News of the World

[kyonides]

US NEWS

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Speaker Mike Johnson: 6 Points of Evidence Support Joe Biden Impeachment Inquiry Vote

Johnson’s op-ed sets the stage for the full House vote after the White House refused to comply with House investigators’ request for relevant documentation and records. The vote will be a test for House Republicans, who hold a slight majority over House Democrats. The measure will need nearly all Republican support.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) opened an “impeachment inquiry” on September 12, but lawmakers did not vote to approve the measure.
If the impeachment inquiry receives majority support on the House floor, the inquiry will be formally adopted, a status that Johnson says will help the House’s inquiry obtain information blocked by the White House.
Johnson, a constitutional lawyer and former member of the House Judiciary Committee, cited six cases of mounting evidence against Joe Biden that “cannot be ignored”:

1. Biden family members and Biden business-linked entities received more than $15 million from individuals in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania, and China.
   
2. Joe Biden spoke with Hunter Biden’s business associates at least 22 times.
   
3. Joe Biden lied about his involvement in the business.
   
4. Joe Biden received “direct monthly payments” from Hunter Biden’s “Owasco PC” business account, which received “payments from Chinese-state linked companies and other foreign nationals and companies.”
   
5. Investigators flagged the Justice Department’s “deviations” in the five-year investigation into Hunter Biden.
   
6. An FBI FD-1023 form alleges Joe Biden accepted a $5 million bribe while vice president.
   

EUROPEAN NEWS

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Zelensky Leaves Empty-Handed: McConnell Admits Ukraine Aid Talks Going Nowhere, Punts to January

Negotiations on additional American aid to Ukraine paired with a border security package are dead for 2023, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) reportedly told his fellow Senate Republicans at their weekly lunch Tuesday.

The Republican leader’s comments come as Zelensky makes his third trip in a year through the U.S. Capitol with his hands out.

Republican opposition to additional aid to Ukraine has steadily grown as voters have balked at Zelensky’s pleas for more handouts from American taxpayers.

Congress has already authorized well over $100 billion in aid to Ukraine.

Earlier Tuesday, Zelensky met individually with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA). Afterward, Johnson reiterated his position that the White House and Senate must get serious about securing the border before any additional aid to Ukraine can be considered, arguing that the Biden administration has failed to outline clear goals in further assisting Ukraine’s war against Russia.

MIDDLE EASTERN NEWS

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Turkish MP Suffers Heart Attack During Tirade Against Israel

Turkish parliamentarian Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack and collapsed next to the podium at the Turkish National Assembly on Tuesday after delivering a tirade against Israel.

The Grand Assembly of the Turkish parliament was ostensibly debating budgetary considerations on Tuesday, but Bitmez launched into a fiery condemnation of Israel’s war against the terrorists of Hamas in Gaza, accusing Israelis of “crimes against humanity” and “ethnic cleansing.”

“Even if history remains silent, the truth will not remain silent. They think that if they get rid of us, there will be no problem. However, if you get rid of us, you will not be able to escape the torment of conscience,” he said.

Bitmez’s last words before collapsing were reportedly, “Israel will not escape the wrath of Allah!”

Bitmez, 54, reportedly suffers from diabetes. Fortunately, one of the fellow MPs who rushed to his aid, Turhan Comez of the IYI Party, is a trained physician. After Comez rendered aid at the scene, Bitmez was removed from the National Assembly chamber by stretcher after collapsing and taken to intensive care at Ankara’s Bilkent City Hospital. He was reported to be in critical condition as of Tuesday afternoon.

Bitmez is the deputy chief of Turkey’s Saadet or “Felicity” Party, an Islamist party formed in 2001. Saadet is considered the more hardline Islamist alternative to the ruling Justice and Development (AKP) party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Israeli Doctor: Hamas Committed Sexual Abuse, Psychological Torture; Drugged Kids

Dr. Renana Eitan, head psychiatrist at a prominent Tel Aviv hospital, [stated] on Tuesday:

“The physical, sexual, mental, psychological abuse of these hostages who came back is just terrible,” she added. “We have to rewrite the textbook.”
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The hospital has been treating 14 former hostages held by Hamas, some of whom reported being drugged, including with what doctors believe were benzodiazepines, a class of depressants with a sedative effect that includes drugs like Valium.
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“One of the girls was given ketamine for a few weeks,” she continued, referring to a powerful dissociative anesthetic known for giving the recipient a sense of detachment from their environment.

Another, male hostage was reportedly told that his wife had been killed when she was, in fact, still alive. Some hostages were kept in darkness for days, and some freed hostages experienced flashbacks, in which they believed erroneously that they were still in captivity.

Missile Strikes Norwegian-Flagged Tanker in Red Sea off Yemen in Apparent Expansion of Terror Attacks

The assault on the oil and chemical tanker Strinda expands a campaign by the Iranian-backed rebels targeting ships near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into apparently now striking those that have no clear ties to Israel. That potentially imperils cargo and energy shipments coming through the Suez Canal and further widens the international impact of the Israel-Hamas war now raging in the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, though rebel military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said an important announcement would be coming from them soon.

The private intelligence firms Ambrey and Dryad Global confirmed the attack happened near the crucial Bab el-Mandeb Strait separating East Africa from the Arabian Peninsula.

Dryad Global and a U.S. defense official identified the vessel attacked as the Strinda, a Norwegian-owned-and-operated ship that had broadcast it had armed guards aboard as it went through the strait. The defense official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, said it appeared a missile struck the vessel.

AFRICAN NEWS

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Tunisia Rages After Denzel Washington Cast to Play Hannibal the Conquerer

Hannibal was a Carthaginian general who nearly conquered Rome in 218BC after leading an epic campaign with an armada of African war elephants across the Alps to attack Rome from the north. Though his campaign failed, he is considered one of the greatest military leaders in history. Tunisia, the general’s birthplace, has claimed that Denzel Washington would race-swap the role. Per The Guardian:

French-language Tunisian news outlet La Presse published an article saying the casting created “a historical error”, while on social media, some users accused Netflix of promoting “woke culture”. An online petition signed by 1,300 people urged Netflix to “cancel its pseudo-documentary” and called on the ministry of culture to “take action against the attempt to steal our history”.

It should be noted that no historical document ever detailed Hannibal’s skin color, though “historians of the ancient Mediterranean world largely agree that he was of Phoenician descent – a region encompassing modern Lebanon and Syria – although he lived during a time of great empires and intermixing,” according to The Guardian.

The casting of Washington, arguably one of the greatest movie stars in the world, has been such a point of contention in Tunisia that one of the country’s MPs, Yassine Mami, questioned Culture Minister, Hayet Ketat Guermazi, on the floor of the Tunisian Parliament about it.