Reader’s Links on January 6, 2021

Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.

This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.

So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.

This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.

[Today should be very interesting. Definitely a good day to follow the comments under this post]

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

50 Replies to “Reader’s Links on January 6, 2021”

  1. Failed Asylum Seeker Who Murdered Three Avoided Deportation Because Libya Was Unstable (breitbart, Jan 5, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/05/failed-asylum-seeker-murdered-three-avoided-deportation-libya-unstable/

    “Failed asylum seeker Khairi Saadallah avoided deportation to Libya for more than seven years before going on a murderous stabbing spree that authorities labelled a terror attack because human rights laws forbid deporting foreigners if their native country is unstable.

    The revelation came during the sentencing hearing of the 26-year-old Libyan at the Old Bailey on Tuesday. In November, Saadallah pleaded guilty to murdering three men and attempting to murder three others during a stabbing rampage at a Reading park on June 20th, 2020. During the multi-day sentencing hearing, the prosecution is arguing that Saadallah was influenced by Islamist jihadist ideology to commit a premeditated terror attack and that he should face life in prison.

    The prosecution told the court, according to the Evening Standard, that Saadallah travelled from Tripoli, Libya, to the UK in 2012 on a visitor’s visa then claimed asylum, alleging that he had fled an armed group that had helped overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

    His refugee application was rejected, but rather than obey the leave order, he “absconded” in 2013, only to come to the attention of authorities again due to his criminal activity. Reports from 2020 revealing that over the next seven years, the failed asylum seeker had racked up a series of convictions and prison sentences including for battery, assault of a female police officer, and racially aggravated harassment.

    Saadallah then said he would abide by the removal order but, the court heard, “stopped cooperating with the process in 2014”. Despite his criminal activities and refusal to abide by immigration laws, in 2018 he was given temporary leave to remain until 2023.

    The Home Office then considered him for removal in 2019, “But he was told the Secretary of State was not going to take the step of deporting the defendant at that time because of what was described as a legal barrier. The legal barrier that prevented him from being deported was purely and simply the circumstances as they existed in Libya at that time,” Alison Morgan QC said.

    The migrant’s final stint in prison ended on June 5th, 2020, and he was again marked for removal but could not be deported under human rights laws. Just over two weeks alter, he murdered James Furlong, Joseph Ritchie-Bennett, and David Wails, while yelling “Allahu Akbar” and attempted to murder Patrick Edwards, Nishit Nisudan, and Stephen Young.

    Ms Morgan told the court: “In less than a minute, shouting the words Allahu Akbar – God is greatest – the defendant carried out a lethal attack with a knife, killing all three men before they had even a chance to respond and try to defend themselves.

    “Within the same minute, the defendant went on to attack others nearby, stabbing three more men.

    “The defendant was ruthlessly efficient in his actions and, the prosecution’s case is, the attack perpetrated by him was carefully planned and executed with determination and precision.

    “Moreover the defendant believed in carrying out this attack he was acting in pursuit of an extremist ideology he appears to have held for some time.

    “He believed killing as many people as possible, he was performing an act of religious jihad.”

    She also told the judge that Saadallah had lied in his asylum application. While admitting to belonging to the now-proscribed Ansar Al Sharia terror group, he had claimed during the asylum process that he did not handle weapons or fight but guarded hospitals — a statement countered by evidence presented by the prosecution of Facebook pictures from 2011 showing the Libyan handling firearms and appearing “proud of what he was doing”.

    The court also heard that he had befriended an Islamist extremist during one of his stints in prison. The prosecution revealed that Saadallah had served time with Muslim convert Omar Brooks, also known as Abu Izzadeen, at HMP Bullingdon. Morgan described Brooks as a “prominent radical preacher” and member of the banned terror group, al-Muhajiroun, co-founded by Anjem Choudary.

    Mr Justice Sweeney will continue sentencing proceedings on Wednesday and Friday, concluding on January 11th.”

  2. “Normalcy bias, or normality bias, is a cognitive bias which leads people to disbelieve or minimize threat warnings. Consequently, individuals underestimate the likelihood of a disaster, when it might affect them, and its potential adverse effects.”

    The definition above is timely. Unless we all get the surprise of our lifetimes very soon the soap bubble of many peoples’ reality is about to pop.

