News of the World
USA
So what's his way to deal with this dangerous issue? To let them in unvetted and wait for them to kill Americans like Mrs. Riley? 
So when you have no real answers, just keep repeating yourself.
And where exactly will Hunter get all that 
money from? The poor taxpayers!? 
ASIA
MIDDLE EAST
LATIN AMERICA
AFRICA
Judiciary Section
Quote:Colorado cannot disqualify former President Donald Trump from appearing on the 2024 ballot, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday.
In a historic ruling, the Supreme Court said only Congress can disqualify a candidate from the ballot using the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Insurrection Clause,” overturning a 4-3 opinion in December from the Colorado Supreme Court that the provision prohibits former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot for the presidency in 2024.
That ruling partially reversed a prior ruling in November that Trump is not an officer of the United States as defined by the Fourteenth Amendment and that the Amendment therefore cannot be used to disqualify him from appearing on the Colorado primary ballot.
This is the first time the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
The court wrote:
Proposed by Congress in 1866 and ratified by the States in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment expanded federal power at the expense of state autonomy and thus fundamentally altered the balance of state and federal power struck by the Constitution. […]
The court continued:
Section 3 works by imposing on certain individuals a preventive and severe penalty—disqualification from holding a wide array of offices—rather than by granting rights to all. It is therefore necessary, as Chief Justice Chase concluded and the Colorado Supreme Court itself recognized, to ‘ascertain what particular individuals are embraced’ by the provision. […]
Chase went on to explain that to accomplish this ascertainment and ensure effective results, proceedings, evidence, decisions, and enforcements of decisions, more or less formal, are indispensable. […]
The Constitution empowers Congress to prescribe how those determinations should be made. The relevant provision is Section 5, which enables Congress, subject of course to judicial review, to pass “appropriate legislation” to “enforce” the Fourteenth Amendment. […]
The court went on to note that Congress did so by passing the Enforcement Act of 1870.
Quote:Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (D) withdrew her previous determination that former President Donald Trump should be prohibited from appearing on the ballot, doing so following the Supreme Court’s nine-to-zero decision, which determined that states do not possess the authority to ban a candidate from the ballot using the Fourteenth Amendment’s “Insurrection Clause.”
In December, Bellows determined that she believed Trump to be ineligible to appear on the state’s ballot based on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Insurrection Clause. However, she said at the time that the decision would not be carried out until the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in.
“Specifically, I find that the declaration on his candidate consent form is false because he is not qualified to hold the office of the president under Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment,” she wrote at the time. However, following the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling, she formally withdrew her determination.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that individual states lack authority to enforce Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment with respect to federal offices,” she wrote, according to the Hill.
“Consistent with my oath and obligation to follow the law and the Constitution, and pursuant to the Anderson decision, I hereby withdraw my determination that Mr. Trump’s primary petition is invalid,” Bellows continued.
“As a result of the modified ruling, votes cast for Mr. Trump in the March 5, 2024, presidential primary election will be counted,” she added.
Quote:Michael Hart of San Diego was arrested under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, which prohibits the importation of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) without proper permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
HFCs are potent greenhouse gases commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners, building insulation, fire extinguishing systems, and aerosols. They can be hundreds to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, exacerbating the climate crisis.
According to the Department of Justice, Hart purchased refrigerants in Mexico and smuggled them into the United States in his vehicle, hidden under a tarp and tools.
...
“The illegal smuggling of hydrofluorocarbons … undermines international efforts to combat climate change under the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol,” said David Uhlmann of the EPA, referring to an agreement the United States, along with most countries, has signed.
It calls to phase out the super pollutants by 80-85 percent by 2047.
The indictment also alleges Hart imported HCFC 22, an ozone-depleting substance regulated under the Clean Air Act. Mexico as a developing country has a longer timetable for phasing out such pollutants than the United States as a developed country.
Humanitarian Issue...
Quote:The National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL), and Children’s Rights are asking the judge to order the Department of Homeland Security to cease detaining migrant children in open-air detention sites (OAD) and, among other actions, to document the circumstances of any detention of migrant children in OAD’s that exceed two hours from the first encounter with the agency.
