News of the World

[kyonides]

USA

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Trump & Avenatti

Michael Avenatti: Trump’s Legal Team ‘Contacted’ Him, ‘More than Happy to Testify’

The former attorney for adult entertainment star Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, claims that former President Donald Trump’s legal team has “contacted” him, and he would be willing to testify.

Avenatti, who was found guilty of taking money from former clients, obstructing the IRS from taking millions of dollars in unpaid payroll taxes, and attempting to extort Nike, told the New York Post (NYP) that Trump’s legal defense had been in touch with him.

Avenatti was sentenced to 14 years in prison in December 2022, on top of serving five years in prison for two prior convictions.

“I’d be more than happy to testify. I don’t know that I will be called to testify, but I have been in touch with Trump’s defense for the better part of a year,” Avenatti told the outlet.

While Avenatti did not provide details regarding what he spoke to Trump’s legal team about, he described the trial against Trump as being “politically motivated” out of fears the former president “may be reelected.”

“There’s no question [the trial] is politically motivated because they’re concerned that he may be reelected,” Avenatti told the outlet. “If the defendant was anyone other than Donald Trump, this case would not have been brought at this time, and for the government to attempt to bring this case and convict him in an effort to prevent tens of millions of people from voting for him, I think it’s just flat out wrong, and atrocious.”

Man Sets Himself on Fire in Front of Courthouse

Man Sets Self on Fire in Front of Trump Courthouse Live on CNN

A man set himself on fire in front of the Manhattan courtroom on Friday as a CNN live broadcast reported on the jury being seating in former President Donald Trump’s trial.

Anchor Laura Coates said, “We have a man who has literally set fire to himself. A man has emblazoned himself outside of the courthouse just now. Our cameras are turning right now. A man has now lit himself on fire. Outside of the courthouse in Manhattan, where we’re waiting history to be made. A full jury panel is gone. We are watching a man who was fully emblazoned in the front of the courthouse today. We’re watching multiple fires breaking out around his body and person. We have seen an arm that has been visible that has been engulfed in total flames. There is chaos, and it’s happening. People are wondering right now if people are in danger. I’m looking across the courtyard.  There is a man racing with aid.”

She added, “We have members of security details. NYPD is rushing to the scene. They are trying to come now. Officers are on the scene. A fire extinguisher is right now present being put on this man to try to put out…People are climbing over barricades to try to separate the public, to put out the flame on this man. He has lit himself on fire in front of the courthouse right now. We are watching as the flames…We can smell the air. I can smell the burning of some sort of flesh. I can smell the burning of some sort of agent being used as well as an accelerant to put that fire…I smell an actual fire extinguisher having been displayed.” Coates then continued to report what she was seeing onsite.

Ukraine Aid

Democrats Wave Ukraine Flags on House Floor as $61 Billion Aid Bill Passes

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Democrats painted a surreal scene on the House floor Saturday as the House passed a $61 billion bill to further Ukraine’s war effort.

As the inevitable outcome neared, Democrats produced dozens of miniature Ukraine flags, waiving them and cheering “Ukraine!” jubilantly.

Johnson approached the chair as the vote closed to the loudest applause of the day – and perhaps this entire Congress – from Democrats.

“It is in violation of decorum to wave flags on the floor,” Johnson admonished Democrats, who cared little.

Today’s vote was a fait accompli, but for months it seemed impossible. Johnson had repeatedly promised never to consider foreign aid without first securing America’s own border.

Iran’s missile attacks against Israel last week gave Johnson his opening to move on the border. Bipartisan urgency to rush to Israel’s aid provided a legislative vehicle to which he could attach a border security bill. Democrats would have had a tough election year choice.

It was the ultimate leverage, either to advance border security or Ukraine – or both, if Johnson tried.

The flags that Democrats chose to wave drove home Johnson’s choice.

Trump Thinks Speaker Johnson is a RINO

Donald Trump Thanks Young GOP Group for Exposing Never Trumper In Speaker’s Office: ‘Will Not Forget’

Former President Donald Trump expressed appreciation in a signed note to the Washington, DC, Young Republicans (DCYR) for exposing a never Trumper in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) office who opposed the club’s endorsement of Trump.

Trump’s note was in response to emails exclusively obtained by Breitbart News that outed Johnson’s Director of House Operations Hannah Fraher for expressing unfounded concerns about the club’s endorsement of Trump.

“Thank you for your great support,” Trump wrote to the DCYR on an email obtained by Breitbart News. “Very much appreciated! Will not forget.”

