News of the World

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Surveillance fears as China resumes construction on fifth Antarctic base

China is increasing its Antarctic footprint according to new satellite imagery collected by a Washington-based thinktank that shows construction has resumed for the first time since 2018 on the country’s fifth station in the southern polar region.

Beijing has sought to develop new shipping routes in the Arctic and expand its research in Antarctica, but western governments worry its increasing presence in the polar regions could provide the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with better surveillance capabilities.

The new station, on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, is expected to include an observatory with a satellite ground station, and should help China “fill in a major gap” in its ability to access the continent, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said in a report.

CSIS used satellite images taken in January to identify new support facilities, temporary buildings, a helicopter pad and foundations for a larger main building at the 5,000 sq meter (53,820 sq ft) station. It estimated that construction could be done by 2024.

“While the station can provide tracking and communications for China’s growing array of scientific polar observation satellites, its equipment can concurrently be used for intercepting other nations’ satellite communications,” CSIS said.

The station is well positioned to collect signals intelligence over Australia and New Zealand and telemetry data on rockets launched from Australia’s new Arnhem Space Centre, it said. Once finished, the station is expected to include a wharf for China’s Xuelong icebreaker ships.

CSIS told Reuters that while the US still maintains a larger research presence in Antarctica – including the biggest facility in its McMurdo station – China’s footprint is growing faster. China’s fifth station will be 200 miles (320km) from the McMurdo station, it said.

U.N. Protests Alleged Pentagon Leak Claiming U.S. Spied on Antonio Guterres

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the agency had formally lodged a complaint with the American government after alleged Pentagon leaks published by the Washington Post indicated Washington was spying on Guterres’s private communications.

The leaks referring to United Nations operations were part of a much larger alleged trove of confidential documents that both the Washington Post and New York Times claimed surfaced in chat room discussions on the video game social media site Discord, beginning as early as January, and circulated online for months. Last week, law enforcement officials arrested 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, an Airman First Class in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, in relation to the alleged leaks. The media outlets breaking the story claimed Teixeira shared the classified intelligence in a bid to impress friends in the video game chats, citing unnamed individuals who participated in the chats with Teixeira.

Department of Defense Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Monday that it does not yet know just how many documents were exposed in the alleged leak.

During a daily press briefing on Tuesday, Guterres spokesman Stéphane Dujarric accepted a question asking for comment on the alleged leaks related to the director-general, particularly regarding Guterres’ attempts to visit the wartorn Tigray region of Ethiopia. In response, Dujarric confirmed that the United Nations had formally rebuked the United States for allegedly spying on Guterres.

“These documents which were basically distorted summaries of the Secretary-General’s conversation. We have now officially expressed to the host country our concern,” Dujarric said, “regarding the recent reports that communications of the Secretary-General and other senior UN officials have been the subject of surveillance and interference by the US Government.”

Judge Denies Bragg’s Attempt to Stop Subpoena, Dealing Win to Jordan

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) will get to question a former prosecutor of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office after a judge ruled Wednesday that a subpoena Jordan issued to the prosecutor was enforceable.

U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil wrote that the subpoena, which Jordan sent to Mark Pomerantz two weeks ago, had a “valid legislative purpose.”

“It is not the role of the federal judiciary to dictate what legislation Congress may consider or how it should conduct its deliberations in that connection,” Vyskocil wrote. “Mr. Pomerantz must appear for the congressional deposition. No one is above the law.”

A spokesman for Jordan celebrated the victory in a statement, saying Vyskocil’s decision “shows that Congress has the ability to conduct oversight and issue subpoenas to people like Mark Pomerantz.”

Pomerantz’s deposition before the House Judiciary Committee, of which Jordan is chairman, is scheduled for Thursday at 10:00 a.m., but Bragg’s counsel has filed an appeal and is seeking emergency relief from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in a last-minute attempt to prevent Pomerantz’s testimony.

Russia’s Top Diplomat Thanks ‘Most Loyal Partners’ in Venezuela Visit
namely the Foreign Minister Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived here on Tuesday to meet with dictator Nicolás Maduro and other members of the Venezuelan socialist regime.

Venezuela is the second destination in Lavrov’s five-day Latin American tour that kicked off with a stop in Brazil on Monday, where he met with Brazilian radical leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his foreign minister, Mauro Vieira. Lavrov is scheduled to visit Cuba and Nicaragua after visiting Venezuela.

