News of the World
04-05-2024, 07:31 AM
USA
Well, they might need to discard Chicago as their next destination because of the following 
report.
LATIN AMERICA
EUROPE
Can you take any
officer seriously if he or she isn't wearing any trousers? Or is allowed to wear anything that suits their immediate needs? 
ASIA
Judge Cannon, Trump & Jack Smith
Quote:U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon denied former President Donald Trump’s request to dismiss the documents case in a ruling on Thursday.
Trump’s team had argued that the Presidential Records Act takes priority over the Espionage Act when it came to highly classified documents he took to Mar-a-Lago after he left office, but Cannon rejected the request to dismiss the case on those grounds, writing in the filing, “The Presidential Records Act does not provide a pre-trial basis to dismiss.”
Cannon also defended herself against attacks from Special Counsel Jack Smith, who had harshly criticized a request she gave both parties. He argued that the judge’s request embraced Trump’s view of the Presidential Records Act, allowing him to consider government documents as “personal.”
Smith accused Cannon of a “fundamentally flawed” understanding of the case, and threatened to seek an appeal court review.
Cannon said in her filing that her request should not be “misconstrued as declaring a final definition on any essential element or asserted defense in this case.”
She wrote that it was “a genuine attempt, in the context of the upcoming trial, to better understand the parties’ competing positions and the questions to be submitted to the jury in this complex case of first impression.”
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Quote:Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung on Thursday blasted Politico editor Catherine Kim for misrepresenting former President Donald Trump’s record on China.
In a statement titled, “Politico Carries Water for the Chinese Communist Party; Spews Lies and Falsehoods to Interfere In 2024 Election,” Cheung said:
In Politico’s Nightly newsletter, Catherine Kim makes a harebrained assertion that China would prefer President Trump to return to the White House. The same President Trump who made China submit to pro-America trade and tariff regulations, called them out for exporting the Coronavirus that killed millions across the world, and stood tough against Chinese economic aggression throughout his first term.
For a media outlet and its reporter to peddle lies and feature commentary from a ‘China expert’ named Rorry Daniels—who by the way is a Democrat donor—is laughable at best. Politico is being played by devious Chinese forces who seek to manipulate malleable American media outlets and their reporters because they know Trump Derangement Syndrome is a very real disease that distorts all reasoning.
Cheung added:
The fact is that China has grown stronger under a weak Biden presidency, and our allies are even more in danger as China builds up its economic and military power. Deadly Chinese fentanyl continues to flow into American communities killing scores of people while illegal Chinese migrants are the fastest growing group crossing the Southern Border.
On Wednesday, Kim, an associate editor at Politico, published a nightly newsletter that highlighted a New York Times report that alleged China is conducting an operation to help Trump get elected in 2024. The Times article said covert Chinese social media accounts are masquerading as Trump supporters and sharing memes and mocking President Joe Biden.
Is it a Japanese or Chinese Company?
Quote:A few Senators from the nation’s Rust Belt are sounding the alarm over the ties between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Nippon Steel Corporation — the Japanese conglomerate looking to purchase the United States Steel Corporation.
In December of last year, executives with U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel Corporation announced a nearly $15 billion deal that would have the iconic American steel giant sold off to Japan’s largest steelmaker.
The deal is significant as U.S. Steel, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, played a critical role in the nation’s “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II, which ultimately saw the Allied powers defeat the Axis, which included Imperial Japan.
This week, Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Bob Casey (D-PA), and J.D. Vance (R-OH) sounded the alarm to President Joe Biden’s administration over Nippon Steel’s ties to China. The Senators cite a report from the firm Horizon Advisory which details those ties:
In addition to market dependence on China, Nippon directly owns operations in the country. Those operations risk sharing technology and production expertise with the PRC’s industrial base. Nippon has a long-run history supporting the establishment and foundation of the Chinese steel industry; PRC discourse about industrial modernization has referred to the Japanese conglomerate as a “master.” Nippon is also looked to by Chinese peers as a critical source of strategic guidance for maturing the operations of what has grown into the world’s dominant steel industry.
That relationship brings Nippon into close and frequent interaction with China’s steel industry. Nippon maintains active joint ventures with a range of Chinese state-backed steel champions. In addition to those partnerships, Nippon also works with more niche Chinese champions intended to accelerate up various industrial and engineering value chains; Nippon’s variety of partners in China may risk providing those emergent players access to leading international technology.