“We are very grateful for President Trump’s backup and his kind words of support,” the DCYR Executive Board told Breitbart News. “It is not easy to expose the DC Swamp, but we will do it every time. We completely stand by our endorsement of President Trump and don’t care how many RINOs are upset by that.

“We look forward to continuing our great relationship with him and his administration when he returns to power after the 2024 election,” they added.

DCYR endorsed Trump for president in May 2023, during the middle of the GOP presidential primary season when establishment Washington, DC, insiders still believed Gov. Ron DeSantis ® was a serious contender for the presidency.

Corruption Case

FBI Serves Subpoenas at Dolton Village Hall amid Democrat Illinois Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s Corruption Scandal

FBI authorities served subpoenas at Illinois’ Dolton Village Hall on Friday afternoon as Mayor Tiffany Henyard (D) fields corruption accusations, per Fox 32.

Henyard was recently named “America’s worst mayor” because of her questionable spending habits and abuse of office, Breitbart News reported Monday.

The outlet noted she is also accused of covering up an alleged sexual assault by one of her colleagues against another employee:
In a recent statement, the FBI confirmed it was conducting “court-authorized law enforcement activity” in the area on Friday, but the Department of Justice policy dictates the agency cannot comment on the nature of the investigation:

The Fox 32 article continued:

Four agents from the FBI paid a visit to Dolton around 2:30 p.m. They served two federal subpoenas. The first one was for employment records, personnel files, and disciplinary reports for 25 Dolton employees, including three police officers and Keith Freeman. Freeman, who is the village administrator, was charged with bankruptcy fraud on Monday.

The second subpoena was served specifically for Freeman, asking for records of all companies associated with him and possible ties to the village.

In Febuary, Henyard became heated during a meeting with local officials as they questioned her about issues that have brought heavy criticism, according to Breitbart News.

She said, “Y’all should be ashamed of y’all selves. Y’all black. Y’all are black. And y’all sitting up here beating and attacking on a black woman that’s in power. You should be ashamed of y’all selves.”

Biden's Uncle Eaten By Cannibals!?

White House Refuses to Confirm Joe Biden’s Suggestion that Uncle Was ‘Shot Down,’ Eaten by Cannibals

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to confirm President Joe Biden’s suggestion that his uncle was “shot down” and eaten by cannibals off the coast of New Guinea.

Ambrose J. Finnegan died on May 14, 1944, according to the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Finnegan was a passenger on an Army Air Forces plane that he ditched “for unknown reasons” in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of New Guinea, the agency reported.

While traveling to a campaign stop on Wednesday, Biden told a story about his uncle, whose Air Force plane was “shot down” during a “reconnaissance flight over New Guinea” during World War II.

“[He] got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals at the time. They never recovered his body,” Biden said. “But the government went back when I was down there, and they checked and found parts of the plane and the like.”

Jean-Pierre refused to support Biden’s suggestion that his uncle’s plane was “shot down” and ignored any reference to cannibals. She appeared to align her belief with the Associated Press (AP). Biden “misstated key details about his uncle’s death,” the AP reported Wednesday.

“You saw the president; he was incredibly proud of his uncle’s service in uniform,” Jean-Pierre told reporters, who had been aboard Air Force One. “You saw him at the war memorial. It was incredibly emotional and important to him.”

“You saw him respond to all of you when asked about the moment yesterday and his uncle, who lost his life when the military aircraft he was on crashed in the Pacific after taking off near New Guinea.”

Unusual Reason For Leaving California

Model Kristen Gaffney Leaving California After L.A. Mayor Asks Rich to Pay for Homeless Housing

Model Kristen Gaffney says she is leaving California for Tennessee after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass asked the wealthy to pay for housing for the homeless in the city.

As Breitbart News reported, Bass asked wealthy residents of L.A. to pitch in to buy permanent housing for the homeless as part of a new plan, LA4LA.

Breitbart News noted:

In early 2023, Bass set a goal of moving 17,000 homeless people off the streets of the city in her first year in office. And, in fact, 21,000 people have been moved into temporary shelters — often into hotel and motel rooms.

But despite some initial successes, the homeless population continued to grow, rising 9% in the city and 10% in the county as of last year’s homeless count. And homeless encampments have returned — often to the very places from which they were removed.

There have already been many efforts to tax L.A. residents to pay for homeless housing and services, including a sales tax hike and a new tax on sales of homes worth more than $5 million.

