[FoxNews] Alabama legislation signed this month outlaws puberty blockers for children
The Justice Department filed a complaint Friday challenging Alabama's Senate Bill (S.B.) 184, which bans transgender treatments for children.
The DOJ asserts that criminalizing the sexual transition of children is a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment on the grounds of equal protection.
It’s an argument. Whether it is a good argument is a different question.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed legislation this month to outlaw puberty blocking medications for minors. The bill makes it a felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to transgender children to help in their gender transition.
"S.B. 184 makes it a felony for any person to 'engage in or cause' specified types of medical care for transgender minors. S.B. 184 thus discriminates against transgender youth by denying them access to certain forms of medically necessary care," the Department of Justice wrote. "It further discriminates against transgender youth by barring them from accessing particular procedures while allowing non-transgender minors to access the same or similar procedures."
"Today’s filing is the latest action by the Justice Department to combat discrimination based on gender identity, including unlawful restrictions on medical care for transgender youth," the department went on to boast. "On March 31, 2022, the Civil Rights Division issued a letter to all state attorneys general reminding them of federal constitutional and statutory provisions that protect transgender youth against discrimination."
Ivey signed the anti-puberty blocker legislation a day after state lawmakers passed the bill. Groups immediately vowed to challenge the law in court.
Alabama is the second state to impose a ban on gender-affirming care for minors and the first to impose criminal penalties. A similar measure in Arkansas, which would have banned doctors from prescribing the medications, was blocked by a federal judge.
Ivey also signed legislation prohibiting certain Alabama elementary school teachers from discussing gender identity and sexual orientation matters in school.
The parents of two Alabama children who identify as transgender joined with two medical doctors in suing Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and other state officials in an attempt to block the state's new law banning cross-sex hormones and so-called "puberty-blocking" drugs for minors.
The parents and doctors – represented by a bevy of left-leaning law firms including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and the Human Rights Campaign, among others – claim that S.B. 184, which Ivey signed Friday, violates federal non-discrimination law, including a provision of the Affordable Care Act, also known as ObamaCare.
Another reason why the stupid thing needs to be withdrawn by Congress.
Long lists of supporting links can be seen at the original article.
[MoonOfAlabama] Recently the New York Times, like many other 'western' outlets, has changed its language when reporting about the fascist Ukrainian Asov Battalion.
What was once "a Ukrainian neo-Nazi paramilitary organization" which even the FBI said is notorious for its “association with neo-Nazi ideology” was first relabeled as merely "far right" before it became a normal "unit in the Ukrainian military".
It is not that Azov has de-radicalized over time. It has in fact grown more extreme.
Azov has infiltrated other organizations, especially some units of the Ukrainian regular military, the national guard, the police and the internal secret security organization SBU. Azov is by far not the only fascist (para-)military organization in Ukraine. There is the Aidar battalion, the Right Sector, the C-14 'youth' organization of the fascist Svoboda party as well as a dozen other such organization.
These groups are not only not prohibited as they should be but get encouraged and partially financed by the Ukrainian government.
The infiltration of the security services and government has dangerous consequences for the Ukrainian public.
Over the years many 'western' media have correctly reported about the Ukrainian fascists. Here is an incomplete collection (h/t Antispin):
[Breitbart] A U.S. agriculture inspector whose job was to keep disease and pests out of the country pleaded guilty to letting ranchers bypass animal quarantines in exchange for bribes. The inspector received between $40,000 and $95,000 from Mexican cattlemen for allowing them to cross into Texas without incident.
Monday, 68-year-old Roberto Adams went before U.S. Magistrate Judge John Kazen in Laredo, where he pleaded guilty to one count of bribery of a public official. Adams was a lead animal health technician with the U.S. Department of Agriculture until he left the service in December 2021, after being discovered. He is expected to go before U.S. District Judge Marina Garcia Marmolejo on August 3 for a sentencing.
The case against Adams began on January 8, 2021, when an anonymous tipster reported him to the USDA Office of Inspector General claiming that an inspector was letting cattle with live ticks into the country. By March of that year, authorities spoke with a cattle broker who told them that a Laredo-based inspector named “Roberto” was accepting bribes in exchange for letting cattle with ticks into the country. Investigators recruited informants and were able to learn that Adams was using a secret cell phone to communicate with Mexican ranchers.
By November, federal authorities obtained a search warrant to go through Adams’ phones and interviewed him. Adams revealed that he accepted bribes in exchange for letting sick cattle or animals with “dry ticks” into the country without quarantines or other measures. A search of the phones revealed that Adams would use a messaging application to coordinate the wiring of funds into his bank account.
[Breitbart] U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted a load of cash being smuggled from Texas into Mexico. The officers seized more than $100,000 in U.S. $100 bills and other currency taped to a woman’s body. "I didn't know that was there"
CBP officers assigned to the Hidalgo International Bridge in South Texas on April 24 observed a blue Ford SUV approaching to leave the United States and enter Mexico. Officials identified the vehicle as a taxi carrying a 26-year-old U.S. citizen female out of the country, according to information provided by CBP officials.
The officers referred the taxi driver to a secondary inspection area where officers found 12 bundles of cash taped to the woman’s body. Officials report the woman allegedly attempted to carry $114,294 of undeclared U.S. currency on her person.
Officers seized the cash and arrested the woman. Both were transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation and possible filing of criminal charges related to attempting to smuggle cash out of the country.
“CBP officers conduct outbound enforcement operations to protect against unreported exportations of bulk U.S. currency, which often can be proceeds from alleged illicit activity, or currency that funds transnational criminal organizations,” Port Director Carlos Rodriguez, Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port of Entry, said in a written statement.
CBP officials added:
Individuals are permitted to carry any amount of currency or monetary instruments into or out of the U.S., however, if the quantity is more than $10,000, they will need to report it to CBP. “Money” means monetary instruments and includes U.S. or foreign coins currently in circulation, currency, travelers’ checks in any form, money orders, and negotiable instruments or investment securities in bearer form. Failure to declare may result in seizure of the currency and/or arrest.
#2
In Texas at a non-big name bank a couple of young Hispanic girls in a beat up old station wagon were withdrawing HUGE amounts of cash through the bank's drive through. The look on the elderly lady's face who was the drive through teller said it all as they drove away, heading straight for the border. That was years ago. Recently the memory of that event returned when I saw the Clint Eastwood movie, 'The Mule'.
[Breitbart] Florida Highway Patrol arrested an alleged human smuggler after finding three migrants being transported from Houston, Texas, to Key Largo. Officials say cases like this are on the rise.
“It’s, unfortunately, becoming a regular occurrence for us to run across either victims, or smugglers, or the actual combination of both on our roadways,” FHP Criminal Interdiction Unit Trooper Jake Moore told WJHG during an April 25 interview. “Since December 2021, we’ve made five stops that have resulted in seven human smuggling arrests, and over 22 bodies, or people saved from being trafficked into the state of Florida alone.”
Florida troopers executed a traffic stop on a white Toyota Corolla in Santa Rosa County for an infraction along Interstate 10 eastbound on April 20, according to a WEAR ABC3 report. During the investigation, troopers determine three passengers in the vehicle were in the U.S. illegally and were allegedly being smuggled from Houston to Key Largo.
The troopers arrested the driver, 30-year-old Fermin Morataya-Monzon, and transported him to the Santa Rosa County Jail where he is charged with three state counts of human smuggling, the report states.
The suspected human smuggler allegedly confessed to troopers he had been paid to smuggle the three illegal aliens into the U.S. for work, WJHG reported.
Troopers turned the case over to U.S. Border Patrol agents and the Department of Homeland Security for further investigation for possible federal charges.
Florida officials told WJHG that smugglers are not just people from the border, but are people from all over who are traveling to move people across state lines.
On April 3, Florida troopers stopped a woman driving a silver Ford Explorer a the same mile marker on Interstate 1o in Santa Rosa County. An investigation identified two passengers as migrants illegally present in the United States, WEAR reported. These migrants were also being smuggled from Texas — this time to Clearwater, Florida. The troopers arrested 29-year-old Jessica Lemus-Fuentas and transported her to the Santa Rosa County Jail. Troopers also turned this case over to DHS for investigation.
Florida troopers asked for help in identifying victims of human trafficking and smuggling. Trooper Moore said just look for “something that’s out of place. You could be at a gas station and notice people who aren’t free to leave a vehicle, or just something out of the ordinary.”
Posted by: Skidmark ||
04/30/2022
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[11135 views]
Top|| File under: Human Trafficking
#1
The stupids in our society will not be able to get jobs. The people immigrating know how important any job is! We see the same mentality in jihadists who commit terrible crimes with the understanding that their family will be paid on their death. One way of stopping some of this might be to tax money that is being sent to people in other countries using banks or other companies.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
04/30/2022 14:28
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#2
tax money that is being sent to people in other countries using banks or other companies.
#5
Poor American Democrat voters don't care a lick about Central Americans streaming across the southern border. As long as they get their gov't checks every month they could care less. Plus illegals do the jobs most Americans don't want to so. I say let them in my toilet needs scrubbing.
Maybe the Biden administration found it cheaper and less visible to simply pay people to drive these suckers to Florida, than to fly them in at midnight. Why do you think Omicron got to Florida first?
She doesn't look like a terrorist
[Breitbart] A federal judge sentenced a former University of Alabama student to seven and a half years in prison after she instructed an undercover FBI employee about how to secretly send funds to terrorist organization al-Qaeda, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.
Alaa Mohd Abusaad, 26, was also sentenced to ten years of supervised release following the term after “pleading guilty to concealment of terrorism financing in September 2019” as part of a plea agreement, the DOJ said in a Wednesday release.
Between February and April 2018, Abusaad coached an undercover FBI employee on how to transfer funds to the mujahideen who were engaged in jihad, the DOJ noted, citing the plea agreement.
She told the FBI employee that funds are “always needed.”
“You can’t have a war without weapons. You can’t prepare a soldier without equipment,” she continued, per the DOJ.
Abusaad also instructed the undercover FBI employee about ways to send funds that would go undetected by authorities, “including by using fake names and addresses when conducting electronic money transfers,” the DOJ said.
#1
The reason Joe is doing these things is that he and his son are being blackmailed. Joe is just trying to protect his son and will plead dementia after he leaves office.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
04/30/2022 14:58
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#2
I suppose the enthusiastic participant could be blackmailed as well...
#1
Dishwasher died in a power surge.
I pulled the control panel to replace.
'Out of stock', 'backordered', 'no delivery date'.
Wiring a tiny house.
Underground service meter housing, 'Out of stock', 'backordered', 'no delivery date'. Lowes, Home Depot, electric supply houses, 'above ground only'. Amazon, 'shipping 6-8 weeks'.
The Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver on Friday
Will allow for the sale of the higher-ethanol gasoline blend= through the summer
White House press secretary Jen Psaki says it will save drivers 10 cents a gallon
It also is an attempt to temper the pace of inflation which has surged to a 16-year high and bring down gas prices that average $4.159 a gallon nationwide
Biden first unveiled the plans to expand E15 sales earlier this month during a trip to an Iowa ethanol plant
Rising consumer prices are seen as a major vulnerability for President Joe Biden's Democratic party leading into the November mid-term elections
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2022 10:41
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Happily, here in Floridaland, I can pump that crap and top off with no-ethanol gas, which is available just about everywhere because of outboard motors. Yes, it costs more, but I don't have to wreck my 14 year old Jeep motor just because Joe is flailing.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/30/2022 11:02
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#4
Ask yourself, where does ethanol come from. Your right, crops are grown to create it. Is the world concerned about a food shortage? The answer is yes! Is Cali and the west suffering a water shortage? The answer is Yes. Water is being pumped to produce ethanol. Stupid Biteone.
Posted by: Papa Cooky ||
04/30/2022 13:18
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IMPORTANT NOTES:
The scientific jury is still out on whether blending ethanol with gasoline lead to the lower carbon emissions.
A 2011 report by the National Research Council, which is part of the U.S. National Academies, found that it may do just the opposite, and the matter is under (still) official review by the Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog.
A team headed by Timothy Searchinger, a Princeton University research scholar. Projecting worldwide effects of converting large amounts of U.S. farmland to producing corn for fuel rather than for food. The study said that “we found that corn-based ethanol, instead of producing a 20% savings [the reduction required by law], nearly doubles greenhouse emissions over 30 years..."
NOT SO CLEAN TO PRODUCE
"Unfortunately, the production of these fuels (Ethanol) creates a major problem due to high level of VOCs (volatile organic compounds), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM) produced during the production."
#6
BTW: With the USA already using 5.5 billion bushels of corn to produce the 90/10 gas we use now.
The 85/15 will reduce the corn corp for human consumption by another 2.25 Billion Bushels.
USA farmers are expected to grow 13.6 billion bushels of corn IF we have a good growing season.
13.60 Billion Bushels (BB) grown
7.75 BB used for Gas & Industry.
5.65 BB Used for animal feed and residual consumption.
--------------------
Leaving just 0.2 Billion Bushels for export and various other uses. I would say this is cutting pretty close a
OBTW: A reminder of one of my recent postings.
I have been seeing a lot of Wheat planted and harvested here in the Middle Ga. Belt area.
Recently in the Hephzibah Ga area we just saw over a 1000 ac. of great farm land broken up and sold to build Subdivisions.
#1
DHS is an excuse for all kinds of bad stuff. It needs to go away, as muzz terrorism is mostly like COVID, an over-blown threat used as an excuse for lots of things that are unconstitutional and not monetarily necessary as the USA sinks into terminal debt.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/30/2022 11:25
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#2
She was practiced at the art of deception... - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
04/30/2022 11:57
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#3
Something about her being described as full throated makes me wither.
BLUF:
[Washington Examiner] "Somehow, Durham is saying that he doesn't think the FBI knew who Sussmann was representing, but I just find that hard to believe," Jordan told Just the News founder John Solomon on his Friday podcast.
Sussmann was indicted last September for allegedly concealing his clients — Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and "Tech Executive-1," known to be former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe — from FBI general counsel James Baker.
