In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.
This way, under the various posts of the day, conversation can take place without as much ‘noise’ on the various links and articles and ideas in the main posts and all the news links being submitted can be seen under these auto-posts by clicking on the comments-link right below these ones.
Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.
THOUSANDS of Iranians stage ‘DEATH TO ROUHANI’ protests in defiance of ‘ROTTEN’ regime (express, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1052383/Iran-news-protest-hassan-rouhani-regime-change-National-Council-of-Resistance-of-Iran
“EXASPERATED Iranians have taken to the streets as thousands of teachers and factory workers stage mass demonstrations in defiance of Hassan Rouhani’s callous regime.
Massive demonstrations of steel and sugar cane workers began two weeks ago. Teachers joined them in solidarity last week chanting anti-regime slogans such as “death to Rouhani” in nationwide walkouts. The workers demanded their unpaid salaries, better working conditions and the release of their imprisoned colleagues.
Iranian dissident Hossein Abedini of the National Council of Resistance of Iran – who was targeted in an assassination attempt in Turkey – has spoken to Express.co.uk about the situation, which could see the protestors publicly executed for what the regime sees as serious crimes.
He said: “The Iranian people believe the regime is rotten in its entirety.
“During the protests, people have been shouting ‘down with Khamenei’ and ‘death to Rouhani’.
“Iran is now in a very explosive situation.
“There have been mass protests and strikes going on all over the country.
“What started in December last year has expanded to the whole country.”
The protestors, who are risking their lives by simply exercising freedom of speech, have been chanting: “Even if we die, we will get our rights.”
The strike action of the Haft Tappeh sugarcane mill and Ahvaz Steelworks prompted Sadegh Larijani, the head of the regime’s judiciary, to arrive on the scene.
Mr Larijani attempted to intimate the strikers, saying: “We must deal with those who want to disrupt the order of the country, under the pretext of pursuing the demands of workers.
“Workers should not allow their demands to be an excuse for the use of enemies and to create disorder.”
The repressive forces of the regime tried to prevent the demonstrations, but despite the intensive presence of state security forces, anti-riot guards and plainclothes officers, the workers continued their strike for the third week.
The disenchanted Iranians gathered in front of regime buildings in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, broke the blockade of repressive forces and rallied in the streets.
Video footage shows them shouting as they were accompanied by a group of Ahvazi youth: “We stand, we die, we get our rights, the worker dies, he does not accept humiliation.”
Despite the very real threat to their lives, the strikers plan to continue their industrial action to demand regime change.
Mr Abedini was almost killed by the Iranian regime because of his open opposition to its brutal ways.
Of the failed assassination attempt, he said: “I was in Turkey when my car was ambushed and I was shot in my chest, close to my heart.
“It very narrowly missed my heart.”
He added: “Even when I was in hospital they tried to finish me off – pretending to be Turkish police.
“So as a survivor, I am able to speak out against the regime.””
“The Iranian people believe the regime is rotten in its entirety.”
Everyone wave at Ayatollah Sayyid Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.
You stupid Iranian fü¢ks welcomed him with open arms without a thought about being careful what you wish for. Now your country is an international pariah and few will be running to your rescue.
Congratulations on constructing your own private hell.
The same for the British if they take the Marxist Euro.
They welcome their own gaolers.
The steelworkers haven’t been paid, but continue to work? They welcome their own taskmasters and communist “saviors.”
“The steelworkers haven’t been paid, but continue to work?”
Hey! They might lose their (non-paying) jobs…
More likely, they could be executed for sabotaging the state through decreased production.
What REALLY happened today in Melbourne? #ClimateStrike
AUSTRALIA – Aussie kids skip school for mass climate protest
Russian tanks ‘just 11 MILES from border amid fears of imminent INVASION’
RUSSIAN tanks are massing on the border amid fears of imminent invasion, Ukranian president Petro Poroshenko has claimed as war fears loom following violent clashes in the Black Sea.
Poroshenko has revealed images of what he claims are tanks lining up along the border, close to where Russia stores its ammunition, reports Sky News.
He said: “This is the tank base just [11 miles] from our border, this was happening in September, October, and now.”
The Ukrainian leaders revelations come as he was begging NATO for help amid fears of a “full scale war” with Russia.
Fears of an attack have loomed following clashes which saw Russia open fire upon and then seize three Ukrainian ships over the Kerch Strait.
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/745416/russia-ukraine-war-vladimir-putin-petro-poroshenko-tanks-invasion-black-sea-kerch-strait
Ill. Democrat attracts criticism after wishing death on GOP Rep.’s family
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:07 AM PT — Thurs. Nov. 29, 2018
A Democrat lawmaker is facing backlash for verbally attacking a GOP colleague and his family during a debate in the Illinois House of Representatives.
The incident happened this week as the officials were discussing legislation centered around a deadly outbreak of Legionnaire’s disease at a veteran’s home run by the state.
Republican Peter Breen was wondering about the potential cost of the measure, which would increase the potential monetary damages awarded in civil lawsuits.
Democrat Stephanie Kifowit responded with a heated comment a few minutes later.
“To the representative from Lombard, I would like to make him a broth and pump it into the water system of his loved ones, so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer and get aspirin instead of being properly treated, and ultimately DIE,” she stated.
https://www.oann.com/ill-democrat-attracts-criticism-after-wishing-death-on-gop-rep-s-family/
China has ‘stern’ words with U.S. over ship in South China Sea
BEIJING (Reuters) – China said on Friday it had lodged “stern representations” with the United States after the U.S. Navy sailed a ship through the contested South China Sea, passing near islands claimed by China.
Tension between the two powers in disputed Asian waters comes as their relationship has between strained by a row over trade involving increasingly severe rounds of tariffs on billions of dollars worth of each other’s imports.
The U.S. guided-missile cruiser USS Chancellorsville sailed near the Paracel Islands on Monday to challenge China’s “excessive maritime claims”, the U.S. Pacific fleet said in a statement.
China foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, told a daily news briefing the U.S. ship had entered Chinese waters without permission and China had made its position known with its “stern representations”.
The Chinese army said it had sent ships and planes to watch the U.S. ship and to warn it to leave.
The Chancellorsville’s voyage was the latest in what the United States calls freedom of navigation operations aimed at challenging what it sees as Chinese activity limiting freedom of movement in the strategic waters.
https://www.oann.com/china-has-stern-words-with-u-s-over-ship-in-south-china-sea/
“The Chancellorsville’s voyage was the latest in what the United States calls freedom of navigation operations aimed at challenging what it sees as Chinese activity limiting freedom of movement in the strategic waters.”
These maneuvers are both necessary and an unfortunately perfect excuse for Red China to start a war. Where are the other countries sending their warships through these contested waters to challenge this entirely contrived dominion?
China rejects U.S. academic report calling for retaliatory action
BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese media on Friday hit back at a U.S. academic report which urged the United States to engage in “tit-for-tat” retaliation to counter what it said was China’s widening campaign for influence which threatened to undermine democratic values.
The 213-page report, published by the U.S. think tank Hoover Institution on Thursday, said China’s ruling Communist Party had in recent years “significantly accelerated” both the investment and intensity of its global influence-seeking efforts.
The report was penned by a group of more than 30 prominent Western experts, such as Orville Schell, director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society in New York, many whom had long advocated for closer engagement with China.
The sharper tone comes as President Xi Jinping has increased repression at home and adopted what the report describes as an “increasingly forward and aggressive posture on the global stage”.
China’s state-run Global Times said the report’s threat assessment was unfounded.
https://www.oann.com/china-rejects-u-s-academic-report-calling-for-retaliatory-action/
“Chinese media on Friday hit back at a U.S. academic report which urged the United States to engage in “tit-for-tat” retaliation to counter what it said was China’s widening campaign for influence which threatened to undermine democratic values.”
This is precisely the strategy that should be adopted against the Chicoms. Keep them off-balance with continual matching of any strategic tasking or repositioning. Just sailing US Naval vessels through the South China Sea causes Beijing to scramble their assets in the Paracels, if not at home. Each alert costs the Communist Chinese countless thousands of dollars, especially if any aircraft are launched (be it for reconnaissance, standoff or offensive capability).