Gaffney told Fox News that she had had enough:

“I quite frankly feel a little bit taken advantage of when I, too, have had to struggle and to create my own opportunities through hard work and education,” Kristen Louelle Gaffney, Sports Illustrated model and resident of San Diego told Fox News Digital over the phone. “Why should somebody have a piece of my hard work?”
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“I came from nothing,” she said. “I think the most my parents did financially for me was pay for a tank of gas and maybe some groceries here and there in college.”
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“You’ve taken enough from us, and you’re only showing me that it’s getting worse,” Gaffney said of homelessness. She credits her frustration to both President Biden and Gov. Gavin Newsom and their policies.

The UK Daily Mail noted that Gaffney is married to former NFL running back Tyler Gaffney.

Don't ever dare to think Newsom does live in La4La land.

Biden Administration on Alaska

Biden Administration Announces Anti-Oil Restrictions on 13 Million Acres of Alaskan Petroleum Land

The Biden administration has announced restrictions on oil and gas leasing on more than 13 million acres of an Alaskan petroleum reserve to conserve land valuable to the “Alaska Native people” and “important fish and wildlife,” as Republican lawmakers protest the “illegal” move.

The U.S. Department of the Interior, led by Biden appointee Secretary Deb Haaland, celebrated the restrictions on Friday, saying, “These steps follow President Biden’s actions to protect millions of acres of lands and waters in the Arctic.”

“Following significant engagement with the public, Alaska Native Tribes, and Alaska Native Corporations, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) finalized the Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPR-A) rule that will ensure maximum protection for significant resource values on the more than 13 million acres of Special Areas in the western Arctic, while supporting subsistence uses and needs for Alaska Native communities,” the federal agency stated.

The new rules won’t impact current leases on the NPR-A, which is owned by the federal government. Projects that have already been authorized, including the controversial Willow Project, will still be able to occur.

Haaland said the restrictions underscore the Biden administration’s “commitment to ensure that places too special to develop remain intact for the communities and species that rely on them.”

CANADA

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Immigration

Canadian Border Sector Sets New Record for Migrant Apprehensions in March

Swanton Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a record-setting number of migrants who illegally crossed the Canadian border between ports of entry in March. The number of migrants arrested in the first six months of this year nearly doubled the same period last year.

Swanton Sector Chief Patrol Agent Robert Garcia posted a report on social media revealing his agents apprehended a record-setting 1,109 migrants in March. Garcia said the migrants crossed the Canadian Border into Eastern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire from 40 different countries, including India, Bangladesh, and Mexico.

According to the CBP Nationwide Encounters Report, Swanton Sector agents apprehended 5,170 migrants during the first six months of FY24, which began on October 1, 2023. This compares to 2,688 during the same period in the then-record-setting FY23.

Of the 1,109 migrants apprehended in March, 408 came from India, 323 came from Bangladesh, and 170 came from Mexico. The six-month total for Mexico is 1,848 and for India is 1,603. The six-month total for Bangladesh is not available in the official CBP report.

The apprehension of migrants crossing from Canada into the Swanton Sector continues in April. Garcia posted a photo showing the apprehension of eight Mexican nationals near Rouses Point, New York, this week.

EUROPE

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Zelensky Thanks Speaker Johnson

Ukraine’s Zelensky ‘Personally’ Thanks Mike Johnson for $61 Billion Gift from U.S. Taxpayers

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was “personally” grateful to “Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track” after Johnson shepherded a $61 billion Ukraine aid package through the House Saturday.

The image of scores of Democrats waving Ukraine flags and cheering on the House floor as the bill passed will forever sting the conservatives from whose ranks Johnson rose, only to serve them with the ultimate betrayal.

“I am grateful to the United States House of Representatives, both parties, and personally Speaker Mike Johnson for the decision that keeps history on the right track,” a gleeful Zelensky posted on X after the vote.

He continued, “The vital U.S. aid bill passed today by the House will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and help both of our nations to become stronger.”

That assessment is debatable. Certainly, the Mike Johnson of only a few months ago would have strongly disputed it. But the long and intense pressure campaign from the strong-willed Zelensky – who apparently charmed the diminutive Louisiana Congressman during their meeting – and the White House proved successful.

Man Planning to Assassinate Zelensky?

Plot to Assassinate Ukraine’s President Zelensky at European Airport Foiled by Polish Security Services, They Say

A joint intelligence operation between Poland and Ukraine has led to the arrest of a Polish citizen allegedly conducting hostile reconnaissance against an airport used by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for international flights.