"Plausible Deniability"
~ Jim Biden to Tony Bobulinski, the Biden Crime Family.
#1
"Sussmann’s false statement misled FBI personnel and deprived the FBI of information that might have permitted it more fully to assess and uncover the origins of the relevant data and analysis, including the identities and motivations of Sussmann’s clients."
So the FBI was "deprived" of critical information but went after Trump for years anyway..... or until the Durham investigation flipped over a few rocks? No, I don't believe it either.
Oh, so the FBI failed to corroborate or question the Sussmann statements until Durham came along. Yea, ok, got it !
From a posted comment this morning from our own Bugs McGurque
[NYP] The mysterious Ukrainian fighter pilot hailed as the "Ghost of Kyiv" after reportedly shooting down dozens of Russian aircraft has been killed in battle, an outlet said Friday.
The death of the much-celebrated enigmatic pilot was reported by The Times of London, which for the first time also publicly identified Major Stepan Tarabalka, a 29-year-old father of one, as the war hero.
Tarabalka was credited with taking out as many as 40 Russian aircraft until he was himself shot down March 13 while battling an "overwhelming" number of enemy forces, the UK paper said.
Tarabalka was posthumously awarded Ukraine’s top medal for bravery in combat, the Order of the Golden Star, with the title Hero of Ukraine, according to his family.
His helmet and goggles — all that was seen of him when Ukrainian officials promoted his heroism — are now set to be auctioned in London, sources told the UK Times while confirming Tarabalka’s identity.
Zaur – Military serviceman of Akhmat-Khadzhi Kadyrov’s Regiment:
It’s possible that before I came here, I doubted [the stories] a little bit. But back then when we freed the first prisoners from the house, which was directly situated nearby the Azovstal’ [factory], when those prisoners and civilians came out from the basements, they hugged and kissed us. And told us that they are happy to see us. They cried with tears in their eyes! I then realized that I ended up exactly for… (holding back emotions) what was needed. And I don’t doubt one drop that it was the right idea.
I remember that moment, that fragment which laid into my head, when we stormed a house where there were a lot of civilians, and many of those very Azov fighters. (Azov is an extremist organization that is banned in the territory of the Russian Federation.) A mother with her child runs outside, and we’re looking through binoculars. We can’t storm, we can’t enter, we can’t do anything. And then they shoot the mother in the spine. The mother falls… and we scream to the child: “RUN!!! RUN!!!” from all sides. The child froze, not understanding what to do. On one hand he wants to run, but on the other he wants to help his mother. And then suddenly his head, get this, this child’s HEAD gets shot by this scum, this evil BEAST. In this very moment, we all just suddenly forgot what death means, we forgot that there could be snipers there, just as a Crowd, Broke In! We threw smoke grenades so that they couldn’t see us. We broke in and just tore up all of them [fighters] that were inside. Well we got in there, but not just got in there. In the sense that people sacrificed their lives. Many soldiers sacrificed their lives in that moment. But we entered and fulfilled our task.
We could care less about our lives when we saw the life of a child being gone. When we realized that these are not people, but are animals, nothing less than beasts, that can allow themselves to… to kill a child. These are not people. Therefore I think that I ended up here exactly for the right reason. And everything that I have done here, I have done for these people who live right here and are smiling and hugging us. They even take the coordinates of where I live, as well as of my other fellow combat comrades, they want to come to our homeland and thank us for the liberation.
https://youtu.be/NFTZbSU7X9I
Posted by: Mickey M ||
04/30/2022 11:44
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#2
Beautifully written, Mickey M. So few who put on a uniform are also talented with a pen. How delightful that a simple Chechen soldier can express himself so lyrically.
Truly, it reminds me of photos we saw of Russian soldiers carrying out children after they broke the Beslan school siege in 2004.
His helmet and goggles — all that was seen of him when Ukrainian officials promoted his heroism — are now set to be auctioned in London, sources told the UK Times while confirming Tarabalka’s identity.
Not that those are real identifiers; but wouldn't they have been vaporized?
#4
Have heart!
Perhaps after taking three of the bastards with him, he ejected safely behind enemy lines, and links up with a rag tag bunch of teenagers who, after surviving and fighting, have had their fill and are on their way to the front so they can cross no-man's land into safety.
#7
I gagged, even knowing you were toying with this POS
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2022 17:29
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#8
We are more fragile and transient than the objects we manufacture. It's a sad philosophical observation. Take heart that there are likely more than one GHOST, and many of them live on!
#9
I gagged, even knowing you were toying with this POS
I, too, Frank G. The wonder is that Russia did not carpet bomb Chechnya from north to south at the time. Doubly a wonder that they unleashed the Chechens now — a hint of desperation from the beginning of this thing.
[Guardian] The irony of visiting a 17th-century plague chapel in the midst of a 21st-century pandemic wasn’t lost on me when I donned my mask, sanitised my hands and stepped into the cool of a tiny church. It was built in 1628 so the afflicted could come and pray separately from the villagers of Saint-Haon-Le-Châtel, but if it served the same purpose for Covid-suffering villagers now, it was a relief to find it empty.
The same went for this area of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes: Le Roannais was peaceful and empty of tourists. And, as this summer will be the first foreign holiday for many after two years of limitations, it is the perfect place to get away from it all, especially of the lingering threat of Covid make crowds unpalatable.
[American Thinker] Governor Jay Pritzker and the Illinois Democrats want a state-mandated campaign sticker at all gas stations bragging that they aren't raising the price of gas by 2 cents a gallon on July 1 as planned.
It is not a cut. Consumers will not see a price decrease.
As the price of gas has doubled, the state has seen a windfall in sales tax from around 10 cents per gallon to 20 cents per gallon. (Illinois is one of few states that charge sales tax on gasoline.) Inflation has provided a great windfall to government agencies throughout the country.
Illinois doubled its Motor fuel tax from 19 cents per gallon to 38 cents per gallon, with more increases to come. (Why didn't we see that sticker, since Democrats are for keeping the public informed?)
Instead of putting up that campaign sticker, I suggest four more honest stickers to truly inform the public:
Federal excise taxes: 18.3 cents
Illinois motor fuel tax: 38 cents
Illinois sales tax: 20 cents (6.25%)
Total tax: 76.3 cents
Retail gas stations are very costly to put up and maintain. The average margin on gasoline is very low. They are lucky if it is 10 to 15 cents per gallon, whatever the price is.
So who are the gougers? The government that gets over 76 cents on gas in Illinois with zero investment and zero risk, or the gas station owners who make very little with all the risk? The answer is obvious.
Why would anyone brag about a delay in a tax increase by implying that it is a tax cut? The answer is that politicians gladly spread misinformation to the public when they are trolling for votes. Is a 2-cent delay more important to consumers than the 10-cent increase in sales tax?
#2
/\ Exactly, and that would obviously include governments fees, permits, and studies PRIOR to the first barrel of oil ever being pumped to the surface.
#3
Knowing how JB ('Jelly Belly') Pritzker works, the new stickers will cost the Illinois taxpayers $12.43/ea and produced at a facility owned and run by 'friends' of the family.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/30/2022 8:52
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[Rolling Stone] When I was a political reporter in Washington, I used to loathe the White House Correspondents Dinner. I hated how it portrayed Beltway journalism as a game. How it reduced the project of government accountability to performative antagonism practiced daily by reporters in White House press briefings — a performance exposed annually at a dinner where the most powerful people in the world would rub elbows and yuck it up about funny "inside jokes" like George W. Bush’s bungling of the Iraq War and the media’s culpability in helping him do it.
Maybe because I was a reporter at the time, I always considered the dinner’s rottenness from the perspective of the relationship between the media and politicians, lamenting that images from the Washington Hilton of the press mingling with administration officials in black tie undercut the public’s faith in an independent media.
But the further away I’ve gotten from the experience — and the faster our republic has tumbled toward oblivion — the more I’ve considered how the dinner contributed in other, significant ways to the brokenness of our current political moment: The dinner highlights the laughable disconnect between the people in Washington with the power to do something (the dinner attendees) and the rest of us mere mortals (people largely not watching the dinner at home on C-SPAN).
The presidency of Barack Obama transformed the Democratic Party in ways many pundits already have explored ad nauseum, from a revolution in data analytics to Obama’s creation of an entire political infrastructure outside of the Democratic National Committee. Yet, the White House Correspondents Dinner, now that it’s back from its hiatus in the two years we acknowledged the ongoing pandemic as real, is also a reminder of perhaps Obama’s worst contribution to modern politics: the marriage between actual Hollywood and the "Hollywood for ugly people" known as Washington.
When the A-List came to Washington and started treating formerly anonymous staffers as personalities on their level, it was an Icarus moment that transformed the possibility of what government service could do for any one individual staffer, as opposed to what service should do for the country.
Celebrities being interested in Obama brought Hollywood to Washington in a way Washington had never seen previously, at least not without the barrier of a glass screen and the opening bars of The West Wing credits. It allowed political operatives who always saw the natural outgrowth of the their careers as cashing out on K Street to think differently about what politics could do for them as sentient, individual brands with Twitter accounts and proximity to celebrity instead of just power.
In the Obama years, the White House Correspondents Dinner transformed and exploded, driven by an increased interest from culturally cool famous people in a president they considered to be cool, also. Celebrities flocked to Washington for the last weekend in April: Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Bradley Cooper, Ben Affleck, Tom Cruise, Natalie Portman, Jennifer Garner, Demi Moore, Eva Longoria, John Legend, Alicia Keys, Scarlett Johansson, Ashley Judd, most of the cast of Saturday Night Live, top fashion designers, and any number of other people who thought for a brief moment that being attached to politics gave them capital in their own celebrity circles. (The stream of stars jet-setting to the Beltway for dinner festivities only slowed at the end of Obama’s second term because the D.C. set could not stop literally and shamelessly pawing at them.)
But to truly understand what allowed one weekend of cocktail parties and brunches to change Washington, you also have to remember the dynamics of 2009: Twitter was exploding as a tool for individual staffers who once were largely anonymous to build their own voices and followings, a generation of young Democratic staffers drunk on Aaron Sorkin thought The West Wing could be real life and that they somehow could be Rob Lowe. With the energy and technocratic sleekness of the Obama machine, they saw themselves as glamorous characters on a TV show instead of cogs in a bureaucracy, and then the White House Correspondents Dinner came along, and they met their heroes.
If this seems cynical to you, consider that current White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki went on Rob Lowe’s podcast to tell the actor that bingeing the Emmy-winning political series, and his character specifically, was "inspiring" and "really brought me back to politics." And then ask yourself who any of that is for.
Without the Obama-era White House Correspondents dinner, there is no Psaki on Lowe’s podcast. There are no staged-at-the-White House Annie Leibovitz portraits of Psaki in Vogue Magazine, seven months after the attempted insurrection at the Capitol in which white nationalists tried to block her from stepping foot in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the first place. She’s not fighting with Fox News’s Peter Doocy for the Twitter likes. And there are no ongoing negotiations for her to reportedly host her own television show on MSNBC, all while she’s still representing the federal government on behalf of the president with the national media every day.
[Breitbart] Disposable income fell in March after adjusting for inflation, the Commerce Department said Friday.
Real disposable personal income, which is income after taxes and inflation, fell 0.4 percent in March compared with February. This was the seventh time in the last eight months that disposable personal income in the U.S. fell from the previous month. It rose in February by 0.15 percent.
In nominal terms, disposable personal income rose 0.5 percent but consumer prices rose 0.9 percent, swamping the income gain.
Consumer spending rose 1.1 percent before adjusting for inflation. After inflation, however, expenditures were up just 0.2 percent.
On a year-over-year basis, income plunged 19.9 percent from the stimulus check inflated figure for March 2022. A year ago, income jumped 22.2 percent thanks to the Biden administration’s fiscal expansion. That excess income helped set off the explosion of inflation that currently grips the U.S. economy.
[Front Page] Tech plutocrat Elon Musk announces he is buying Twitter to liberate this "virtual town square" from one-sided political censorship - and he is met with hysterical charges that he is attacking free speech. A woman who reposts TikTok videos of "woke" teachers bragging about their sexualize of children in their classrooms, is attacked by a Washington Post reporter who harasses the woman’s family in order to silence an enemy of "free speech" and purveyor of "hate" - just days after the reporter appeared in a video and bursts into tears over getting the same treatment she later inflicts on the anonymous creator of Libs on TikTok.
We are clearly living in Orwellian times, when the ambitions of tyrannical power are camouflaged by debased language, incoherent thought, and patent double-standards. Like the Newspeak of 1984, our progressive media abuses words like "diversity" and "free speech" to make them mean their opposites: a uniform orthodoxy protected and enforced by censorship. As long ago as Thucydides, this abuse of language and thought was recognized as the enemy of freedom and the precursor of a tyranny that reduces the diversity of opinion and ideas into one monolithic, oppressive dogma.
Since its creation in the ancient Athenian democracy, free speech has been the sine qua non of a political order that includes a wide diversity of citizens, not just the rich and educated elites who monopolized power in oligarchic or autocratic regimes. Since political discussion and deliberation were conducted through public speeches, citizens had to be protected from reprisals for, or limitations on their diverse opinions and their particular ways of expressing them.
True diversity - the diversity of thought and opinion - is intimately connected to free speech, itself one of the most critical foundations of political freedom, and most important bulwarks against tyranny.
This freedom of speech given to social and economic inferiors was one of the major criticisms of democracy in arguments against politically enfranchising non-elites. Antidemocratic critics like Plato, an aristocrat and philosopher who favored rule by a technocratic elite, mocked the average Athenian who presumed to address his betters in the Assembly and the Council. Plato’s like-minded mentor Socrates mocked and slandered the masses as "dunces and weaklings," the "fullers and the cobblers or the builders or the smiths or the farmers or the merchants or the traffickers in the market-place who think of nothing but buying cheap and selling dear."