What a perfect way to apply Tui Na (the Chinese equivalent of Japanese shiatsu). Just keep directing excruciating force against all of those (highly vulnerable and overly-abundant) Sinological pressure points—whether it be by transiting the Straits of Formosa with a carrier battle group or through imposing crippling tariffs.
Continually forcing Beijing’s Mandarins to save face by reciprocating in endless round robin jockeying-for-position will misdirect their attention (to whatever useful extent) away from building further, combined arms, military strength.
Lawyer: FBI raided home of Clinton Foundation whistleblower – in spite of IG protections
By Daily Caller News Foundation November 30, 2018
FBI agents raided the home of a recognized Department of Justice whistleblower who privately delivered documents pertaining to the Clinton Foundation and Uranium One to a government watchdog, according to the whistleblower’s attorney.
The Justice Department’s inspector general was informed that the documents show that federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation and Rosatom, the Russian company that purchased Uranium One, a document reviewed by The Daily Caller News Foundation alleges.
The delivered documents also show that then-FBI Director Robert Mueller failed to investigate allegations of criminal misconduct pertaining to Rosatom and to other Russian government entities attached to Uranium One, the document reviewed by TheDCNF alleges. Mueller is now the special counsel investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2018/11/30/lawyer-fbi-raided-home-of-clinton-foundation-whistleblower-in-spite-of-ig-protections/
Spontaneous yellow vest protest in Brussels, around 500 people disrupt traffic, throw rocks, firecrackers and road signs at police
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201811301070274770-protest-yellow-vest-brussels/
Police car set on fire:
https://twitter.com/pjhuyghebaert/status/1068494761164713984
Raymond, 61 ans, retraité de la mine. Le moins que l’on puisse dire, c’est que Raymond ne mâche pas ses mots, bien décidé à se faire entendre.
Face à lui, Hélène Zannier, Députée LaREM de la 7e circonscription de la Moselle.
Putin: Terrorists’ Chemical Attack in Aleppo Must Not Remain Unpunished (sputniknews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201811301070280426-putin-chemical-attack-aleppo-syria/
“The chemical attack launched by terrorists in western Aleppo should not go unpunished, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
“In Syria, where militants continue armed attacks on government forces, a November 24 attack on residents of the western part of Aleppo using chemical poisonous substances, presumably chlorine, was a blatant violation of the ceasefire,” Putin said, speaking at a BRICS meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
According to Putin, dozens of Syrians were injured, including children.
“Such terrorists’ crimes should not left unpunished, otherwise they will replicate such antics,” said Putin.
Putin’s statement was made hours after Russian Center for Syrian reconciliation reported that terrorists from the Hayat Tahrir Ash-Sham group (former Nusra Front*) were planning a new provocation with the use of toxic agents in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
The attack which Putin mentioned occurred on November 24, when terrorist groups located in the Idlib de-escalation zone fired 120-millimeter shells at the north-western districts of Aleppo from the south-eastern part of the demilitarized zone, according to the Russian Defence Ministry’s Centre for Syrian Reconciliation.
The shells were filled with poisonous substances, and exploded in the vicinity of Nile Street in the Al-Khalidia neighbourhood.
According to medics, aid had been provided to 73 civilians injured in the attack.”
Iran: Asian States Considering Creation of Monetary Union, Opposing US Sanctions (sputniknews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201811301070280686-iran-asian-states-considering-creation-monetary-union-oppose-us-sanctions/
“The 11th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) started on November 29 in Istanbul with the moto “Promoting Economic Prosperity in Asia”. The participants, while discussing the prospects of their bilateral economic, social and political relations, are focusing on options for strengthening their resistance to the US moves.
“After the US sanctions on different countries, many countries think that they have to find other ways, so there is a serious debate on monetary accords among the Asian countries to reach a new mechanism,” Ali Larijani, Iranian Parliamentary Speaker, said after returning from the event.
Larijani noted that during his 24-hour trip, the attention during the discussions he took part in was paid to the ways of strengthening the economic ties between the member states of the APA in order to neutralize the effects of the US sanctions.
He said that some good proposals were made concerning developing the collective economic potential of Asian countries, particularly signing the bilateral monetary agreements which would let Asian countries to counter the US pressure.
On the side-lines of the Parliamentary Assembly, Ali Larijani met with his Russian and Turkish counterparts — Leonid Slutsky, the Chairman of the Russian Duma’s Foreign Affairs Committee and Binali Y?ld?r?mm, the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly.
Larijani, speaking with his Turkish colleague, expressed his concerns over Washington’s activity in the regions, saying that the US is using the dollar as a ‘cold weapon’.
Binali Y?ld?r?mm, in his turn, said that the US influence on currency fluctuations is a ‘warning’.
“We never imagined that the US would one day use the dollar as a cold weapon, but after its agenda came to light, the presidents of Iran, China, Turkey and Russia began discussions on national currency-based trade”, Y?ld?r?mm said, according to Mehrnews.
In May 2018 the US left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA) regarding the Iranian nuclear programme — a deal which was reached in 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 group, which consisted of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany. After abandoning the JCPOA, US President Donald Trump re-imposed all its sanctions on Iran, targeting “critical sectors of Iran’s economy, such as the energy, shipping and shipbuilding, and financial sectors”.
Even though the US Treasury Department called the latest round of sanctions “the toughest ever imposed on Iran”, Washington granted waivers to 8 countries, which obtained the right to continue buying Iranian oil on a temporary basis.
The Asian Parliamentary Assembly, established in 2006 in a bid to create an Asian Parliament, is comprised of 42 member Parliaments and 16 observers.
The last (10th) APA meeting took place in Istanbul on November 2017.”
Iran: Asian States Considering Creation of Monetary Union
Allowing Iran anywhere near your currency basket is like hiring Bernie Madoff to manage your investment portfolio. In such a “Monetary Union”, for all of its ostensible oil wealth, Iran’s eggshell economy instantly would become one of that federation’s weakest links and greatest liabilities. All the more so due to pending expansion of sanctions.
In light of recent Iranian protests—where chants of “Death to Khamenei” have featured rather prominently—it’s a relatively safe bet that Tehran’s economic engine isn’t firing on all cylinders (to put it politely).
How migrating away from the petrodollar will improve Iran’s ability to financially interface with what few global customers it has left promises to furnish a study in futility leavened with double doses of schadenfreude-laced mirth.
S-400 blowback? Turkey seeks replacement for US-withheld helicopter engines in $1.5bn export deal (RT, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.rt.com/news/445235-turkey-pakistan-helicopter-engines/
“Ankara and Islamabad have agreed to seek replacement engines for 30 Turkish-made attack helicopters after the US blocked supplies. Some Turkish officials say Washington is retaliating for the purchase of Russian-made missiles.
In July, Turkey and Pakistan signed their biggest-ever arms deal, ending four years of negotiations. The Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) is to produce 30 T129 ATAK multipurpose helicopters for the Pakistani military for $1.5 billion. The model is a derivative from the Italian Agusta A129 Mangusta, which integrates Turkish avionics and weapons with AgustaWestland’s airframe and has some upgrades.
The deal however hit a stumbling block after the Turkish company failed to obtain an export license from the US Department of Defense. The license is required for the US-made parts of the engines that are meant to power the aircraft. The LHTEC T800-4A turboshaft engines are produced by a joint venture of the US-based manufacturer Honeywell and Britain’s Rolls-Royce.
“This is not a technological or financial matter but is purely political at the moment,” a senior Turkish procurement official told Defense News in August, after the problem arose.
With the license problems seemingly nowhere near a resolution, Pakistan and Turkey agreed to seek a replacement variant for the engines, Turkey’s Hurriyet reported on Thursday. Producers in France and Poland are being considered as potential suppliers, provided that new tests are made to confirm performance in high-altitude and bad weather conditions. The US-British engines were tested on the T129 to conform to Pakistani demands in 2016. TAI hopes it will be able to complete the contract in five years, the newspaper reported…”
“In July, Turkey and Pakistan signed their biggest-ever arms deal, ending four years of negotiations.”
Turkey and Pakistan selling each other weapons. What could go wrong?
Speaking as someone who has performed Mil-Spec (Military Specification) integrated device checks with microscope and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) examinations—along with providing quality control for high precision tech hardware—neither Turkey nor Pakistan should be trusted with subcontracted production of anything more complex than a mess hall spatula.