Polish National Prosecutor’s Office prosecutor Anna Adamiak said while the investigation into Polish citizen ‘Paweł K.’ was ongoing, it was believed he was in contact with Russian intelligence and individuals involved in the Russian invasion of Ukraine and had been tasked with intelligence gathering at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport. The airport in Rzeszów, eastern Poland, is across the border from the now-Ukrainian city of Lviv (Lwow) and is frequently used by Zelensky for international flights instead of airports inside his own country, given the obvious risk.

Prosecutor Adamiak said: “The findings of the investigation show that the suspect’s tasks included collecting information that would be helpful in planning a possible assassination attempt on the life of the President of Ukraine by the Russian services… he detainee was charged with reporting readiness to act for foreign intelligence against the Republic of Poland, qualified under Art. 130 § 3 of the Penal Code. The act is punishable by up to 8 years in prison.”

Polish broadcaster Polsat reports Paweł K. had contacted Russian military intelligence and was to “help Russian special services plan a possible attack on the life of the head of a foreign state – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky”.

Exactly what form this attack could have taken was not publicly speculated upon but the airport, in a NATO country, is protected by U.S.-made Patriot air defence missiles, The Times of London reports. Per the paper, the airport is also frequently used for visits to Ukraine by foreign politicians and for deliveries of aid. In the case of political visitors, the onwards journey into Ukraine is typically by rail, on one of a series of special Ukrainian Railways VIP trains.

Russia goaded Ukraine in response to the news of the report, stating the arrest was not actually evidence of a Russian plot to kill Zelensky at a European airport, but that it was actually a cover-story in preparation for a Western attempt to dispose of the Ukrainian President.

OK, we all knew Putin hates Zelensky. Yet, t I never thought I'd see the day when Putin's minions would believe that the Western World would get rid of Zelensky for any reason. So do they really think the US or Europe would ever do Russia such a tremendous favor?
And I gotta admit I'm not one of Zelensky's supporters at all for I strongly believe he's a moron.

Did Ukraine Shoot Down a Russian Bomber?

Ukraine Says it has Shot Down Russian Strategic Bomber: Moscow Denies

Ukraine´s air force claimed Friday it shot down a Russian strategic bomber, but Moscow officials said the plane crashed in a sparsely populated area due to a malfunction after a combat mission.

Neither claim could be independently verified. Previous Ukrainian claims of shooting down Russian warplanes during their more than two-year war have met with silence or denials from Moscow.

Meanwhile, Russian missiles struck cities in the central Dnipro region of Ukraine, killing eight people, including an 8-year-old girl, and injuring 25, local officials said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated Kyiv officials´ almost daily appeals for more Western air defense systems, again drawing a parallel with how Israel blunted a recent Iranian attack.

Missile and drone attacks can be thwarted, he wrote on social platform X: “This has been demonstrated in the skies over the Middle East, and it should also work in Europe.”

Russia´s air force is vastly more powerful than Ukraine´s, but sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv´s Western partners are a major threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin´s forces slowly push forward along the around 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in what has become a grinding war of attrition. Ukrainian officials say they expect a major Russian offensive in the summer.

Ukraine said the air force and military intelligence cooperated to bring down the Tu-22M3 bomber with anti-aircraft missiles. Russia commonly uses the bomber to fire Kh-22 cruise missiles at Ukrainian targets from inside its own airspace. The plane can also carry nuclear warheads.

The Russian defense ministry said the warplane crashed “in a deserted area” in the southern region of Stavropol, hundreds of kilometers (miles) from the Ukrainian border.

Three crew members were rescued after ejecting from the aircraft, and the search for a fourth is taking place, according to the ministry. But Stavropol Gov. Vladimir Vladimirov said one of the rescued pilots died.

On Christmas Eve, Ukraine claimed to have shot down two Russian fighter jets. In January, the Ukrainian air force said it shot down a Russian early warning and control plane and a key command center aircraft that relays information to troops on the ground, in what appeared to be a significant blow for the Kremlin´s forces. The next month, Ukraine said it knocked out another early warning and control plane.

Kharkiv Flees

Anticipating Russian Spring Offensive, Kharkiv Residents Start to Flee

A 79-year-old woman makes the sign of the cross and, gripping her cane, leaves her home in a quaint village in northeast Ukraine.

Torn screens, shattered glass and scorched trees litter the yard of Olha Faichuk’s apartment building in Lukiantsi, north of the city of Kharkiv. Abandoned on a nearby bench is a shrapnel-pierced cellphone that belonged to one of two people killed when a Russian bomb struck, leaving a blackened crater in its wake.

“God, forgive me for leaving my home, bless me on my way,” Faichuk said, taking one last look around before slowly shuffling to an evacuation vehicle.