The common sense and traditional wisdom of these poor and middling citizens, which make them fit to participate in political deliberation, are disparaged. Hence, they should not have the right to speak out during such deliberations, but defer to their social betters. Their diversity is an impediment to good government, not, as Aristotle argued, a resource comprising a great diversity of talents and life-experiences.
What followed after the early morning excitements reported yesterday — such a strong contrast as to suggest that recent Al Quds festivities are more in the way of performance art to justify the investment of Iran, et al than meaningful actions.
[IsraelTimes] More than 160,000 reported to attend; PA accuses Israel of fomenting violence at holy site; police vow not to let ’extremists’ undermine freedom of worship
Tens of thousands of Paleostinians worshipped at the al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem on the last Friday afternoon of the fasting month of Ramadan after early morning festivities again erupted at the flashpoint holy site. The Islamic Waqf that administers the compound estimated that some 160,000 people attended prayers. Afterward, hundreds of Paleostinians protested in front of the Dome of the Rock shrine waving Paleostinian and Islamic flags, but there were no immediate reports of fresh violence.
Following a security assessment after the prayers, Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai vowed that police would remain vigilant.
"The actions of the police during Ramadan and during the Friday prayers prove that we are determined not to let any bully boy elements break the peace and undermine the freedom of worship," he said.
He said a heavy police presence would remain in the city "ready for any scenario."
While Israel has repeatedly said it has acted with restraint, the Paleostinian Authority on Friday accused Israel of fomenting unrest.
"What restraint are they talking about? Every day forces go into the compound, beat people, fire rubber bullets and tear gas at worshipers, and this Israel calls restraint? said a Paleostinian foreign ministry statement.
Earlier Friday, fighting broke out between Paleostinians and police on the Temple Mount, which has seen recurring festivities in recent weeks. Paleostinians at the contested Jerusalem holy site threw rocks and launched fireworks toward officers and the Western Wall, located beneath the mount, which police said led them to enter the compound to disperse the rioters. At least one stone thrown by the rioters landed in the Western Wall prayer area, police said. Masked men also waved the flag of the Hamas, one of the armed feet of the Moslem Brüderbund millipede, terror group, launched fireworks and chanted, "We’ll sacrifice our lives for al-Aqsa."
The festivities ended around an hour after they began when other Paleostinians in the compound intervened, convincing the stone throwers and the police to pull back.
The Paleostinian Red Islamic Thingy said 42 people were hurt, 22 of whom were taken to the hospital. None of the injuries were serious, according to the Red Islamic Thingy.
Police announced three people were arrested, two for throwing rocks and one suspected of inciting a mob.
"For the past hour, the site has been quiet and (Moslem) worshipers are safely entering (the compound)" police said after the festivities.
Probably ISIS attacking another Shiite mosque, because what else are Fridays for?
[ToloNews] A blast targeted a mosque on Friday afternoon in PD 6 in the city of Kabul, causing at least 10 deaths and many maimed, security officials confirmed.
The blast took place in the Darul-Aman area of Kabul and follows a spate of similar attacks around the country.
A front man for the Ministry of Interior, Abdul Nafay Takor said at least 10 people were killed and more than 20 others were maimed in the blast. The casualties are reportedly worshipers.
Earlier, a front man for the Kabul security department, Khalid Zadran, said that at least five people were killed and more than 20 others were maimed in the blast.
"20 maimed people received at our hospital so far," Emergency NGO said on Twitter.
A blast in the Afghan capital destroyed a Sunni mosque and killed at least 10 people on Friday, an interior ministry official said.
Hmmmm... Could be a Sufi mosque — both ISIS and the Taliban dislike them...
A wave of deadly bombings has rocked the country in the last two weeks of Ramazan — some claimed by the Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group — killing dozens of civilians.
"Many worshippers were at the Khalifa Sahib mosque when the blast went off," a survivor who gave his name as Ahmad told AFP. "Many victims were thrown off their feet."
"The blast occurred two hours after Friday prayers as worshippers were performing rituals," interior ministry deputy front man Bismillah Habib told AFP, adding at least 15 people were maimed.
[Dawn] In the wake of the recent wave of terrorist attacks in Pakistain, the AJK
...more formally Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the name Pakistan gave that part of the province they stole from India in the early days of the independence partition when they also stole half of the entire country...
government has beefed up the security of foreign nationals, particularly the Chinese workers of different mega projects, as well as vigilance of areas along the Line of Control (LoC) to avert any untoward incident in the region.
The step was taken in the light of a decision to this effect by Prime Minister Sardar Tanveer Ilays, who presided over four meetings in succession on Thursday on his first day in the PM secretariat after assuming office last week.
According to a blurb, the prime minister directed the law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of life and property of all foreigners, in particular the Chinese engineers working in different areas of the state.
The prime minister maintained that since India had always been found involved in terrorist activities in Pakistain, the security related agencies should keep a close eye on the enemy’s activities in the areas adjacent to the unmarked dividing line in Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... They were also directed to ensure foolproof vigilance ofall entry and exitpoints of the territory.
The meeting was informed by police chief Dr Sohail Habib Tajik that safety measures had already been augmented in the state to stave off any untoward incident on the auspicious occasion of Eidul Fitr.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] 22:25 The Russian language has returned to the Mariupol school. Military correspondent "KP" Dmitry Steshin visited a school in Mariupol. The number of Russian language lessons in the schedule has noticeably increased. 21:15 Russian Aerospace Forces hit 22 Ukrainian military facilities, including five strongholds.
21:15 Russian air defense systems shot down six Ukrainian drones and three Tochka-U missiles.
21:15 The RF Armed Forces hit 38 Ukrainian facilities with high-precision missiles, including a fuel depot in Volny and a radar station in the Pechenegy region.
21:14 Ukraine continues to fight against the Soviet legacy. In Chernivtsi, by decision of the authorities, two monuments to the Red Army soldiers who liberated the city from Nazi occupation were demolished.
"Soviet rubbish has no place in our beautiful city!" - said in the Chernivtsi city council.
20:13 Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee General Zavarzin called for missile strikes on headquarters in Kyiv and Lvov.
19:09 The new supply of American weapons to Ukraine will include howitzers and UAVs, the batch will be delivered within 24 hours by 12 aircraft, the Pentagon said.
18:00 The National Guard confiscated weapons and drugs in a children's camp near KhersonWhen checking information about the propaganda of Nazi ideas among. Underage fighters of the Russian Guard seized two Bernardelli pistols, 292 cartridges of various calibers, an integral part of a weapon, two bags and 38 transparent packages with marijuana, as well as two metal boxes with the image of cannabis, where there were 58 pills.
18:00 In two districts of the Kherson region, they began to pay pensions in rubles.
16:43 More than a thousand fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Guard are doomed to death near the Oskol reservoir in the Kharkiv region. The command refused to release the units of the 1st brigade of the NSU, which had previously tried to advance on Izyum. The Russian army has pressed them to the water and is methodically destroying them, Ukrainian insiders write.
15:59 US citizen, 23-year-old Willie Joseph Kansel died in Ukraine. Was a mercenary.
15:58 Fighting is underway, the Russian Army has transferred units that fought in Mariupol to the Zaporozhye direction. The head of the Zaporozhye regional military administration, Starukh, explains the intensification of hostilities. Gulyaipole remains the main hotspot of the region.
15:58 The Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation delivered humanitarian aid to the city of Vasilyevka, Zaporozhye region.
14:53 Another S-300 air defense system from Slovakia has reached Ukraine. This was stated by the air command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "South".
14:47 The President of Indonesia said that he refused Ukraine's request to supply weapons.
14:20 Problems with gasoline continue in Ukraine. Huge queues at gas stations. Fuel shortages are observed throughout the country. Authorities urge to save fuel.
13:31 Explosions at the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Sumy region.
12:55 At the airport in Chisinau, a Ukrainian was detained with an American civilian who tried to smuggle helmets, body armor, optics and weapon accessories.
12:52 Two civilian cars were blown up on the mines set by the Ukrainian military. In the area of the city of Makarov located in the Kyiv region, two civilian cars were blown up today. In total, one person died and five were injured.
12:51 Warsaw delivered 200 T-72M1 tanks to Kyiv, which makes it possible to equip 2 tank brigades. In addition, the Ukrainian military received several dozen Polish infantry fighting vehicles. Deliveries are not limited to armored vehicles. Poland supplies Ukraine with self-propelled guns 2S1 Gvozdika and MLRS Grad, as well as air-to-air missiles. The total amount of Polish supplies is almost $1.6 billion.
11:55 Russian air defense destroyed 13 Ukrainian drones and a missile from the Smerch installation.
11:54 The Russian Armed Forces hit ten Ukrainian military facilities with high-precision air-launched missiles, including an ammunition depot near Ilyichevka.
11:53 Aviation of the Russian Aerospace Forces hit 112 Ukrainian military facilities overnight, including two command posts and four weapons depots.
11:53 Rocket troops hit 13 military facilities of Ukraine during the night.
11:53 The RF Armed Forces "Caliber" destroyed three traction electrical substations in the areas of railway junctions.
11:52 Children of the Kherson region believe in the victory of the Russian people over the Nazi Kyiv regime and support the morale of their defenders with postcards with patriotic verses.
11:52 On May 3, kindergarten No. 10 resumes its work in Energodar. The enrollment of children in four age groups continues.
11:51 In the Nikolaev region, a launcher was destroyed along with the combat crew of the Tochka-U complex, from which a blow was struck at Kherson - the Russian Ministry of Defense.
11:51 This morning, the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at the Russian border crossing near the Belaya Berezka village in the Trubchevsky district of the Bryansk region. This is reported by local publics.
11:50 In Kyiv, the production buildings of the enterprise of the rocket and space industry "Artem" were destroyed by high-precision long-range air-based weapons of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
10:49 In Kherson, a Terodefender was detained and his weapons were confiscated.
10:48 The Russian army pushes the Ukrainian one away from Kherson.
10:47 APU is trying to attack near Kharkov.
09:33 Ukrainian militants opened fire on a border checkpoint in the Kursk region. They fired mortars at a checkpoint in the village of Krupets. There are no casualties or destruction.
08:44 The Ukrainian authorities have stopped paying pensions and salaries to state employees in the Kherson region.
[Townhall] Upon taking office in January 2021, President Joe The Big Guy Biden ...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family, the guy who bungled Afghanistan... halted construction on the U.S. southern border wall, which greatly helps Border Patrol and local law enforcement cut down on illegal activity. As a result, the Texas National Guard, deployed last summer through Governor Greg Abbott ... governor of Texas. Abbott is a Republican. His 2014 Dem opponent, state senatrix Wendy Davis, thought the absolute, most pressing, most important issue facing the state was abortion. Abbott beat the pantyhose off her. His 2018 opponent, Lupe Valdez didn't dwell too heavily on abortion, but she lost too... 's Operation Lone Star, has stepped in to fill the gaps with fencing lined with concertina or razor wire.
"When you drive a tank through a chainlink fence, if it has concertina wire on top, it'll stop that tank because that wire will get wrapped up on the sprocket, the wheels of the tank. And I always say that to people because they're like, 'Well, anybody can get through this fence.' And I'm like, well actually, I would be hesitant to drive a tank through it...I usually say that when I'm debating someone on walls or fences or barriers if you will," Texas National Guard Public Affairs Officer Major Michael Perry told Townhall. "The wall works."
According to Perry, 80 percent of farmers and ranchers on the border are happy to have walls or fences built on their property to protect their property.
During a visit to Eagle Pass this week, Townhall got a firsthand look at how National Guard soldiers are currently working to protect private ranches and farms from illegal crossings in the Lone Star State.
[Dawn] Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Moazzam Jah Ansari said here on Thursday that faceless myrmidons were infiltrating from Afghanistan in tribal districts to carry out attacks.
Briefing journalists at Malik Saad Shaheed Police Lines, he said that such incidents had taken place in Bajaur, North and South Wazoo tribal districts.
Mr Ansari said that on Pak side, kinetic action was being taken against terrorists; however, for the issues emanating from across the border needed to be taken up with Afghan authorities. "We are facing problems from other side of the border," he added.
He said that over past four months, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) arrested 202 faceless myrmidons including 18, who were carrying head money. He said that about 70 faceless myrmidons including proclaimed offenders were killed in police action during that period.
Mr Ansari said that CTD also killed Daniyal, a terrorist of the so-called Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... , who was involved in the Koocha Risaldar suicide kaboom. More than 60 people were killed and scores of others were maimed in the attack. He said that the terrorist was also involved in the assassinations of police officials, Sikh homeopath Satnam Singh and Christian pastor William Siraj.
He said that CTD recovered 46 kilograms of explosives, 99 hand grenades, eight suicide jackets, three rocket propelled grenades, 43 RPG shells and other arms and ammunition.
"During the first four months of current year, 30 coppers were martyred," said the IGP. He added that seven of the martyred officials belonged to CTD and seven others were maimed.
He said that police carried out a total of 6307 search and strike operations and arrested 45,697 suspects. He said that police also recovered 8,198 different types of arms and 184,193 rounds as well. In addition, police registered 3,146 FIRs over violation of tenancy laws and 460 FIRs were lodged against hotels for failing to comply with documentation of the guests.
Mr Ansari said that police also checked a total of 87,703 educational institutions and FIRs were registered against 65 for failing to follow the security parameters. In addition to this, a total of 12,506 bus stops were also checked during the past four months and 1,061 cases were registered under Sensitive and Vulnerable Establishments and Places Security Act, 2015.
Also, 296 FIRs were registered over misuse of loudspeakers. A total of 1,199 illegal Afghans were arrested during this period and FIRs were registered against 1,083 of them.
The IGP said that police narcotics eradication teams (NETs) during crackdowns on drug mafia, lodged a total of 3,989 FIRs. He said that police recovered a total of 4,301 kilograms of charas, 418 kilograms of heroin, 246 kilograms of crystal meth, 545 kilograms of opium and 3,599 litres of liquor.
He said that the police also ensured peaceful holding of the local government polls in the province. In addition to this, police also set up Aasan Insaf Marakiz and Madadgar police.