“Nippon’s connection to the Chinese steel ecosystem and industrial policy agenda has concerning implications regarding ties to China’s military-civil fusion strategy and quest for global economic power,” Brown wrote in a letter to Biden, asking him to investigate the matter.
FBI & Guns
Quote:The FBI is now conducting background checks on 18–20 year-old would-be gun purchasers that are a far cry from the instant background checks that have been conducted on gun purchasers since the 1990s.[spoiler=Quaker Oats: Bye Danville!]
On April 1, 2024, the NRA-ILA pointed out that the new background checks represent such a departure from the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) checks that they could be called “Never-Instant Criminal Background Checks.”
The enhanced background checks for 18–20 year-old purchasers is part of a 2022 gun control law, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), which Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) worked to help Democrats secure.
The FBI explained:
[The BSCA] now requires NICS to go beyond the routine for under-21 gun buyers. In addition to running names through NICS databases, a select group of examiners is now reaching out to state juvenile justice, mental health, and local law enforcement agencies to see if their backgrounds contain potentially disqualifying information that isn’t in the databases automatically queried by NICS. Another provision in the new law extends, where cause to do so is established, the time examiners have to investigate under-21 cases from 3 to 10 business days.
The NRA-ILA noted that it “warned gun owners and policymakers back in 2022 that the BSCA eliminated instant background checks for young adults and would be used by the Biden administration to create a waiting period regime.”
Quote:The Quaker Oats Company announced Wednesday it is permanently closing its factory in Danville, Illinois, with upwards of 500 employees to be impacted.
The News-Gazette reports Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. confirmed the news to the wider community, with city officials saying:
Today, we learned that after 65 years of production in Danville, Pepsico will close Quaker Oats effective June 8, 2024.
The business has already ceased production but will continue to pay their employees through that time. While this shocks and saddens us, we will unite as a community to help those who have lost their employment.
Williams said he is unsure whether any of the affected employees are being transferred or if they are all being laid off.
A mass layoff “has a terrible impact on the employees and their families,” he said. “It also causes some anxiety to the community at large as well.”
Chicago-based Quaker Oats, a unit of Pepsico since 2001, opened the plant in 1969.
In recent years, the Danville facility manufactured Quaker Oats granola bars, but it had also made cereal and pancake mix.
Denver Tells Immigrants to Go to NY or Chicago
Denver Official Seen Telling New Migrants to Leave
‘New York Gives You More. Chicago Gives You More’
‘New York Gives You More. Chicago Gives You More’
Quote:Denver’s recently appointed “Newcomer Communications Liaison,” Andres Carrera, was caught on video pleading with newly arrived illegal aliens to turn around and leave the city immediately because the “opportunities are over” in the welcoming city of Denver.
Carrera, who moved into Denver Mayor Mike Johnston’s administration from the administration of Democrat Gov. Jared Polis last year, is seen warning migrants, who arrived in the city on March 26, that there is nothing for them in Denver and that they should quickly move on to New York City or Chicago, where they can “get more.”
In the video, Carrera tells migrants in Spanish, “The opportunities are over,” Denver News 9 reported Saturday.
“New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there where there is longer-term shelter. There are also more job opportunities there,” the Denver migrant official adds.
This from the city that claims to welcome migrants with open arms. But it is the same city that recently began to turn migrants out of city shelters if they stayed too long in the shelter system. Denver has also spent nearly $40 million on Joe Biden’s flood of illegals.
Well, they might need to discard Chicago as their next destination because of the following report. Chicago & Tuberculosis
Quote:Health officials in the sanctuary city of Chicago, Illinois, have reported several cases of tuberculosis at migrant shelters.
Officials with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) revealed that there are “a small number of cases” of tuberculosis (TB) “among new arrivals in a few different shelters over the course of the response.”
A spokesperson with CDPH noted the high rates of TB in countries from which migrants are arriving in the United States:
It is important to note that an estimated 10-20% of residents of Central and South America have latent TB infection, which is asymptomatic and not transmissible to others, but does result in a positive TB test. For those who do have active cases of TB disease, CDPH assigns a nurse case manager to each individual and performs a contact tracing investigation. TB is curable with antibiotics and is not particularly infectious, typically requiring several hours or more of prolonged close contact between individuals to spread, but CDPH continues to take cases seriously in order to keep it contained. To date, CDPH has not confirmed any reports of TB that resulted from exposure to new arrivals in Chicago.