In the court filing, the groups are citing the terms of a 1993 Supreme Court case, Reno v. Flores, regarding the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children while in immigration detention. The case stemmed from the 1985 detention of an El Salvadoran unaccompanied migrant child, Jenny Lissette Flores, by the then Immigration and Naturalization Service.
The new filing by NCYL and CHRCL, who brought the class action suit on behalf of Flores, is now asking the judge in the Flores case to enforce the agreement and block any detention actions by DHS that do not meet the settlement standards.
The motion to enforce describes conditions in Jacumba and San Ysidro, California, where migrant children are led by CBP personnel to outdoor processing sites to await transportation. The detention times in those outdoor encampments can range from hours to days, according to the filing. The groups assert the open-air sites lack adequate hygiene facilities, medical staff, food, or shelter and do not provide sufficient security for the migrant children.
Immigration
Quote:Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was purposefully “trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country.”
Anchor Dana Bash said, “I want you to listen to what the Texas Governor Greg Abbott told me on the show about the idea of whether or not legislation is needed. Take a listen.”
Abbott said, “The fact that the matter is there are laws on the books passed by Congress of the United States right now that authorize the executive branch to deny illegal entry. The president does not need new laws. The president needs a backbone to make sure that he said he enforces the immigration laws that are already on the books.
Mayorkas said, “Couldn’t be more wrong, couldn’t be more wrong. As a matter of fact, former President Trump tried to close the border and it was enjoined in the courts and never saw the light of day.”
He continued, “This coming from an individual who is purposefully refusing to coordinate, communicate, collaborate with other officials, and trying to wreak havoc in other cities and states across the country. That is not a model of governance and he couldn’t be more wrong.”
So what's his way to deal with this dangerous issue? To let them in unvetted and wait for them to kill Americans like Mrs. Riley? Quote:On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “The Story,” White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby responded to claims from former Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz that he never spoke with either President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris during his tenure running the agency from August 2021 to the end of June 2023 by stating that Biden is engaged with DHS and Border Patrol and visited the border for the second time last week.
Host Martha MacCallum asked, [relevant exchange begins around 1:25] “You say he’s ‘actively engaged,’ and yet, according to his former Border Patrol Chief, who spoke out on ‘60 Minutes,’ Raul Ortiz, he never spoke with the President the entire time he was the border Chief overseeing 21,000 agents or the Vice President. Given the fact that this is the number 1 issue for voters in every primary state we’ve covered so far, John, how is that possible?”
Kirby responded, “Well, you saw the President down at Brownsville last week, Martha. That’s the second visit down to the border. He obviously has a close relationship with Secretary Mayorkas and everybody at DHS. He had a chance to meet directly with border agents down there in Brownsville. This is an issue he knows is important to the American people. It’s important to him. And frankly, Martha, that’s why it was so important for the Senate to pass that bipartisan bill, which included significant changes, not only in border security, but immigration policy, and now it’s languishing because the House won’t take it up. The President’s willing to negotiate and compromise and talk about all these things and move forward. That’s why he asked for the national security supplemental.”
MacCallum then cut in to ask, “John, how has he never spoken to — and we did some reporting on this earlier today — not only Raul Ortiz, the former Chief of the Border Patrol, but the current chief of the Border Patrol, Chief Owens, who, you pointed out, he did meet with in Brownsville. But from, what we could find out, they had never spoken before that. How is that possible?”
Kirby answered, “The President’s engaged with DHS. He’s engaged with leadership there –.”
MacCallum then cut in to ask, “But why not the Border Patrol?”
Kirby answered, “He’s engaged with the Border Patrol, Martha. He was just down there in Brownsville meeting and talking to those folks directly and hearing from them about the situation on the ground.”
MacCallum followed up, “But he never met with the former or current Chief. The current Chief, he just met. He’s been President for three years, just met him the other day.”
Kirby responded, “He, again, is engaged with everybody at DHS, including the Border Patrol, down there in Brownsville talking to them on the ground, hearing from them directly about what their concerns are.”
So when you have no real answers, just keep repeating yourself.