    I keep bringing up this idea of parallel universes because the startling disconnect between the mindset of people who visit sites like this one, and people who consume msm, continues to blow my mind. I would love a layman’s summary of the left-right brain distinctions in this regard from PC, if he can find the time (again), because I figure the root goes there.

    Oblivious to the tectonic shifts taking place politically, economically and socially, I watch as people blithely don their masks and carry on, seeing no more than another day, another dollar, another U.S. administration, gimme the needles I need and giddy-up. Our governments are printing cash to help perpetuate our illusion, and to hide the mounting menace.

    Slowly, then all of a sudden, our enemies will reveal their true positions as guardian to freedom President Trump is pulled aside:

    https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/massive-crackdown-hong-kong-police-arrest-dozens-pro-democracy-politicians-activists

    Unless he pulls the mother of all rabbits out of the mother of all hats, all those people and pundits who have hated President Donald Trump are about to learn what we always saw in him. They will be too brainwashed to admit it, I guess, but Bezmenov’s proverbial boot in the arse is winding up with them most in the crosshairs.

    Biden and Harris in the White House? Running the USA? Where’s my Prozac?

  3. Farage: Boris Set to Sell the UK ‘Down the River’ on Immigration (breitbart, Jan 6, 2020)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/06/farage-boris-set-sell-uk-down-river-immigration/

    “Brexit leader Nigel Farage warned that Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government is likely to sell the UK “down the river on immigration”, predicting that even with the country’s departure from the European Union, illegal immigration will continue at pace.

    Mr Farage said that anyone who thought that illegal boat migration would cease following Brexit was “mistaken”, pointing to the boatload of migrants who were brought ashore by UK Border Force late last week.

    The arch-Brexiteer said that despite repeated promises from Home Secretary Priti Patel to end the waves of illegal migrants coming from across the English Channel and the “seemingly endless series of meetings” between Immigration Minister Chris Philp and his French counterparts, “nothing changes”.

    “There comes a point at which a government which continually breaks a big promise loses the trust of its supporters,” Mr Farage wrote in The Telegraph…”

  4. Malmö Man Charged in Connection with Brussels 2016 Terror Attack (breitbart, Jan 6, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/06/malmo-man-charged-connection-brussels-2016-terror-attack/

    “Ten people will face trial in connection with the 2016 Brussels terrorist attacks including Osama Krayem, a former resident of the Swedish multicultural city of Malmö.

    Police arrest Krayem just weeks after the terrorist attacks in March 2016 that claimed the lives of 32 victims in three coordinated suicide bombings, two at the Brussels Airport in Zaventem and another at the Maalbeek metro station in the centre of the city.

    Krayem was allegedly supposed to carry out a suicide attack in the Brussels metro. Following his arrest at his apartment in the Belgian capital, it was speculated that either he opted not to go through with the attack or that his suicide device had failed to explode, Swedish broadcaster SVT reports.

    Gisèle Stuyck, the lawyer for Krayem, told the television broadcaster in December that Krayem had changed his mind, and did not go through with the attack.

    Krayem, a Syrian-born Swedish passport holder, had previously been a poster boy for Sweden’s integration efforts and was featured in a 2005 documentary on how a Malmö football team had helped him enter Swedish society.

    The trial will also include Bataclan terrorist Salah Abdeslam who also failed to detonate his suicide vest during the November 2015 attack. He fled to Belgium where he hid for months in Brussels’ notorious Molenbeek area before authorities apprehended him.

    At the time, lawmakers in the U.S. speculated that Abdeslam’s March 2016 arrest was one of the catalysts for the Brussels terrorist attack, as it came just four days after the Islamist was taken into custody.

    In 2018, Abdeslam was tried in Belgium and found guilty over his role in the gunbattle that led to his capture and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

    The terrorist trial comes on the heels of another major radical Islamic terror trial in France that ended last month in Paris.

    Accomplices to the 2015 Charlie Hebdo attack and the subsequent Kosher supermarket attack were found guilty of terror and criminal offences. The widow of supermarket attacker Amedy Coulibaly was sentenced to 30 years in prison in absentia. Police are still searching for her whereabouts.”

