News of the World

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US NEWS

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Trump attorney Alina Habba blasts 'unhinged' Engoron for telling her to remain silent

Alina Habba, the attorney for former President Donald Trump, blasted Judge Arthur Engoron for telling her to "sit down" and said that "I'm not here to hear what he has to say" during the former president's testimony in the civil fraud trial out of New York.

"Why exactly am I being paid as an attorney, and why exactly are taxpayer dollars being used in this courtroom? The answer is very clear. Because Ms. [Letitia] James wants to stand right here like she did this morning and call my client a liar. Call the company fraudulent. And make a name for herself," Habba said outside of the courthouse on Monday.

Trump took the witness stand in the $250 million civil lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. Engoron was short with the former president to the point of shouting at Trump's defense attorneys to remain seated after they began responding to Engoron's complaints that Trump was giving "speeches" instead of answering questions appropriately.

"Mr. [Chris] Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally," Engoron said.

At one point, Trump said, unprompted into the microphone, "This is a very unfair trial. Very, very, and I hope the public is watching."

Habba echoed her client, railed against Engoron for telling her to be silent, and said that "everyone has a right in this country to get up and put a defense."
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Habba went on to criticize James for speaking ahead of the trial on Monday and calling Trump a "bully." James told reporters that "before [Trump] takes the stand, I am certain that he will engage in name-calling and taunts and race-baiting and call this a witch hunt."

"Ms. James, you taunted him. Before you came into office, before you saw one record, one statement of financial condition, you taunted him," Habba said. "You said his administration was too male and too pale. Those are her words."

Texas voters approve measure to create $10 billion state energy fund

Texans voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve Proposition 7, a $10 billion measure that will create a state energy fund and incentivize new natural gas production in an effort to build out the state's grid capacity and protect against future blackouts.

The $10 billion energy-focused initiative was one of the 14 initiatives on the ballot on Tuesday and is meant to bolster the state’s aging power grid, primarily through investing in new natural gas-fired generation.

Proposition 7 s meant to build out 10 megawatts of natural gas plants in the state, enough to power roughly 2 million homes.

Under the program, qualifying developers will be eligible for a 3% interest rate loan from the state to build out thermal energy plants. Additional state subsidies created by the measure cover up to 10% of their project costs, so long as the plants are built in compliance with certain state deadlines.

The loan distribution will be overseen by the Texas Public Utility Commission, making it the preferred lender for gas power developers in the state and allowing the body to operate like a bank.

It also invests a smaller $1.8 billion for the creation of microgrids, or small-scale “backup” power programs that would keep the lights on for systems serving critical facilities, such as hospitals, schools, and fire stations, in the event of a supply shortage.

Apple Store sacked as crash-and-grab trend continues in Chicago area

A Chicago-area Apple Store was sacked Monday as the nationwide crash-and-grab trend continues to wreak havoc on retailers.

The incident occurred at about 6 a.m. when authorities responded to a call that a vehicle had slammed into a Naperville Apple Store, according to a report.

Identified as a beige Hyundai Elantra, the car carried at least three people who quickly entered the store and pillaged the product.

They then fled the scene with an unconfirmed number of electronics in a dark SUV, according to the report.

Chicago Mayor Johnson casts tiebreaking vote against censure of disgraced ally in City Council

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson cast the tiebreaking vote against the censure of Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, the 35th Ward Chicago City Council alderman, after a confrontation with 27th Alderwoman Emma Mitts.

The council was split 24-24 on whether to punish Ramirez-Rosa before the Democratic mayor’s vote.

Ramirez-Rosa, the mayor's floor leader, announced on Monday he was stepping down from his leadership role following an incident last week during a regular City Council meeting when Ramirez-Rosa used his body to block Mitts from entering the chambers minutes before a procedural vote on the proposal regarding Chicago's sanctuary city status.

Ramirez-Rosa was opposed to putting the city’s sanctuary status, which has been in place for over three decades, as a referendum on the ballot next March.

Ald. Raymond Lopez accused Ramirez-Rosa of trying to “physically block her” from entering the chamber. Five Latino aldermen, including Lopez, issued a statement over the weekend, calling on Johnson to demand Ramirez-Rosa resign as floor leader and as City Council Zoning Committee chairman. The Chicago Aldermanic Black Caucus also called for Ramirez-Rosa's resignation from both leadership roles.

Mitts voted against the censure measure and gave her first remarks on the incident Tuesday evening, which she said left her shaking.

