip of the incident appeared to show an officer kicking a man in the head. The clip sparked Muslim protests in the area, including outside of the Rochdale police headquarters.
However, additional footage later emerged seeming to show that the police were attacked first.
The Crown Prosecution Service said Friday that no charges were being brought against any police officers involved in the incident. Meanwhile an officer who was suspended following the fight has since been reinstated.
A separate investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is still examining the actions of two officers.
The CPS said that Mohammed Amaaz has been charged with two counts of causing bodily harm, one count of assaulting an emergency worker, and one charge of common assault. His brother, Muhammed Amaad, has been charged with assaulting an emergency worker and causing bodily harm.
Frank Ferguson of the Crown Prosecution Service said that it was a “high-profile incident that attracted significant public interest”.
He said that following “careful consideration”, including examining the video footage and witness statements, the CPS had “concluded that two men should be charged with offences including assaults on police officers”.
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, which had hired private prosecutors to wage a case against the brothers amid apparent innaction from the Crown Prosecution Service, claimed Friday that the decision to charge Amaaz and Amaad was due to “the pressure applied by Reform UK MPs.”
Ukraine War Update
Quote:A Russian ballistic missile attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv early Friday killed at least one person and injured nine others, officials said. Moscow claimed it was in response to a Ukrainian strike on Russian soil using American-made weapons.
At least three loud blasts were heard in Kyiv shortly before sunrise. Ukraine´s air force said it intercepted five Iskander short-range ballistic missiles fired at the city. The attack knocked out heating to 630 residential buildings, 16 medical facilities, and 30 schools and kindergartens, the city administration said, and falling missile debris caused damage and sparked fires in three districts.
“We ask citizens to immediately respond to reports of ballistic attack threats, because there is very little time to find shelter,” the air force said.
During the almost three years since the war began Russia has regularly bombarded civilian areas of Ukraine, often in an attempt to cripple the power grid and unnerve Ukrainians. Meanwhile Ukraine, struggling to hold back Russia’s bigger army on the front line, has attempted to strike Russian infrastructure supporting the country’s war effort.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said the strike was in response to a Ukrainian missile attack on Russia’s Rostov border region two days earlier. That attack used six American-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, missiles and four Storm Shadow air-launched missiles provided by the United Kingdom, it said.
That day, Ukraine claimed to have targeted a Rostov oil refinery as part of its campaign to strike Russian infrastructure supporting the country’s war effort.
The use of Western-supplied weapons to strike Russia has angered the Kremlin. Ukraine fired several American-supplied longer-range missiles into Russia for the first time on Nov. 19 after Washington eased restrictions on their use.
That development prompted Russia to use a new hypersonic missile, called Oreshnik, for the first time. President Vladimir Putin suggested the missile could be used to target government buildings in Kyiv, though there have been no reports of an Oreshnik being used for a second time.
Quote:French President Emmanuel Macron is reportedly leading efforts to deploy a European force of up to 100,000 troops to Ukraine as peacekeepers in the event of ceasefire deal brokered by incoming President Donald Trump.
According to a report from Reuters, President Elect Trump impressed upon Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting on the sidelines of the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral earlier this month that American troops will not play a role in guaranteeing the safety of Ukraine following any peace deal negotiated with Moscow.
This has led to President Macron attempting to convince European partners to commit soldiers to the region whether Ukraine is granted NATO membership or not.
“Even if there were a NATO security guarantee, where would the impetus on the ground come from? It would be European so our army chiefs are already preparing plans for European leaders to consider in the future,” a senior European official is quoted as saying by the news outlet.
Former Austrian military planner and current analyst for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Franz-Stefan Gady suggested that around 100,000 European troops could be sent to Ukraine, which he noted will “severely stretch European land forces.”
Gady noted, however, that the number of troops could be met if European powers reduce their footprint in other regions, such as in Bosnia and Kosovo.