Quote:More than eight million illegal aliens will be living freely in the United States — not detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — while awaiting deportation by the end of 2024, federal officials project.
President Joe Biden is likely to have nearly tripled ICE’s non-detained docket by the end of his first term in the White House. ICE’s non-detained docket includes illegal aliens living in American towns and cities whom the agency has not detained but who are awaiting deportation from the U.S.
As Breitbart News reported, by the end of Fiscal Year 2023, 6.2 million illegal aliens were living in the U.S. not detained by ICE but awaiting deportation, including 1.3 million of whom have final deportation orders from a federal immigration judge.
According to internal federal records, Axios reports that the number of illegal aliens on ICE’s non-detained docket will have ballooned to more than eight million by the end of 2024 — nearly triple the 3.2 million illegal aliens on the docket in 2020.
At the beginning of 2024, Sens. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Eric Schmitt (R-MO), Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), Mike Braun (R-IN), and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) sought a vote of no confidence against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for massively increasing ICE’s non-detained docket.
Quote:The basement being used as an illegal migrant shelter was so cramped, the migrants — who were mostly from Senegal — reportedly had to sleep in shifts so that they all could get some rest, the New York Post reported.
The basement dwelling was discovered when investigators from the New York Fire Department (FDNY) entered a Queens furniture store at 132-02 Liberty Avenue in South Richmond Hill after being called because a witness had seen a large number of e-bike batteries being improperly stored on the premises.
The FDNY called city officials in after finding a large number of illegal immigrants in the store’s basement.
After an investigation, the NYPD and the city’s building department determined that 74 or more migrants were living in the store’s basement.
“A further probe revealed that up to 80 individuals have been living there, taking turns to sleep due to the limited space available,” the FDNY said in a statement.
Police officers and members of the city Department of Buildings discovered 14 bunk beds on the building’s first floor and an additional 13 bunk beds in the basement space, which had no ventilation, too few exits, no natural light, and illegal plumbing.
Upon questioning, the store’s owner, Ebou Sarr, 47, admitted he was charging the illegal aliens $300 a month for a bed. But he also claimed that the the $300 charge was a “donation” and that he often took only what the migrants could afford.
The Fani Willis Issue
Quote:Multiple sources familiar with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office exclusively told Breitbart News that the Biden administration has Democrat operative DiSantis inside a Fulton County office to target Trump.
DiSantis, as Breitbart News exclusively reported, has ties to the Biden White House and his reelection campaign through his private consulting firm and business partner.
Speaking at Mar-a-Lago, Trump, fresh off a Supreme Court victory to remain on state ballots, recalled Breitbart News’ exclusive reports that he previously shared on Truth Social.
“I’m being prosecuted by Biden, my opponent. … whether it’s Fani Willis or Bragg — these are local and state, but they’re in total coordination with the White House,” Trump said. “You can’t do that. It shouldn’t be done.”
Trump also highlighted another Breitbart News exclusive in which Fani Willis, Fulton County’s top prosecutor, permitted Nathan Wade to make hiring decisions during the transition following her election win in 2020, according to Breitbart News sources.
...
“She [Fani Willis] hired somebody; she knew the person long before this horrible prosecution took place,” Trump said about Wade. “And she went out and she paid them an unbelievable amount of money, more money than he ever had hoped possible — much more money than other people that do that for a living — he never did it at all, had no experience at all.”
“They had obviously a conflict,” Trump added.
Hunter Biden on the Spotlight Again
Quote:Hunter Biden’s CEFC China Energy Co. “client” who paid him $1 million for legal services never rendered in 2017 has reportedly threatened to sue the president’s son if he does not return the money.
The threat raises questions about the nature of Hunter’s legal representation of CEFC, a foreign entity. Hunter did not register as a foreign agent to represent CEFC. The special counsel did not charge Hunter with violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) in the tax indictment.
Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe Hunter violated FARA, while only 18 percent claim he did not, according to TIPP polling. Thirteen percent are unsure.
CEFC executive Patrick Ho, whom Hunter previously described as “the fucking spy chief of China,” wrote in a demand letter to Hunter requesting the return of the funds because the president’s son did not fulfill his obligations, the New York Post’s Miranda Devine reported:
Ho’s letter, sent by Hong Kong law firm Huen & Partners to Hunter’s attorney Abbe Lowell in Washington, DC, set a deadline of seven days for the repayment of any remaining funds.