  5. McFiles interview: Election, Rome, Leonardo Co. – how they tie together
    Brad Johnson – January 6, 2021

  6. Indonesian police kill 2 suspected militants in raid (abcnews, Jan 6, 2020)
    https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/indonesian-police-kill-suspected-militants-raid-75075662

    “Members of Indonesia’s anti-terrorism police squad on Wednesday shot and killed two suspected militants who they believe were connected to a deadly suicide attack at a Roman Catholic cathedral in the southern Philippines, and arrested 18 others, officials said.

    The two men, Muhammad Rizaldy, 46, and his son-in-law, Sanjai Ajis, 23, were fatally shot by police after they resisted arrest by wielding a machete and an air-rifle during a raid at a house in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province, said National Police spokesperson Ahmad Ramadhan.

    The suspects were linked to a banned militant organization responsible for a series of attacks in Indonesia, a local affiliate of the Islamic State group known as Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, Ramadhan said.

    He said members of the counterterrorism squad were initially to arrest the two men for their alleged role in the Jan. 27, 2019, suicide bombing at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral in Jolo town in the Philippine province of Sulu that killed 23 people and wounded nearly 100.

    Authorities in Indonesia and the Philippines believe the attack was carried out by an Indonesian couple, Rullie Rian Zeke and Ulfah Handayani Saleh.

    “The two slain suspects were involved in sending funds to the suicide bombers for the attack at a cathedral in the southern Philippines’ Jolo town,” Ramadhan said of Rizaldy and Ajis, adding that police were still conducting an investigation at their house in Makassar.

    Ramadhan said the two men were also accused of harboring Andi Baso, another suspected militant who was involved in a 2016 church attack in Samarinda city on Indonesia’s Borneo island that killed a 3-year-old girl and wounded several other children. He said Indonesian authorities believe that Baso has fled to the southern Philippines and joined with a militant group there.

    The two are believed to have been members of a militant Jemaah Anshorut Daulah cell who pledged allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2015. They tried to go to Syria in 2016 but police foiled their attempt at the airport.

    Ramadhan said police also arrested 18 other members of the cell during Wednesday’s raid, and one of them was hospitalized with gunshot wounds after resisting arrest.

    Indonesia has been battling militants since the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists. Attacks aimed at foreigners have been largely replaced in recent years by smaller, less deadly strikes targeting the government, police and anti-terrorism forces, inspired by Islamic State group attacks abroad.

    Indonesian police have been criticized for shooting suspects rather than trying to arrest them. Authorities say they are forced to defend themselves.”

    • Fox News is reporting that what is going is unAmerican. What about stealing an election is that not unAmerican.

  7. ‘Totalitarian Woke State’: UK Regulator Adds ‘Political Opinion’ to Hate Speech Speech Regulations (breitbart, Jan 6, 2021)
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/06/totalitarian-woke-state-ofcom-adds-political-opinion-and-transgender-intolerance-to-hate-speech-speech-regulations/

    “Britain is becoming a “totalitarian woke state” according to a former leader of the Conservative Party, as the UK’s broadcasting regulator has expanded its definition of hate speech to include transgender intolerance and ‘political or any other opinion’.

    There are increasing fears that freedom of speech is in jeopardy in the UK as the regulatory body for media broadcasts in Britain, Ofcom, has broadened its code for hate speech.

    Previously, Ofcom required that broadcasts refrained from airing ‘incitement to hatred’ based on sex, race, religion, or nationality.

    The regulator’s new code — which came into place at 11 pm on New Years’ Eve — now bars programmes from “all forms of expression which spread, incite, promote or justify hatred based on intolerance on the grounds of disability, ethnicity, social origin, gender, sex, gender reassignment, nationality, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation, colour, genetic features, language, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth or age.”

    In response to the move, the former leader of the Conservative Party, Sir Iain Duncan Smith told the Daily Mail: “We are drifting into a totalitarian ‘woke’ state where nothing can ever be said for fear that somebody will be offended. It’s madness, and it’s driven by a small minority. Most people don’t care.”

    In a statement on social media, the Reclaim Party, a new political concept founded by British actor Laurence Fox and which is still going through the process of being recognised as an official party, said: “We are sleepwalking into a totalitarian state where the right to take offence trumps the right to free speech.”

    Ofcom denied that the updated regulations would stifle freedom of speech, claiming that the new speech codes would not prevent anyone from appearing on television or radio “because their views or actions have the potential to cause offence”.

    The broadcast regulator said that it would be the responsibility of broadcasters to challenge the so-called hateful opinions of their guests.