Unlike embattled front-line villages further east, attacks on the border village near the Russian region of Belgorod, were rare until a wave of air strikes began in late March.

Russia seemingly exploited air defense shortages in Kharkiv, Ukraine´s second-largest city, to pummel the region’s energy infrastructure and terrorize its 1.3 million residents. Nearly 200,000 city dwellers remain without power, while 50% of the region’s population still suffers from outages, officials say.

Russia Keeps Pummeling of Ukraine

Russia Continues Pummelling of Ukraine With ‘Glide Bombs’ Converted From Soviet Era Munitions

Russian troops are ramping up pressure on exhausted Ukrainian forces to prepare to seize more land this spring and summer as muddy fields dry out and allow tanks, armored vehicles and other heavy equipment to roll to key positions across the countryside.

With the war in Ukraine now in its third year and a vital U.S. aid package for Kyiv slowed down in Congress, Russia has increasingly used satellite-guided gliding bombs – which allow planes to drop them from a safe distance – to pummel Ukrainian forces beset by a shortage of troops and ammunition.

Despite Moscow’s advantage in firepower and personnel, a massive ground offensive would be risky and – Russian military bloggers other experts say – unnecessary if Russia can stick to smaller attacks across the front line to further drain the Ukraine military.

“It´s potentially a slippery slope where you get like a death by a thousand cuts or essentially death by a thousand localized offensives,” Michael Kofman, a military expert with the Carnegie Endowment, said in a recent podcast to describe the Russian tactic. If the Russians stick to their multiple pushes across the front, he said, “eventually they may find more and more open terrain.”
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“If the defensive lines had been built in advance, the Ukrainians wouldn´t have retreated in such a way,” Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov said. “We should have been digging trenches through the fall and it would have stemmed Russian advances. Now everything is exposed, making it very dangerous.”

In a recent podcast, Kofman also said that Kyiv is “quite behind on effectively entrenching across the front” and “Ukraine does not have good secondary lines.”

After capturing the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka, Russian troops are zeroing in on the hill town of Chasiv Yar, which would allow them to move toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, key cities in the Kyiv-controlled part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. Russia illegally annexed Donetsk and three other regions in 2022, and the Kremlin sees fully controlling that region as a priority.

Russia Protected Power Plants, They Claim

Moscow Says 50 Ukrainian Drones Shot Down During Attacks on Russian Power Stations

Ukraine launched a barrage of drones across Russia overnight, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said Saturday, in attacks that appeared to target the country’s energy infrastructure.

Fifty drones were shot down by air defences over eight Russian regions, including 26 over the country’s western Belgorod region close to the Ukrainian border. Two people – a woman with a broken leg and the man caring for her – died during the overnight barrage, after explosions sparked a blaze that set their home alight, Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on social media. A pregnant woman and her unborn child were also killed in shelling later Saturday, he said.

Drones were also reportedly destroyed over the Bryansk, Kursk, Tula, Smolensk, Ryazan, Kaluga regions across Russia’s west and south, as well as in the Moscow region.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that it had shot down a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-25 fighter jet. It provided no details and the claims could not be independently verified.

Ukrainian officials normally decline to comment about attacks on Russian soil. However, many of the drone strikes appeared to be directed toward Russia’s energy infrastructure.

The head of the Kaluga region, Vladislav Shapsha, said Saturday that a drone strike had sparked a blaze at an electrical substation, while Bryansk Gov. Alexander Bogomaz and Smolensk Gov. Vasily Anokhin also reported fires at fuel and energy complexes.

In recent months, Russian refineries and oil terminals have become priority targets of Ukrainian drone attacks, part of stepped-up assaults on Russian territory.

Ukrainian drone developers have been extending the weapons’ range for months, as Kyiv attempts to compensate for its battlefield disadvantage in weapons and troops. The unmanned aerial vehicles are also an affordable option while Ukraine waits for more U.S. military aid.

Ukrainian "Terrorism" Balloons!?

Spy Balloons Are Back: Russia Says it is Shooting Down Ukrainian ‘Terrorism’ Balloons

From drones to trench warfare, Ukraine is the theater where the latest military trends from around the world are played out, so it stands to reason Kyiv has allegedly launched military balloons, a throwback to the Chinese spy balloons that caused such conniptions in the United States in 2023.

Cheap, and extremely long range: large balloons could be a valuable vector for Kyiv’s ongoing attempts to strike Russia’s economy to undermine its invasion of Ukraine. Now Russia says it is shooting down quantities of Ukrainian balloons over its territory, classifying both military “terrorism” balloons allegedly carrying explosives, and what may be observation platforms or decoys described as “Ukrainian weather balloons”.