For whatever reason, the Koran just doesn’t make a good standards manual.
London tube station EVACUATED due to police incident – armed police rush to scene (express, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1052574/london-news-queensway-tube-station-evacuated-central-line-westminster
“QUEENSWAY tube station in London was evacuated and closed earlier today due to a police incident. British Transport Police said an arrest had been made and an investigation opened.
Queensway station was cleared of passengers with trains unable to stop at the Central Line station. Members of the public took to social media to report a heavy police presence at the scene. One said armed officers were at the station, which has been closed. British Transport Police (BTP) said a man had been arrested at the scene.
London Ambulance Service said another man was treated for injuries.
A BTP spokesman said: “Shortly after 1.10pm today officers were called to Queensway London Underground station following a report of an assault on an eastbound Central Line platform.
“British Transport Police officers, including firearms officers, were quickly on the scene and a man was arrested on suspicious of grievous bodily harm.
“The detained man is currently being treated by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service.
“A second man is also being treated by paramedics at the scene.
“An investigation to understand the circumstances leading to both men being injured in now underway.”
The station has now re-opened.”
Top Eurocrat Verhofstadt Hits Back After Hungary Mocks His Migrant Crisis Denial (breitbart, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/30/top-eurocrat-verhofstadt-hits-back-after-hungary-mocks-his-migrant-crisis-denial/
“Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt has said Hungary’s billboard campaign mocking the Eurocrat’s claim there is no migrant crisis reminds him of “the darkest days in European history,” and has called for the EU to speed up mechanisms to punish countries like Hungary and Poland for deviating from “European values.”…”
London Police Consider Deploying Openly Armed Officers in Gang Areas (breitbart, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/30/london-police-mull-armed-officers-gang-areas/
“London’s Metropolitan Police are considering sending visibly armed officers on patrol in gang-plagued residential areas, amidst the city’s on-going violent crime wave…”
Sign of the Times: British Schoolchildren to Receive Counter-Terrorism Training (breitbart, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/30/sign-times-british-schoolchildren-receive-counter-terrorism-training/
“British schoolchildren as young as nine years old are to be drafted into the national security effort as the terror threat level remains “severe.”
The plans to expand the Government’s Action Counters Terrorism programme covering 11- to 16-year-olds to include younger children in Years Five and Six of primary school — roughly equivalent to elementary school in the United States — were unveiled by a senior police officer at the Olympia’s International Security Expo, according to the Evening Standard.
The unnamed officer told Expo attendees that “everybody needs to play their part in national security,” and that it was important that children help them to identify suspicious children — somewhat like “the Spies” in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four…”
Child Knife Deaths Set to Be Highest in Nine Years, Reveals Hidden Data (breitbart, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/30/child-knife-deaths-highest-nine-years-reveals-hidden-data/
“This year is likely to be the worst in nearly a decade for children killed by knife attacks, with 35 already murdered in 2018.
There hasn’t been such a deadly 12 months for children since 2008, when 42 young people aged 19 and under were killed in knife attacks, official data reported by The Guardian reveals…”
Muslim Brotherhood, Islamists Have ‘Infiltrated’ Swedish Political Parties Since 1980s, Claims Academic (breitbart, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/11/30/muslim-brotherhood-islamists-infiltrated-swedish-political-parties-academic/
“Academic Sameh Egyptson has claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups have been systematically infiltrating Sweden’s political system since the 1980s.
Penning an opinion piece for Swedish newspaper Expressen, Mr Egyptson, a researcher in interreligous relationships at Lund University, believes that the Egypt-founded Muslim Brotherhood is attempting to bring forward an Islamic agenda in the West by using democratic systems, in Sweden specifically through the Islamic League in Sweden (IFiS) and Sweden’s Muslim Council (SMR).
“In my studies and research documents, I found that Islamists already negotiated with political parties in the 1980s about voting in elections. A report in Arabic written by Sweden’s Muslim Council (SMR) 2001 described a historical chapter that not many people know about,” he wrote, quoting the document as saying:
SMR collaborates with IFiS to establish an Islamic political group to co-operate and coordinate with the Swedish parties to educate political cadres. These cadres will mingle with the parties and fight for the Muslim minority’s rights through these parties.
Mr Egyptson, who was born into a Coptic Christian family in Egypt, adds: “For us who come from the Middle East this is not a surprise. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood managed to infiltrate two of the three parties that are the inheritors of [former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel] Nasser’s Arab Social Union, both the Liberals and Social Democrats.”
In an interview with Dagen on Wednesday, Mr Egyptson said that Islamism had begun to influence the country’s political agenda, noting that “there are special laws for Muslims, Muslim schools, gender separation, and more.”
He then claimed to have been in contact with members of the Muslim Brotherhood who told him how they had influenced politics in Sweden through “our brother in the defence committee” — referencing a “moderate” member of the Rikstag.
“They could say this to me because they thought I was a Muslim,” he explained.
One of the examples the academic gives of “political Islam” placing candidates into Swedish politics is of the former minister for housing and urban development, Green Party member Mehmet Kaplan, who resigned from the government’s cabinet in 2016 after photographs of him dining with members of Turkish ultranationalists, including the neo-fascist Grey Wolves, exposed his links to extremism.
Another is Omar Mustafa, the former chairman of the IFiS, who was elected to the left-wing Social Democrats’ party board but was forced to resign seven days later in April 2013 after disclosure of his alleged relationship to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as for inviting known anti-Semites to a conference and for his views on women and gay people.
Asked by Dagen how it was possible for the MB to have “infiltrated” Swedish politics, when the fundamentalist Islamic group claims not to have contacts in Sweden, the author, who recently published the book Holy White Lies: Muslim Brotherhood in the West – Case Sweden, said, “It’s white lies,” explaining how he discovered in 1999 that Muslim representatives in Egypt claiming to engage in ‘religious dialogue’ spoke differently to Western visitors than they did to the Christian Egyptians.
“There was no religious dialogue, it was white lies,” said Mr Egyptson said.
The author and academic warned Swedish parties to “investigate the infiltration of Islamists and return to their ideological values. For each new disclosure, the parties lose confidence. Among the losers we find, in particular, the Muslim voters who do not agree with the Islamists.”
In September. Breitbart London reported that a candidate for the Social Democrats was removed from the national list ahead of Sweden’s federal elections for saying that Islamic law was more important than Swedish law.
The Social Democrats had also been warned to take action over its “Islamised” youth wing after it emerged that members from its migrant-populated no-go zones expressed views on LGBT matters that conflicted with the party’s progressive position.”
“Firm with $297 Million Government Contract to Boost Border Patrol Hires Only 15 Agents”
Judicial Watch – November 29, 2018
https://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2018/11/firm-with-297-mil-govt-contract-to-boost-border-patrol-hires-only-15-agents/
“Who Is Organising The Migrant Caravan Exodus To The US-Mexico Border (Full Compilation)”
kytekuttertv – Published on November 30, 2018
“SPOKESPERSON FOR MIGRANT CARAVAN SPEAKS OUT”
concienciaradio – Published on Nov 24, 2018
“U.N.-MEXICO-SOROS BORDER MIGRANT CARAVAN BORDER CRISIS NEWS UPDATE WITH ALEX BACKMAN”
concienciararadio – November 29, 2018
NGO medics reach stranded Spanish trawler carrying migrants (abcnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/ngo-medics-reach-stranded-spanish-trawler-carrying-migrants-59516078
“A Spanish humanitarian aid organization says it has put a medical team aboard a fishing vessel stranded at sea for a week after it rescued 12 migrants in the Mediterranean.
Open Arms said in a tweet Friday the medics are giving check-ups to the migrants, two of whom it described as minors.
The plight of the Nuestra Senora de Loreto trawler has deepened in recent days, with the Spanish government saying it is concerned about the lack of food and fuel on board amid worsening weather.
The Spanish government is trying to persuade Italy or Malta to let it dock. Those countries have rejected the appeal because the rescue took place in Libyan waters.
European Union countries have been at odds over who should take in migrants from North Africa.”
The Latest: Spain rescues 650 migrants, finding dead woman (abcnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/latest-merkel-attend-meeting-pass-migration-pact-59516154
“Spanish officials say they have rescued about 650 migrants from 16 boats crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe, finding one dead woman among them.