    Ofcom received some 3,581 complaints from the public of supposed racial discrimination on British airwaves in 2019, up from 2,680 in 2018. The regulator also received 429 complaints of gender discrimination, compared to 310 in the previous year.

    The United Kingdom — which does not have first amendment style free speech protections like the United States — has also seen police embark on a campaign of logging thousands of so-called ‘non-crime hate incidents’ in criminal databases.

    The hate “offences” will present on criminal background checks, despite the person not having committed a real crime.”

  8. Stacey Abrams Brags About Lack of Signature Verification in Georgia
    Steven Ahle2 min read
    3 COMMENTS
    You know voter fraud is alive and well and living in Georgia. Stacey Abrams is bragging about the fact that they are not verifying signatures in Georgia much to the delight of top Democrats Abrams, Raffensperger and Kemp.

    This, despite the fact that election law in Georgia says signature verification is a must.

    Fulton County was under a court order to allow Republican observers to watch the counting of votes. In my opinion, no votes for Fulton County should be counted for this election.

    Democrats must not be rewarded for breaking the law. Brad Raffensperger should resign immediately. He is a cancer on fair and equal elections.

    The reason for signature verification is simple. It assures that a vote cast under that name was actually placed by that voter.

    https://davidharrisjr.com/steven/stacey-abrams-brags-about-lack-of-signature-verification-in-georgia/

  9. Hong Kong police arrest more than 50 people under national security law
    CNA – January 6, 2021

  10. There could be a possible US-Russia alliance soon simply to kick China out of the Arctic

  11. FLYNN: “If I Stayed On As National Security Advisor, Mueller Probe Would Not Have Happened!”

  12. Obamagate Targeting Felt like HOSTILE TAKEOVER by Hostile Force! | Lt. General Mike Flynn

  13. This one is old but still important

    “Abandoning the Sinking Ship”: The CCP May Have Moved $10 Trillion Out of China

  14. Jinping was hailed as a shrewd leader, but he has been exposed as a short-sighted dimwit

  15. Residents confined in homes are desperate for food; Bio-warfare military vehicles patrol streets
    90,001 views
    •Premiered 15 hours ago

  16. (Richard: Read the whole article.)

    Days After New Stimulus Check Goes Out – Report Claims A Third Stimulus Check Could Be Close Behind
    Adam Casalino
    3 minutes

    Days After New Stimulus Check Goes Out – Report Claims A Third Stimulus Check Could Be Close Behind
    What’s Happening:

    After delaying a COVID relief deal for months, Congress cobbled together something at the end of 2020.

    But the promised payments were replaced with $600 checks. An amount many consider too small.

    President Trump pushed to increase the payments to $2,000, but those plans were stalled in Congress.

    Another round of relief payments was rumored to be around the corner. But they might depend on the outcome of the Georgia runoffs. From CBS News:

    https://vladtepesblog.com/2021/01/06/readers-links-on-january-6-2021/comment-page-1/#comment-594834

  17. At Least 6 Killed in Northern Burkina Faso Attack
    https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/01/06/6-killed-northern-burkina-faso-attack/

    “At least six people including two militiamen who back up anti-jihadist security forces in Burkina Faso were killed in an attack in the north of the country, a local elected official said Tuesday.

    Requesting anonymity, the official told AFP that late Monday around 100 gunmen attacked the village of Loumbila, some 35 kilometers (20 miles) from Ouahigouya, the capital of the Nord region bordering Mali.

    He said six people had been killed “including two volunteers” and three were wounded, including one seriously.

    The assailants attacked a health center and the local market and torched several sites, he said, adding that they made off with goods including food and motorbikes.

    A security source, offering a “provisional toll” of six dead, said reinforcements had been sent to the region after reports of “violent fighting.”

    A local official of the Volunteers for the Defence of the Motherland (VDP) confirmed the loss of “two elements.”

    The anti-jihadist militia, set up in November 2019, is intended to buttress the country’s poorly equipped and trained armed forces.

    Civilian volunteers with the VDP receive 14 days’ training and are then sent out on patrols and surveillance missions, equipped with light arms.

    More than 100 volunteer fighters have been killed in combat since January 2020.

    Monday’s attack came just a week after President Roch Marc Christian Kabore was sworn in for a second term, vowing to make security his priority.