Statements from Kremlin-controlled Russian state media asserts the country’s armed forces shot down at least eight “Ukrainian balloons” in three days this week. Those incidents include “weather balloon” wreckage in the Lipetsk region approximately 230 miles north east of Ukraine’s Kharkiv and a “Ukrainian small-size balloon” shot down in the Kursk region, which is south of Moscow and borders Ukraine.

Russia decried what it called “a terrorist attack using a small-size balloon”.

While described officially a ‘weather balloons’, the Associated Press cites Russian domestic media as claiming these two balloons actually carried “mortar mines”, similar munitions to those carried by Ukrainian FPV drones in frontline strikes. The service notes: “Ukrainian balloons are equipped with a GPS module and carry explosives. They reportedly are harder to detect and could carry a bigger payload than more common small drones.”

If correct, the balloons seem to take the role of a modernised incendiary balloon as deployed by Imperial Japan against the United States in the Second World War.

The following day on the 17th, a further weather balloon was “neutralised” by the Russian armed forces in the Kaluga region south west of Moscow, it was said. Again underlining the lighter-than-air craft may have been packing more than just meteorological equipment, the Kremlin relayed that nearby houses had to be evacuated from the crash-site.

Then on the 18th, alleged balloon incursions stepped up again, with five shot down during a larger barrage of Ukrainian missiles and drones launched against the Russian mainland. Per the Russian state’s claims, two balloons were shot down over Belgorod and three in Voronezh along the border with Ukraine.

I guess Ukraine will no longer rely on them now that they will get a large aid package from the US thanks to Speaker Johnson...

Iran Sent Heroin to Europe

Bulgaria Seizes $8.5 Million in Heroin from Truck Heading from Iran to Europe

Bulgarian customs officials say they have seized 403 kilograms (about 887 pounds) of heroin found in a truck with Turkish registration en route from Iran to Western Europe.

The heroin in 618 packages hidden inside the officially declared 156 sleeping mattresses transported in the truck. Officials valued the drug haul at 8.5 million euros (nearly $9 million).

The truck was confiscated at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Turkish border, Haskovo regional prosecutor Ivan Stoyanov said on Saturday. The drugs were thought to have originated in Iran and destined for distribution in some of the 27 nations of the European Union, he said

The Turkish truck driver was detained and could face up to 20 years in jail if convicted on drug trafficking charges.

Bulgaria, which lies on a drug route from the Middle East to Western Europe, has taken massive steps in recent years to prevent drug trafficking.

Populist Political Activist Assaulted

Populist Political Activist Assaulted in Apparent Leftist Attack in Paris

A populist political activist has reported being assaulted in Paris on Friday, in the latest example of right-wing political figures facing violence in Europe.

The president of the youth movement of Éric Zemmour’s Reconquête! (Reconquest) anti-mass migration party, Stanislas Rigault, 24, said that he filed a police report after he was attacked by a group of six or seven people while waiting for a taxi in the 14th arrondissement of the French capital on Friday evening.

According to a police source cited by Le Figaro, the Génération Zemmour was descended upon by the apparent group of leftists after they recognised him as a right-wing activist and began shouting “fascist” and “Nazi” at the young man.

Speaking to the newspaper of record, Rigault said: “They started to push me, to tell us that we had nothing to do there.”

A female member of the group began to push him, he said, adding: “I push her away and at that moment, she spits on me.”

At the time of this reporting, the perpetrators have yet to be identified by police.

It is not the first time the populist party has faced political violence, with Reconquête! leader and former presidential candidate Éric Zemmour was injured in 2021 during a campaign rally which saw 39 Atifa radicals arrested, some of whom were armed with Molotov cocktails and “bottles of acid”.

German-Russian Spies, Germany & US Base in Grafenwöhr

Alleged Russian Spies Accused of Preparing Bombing Attacks Against U.S. Base in in Germany Arrested

Two German-Russian dual citizens accused of membership of a pro-Kremlin terrorist organisation, of scouting military bases, and planning bombings have been arrested by Federal police.

The German Federal Prosecutor released details of the allegations against two individuals arrested on Wednesday who stand accused of espionage and planned sabotage on behalf of Russian intelligence agencies.

Dieter S. is said to have been active in passing images of military installations to contacts in Russia and of planning an attack since October 2023, while Alexander J. is believed to have become involved more recently, in March 2024. Both men are reportedly Russian-German dual nationals.