TB is not a novel or rarely seen illness in Chicago, as the Chicago Department of Public Health typically expects to see between 100-150 cases of tuberculosis in Chicago residents in an average year. We will continue to offer treatment to individuals as necessary and take the proper precautions to eliminate spread, but we do not consider this a matter presenting a substantial threat to the public. [Emphasis added]
CDPH officials did not divulge the exact number of TB cases among migrants or the location of the shelters where the TB cases originated.
Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez (D), who has lobbied to end the city’s sanctuary policy, blasted Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and the city administration for ignoring the public health concerns that come with mass immigration.
“I have warned Chicago for months about what was already here,” Lopez wrote...
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Quote:President Joe Biden decided to threaten Israel with a loss of support on Thursday — as Israel mobilized its reservists to prepare for a possible Iranian attack, and Iran prepared for “Al Quds Day,” its annual orgy of anti-Israel hatred.
As Breitbart News reported, Biden demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, effectively adopting the position of the Palestinian terror group Hamas, which began the war.
Netanyahu, however, did not react to Biden. Instead, he focused on a possible imminent threat from Iran, possibly via one of its proxies. “Anyone who attacks us, or prepares to attack us — we will attack,” he said at a Cabinet meeting.
Iran has warned that it would respond to an Israeli airstrike earlier in the week that killed two Iranian generals in Damascus, Syria. Iran has been arming, funding, and advising the terror groups that have been attacking Israel.
Meanwhile, Iran continued preparations for Al Quds Day, an annual demonstration of anti-Israel hatred that Iran and its proxy groups around the world observe on the last Friday in Ramadan, with bloodthirsty demonstrations.
Biden’s rebuke of Israel — despite its apologies for the inadvertent killing of seven aid workers on Tuesday — thus came at the very moment when Iran sought to isolate Israel, and threatened an escalation against the Israeli people.
Blinken on Ukraine
Quote:NATO is going to “build a bridge” towards Ukraine becoming a member state of the defensive alliance, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on the organisation’s 75th birthday.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member states met in Brussels at the alliance’s headquarters on Thursday to toast the 75th anniversary of its founding, among them U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who like others used the occasion to discuss renewed Russian aggression and the potential place of Ukraine among its members. He emphasised the view, already articulated multiple times by NATO leaders in recent years, that “Ukraine will become a member of NATO”.
What he left unsaid, however, was the conditions that generally come with the statement, that this membership would be when Ukraine is in a fit state to join, including not being occupied by a foreign power.
Blinken said:
…the support for Ukraine, the determination of every country represented here at NATO remains rock solid. We will do everything we can, allies will do everything they can, to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to continue to deal with Russia’s ongoing aggression… Ukraine will become a member of NATO. Our purpose at the summit is to help build a bridge to that membership, and to create a clear pathway for Ukraine moving forward… we will see very strong support for Ukraine moving forward with its relationship going forwards with NATO.
But we are equally focussed as I said on the immediate, and on Ukraine’s needs today, tomorrow, the day after to help it withstand this ongoing aggression from Russia.
This follows several comments by U.S. President Biden and NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg last year that “Allies agree that Ukraine will become a member of NATO”. The truth was more complex than that, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz outlined that in granular detail, saying Ukraine doesn’t meet the criteria to be a member state.
Biden Hates Pro-Lifers
Quote:The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) pursuit of pro-life activists has resulted in four more Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act convictions.
Four people — Eva Edl, 87, of Aiken South Carolina; Eva Zastrow, 24, of Dover, Arkansas; James Zastrow, 25, of Eldon, Missouri; and Paul Place, 24, of Centerville, Tennessee — were found guilty on Tuesday of violating the FACE Act during a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion clinic in 2021, the Daily Wire reported.
The activists face up to a year in prison and thousands of dollars in fines. They await sentencing on July 30. Six other activists — including a Christian father of 11 and a 73-year-old man — who participated in the protest were convicted of conspiracy against rights and violating the FACE Act in January and face up to 11 years behind bars.
The convictions came after a one-day bench trial, with Middle District of Tennessee Magistrate Judge Chip Frensly siding with President Joe Biden’s DOJ after less than half an hour of deliberation, according to the report.
