News of the World

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Biden Spending Plan: $800 Million to Fight Fentanyl but $24 Billion for Ukraine

The White House is asking Congress to spend another $24 billion fighting Russia in Ukraine — but just $800 million to fight fentanyl and other lethal drugs in U.S. communities.

That spending request seeks an extra $300 for Ukraine aid for every $1 it seeks for counter-drug programs.

In 2022, roughly 110,000 Americans died from drug overdoses, principally, from the fentanyl smuggled in from China and Mexico via free-trade routes.

President Joe Biden and Congress have already spent more than $100 billion to defend Ukraine in the war, which has now turned into a high-casualty, no-negotiations stalemate.

Since his inauguration, Biden has done little to stem the tide of drugs that accompany migrants from Mexico. For example, in 2023, his deputies signed a deal to streamline the flow of migrants from Mexico but have merely continued vague negotiations over drugs.

The White House request to Congress also asks for roughly $3.3 billion to speed the inflow of migrants. The number means that Biden’s deputies want to spend $4.00 importing additional migrants for every $1.00 spent on excluding drugs.

Mexican Cartel Weapons Found on Border Along Texas Bank of Rio Grande

As migrant apprehensions surge along the Texas border, law enforcement officers face a growing threat of Mexican Cartel violence in South Texas. Border Patrol officials reported the seizure of two cartel rifles and ammunition found Friday on the U.S. bank of the Rio Grande near Fronton, Texas. There were no arrests made in relation to the incident.
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Chief Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez of the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Sector highlighted the seizure and stated, “Our U.S. Border Patrol Agents confront threats daily as they do their best to secure our border. Agents working jointly with our L.E. partners made a significant discovery of weapons and ammunition hidden by criminal organizations near Fronton, TX.”

The Border Patrol released photos of the weapons seizure of two rifles, several rifle magazines, and an ammunition carrier. The weapons appear to be an AR-15 style rifle and a Kalashnikov-style rifle. One photo shows the Kalashnikov rifle submerged in the river. The agency did not provide any other information regarding the multi-agency discovery other than to indicate no suspects were arrested in connection with the finding.

The small border town of Fronton, with a population of 167 residents, has been the scene of other cartel-related border activity in recent months. On Saturday, the images of three suspected Mexican cartel gunmen crossing the Rio Grande were captured by law enforcement cameras, according to Fox News report. One of the men depicted in the images on Saturday appeared to be wearing body armor. The three suspected Mexican cartel gunmen were not arrested despite a coordinated effort by the Border Patrol to locate them.

Honduran Asylum-Recipient Sentenced for Smuggling Migrants — For Third Time

This week, 41-year-old Marlon Enrique “Gordo” Gallegos Rapalo appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge Randy Crane in McAllen, Texas. The judge sentenced him to six and a half years in prison. Gallegos pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges earlier this year following an arrest in July 2022.

According to information released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas, Gallegos was living in the U.S. under asylum protection — meaning that he could not be deported at the time of his multiple offenses. Court documents show that he had been arrested several times and had been sent to prison two times before, once in 2015 and once in 2017, on human smuggling charges. During the sentencing hearing, Crane said Gallegos had “committed a serious abuse of the system” and ordered that he be deported after completing his sentence.

Democrat Mississippi Candidate Accepted Cash
from CCP-Linked Tycoon with Ties to Hunter, Joe Biden

Brandon Presley, a candidate for Mississippi’s governorship and who positioned himself as a moderate, accepted $10,000 in campaign funds on June 26, 2023, from Pin Ni, the president of Wanxiang America, a CCP-linked company.

A Chinese multinational conglomerate, Wanxiang has ties to the Bidens.

In 2012, Seneca Global Advisors, Hunter Biden’s business, had a client named GreatPoint Energy that partnered with Wanxiang on a $1.25 billion natural gas plant in communist China. Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was at the signing deal between the two entities.

The deal between GreatPoint Energy and Wanxiang is notable because Hunter’s business, Rosemont Seneca Partners, also invested in the Fisker car company that Wanxiang bought after Fisker went bankrupt in 2013.

“Hunter was listed as a creditor on its [Fisker’s] filings,” the Daily Mail reported. According to the report, Hunter bought one of Fisker’s vehicles for $142,300, but the car had apparently failed to operate. Wanxiang’s American president, Pin Ni, who had met with Joe Biden four days prior, offered to service Hunter’s vehicle.