German broadcaster BR24 cites the comments of Federal Prosecutor General Jens Rommel who said Dieter S. was working to “undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression”, particularly in planning to “commit explosives and arson attacks, especially on military infrastructure and industrial sites in Germany”.

This particularly took the form of hostile reconnaissance against the U.S. 7th Army’s Garrison Bavaria at the Grafenwöhr training area. Crucially, it is at this base where the U.S. trains Ukrainian soldiers, and Ukrainian tank crews to operate the M1 Abrams main battle tank.

According to the prosecutor, reports Die Welt, Dieter S. intended to “undermine the military support provided by Germany to Ukraine against the Russian war of aggression” by attacking the base. In all, he is accused of  “conspiring to cause an explosive explosion and arson, acting as an agent for sabotage purposes… membership in a foreign terrorist organization and preparing a serious act of violence that endangers the state”, the publisher states.

Discussing the arrests, German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser of the left-wing SPD party said: “Our security authorities prevented possible explosive attacks that were intended to target and undermine our military assistance to Ukraine… We will continue to provide massive support to Ukraine and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated”.

Far from a clumsy attempt at sabotage, it is alleged Dieter S. is an experienced soldier with combat experience. There is a “strong suspicion”, it is stated, that he previously fought with a military unit of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ — an eastern Ukrainian region which has been occupied by Russia to varying degrees for a decade.

The arrests are only the latest of their kind of alleged Russian spies and saboteurs in European states of recent months, which have come alongside several other cases where Russian ‘diplomats’ have been ordered to return to Moscow after being accused of abusing their diplomatic position to spy.

Cleaning Up Paris

Police Evict Hundreds of Migrants From Paris in Pre-Olympics Clean-Up

With the Paris Olympic Games 100 days away, police carried out a large-scale eviction at France’s biggest squat in the south of the country’s capital. Authorities, including dozens of gendarmes, cleared out the makeshift camp at an abandoned bus company headquarters in Vitry-sur-Seine on Wednesday.

The camp had become home to about 450 migrants, with images of the eviction spreading rapidly across social media.

Aid workers are concerned that the broader effort by Paris authorities to clear out migrants and other people sleeping rough in the city before the summer Olympics is troubling, as those evicted are not provided longer-term housing assistance.

“The squat was the biggest in France. It doubled in size in one year because of the Olympics. Last year, authorities cleared out migrants from nearby the Olympic Village, and many displaced people came here,” said Paul Alauzy of the humanitarian organization Médecins du Monde, who has been closely following the steady pace of evictions over two years.

The conditions inside the warehouse were cramped, Alauzy said.

EU on Russia & Immigration

EU Boss: Russia ‘Instrumentalises’ Migrants to Try And Destabilise Europe

The head of the European Union’s executive branch said Friday that Finland’s decision to close its border crossings with Russia over a surge in migrants was a security matter for the whole 27-member bloc to consider.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the remarks during a trip to the frontier, visiting a part of the border located in southeastern Finland.
“We all know how (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his allies instrumentalize migrants to test our defenses and to try to destabilize us,” von der Leyen said. “Now Putin is focusing on Finland, and this is no doubt in response to your firm support of Ukraine and your accession to NATO.”

On April 4, Finland decided to extend the closure of its border crossing points with Russia “until further notice” because of what the government says is a high risk of organized migration being orchestrated by Moscow. Finland’s government has closed eight of its nine checkpoints with Russia. The only one that remains open is dedicated to rail travel only, and cargo trains mainly run through it.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border with Russia, running mostly through thick forests in the south, and to the rugged landscape in the Arctic north.

“This is not just about the security of Finland, but it is about the security of the European Union. We are in this together,” von der Leyen said after visiting the border in Lappeenranta with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo. “We should be more Finnish when it comes to security.”

Von der Leyen and Orpo flew in a Finnish helicopter over the landscape of forests and towns on the border.

In a statement issued after the visit, Orpo said that “the spring´s warmer weather increases the risk of Russia helping people illegally try to get to Finland via the land border … outside the border crossing points.”

Most of the migrants hail from the Middle East and Africa. The vast majority of them have sought asylum in Finland, a member of the EU and NATO with a population of 5.6 million.

ASIA

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Russia Leaving Azerbaiyan?

Hayward: Russia Withdraws Useless ‘Peacekeepers’ from Nagorno-Karabakh After Ethnic Cleansing of Armenians

The Kremlin on Wednesday confirmed media reports from Azerbaijan that Russia will withdraw all of its “peacekeepers” from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.