He said that they were also focusing on better training, equipment and communication system for police in tribal districts. He said that besides several of police arms and other needs were also being met under the Accelerated Implementation Programme. "We are going to make setup of CTD in all merged districts by June 30 this year," he added.
Regarding the safe city project, Mr Ansari said that provincial government decided to execute the project in phases, starting with the Hayatabad. He said that the Hayatabad phase of the safe city project would be completed by December at a cost of Rs 500 million.
A ship loaded with Ukrainian corn has left a Romanian Black Sea port, allowing #Kyiv to dodge a Russian blockade of its key grain exports.#Romaniahttps://t.co/LUBVR8E1MD
#1
But I was assured that international sanctions on Russia would cause global famine.
Posted by: Matt ||
04/30/2022 10:00
Comments ||
Top||
#2
Going to guess all the bombs dropped in Iraq and Afghanistan could not have wiped out all the farm fields in Kansas.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
04/30/2022 10:24
Comments ||
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#3
When we say "global famine", we don't mean global global famine. It's more like global localized shortages as the supply chains reconfigure, which is kinda sorta like a mini-famine. Also, we are using 'global' in the hair-on-fire sense of the word.
#5
Oh global famine is coming. This is the winter wheat that was harvested and shipped before the war and was sitting around as Odessa was blockaded.
There will be little planting in the east of Ukraine this season and by fall/winter, the wheat shortage in North Africa and the Middle East will be severe.
[oneIndia] Condemning the festivities between the two groups in Patiala district in Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... on Friday, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said that all miscreants should be brought to book and punished.
The AAP said that it will not allow any attempt to disturb peace and harmony in Punjab. "Strongly condemned the clash between the two political groups in Patiala. We'll not allow anyone to disturb peace and harmony. All miscreants must be brought to book and punished," AAP's poll strategist and co-in charge of party's political affairs in Punjab, Sandeep Pathak, said in a tweet.
The district administration has announced an 11-hour curfew in Punjab's Patiala district on Friday after four people were maimed when two groups clashed over an "anti-Khalistan
...Khalistan is the idea of an independent Sikh homeland in the Indian (and Pak, but they don't dwell on that) Punjab. The local troublemakers are financed by the Sikh diaspora, who love the idea of the folks they left behind murdering their neighbours before dying romantically for a hopeless idea, with training and additional funding from Pakistain’s ISI via Lashkar-e-Taiba as yet another arrow aimed at the Indian throat...
march".
The curfew will be enforced between 7 pm Friday and 6 am Saturday.
The clash took place outside the Kali Mata temple when members of an outfit that calls itself "Shiv Sena A Hindoo nationalist political movement that presents a resistance using the same nasty tactics to aggressive Islamists and that's a pain in the underwear to other Indian political parties... (Bal Thackeray)" began a "Khalistan Murdabad March". Some Sikh activists, including Nihangs,
...Nihangs are bright blue-clad elite Sikh warriors, apparently tasked to protect Sikh shrines. Though how they fight wearing those exaggerated matching turbans is beyond me...
took out another march against the Sena event.
Near the Kali Mata temple, the two groups came face to face and hurled stones at each other. The temple gates were locked and police deployed in large numbers to prevent the situation from escalating further in the city, police said.
A Sena leader said the outfit had planned the march as a reply to the announcement by Sikhs for Justice
...headed by Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a plumber who lives comfortably in Canada’s British Columbia, far from the romantic danger endured by the revolutionaries he commands. The group has been in the news lately following the arrests of a number of their members who ought perhaps not have applied for asylum in Germany...
to mark the 'foundation day of Khalistan" on April 29. Patiala Inspector General of Police Rakesh Agarwal told news hounds that the situation was now under control.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called the incident unfortunate and peace has been restored. "The incident of festivities in Patiala are deeply unfortunate. I spoke with the DGP (police chief), peace has been restored in the area. We are closely monitoring the situation and will not let anyone create disturbance in the State. Punjab's peace and harmony is of utmost importance," Mann said.
The members of the two groups are said to have waived swords and thrown stones at each other. The Shiv Sena (Bak Thackeray) group is said to have taken out the march without police permission.
#WATCH | Punjab: A clash broke out between two groups near Kali Devi Mandir in Patiala today.
At least two locals and a soldier have been killed at Rikwe-Chongu village in the Kwall District of Bassa Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The front man of the Special Task Force, Operation Safe Haven (OPSH), maintaining peace in Plateau and environs, Major Ishaku Takwa, who confirmed the incident on Friday in Jos, said that the incident occurred on Thursday night, adding that OPSH deployed its troops to the community.
"There was a night attack in the area on April 28; our troops deployed to the community repelled the attack and in the process OPSH lost a soldier. Two other civilians died as a result of the attack as well," he said.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the National Publicity Secretary of the Irigwe Development Association, David Malison, said that three locals were killed, one person injured and several houses razed.
"The attackers also destroyed many food barns and carted away foodstuffs, animals and other valuable items," he said.
Malison identified those killed to include; Markus Audu, 41, Yah Hwenke, 42 and Amus Kanga, 61.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] 23:22 The offensive of Russian troops near Izyum has slowed down, Arestovich said. According to him, there are two possible reasons for this: either the rotation, or the fatigue of the enemy forces, which needed replenishment.
Also, according to the adviser to the head of the OP, for the third or fourth day there has been no offensive by Russian troops on Gulyaipole in the Zaporozhye region.
22:48 British Defense Minister Ben Wallace believes that Putin may be preparing a statement for May 9 on the announcement of a mass mobilization of the population for a decisive blow to Ukraine, writes The Daily Mail. According to the British official, one of Putin's arguments will be the declaration of a new war against "Nazis" around the world.
22:45 The White House privately conveyed to Indonesia that Russia should not be allowed to the G20 summit, although the country's president announced that Putin had already accepted the invitation, writes CNN.
22:37 In the Kherson region, two languages will be used - Russian and Ukrainian, said the "head of administration", collaborator Volodymyr Saldo.
22:35 Ukraine is ready to exchange electricity produced in the country for gas that European countries have, Zelensky said in an interview with Polish media. According to him, there are very large volumes of nuclear generation in Ukraine, so Kyiv will be able to sell electricity at low prices and receive gas in return in volumes that will cover its deficit in Ukraine.
22:31 There are no signs of preparations for a Russian landing on the Ukrainian coast, the Pentagon said: "The demonstration against Odessa may be an attempt to pin down Ukrainian forces so that they cannot move further to the northeast. Again, we do not know this for sure. <. ..> We do not see them planning an amphibious assault to Odessa or approaching the coast."
22:28 Speaker of the OP Sergey Nikiforov, in a commentary to the UP, clarified that on April 29 another mass grave was indeed found in the Kiev region. However, speaking of 900 dead, Zelensky was referring to the total number of bodies found in the Kiev region.
22:04 Zelensky said that the situation in the Kharkiv region is "tough", but "our military has important tactical successes."
22:02 Zelensky on fuel shortage: "Occupiers are purposefully destroying infrastructure for the production, supply and storage of fuel. Russia has also blocked our ports, so there are no instant solutions to overcome the shortage. Officials promise that within a week or two they will provide a fuel supply system that will will not allow a deficit.
21:54 As the Russian offensive in Ukraine bogs down more and more, and the sanctions and Western assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine only increase, Moscow has no choice but to scare the world with a nuclear war. For more details, see Putin's Dead End .
21:48 Zelensky said in an interview with the Polish media that he had discussed with President Duda the entry of Polish companies into the Ukrainian fuel market.
21:46 In the Zaporozhye region on May 1, the curfew time is increased: it will begin at 17:00 (usually at 21:00) and end at 05:00 on May 2, said the head of the OVA Alexander Starukh.
21:44 The "DPR" reported the detention of another OSCE employee in Donetsk, again for "espionage". "We continue to observe the absence of any reaction from official Europe... And you are still surprised by the missile attack on Kyiv during the visit of the UN Secretary General," Piotr Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, wrote.
21:42 Zelensky: “I am grateful to the United States, President Biden and Congress for an analogue of the famous Lend-Lease program, which greatly helped the fight against the Nazis during World War II. I am sure that now Lend-Lease will help Ukraine and the entire free world overcome ideological heirs "Nazis who unleashed a war against us. Lend-Lease and other programs to support Ukraine are concrete proof that freedom can still defend itself against tyranny."
21:30 The Cabinet of Ministers increased the trade markup for diesel fuel and gasoline by 40% to prevent a shortage at gas stations - now the marginal cost of diesel fuel should not exceed 40.66 UAH/l, gasoline - 36.05 UAH/l.
21:25 Lavrov said that Russia "does not threaten anyone" with a nuclear war, "Western countries are starting to talk about it." And when asked whether Moldova should worry about the "special operation" of the Russian Federation, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry replied: "They should worry about their future, they are being dragged into NATO."
21:23 Lavrov said that most of the partners of the Russian Federation switched to paying for gas in rubles.
21:21 The column for the evacuation of people from Azov was on the way , said the deputy commander of the Azov regiment Svyatoslav Palamar (Kalina) on the air of the telethon. "I know that they are doing everything possible to get here. For our part, we will do everything to take away our civilians and seriously wounded," he said.
21:15 Zelensky considers "very high" risks of a complete cessation of negotiations with Russia. In his opinion, only direct negotiations between the presidents of Ukraine and Russia are needed to resolve important issues, since "everything is finally decided by one person."
21:14 The commander of the marines at Azovstal, Sergei Volynsky (Volyn), turned to Erdogan with a request to apply the “extraction” procedure to them and take them out of Mariupol to Turkey: “We have 600 servicemen with injuries of varying degrees, who really need help. "We have civilians who have been injured, who also really need your help. With us, hundreds of civilians and dozens of children are also looking for safety at the facility. The youngest is four months old here."
21:12 A satellite image taken today recorded a likely loading of Caliber cruise missiles onto a submarine in the port of Sevastopol, Maxar Technologies reports.
21:10 Legal entities that have lost their property due to the Russian invasion can also register applications in Diy, Shmyhal said.
20:53 The railway bridge Liman - Raygorodok across the Seversky Donets was blown up by the Ukrainian military, the press service of the JFO told Hromadsky. The bridge was blown up along with the wagons, traffic on it was blocked. This disrupted the railway connection with Liman, which is located in the center of the fighting for the north of Donbass.
20:48 Zelensky said in an interview with Polish media that another mass grave was found in the Kyiv region, where the bodies of about 900 civilians are located. "How many people died - no one knows. There will be consequences, there will be an investigation, then there will be a census," the president added.
He also said that, according to the estimates of the Ukrainian authorities, about 500,000 Ukrainians were illegally deported to Russia by the invaders.
20:28 Russia is trying to disrupt the ability of the Ukrainian military to replenish its own supplies and strengthen, a senior US Department of Defense official told CNN. In addition, according to the official, Russian strikes in Odessa are likely intended to pinch Ukrainian forces there and prevent them from reinforcing defenders in the Donbass.
20:26 Zelensky about Russian fakes about Poland's desire to seize Western Ukraine: "Civilized countries will not take this seriously. <...> Information signals are the same information missiles. An information attack is no weaker than a missile one. This is aimed at ensuring that there was destabilization so that the countries of Europe would be disunited."
20:07 After enemy missiles hit in the Shevchenkovsky district of Kiev on April 28, at least two people were detained who photographed the destruction and sent it to the Russians, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported.
19:46 The US is working on a bill giving the government the power to confiscate the property of Russian kleptocrats. The confiscated assets will be sold and the proceeds will be transferred to Ukraine. More about this in the material Transfer of assets of the Russian Federation to Ukraine .
19:38 A monument to Maxim Gorky was demolished in Vinnitsa.
19:27 Russia fired more than 1,300 missiles at Ukraine - according to Ukrainian Forbes, it cost the aggressor $7.5 billion. Earlier, the Pentagon reported that the Russian Federation fired 1,900 missiles in Ukraine.
19:24 Yermak writes in his column for Time that Kiev is proposing a new collective agreement on security guarantees for Ukraine as a basis for a collective response to global security challenges.
“Obviously, neutrality cannot be a key issue in this agreement. This agreement should ensure the status of Ukraine as a democratic, sovereign and integral state, without bracketing the issues of Donbass and Crimea. The conditions for ensuring such a status are a subject of discussion, but it is clear that among there is a place for guarantors both for the West and for the East," the head of the President's Office notes.
According to him, in the future, the Ukrainian security platform should become the basis of the multilateral U-24 format - United for Peace.
19:07 The number of wounded as a result of an air strike on the Azovstal field hospital has increased from 170 to more than 600 people , Mayor Vadim Boychenko said. According to him, the civilians who are hiding at the plant have almost no water, food and medicine left.
According to Boichenko, at first about 300 residents hid in the bomb shelters of Azovstal, but then they were joined by refugees from the left-bank part of the city, which suffered the most damage due to Russian bombing. How many civilians are now at the plant, it is not known exactly.
19:04 Guterres said that the UN will double its support for Ukrainians: "I was touched by the resilience and courage of the people of Ukraine. My message to him is simple: we will not surrender. The UN will redouble its efforts to save lives and reduce human suffering. In this war, as in in all wars, civilians always pay the highest price."
19:01 The United States and its allies are preparing for a possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland said in an interview with Meduza: “Unfortunately, since the beginning of this conflict, we have already understood that the threats coming from Putin should be taken seriously. Therefore, the United States and our allies "They are preparing for such a development of events. But if it comes to this, it will be a war crime of such proportions, from the consequences of which neither he nor Russia will ever recover. Definitely not in our lives."
18:49 A new batch of American weapons for Ukraine will include M777 howitzers and drones, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. According to him, the batch will be delivered to Ukraine by 12 planes within 24 hours.
18:48 The US Department of Defense reported that "US Air Force aircraft technicians are loading 155 mm howitzer ammunition bound for Ukraine onto a C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at US Air Force Base Travis, California." The photo was published by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
18:39 US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby warned citizens of the country against traveling to Ukraine to participate in the war with Russia after the death of former US Marine Willie Joseph Kansel, who was hired by PMCs. "We continue to urge Americans not to go to Ukraine. This is a zone of active warfare, this is not the place where you can go," he stressed.