Quote:An unnamed American official reportedly told the British newspaper the Guardian on Tuesday that communist North Korea has documented hundreds of casualties in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
That estimate is potentially higher than the “dozens” that White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby offered on Monday and suggests a massive deployment of force by Pyongyang onto the European border. American and other Western officials, including Ukrainians, believe most of these soldiers are operating in the area around Kursk, a Russian region Ukraine invaded in August in a surprise operation meant to deter the Russian advance into its territory.
Reports of significant battle losses for North Korea this week accompany a barrage of sensational reports on the situation for North Koreans on the battlefield from the Ukrainian government, which accused Russian soldiers of burning the faces of dead North Koreans to obscure their origin and claimed that a large “friendly fire” incident occurred in which North Koreans killed several Russian soldiers.
North Korea has not at press time confirmed the deployment of any troops to the Russian war effort, though its state media and its dictator, Kim Jong-un, enthusiastically support the invasion. Russia and North Korea signed a mutual defense agreement in June that many have suggested now required North Korea to participate in defending Russian territory from Ukrainian attack.
The unnamed “senior U.S. military official” speaking to the Guardian described North Korea as suffering “several hundred casualties” since it involved itself in the Russian invasion this fall. Russia initially invaded Ukraine in 2014 but launched a “special operation” to oust President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2022 that prompted direct Russian military action, rather than attacks by pro-Russian separatist forces.
“Several hundred casualties is our latest estimate that the DPRK [North Korea] has suffered,” the official said, describing casualties as spanning “everything from … light wounds up to being KIA (killed in action).”
The official attributed the high casualty count to the lack of experience among North Korean troops, though he or she also said that “all ranks” of North Korean soldiers were affected.
The Ukrainian government independently suggested on Wednesday that hundreds of North Koreans had died in the war, citing intercepted phone communications in which Russians working at hospitals commented on the high number of apparent North Koreans coming in. According to the Ukrainian state outlet Ukrinform, the intercepted communications included a nurse lamenting to her husband that hundreds from the battle lines were being brought to her hospital in Moscow by train.
The nurse also reportedly complained that her hospital is “freeing up certain wards” for the Koreans, asking if they were “elite.”
Kirby, the top White House official, described North Korea as suffering “significant losses” in remarks to reporters on Monday.
Is Trump-Putin Meeting Coming up Next!?
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for talks with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at any time he revealed Thursday during a lengthy year-end press conference.
Trump said during his successful 2024 presidential campaign that he would quickly negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, possibly even before taking office in January.
Putin was specifically asked about Trump’s desire to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. The Russian autocrat responded he was ready for “negotiations” and “compromises.”
“I don’t know when I’m going to see him. He isn’t saying anything about it. I haven’t talked to him in more than four years. I am ready for it, of course. Any time,” Putin said.
“If we ever have a meeting with President-elect Trump, I am sure we’ll have a lot to talk about,” he added.
Putin insisted Russia will not be in a weaker position to negotiate due to recent setbacks in the Middle East, such as the overthrow of Russia-backed Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, or battlefield losses in Ukraine.
“You said that this conversation will take place in a situation when I am in some weakened state,” Putin said mockingly to NBC News reporter Kier Simmons. “And you, and those people who pay your salaries in the US, would very much like Russia to be in a weakened position.”
“I adhere to a different point of view. I believe that Russia has become much stronger over the past two or three years. Why? Because we are becoming a truly sovereign country, we are already hardly dependent on anyone,” Putin said.
Putin claimed Russia is “thinking” about whether it still needs its military bases in Syria, implying it would be no great loss if the insurgent government decides to void Moscow’s leases and kick Russian forces out of the country. He claimed the “overwhelming” majority of Syrians want the Russians to stay.
“We’ll need to decide for ourselves how our relationships will look with those political forces that now control and will control the situation in the country in the future. Our interests need to coincide,” he said, offering his first public comments on the fall of the Assad regime.
Putin added that he has not spoke with Assad since the deposed Syrian dictator sought refuge in Moscow, but he plans to do so, and he promised to inquire about the fate of American journalist Austin Tice, who was kidnapped in Damascus in 2012.
As for the situation in Ukraine, Putin claimed victory was in sight after years of bloody stalemate.