The Russians did nothing while Azerbaijan used force to seize control of the area last year and ruthlessly conducted an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Armenian Christians who lived there.

“Yes, that’s really true,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said at a press conference on Wednesday morning when asked about an Azerbaijani news report of the pullout.

The Moscow Times noted that Azeri-language social media posted videos of a Russian military convoy moving out of the region. The report on Azerbaijan’s Musavat news website was not long on details, but it included a photo of Russian armored personnel carriers rumbling down a mountain road on their way out of the contested region.

Another Azeri report said the Russian withdrawal began with troops pulling out of the medieval Armenian monastery of Dadivank, which they had been more-or-less protecting with sandbags and a few armored personnel carriers. The ancient monastery is now “guarded” by Azerbaijan’s security forces.

The Russian Defense Ministry posted its own footage of the withdrawal, prompting Armenian media to point out that Russian peacekeepers were supposedly committed to remaining in Nagorno-Karabakh for another year and a half.

“The early withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers, temporarily stationed in the territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan, in accordance with the trilateral Statement signed on November 10, 2020, has been decided by the leaders of both countries,” a foreign policy adviser to Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev said on Wednesday.

“The process has already begun, with the ministries of defense of Azerbaijan and Russia implementing appropriate measures for the execution of that decision,” the adviser added.

Ukraine Delegation in Taiwan

Ukraine Delegation Visits Taiwan Seeking Support for Postwar Reconstruction

A delegation from Ukraine arrived in Taiwan on Sunday, hoping to secure assistance from Taiwanese firms to rebuild in the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

The delegation was led by Mykola Tkachenko, CEO of ProZorro, the Ukrainian government’s procurement system. ProZorro was established after the ouster of Ukraine’s fabulously corrupt pro-Russian President Victor Yanukovych in 2014 with the goal of creating a more transparent and open system for government purchases that would be less prone to corruption. “Prozorro” means “transparency” in Ukrainian, and the system also established an oversight board called “Dozorro,” or “watchdog.”

Tkachenko brought leaders from Ukrainian industry to highlight the opportunities that will (hopefully) be available in Ukraine after the war is over. He hoped in turn that Ukrainians would gain a better understanding of Taiwan’s advanced technology industry and how it could be harnessed to rebuild devastated Ukrainian sectors like energy and health care.

The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) hosted a forum on Tuesday during which about two hundred Taiwanese business representatives watched presentations from Ukrainian energy and health care groups. Ukrainian power company executives were especially interested in using Taiwanese technology to advance their Soviet-era power grid.

TAITRA said the Ukrainian delegation would meet with more Taiwanese tech executives before returning home on Friday. TAITRA chairman James Huang said he would also arrange meetings with Taiwanese construction executives for his Ukrainian guests.

Ukraine’s infrastructure has been ravaged by the Russian invasion, leaving its population vulnerable to extreme cold. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said in November that half of Ukraine’s power infrastructure has been either damaged or completely wiped out by the Russians, leaving civilians at the mercy of “respiratory infections such as Covid-19, pneumonia, influenza, and the serious risk of diphtheria and measles in the under-vaccinated population.”

Indonesian Volcano Now Active

Indonesia Evacuates Thousands After Volcano Erupts Five Times

Indonesia’s Mount Ruang volcano erupted at least five times on Wednesday, prompting a high-level alert for more eruptions and a tsunami warning.

Over 11,000 people living near the volcano were ordered to leave as the government struggled to create a four-mile-radius safe zone around the mountain.

Ruang itself is an islet about three miles across at its widest point, separated from the much larger and more heavily populated Tagulandang Island by a narrow strait. The volcano has erupted several times over the past two centuries, most recently in 2002.

Beginning on Tuesday night, the volcano was rocked by a series of increasingly powerful explosions, causing lava to pour out of its crater as the mountain was wreathed in clouds and lighting bolts. As of Wednesday morning, over 400 volcanic earthquakes had been detected around the island.

Indonesian rescue workers scrambled to evacuate the area, aided by local fishermen who offered their boats for transportation. The Indonesian Navy dispatched a warship that was able to evacuate 195 people.

Eruptions continued on Thursday and Friday, pelting houses on Tagulandang with volcanic rock and making some roads difficult to use.

Most of Tagulandang’s 2,000 residents were told to leave their homes, an advisory issued after some of them had already begun to flee in panic.

Tagulandang also has a small prison, whose handful of inmates and staff were evacuated to nearby Sulawesi island. Much of Tagulandang’s population could ultimately be evacuated to Sulawesi, which is about six hours away by boat.