“Immediately after the convictions, the defendants and their families went outside the courthouse to sing and pray,” the report continues.
The charges are related to a peaceful protest at the Carafem abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021 — as abortion has since been outlawed in Tennessee with limited exceptions, the clinic has paused in-person care, according to its website.
Zuckerbucks Forbidden in Wisconsin
Quote:Wisconsin voters approved an amendment on Tuesday night, banning the private funding of elections in the swing state.
The amendment directs that “donations and grants may not be applied for, accepted, expended, or used in…connection with the conduct of any primary, election, or referendum,” according to the question phrasing that the Wisconsin State Legislature listed. Associated Press election results showed the ballot question passed by a 54.4 percent to 45.6 percent vote.
Wisconsinites also voted in favor of a second part to the amendment on ballot question two, mandating “that only election officials designated by law may perform tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections, and referendums.” That question passed with 58.6 percent of support.
The votes come four years after the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), gave more than $10 million in grants in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, as Capital Research Center reported.
“Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan notoriously poured hundreds of millions of ‘Zuckerbucks’ into” the CTCL “for the purpose of getting out the vote in Democrat-leaning areas in the 2020 election,” Breitbart News previously noted.
The Badger State went for President Joe Biden in that year’s presidential election by just 20,682 votes. In 2021, the state had an opportunity to ban the private funding of elections, but Gov. Tony Evers (D-WI) vetoed a bill that the state legislature passed that would have done so.
Former President Donald Trump encouraged voters at a rally on Wednesday evening in Green Bay — while polls were still open — to “ban Zuckerbucks” by voting for the ballot questions, and Republicans celebrated the outcome.
LATIN AMERICA
US-Mexico Border
Quote:Video reports coming from Mexico show government immigration officials rounding up large groups of migrants near Juarez. The Mexican immigration officials are reportedly sending the migrants back to the southern end of the country.
Video reports posted on X show large numbers of Mexican immigration enforcement vehicles loaded with migrants who were apprehended in Juarez approaching the border with El Paso, Texas. The migrants are reportedly being transported back to southern Mexico or other interior locations within the country.
In another video, a migrant woman pleads with Mexican immigration officers to let her continue her journey to Texas.
Immigration officials set up interior checkpoints located a few miles south of Juarez to find migrants being transported on buses.
Center for Immigration fellow Todd Bensman reports the moves by Mexican immigration officials are part of a Biden-Obrador election ploy intended to deflect from the magnitude of the border crisis in Texas.
Breitbart Texas reported last week about Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s efforts to “extort” the U.S. government into providing $20 billion in aid to countries in Central America and the Caribbean. The president also demanded the Biden administration lift sanctions against Venezuela and lift the embargo on Cuba.
Cartel Commander Unmasked
Quote:The criminal terrorist organization known as Cartel Del Noreste, a faction of Los Zetas, is behind the mass kidnappings of victims in a Mexican border state, sources revealed to Breitbart Texas. However, instead of limiting itself to people who have ties or debts to trafficking, the cartel adopted the tactic of taking entire families hostage.
The mass kidnappings are carried out by a bloodthirsty CDN-Los Zetas commander who takes the victims to Nuevo Laredo, U.S. federal sources operating in Mexico revealed.
In recent days, hitmen in several vans headed from the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, to the municipalities of Salinas Victoria and Ciénega de Flores in Nuevo León; The hitmen kidnapped at least 30 victims in a span of days. The kidnappings began on March 21 in Ciénega de Flores, and the gunmen returned in the early hours of March 24 when they broke into several homes and took more than a dozen victims.
The kidnappings continued on March 27 in Salinas Victoria, where armed men arrived at five different homes and kidnapped 14 victims, including six young children. The victims were then taken to Nuevo Laredo under orders from the cartel.
Subsequently, CDN gunmen freed seven victims who had been kidnapped in the Ciénega de Flores, while six remain missing. In Salinas Victoria, most of the victims have been released. The gunmen also freed three victims, including two young children, who had been taken along with three other people from another nearby community.
The issue has drawn national attention in Mexico, as federal government officials try to downplay the case. Officials deployed military forces and other resources to the north.
Haiti About to Lose Historic Documents?
Quote:The gangs rampaging across Haiti ransacked the National Library in the capital city of Port-au-Prince on Wednesday. Anguished library director Dangelo Neard said some rare documents were stored in the library, so the gang attack put Haiti’s history at risk.