Officials rescue services told Spanish private news agency Europa Press on Friday the woman was with about 50 other people encountered on a boat, whose owner was taken into custody.
The rescues occurred Thursday in the so-called Alboran Sea, east of the Strait of Gibraltar. Spanish authorities pulled three bodies from the sea there on Wednesday.
The Mediterranean is a deadly route for migrants trying to enter Europe illegally, with at least 1,857 deaths recorded so far this year.
The Geneva-based International Organization for Migration said last month that 45,145 men, women and children entered Spain through the western Mediterranean route through Oct. 21 — more than in the previous three years combined.”
Dutch church holds 24/7 service to shield asylum-seekers (abcnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/dutch-church-holds-247-service-shield-asylum-seekers-59519497
“For more than a month, a rotating roster of preachers has been leading a non-stop, round-the-clock service at a small Protestant chapel in The Hague in an attempt to shield a family of Armenian asylum-seekers from deportation…”
“For more than a month, a rotating roster of preachers has been leading a non-stop, round-the-clock service at a small Protestant chapel in The Hague in an attempt to shield a family of Armenian asylum-seekers from deportation…”
Meanwhile, “immigrants” are raping teenage Dutch girls on the church steps and receiving sentences of probation, at worst.
euronews – ‘Western Balkan route’ for migrants, refugees stuck at borders
Thousands of migrants are stranded in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the border with Croatia.
As the winter closes in, the external border of the European Union is inching towards a humanitarian emergency.
Around 21,000 migrants have taken this route seeking safe refuge in the EU.
euronews – Bosnian Mayor: The arrival of any more migrants has to be stopped immediately
euronews -Muhammad from Iran: We have been cheated by some smuggler
Some hundreds of migrants sleep rough on a muddy field in Velika Kladusa, in northwestern Bosnia. Euronews spoke to Muhammad from Iran, considering to go back to his home country after having been cheated by some people smuggler.
euronews -We see bruises that can come from beatings with batons
A huge number of migrants met in Bosnia and Herzegovina complain about alleged police violence experienced in Croatian forests close to the border. “Can you confirm those reports on alleged police violence?”, Euronews asked Julien Kloberer, working for Doctors Without Borders in the region
euronews -Baba from Afghanistan: If you pay the money the people smugglers will take you across the border
Turkey to offer ‘Kosovo model’ for visa liberalization with EU (turkishminute, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.turkishminute.com/2018/11/30/turkey-to-offer-kosovo-model-for-visa-liberalization-with-eu/
“In order to overcome one of the obstacles to visa liberalization with the European Union stemming from Turkey’s refusal to recognize Cyprus, a member of the bloc, Turkey is considering offering the so-called Kosovo model in which a special representative mediates between Kosovo and five EU member states that do not recognize Kosovo.
One of the requirements for visa liberalization involves Turkey’s cooperation with the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (EUROPOL). However, since Turkey does not recognize Cyprus, such cooperation has not been fully implemented. In a similar case with Kosovo, the EU appointed a special representative to mediate between Kosovo and the EU members that refuse to recognize the country.
Deputy Foreign Minister Faruk Kaymakç? told the Hürriyet daily that the Kosovo model could be suggested to the EU. “If there’s a will, there’s a way” he said.
In Turkey’s negotiations for visa liberalization, the EU’s requirement to reform the counterterrorism law continues to be the biggest obstacle.”
U.S. strike kills 11 suspected Qaeda militants in Libya – Africom (reuters, Nov 30, 2018)
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-libya-security/u-s-strike-kills-11-suspected-qaeda-militants-in-libya-africom-idUKKCN1NZ23J
“The U.S. military said on Friday it killed 11 suspected al Qaeda militants in an air strike in Libya’s southwestern desert.
U.S. Africa Command (Africom) said Thursday’s attack was its third since March on the militant group’s North African branch – al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The strike near the town of Al Uwaynat, close to the Algerian border, destroyed three vehicles and “at this time, we assess no civilians were injured or killed,” Africom added.
Jihadists linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have found a haven in Libya’s vast southern desert as the country struggles to restore stability seven years after the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi.”
Saudi Arabia scrambles troops amid fears of COUP to topple Crown Prince (dailystar, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/world-news/745522/saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-salman-coup-military-g20-riyadh-crown-prince
“SAUDI Arabia has reportedly scrambled its military amid warnings of a coup to topple Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
MbS has left the capital Riyadh to head for the G20 summit in Argentina amid rumours members of the royal family are plotting to unseat him.
Soldiers and weapons have been redeployed from eastern and western Saudi Arabia to the capital as the Crown Prince to heads aboard.
Emirati media reports the military moves are in direct response to fears rival factions may attempt to seize power in the absence of MbS.
And a recent interview with an exiled Saudi Prince claims a royal coup is being prepared.
Khalid bin Farhan al-Saud claimed opposition groups are already mobilising against the Crown Prince.
Prince Khalid bin Farhan al-Saud, who lives in exile in Germany, said that a rival cabal has formed in Saudi Arabia.
He claimed the faction has just one goal, to unseat MbS – slamming him as “ignorant and delusional”.
MbS is due to become the ruler of Saudi Arabia when the 82-year-old King Salman dies.
The prince already is seen by many as the de-facto ruler – and is an increasingly controversial figure following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Prince Khalid predicted “a wave of violence is likely to occur as the Saudi kingdom is reigned using ignorant and barbaric methods”.
He added: “I hope that there will be a soft coup that overthrows the deep state and takes controls of prominent security institutions, and then sacks the Crown Prince and the king.”
Members of the House of Saud are reportedly not happy with MbS’s inevitable ascension to the throne.
Unlike monarchies in Europe, the aristocracy is made up of hundreds of princes with the power of succession being decided amongst them.
Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, 76, younger full brother of King Salman and uncle to MbS, is a preferred candidate as the next ruler.
Saudi sources claimed Ahmed was one of only three people on the Allegiance Council, made up of the ruling family’s senior members, who opposed MbS becoming crown prince in 2017.
MbS is seen as a social and economic reformer, granting women the right to drive and looking to break away from the kingdom’s resource-based economy.
His involvement in the killing of Khashoggi and the ongoing brutal war in Yemen however has raised questions over his motives.
MbS is likely to face cold shoulders as he attempts to cosy up to other world leaders at the G20.
He had been on an Arab tour before flying into Argentina.
The crown prince is not expected to meet with the US President during the weekend summit.
Saudi Arabia has also been openly clashing with Middle Eastern rivals once again over the past year – with some seeing them as waging a proxy war in Yemen.”
“Soldiers and weapons have been redeployed from eastern and western Saudi Arabia to the capital as the Crown Prince to heads aboard.”
While the cat’s away…
Notice how troops were brought in from “eastern and western Saudi Arabia”, instead of using the local rank and file? That way there won’t be so many pangs of conscience if a crowd (or royal clan) in Riyadh needs machine-gunning while MbS is drawn away by the G20 summit.
This whole kettle of fish can’t even pass the most basic smell test.
“Breaking: 7.0 Earthquake Hits Alaska, Major Infrastructure Damage” Weasel Zippers – November 30, 2018
https://www.weaselzippers.us/404247-breaking-7-0-earthquake-hits-alaska-major-infrastructure-damage-tsunami-warnings/
“7.1 Earthquake Near Anchorage, Alaska – LIVE BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE”
Agenda-Free TV – November 30, 2018
Audit finds UN refugee agency critically mismanaged donor funds in Uganda
Massive fraud and corruption noted in services for more than one million refugees
The UN’s refugee agency wasted tens of millions of dollars in Uganda in 2017, overpaying for goods and services, awarding major contracts improperly, and failing to avoid fraud, corruption, and waste, according to a damning internal probe.
The audit, by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services, found multiple areas of mismanagement that were UNHCR’s responsibility, such as a $7.9 million contract for road repairs awarded to a contractor with no experience in road construction, and questionable payments to trucking and bus companies worth $7.7 million.
It noted “pervasive non-compliance” with regulations on “vast sums” spent on water trucking and that UNHCR paid at least $10 million more VAT than it needed to.