Russian Ships Spilling Oil in the Black Sea
Quote:Two Russian oil tankers were wrecked in the Kerch Strait over the weekend, coating almost 40 miles of Black Sea coastline in heavy fuel oil.
Several towns along the coast have declared a state of emergency, while a furious Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians of causing an environmental catastrophe by sending two “old, poorly maintained” ships into rough seas.
“These ships were nearly 50 years old. They shouldn’t have been in operation at all, especially in this part of the waters and during this season. Right now, our sea is facing yet another environmental disaster caused by Russia,” Zelensky said on Tuesday.
The two ships in question are 50-year-old tankers called Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239. They were sailing through the Kerch Strait, which separates Russian-occupied Crimea from the Ukrainian mainland, when they ran into 25-foot waves and 45 mile-per-hour winds.
Each ship was loaded with thousands of tons of low-grade heavy oil known as mazut. This type of fuel is rarely used in the West, where it is generally referred to as “waste oil.” Russia and the former Soviet satellite states make much heavier use of mazut in their boilers and furnaces.
The storm in the Kerch Strait ripped Volgoneft 212 in half, leaving the horrified crew to watch as the bow of their ship drifted away. According to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, one member of the crew was killed, two are still missing, and the other 12 have been rescued. Two of the rescued crew members have been hospitalized in serious condition.
Volgoneft 239 ran aground off the village of Taman, Russia at around the same time its sister ship was breaking up. The crew was rescued after weather conditions improved.
Greenpeace Ukraine said on Monday that at least 3,700 tons of oil have spilled from the two ships — an even larger spill than in 2007, when a damaged tanker bathed both sides of the Kerch Strait in oil and caused environmental damage that took years to heal.
“Any oil or petrochemical spill in these waters has the potential to be serious,” Greenpeace Research Laboratories chief Dr. Paul Johnston said on Tuesday.
“It is likely to be driven by prevailing wind and currents, and in the current weather conditions, is likely to be extremely difficult to contain. If it is driven ashore, then it will cause fouling of the shoreline which will be extremely difficult to clean up,” Johnston said.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, yet another Russian-flagged tanker, the Volgoneft 109, issued a distress call from the Kerch Strait due to a damaged cargo tank. The third ship is also carrying about 4,000 tons of mazut. The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations insisted the situation aboard the Volgoneft 109 is “not critical.”
I don't recall the Black Sea asking anybody, especially the Russians, to paint it black literally.
Knife Attack in Croatia
Quote:A 7-year-old girl died and a teacher and five other students were wounded in a knife attack at a school in the Croatian capital, Zagreb, on Friday, police said.
They said the attack happened at 9:50 a.m. at the Precko Elementary School in the neighborhood of the same name. They described the attacker as a “young male” and said he had been detained.
Health Minister Irena Hristic said the attacker was over 18, while media reported he was 19.
Video footage published by Croatian media showed children running away from the school building and a medical helicopter landing in the schoolyard.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the start of the government session that he is “appalled” by the attack and that authorities are still working to determine exactly what happened. Plenkovic said several children have been taken to various hospitals in Zagreb.
State HRT television said the attacker entered the school and went straight into the first classroom he found and attacked the children.
School attacks are rare in Croatia. Last May, a teenager in neighboring Serbia opened fire at a school in the capital Belgrade, killing nine fellow students and a school guard.
AFRICA
French Troops Leaving Chad
Quote:France began withdrawing soldiers from Chad on Friday, Chad’s defence ministry said, after N’Djamena last month abruptly ended military cooperation with the former colonial power.
A contingent of 120 soldiers departed for France from a military airport in the capital, the ministry said in a statement on Facebook, 10 days after French fighter aircraft left the Sahel country for good.
Chad had been a key link in France’s military presence in Africa and its last foothold in the wider Sahel region after the forced withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in the wake of a series of military coups.
But it announced on November 28 its decision to end a defence accord with Paris mainly dating from independence in 1960.
“At midday, 120 French soldiers took off from the military airport of N’Djamena on board an Airbus A330 Phoenix MRTT, headed for France,” the ministry said in a statement on Facebook.
The French army, which had some 1,000 personnel in the country, did not immediately comment on the announcement.