“Our documentary collections are in danger. We have rare documents over 200 years old, with importance to our heritage, which risk being burned or damaged by bandits,” Neard told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Thursday.
“I was told that the thugs are taking away the institution’s furniture. They also ransacked the building’s generator,” he added.
The Bibliotheque Nationale d’Haiti, established in 1939, is Haiti’s largest library and its official bibliographic agency. Its collection includes some 60,000 works, including some irreplaceable historic documents and books, as Neard indicated.
The library has been pleading with gangsters, looters, and rioters to spare it ever since the current unrest began in March.
“We are currently living in difficult and uncertain times in the country, but we must, as a people, keep the essence of our humanities and never forget to carefully safeguard our ability to produce meaning,” the library said in a March 26 social media post.
Gangsters attacked two of Haiti’s universities last week, the Ecole Normale Superieure and National School of Arts, prompting an expression of concern from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“These acts of vandalism, looting and arson against the country’s educational institutions have devastating consequences for the future of Haitian society,” UNESCO warned.
Gustavo Petro's Healthcare Reform
Quote:Colombian far-left President Gustavo Petro suffered a major defeat on Wednesday after the Colombian Congress voted to shelve his controversial leftist healthcare reform bill, with nine members of the corresponding Senate commission voting in favor and five against.
Petro, a former member of the Marxist M19 guerilla, took office as Colombia’s first leftist president ever in August 2022. Since then, his government has attempted to impose widespread leftist healthcare, as well as political, economic, and social reforms to Colombia’s governance.
The healthcare reform, one of Petro’s flagship reform projects, contemplated drastic changes to Colombia’s 30-year old healthcare system that would have granted the state a larger control of Colombia’s healthcare resources, facilities, and programs while severely diminished the role and function of private providers in the country.
The now-shutdown controversial healthcare reform was at the forefront of a series of recurring peaceful protests carried out by thousands of Colombian civilians and opposition politicians across several of the nation’s main cities. The most recent nationwide peaceful protest against Petro’s proposed leftist reforms took place in early March, with more than 50,000 participants peacefully expressing their rejection of Petro’s leftist reform plans.
One of the arguments reportedly espoused by the Colombian government to justify the need to reform Colombia’s healthcare system is that the current system is “not equitable” for those living in rural areas of the country. However, the Senate commission, in Wednesday’s vote, asserted that the bill did not address such issues.
“The illusion we had was that the health reform would be a peace agreement and change for all, but unfortunately it was not so and the reform presented by the government divided the country,” Colombian Sen. Norma Hurtado, who voted to shelve the bill, said on Wednesday.
EUROPE
Cameron Says No to Sending Troops to Ukraine
Quote:UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron has ruled out Western troops being sent into Ukraine in favor of extracting more financial support from U.S. Congress.
The former prime minister acknowledged the “war will be lost if the allies don’t step up” on the BBC’s Ukrainecast podcast.
But asked whether Western nations should send troops into Ukraine, Lord Cameron replied “no” before adding NATO must be in the “best possible shape” by the U.S. November elections and extracting more U.S. taxpayer dollars will help both NATO and Kyiv.
He added any “boots on the ground” as delivering Russian President Vladimir Putin “a target.”
Lord Cameron was speaking at a two-day North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) summit of 32 foreign ministers in Brussels.
He said he’d be making his second visit to the United States since becoming foreign secretary next week and would be urging Congress to give more financial support, which “could change the narrative” in Ukraine. The BBC reports he told Ukrainecast:
If we can get that money out of the U.S. Congress, if we can get Ukraine the arms they need, if we can show Putin that he can’t outwait us and that Ukraine is going to fight back and win back more of its territory.
If we can do all those things, whoever gets in in November, we’ll look at the situation in Ukraine and… look at more and more NATO members spending two percent of their GDP on defence and say, this is a success story. I want to invest in this success.
So turn Ukraine in the situation and NATO into the strongest possible alliance with the strongest possible prospect of success. And whoever wins in November 2024 would inherit a better situation.
Suspect Escaped
Quote:British counterterrorism police investigating the stabbing of a journalist who works for a TV channel critical of the Iranian government said that three suspects had fled the country within hours of the attack.