“Patrick says he paid him, and that Hunter never did anything for him,” a friend of Ho’s told The Post, “and that according to the contract, the money should be reimbursed.”
The $1 million legal retainer was wired from CEFC in China to CEFC’s Hong Kong HSBC account, and then, on November 2, 2017, to the American bank account of Hudson West III (HWIII), the firm Hunter co-owned with CEFC, and then to Hunter’s private firm, Owasco, according to his California tax indictment.
Hunter admitted during his failed plea deal in July, “My own law firm” got a $1 million “payment for legal fees for Patrick Ho.”
The 2017 contract between Ho and Hunter specified that “Attorney [Hunter] will perform the legal services called for under this agreement, keep Client informed of progress and developments, and respond promptly to Client’s inquiries and communications,” the Post reported. The legal services Hunter pledged to provide were “conferences, court sessions, depositions preparation and participation; correspondence and legal documents review and preparation; legal research; and telephone conversations.”
And where exactly will Hunter get all that money from? The poor taxpayers!? Bomb Threat? Trap for the Police?
Quote:Radical anti-Israel demonstrators hindered the New York Police Department’s response to a reported explosive device found by an Uber driver, according to authorities who were unable to reach the site of the scene in due time as a result.
The incident unfolded on Saturday when the driver noticed a grenade in his vehicle after a fare drop-off near 42nd Street and 7th Avenue in Manhattan.
Due to protesters opposing Israel’s war on Hamas blocking the streets, the police response was delayed.
The NYPD faced challenges in accessing the location where the grenade, later identified as harmless, was discovered in the Uber car on Saturday evening, according to The New York Post. Law enforcement eventually managed to secure the area surrounding the vehicle and confirmed the grenade was non-functional.
Arrests were made among the protesters for obstructing the path of emergency services en route to the scene.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry, who oversees the NYPD Security Operations Center, slammed the pro-Palestinian protesters blocking the department’s Emergency Service Unit in a post later that day.
“Happy Saturday to all! Except the people who thought it was a good idea to block an NYPD ESU vehicle on the way to a bomb threat call,” he wrote. “They will be spending their Saturday where they belong – in jail!”
In January, at a pro-Palestinian protest that shut down the Sundance Film Festival, Israeli actress and producer Noa Tishby spoke with demonstrators and revealed the ignorance of those chanting against Israel with radical slogans.
ASIA
Chinese Declining Birth Rate
Quote:China launched its “two sessions” — the annual meetings of its top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress (NPC), and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an “advisory” body with over 2,000 members — on Monday, seeking to devise ways to reverse its increasingly concerning economic decline.
The Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported that the members of the two legislatures would prioritize “promoting high-quality development” and “new productive forces,” apparently in the face of the fall of the old productive forces, such as a robust body of workers and the real estate industry.
China’s real estate market remains mired in an unprecedented crisis in modern China, documenting steep declines in new home prices, existing home sales, and other key indicators. One of China’s largest and most powerful real estate developers, Evergrande, collapsed in the aftermath of Beijing’s extreme coronavirus lockdown and quarantine camp policy, ordered to liquidate in January and leaving as much as $300 billion in debt.
China is also facing record-high levels of youth unemployment and a rapidly dwindling pool of young workers, as young Chinese opt not to start their own families. Dictator Xi Jinping, who exacerbated the crisis with a mass forced sterilization and abortion campaign against the Turkic people of East Turkistan, ended the decades-long “one-child policy” in 2015, but the country still documented record-low fertility rates in 2023. It remains illegal in China for most people to have a fourth child, an increasingly uncommon problem.
China’s economy “likely grew at its weakest annual rate for more than three decades in 2023,” the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported in late January. It documented an 80-percent drop in foreign direct investment in 2023, losing much of that to neighboring India, whose stock market boomed in February.
“As the world’s second-largest economy endeavors to solidify the momentum of economic recovery in its pursuit of Chinese modernization, the sessions carry immense significance for China and beyond,” Xinhua emphasized on Monday.