Tens of millions of transport-related invoices are still being disputed with contractors. The audit also found stockpiled goods, more lying idle than had been distributed in the previous 12 months, including 288,000 blankets and 50,000 wheelbarrows. In addition, 15,000 solar lamps worth $279,860 were found to have gone missing, and no proper investigation was done.
Uganda, a low-income country in East Africa of about 42 million people, hosts over a million refugees, more than anywhere bar Turkey and Pakistan. From 2013, worsening conflict in South Sudan led to a mass exodus into northern Uganda; the pace accelerated from mid-2016 onwards.
By 2017 Kampala’s goodwill was seen as critical to providing a safe harbour for hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese refugees, and an aid official familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issues, said UNHCR seemed “desperately cautious not to upset the Uganda government.”
The aid official explained that the international community had been “singing Uganda’s praises” as a “model country” due to its liberal and progressive refugee-hosting policies at a time of rising anti-refugee sentiment.
Uganda “was branded globally as the example to follow”, said Julien Schopp, director of humanitarian practice at US NGO consortium InterAction. “Does that influence the oversight and dissuade UNHCR from digging a little deeper and uncovering corruption and mismanagement? Who has leverage on who?”
Layers of blame
UNHCR’s expenditure in Uganda jumped from $125 million in 2016 to $205 million in 2017, Four donors (Britain, the EU, Germany, and the United States) contributed about 80 percent of the 2017 funding, according to the UN’s Financial Tracking Service.
Major problems first emerged in February 2018. The UN alleged thatUgandan officials were diverting aid by colluding to pocket supplies issued to fake refugee identities A threat of a freeze on donor funds led the Ugandan government to replace its head of refugee affairs and agree to a complete recount of its refugee population, managed by UNHCR.
UNHCR announced in February that its Inspector General’s Office, which can refer staff for disciplinary or other measures, had opened an investigation into “fuel embezzlement, one allegation of sexual exploitation and abuse, irregular tendering of water trucking, and fraud in procurement and food distribution.”
The internal watchdog also reported in July that UNHCR was assisting Ugandan investigations into “corruption by government officials relating to, among others, irregularities in land allocation to refugees, bridge construction, theft of food and non-food items and fuel mismanagement.”
But the UN’s internal audit, released last week to the public but not previously reported, provides a wealth of new detail on UNHCR’s role in mismanagement – and likely fraud – affecting refugee registration and services in 2017. It also offers new details on UNHCR’s relations with the Ugandan government.
Refugees fall under the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Ruhakana Rugunda. Julius Mucunguzi, a spokesperson for the OPM, told IRIN that investigations were still ongoing, including into four employees suspended by the government. Mucunguzi declined to comment on the audit, saying, “UNHCR has got its own processes”.
Wrong number
Hospital refuge, urban crisis, and laser detection: The Cheat Sheet
A persistent challenge in the Uganda aid operations was accurately counting the number of refugees.
The audit found that from 2015-2017 UNHCR paid the government $14.6 million to set up and run a new refugee registration platform. However the IT and biometrics system couldn’t cope with the South Sudanese 2017 influx and couldn’t be fixed in time. The audit also found that UNHCR rarely had access to the data required for planning and verification.
To help restore donor confidence, refugees in Uganda were recounted and re-registered from March to October using UNHCR’s latest systems, at an additional cost of $11 million. The audit warned, however, that using two systems could cause problems in future. The re-registration process counted 24 percent fewer refugees than reported by the Ugandan government, a reduction from about 1.4 million to 1.154 milion.
However, the government spokesman Mucunguzi added that Uganda “has nothing to hide” and said that this year’s biometric recount helped build a much stronger system with “no gaps and loopholes”.
The audit found a range of inappropriate arrangements between the Uganda UNHCR office and the OPM. For example, UNHCR agreed to contract three underqualified local NGOs recommended by the OPM, one of which had defrauded UNHCR before.
It also paid $2,000 a month to senior Ugandan officials who signed off on UNHCR-related paperwork and provided them cars and fuel. In addition, the OPM had not reimbursed UNHCR a previous demand for $250,000 of excessive fuel usage. UNHCR also paid $283,000 to subsidise the costs of 72 civil servants whose work contracts could not be shown to the the auditors.
The UN’s refugee agency also paid for OPM to buy a plot of land adjacent to its office, ostensibly to expand refugee handling capacity. However the price, $320,000, was more than double the government’s valuation, and the OPM couldn’t produce a title deed to prove ownership. The audit found the plot is now being used for car parking.
Accountability
The audit is unusual in the high number of problems it found. It has six “critical” recommendations, more than any other audit of the 907 the UN’s oversight office has published in the last five years. Over 770 audits passed without any critical findings.
The report notes that UNHCR was warned about many of the weaknesses cited in the recent report in a similar 2016 review, but had failed to fully resolve them. “Critical” recommendations apply to “significant and/or pervasive deficiencies or weaknesses”. UNHCR Uganda received seven of the lesser category of “important” recommendations in 2016, and six in 2017.
The European Commission, a major donor to the refugee operation, said in February it had referred the Uganda corruption case to its anti-fraud office.
The audit demands “accountability” for failures over the water trucking and over refugee registration. UNHCR declined to answer if there were any disciplinary actions yet. Its statements have so far backed its country representative, Bornwell Kantande, and emphasised the alleged failings of the Ugandan government.
Four Ugandan officials were forced to step aside in February, pending investigations, including the head of the refugee department in the OPM, Apollo Kazungu. Three others were in more junior roles. Kazungu told IRIN he faces no specific charges yet but is off duty.
UNHCR’s Kantande was replaced in March 2018 by a veteran UNHCR manager, Joel Boudreau. Kantande now holds the post of Head of the UNHCR Regional Service Center for East and Horn of Africa.
UNHCR says it has “zero-tolerance” for fraud and corruption. The Uganda office, according to the audit report, has begun a wide range of reforms and tightened up procedures since the issues came to a head in early 2018.
UNHCR declined to answer a list of questions from IRIN. In an emailed statement, its spokesperson, Babar Baloch, said the organisation accepts the recommendations of the audit, adding “we acknowledge that serious shortcomings were found and have started taking action.”
https://www.irinnews.org/news/2018/11/28/audit-finds-un-refugee-agency-critically-mismanaged-donor-funds-uganda
Child marriage in Egypt reaches 117,000 children: CAPMAS
An official CAPMAS report announced that 117,000 children under the age of 18 in Egypt are or have been married, even as Egypt has been battling child marriage.
The report, which was released on the occasion of World Child Day, announced that Egypt has 39 million children, accounting for 40 percent of the total population.
The gender breakup of Egypt’s children is 51.7 percent male and 48 percent female.
The report added that 117,000 children between 10 and 17 years are married or have been married, with Upper Egypt accounting for the highest percentage of marriages and divorces between children. On the other hand, outskirt areas such as the Red Sea, Sinai, Marsa Matrouh and Aswan recorded a lower percentage of 1.3 percent.
Egypt has been aiming to battle child marriage for some time. In June 2018, a new draft law was proposed to criminalize child marriage, bringing with it a penalty of up to one year imprisonment for those involved, while also taking children away from parents who allow them to be married.
The bill also stipulates that the Mazoun (official who performs the marriage) must notify the General Prosecution if a child marriage was occurring, while failure to do so would be met with job suspension and one year imprisonment. The law also states that a marriage contract to a person under 18 will not be authenticated, and the contract cannot be ratified without approval from the family court.
Abla al-Hawari, a member of the constitutional and legislative affairs committee of the House of Representatives, said that she is one who adopted the bill originally submitted by the National Council for Women (NCW) to criminalize marriages of young girls, though the government wanted to expand the issue and include both genders.
The idea behind the bill was first proposed in late 2017, after President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi spoke during a ceremony marking the population census. There he suggested imposing strict penalties to limit the increasing number of female minors getting married.
Meanwhile, regarding education, the CAPMAS report found that only 28 percent of children between four and five years old go to school. Moreover, 91 percent of boys and 93 percent of girls between 6 and 11 years old go to primary school.
Secondary school students accounted for 80.6 percent for boys and 86.4 percent for girls between 12 and 14 years old.
https://ww.egyptindependent.com/child-marriage-in-egypt-reaches-117000-children-capmas/
CBC – RCMP crossed line while interrogating radicalized teen after 2014 terror attack, says Quebec Appeals Court
But court upholds conviction of teen on terror charges, saying it would not have changed trial’s outcome
An RCMP interrogation of a radicalized teenager, hours after the 2014 terror attack in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu?, was “abusive” and should not have been used against him at trial, Quebec’s Court of Appeal said in a decision released Thursday.