“Thank you, you did apologize this morning to me, the first time we talked," she said to Ramirez-Rosa, according to ABC 7, telling him that “actions always speak louder than words.”

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

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In the search for new allies...

Netanyahu signals affinity for Zelensky as Israel's ties with Russia worsen

Israel intends to host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for a visit to show solidarity in response to the Hamas terrorist attack last month despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s careful management of ties with Russia.

“If President Zelensky comes, he will be welcomed with open arms,” an unnamed Israeli official told the Times of Israel.

Zelensky had planned to arrive in Israel on Monday, according to reports, which would have positioned him to mark the passage of a month since the unprecedented rampage that ignited a major war in Gaza. The visit was canceled after his plans leaked, but points in any case to the worsening relationship between Israel and Russia.

That trip would have united two leaders trying to shore up international support for their respective causes at a time of growing international unease about Ukraine’s prospects and Israel’s tactics in separate devastating wars.

“[Zelensky] wanted the trip to be public when he stepped on Israeli soil,” a Ukrainian official told Israeli media. “He’s very disappointed.”

Netanyahu's team reportedly rebuffed Zelensky's initial attempt to visit in the first days after the Hamas attack in an apparent continuation of their long-standing effort to maintain a cordial relationship with Russia, which has a military presence in neighboring Syria. Yet Russia has hosted delegations from Hamas and Iran in Moscow in the weeks since the terrorist attack, with senior Russian officials criticizing Israel’s conduct in the war. The dispute escalated in recent days when Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzia, the top Russian envoy at the U.N., said Israel “does not have” a right to self-defense against the Palestinians, which outraged his Israeli counterpart.

Iran Tries to Sway Apathetic India to Support Hamas

Iran’s frantic effort to drag the BRICS coalition into defending the Hamas terrorists included a phone call between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday.

Modi described the conversation as a “good exchange of perspectives,” but did not seem enthusiastic about accepting Iran’s narrative of the Gaza war or about saving Hamas from the consequences of its actions.

“Terrorist incidents, violence and loss of civilian lives are serious concerns. Preventing escalation, ensuring continued humanitarian aid and early restoration of peace and stability are important,” Modi said after the call, touching on several topics Iran absolutely does not want to discuss.

Raisi’s narrative is that Israel is randomly bombing civilians in Gaza for no good reason and the BRICS nations should come together to prevent Israel from committing “genocide” against the Palestinians. Raisi wants an immediate and unconditional Israeli ceasefire to protect Hamas, without any consideration for the crimes against humanity committed by the Palestinian terrorists or the safety of the Israelis and other foreigners they kidnapped on October 7.

India’s WION News reported Raisi played the colonizer card against Modi, reminding him of India’s struggles against “Western colonialism” and its leadership of the Non-Aligned Movement. Raisi implied India should sympathize with the Palestinians because the Israelis are supposedly “colonizing” them.

Modi has supported humanitarian efforts in Gaza, but not an unconditional Hamas-friendly ceasefire like the one Raisi wants. India abstained from the October 28 United Nations vote on a resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian truce because the resolution did not include “explicit condemnation” of the Hamas atrocities and India felt there could be “no equivocation on terror.”

EUROPEAN NEWS

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Things are getting uglier and uglier by the day

Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Resigns Amid Corruption Probe

Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said Tuesday he is resigning after being involved in a widespread corruption probe.

Costa said in a nationally televised address that “in these circumstances, obviously, I have presented my resignation to the president of the republic.”

Costa’s shocking announcement came hours after Portuguese police arrested his chief of staff while raiding several public buildings and other properties as part of a widespread corruption probe.

The Supreme Court, the state prosecutor’s office said, was also examining the suspects’ “use of the prime minister’s name and his involvement to unlock” the practices being probed.

The 62-year-old Costa, Portugal’s Socialist leader since 2015, defended his innocence and teared up while thanking his family for their support through the years.

Top Aid to Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Dies After Grenade Given as Birthday Gift Exploded

A top aide to the commander of Ukraine’s military was killed by a grenade given to him as a birthday gift and not in a targeted attack, the interior minister said.

Maj. Hennadii Chastiakov died in the tragic accident Monday that badly injured his 13-year-old son, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on Telegram.

A colleague presented six new grenades as a gift to Chastiakov, who was a top aide and close friend to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, for his 39th birthday, Klymenko said.

Chastiakov was showing off the grenades to his family at home when his son took one and began twisting the ring.

“The serviceman then took the grenade from the child and pulled the ring, leading to a tragic explosion,” Klymenko said.

