News of the World

[kyonides]

300,000 Starbucks Frappuccino Bottles Recalled Over ‘Foreign Objects’

A nationwide recall was issued for Starbucks Frappuccino Vanilla drinks nationwide due to the bottles possibly containing glass, according to an announcement from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

An FDA enforcement report, initially issued on Jan. 28, stated that the chilled coffee drink are sold nationwide and have best by dates of March 8, May 29, June 4, and June 10. As of Feb. 19, the recall has not been terminated, while the FDA classified the recall as Class II on Feb. 14, according to the agency’s notice.

The FDA notice stated that the recall is due to “foreign objects (glass)” in the products.

The recall affects 25,200 cases of select 13.7-ounce Starbucks Frappuccino Vanilla drinks. There are 12 bottles per case, which equals a total of 302,400 individual bottles.

People should not drink them and should return the bottles to the retailer where they purchased them from for a full refund, it states.

PepsiCo, which releases the bottled Starbucks coffee drinks, also confirmed the recall. A representative of the company told media outlets that the affected products are being removed from the marketplace, and that they “are not sold at Starbucks retail locations.”

China’s Elderly Protest Against Health Insurance Cuts, Risking Police Suppression

Older adults in the central Chinese megacity of Wuhan gathered last week for their second large-scale protest in a week against the Chinese communist regime’s cuts to health benefits in its recent medical insurance reform, while, at the same time, a similar protest was staged in the northeastern megacity of Dalian.

While the protesters are seeking international attention and support for their efforts, suppression by the regime in Wuhan on Feb. 15 led to the citizens being beaten, arrested, and dispersed.
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“Several friends who went to the protest were all interviewed and threatened by the police today. Now, there’s terror in the country everywhere. It is really scary,” he said.
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“Yesterday, at around two o’clock in the afternoon, the police began to clear the scene. There were a lot of riot police and policemen in groups separating the elderly protesters. There were also people sent by the authorities there, persuading the elderly and leading them to a building behind Zhongshan Park (the protest site) and telling the elderly people to go inside. There were some officials standing outside the building.”

Some elderly people were taken away when they went in, but An Ming didn’t enter.
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On the day of the protest, many people who wanted to participate were unable to go. Yang Wei (pseudonym), a retiree in Wuhan, told The Epoch Times on Feb. 16 that he was forced by police to stay home.

Undercover DC Police Officer Pushed Protesters Toward Capitol, Climbed Over Barricade

Three undercover Metropolitan Police Department officers joined the march of protesters up the northwest side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021—including one who climbed over a barricade and pushed others toward the Capitol, and another who walked behind Ashli Babbitt and predicted that “someone will get shot,” according to newly disclosed court documents.

New court motions filed by Jan. 6 defendant William Pope of Topeka, Kansas, also show MPD bicycle officers stopping four armed men in plainclothes on Jan. 6. The men turned out to be federal agents. Video included with Pope’s filings also shows uniformed MPD officers saying, “we were set up” to fail on Jan. 6.
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The three undercover MPD officers approached the northwest corner of the Capitol grounds at about 1:40 p.m. on Jan. 6, one of the motions states. Officer 1, who was filming their journey, joined the crowd chanting, “Drain the swamp!”

When a group of men ran past them toward the Capitol, Officer 2—wearing a Trump beanie—remarked, “Those guys are getting shot,” the motion said.

At the base of the scaffold stairs, Officer 1 joined the crowd in a chant, “Whose house? Our house!”

“Officer 1 began yelling at people in front of him to ‘Go, go, go!’ As they climbed bicycle racks, Officer 1 yelled for the crowd to ‘help him up, help him up!” followed by ‘push him up, push him up!’” the motion reads of Pope describing how Officer 1 climbed over a barricade.

“Needing help to get up, Officer 1 asked a nearby man to give him a boost,” the motion says. “The man gives Officer 1 a lift up, and Officer 1 says ‘Thanks, bro.’”

Officer 1 pushed protesters in front of him to advance on the Capitol, shouting, “c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, let’s go!,” the motion said. People around him climbed over bike-rack-style barricades and scaffolding that had been set up for the presidential inauguration.

At one point, Officers 2 and 3 were almost directly behind Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt on the exterior stairs, about an hour before Babbitt was gunned down at the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby, Pope said in a Twitter post on Feb. 18.