But despite that finding, the appeal court rejected the Lachine teenager’s bid to have his conviction on terrorism charges overturned.
The judges said the interrogation contained “no conclusive evidence that is not already in the record,” and so would not have altered the lower court’s verdict.
The teenager was 15 in 2014 when he was arrested for having robbed a convenience store with a knife and stole $870.
It was the latest in a string of incidents pointing to his radicalization, which also included consulting jihadist websites when he was 13 and trying to use his parent’s credit card to buy airline tickets to Turkey.
His parents contacted police shortly after his arrest for the convenience store robbery to say they found a scrap of paper in the boy’s pocket with a phone number on it.
As it turned out, the number belonged to Martin Couture-Rouleau.
Two days later, on October 20, 2014, Couture-Rouleau rammed a car into two Canadian soldiers in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu?, killing one of them. Couture-Rouleau was killed during an ensuing confrontation with police.
That night, RCMP officers interrogated the Lachine teenager, this time about his possible connections to Couture-Rouleau.
It was that interrogation that the Appeal Court found abusive.
RCMP told teen they weren’t interested in him
In the interrogation, RCMP officers asked the teen several times whether he intended to carry out a similar attack as Couture-Rouleau’s.
The teen said he didn’t want to answer.
But the officers continued, repeatedly asking the teen if he wanted their help to prove his innocence.
The teen invoked his right to remain silent on several occasions.
The officers then tried a different tack, telling the teen they weren’t interested in prosecuting him, only in gathering evidence against Couture-Rouleau.
“I’m telling you, gathering evidence against you — I’ve got nothing to do with that. I have bodies I’m working on — bodies of soldier and the body of Martin (Couture-Rouleau). That’s what I’m working on, understand?” one of the officers told the teen.
At one point, the teen asked: “Is an opinion considered as proof against me?”
“Of course not,” one of the officers said.
Undermined voluntary statement
At the teenager’s trial, a judge allowed part of this interrogation to be admitted into evidence, despite concerns raised by the defence.
But the Quebec Court of Appeal ruled that, in the interrogation, the officers violated the teen’s ability to make a voluntary statement when they promised to help him prove his innocence.
“In the context of youth criminal justice, the notion of a promise must be flexibly assessed to protect the adolescent’s vulnerability,” reads the decision handed down Thursday.
“Here, there is no doubt that the appellant wanted to remain silent. He was encouraged to answer questions, falsely believing that the officers wanted to help him and that it would be to his advantage,” it continues.
The decision concludes that: “An interrogation may be insistent or forceful, but it must not be so abusive as to undermine the voluntary nature of the statement.”
Because the interrogation crossed that line, the appeals court said, the lower court judge should not have allowed any of it to be admitted into evidence.
The teen, now 19, was found guilty in 2015 in youth court of committing a robbery in association with a terrorist organization and of planning to leave Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group abroad.
It was a landmark decision. He was, at the time, the first Canadian to be convicted of attempting to leave the country to participate in terrorism-related activities, one of the federal anti-terror laws passed in 2013.
He was sentenced to 16 months in youth detention, followed by eight months of community service and one year’s probation.
His lawyer, Tiago Murias, told CBC News the teen is now back living with his parents.
Murias said the teen’s legal team will study Thursday’s decision to determine whether there is merit appealing the conviction to the Supreme Court of Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/rcmp-crossed-line-while-interrogating-radicalized-teen-after-2014-terror-attack-says-quebec-appeals-court-1.4926173
UN Migration Pact: Europe & Ireland
US Dropped More Bombs on Afghanistan in 2018 Than Ever in Recorded History (sputniknews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201811301070293141-US-More-Bombs-Afghanistan-Recorded-History/
“The US is dropping more bombs on Afghanistan in 2018 than it has in any other year on record, new Air Force data shows.
United States Air Forces Central Command has been publishing munitions data regularly since 2006, but comprehensive records are only available on their website dating back to 2009. Second to 2018, 2011 saw the most bombs dropped, according to the available data.
Sputnik News first reported in June that the US military was outpacing every other year on record in terms of bombs dropped on the country in 2018. With data from October now available, that distinction remains.
By this time in 2011, at the height of then-President Barack Obama’s troop surge, the US had dropped 4,453 bombs on Afghanistan. Between January 2018 and the end of October 2018, that number stands at 5,982.
That’s an increase of more than one-third.
n the entirety of 2011, the US dropped 4,896 bombs on Afghanistan. That means that with two months left in the year, the US has already dropped more than a thousand more bombs on Afghanistan than it did in any other year on record.
US President Donald Trump aims to push the Taliban into negotiating a peace plan in response to the US’ ramped up bombing campaign. On Wednesday, NBC News reported that Trump seeks to withdraw the US from the country prior to the 2020 American elections.
Meanwhile, the US military says it is investigating claims that some 30 civilians were killed by a US strike in Afghanistan’s Helmand province earlier in the week.
Despite the Trump administration’s bombing spree, the Taliban has continued to make gains in the country.
Sputnik News recently reported that Afghan authorities control or influence a mere 55.5 percent of the country, according to the US Military’s Special Inspector General on Afghanistan Reconstruction. That’s the lowest figure since the government oversight authority began keeping tabs on areas under Taliban or government control in November 2015.”
EXCLUSIVE: Google Employees Debated Burying Conservative Media In Search
Google employees debated whether to bury conservative media outlets in the company’s search function as a response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, internal Google communications obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal.
The Daily Caller and Breitbart were specifically singled out as outlets to potentially bury, the communications reveal.
Trump’s election in 2016 shocked many Google employees, who had been counting on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to win.
Communications obtained by TheDCNF show that internal Google discussions went beyond expressing remorse over Clinton’s loss to actually discussing ways Google could prevent Trump from winning again.
“This was an election of false equivalencies, and Google, sadly, had a hand in it,” Google engineer Scott Byer wrote in a Nov. 9, 2016, post reviewed by TheDCNF.
Byer falsely labeled The Daily Caller and Breitbart as “opinion blogs” and urged his coworkers to reduce their visibility in search results.
https://dailycaller.com/2018/11/29/google-censorship-conservative-media/
The Dan Bongino Show
Ep. 862 Is the Raid on the Clinton Foundation Whistleblower a Head fake?
https://bongino.com/ep-862-is-the-raid-on-the-clinton-foundation-whistleblower-a-headfake/
World War 3: China WARNS Japan over plan to convert aircraft carriers for FIGHTER JETS
BEIJING has issued a stark warning to Tokyo to not go ahead with plans to put F-35 Stealth jets aboard aircraft carriers, claiming the move would “drive the country to repeat its militaristic history”.
Sources familiar with the process claim the addition of the fighter jets – which can take off and land vertically – would upend the balance of power in Asia.
Asia Times reported the modification of the ship to carry the Stealth fighter jets would change the boats from self-defence tools to full-fledged assets for military expansion.
On Thursday, according to Japanese news agency Asahi Shimbun, the plan to buy 100 of the stealth fighter jets was “aspirational” and said that in reality Tokyo was planning to buy “around 40” of the US produced jets.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1052425/World-war-3-news-latest-china-japan-ships-modification-f35-fighter-jets
Tunisia arrests 12 members of suspected ISIS cell (thedefensepost, Nov 30, 2018)
https://thedefensepost.com/2018/11/30/tunisia-arrests-12-members-suspected-isis-cell/
“Authorities have arrested 12 suspected members of Islamic State and seized bomb making materials since a suicide attack last month, the interior ministry said Friday, November 30.
Authorities have also “dismantled four [jihadist] sleeper cells in several parts of Tunisia,” the ministry said in a statement.
The announcement follows an attack by 30-year-old female suicide bomber Mna Guebla on October 29 that wounded 26 people on the capital’s busy upmarket Avenue Habib Gourguiba, in the first militant attack in the capital since November 2015.
The attack went unclaimed but the Tunisian authorities said the suicide bomber had sworn allegiance to ISIS.