Sort of Graphical Description Inside
Quote:Indian police on Sunday detained four men and continued their manhunt for three others who allegedly attacked a Spanish tourist couple, beat them both, and gang-raped the woman.
The couple gave their names as “Vincente” and “Fernanda” in an interview with Spanish media on Saturday, the day after the attack. The pair has an Instagram account with about 200,000 followers where they post videos of their world travels.
According to the couple, they were on a motorcycle tour of Jharkhand in eastern India when they were attacked. They had just set up camp for the night, about a mile off the main road, when they were approached by a group of seven men who entered their tent and brutally assaulted them.
“They beat us. They put a knife to my neck, and told me they were going to kill me,” the man called Vincente said in a post to the couple’s Instagram account after the attack.
“Something has happened to us that we would not wish on anyone. Seven men have raped me. They have beaten us and robbed us, although not many things because what they wanted was to rape me. We are at the hospital with police. It happened tonight here in India,” said a tearful Fernanda.
“They raped me, they took turns while some watched and they stayed like that for about two hours,” she said in the Spanish interview.
Injuries were visible on the faces of both tourists in their video, and in their subsequent TV interview. The man said in a later Instagram post that his assailants struck him in the head with his motorcycle helmet.
“My mouth is destroyed, but my partner is worse than me. They have hit me with the helmet several times, with a stone on the head. Thank goodness she was wearing the jacket and that stops the blows a little,” he said.
Pakistani Elections Full of Problems
Quote:Former Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was sworn in for another term on Monday, despite opposition protests and allegations the February election was rigged to keep former PM Imran Khan out of office.
Sharif, 72, is the younger brother of yet another Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. The 2024 election was supposed to be Nawaz’s chance to rise from the ashes after he stepped down amid corruption allegations in 2017 and spent some years in political exile. Nawaz Sharif enjoys the unique distinction of being Pakistan’s longest-serving prime minister, even though he never completed any of his three terms in office.
Nawaz Sharif’s comeback was driven partly by the powerful Pakistani military establishment turning decisively against Imran Khan, the populist Islamist leader who was himself booted from office by a parliamentary vote of no confidence in April 2022. Khan has been jailed and banned from politics on several of the hundred-plus allegations of corruption and misconduct haunting him since his ouster, but he remains the most popular politician in Pakistan.
The military reportedly turned to Nawaz Sharif as its best chance of beating Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, fearing incumbent PM Shehbaz Sharif would not be able to get the job done after a lackluster term with growing popular discontent. Nawaz accordingly returned from his self-imposed exile in London and even declared victory after the election in early February.
MIDDLE EAST
One of the Most Unstable Regions in the World
Quote:UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict Pramila Patten visited Israel to collect evidence and reported that there was “clear and convincing” evidence corroborating Israeli accusations of rape by Hamas in three locations.
Patten’s report states (paragraph numbers omitted):
Based on the information gathered by the mission team from multiple and independent sources, there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred during the 7 October attacks in multiple locations across Gaza periphery, including rape and gang rape, in at least three locations. Across the various locations of the 7 October attacks, the mission team found that several fully naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down were recovered – mostly women – with hands tied and shot multiple times, often in the head. Although circumstantial, such a pattern of undressing and restraining of victims may be indicative of some forms of sexual violence.
At the Nova music festival and its surroundings, there are reasonable grounds to believe that multiple incidents of sexual violence took place with victims being subjected to rape and/or gang rape and then killed or killed while being raped. Credible sources described finding murdered individuals, mostly women, whose bodies were naked from their waist down – and some totally naked – tied with their hands behind their backs, many of whom were shot in the head. On Road 232, credible information based on witness accounts describe an incident of the rape of two women by armed elements. Other reported instances of rape could not be verified in the time allotted. The mission team also found a pattern of bound naked or partially naked bodies from the waist down, in some cases tied to structures including trees and poles, along Road 232. In kibbutz Re’im, the mission team further verified an incident of the rape of a woman outside of a bomb shelter and heard of other allegations of rape that could not yet be verified.
...