Police are investigating the incident in the village of Chaiky in the Kyiv region.

The officer’s death was the second fatal tragedy in less than a week for Ukraine’s military.

 Why on earth would you let a kiddo get access to a grenade in the first place?

NATO Withdraws from Cold War-Era Security Treaty After Russian Exit

NATO on Tuesday announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia’s pullout from the deal just hours earlier. The alliance also said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact.

Most of NATO’s 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later.

NATO said its action was required because “a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable.”

Earlier in the day, Moscow said it had finalized its withdrawal from the treaty, also known as CFE. The long-expected move came after both houses of the Russian parliament approved a bill proposed by President Vladimir Putin denouncing the CFE. Putin signed that bill it into force in May this year.

The treaty was one of several major Cold War-era treaties involving Russia and the United States that ceased to be in force in recent years. Russia suspended its participation in 2007, and in 2015 announced its intention to completely withdraw from the agreement.

Elderly British Army Veteran Poppy Seller Punched, Kicked by pro-Palestinian Protesters

An elderly British army veteran poppy seller said he was punched and kicked as he left Edinburgh Waverley station over the weekend as pro-Palestinian protesters converged for a huge sit-in.

Jim Henderson, 78, was selling poppies in the station ahead of Remembrance Day when he decided to leave because of the large crowds.

Henderson, who served with the army in Northern Ireland as part of the Royal Corps of Signals, 32 Signal Regiment, said he was set upon as he left, an act which has already attacked criticism.

“I was getting shoved backwards, in danger of falling, and one of them stood on my foot and split my toe,” he told Mail Online. “So I thought I had got to get the money out of here.

“So I went down, and as I bent down someone punched me in the back.

“And then I got another punch in my side.”

He said three members of railway staff ultimately came to his rescue and shoved the attackers away.

Henderson added: “I’ve never known anything like it. Chanting. Saying it’s all about the British government.”

London’s Met Police Beg Pro-Palestine Protesters to ‘Reconsider’ Demo on Armistice Day

While other European nations such as France and Germany have banned some pro-Palestinian protests in light of Islamic terrorism and rising antisemitism across the continent, the Tory government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has refrained from doing so, even as the nation prepares to mourn the fallen soldiers who died protecting Britain.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has been critical of the plans to hold an anti-Israel rally in the British capital and warned that “if anyone were to vandalise the Cenotaph, they must be put into a jail cell faster than their feet can touch the ground”. However, she ultimately left the decision up to London’s Metropolitan Police.

In a statement released on Monday afternoon, the Met’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “The risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing.

“This is of concern ahead of a significant and busy weekend in the capital. Our message to organisers is clear: Please, we ask you to urgently reconsider.

“It is not appropriate to hold any protests in London this weekend.”

 Seriously, Home Secretary? Now you think it's appropriate to degrade yourself by simply begging those criminals to march in protest of the Western world any other day?

German Chancellor, Governors Agree to Migration Curbs, Extension of Border Controls

New, stricter measures to curb the high number of migrants coming to Germany were agreed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the 16 state governors in the early hours of Tuesday, reaching a compromise on an issue that has become a huge political problem for the government and a hot-button topic in society.

The new measures include speeding up asylum procedures, benefit restrictions for asylum seekers and more financial aid from the federal government for the states and local communities dealing with the influx.

Speaking early Tuesday after an overnight meeting that lasted several hours, Scholz called the agreement “a historical moment” – a remark that showed how much of a burden the topic had become for the government.

Shelters for migrants and refugees have been filling up in Germany for months, and Scholz, who faces enormous pressure from the opposition and elsewhere to halt that trend, has said that “too many are coming.”

The number of new asylum applications for the year to date was around 73% higher at the end of September than in the same period last year, official statistics show.

Germany has also taken in more than 1 million Ukrainians arrive since the start of Russia’s war in their homeland.

 Meanwhile, the southern US border remains open, even for Hamas, Hezbollah and Taliban terrorists, Mexican drug dealers and hitmen, and Chinese spies.  Thank the Biden administration for that.

Record 32,000 Illegal Boat Migrants Arrive on Spain’s Canary Islands

Spain’s Canary Islands have set a new record for the number of irregular arrivals to the archipelago, with more than 32,000 migrants making the treacherous boat journey on the Atlantic Ocean to the European Union territory this year. Most migrants are leaving from Senegal.

The islands, located near the African continent, have been used for decades as a stepping stone to Europe. Though the majority of arrivals are from Senegal, there are also boats departing from Gambia, Mauritania, Morocco and the Western Sahara.