Maduro announced on Monday during the premiere of his new television show Con Maduro+ (“With Maduro Plus”) that Lavrov’s visit to Venezuela aimed to “review all the subjects of Russia-Venezuela cooperation, of Russia’s presence in Latin America and the Caribbean for the good of our region, of world geopolitics.”

Lavrov started his itinerary in Caracas with a meeting with Maduro’s top diplomat Yván Gil at the Casa Amarilla (“Yellow House”), a historical building in the center of Caracas that serves as the headquarters of the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry.

After their meeting, where they reviewed bilateral agreements, both foreign ministers held a joint press conference where they committed to uphold “the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” and reaffirmed their respective regimes’ alliances and mutual support against sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union against them.
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“Undoubtedly, Venezuela is one of Russia’s most faithful partners,” Lavrov said. “We are united by friendly relations and also by similarities in our positions, ties of friendship, and sympathy between our peoples. Our relations have gone through various trials, crises, pressure, but our ties, despite everything, will continue to develop.”

“We will do everything possible to make Venezuela’s economy less and less dependent on the whims and geopolitical games of the United States or any other actor in the Western camp,” the Russian top diplomat continued. “We will favor any way for the Venezuelan economy to become independent of the United States’ and other Western pressures.”

ÚLTIMA HORA | Canciller de Rusia ratifica respaldo al régimen de Maduro y repudia acciones de EEUU contra Venezuela: “Hemos acordado medidas para ampliar cooperación” https://t.co/1lfT2DnSVd pic.twitter.com/OjRhHH6Mof
—  (@AlbertoRodNews) April 18, 2023

Russia Foreign Minister confirms their support to the Maduro regime and repudiates the actions of the US against Venezuela: 'We have agreed upon measures that will expand our cooperation.'

Former Defense Official: Afghans Evacuated to the U.S.
Included Known Bomb Emplacers

The Biden administration evacuated planeloads of unvetted Afghans to the United States, including some who were known improvised explosive device (IED) emplacers, according to the recent testimony of a former defense official involved in the evacuation as a civilian volunteer.

Simone Ledeen, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, testified Tuesday that Afghans released into the U.S. had been found in a Department of Defense’s watchlist to have emplaced IEDs.
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She elaborated in her written testimony:

A Department of Defense whistleblower has alleged that 324 individuals evacuated from Afghanistan were allowed to enter the U.S. despite appearing on the Defense Department’s Biometrically Enabled Watchlist (BEWL).

Ledeen, who served in the DOD under Trump, became involved in the evacuation after a friend solicited her help in trying to help evacuate an Afghan interpreter who had served with U.S. special operations forces and his family who were stuck outside the airport. Ledeen had served in Afghanistan as a U.S. official in 2005 and 2009-2010 and had experience with the U.S. special operations community. She also served as the acting deputy assistant secretary for special operations and combating terrorism under Trump.

Germany: Suspect still on loose after Duisburg gym stabbings

Police in Duisburg believe a man aged around 30 acted alone when stabbing and seriously wounding four people at a gym in the western German city on Tuesday evening.

The suspect was still on the loose on Wednesday morning following an unsuccessful manhunt after the suspected knife crime.

Investigators have opened a preliminary attempted murder case.

There are no surveillance cameras in the gym in Duisburg's old town. Police, therefore, have been struggling to reconstruct the exact course of events. Investigators do not suspect a homicide but a confrontation of one or more of the victims with the perpetrator, the public prosecutor said.

"There are no indications of a rampage," she said. The exact circumstances of the altercation are still under investigation, she added.

Russia: Putin critic Ilya Yashin loses appeal on jail term

A court on Wednesday rejected the appeal of Kremlin opposition politician Ilya Yashin for his 8.5-year prison sentence on convictions for criticizing the Russian military.

"The verdict of the Moscow Meshchansky Court should be left unchanged," ruled a judge during the Wednesday hearing.

Yashin said that he was convicted for "speaking the truth" over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"In prison, I met murderers, rapists, and robbers who have received lesser sentences for their crimes," said Yashin.

In court, Yashin predicted that Russia will look differently in the future, with "thieves and murderers" removed from power.

"I realise that, once free, I will become one of those who will have to clean up this bloody mess," he said.

Yashin was sentenced in December last year over a livestreamed YouTube video in which he talked about atrocities in Bucha near Kyiv, where civilians were found dead in the streets after Russian troops withdrew from the area.

In the video, Yashin discussed reports by Western journalists of atrocities and was doubtful of Moscow's claim that such reports are staged as a "provocation" against Russia.