18:38 The Cabinet of Ministers decided not to raise the price of gas for the population during martial law. The government also recommended that local authorities not increase the cost of other housing and communal services until the end of martial law.
18:36 The occupiers took out part of the surviving ventilators from Mariupol, the city council said.
18:20 According to the World Economic Forum, more than 11 million Ukrainians have left their homes, including 5.3 million people who left the country and 6.5 million internally displaced persons. In addition, about half of Ukrainians lost their jobs and only 2% were able to find temporary work.
18:17 British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons announced that she had returned to Kiev.
18:12 The SBI, the SBU and the police are checking 11 thousand Russians who entered the territory of Ukraine before the start of the Russian invasion and did not leave the country.
18:04 Podolyak recalled that two months ago, the idea of disconnecting Russia from SWIFT caused only laughter among many. A month ago, requests to provide Kyiv with heavy weapons met with categorical resistance. And on February 18, Zelensky said for the first time that we need a lend-lease.
“Today, lend-lease has become a reality. The next step is a complete oil embargo and the inclusion of Russia in the list of countries sponsoring terrorism. Moscow is waiting for total economic isolation,” wrote the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office.
18:01 The Cabinet of Ministers allocated more than 119 billion hryvnias to the Ministry of Defense "for salaries, equipment, fuel, food, protection, weapons," Shmyhal said. "We are trying to provide our fighters as much as possible," he added.
17:50 The fuel shortage situation will be resolved within a week, Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said: "Over the next seven days, the shortage will be eliminated, since operators have contracted volumes in Western Europe, and now we are solving the issue of how to import them as quickly as possible to the territory of Ukraine.
17:42 Pentagon Speaker John Kirby said that during his visit to Kiev, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin remained included in the chain of launching American nuclear weapons and was able to carry it out.
According to him, Austin's preparation for the trip was a full-fledged special operation using a large number of technical means, so that even thousands of kilometers from his workplace, Austin retained all the opportunities to perform his official duties - from advising the US president to implementing his command to launch nuclear weapons. Kirby also made it clear that if Biden wants to visit Kyiv, the experience of Austin's trip will definitely come in handy.
17:35 French specialists with a DNA laboratory and the necessary equipment will work in the Buchansky morgue next week to identify unidentified victims, Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said. According to her, 65 unidentified bodies of the dead remain in Bucha. A mission from France will join the collection of genetic material from people who are looking for missing relatives.
17:31 Deputy head of the Presidential Office Kirill Timoshenko said that this year the state plans to provide more than 53,000 apartments for 186,000 internally displaced persons. Apartments will be provided with minimal repairs and appliances. They will be state-owned, and when the migrants return to their homes, these apartments will be given to people who have been on the waiting list for housing for years.
17:28 The Embassy of Azerbaijan has resumed work in Kiev.
17:27 Poland has said that it is ready to protect the airspace of Slovakia when it stops using MiG-29 aircraft, which opens the way for the possible delivery of Soviet aircraft to Ukraine, writes Sky News.
17:24 In the capital of Iceland, Reykjavik, a square called Kiev appeared as a sign of support for the Ukrainian people - it is located at the intersection of streets where foreign embassies, including the Russian one, are located. Officially, the place will have a double name - Kænugarður / Kýiv-torg, and in English the square will be called Kyiv Square. The name of the square in the Old Norse language Kænugarður is intended to emphasize the thousand-year history of Kyiv.
17:22 The SBU announced suspicions of treason to the "governor" of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo and the "mayor" of Kherson Alexander Kobts.
17:15 The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation announced that it had fulfilled its obligations in dollars on sovereign Eurobonds maturing in 2022 and 2042. Moscow emphasized that these are those payments in dollars that did not go through on April 4 due to the refusal of a foreign agent bank. Now the payments have passed, and there is no question of any default.
17:11 The Institute for Strategic Studies is developing plans for adapting Ukraine to various scenarios for the duration of the war, Arakhamia said: “Of course, all of us, Ukrainians, want victory in the near future, and we don’t even want to think about a long-term scenario that can last for years. Unfortunately , world experience shows that there were few wars that ended in a few weeks or months."
"Adaptation plans are being prepared for each of the scenarios. That is, we must take into account the risks and those scenarios that are likely. And yet we believe in the victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and that we will be able to expel the enemy in the near future," he added.
17:00 Because of the war in Ukraine, there are problems with fuel. First, the Russians are constantly attacking Ukrainian oil depots. Secondly, they fired twice at the Kremenchug Oil Refinery. Thirdly, logistics chains have been destroyed due to the impossibility of deliveries from the sea, and deliveries from Russia and Belarus have also been stopped. All this translates into a shortage of fuel within the country. Details - in the material The problem with gasoline: Ukraine is waiting for a rise in price .
16:56 Russian media reported today that the occupiers in Melitopol allegedly "saved" museum exhibits, including Scythian gold, which the "intruders" were going to take to Western Ukraine.
In turn, the head of the Zaporozhye OVA Oleksandr Starukh said that all the most valuable exhibits were taken out of the museums of the Zaporozhye region in March 2022 to other regions of Ukraine: “We completely took out everything that was of historical and cultural value from all museums. rescued, good luck to them."
16:48 In the occupied Fedorovka, Zaporozhye region, a conflict arose between the commanders and personnel of the RF Armed Forces because of their unwillingness to participate in offensive operations. Russians complain to local residents about deceit when signing contracts and obtaining consent to participate in hostilities.
As Ukrainian intelligence found out, Russian contractors were promised an operation according to the "Crimean scenario" - that is, the absence of resistance from Ukraine, the allocation of housing in the occupied territories and the smooth passage of service.
Seeing the real picture, many Russians refused to serve further. This led to a conflict, which FSB representatives arrived to sort out. Some of the servicemen were taken away after interrogations in an unknown direction, they did not return to the place of service.
16:43 In the occupied Kiselevka (Chernobaevsk rural community of the Kherson region) there was a skirmish between the military of the Russian Federation of Chechen and Buryat nationality. More than 50 people from each side took part in the night incident. The exact number of wounded and dead is still unknown.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, among the reasons for the conflict are the unwillingness of the Buryats to conduct offensive military operations and the "unequal rights" of conditions with the Chechens. The latter are not at all on the front line, remaining in the rear exclusively as "protective detachments." Another reason is the uneven distribution of the loot. The main "benefit" from looting is received by the same Chechens.
16:33 Sweden has allocated about 155 million euros to strengthen its military infrastructure on the strategic island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea amid rising tensions with neighboring Russia, writes Reuters.
16:28 On the highway Kiev - Kovel - Yagodin near Gostomel, a temporary crossing was opened across the Irpen River, said the head of the Humanitarian Headquarters of the Kiev OVA, Alexei Kuleba.
16:18 Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that his country supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine: "We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine, like other countries, and we openly declare this, we do not hide behind a tree. Yes, we do not deny that we have good relations with Russia. The principles of international law should in no case be distorted by reason of political superiority."
16:16 The Norwegian government has joined the fifth package of EU anti-Russian sanctions - the country closes the border with Russia for land transport and its ports. The only exceptions will be fishing boats and ports of the Svalbard archipelago, NRK reports.
16:14 North Korea is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test in five years, writes the Financial Times. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. (CSIS), new satellite images of the nuclear test site at Phungeri show that preparations are "in full swing." The seventh nuclear test is likely to take place between May and September of this year.
16:11 Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that he refused Zelensky's request to provide weapons to Ukraine, but announced his readiness to send humanitarian aid to the country.
16:04 NATO fighter jets stationed in the Baltic and Black Sea region have taken off "many times" over the past four days to intercept Russian aircraft near the airspace of member countries, the press service of the Alliance's air force command said.
15:59 Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland want to seek increased protection of NATO's eastern flank at the Madrid summit at the end of June. This was agreed upon by the foreign ministers of the four countries at a meeting in Riga, European Truth reports. The countries propose to expand the permanent presence of the Alliance forces.
15:52 Refugees from Ukraine in Germany will increase benefits from June, writes Deutsche Welle. The amount will be the same as the German unemployed receive - 449 euros. Now Ukrainians are paid about 300 euros. To qualify for the new payments, you need to obtain a residence permit in Germany.
15:49 Russia uses ammunition depots in Transnistria to smuggle weapons. According to Vadim Skibitsky, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, exercises are held there every year using ammunition from warehouses in the village of Kolbasna. Part of the ammunition is used for combat training, part, according to military intelligence, for smuggling.
Skibitsky also said that the current situation in Transnistria is a clear signal that the Russian Federation is ready to use the region as an additional springboard for aggression not only against Ukraine, but also against Moldova. According to Skibitsky, there is a serious struggle going on in Pridnestrovie between government officials and the special services of the Russian Federation are very active.
"The terrorist acts committed on the territory of the PMR were aimed at forcing the Pridnestrovian leadership to agree to the expansion of the presence of Russian troops. In addition, explosions at the facilities will be presented as a threat to the population of the region and a signal to the leadership of the Republic of Moldova to abandon the pro-European policy," Skibitsky said and added that the attacks themselves are "a characteristic handwriting of the FSB of the Russian Federation."
"According to our information, everything that happens on the territory of Pridnestrovie is under the control of the FSB of the Russian Federation," a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense said.
15:34 Commander of the 36th Marine Brigade Sergei Volyn told CNN that the situation at Azovstal "goes beyond the scope of a humanitarian catastrophe." According to him, as a result of missile and air strikes, vital medical equipment was destroyed, which remained under the rubble of a field hospital.
"We ended up in the operating room. And all the operating equipment, everything that is necessary for operations, was destroyed, so we cannot treat our wounded, especially those with shrapnel and bullet wounds. And now we have no surgical instruments. We are also in dire need of medicine," he said.
Currently, hundreds of people, including 60 children, are in the basements of the plant. Many are injured, there is very little water and food.
15:28 Kuleba: "Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons for the sake of world peace. We then knocked on NATO's door, but it never opened. The security vacuum led to Russian aggression. The world owes Ukraine security, and we ask states to decide which They are ready to provide security guarantees.
15:25 A long curfew is introduced in Odessa - from 22:00 Sunday, May 1, to 05:00 Tuesday, May 3. In the rest of the region, restrictions will remain the same - daily from 22:00 to 05:00.
15:17 The new weapon that the United States will provide to Ukraine will change the positions of the parties in the war, but it will not be as fast as we would like, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said: "Now a large number of our military are being trained. This is a new weapon, it needs get used to it, you have to learn how to use it."
15:15 Germany will not veto the decision of the European Union on the oil embargo against Russia, said Vice-Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habek.
15:12 Ireland can send more than 1 billion euros of Russian assets frozen under EU sanctions for the restoration of Ukraine, said Foreign Minister Simon Coveney.
15:06 Estonian Defense Minister Kalle Laanet visited Kiev and held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Alexei Reznikov. According to Reznikov, the visit took place "immediately after Ramstein."
14:54 Kyiv City State Administration urges the people of Kiev not to travel by private transport without unnecessary need, in order to ensure the primary need for fuel for the military. Public transport is offered as an alternative.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses report that large queues have formed at gas stations in the capital.
14:46 The State Border Service forbade citizens in the Sumy and Chernihiv regions to approach the border closer than 1 km during the day and 20 km at night.
14:39 The Embassy of the Netherlands has resumed work in Kiev.
14:28 Britain is sending a team of war crimes experts to Ukraine to help Ukraine collect material for the International Criminal Court, Foreign Minister Liz Thrus said: "Our experts will collect evidence of Russian atrocities, including sexual violence. We will reveal the truth and hold Putin accountable ".
14:23 The Russian invaders captured two British volunteers of the Presidium Network, Associated Press and BBC write. According to preliminary data, they were kidnapped in Dneprorudny, Zaporozhye region, where they helped with the evacuation of people.
14:07 Ukraine will receive an additional 495 million euros from the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reports. This money will be transferred in addition to a grant of 88.5 million, which has already entered the Ukrainian state budget.
13:49 The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had liberated the village of Russian Lozovaya, Kharkiv region, from the invaders. Currently, it is completely under the control of Ukraine.
"This is a strategically important settlement located on the Kharkiv-Belgorod highway. It was from this suburb that during the occupation the enemy fired at the civilian infrastructure and residential areas of Kharkov," said journalist Denis Kazansky, whose message was disseminated by the intelligence department.
13:24 For the first time since the start of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta, the vessel Unity N has completed loading 71,000 tons of Ukrainian corn, Reuters reports.
13:23 Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that he had invited both Zelensky and Putin to the G20 summit in November. Both presidents accepted the invitation, writes Bloomberg.
13:05 Congressmen passed a law on lend-lease for Ukraine, which will simplify the supply of weapons, and President Biden has asked for tens of billions to help Ukrainians "in the fight for freedom." Read more about these decisions in the material What the new US aid will give .
13:03 Borrell said that the recent events in Transnistria harm the security of Moldova: "The European Union calls on the responsible parties to avoid destabilizing the situation. We strongly welcome the restrained reaction of the authorities of the Republic of Moldova, which contributes to maintaining calm in the country."
12:54 Crypto exchange Binance blocked the cryptocurrency accounts of relatives of a number of Kremlin officials, among them Lavrov's stepdaughter, Peskov's daughter, son of tycoon Malofeev. They will not be able to use their accounts to sell, purchase or transfer crypto assets.
12:51 Vinnitsa City Council renamed Moskovskaya Street to Mariupolskaya.
12:45 The units of the Russian Armed Forces, which were removed from combat missions in Mariupol, were moved closer to the JFO zone in order to encircle the Ukrainian troops, said the head of the Zaporizhzhya OVA Oleksandr Starukh: "We know that the movement of their forces is also taking place in the east of the Zaporozhye region, they have become more active there hostilities in recent days. The main direction is Gulyaipole and to the east, their goal is to reach Pokrovskoye (north of Gulyaipole, in the Dnepropetrovsk region) and encircle the Donbass."