The departure on Friday of French soldiers took place in the presence of Chadian military authorities, a move which “testifies to the intensity of cooperation between the two countries in the field of security”, the statement said.
– Shifting alliances –
French soldiers and fighter aircraft have been stationed in Chad almost continuously since the country’s independence in 1960, helping to train the Chadian military.
The planes provided air support that proved crucial on several occasions in stopping rebels seeking to seize power.
Chad’s decision to break military ties with France came only hours after a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, whose delegation appeared unaware the move was looming.
The central African country was the last Sahel nation to host French troops.
MIDDLE EAST
Erdogan Wants to Expand Turkey!?
Quote:Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday that it is his country's destiny to expand its borders, particularly into Syria.
Speaking at the Scientific and Technological Research Council (TÜBİTAK) and Turkish Academy of Sciences (TÜBA) Awards Ceremony at the Beştepe National Congress and Culture Center, the President stated: "Every incident that has occurred in our region, especially in Syria, recently reminds us of this fact; Turkey is bigger than Turkey. As a nation, we cannot limit our horizon to 782,000 square kilometers."
According to him, "Just as a person cannot escape his destiny, Turkey and the Turkish nation cannot escape or hide from their destiny. As a nation, we have to see the mission that history has assigned to us and act accordingly. We see this, we do not turn a deaf ear to the calls."
Erdoğan continued: "Those who ask, 'What is Turkey doing in Libya and Syria?' may not be able to comprehend this mission. Those who do not know how Turkey has changed may have difficulty understanding the course of events. We leave them alone with nonsense. No matter what we tell those who have abandoned their empathy with their nation, it is useless. We will not waste time with them, we will focus on our goals."
Turning to the scientists at the event, he added: "I believe that you will also fulfill your responsibilities on this blessed journey."
Erdoğan's address comes as he continues building troops on the Syrian border near a majority Kurdish area.
Senior US officials told the Wall Street Journal on Monday night that the Turkish forces on the border include militia fighters, Turkish uniformed commandos, and a large force of artillery.
The officials said that the invasion could be imminent and the current troop buildup appears similar to Turkish military moves ahead of its 2019 invasion of northeast Syria.
Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli attacked the Turkish President on Wednesday for his military actions in the Kurdish-majority regions of Syria. "Kurdistan must be granted independence, while Erdoğan should be expelled from NATO and left to crown himself as the caliph of an Islamic state, ruling alongside his friends in ISIS and Al-Qaeda," Chikli wrote on X.
Israel Attacks Yemeni Houthis
Quote:Israel conducted its third long-range airstrike on the terrorist Houthi militia in Yemen early Thursday morning, hours after the rebels fired a ballistic missile at Israel’s population centers that was intercepted outside Israeli airspace.
The ballistic missile was the seventh fired at Israel by the Houthis in recent weeks, in addition to five drone launches.
Sirens were heard just after 2:30 in the morning in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, due to the danger of shrapnel fragments continuing the missile’s trajectory and spreading out across the targeted area. No injuries were reported.
Israel responded almost immediately to the Houthis, according to a statement by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF):
A short while ago, following the approval of strike plans by the Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz, IAF fighter jets, with the direction of the Intelligence Directorate and the Israeli Navy, struck military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and in inland Yemen.
The Houthi terrorist regime has repeatedly attacked the State of Israel, including by attacking Israeli territory using UAVs and surface-to-surface missiles. Most of these projectiles were successfully intercepted.
The targets struck by the IDF were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes. The strikes degrade the Houthi terrorist regime, preventing it from exploiting the targets for military and terrorist purposes, including the smuggling of Iranian weapons to the region.
Over the past year, the Houthi terrorist regime has been operating with the direction and funding of Iran, and in cooperation with Iraqi militias in order to attack the State of Israel and Israeli civilians, undermine regional stability and disrupt global freedom of navigation.
The IDF is determined to continue operating against all threats posed to the citizens of the State of Israel, wherever necessary.
Israel’s Army Radio reported that Israel had struck targets in Sana’a, the capital city of Yemen, for the first time.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
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KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