With respect to hostages, the mission team found clear and convincing information that some have been subjected to various forms of conflict-related sexual violence including rape and sexualized torture and sexualized cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and it also has reasonable grounds to believe that such violence may be ongoing.
The report said that it could not find evidence of some widely-circulated claims of sexual violence, including a claim that terrorists ripped open a pregnant woman’s belly and stabbed her unborn child. It also found some other claims lacked evidence, while affirming broader claims.
In addition, Patten claimed that some Palestinians detained by Israeli security forces had been subject to sexual abuse — a claim Israel has denied, stating that no complaints have been filed and that Israel would probe any such claims.
The Palestinian claims included “invasive body searches” and “prolonged forced nudity.” Israel has defended the practice of requiring terror detainees to undress to make sure they are not wearing explosive suicide belts or vests.
Israel recalled its UN ambassador, Gilad Erdan, on Monday, claiming the UN had downplayed credible claims of rape.
Quote:The Times of Israel reports the terror group has been indiscriminately launching rockets, missiles, and drones at northern Israel daily amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The outlet cited the Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service as revealing a man in his 30s was killed and two were listed in serious condition. Another four men were moderately hurt, and one more victim was listed in good condition, MDA said.
It confirmed the victims were all foreign laborers, reportedly from Thailand, who were evacuated by helicopter to several hospitals.
In response to the anti-tank missile attack, the Times reports the IDF said it shelled the launch site with artillery.
The IDF also said it had earlier struck a Hezbollah compound where members of the terror group were gathered in the southern Lebanon town of Chihine, and another site belonging to Hezbollah in Ayta ash-Shab.
Quote:Israeli public broadcaster Kan confirmed on Sunday it would ask songwriters to rewrite submissions in consideration to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest after reports indicated that the contest would reject a song with references to the Hamas October 7 slaughter because it was too “political.”
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition in which European countries and some non-European participants, such as Israel and Australia, send a musical artist to perform an original song. A combination of elite judges and public voting are used to determine the best song, whose country hosts the next year’s event. The 2023 winner – in a controversial ruling in which Finland won the popular vote but failed to convince the experts – Sweden will host the 2024 competition.
As a post-World War II institution, Eurovision aggressively imposes bans on perceived “political” content.
“The ESC is a non-political event,” the official contest rules read. “All Participating Broadcasters, including the Host Broadcaster, shall be responsible … to make sure that the ESC shall in no case be politicized and/or instrumentalized and/or otherwise brought into disrepute in any way.”
Israel has not formally submitted an entry but chose singer Eden Golan to represent the country. The outlet Israel Hayom reported in February that organizers had chosen the song “October Rain” for her, which had lyrics overtly honoring the families killed by Hamas on October 7.
...
The Times of Israel reported that Kan had previously insisted it would not rewrite any lyrics submitted to the song contest, but issued a statement on Sunday confirming that it had asked the writers of “October Rain” and another finalist entry, “Dance Forever,” to rewrite the songs “with full artistic freedom.” The result of that process is reportedly a song called “Hurricane” which uses the same music of “October Rain” but is about a “young woman surviving a personal crisis,” rather than about terrorism victims. Kan added that the nation would not officially reveal the 2024 entry until Sunday, March 10.
The Kan statement credited Israeli President Issac Herzog with arguing for a rework that would guarantee Israel was represented on the Eurovision stage.
“Particularly at a time when those who hate us are trying to push us out and boycott the State of Israel on every stage, Israel must have its voice heard with its head raised high and fly its flag in every global forum, particularly this year,” Herzog had reportedly argued.
Sweden, as a host, is facing significant pressure not to allow Israel to participate in the contest from pro-Hamas elements, who claim that Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza to ensure that the terrorists cannot repeat the horrors of October 7 merit ostracizing Israel from the civilized world. In early February, a group of over 1,000 Swedish music artists and members of the industry signed a letter demanding Eurovision banish Israel from the contest, including prominent Swedish artists such as Robyn and members of the electro duo The Knife.
...