Before Fisker’s bankruptcy in 2013 and later sale in 2016 to Wanxiang, Joe Biden claimed to broker a massive deal between Fisker Automotives and an automotive plant with a taxpayer-funded loan.

Ecuador arrests 6 Colombians over candidate's assassination

...Interior Minister Juan Zapata described the killing as a "political crime of a terrorist nature" aimed at sabotaging the August 20 presidential election.

He had added that "those arrested belong to organized crime gangs."

"The national police now have the first arrests of the alleged material authors of this abominable event and will employ all of their operative and investigative capacity to discover the motive of this crime and its intellectual authors," Zapata said.

"All of them, including the deceased, are Colombians," police told the AFP news agency.

During the arrests and raids, police found weapons including a rifle, a submachine gun, four pistols, three grenades, two rifle magazines and four boxes of ammunition. They also found a stolen vehicle.

Iran close to testing nuclear weapons for first time - European intel

The Islamic Republic of Iran is close to possibly testing a nuclear weapons device and has sought to obtain illicit technology for its active atomic weapons program, according to a series of shocking European intelligence reports released in 2023.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) first published translations of the intelligence documents on its website. The Jerusalem Post is the first Israeli newspaper to report on the intelligence findings from the Netherlands, Sweden and Germany.

The most unsettling revelation from the batch of  intelligence data comes from the Netherlands General and Intelligence Security Service (AVID).

The AVID determined the Iranian regime’s fast-moving development of weapons-grade uranium "brings the option of a possible Iranian first nuclear test closer."

According to the Dutch intelligence report, "Last year, Iran proceeded with its nuclear program. The country continues to increase stocks of 20% and 60% enriched uranium. By means of centrifuges, this can be used for further enrichment to the 90% enriched uranium needed for a nuclear weapon."

South Korea Has ‘No Information’
About Joe Biden’s Reported $6 Billion Payoff to Iran

The South Korean Foreign Ministry said Friday it had “no information” about President Joe Biden’s plan to unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets from South Korean banks to pay ransom for five American hostages.
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“Our government has been closely consulting with involved countries such as the United States and Iran to resolve the frozen fund issue, and hopes that the issue will be resolved amicably,” the South Korean Foreign Ministry said, referring to longstanding negotiations over the Iranian funds.

The Biden plan has been rolled out very awkwardly, with media reports on Thursday sourced to unnamed officials. The only immediate official confirmation came from the Iranian regime, which used its state media to confirm that “Iran’s frozen funds in South Korea will be unblocked and transferred to Qatar,” in exchange for which four of the five American hostages were moved from Iran’s infamous Evin dungeon into house arrest. The fifth hostage was reportedly already under house arrest.

Even the anonymous Biden administration sources who broke the story to major media outlets were only willing to name three of the hostages: Siamak Namazi, Emad Sharhi, and Morad Tahbaz. All three have been held by Iran for years on spurious “espionage” charges. Namazi has been held the longest, having been arrested in October 2015 during a family visit to Tehran.

Administration sources said the process of transferring Iran’s funds from South Korea to Qatar would take several weeks, during which time the hostages will be kept under house arrest. The deal, allegedly mediated by Qatar, along with Oman and Switzerland, will supposedly permit Iran to access its funds only to purchase food, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies.

China condemns visit of 'troublemaker' Taiwan VP to US

China's foreign ministry on Sunday condemned a brief U.S. visit by Taiwan Vice President William Lai, saying he was a separatist and "troublemaker through and through" and Beijing would take strong steps to protect its sovereignty.

Lai, front-runner to be Taiwan's next president at elections in January, arrived in New York late on Saturday for what is officially a transit on his way to Paraguay for the inauguration of its president.

China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Lai's trip, which includes another stopover in San Francisco on Wednesday on his way back to Taipei.

In a statement issued shortly after Lai landed in New York on a scheduled flight from Taipei, China's foreign ministry said it opposed any form of visit by "Taiwan independence separatists" to the United States.

"Lai stubbornly adheres to the separatist position of Taiwan independence and is a troublemaker through and through," the ministry said.

Taiwan is the "core of China's core interests" and facts have shown again and again that the reason for the rise in tensions in the Taiwan Strait is Taiwan trying to "rely on the United States to seek independence", it said.

"China is closely following developments and will take resolute and vigorous measures to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."