    Kabore acknowledged the scale of damage wrought by jihadists, who extended their campaign from neighboring Mali in 2015.

    At least 1,200 people have been killed and a million of Burkina’s population of 20.5 million have fled their homes. Swathes of the country are out of the government’s control.

    Monday’s attack in Burkina Faso followed a civilian massacre in neighboring Niger on Saturday that left around 100 dead.”

  18. Iranian Nation Would Welcome Biden Admin’s Return to Law, Rouhani Says
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2021/01/06/2427383/iranian-nation-would-welcome-biden-admin-s-return-to-law-rouhani-says

    “Iran would welcome the next US administration’s possible decision to abide by the law and honor Washington’s commitments, President Hassan Rouhani said, adding that in that case Tehran would also fulfill all of its commitments.

    Speaking at a weekly cabinet session on Wednesday, the president underlined that Iran will never succumb to sanctions and economic war.

    Pointing to the upcoming formation of administration of US president-elect Joe Biden, Rouhani said Iran presses on with its approach vigorously, but at the same time would welcome the US’ decision to surrender to the law.

    “If Biden says the US intends to take the path to law and honor its commitments, our response will be clear and straightforward,” Rouhani said, adding that Iran will honor its JCPOA commitments in full if the US fulfills all of its undertakings.

    However, he stated, Tehran will never give in to pressures if Washington refuses to carry out its commitments…”

  19. Range of Iran’s Suicide Drones Extended to 4,000 km
    https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2021/01/06/2427608/range-of-iran-s-suicide-drones-extended-to-4-000-km

    “Iranian Army experts have dramatically increased the flight endurance of suicide UAVs, manufacturing drones with an operational range of 4,000 kilometers, a commander said.

    The spokesperson for an ongoing drone war game staged by the Iranian Army said on Wednesday that the homegrown military suicide drones can conduct nonstop sorties to hit targets at a range of 4,000 km.

    Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi said the Army’s long-range suicide drones took off from the southern costs of Makran on Wednesday and hit targets at the war game zone in the Semnan province after traveling 1,400 km.

    The Army units have also flown various tactical combat quadcopters equipped with small bombs, small pilotless aircraft for reconnaissance operations, and the Pelican VTOL drones on board naval vessels in the southern waters.

    During the exercise, the Army has for the first time utilized Arash suicide and anti-radar drone with a portable launcher.

    Various unmanned aircraft are taking part in the drill in Iran’s northern province of Semnan for different operations including aerial interception, launch of air-to-air missiles, detonation of ground targets with bombs and missiles with pinpoint accuracy, and suicide strikes.”

  20. US Collects $7 Million in Iranian Assets for Victims of Terrorism Fund
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2724901/us-collects-7-million-iranian-assets-victims-terrorism-fund

    “The US government collected $7 million in Iranian assets for victims of state-sponsored terrorism, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

    The money was the US share of a civil forfeiture that targeted attempts to violate sanctions on Iran with fraudulent transfers of about $1 billion of Iranian-owned funds to accounts around the world, it said in a statement.

    “The funds forfeited today had been destined to benefit criminal actors who engaged in an elaborate scheme to violate US sanctions against Iran, one of the world’s leading state sponsors of terrorism,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General David Burns.

    “Thanks to assistance from our foreign partners and the combined efforts of the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska, the FBI, and the IRS, the forfeited funds will instead be used to directly compensate victims of state sponsors of terrorism.”

    The Justice Department also said that between 2011 and 2014 three Iranian nationals and one US citizen defrauded South Korean banks by submitting false documents showing that Iranian companies were doing legitimate business with Korean companies.

    “Based on these false documents, the conspirators succeeded in unlawfully transferring approximately $1 billion worth of Iranian-owned funds out of South Korea and into the world’s financial markets.””

  21. Hezbollah’s Al-Qard Al-Hassan on Verge of Bankruptcy, Depositors’ Money at Risk
    https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2725046/hezbollah%E2%80%99s-al-qard-al-hassan-verge-bankruptcy-depositors%E2%80%99-money-risk

    “A week after hackers breached Hezbollah’s financial institution, Al-Qard Al-Hassan (AQAH), and published data pertaining to the depositors’ accounts, a Twitter user under the name of Bankinstein leaked information on the institution, revealing that it was heading towards potential bankruptcy.