12:43 Pavel Podvig, expert on nuclear weapons, head of the Russian Nuclear Arms project, claims that the nuclear forces of the Russian Federation are not suitable for delivering a first strike - they are designed only for a counter attack.
“There are practically no opportunities for delivering a first strike,” the expert says. “Such a strike could be carried out only by minimizing the damage to oneself from a retaliatory attack. And the USSR did not have such an opportunity, and Russia does not now either.<...> Strategic Russian forces are built precisely on the concept of a retaliatory strike. They can strike from under attack in order to guarantee that they reach the territory of the enemy."
12:36 The German press draws conclusions from the cessation of Russian gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria and warns of the likely consequences of this decision by Moscow for Germany and the European Union. Details - in the material Act of Despair Putin .
12:18 The City Council of Polish Gdansk has given one of the city squares the name of the Heroic Mariupol.
12:12 The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine has published new recommendations for the work of journalists. So, you can collect information immediately after the shelling, but publishing photos and videos from the places of hostilities is allowed only after 12 hours for military facilities and after three hours for civilian ones.
In addition, military administrations are encouraged to provide more information to the media about the destruction caused by the actions of the enemy, no later than one day after the incident.
12:09 The French Foreign Ministry announced that it expects the EU to adopt the sixth package of sanctions against Russia on oil supplies next week.
12:06 Russia from its territory - from the village of Gorodishche - on the morning of April 29 again fired at the Sumy region. Enemy forces fired more than 30 mortar rounds that hit the crossroads between three villages in the Shostka region. During another shelling, mines exploded on the outskirts of one of these villages, the State Border Service said.
12:04 Anti-aircraft missile forces of the Pivden air command received the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system from partner countries, which significantly strengthened air defense in the southern region, the command said.
11:54 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that Caliber sea-based missiles destroyed three traction electrical substations in the areas of the railway junctions of Fastov (Kiev region), Krasnoselka (Odessa region) and Polonne (Khmelnytsky region).
11:52 Poland has transferred 200 T-72 tanks to Ukraine, which will equip two tank brigades, Polish Radio reports. In addition to tanks, Ukraine received several dozen infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled howitzers 2S1 Gvozdika and MLRS Grad.
11:50 As a result of yesterday's missile attack on Kiev, Radio Liberty journalist Vera Girich died. According to her colleague Alexander Demchenko, a Russian missile hit her house.
11:47 Podolyak on the meeting between Zelensky and Putin: "I don't see that this can be done tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, as Turkey says... Unfortunately, we need to wait a bit. The talks between the two presidents today are still out of time. A little later, probably, they will be, but we want Ukraine's positions in these negotiations to be very, very powerful."
11:32 In the occupied Novoaidar, Luhansk region, local collaborator Pavel Sharogradsky was found killed. According to Ukrainian intelligence, he disappeared on April 25 and was soon found shot in the head and with wounds on his body. A criminal case of treason was initiated against him.
11:27 Occupants in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions are forcing students to donate blood en masse for their wounded, Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova said. According to her, about 700 such cases are already known.
11:22 Ukraine has turned to other countries and international organizations with a request to provide specialists and equipment for demining territories, Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky said. He explained that one day of active hostilities is equal to 30 days of demining. So, if in the Kyiv region the fighting lasted for 30-35 days, then it will take about a year and a half to clear mines.
11:18 In the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region, entrepreneurs are forced to switch to rubles, the military-civilian administration reports. Also, in the villages of Botievo and Stroganovka in the Melitopol region, the Russians demand that entrepreneurs open shops, cafes, places of recreation and leisure, provided there are no Ukrainian-made goods on the shelves of stores. Ukrainian entrepreneurs are being agitated to sell goods from Crimea and enter the ruble zone.
11:16 Ukraine received grant funding from the World Bank in the amount of 88.5 million euros. The funds will be directed to the general fund of the state budget to ensure priority social, humanitarian, health care costs, and support for internally displaced persons.
11:10 The Kiev military administration asks students, women with small children, and the elderly not to return to the city yet.
11:00 GBR stopped deliveries to Russia of components that could be used in rocket science. Deliveries were carried out by the enterprise of the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. Investigators found that the Glukhovsky quartzite quarry, owned by the offshore company of the oligarch, illegally mined high-purity quartzite, silicon and other minerals in the Banitsky deposit in the Sumy region. These components can be used for the Russian tactical missile system Tochka-U. Law enforcers are asking the court to seize corporate rights, land plots of the deposit, and property.
10:51 Yesterday, in Mariupol, the occupiers issued the child's first birth certificate in a month - on the letterhead of the "DPR", according to Mayor's adviser Petr Andryushchenko. "For the first time in Mariupol, a Russian terrorist satellite officially stole the citizenship of our Ukrainian child," he wrote.
10:47 The Federal Service for Technical Export Control of the Russian Federation informed the enterprises of the military-industrial complex about the danger of using anti-virus programs developed in the Russian Federation. An analysis of information security threats indicates that "foreign hacker groups actively exploit software vulnerabilities when implementing computer attacks on the information structure of the Russian Federation." The corresponding letter came into the possession of Ukrainian intelligence.
The document says that the main danger is associated with the use of Russian "import substitution" software products by government agencies. First of all, these are Kaspersky anti-virus programs. The level of danger associated with their use is rated from "medium" to "critical".
10:44 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that "a launcher with a combat crew of the Ukrainian Tochka-U missile system, from which yesterday a strike was struck on residential areas of Kherson, was destroyed near Gorokhovsky in the Nikolaev region."
10:40 The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation stated that "VKS with high-precision long-range weapons destroyed the production buildings of the Artem rocket and space industry enterprise in Kyiv.
10:35 During the analysis of the rubble of a residential building in the Shevchenkovsky district of Kiev, where a rocket hit yesterday, the body of the deceased was found , Klitschko said.
10:34 The General Staff announced the losses of the enemy on the morning of April 29:
personnel - about 23,000 (+200) people liquidated,
tanks - 986 (+16),
armored combat vehicles - 2418 (+29),
artillery systems - 435 (+4),
MLRS - 151 (+0),
air defense systems - 73 (+1),
aircraft - 189 (+2),
helicopters - 155 (+0),
automotive equipment - 1695 (+7),
ships/boats - 8 (+0),
tanks with fuel and lubricants - 76 (+0),
UAV operational-tactical level - 229 (+14),
special equipment - 31 (+0),
launchers OTRK / TRK - 4 (+0).
10:25 The negotiation process with Moscow has slowed down after information about the atrocities of the Russian military in the Kiev region and the Kremlin's desire to intensify military operations in the Donbass, Podolyak said in an interview with Radio Liberty.
In addition, according to the adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, the Russian Federation still has enough resources to conduct active military operations in eastern Ukraine, "and they want to get certain tactical victories in order to show that they know how to fight, so that they continue to be afraid."
10:22 In Melitopol, Russian invaders are kidnapping people en masse, Mayor Ivan Fedorov said: "They are kidnapping people at checkpoints, they have already switched to mass kidnapping. They are kidnapping all men of military age. Two weeks ago they began to offer them to join the Russian army, and today they are kidnapping at checkpoints and taken in an unknown direction. People are kept in inhuman conditions in the basement. I think they want to use them as an exchange fund or as cannon fodder to participate in operations during the war with Ukraine."
10:19 Arestovich on Ukraine's losses at the front: "We have losses, the losses are large, but the losses of the Russian side are much, much greater. The Russian army ends faster than it has time to advance. The losses of the Russian Federation are colossal, but due to the concentration of firepower they can afford the squeezing tactics."
10:17 Russian troops are moving away from Mariupol and moving towards the Zaporozhye region, a US Department of Defense spokesman said. He did not specify how many Russian troops he was talking about, but said it was "significant."
The retreat of part of the Russian troops from the Mariupol area, according to a US Department of Defense official, does not mean that the city is already considered occupied, since shelling continues.
09:52 Elon Musk, in addition to Starlink, handed over Tesla Powerwall stations to Ukraine. Fedorov said that today two outpatient clinics in Borodyanka and Irpin received solar panels and Tesla Powerwall energy saving systems. These solar panels and generators have become very popular in the US. The Powerwall energy system has high autonomy and provides backup power during power outages.
09:48 Zelensky thanked Biden: "I thank the President of the United States and the American people for their leadership in supporting Ukraine in our fight against Russian aggression. We defend common values - democracy and freedom. We appreciate US assistance. Today it is needed more than ever."
09:43 The US will "strongly support" the decision of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, Blinken said.
09:39 Russian troops carried out several successful local attacks from Kherson towards Nikolaev, the American Institute for the Study of War reported. It is also reported that the invaders have increased the pace of artillery and air strikes on Ukrainian positions on Azovstal.
In attacks directly southeast from Izyum towards Slovyansk, Russian forces have made little progress and will likely try to bypass Ukrainian defenses by attacking further west, analysts say.
The Russian army is trying to increase the pace of offensives. Probably the most important battles in the Donbass will take place in the next 2-3 weeks.
09:35 The operation to evacuate civilians from Azovstal is scheduled for Friday, April 29, a source in the OP told Reuters.
09:08 Germany is ready to stop buying Russian oil, paving the way for an EU ban on oil imports from Russia, writes WSJ. Berlin has been one of the main opponents of sanctions on Russian oil and gas. However, on Wednesday, Germany's representatives in the EU institutions lifted the country's objection to a total embargo on Russian oil, provided that Berlin gets enough time to secure alternative supplies.
08:52 Borrell commented on yesterday's attacks on Kiev: "Shocked and amazed by Russian missile attacks on Kiev and other cities of Ukraine. Russia again demonstrates blatant disregard for international law by shelling the city during the stay of UN Secretary General António Guterres and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kiril Petkov".
08:41 In the Luhansk region, the invaders fired at Severodonetsk, Lisichansk, Gornoe, Privolye, Popasnaya, and the battles for Orekhovo continue, the head of the OVA, Serhiy Gaidai, said.
08:40 In the morning, Russian troops fired at Velyka Kostroma and Maryanskoe in the Dnipropetrovsk region from Gradov, Governor Valentin Reznichenko said. Outbuildings were damaged, there were no casualties.
08:39 Kyiv City State Administration clarified that as a result of yesterday's missile attack on a residential building in the Shevchenko district of Kiev, four people were hospitalized, ten people were injured in total. In the morning, utilities began cleaning near the house.
08:37 British intelligence reports that the battle for Donbass remains Russia's main strategic direction - to achieve the stated goal of controlling the Donetsk and Lugansk regions. In these areas, the fighting was especially heavy around Lisichansk and Severodonetsk, with attempts to advance south from Izyum towards Slavyansk. But due to the strong resistance of Ukraine, the territorial gains of Russia were limited and achieved at the cost of significant losses for the Russian troops.
08:33 The UK is preparing the largest deployment of its troops in Europe since the Cold War: about 8,000 British soldiers will go to Eastern Europe in the summer for exercises against Russian aggression, Sky News reports.
Troops will be deployed from Finland and the Baltic countries to North Macedonia. They will have dozens of tanks and over 100 armored vehicles. In addition to the British, tens of thousands of military personnel from other NATO countries will take part in the exercises.
08:31 More than 1,900 missile strikes have been carried out by Russia on Ukraine since the beginning of a full-scale war, the US Department of Defense reported. Most of the strikes are in Mariupol and the JFO zone. The Pentagon noted that the vast majority of strikes against Ukraine are carried out from air bases on the territory of the Russian Federation.
08:16 A ship from Spain arrived in Poland with 200 tons of military aid for Ukraine.
07:39 Russian troops continue offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone and are actively conducting reconnaissance. Ukrainian defenders are conducting active mobile defense, and in some places they are delivering counterattacks, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in the morning report .
05:15 The United States will not succumb to nuclear blackmail and is just as ready for strategic deterrence as it has been for decades, Ambassador to Russia Sullivan said.
03:20 Arestovich said that the war unleashed by Russia on the territory of Ukraine is developing according to the principle of expansion to neighboring countries : “The shadow of the war fell on Moldova, Belarus and Russia itself. not within the borders of Ukraine. It has cast a very serious shadow, and flashes of fires are visible in this shadow."
01:34 Under the rubble of a field hospital at the Azovstal plant, at least one Ukrainian defender was killed, and about a hundred more wounded soldiers received another shell shock. The Azov Regiment reported that the blow was delivered purposefully at the hospital.
00:17 On Thursday, April 28, the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit 15 air targets of Russian invaders: one aircraft (Su-34), five cruise missiles, nine UAVs.
00:14 In the Khmelnitsky region, the enemy launched a missile attack on an infrastructure facility in one of the territorial communities of the Shepetovsky district, the fire was extinguished, said the head of the OVA Serhiy Gamaly.
#1
The "Ghost of Kyiv" has been shot down after being swarmed by Russian migs. The 29 year old Ukrainian pilot was said to have shot down 6 enemy aircraft on the first day of the invasion and up to 40 total.
IPOB Threatens Governor Uzodinma: You Won't Be Spared If You Don't Ensure Release Of 500 Imo Youths Arrested By Abba Kyari's Police Team | Sahara Reporters https://t.co/Rhz563jMyOpic.twitter.com/jMBEWV99Rj
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) has urged the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodinma to immediately facilitate the return of 500 youths allegedly arrested in the state and taken to Abuja.
This was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the group's spokesperson, Emma Powerful.
According to the statement, Uzodinma invited security agents about a year ago to arrest about 500 Biafra youths who were taken to Abuja. The group called for the immediate return of their ’brothers’, saying failure to do so will not bring peace.
IPOB further alleged that some of the arrested youths were already being returned to Imo State for prosecution but had been killed along the way by the security agents.
The group also said Friday makes it exactly a year that Ikonso, the Eastern Security Network (ESN) Commander was killed in his sleep by men of the Nigerian Army.