According to an Associated Press tally of figures released by Spain’s Interior Ministry and local emergency services, at least 32,029 people landed there from Jan. 1 to Nov. 5 – exceeding the notorious migration crisis of 2006, when 31,678 migrants disembarked in the Canaries.

Smugglers in Senegal pack young people looking for better opportunities in Europe into old artisanal fishing boats. The journey from Senegal to the Canaries usually takes a week of difficult upwind sailing for around 1,600 km (1,000 miles).

Migrant boats frequently shipwreck or disappear in the Atlantic.

ASIAN NEWS

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A very busy season for the CCP

Leftist Australian PM Albanese Gushes over Meeting China’s Xi, Declares ‘Historic Time for Me’

Albanese is on a four-day visit to the Communist state, splitting his time between Shanghai and Beijing, in the first such visit by an Australian leader in seven years.

The Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader said the occasion was “a historic time for me” coming on the 50th anniversary of another left-wing Australian PM Gough Whitlam being the first Australian prime minister to officially visit China.

Albanese is being accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, who met China’s foreign minister on Monday afternoon in the capital while Albanese readied for his Xi talks.

Albanese retraced history on Monday with a private tour of the Temple of Heaven – one of the first stops for Whitlam on his official visit to Beijing in 1973, the Daily Mail reports.

‘The progress we have made in advancing our relationship (since meeting Mr Xi a year ago) has been unquestionably very positive,’ Albanese said.

‘I believe that we can all benefit from the greater understanding that comes from high level dialogue and people to people links and that a strong relationship between our two countries will be beneficial into the future.

‘Where differences arise, it’s important that we have communication.’

Xi Jinping Meets ‘Good Comrades’ from Cuba to Heighten ‘Strategic’ Ties

Marrero, a top Cuban Politburo official with the ruling Communist Party, met with Xi as part of a weeklong tour of China expected to culminate on November 9, his first official visit to the Asian nation since he took office in December 2019. Marrero’s international tour will see him depart for Belarus later in the week, where he will stay until November 12.

The Cuban Prime Minister’s Chinese tour occurs nearly one year after the Castro regime’s figurehead, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, met with Xi in late November 2022 on a similar visit. China is both Cuba’s largest trading partner and one of the ailing communist regime’s crucial financial lifelines that ensures its continued existence.

At the time of Xi and Díaz-Canel’s encounter in Beijing, China issued a 700 million Chinese Yuan ($100 million) “donation” to the communist Castro regime that was formalized in January. Neither regime has publicly disclosed what the “donation” was used for.

In Monday’s meeting with Marrero, Xi reportedly stated that China and Cuba are “good friends, good comrades and good brothers” who have advanced together in the “construction of socialism” and have supported each other in “issues related to their vital interests.”

Xi continued by affirming that China is developing special friendly relations with Cuba from a “strategic and global perspective,” reiterating his support to the Castro regime to “resist external interference and blockade” and “defend their sovereignty and national dignity.”

China’s Belt and Road Loans Start Coming Due, Crushing Poor Countries

A rather gloomy picture was painted by a survey of China’s debtors conducted by the AidData research lab at William & Mary college in Virginia:

The researchers found that as the debts to Chinese lenders have mounted, the number of suspended or canceled projects has also increased. With a high share of lending directed towards countries in, or at risk of, financial distress, Beijing is now increasingly worried about the risk of defaults.

In June, Zambia reached a historic deal to restructure $6.3bn of debt, two-thirds of which is owed to the Export-Import Bank of China, one of the country’s two main policy banks.

To mitigate the risk of future defaults, Chinese policymakers have introduced a number of measures, including reducing loans for infrastructure projects while ramping up emergency lending. In 2015, infrastructure project lending accounted for more than 60% of China’s loan portfolio. By 2021, the share was just over 30%, with emergency lending accounting for nearly 60%.

BRI has been criticized as “debt colonialism,” a deliberate strategy by China to saddle Third World countries with debts they can never repay so Beijing can develop political leverage over client nations, but the AidData researchers preferred to give China credit for creating a financial “safety net” for developing nations.

The AidData report also disputed “conventional wisdom” that China’s international lending has “plummeted to nearly zero” as the Chinese economy weakened. Loans are still being made, but the terms are getting tighter, interest rates are getting higher, and China’s debt collection practices are growing more relentless. Among other things, China has increased the penalty interest rate for delinquent borrowers from a modest three percent in 2014 to 8.7 percent today.