    According to the leaked information, the financial institution – which works independently from the Lebanese official banking system – owns deposits worth USD 500 million, while it disbursed loans of about USD 450 million. Gold deposit loans represent only 64 percent of AQAH loan balance, while 8 percent are unsecured loans.

    Last month, a cyber hacker under the name of Spiderz managed to breach some of the accounts of Al-Qard Al-Hassan and released the names of alleged banks and citizens who had accounts with the financial institution and disclosed the number of accounts, addresses and phone numbers.

    Political researcher and university professor Makram Rabah believes that evaluating AQAH on the basis of a faltering or non-faltering institution is imprecise, as the primary goal of this institution is to launder Hezbollah’s money, not to preserve the deposits of its clients.

    In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Rabah said that the recent piracy raises questions and might be an inside operation. He noted that it was likely that the institution will take the hacking as an excuse to refrain from returning the deposits to their owners, especially as AQAH is not subject to the laws governing the Lebanese banking system.

    Established in the 1980s, Al-Qard Al-Hassan provides small-sized and short-term loans to its clients, who deposit money in the association on a monthly basis. It also gives loans against gold guarantees.

    In April 2016, the US Treasury Department included AQAH on its sanctions list (based on a 2015 legislation). Three years later, the association opened two accounts to transfer donations to the flood victims in Iran by the Iranian Red Crescent and the Hezbollah Imdad Association.”

  22. Turkey: Senior Gulenists returned from Ukraine
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210106-turkey-senior-gulenists-returned-from-ukraine/

    “Turkey has brought back suspected Gulenists from the Ukraine, Anadolu reported the Interior Ministry announcing today.

    In a statement, the ministry said that Salih Fidan and Samet Gure, who are the group’s chiefs in the Iraqi cities of Baghdad and Erbil, respectively, were arrested while trying to illegally traverse the Ukraine-Poland border.

    A Turkish court had issued arrest warrants for both men over their suspected membership in the Gulenists Group, which Turkey believes was behind the failed 2016 coup attempt, the statement added.

    The suspects are currently in the capital Ankara, where they are being processed at the Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office.

    According to Ankara, Gulenist members headed by their US-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of 15 July 2016, which left 251 people dead and nearly 2,200 injured.

    Ankara also accuses Gulenists of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police and judiciary.”

  23. New US foreign affairs chairman considers resuming aid to Palestine
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210106-new-us-foreign-affairs-chairman-considers-resuming-aid-to-palestine/

    “The new chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington announced yesterday that the US will consider the resumption of aid to Palestine through the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as part of a push by President-elect Joe Biden for a two-state solution. Israel has long sought to have UNRWA closed down, claiming that the agency perpetuates the conflict with the Palestinians. Outgoing US President Donald Trump’s administration backed Israel in this by cutting donations to UNRWA in 2018.

    In an interview with Agence France Presse (AFP), Gregory Meeks also voiced support for the return of Palestinian diplomatic representation in the US. Trump closed the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington, also in 2018…”

  24. Iran nuclear move carries ‘significant’ risks: Europeans
    https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2021/1/6/iran-nuclear-move-carries-significant-risks-europeans

    “Germany, France and Britain on Wednesday said they were “deeply concerned” about Iran’s move to step up its uranium enrichment, warning of “very significant” risks.

    Tehran on Tuesday said it was now refining uranium to 20 percent purity, the biggest break yet from its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal struck with world powers.

    “This action, which has no credible civil justification and carries very significant proliferation-related risks, is in clear violation of Iran’s commitments” under the pact, the European trio said in a statement.

    “We strongly urge Iran to stop enriching uranium to up to 20 percent without delay,” they added…”

  25. Nigerian Boko Haram bloodiest terrorist group in Africa during December: Al-Azhar Observatory
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/398308/Egypt/Politics-/Nigerian-Boko-Haram-bloodiest-terrorist-group-in-A.aspx

    “Egypt’s Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism named Boko Haram the bloodiest terrorist group in Africa during the month of December in 2020, on Wednesday

    The observatory also stated that Africa witnessed a total of 52 terrorist attacks in December from multiple terrorist groups and organisations. The same number of attacks as November’s, with the exception that some countries witnessed more attacks than others in the last month of 2020.