Police have arrested 12 people suspected of supporting ISIS, an interior ministry spokesperson told AFP, without specifying where and when the arrests were made, nor the suspects’ links to the perpetrator of October’s attack in Tunis.
The suicide bomber had contact with ISIS officials “inside and outside the country, and liaised with them over the internet,” the ministry said in its statement.
The ISIS officials had taught the bomber how to make explosive devices, and she built the one used in the attack, the statement said.
A laboratory producing explosives and electronic components has also been uncovered in a Tunis suburb, the ministry said.
The four dismantled cells are suspected of having been in contact “with terrorist officials entrenched in the Tunisian mountains to organize a series of attacks … aimed at sensitive targets with weapons, a car, poison or remote explosives,” the statement said.
Investigators confiscated “a very large quantity of explosive and chemical products, along with a drone equipped for remote bombings,” the statement added, without specifying where the haul was found.
In a separate statement late on Thursday, the interior ministry said a police patrol had been targeted by an armed group in the middle of Kasserine, a marginalised city in western Tunisia.
A passerby was shot and wounded, the ministry said, adding that an investigation was underway to determine whether the attack was linked to extremist groups holed up in nearby mountains bordering Algeria.
Thousands of Tunisians have joined jihadist groups fighting in Iraq, Syria and neighboring Libya.
In November 2015, a suicide bombing killed 12 security agents on a bus used by the presidential guard, in an attack claimed by ISIS.
In June 2015, a student went on a shooting rampage in the coastal resort of Sousse and killed 38 people, including 30 Britons and an attack in March that year on the Bardo National Museum in Tunis left 22 people dead, all but one of them foreign tourists.
Those attacks, also claimed by ISIS, devastated Tunisia’s crucial tourism sector.”
Nigeria police kill more than 100 ‘bandits’ in Zamfara crackdown (thedefensepost, Nov 30, 2018)
https://thedefensepost.com/2018/11/30/nigeria-police-kill-100-bandits-zamfara/
“Nigerian police claimed on Friday, November 30 that more than 100 “bandits” had been killed in a crackdown targeting crime in the northwest state of Zamfara, following a surge in kidnappings for ransom and cattle rustling.
Zamfara has been plagued by violent crime over the past year, with Amnesty International warning in July that people living in the impoverished state were “at the mercy” of armed bandits who take hostages and raid villages.
A joint operation team on Thursday “repelled ambush attacks from armed bandits” at Mahanga Forest in Zamfara State and “in the process killed one hundred and four bandits,” national police spokesperson Jimoh Moshood said in a statement.
Confirming the death toll Moshood told AFP: “Yes, 104 bandits [were killed]. Not people, armed bandits that had been terrorising and killing innocent people.”
More than 1,000 police officers had been deployed to Zamfara at the beginning of the month, the statement said, adding that since then 85 people have been arrested in connection with kidnappings and cattle rustling.
Amnesty International Nigeria spokesman Isa Sanusi said it was difficult to assess the success of security operations in the remote region.
“In many cases, the pronouncements of security agencies are quite contrary to the situation on ground in Zamfara state,” Sanusi said.
“Bringing the killers to justice is more important in taming the tide of impunity that allowed the security situation in Zamfara state to continue deteriorating.”
In the last two years, kidnapping for ransom has reached unprecedented levels in the region, where entire villages have been deserted for fear of raids and kidnapping by criminal gangs…”
Iran-Turkey Bilateral Trade Reaches $8.2bln in 10 Months (tasnimnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2018/11/30/1887861/iran-turkey-bilateral-trade-reaches-8-2bln-in-10-months
“TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The value of bilateral trade between Iran and neighboring Turkey in the first 10 months of the current year has amounted to over 8.2 billion dollars, data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) showed…”
Lost youth: Scarred children of Turkish Islamic State fighters return home (mee, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/back-baghdad-jails-their-families-turkey-247098148
“Children who were raised under the Islamic State group have faced severe psychological and social difficulties upon returning to Turkey…”
Hunger games: Turkey eyes leading Middle East role through halal industry (mee, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-hopes-halal-hegemony-1876273241
“In an exhibition centre near the mouth of the Bosphorus, a collection of culinary experts, politicians, trade officials and the singer once known as Cat Stevens provide evidence of Turkey’s push to gain primacy in the Middle East.
Not through politics or the military, however. But through halal food.
Turkey is hosting the World Halal Expo 2018, an event drawing hundreds of people from across the world, all keen to get a bigger slice of a mutli-trillion dollar market.
And while Turkey’s government may see this as a money-spinning exercise that can help prop up its stuttering economy, the fair is also part of a broader plan to bring international halal food standards under one, Turkish, roof…”
US-backed Syrian fighters say they captured Baghdadi’s assistant (memo, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181130-us-backed-syrian-fighters-say-they-captured-baghdadis-assistant/
“US-backed fighters in Syria have captured a senior Islamic State leader who served as an assistant to the group’s self-declared “caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, they said on Friday.
The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led militia alliance that holds the quarter of Syria east of the Euphrates, detained Osama al-Awaid last week, it said in a statement.
SDF fighters have been attempting to take Islamic State’s last Syrian pocket of territory on the banks of the Euphrates near Iraq for weeks, in an offensive backed by US-led air strikes.
They captured Awaid in a special operation in a village in eastern Syria, the statement said, adding that he had been a senior security official for Islamic State in the country.
More than a year after Islamic State’s physical “caliphate” collapsed in both Syria and Iraq under military attack, Baghdadi’s whereabouts remain a mystery.
However, despite its loss of territory, the group has been able to launch guerrilla attacks in areas controlled by both the Syrian and Iraqi governments.”
Special Report: How Iran spreads disinformation around the world (reuters, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-iran-specialreport/special-report-how-iran-spreads-disinformation-around-the-world-idUSKCN1NZ1FT
Morocco and Belgium Sign 21 Agreements to Boost Economy (moroccoworldnews, Nov 29, 2018)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/11/259108/morocco-belgium-sign-agreements-economy/
“Moroccan and Belgian business actors signed 21 agreements and MoUs on Wednesday.
The agreements and MoUs cover different sectors including maritime, pharmacy, finance, agro-food, renewable energy, chemistry, construction, water resources protection, and metallurgy.
With a common desire to share best practices and expertise between Morocco and Belgium, the signed agreements aim to improve services, generate new business opportunities and implement industrial development projects in Morocco.
Some of the companies that signed partnership agreements include Morocco’s OCP Group, a leading exporter and producer of phosphate-based fertilizers, and Belgium’s Waterleau, a solutions provider to industry treatment of water, air, waste, and energy recovery.
During a bilateral meeting on Tuesday, Moroccan Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani and Princess Astrid of Belgium recognized that there are opportunities to boost economic cooperation between Morocco and Belgium.
Morocco, according to Flemish Minister-President Geert Bourgeois, is investing not only in conventional infrastructure, but also in many other sectors where Flemish companies excel, such as renewable energies and water purification…”
Algeria Rolls out Barbed Wire, Cameras, Radar on Morocco Border (moroccoworldnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/11/259116/algeria-morocco-border/
“Algeria has deployed nearly 6,000 kilometers of barbed wire on its border with Morocco, according to Moroccan newspaper Al Massae. The barbed wire is nearly four times the length of the border. The fence also includes surveillance cameras.
While Morocco has called for more dialogue and enhanced security cooperation between the two countries, Algeria has not directly responded but has tightening security at the closed border to “combat migration and terrorism.”
Both Moroccan and Algerian news outlets, as well as the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), reported about Algeria’s increased border protection.
Citing anonymous Algerian sources, Al Massae reported that Algeria built hundreds of control towers along the new barbed wire fence with new generation radar operating day and night.
Algeria closed the border with Morocco in 1994. Algeria made the decision after Rabat imposed visa regulations on Algerian citizens following a terrorist attack on the Atlas Asni Hotel in Marrakech.
Tension between Morocco and Algeria dates back decades. In October 1963, they fought the Sand War over the border near Figuig in eastern Morocco. The war ended a year later when the US, the African Union, and the Arab League mediated the conflict.
Since then, the border has only been opened between 1988 and 1994. After the decades-long conflict, Morocco extended its hand to break the stalemate by proposing a mechanism of dialogue and consultation at the initiative of King Mohammed VI.
The King called on Algeria to propose any initiative that could normalize their diplomatic ties.