Pouria Zeraati, a presenter at London-based Iran International, was stabbed in the leg Friday afternoon outside his home in London. Police said Zeraati, who has been released from a hospital, was attacked by two men who fled in a car driven by a third man.
“We have established that after abandoning the vehicle, the suspects traveled to Heathrow Airport and have left the U.K.,´´ Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, said in a statement late Tuesday. “We are now working with international partners to establish further details.´´
Police said that while the motivation for the attack is still unclear, Zeraati´s occupation, together with recent threats to U.K.-based Iranian journalists, triggered a counterterrorism investigation. Iran International, a satellite news channel that broadcasts in Farsi, has previously received threats due to its coverage of Iran.
Mehdi Hosseini Matin, Iran´s charge d´affaires in the U.K., has said “we deny any link” to the incident.
Police say they have disrupted “a number” of plots to kill or kidnap people in the U.K. who were seen as enemies of the Iranian government. Officers are working with intelligence agencies to disrupt future plots and provide protection for the targeted organizations and individuals, police said.
London Park
Quote:Police are hunting for more remains after human body parts were found in a London park, the event now being treated as a potential murder investigation.
Officers were contacted with a report of potential human remains having been discovered at the Rowdown Fields park, Croydon, south-east London, on Tuesday, the force has said. Further investigation by a forensic anthropologist determined the find was indeed human as suspected, that further remains were located by police after they arrived at the park, and that what was discovered so far all came from one individual.
Searches are ongoing in the park, and officers are treating it as a murder investigation. Police said in their statement they were not yes ready to reveal the presumed victim’s “age, ethnicity, or gender”, asked the public to keep speculation “to a minimum”, and said and they are still trying to identify the remains.
Detective Inspector Martin Thorpe, leading the investigation, said: “We are not going to give specific details on our search of the area, but I can confirm that since yesterday we have recovered further remains. After consultation with a forensic anthropologist, we are certain that these are human… This is being treated as murder, and we currently believe the remains belong to one victim.”
Police are not searching further afield than the park at this time but said they would do so “should this be necessary” later.
Danish Navy Issues a Warning
Quote:A technical error on a navy missile Thursday spurred Danish authorities to issue a warning, saying there was a risk the missile could launch unintentionally – but not explode – resulting in fragments falling in Denmark waters.
Denmark’s armed forces said a technical problem arose with a Harpoon missile on board the Danish frigate HDMS Niels Juel as it was taking part in a test while anchored in the Korsoer naval base.
“The launch vehicle, the booster, is activated, and currently cannot be disabled,” the military said in a statement.
The military said the missile is live, but only the booster is activated and there is no danger of the missile exploding or reaching farther than the booster rocket can lift it. It says: “Until the booster is disabled, there is a risk that the missile could launch and fly several kilometers away.”
On its webpage, the Danish Maritime Authority said there was a military drill taking place in the Storebaelt straight between the Danish islands of Zeeland and Funen. The straight is a busy shipping lane connecting the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.
The danger area is estimated to be up to 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) from Korsoer at a height of approximately 1 kilometer (0.62 miles) above sea level and not in the direction of the bridge and tunnel link across the Storebaelt. The link operator said there was no risk to the road and train traffic on the bridge.
Germany Has No Uniforms for Police Officers!?
Quote:German police are facing a serious shortage of uniforms — the war in Ukraine is blamed — and officers protesting inaction from the top have gone trouserless to make the point.
The Bavarian branch of the Deutsche Polizeigewerkschaft (German Police Trade Union, DPolG) is protesting a long term supply issue for their member officers which has left them unable to draw on replacement items of uniform, or newly commissioned police officers to get a full issue of uniform at all. According to the union some 21 regulation items including trousers, jackets, and hats are subject to a wait time of several months.
The Russian invasion against Ukraine impacting supply chains has been blamed by the Bavarian Ministry of Interior, but critics state the issue goes back to the Covid era, predating the latest phase in Moscow’s war.
Creatively making the point that police officers are struggling with the lack of uniform clothing, the DPolG published a humorous video showing two police officers talking in a car before getting out to start their patrol, without their uniform trousers. In the short, one officer asks the other: “so, how long have you been waiting?”, and they discuss four to six month waits for uniform items.