Jeffrey Epstein Documents, With Names of Associates, Set to Be Made Public

More than 150 people who have confirmed or alleged links to Epstein, such as being his employee or one of his alleged victims, chose not to come forward to object to the disclosure of their names. They are mentioned in documents filed in a defamation case brought in 2015 against Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein associate.

The lawsuit was settled in 2017, but outside groups have pushed for the release of the documents in the interest of public access.

Some of the people objected to their names being released and convinced U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska, the George H.W. Bush appointee who is overseeing the case, to keep their identities shielded.

Others failed, and Preska in November 2022 ordered the unsealing of documents with their names. The documents were unsealed the following month, including filings concerning Sarah Ransome, an alleged victim of Epstein who backed Giuffre’s allegations with her testimony.
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Maxwell formerly opposed unsealing the documents but dropped her objections after being sentenced to 20 years in prison for sex trafficking and Giuffre supports making the materials public.
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The document shows that the list includes more than a dozen employees of Epstein, more than a dozen alleged witnesses, more than two dozen alleged Epstein affiliates, and more than a dozen alleged victims.

Multiple alleged perpetrators and law enforcement officers are also described, including a former director of the FBI.

A number of the people have already given media interviews or testified during Epstein-related legal cases.

Japan’s Ruling Bloc Agrees to Allow Shooting Down Foreign Balloons, Drones

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party has approved a proposal to ease limitations on the military use of weapons against unmanned aircraft that violate Japanese airspace.

The proposal, which was put forward by the Ministry of Defense on Thursday, would allow Japan’s Self-Defense Force (SDF) to shoot down foreign balloons and drones to protect the lives of citizens.

Currently, SDF law allows “necessary measures” to be taken against foreign aircraft that invade Japan’s airspace, but the use of weapons is only allowed in cases of legitimate self-defense or an act of necessity.

The proposed policy would permit the use of weapons against drones and balloons that pose a hazard to civil air traffic, even if doing so does not constitute legitimate self-defense, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
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Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has said the military would be allowed to use weapons, including air-to-air missiles, against foreign balloons that violated Japan’s airspace in accordance with the SDF law.
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The move came after the ministry revealed on Feb. 14 that it “strongly” suspected Chinese surveillance balloons had entered Japan’s airspace at least three times between 2019 and 2021.

Russia Expels 4 Austrian Diplomats in Tit-for-Tat Move

Russia said on Thursday it was expelling four Austrian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after Vienna expelled four Russian diplomats in a case which appeared to be related to spying.

Austria said on Feb. 2 it was expelling four Russian diplomats for behaving in a manner inconsistent with international agreements, a reason often invoked in spying cases, without giving specifics. It gave them a week to leave.

In a statement on Thursday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said Vienna had taken an “unfriendly and unjustified step” and was ruining Austria’s previous position as a respected, unbiased, and neutral state.

Austria still has not elaborated on its reasons for expelling the diplomats, who worked at Russia’s Mission to the United Nations in Vienna and Russia’s Embassy to Austria.

“The expulsion of Austrian embassy staff from Russia does not come as a surprise. We regret this unjustified decision by Russia, which lacks any basis in fact,” Austria’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response to Russia’s move.

Well, Austria was quite hypocritical there for it was obvious that Russia would kick out the Austrian diplomats in retailation. Russians felt they had been insulted and quickly reacted to Austria's move.  But there's something good about it, they no longer have to fear that some Russian will try to pass as a fellow Austrian only to poison them at any given moment. Or aren't Russians well known for being master spies that hide their weapons even in umbrellas or staves or their sleeves, too.

Strike at German Airports Grounds Nearly 300,000 Passengers

It was published last Friday.

A 24-hour strike at seven German airports, including Frankfurt and Munich, was set to affect nearly 300,000 passengers on Friday, as unionized workers pressed for higher wages and threatened a summer of “chaos” if their demands were not met.

The strike coincided with the start of the Munich Security Conference, with more than 40 heads of state and 60 ministers expected to attend.

In an early sign of the disruption, Romania’s foreign minister, unable to board a cancelled flight, will be forced to fly to Austria and then make the more than four-hour drive to Munich, a Romanian embassy official said.

It is the latest in a series of strikes and protests that have hit major European economies, including France, Britain, and Spain, as higher food and energy prices knocked incomes and living standards following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Around 295,000 passengers are affected by the cancellation of some 2,340 flights at Bremen, Dortmund, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, and Stuttgart airports, according to the ADV airports association.