News of the World

[kyonides]

US News

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RFK Jr. Calls Biden’s Support of F-16s
for Ukraine a ‘Dangerous Escalation’

President Joe Biden on Friday told G7 leaders at a summit in Japan that the United States will support a joint international effort to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s, a move paving the way for providing the fighter jets to Ukraine. Biden has not yet decided if the United States will directly send the aircraft to the country, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday.

Biden’s Democratic contender Kennedy strongly rebuked the move, saying the United States continues to waste money in an effort that is counterproductive to the people of Ukraine.

“We must stop using Ukraine as a geopolitical pawn,” Kennedy told The Epoch Times. “[Biden should] negotiate a swift end to this war that is hemorrhaging Ukrainian blood and American treasure.”

Responding to accusations that the move is escalatory, Biden said he received a “flat assurance” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that F-16s will not be used on Russian territory.

The assurances come ahead of an insurgency into Russia’s Belgorod region, apparently by Ukraine-aligned militias, with online imagery showing Maxxpro 1224 mine-resistant humvees, vehicles the United States has provided to Ukraine. Moscow claimed on Tuesday to have repelled the attack.

California Lawmakers Forced to Kill 300 Bills in One Day,
Some Climate Bills, in Budget Dilemma

Approximately 300 bills failed to pass California’s Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees on May 18, with lawmakers potentially eyeing the state’s $31.5 billion deficit in failing to advance the legislation, following Gov. Gavin Newsom’s May budget revision announced a week before.

The bills were part of what is known as a suspense hearing, with the Senate referring any proposals with a minimum $50,000 effect to the committee, while the Assembly committee considers those exceeding $150,000. Those that survive are reviewed by the other house’s appropriations committee before being sent to the floor for final consideration.

When Assembly Bill 335 targeting retail theft failed to pass, author Assemblyman Juan Alanis (R-Modesto) expressed his disappointment with the decision.
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More than 1,100 bills were considered in the fast-paced sessions, with many decisions made prior to the hearing. The few that required roll call votes were often split by party line, and the Democratic party’s supermajority voted in unison in most instances, allowing contested bills to proceed.

Nearly 900 bills were passed by the committees, with the Senate approving 71 percent of those considered and the Assembly approximately 78 percent.
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While no mention of the budget deficit was made in either hearing, cuts to the Democratic majority’s long-sought-after legislation promoting abortion access, climate initiatives, gun control, and homelessness suggest lawmakers are mindful of the predicament.

Canada

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Trudeau Says He Has ‘Total Confidence’ in Johnston
After Decision on Public Inquiry

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday he has “total confidence” in the work being done by special rapporteur David Johnston, who earlier in the day recommended against holding a public inquiry into allegations of foreign interference in Canada’s elections.

“I committed to listening very carefully and abiding by the recommendations that the former governor general made, and he explained and justified his thought processes by it and we will be following his recommendations,” Trudeau told reporters.

The prime minister appointed Johnston to be the special rapporteur on March 15 following multiple media reports suggesting widespread interference by the Chinese regime. Instead of launching a public inquiry, which opposition leaders repeatedly called for, the prime minister said he would heed the recommendations of Johnston.

Johnston said Tuesday that a public inquiry could not be held because the classified information informing his decision could not be revealed to the public. The former governor general said he had been favourable to the idea of holding an inquiry before he started the review, but conversations with senior security and elected officials and reviews of intelligence files changed his mind.

The prime minister said he supported Johnston’s suggestion of public hearings into election interference, as well as his recommendation about an open dialogue with the foreign diaspora that is often targeted by foreign interference.

Saskatchewan Continues to Tackle 23 Wildfires
Hundreds Unable to Return Home

The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency says it’s tackling 23 active wildfires in the north, including five fires that are not contained and three of them requiring crews to protect property.

The agency says it’s supporting 500 people who were forced to evacuate from various communities, including Buffalo Narrows, Dillon and Patuanak.

Steve Roberts, vice-president of operations at the agency, says there’s no update on when people can return home.

He says the fires are extremely aggressive and creating lots of smoke, which has made it difficult for crews to get on the ground.

UK News

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British Lawmakers Call for Investigation
Into Chinese Genomics Giant Over Pregnancy Test Data

The genomics company, BGI, had three of its subsidiaries blacklisted by the U.S. Commerce Department in March over their alleged involvement in military programs and the repression of ethnic minorities in China.

Citing a Reuters report that said BGI had used a military supercomputer to re-analyse data collected through its NIFTY pregnancy test, the cross-party group of MPs and Peers urged the information tzar to look into how the company handles data of pregnant women.

The NIFTY test, which stands for the Non-Invasive Fetal TrisomY test, is a screening test that can detect some genetic anomalies such as Down Syndrome and Edwards Syndrome.

According to the NIFTY test website, over 9 million tests have been carried out by clinicians in more than 80 countries. A separate BGI webpage said 10 million NIFTY tests had been carried out by the end of 2021.

But Reuters in 2021 said the company had developed the tests with the Chinese military and has used to data to “map the prevalence of viruses in Chinese women, look for indicators of mental illness in them, and single out Tibetan and Uyghur minorities to find links between their genes and their characteristics.”

The report said the company had confirmed that data collected from overseas prenatal tests were also stored in the Chinese regime’s gene database, but claimed the database only held location data on women in China.

At the time, BGI was also selling the product in the UK but had not registered it with the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The test has since been approved by the MHRA.

World War III?

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Cross-Border Attack on Russia’s Belgorod Region ‘Blocked, Destroyed’

An attack on Russia’s western Belgorod region, initially launched on May 22 from neighboring Ukraine, has been decisively routed, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

“As a result of air strikes, artillery fire, and action by units of the Western Military District … the nationalist formations have been blocked and destroyed,” the ministry said in its daily briefing for May 23.

“Remaining nationalists were pushed back into Ukraine, where they continued to be hit until they have been completely eliminated,” it added, claiming that 70 “Ukrainian nationalists” had been killed during the course of the operation.

The Epoch Times was unable to verify the ministry’s claims.

Ukraine Restores Power to Russia-Occupied Nuclear Plant

Ukraine reconnected the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to its external power supply on Monday after a brief outage that had left it reliant on emergency generators.

Back-up diesel generators had earlier kicked in at the plant in southern Ukraine to ensure nuclear fuel was kept cool and prevent a potential disaster.

Each side blamed the other for the power outage. A Russia-installed local official said Ukraine had disconnected a power line and Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom said the problem was caused by Russian shelling.

Announcing that repair work had been carried out, Ukrainian national grid operator Ukrenergo said: “The station is switching [back] to power supply from the Ukrainian power system.”

The incident had alarmed Rafael Grossi, the head of the United Nations nuclear energy watchdog, who said the nuclear safety situation at the plant was “extremely vulnerable” and underlined the need for international protection.

Even though the six reactors are shut down at the plant, they still need a constant supply of electricity to keep the nuclear fuel inside cool and prevent a possible meltdown.