The union said while the situation may sound like “the worst April Fool’s joke ever”, their officers are “literally left without pants”. Calling on the state government to intervene, DPolG said it was time to take action even if it meant spending money, reflecting: “what kind of impression is created, especially among those starting out in the profession, when they cannot be fully clothed”.
The Bavarian government said it is considering bringing uniform procurement back in-house from a private contractor, and in the meanwhile if an officer finds themselves without the correct trousers for duty, then they can “of course use other models of trousers” in the meanwhile.
Can you take any
officer seriously if he or she isn't wearing any trousers? Or is allowed to wear anything that suits their immediate needs? Arrest After Brutal Attack
Quote:Police say the attack at a food store appears to be random, with the suspect and “seriously injured” child victim being totally unrelated.
German police arrested a 34-year-old Syrian origin, Dutch passport holding migrant on Wednesday afternoon after he is alleged to have stabbed a passer by in a discount supermarket in the town of Wangen, Baden-Württemberg. Thje victim is reported to have been a four year old girl who was out while her mother was grocery shopping. The “seriously injured” child was rushed to hospital for surgery and is said to be in stable condition.
The situation may have been considerably worse had bystanders not immediately disarmed the knifeman and chased him away. One member of the public chasing the man called the police and led officers to the suspect. Apparently the Syrian was arrested without resistance but has not spoken to officers about the attack.
Police say they have not been able to determine a motive yet, and there is no relationship between the suspect and the wounded child.
Ravensburg police said, per Tageschau: “the man suddenly approached the four-year-old girl and injured her with a knife”. They continued: “the two did not know each other until then and there was probably no previous relationship… Crimes of this kind are very rare”.
French Government: Terror Attack Never Existed
Quote:The French government rapidly walked back a claim its security service had foiled a terrorist attack against a place of worship over Easter weekend, stating no such plot actually existed.
Deputy minister for democratic renewal and spokesman for the French government Prisca Thevenot, newly promoted in Emmanuel Macron’s January reshuffle was giving an update on the work of the council of ministers when she claimed the security services had prevented a terror attack over Easter weekend. Very laudable, except it transpires that never happened, and worse, this came the same day the minister declared a private crusade against what she decried as “fake news”.
Speaking of the 13,500 police officers deployed across France over the Easter weekend protecting 4,350 “establishments of worship” and religious services, Thevenot said: “Thanks to this mobilization, we were able to stop an attempt to take action.
“Because yes, there are attempts to take action and thanks to the mobilization of these men and women on a daily basis, we can avoid tragedies. This action was avoided last weekend.”
Paris, The Olympics & Immigration
Quote:French police on Wednesday removed dozens of migrants, including families with young children, from the forecourt of Paris City Hall as the capital prepares to mark 100 days to the start of the Olympic Games.
Police arrived at dawn to remove about 50 people, mostly women and children aged 3 months to 10 years, who were bundled up in strollers, under blankets or covered with plastic sheets to shield against the rain while sleeping in the plaza. The migrants packed belongings and boarded a bus to temporary local government housing in the town of Besançon in eastern France.
Aid workers are concerned that the move Wednesday is the beginning of a broader effort by Paris authorities to clear out migrants and others sleeping in the rough in the capital before the summer Olympics without providing longer-term housing options.
“They´re clearing the way for the Olympic Games,” Yann Manzi, a member of the migrant aid group Utopia 56, told The Associated Press during Wednesday´s police operation in central Paris. “What is happening is nothing short of social cleansing of the city.”
Olympics organizers have said they are working with aid groups to find solutions for those in the streets, including the many people who come from around the world to Paris seeking refuge or employment.
Norway's Parliament
Quote:Two bomb threats led to a brief lockdown of the Norwegian parliament Wednesday, while lawmakers continued debate inside.
Heavily armed police were posted outside the assembly and the surrounding streets was cordoned off. Bomb sniffing dogs were seen in action outside the building.
The 169-member Storting was reopened after a bit more than two hours. A senior police officer, Sven Bjelland said authorities were “confident that it is now safe.”
During the lockdown, the Storting administration told lawmakers and staff by text message that “we have no indication that it is dangerous to be inside the Storting,” Norwegian media reported.
Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl, who took part in a debate Wednesday morning, said it was “unpleasant and unacceptable” that bomb threats were directed at parliament, adding the Norwegian security service PST also was involved.
Bjelland earlier had said that one of the threats was received Tuesday evening but was deemed not to be credible, while the second was sent Wednesday to police in Oslo. He declined to give details.