IPOB said Ikonso was killed for doing nothing wrong but defending Igbo land from attacks by killer herdsmen. The group further warned Governor Uzodinma to ensure that the dear departed's family house, which was burnt down, is rebuilt.
A statement from the group reads, "With deep concerns, we the global family of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) ably led by our great and indefatigable liberator Mazi Nnamdi Okwuchukwu Kanu wish to remind Biafrans, friends of Biafra and lovers of freedom across the world that this is a year our gallant comrade Ikonso was murdered by the wicked Nigerian Government and its compromised security agents.
"They murdered the innocent citizen who they saw as a threat to the evil agenda of the Fulani ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... jihadists masquerading as herdsmen in Biafra land.
"IPOB movement has been looking for the body of this man for one year and we have not seen his lifeless body and all his family houses were burnt down because he was defending Biafra land against occupation by jihadists. Other gallant Biafrans arrested by security agents around this time last year are not yet released.
"This is also one year that Hope Uzodinma and his APC party invited the military to kill innocent citizens in Imo state and they arrested and kidnapped many people who they ferried to Abuja. We are also yet to see them. They kidnapped over 500 Biafra youths in Imo State last year, and we want those youths back for prosecution if they think they committed any crime.
"We gathered through intelligence that those youths were actually being brought back from Abuja to Imo State but unfortunately Nigerian security agents who were escorting them executed them along the way of Abaji and Lokoja in Kogi State. We are about to exhaust our patience. Hope Uzodinma should please return those youths before we lose our patience.
"Hope Uzodinma should be held responsible if anything untoward happens to our comrades. He should not expect to conduct his daughter's traditional wedding in Abuja while the Igbo youths he aided in their abduction were executed by security agents. The spirit of those youths won't allow him to go on a celebration spree after making many innocent families childless.
"Hope Uzodinma should also not forget that he must rebuild the houses of Ikonso's family and his uncles which were burnt down by security agents.
"Couple of weeks back Hope Uzodinma told the general public that IPOB is not responsible for the insecurity in Imo state, but lest we forget, he has arrested many IPOB members in Imo State, killed hundreds of them while thousands are missing under his administration.
"The question is: why is Hope Uzodinma not releasing all our members and non-members he kidnapped and put in detention since last year? Since he declared openly that IPOB is not responsible for the insecurity in Imo state, why is he keeping our members in detention?
"What of those he handed over to Abba Kyari and his IRT team in Abuja? What of those put in Tiger detention facility in Imo state and many other innocent Biafrans suspected to be IPOB Members he transferred to Abuja and Kaduna to detention centres in the Northern part of Nigeria.
"IPOB Intelligence unit has it on record that there are many of IPOB members Hope Uzodinma asked his masters to bring back from Abuja where they were detained with heavy torture to Imo state but Abba Kyari’s team reluctantly agreed to return them, but on the way to Imo state Hope Uzodinma forced them to be executed, saying that he doesn't want them alive to Imo state. They were all killed along the expressway from Abuja to Lokoja. More than 70 of them were executed between Abuja and Lokoja expressway in Kogi state."
[KhaamaPress] A former army general says the Taliban ...Arabic for students... rule since the takeover has convinced him that military action is only way forward, according to sources, vowing war against the group after Eid al-Fitr.
Lt Gen Sami Sadat said that eight months of the Taliban rule has convinced him and many other Afghans that military action is the only way to move forward towards stability in Afghanistan.
Speaking for the first time about the plans, Lt Gen Sadat told the BBC he and others would "do anything and everything in our powers to make sure Afghanistan is freed from the Taliban and a democratic system is re-established."
"Until we get our freedom, until we get our free will, we will continue to fight," he said, while refusing to be drawn on a specific timeline.
The general underlined how the so-called Islamic Emirate government has been leading the country, where civil rights have been violated, restrictions on women freedom have been compromised, and target bombings have reached its peak more recently.
"What we see in Afghanistan in eight months of Taliban rule has been nothing but more religious restrictions, misquotation, misinterpretation and misuse of the scripts from the Holy Koran for political purposes," he elaborated as BBC quoted.
Lt General Sadat initially planned to give the Taliban 12 months to see if they would change, he said. "Unfortunately, every day you wake up the Taliban have had something new to do — torturing people, killing, disappearances, food shortages, child malnutrition."
Asked whether there was any alternative to another war, Lt Gen Sadat — who had been appointed in August last year to head the Afghan special forces — said they rather see an Afghanistan where all will practice their basic right without any restriction.
"We are not against the Taliban," he exclaimed, just against their current "textbook," describing an Afghanistan where "everyone fits in, not a country only for Taliban."
In recent weeks, an audio message in which the general speaks about an armed fight against the Taliban with the aim of "re-liberating" Afghanistan was leaked to the media, as BBC wrote.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... it is not clear whether Lt General Sadat allies with any of groups, including the most prominent known as the National Resistance® Front (NRF), who attempt to oust the Taliban since the takeover.
Ahmad Massoud, son of the late legendary commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, is the leading figure of NRF. Protecting his birth province Panjshir, his army fought against the Taliban for weeks last August.
"I am in contact with my brother Ahmad Massoud and we support his actions in every way, I also contact and support other resistance groups," the general said in his leaked message.
In August 15, 2021 the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, rolling back women’s rights advances and media freedom — the foremost achievements of the post-2001 reconstruction efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech.
#1
Lt Gen Sami Sadat said that eight months of the Taliban rule has convinced him and many other Afghans that military action is the only way to move forward towards stability in Afghanistan.
Posted by: ed in texas ||
04/30/2022 10:15
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#3
General Sadat appeared in Panjshir, home of the Northern Alliance v.2, last August. This is a very odd statement — what has he been doing there all this time?
[IsraelTimes] Terror leader praises Paleostinian terror attacks and condemns Arab normalization deals with the Jewish state, warning them not to let Jerusalem use them as bases to attack Iran
Dozens of Hezbollah supporters protested on Israel’s northern border on Friday marking the Iran-initiated "al-Quds Day," or Jerusalem Day, a traditional show of support for the Paleostinians, as the terror group’s leader praised recent deadly attacks inside Israel.
Usually they gather in their thousands, but after a decade of sacrificing their blood for the Ayatollah, their must be considerably fewer.
The demonstrators gathered across from the Israeli town of Metulla, waving Hezbollah, Lebanese and Iranian flags and chanting about liberating Jerusalem.
The Lebanese army was at the scene, keeping them away from the border fence.
The IDF was also monitoring the protest.
Marches by Hezbollah fighters and rallies were also held in Hezbollah neighborhoods in Beirut to mark al-Quds Day, an annual event on the last Friday of Ramadan.
In a speech to mark the protest rallies, Hezbollah leader His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... praised a string of deadly terror attacks in Israel in recent weeks and rocket attacks from Gazoo ...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamaswith about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... and Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2020 Hezbollah blew up a considerable portion of Beirut and many of its inhabitants when its ammonium nitrate facility exploded. They blamed it on... somebody else. It wasn't them though. Trust them on that. And it ain't never coming to trial... saying it showed that Paleostinians had not lost their will to resist Israel.
On Monday a rocket that was fired into Israel from Lebanon landed in an open area near Kibbutz Matzuva, close to the border, without causing damage or injuries.
The IDF responded with artillery fire against the launchers.
There have been several instances of rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel in recent years, with most blamed on Paleostinian factions in the country, not the Hezbollah terror group, which is thought to possess a massive arsenal of missiles that can reach across Israel.
However, there's more than one way to stuff a chicken... it is unlikely that holy warriors in southern Lebanon would be able to fire rockets without at least the tacit approval of the Iran-backed group, which maintains tight control over the area.
Nasrallah also warned Israel against any aggression in Lebanon during their upcoming elections, saying Hezbollah would not be "distracted" and also warned that if Israel continues to target Iran’s presence in the region, Tehran could eventually retaliate by striking deep inside Israel.
Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against Iranian targets, mostly in Syria, including three this month.
As a rule, Israel’s military does not comment on specific strikes in Syria, but has acknowledged conducting hundreds of sorties against Iran-backed groups attempting to gain a foothold in the country. It says it also attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups.
Nasrallah condemned Arab nations that have normalized ties with Israel in recent years, calling their actions "the ugliest form of hypocrisy."
The comments echoed those of Iranian Lord High Potentate and Supreme Leader of All He Surveys Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini... who spoke out against the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for normalizing ties with Israel.
"We condemn the treacherous move to normalize relations" with Israel, he said, and reiterated Iran’s support for the Paleostinian cause.
"We have always said this, we have always acted on this, and we have stood by it," Khamenei said.
Nasrallah claimed that Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... would attack any of these countries if they let Israel use them as a base for strikes on Iran.
At the main al-Quds rally in Tehran, demonstrators chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" — slogans that have become tradition in mass rallies in Iran since its revolution — and set fire to American, British and Israeli flags.
Iranian state TV later showed a variety of ballistic missiles on display at the rally, describing them as "Israel hitters."
Top Iranian officials across the country delivered fiery ...a single two-syllable word carrying connotations of both incoherence and viciousness. A fiery delivery implies an audience of rubes and yokels, preferably forming up into a mob... speeches calling for Israel’s destruction and vowing support for anyone who fights the Jewish state.
"We support any front that is formed against this criminal regime, and we will support any community that is ready to fight this criminal regime," Gen. Esmail Ghaani of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s expeditionary Quds force said at a speech in the northeastern city of Mashhad.
Iran has been marking the day, the last Friday of the Moslem holy fasting month of Ramadan, since the start of its 1979 Islamic Revolution led by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The name al-Quds Day comes after the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Rallies were also held in Pakistain and Syria.
[AnNahar] Hizbullah ...Party of God, a Leb militia inspired, founded, funded and directed by Iran. Hizbullah refers to itself as The Resistance and purports to defend Leb against Israel, with whom it has started and lost one disastrous war to date, though it did claim victory... chief Sayyed His Eminence Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah ...The satrap of the Medes and the Persians in Leb... on Friday announced that Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...The land area formerly occupied by the state of Lebanon, before that Phoenicia... ’s upcoming parliamentary elections will not prevent his group from responding to any Israeli hostile act.
"I tell the Zionists that their planned exercises do not scare us but we will be prepared," Nasrallah said in a speech marking Quds Day, referring to Israeli military exercises that will begin in early May.
"Over the past few weeks, our jihadist formations were conducting silent exercises," Nasrallah revealed.
"When the Israeli exercises begin, the resistance in Lebanon will be at the highest levels of preparedness and readiness. We tell the Israeli enemy not to bet on exhaustion or hunger. Any act or foolishness will be met with an immediate response," he warned.
"Elections will not keep us busy from responding," Nasrallah said.
Separately, Hizbullah’s chief said that Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... "will strike Israel directly" should the "attacks on Iranian assets in the region continue."
As for the Paleostinian cause, Nasrallah said that the aim behind the "sanctions and siege" on some countries and movements is "pushing us all to abandon Paleostine and Jerusalem and our water, oil and gas."
"The military confrontations have proven to be capable of achieving victories and defeating the enemy, and this path must continue," Nasrallah added.
"The Paleostinians told the Israelis over the past weeks that they cannot occupy Paleostine and still enjoy security," he said.
"Liberating Paleostine might not need great armies or weapons, but rather martyrdom fighters," Nasrallah noted.
Reiterating "the importance of the regional equation for protecting Jerusalem and al-Aqsa," Nasrallah called on the region’s nations to "tell Israel that Jerusalem’s demise would mean Israel’s demise."
"This generation, God willing, will pray in Jerusalem," Nasrallah concluded.
[PoliticalInsider] Instead of relying on China to source and manufacture the materials needed for a range of products including electric vehicles, drones and wind turbines, U.S. companies like Las Vegas-based MP Materials and AllianceTexas are creating a U.S.-based alternative.
MP Materials broke ground on its first rare earth metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday. It the first-of-its kind facility to be built in Texas, and in the U.S.
"Bringing magnetics capabilities home is transformational for MP Materials and America’s supply chains," James Litinsky, chairman and CEO of MP Materials, said. His company "is leading the restoration of the full supply chain and the revitalization of the American manufacturing spirit in our sector."
MP Materials is the largest producer of rare earth materials in the Western Hemisphere. It owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party,, the only active and scaled rare earth production site in North America.
The majority of mining for rare earth materials and 92% of global magnet production occurs in China, the U.S. Department of Energy reports.
Separated rare earth elements are critical components necessary to produce the most powerful and efficient magnets used in electric vehicles, drones, defense systems, wind turbines and other advanced technologies. MP Materials is developing U.S. metal, alloy and magnet manufacturing capacity to build them domestically as an alternative to U.S. dependence on China and other countries, it announced in a statement.
The company’s invested $700 million to fully restore the U.S. rare earth magnetics supply chain in two years, it says, with the new Fort Worth facility playing a major role.
The new facility, being built in Hillwood’s 27,000-acre, mixed-use development, will create an estimated 150 high-skilled jobs and 1,300 indirect jobs once operational in 2023.
Hitting the ground running:
Under a definitive and binding supply agreement announced last December, MP Materials will supply U.S.-sourced and manufactured rare earth materials, alloy, and finished magnets to General Motors for it to use to build a range of electric vehicles. The new Fort Worth facility will be able to produce approximately 1,000 tonnes of neodymium-iron-boron magnets a year. This represents only 1% of the world’s supply but it’s enough to support the production of approximately 500,000 EV traction motors, with room to scale, MP Materials says.
Last July, U.S. Defense Department representatives visited the Mountain Pass production facility to determine how MP Materials could develop domestic-sourced critical minerals for defense and commercial manufacturing. By February, the Defense Department awarded the company $35 million to refine and separate heavy rare earth elements at its California facility.
The refined feedstock from Mountain Pass will be transformed into finished products in Texas in order to deliver an American-based end-to-end supply chain. Starting in California with mining, the refining and production of metal, alloy, and magnet manufacturing. Recycling would be completed in Texas, MP Materials said.
Since February, the Department of Defense has spent more than $100 million on projects to expand domestic rare earth element processing capabilities and develop rare earth supply chain resiliency, it says.