The president of Algerian opposition party Rally of Culture and Democracy (RCD), Mohcine Belabbas, believes that “a consensus exists among Algerian political actors to reopen the Algerian-Moroccan borders.”
For his part, the chairman of the MPS Algerian Islamist, Abderrazak Makri, called on both counties to reopen the border. He said the decision to close the borders must be “reviewed.””
Royal Navy Stops 32 Irregular Moroccan Migrants off Al Hoceima (moroccoworldnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/11/259188/royal-navy-irregular-moroccan-migrants-al-hoceima/
“The Royal Moroccan Navy has arrested 32 Moroccan migrants on board three boats for undocumented migrants off Al Hoceima.
Spain’s EFE news agency reported that the Moroccan navy arrested the migrants in multiple operations in northeast Morocco.
Quoting an anonymous source, EFE said that a Royal Navy boat transported the migrants, most of whom live nearby, to the Al Hoceima port.
The agency added that the navy previously arrested 103 migrants on Tuesday, November 27. The news outlet reported the majority of the migrants were from Morocco. The migrants were attempting to cross the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea on small boats.
On November 28, Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) shared that Morocco has disrupted 76,000 undocumented migration attempts in 2018.
Minister Delegate to the Minister of Interior Noureddine Boutayeb said that Morocco’s efforts to fight undocumented migration helped to thwart 30 “violent attempts” of undocumented migration into the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta.
The official also recalled that since 2002, Morocco has dismantled more than 3,400 criminal networks and organized more than 2,000 voluntary returns to home countries for irregular migrants.
Boutayeb also discussed Morocco’s immigration policy, saying that the strategy regularized the administrative status of 50,000 immigrants.
He added that the strategy launched a series of sectoral programs that have allowed migrants and their families to benefit from all the services provided to Moroccan citizens.”
Moroccan Escapes Swiss Prison While at Doctor’s Appointment (moroccoworldnews, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2018/11/259183/moroccan-escapes-swiss-prison-doctors-appointment/
“A 23-year-old Moroccan prisoner escaped on Thursday during a doctor’s visit in Frauenfeld, Switzerland, reported the Swiss daily Blick.
Local police confirmed that the prisoner, who is currently in the open, is not a danger for the population because he was not imprisoned for a “violent crime.”
The police are still trying to track down the prisoner, who escaped with handcuffs on, with the use of scent hounds.
A similar incident occurred on Wednesday, when a 22-year-old Algerian escaped while at a doctor’s appointment in the Swiss Gommiswald municipality.
On the same day, the police found and arrested the Algerian detainee who had been in custody for over a month on a charge of burglary.”
No peace until Pakistan turns into a secular state: Indian army chief (tribune, Nov 30, 2018)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1857610/1-no-peace-pakistan-turns-secular-state-indian-army-chief/
“Taking Pakistan-India rivalry to new heights, Indian army chief General Bipin Rawat said on Friday that Pakistan will have to become a secular state to coexist peacefully with India.
The remarks were made only two days after Pakistan extended an olive branch to the neighbouring country by doing groundbreaking of Kartarpur border corridor in a bid to ease Indian pilgrims’ visit to the shrine of Guru Nanak Devji, the founder of the Sikh faith.
Addressing the ceremony, in which along with other guests Indian ministers were also present, Prime Minister Imran Khan had proposed that if France and Germany can live in peace then why India and Pakistan can’t do the same.
General Rawat’s remarks were made while interacting with the local media on the sidelines of a military ceremony in Pune earlier in the day, The Indian Express reported.
“For this idea of countries coming together, Pakistan will have to look at their own internal situation. Pakistan has made itself into an Islamic State. If they have to stay together with India, they will have to become a secular state. We are a secular state. How can we stay together, when they say they are an Islamic State and there is no role for any…”
Navy to get eight new submarines (tribune, Dec 1, 2018)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1857728/1-navy-get-eight-new-submarines/
“Pakistan in collaboration with China will manufacture eight submarines for its maritime force.
“The production will start in one to one-and-a-half-year time,” said Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works Project Director Commodore M Jahanzeb Ahsan at the IDEAS 2018, a four-day long event held at the Karachi Expo Centre.
“Half of the eight submarines of advanced version will be developed in China while the other half in Pakistan,” said Commodore Ahsan.
Pakistan and China developed understanding for the manufacturing of the submarines sometime in 2011, he said.
The top three countries with the highest number of submarines in the world are; North Korea with 86, China 73 and US 66, according to www(.)globalfirepower(.)com.
Pakistan has developed indigenous drone technology – BURRAQ Surveillance UAV – which was unveiled for exports at IDEAS 2018.
The drone was launched for export purposes after Pakistan’s armed forces successfully used it in different operations during the last three years.
“All the parts, including autopilot system, navigation and communication systems and camera, in the drone are developed indigenously, except for the engine which was not developed here due to the cost factor,” Global Industrial and Defence Solutions Pakistan Director Sales and Marketing Asad Kamal told The Express Tribune.
Some Middle Eastern countries have shown interest to acquire the drone. “We are in talks for the potential export,” he said.”
Pakistan, EU to team up in anti-terror fight (tribune, Dec 1, 2018)
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1857701/1-pakistan-eu-team-anti-terror-fight/
“Reaffirming that terrorism continues to pose a threat to states and societies across the globe, Pakistan and the European Union on Friday reiterated their resolve to jointly combat the menace in all its forms and manifestations.
The seventh round of Pakistan-EU Political Counter-Terrorism dialogue was held in Brussels. On the EU side, the dialogue was chaired by Pawel Herczynski, Director for Security Policy (EEAS) while on the Pakistan side, Ahmad Farooq, Director General Counter Terrorism, a Foreign Office press release said.
According to a joint statement of the dialogue, the parties held in-depth discussions and exchanged perspectives on a wide range of counterterrorism issues in a cordial and constructive manner. Both the sides reaffirmed their solidarity with the victims of terrorist attacks across the world.
The EU side appreciated Pakistan’s increasing efforts in fighting terrorism and emphasised the need for increased engagement on preventing and countering radicalisation, the press release added
“The parties agreed to the need for a comprehensive approach to terrorism, based on the rule of law and protection of human rights and for enhancing cooperation in dealing with violent extremism in all its aspects, including preventing and countering radicalisation and addressing the root causes of thereof.”
Both sides also underlined their joint commitment to regional peace and stability. They underlined the importance of inter-faith dialogue and harmony as a key to promote tolerance and social cohesion in society…”
U.S. displays weapons it says Iran provided to Taliban and other militants (khaama, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.khaama.com/u-s-displays-weapons-it-says-iran-provided-to-taliban-and-other-militants-02848/
“The United States officials have displayed the weapons and military equipment supplied by Iran to Taliban in Afghanistan and other militant groups in the Middle East.
A Fadjr missile was also put on display which was seized by the Afghan National Army in southern Helmand province of Afghanistan.
The U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook has has confirmed the capture of the missile of the Afghan forces in Helmand province.
Ambassador Hook has also added that the coalition forces have also captured an Iranian made drone, Shaheed-123, in Afghanistan which was put on display for the media.
According to Ambassador Hook, Iran also supplies similar weapons and missiles to the militant groups including Houthis in Middle East.
This comes as the Afghan officials have long been claiming that Iran supports the Taliban group and supplies militants with weapons.
The Afghan defense minister Tariq Shah Bahrami had earlier said that the conflict in Farah province has links with the water resources management as he pointed towards the coordinated attack that resulted into partial fall of Farah city earlier this year.”
Slovak FM quits after parliament rejects migration pact (AA, Nov 30, 2018)
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/slovak-fm-quits-after-parliament-rejects-migration-pact/1325572
“Slovakia’s foreign minister resigned Thursday after its parliament adopted a resolution advising the government to reject a UN pact on the treatment of migrants.
Miroslav Lajcak quit in protest against parliament’s rejection of the UN’s Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Gandel told the Slovak news agency TASR.
In a vote in the Slovak parliament, 90 of its 150 lawmakers voted against the pact.
Lajcak warned last week that he would tender his resignation if the country did not sign the document.
The resolution said the Slovak government should “take a disapproving stance” toward the pact.
It also stated that the pact is not in line with the country’s current security and migration policies.”