“There is a difference in the severity of the two threats,” Bjelland said, adding police knew who sent the threat Tuesday. No one has been arrested, he added.
Ukraine & Finland
Quote:An agreement that reaffirms Finnish support for Ukraine militarily, financially, and politically while stating Finland will be involved in efforts to prosecute Russian figures for war crimes was signed on Wednesday. The deal is the eighth such agreement, all with reasonably similar contents, signed with a NATO member state this year.
While in many cases the content is essentially reaffirming things Finland is already doing, the document does announce new, further funding for Ukraine worth $203 million.
The agreement is largely one way and very focussed on the dangers of future, repeated Russian invasions of Ukraine and does not call upon Kyiv to come to Finland’s aid, should Moscow invade Europe to the north. Finland has an 800-mile land border with Russia.
Clauses within the document allow either party to withdraw given six months notice, and automatically terminate the document ten years from today. In the paper, Finland promises: “In the event of a future Russian armed attack against Ukraine… will provide swift and sustained security assistance, including modern military equipment across land, sea and air domains. In addition, Finland will provide economic assistance, impose economic and other costs on Russia”.
Also mentioned is Russian complicity in war crimes against Ukraine, and Finland undertakes to ensure there is no “impunity” for war crimes for Russian leaders. It affirms that: “the Russian Federation must be held accountable for the damages caused by its internationally wrongful acts in and against Ukraine”.
Eight NATO members have now signed such deals with Ukraine. The first was the United Kingdom in January, followed by Germany, France, Denmark, Canada, Italy, the Netherlands, and now Finland. The deals have been characterised as creating a ‘NATO lite’-type security guarantees for Ukraine with key alliance members on a quasi-bilateral basis without actually inducting Ukraine into the alliance.
Russian Attack
Quote:Russian troops launched waves of Shahed drones against the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight, killing four people and wounding 12, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said Thursday.
Ukrainian soldiers shot down 11 of the 20 drones Russia launched over Ukraine during the night, the General Staff said.
Three rescuers in Kharkiv were killed when Russia struck a multistory building damaged in an earlier strike, local authorities said. Six people were wounded at that location. Another 14-story building was hit by a drone, killing a 69-year-old woman.
Kharkiv has been a frequent target for Russian troops in recent weeks. The eastern city is close to the border with Russia and has been hit with both ballistic missiles and drones.
A massive missile attack that aimed to significantly damage Ukraine´s energy infrastructure plunged most of Kharkiv into darkness, and the situation there is still being stabilized.
“Each manifestation of Russian terror once again proves that the country-terrorist deserves only one thing – a tribunal,” Ukraine´ human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, published on Telegram in response to the attack.
ASIA
Was it China or Taiwan?
Quote:The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry on Thursday expressed outrage at China for stepping forward to accept messages of sympathy from around the world for the deadly earthquake that struck eastern Taiwan on Wednesday morning.
Even as Taiwanese rescue workers were still working to recover earthquake victims and restore power and transportation to the disaster area, China’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations (U.N.), Geng Shuang, decided it would be a good time to reassert that Beijing truly “owns” the democratically governed autonomous island, so all condolences should be directed to the Chinese Communist Party.
Geng was attending a U.N. meeting about children’s rights when another of the participants mentioned the Taiwan earthquake. Geng said that his government was “concerned” about the damage to “China’s Taiwan” and was prepared to render assistance.
“We thank the international community for its expressions of sympathy and concern,” he said.
This was too much for the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), which issued a statement saying it “solemnly condemns China’s shameless use of the Taiwan earthquake to conduct cognitive operations internationally.”
MOFA said Geng’s remarks demonstrate that China “has no goodwill towards Taiwan.”
Taiwan and China had a testy exchange on Wednesday when Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Office rebuffed an offer of earthquake assistance from Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
“We noticed that the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office had expressed concern about the earthquake in waters off Hualien this morning. We greatly appreciate its concern, but there is no need for the mainland side to assist us in disaster relief,” the Taiwanese office said.
Time magazine on Thursday recalled that China and Taiwan had a comparably tense exchange after the devastating Taiwan earthquake of 1999. In fact, “lingering bitterness” from the earlier quake could be one reason the Mainland Affairs Office was so brusque with its Chinese counterpart.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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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