    In its report, the observatory stated that Al-Shabab terrorist organisation launched 22 terrorist attacks alone, including 7 attacks in Kenya resulting in the killing of 52 people, whereas the group’s activity in Somalia went down due to the counter terrorism efforts of Somali forces — aided by the African Union’s Mission in Somalia.

    The observatory added that due to the security operations of Somali forces, Al-Shabab organisation had to transfer its operations to another country.

    Concerning the terrorist group Boko Haram, the observatory stated that the group intensified its operations in west Africa, especially in Nigeria in December.

    Accordingly, Boko Haram launched 12 terrorist attacks in Nigeria, 5 terrorist attacks in Niger, and one attack in Cameroon, killing 91 people in total and injuring 120 others, making the group the bloodiest in Africa in December.

    Meanwhile, the Sahel area witnessed a decline in terrorist attacks, as only 9 attacks were recorded, some of which were perpetrated by ISIS.

    It added that the attacks in the Sahel area resulted in the killing of ten people and the injury of 14 others. “

  26. Pakistani soldier killed in firing near Afghan border
    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/pakistani-soldier-killed-in-firing-near-afghan-border/2100913

    “A Pakistan Army soldier was killed in firing on a check post from the Afghan side of the border, the military said on Wednesday.

    The latest incident in a series of similar attacks took place in the Mohmand district.

    “Terrorists from inside Afghanistan fired across international border on a military post in Mohmand District. Own troops responded promptly. During exchange of fire, Sepoy Fazal Wahid, age 25 years, received bullet injury and embraced shahadat [matrydom],” said a statement from Pakistan Army.

    Mohmand, one of the seven former tribal agencies, has long been the target of suspected militants loyal to the banned Pakistani Taliban.

    Pakistan claims that the terrorist network, following a series of security operations in its northwestern region, has set up bases across the border to attack security forces and civilians…”

  27. Israeli startup Aleph Farms, Mitsubishi team up to bring cultured steak to Japan
    Westernization of Japanese diet sees an increase in meat consumption; Aleph, which makes meat from cow cells, will develop and market products with Japanese giant

    Aleph Farms’ non-genetically engineered technology … uses the ability of animals to grow tissue muscle constantly. The company discovered a way to isolate the cells responsible for that process and grow them outside of the animal to form the same muscle tissue typical of steaks. This enables the startup to produce real meat cuts from cow cells, with the same look and feel and almost the same taste, but without killing animals and without using antibiotics.

    One of the world’s most densely populated countries, Japan is the world’s third largest economy.… In November 2017, Japan was ranked the world’s largest meat importer…

    Japan is also seeking to raise its food self-sufficiency and is looking to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The use of cultivated meat could help the nation meet all of these needs…

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-startup-aleph-farms-mitsubishi-team-up-to-bring-cultured-steak-to-japan/

  28. 506 illegal migrants try to enter Hungary on New Year’s weekend
    https://rmx.news/article/article/506-migrants-try-to-enter-hungary-on-new-year-s-weekend

    “December brought a significant rise in the number of illegal entry attempts to Hungary which continued during the long New Year weekend, data from national Hungarian police showed.

    The week before Christmas from Dec. 14 to Dec. 20 showed the largest number of detected illegal crossing attempts, mainly on the Serbian border to the south and the Romanian one to the east. During that week, police and border guards foiled 1,326 crossing attempts and led another 1,490 people back to the country where they entered from, bringing the combined number to 2,816, compared with an average of around 800 per week during the entire year and a low of just three attempts and 23 apprehended violators in the third month of April, during the severe lockdown during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

    During the long weekend leading into the New Year’s alone, from Jan. 1 to Jan. 3, police and border guards stopped 506 entry attempts, and while we are only halfway through the first week of 2021, the numbers continue to remain high.

    In the first minutes of Wednesday, police apprehended a minivan in the village of Nyírmihálydi near the Romanian border driven by a 29-year-old Romanian national, with 16 illegal entrants. All of them claimed to be Syrian, but had no documents to support that. The immigrants have been detained pending an investigation while the driver will be charged with people smuggling, carrying a sentence of up to five years, or even eight years given aggravating circumstances such as having been committed as part of organized crime activity.

    On Monday, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said that the pandemic and migration will be the biggest challenges of the year.

    “We will continue to defend ourselves against illegal migration both at the southern border and in Brussels,” Szijjártó said.”