Organizers of Eurovision have struggled to consistently enforce their ban on political content. In 2016, for example, Ukraine won the contest with a song about Josef Stalin’s ethnic cleansing of Crimean Tatars, expelled from the Crimean peninsula now once again under Russian control. The lyrics included over references to the clearly political event, including, “when strangers are coming, they come to your house, they kill you all and say, ‘we’re not guilty, not guilty.’”
That year’s contest, also hosted by Sweden, was advertised as promoting a “refugee crisis” theme.
Quote:Hussein al-Ezzi, whom the Houthis refer to as their “deputy foreign minister,” claimed that the United Kingdom was a “rogue state” and a legitimate target in the group’s ongoing war against Israel. The Shiite terrorist Houthis, formally known as “Ansar Allah,” declared war on Israel in October as a gesture of solidarity with Hamas, a Sunni terrorist organization based in Gaza, which, like the Houthis, receives generous support from Iran.
...
The main form that the Houthi “war” on Israel has taken is mounting attacks on seemingly random ships attempting to transit in and around the Red Sea. Houthi leaders first promised to attack only ships with ties to Israel in an attempt to hurt the country’s economy, then expanded their targets to British and American ships in response to airstrikes meant to weaken their attack capabilities. In reality, however, Houthi attacks have hit ships unrelated to the Houthis’ enemies and, on some occasions, ships with ties to Houthi allies, such as Russia, China, and Iran.
...
The sinking of the Rubymar, which threatens to become an environmental disaster as a result of the ship’s cargo of fertilizing and other chemicals, is the largest success in the Houthis’ Red Sea terror campaign so far. Ezzi, the “deputy foreign minister,” issued a warning on Sunday that more ship sinkings will follow.
“Yemen will continue to sink more British ships, and any repercussions or other damages will be added to Britain’s bill,” Ezzi wrote in a post on social media, as translated by the Iranian propaganda outlet PressTV. “It is a rogue state that attacks Yemen and partners with America in sponsoring ongoing crimes against civilians in Gaza.”
The Houthis claim that Israel’s self-defense operations against Hamas in its stronghold of Gaza, which it has governed for nearly two decades, are “crimes against civilians.”
Ezzi’s remarks follow a series of belligerent speeches from the leader of the Houthis, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, who promised “surprises” for British and American ships in his latest address on Thursday.
LATIN AMERICA
Cartel Gunmen Are Back...
Quote:Cartel gunmen used high-powered rifles to shoot down a Mexican Army helicopter this weekend. The shootdown came during a series of shootouts in the cartel-controlled state of Michoacan.
The attack took place over the weekend as a Mexican Army helicopter provided air support to a group of soldiers patrolling the region searching for cartel gunmen. Gunmen from the ground used high-powered rifles to shoot at the helicopter, striking it several times. The attack forced the pilot to make an emergency landing. Unofficial information points to the co-pilot and crewmen sustaining critical injuries from the impact during the landing. Military forces rushed to help the crew and tried to get them medical attention. Mexican authorities have since attempted to downplay the issue.
Cartel gunmen have been using various types of machine guns and .50 caliber rifles in their clashes with authorities. The rifle below [click on the link above] was found last week in the area where the shootouts have been taking place.
The shootouts come as cartels have been using land mines and other explosives to kill military forces and rivals as they fight for control of drug production and trafficking routes into Mexico. As Breitbart Texas reported, last week in that same region, cartel gunmen killed four soldiers. They also injured close to a dozen others using landmines and drones to drop explosives on the soldiers.
While it remains unclear which cartel attacked the soldiers, the attack on the helicopter took place near the town of Tepalcatepec. That town is a known stronghold of Jose “El Abuelo” Farias, a drug lord who gained fame in Mexico for masquerading as the founder of a self-defense group. El Abuelo has some government protection from bribery of various public officials and in the past has hired former Colombian terrorists who had taught his gunmen how to develop explosives.
Haiti's Former Cop... Now Turned a Gang Leader!?
Quote:The Haitian government declared a state of emergency on Sunday following days of street battles, two dangerous prison breaks, and an open declaration of insurrection by gang leader Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier.
The state of emergency includes curfews throughout western Haiti for the next three days, during which the streets will be cleared from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. During the overnight hours, only police, firefighters, medical workers, and reporters will be allowed on the street.
Cherizier, a former police officer and one of the most powerful leaders of the gangs that largely took over Haiti after the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moise, said on Friday he is ready to fight until sitting Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been overthrown.
Cherizier told civilians to shelter in their homes while the insurrection rages. He asked all of the gangs to join together under his leadership and wage a campaign that would include the targeted kidnapping and assassination of government officials.
“The battle will last as long as it needs to. We will keep fighting Ariel Henry. To avoid collateral damage, keep the kids at home,” he said at a press conference.
“Today, I declare that the hunt for ministers and the Director General of the PNH, Frantz Elbé, is open. We must stop them and send them to join Ariel Henry where he is so that he never returns to the country,” he said. The PNH is the Haitian national police force.
“The Haitian people must be liberated. We will do it with our weapons. All the armed groups in the country, in the provinces and in Port-au-Prince, are more united than ever. We, the armed men, have decided to take the future into our own hands,” he declared.
Hit on Demand...
Quote:Ronald Ojeda, a Venezuelan dissident living in Chile wanted by the socialist Maduro regime, was found dead and buried over the weekend after being reportedly kidnapped on February 21.
Chilean officials pledged to investigate Ojeda’s death, as well as continuing investigations that started after his kidnapping, to determine if the Venezuelan socialist regime had any involvement in Ojeda’s death.
Officials announced on Friday evening that Ojeda’s body was found inside a suitcase buried under a cement structure in the Maipú commune, located in the Santiago metropolitan region.
According to prosecutor Héctor Barros, Ojeda is believed to have been dead for seven to ten days by the time of his discovery which, he explained, “also coincides with the date on which the kidnapping occurred.”
“The murder of Ronald Ojeda is the most serious outcome that his kidnapping could have had and unfortunately it is the one we are facing. We express our condolences to his family and loved ones,” Chilean Security Minister Carolina Tohá wrote on social media.
“We will continue to support the investigation being carried out by Chile’s Prosecutor’s Office so that this crime is fully clarified and punished with the utmost severity,” she continued. “The fight against this criminality is an absolute priority for our government and must be a State task.”
Local authorities arrested a 17-year-old Venezuelan for his alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murder of Ojeda, and announced they had identified two more subjects, who remained at large at press time.
Chilean newspaper El Mercurio reported on Monday that the suspects may be linked to the Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train), a Venezuelan transnational criminal organization with active cells spread across several countries of the region, including the United States.
AFRICA
Iran, Bolivia & Algeria
Quote:Iran vowed to strengthen cooperation with Bolivia following a meeting this weekend between Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Bolivian socialist President Luis Arce, his “friend.”
Raisi praised Arce for the “revolutionary and anti-imperialist” positions of the Bolivian government — making special mention of Arce’s support of “Palestine” after Arce’s government cut all ties with Israel in response to Israel’s self-defense operations against the jihadist terrorist organization Hamas, which Iran funds.
“Your passionate defense of Palestine will definitely be a good support for the people of this country,” Raisi told Arce.
Raisi and Arce met on Saturday in Algeria on the sidelines of the Assembly of Heads of Gas Exporting Countries. The “strengthened” cooperation plan, according to the Iranian presidency, will cover trade, energy, technical engineering services, and agriculture.
The Iranian president also remarked that his country “has no obstacle to promote cooperation with the Bolivian government and the economic and commercial relations between the two countries should grow and develop to the extent of political interactions between them.”
Arce responded by describing the positions of Bolivia and Iran in international issues as “very close,” claiming that his government’s view of Iran is as more than a country but as a “friend and brother.”
The socialist president, who described Israel’s self-defense operations as a “genocide,” also claimed that “enemies inside and outside Bolivia launched a propaganda campaign and psychological warfare” against the country in response to his government’s decision to cut ties with Israel. Arce did not provide any examples of said propaganda or proof for his claims:
Bolivia has dramatically increased its cooperation and ties with the Iranian regime in the past decade. The increased relationship between both countries led the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), Joseph Humire, to describe Bolivia as Iran’s “most successful” project in the region in the Islamic regime’s decades-long plans to spread its influence in Latin America.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