[Townhall] A Texas rancher has offered billionaire Elon Musk free land to build a new headquarters for Twitter, his latest acquisition.
Jim Schwertner, CEO and President of Capitol Land & Livestock, made the offer on the social media platform Tuesday, telling Musk if he moved the company to Schwertner, Texas, he’d give him 100 acres for free.
The main goal is to help his community, Schwertner said, adding that he’s "very serious about the offer."
The area offers affordable housing options, unlike in California, where Twitter is currently based.
"Elon, Move twitter to Schwertner, TX , 38 miles North of Austin and we will give you 100 Acres for FREE," Schwertner tweeted on Tuesday. Sorry, we'll not be able to offer relocation allowances to our employees.
"None of the billions of dollars being paid to the U.S. Treasury or the dollars being freed up for current investors of Twitter are the result of anything except the actions of Musk."
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin
[ColonelCassad] 1. Mariupol.
The grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at Azovstal is completely blocked and is subjected to constant attacks. Unable to escape, stocks are running out. A significant part of the forces of the allied forces from near Mariupol were transferred to the Donetsk and Zaporozhye directions.
2. Zaporozhye.
On the line Vasilievka-Orekhov-Gulyaipole without any changes. Fighting continues on the near approaches to Gulyai-Pole and settlements to the east of it.
3. Nikolaev.
The enemy was pushed back in the direction of Nikolaev itself, having suffered heavy losses. Attempts to counterattack ended unsuccessfully. Attempts to activate the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol directions have also been stopped.
4. Odessa.
The city is preparing for a possible start of hostilities in the event of a breakthrough of Russian troops near Nikolaev. There are also signs of an increase in the NATO grouping in Romania, which may enter the territory of Moldova and the Odessa region.
5. Ugledar.
The enemy is holding the Novomikhailovka-Ugledar-Velikaya Novoselovka front line.
6. Marinka.
Fighting continues in the slag heap area. There is no significant progress in the village yet. The DPR army controls about 35-40 percentof the territory of Maryinka.
7. Avdievka.
In Avdievka itself, there are no changes. To the north, fighting is going on near the Konstantinovka-Avdievka highway, in the area of Novoselka-2 and Novobakhmutovka. There are also battles in the Troitsky area.
8. LPR.
Fights in the industrial zone of Rubizhne, where the remnants of the Armed Forces of Ukraine defended themselves in the southern districts of the city. There are battles for Orekhovo, south of Lisichansk, as well as on the outskirts of Severodonetsk.
9. Izyum.
In the Oskol area, the remnants of a free combat group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a total number of up to 1,000 people fell into the operational environment. Fighting continues in the Pashkov area, north of the Barvenkovo-Slavyansk highway. Fighting continues in the area of Yampol and Krasny Liman.
10. Kharkov.
Fighting continues for the village of Russkaya Lozovaya on the northern outskirts of Kharkov. The enemy is also trying to be active, relying on the Zolochevsky fortified area, as well as to the east of Chuguev.
PS. A fragment of a Natsik's notepad from Azov, where there is a note that it is necessary to get rid of "refuseniks" (those who refuse to fight). During the assault on Mariupol, soldiers shot by the Nazis were repeatedly found, who wanted to surrender or escape, mixing with the civilian population.
[Townhall] It's been a refrain from Republicans and some (honest) Democrats since President Joe Biden ...... 46th president of the U.S. Being a self-defined foreign policy whiz kid means never having to say you're sorry...... took office and U.S. gas prices rose to all-time highs earlier this spring: Biden's decision to kill and over-regulate domestic energy projects has made the U.S. dependent on oil from foreign foes. But instead of reversing his oil and gas-killing policies — all part of Biden's stated commitment to ending fossil fuels — in order to give Americans relief, the Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft ...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the adults in charge of the series of calamities characteristic of the administration of a mentally challenged geriatric case... has blamed everyone but the president, from Vladimir Putin
Continued on Page 49
[IsraelTimes] Footage shows car drive up to entrance of settlement, two men open fire toward a guard post before fleeing; security forces searching area; nearby communities on lockdown
An Israeli security guard was shot and killed in an apparent terror attack near the entrance to the West Bank settlement of Ariel on Friday night, officials said.
Security camera footage from the scene showed a blue Suzuki vehicle driving up to a guard post, where a person in the passenger seat opens fire. The gunman and the driver then both get out and continue to fire into the guard post before driving off.
The Magen David Adom ambulance service said its medics declared the man dead at the scene.
"When we arrived at the scene we saw a man in his twenties unconscious with gunshot wounds, he was not breathing and had no pulse," MDA medic Tomer Fine said.
Ariel and other settlements of the area issued a lockdown order over fears the button men may attack again.
Large security forces began to block off roads as police and the military launched a massive manhunt for the button men. Local security officials said they did not know where the vehicle headed after the attack.
At least one person was killed while many others were maimed when coppers opened fire on members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN),
......why they’re still running around is beyond me, given that Nigeria declared them a terror group in 2019. Their big turban is Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, previously the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Nigeria before he converted to Shi'ism after a visit to Iran, becoming a fiery Iranian sock puppet. Like the Muslim Brotherhood, IMN’s spinoffs, including Boko Haram/ISWAP, are much more violent.
popularly known as Shiites during annual Quds Day rally in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Quds Day, which uses the Arabic name for Jerusalem, is a Paleostinian solidarity day held every year by IMN members on the last Friday of the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan.
An eyewitness, who spoke with SaharaReporters, disclosed that the IMN members were peacefully going about their protest
...peaceful as in mostly non-violent, as is their wont...
when coppers emerged all of a sudden and began firing live bullets at them.
Unexpectedly.
He said others who sustained bullet wounds and are currently battling for their lives in hospital.
Disney restored the gay kiss between Lightyear character Alisha Hawthorne (voiced by actress Uzo Aduba) and another female character
The kiss was previous removed from the film before being reinstated in March after Pixar employees work aa letter to CEO Bob Chapek
Pixar employees accused the company of hiding same-sex affection in their films
The kiss reportedly happens within the first 30 minutes of the film, which was showed at CinemaCon on Wednesday
The restoration of the kiss is due to Disney's ongoing response to Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' bill
The kiss happens between Buzz Lightyear's friend Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and another female character within the first 30 minutes of the film, which was shown to audiences at CinemaCon on Wednesday.
In addition, at least four recent feature films were altered to appease the views of leadership in China, Russia and the Middle East.
The company has previously kept moments of LGBT affection in its American films, but removed or changed them in its more conservative markets, including in Russia and the Middle East.
If they win this one, they’ll go after all the other companies that pulled out, one after another. Interesting times, indeed.
A Russian law firm says it has filed a lawsuit against #US tech giant #Apple seeking 90 million rubles ($1.28 million) in damages for consumers affected by Apple withdrawing its payment service from #Russia.https://t.co/WwPIy5yN1y
From the Tweet:
Graphic video that shows a Russian naval infantryman shot while running to a building in Mariupol, severing an artery. A BTR-82 arrives at the end to help with the evacuation. According to the Russian source, the serviceman did not survive.
Graphic video that shows a Russian naval infantryman shot while running to a building in Mariupol, severing an artery. A BTR-82 arrives at the end to help with the evacuation. According to the Russian source, the serviceman did not survive. https://t.co/g8eflW8l3Ipic.twitter.com/ADXfB9fUOX
Two Western officials told The Financial Times that Moscow has withdrawn more than a thousand “Syrian and Russian mercenaries” that were deployed in Libya. An indication that the invasion of Ukraine is putting pressure on Moscow’s foreign military deployments.
The report stated that in recent weeks, Russia withdrew about 200 mercenaries from the special military “Wagner Group”, and about a thousand Syrians, from Libya.
A regional official said about 5,000 mercenaries are still in Libya, and are working for Russia. A prominent Libyan official confirmed that it had “withdrawn mercenaries from his country”, without specifying their number.
In recent years, the deployment of Russian mercenaries has given Moscow a foothold in North and West Africa. In countries such as the Central African Republic and Mali, the Kremlin has exploited widespread resentment against France, the former colonial power, to consolidate its influence. Libya remains the focus of this expansion on the continent, according to the Financial Times.
However, the costs of the invasion of Ukraine began to pressure Russian deployments, as it was reported that about 200 Wagner militants had left the Central African Republic.
Russia has reduced its targets in Ukraine, after field setbacks. It also incurred huge losses, believed to be much more than the 1,351 soldiers it admitted to having died in late March.
On Tuesday, the United Kingdom announced the death of at least 15,000 Russian soldiers, in the first two months of the war.
The Financial Times quoted Western officials as saying that Russia had not intended to withdraw any of its soldiers from Libya. The decision was taken after it failed to make huge gains in Ukraine.
The British Ministry of Defense announced in late March, that these setbacks meant that “Russia has likely been forced to prioritize (transfer) Wagner personnel to Ukraine, over operations in Africa and Syria.”
Three Western officials said that the Wagner militants withdrew from Libya, in order to be deployed in Ukraine. Officials in Kyiv said that Syrian militants were killed, while participating in the battles alongside the Russians on the front lines.
Last month, Turkey closed its airspace to Russian military flights from Libya and Syria. This was amid fears of transferring fighters and equipment to Ukraine, according to Turkish and Western officials,
“The Turks had evidence that the Russians were moving personnel, and possibly equipment, (from Syria and Libya) to the battlefield in Ukraine,” the Western official said, noting that Ankara publicly announced the ban last Saturday.
[AlAhram] More than 3,000 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean and Atlantic while trying to reach Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... last year -- double the toll from 2020, the United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... said Friday.
A fresh report from the UN refugee agency demanded urgent action to combat surging deaths among refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants colonists trying to reach Europe.
Last year, a total of 3,077 people were lost while trying to cross the Mediterranean and Atlantic routes to the continent, the report showed, up from 1,544 in 2020.
"Alarmingly, since the beginning of the year, an additional 478 people have also died or gone missing at sea," UNHCR spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told news hounds in Geneva.
The report showed that for 2021, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while another 1,153 perished on the North African maritime route to the Canary Islands.
"Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats, many of which capsized or were deflated leading to the loss of life," Mantoo said.
The sea journey from countries on the West African coast such as Mauritania and Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... to the Canary Islands was particularly perilous, she said, pointing out that the crossing could take up to 10 days.
"Many boats drifted off course or otherwise went missing without a trace in these waters," she said.
The UNHCR report cautioned that land routes were also "highly dangerous".
"Even greater numbers may have died on journeys through the Sahara Desert and remote border areas, in detention centres, or while in the captivity of smugglers or traffickers," Mantoo said.
[IsraelTimes] Prosecutors allege Muhammad Gassan Mahajina, Hassan Mahajina knew the IS button men who killed 2 border cops last month intended to carry out attack, with latter helping them get ammo
Prosecutors on Friday filed charges against a pair of Umm al-Fahm residents for allegedly failing to prevent a deadly terror attack last month in Hadera by Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... supporters from the northern Arab Israeli city.
Cousins Ibrahim and Ayman Ighbariah killed two killed Border Police officers in the attack on March 27, before being rubbed out by members of an undercover police unit who were eating at a nearby restaurant. The shooting was later claimed by Islamic State.
The shooting came days after another Arab Israeli supporter of the jihadist group killed four Israelis in a combined stabbing and ramming attack in Beersheba, and was followed by deadly terror shootings by Paleostinians in Bnei Brak and Tel Aviv that left eight people dead.
According to the indictment filed at the Hadera Magistrate’s Court, Hassan Mahajina, 18, and Muhammad Gassan Mahajina, 26, knew the Islamic State button men for years before the attack. It said Ibrahim and Ayman Ighbariah held meetings at the latter’s home that were attended by Muhammad Gassan Mahajina and others, during which the cousins would praise IS and watch videos of its operatives carrying out attacks and killing civilians.
In February, Muhammad Gassan Mahajina and Ayman Ighbariah allegedly reached out to Hassan Mahajina several times about acquiring two boxes of pistol ammunition. The indictment said Mahajina brokered a deal for the bullets and gave them to Ighbariah, whose later request for assistance in obtaining a rifle he refused.
Prosecutors said that as the cousins planned the attack in March, Muhammad Gassan Mahajina approached Hassan Mahajina and asked to speak privately with him. During the conversation, he allegedly told Hassan Mahajina to stay away from Ayman Ighbariah as he was preparing to soon carry out an attack and was only missing a gun, according to the indictment.
Muhammad Gassan Mahajina was charged with not preventing a terror attack. Hassan Mahajina was indicted on the same charge as well as for alleged weapons offenses and attempting to use a weapon for terrorism.
Since the Hadera shooting, in which 19-year-old officers Yazan Falah and Shirel Aboukrat were killed, security forces have arrested numerous Arab Israelis with suspected links to Islamic State, which has urged its supporters in Israel to launch further attacks.
Prosecutors on Friday also filed indictments against two brothers from the northern village of Mu’awiya for their alleged IS ties.
The brothers Mutassim Mahmeed, 29, and Jamal Mahmeed, 20, were charged with belonging to a terror group, training for terror purposes, using weapons for terror purposes, and other weapons offensives that the indictment said were committed after they swore allegiance to Islamic State.
The two were also allegedly planning to fight on behalf of IS in an unspecified African country.
Libya? Nigeria? Mali? So many possibilities, so few hints...
The indictment said that over the past two years, the brothers became increasingly drawn to Islamic State and in February bought a pistol, which along with a magazine and ammunition were later seized by police.
Prosecutors requested the suspects remain in jug until legal proceedings end.
The Nigerian Military High Command says its troops have killed a prominent Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of West Africa Province (ISWAP) Commander, Abubakar Dan-Buduma.
According to the military, over 85 bad boyz were potted alongside the ISWAP commander.
It also said the troops rescued 848 civilians and arrested 119 gunnies in Northwestern Nigeria in separate operations.
Maj.-Gen. Benard Onyeuko, the front man for the military, also told journalists in Abuja on Thursday that troops also arrested terrorists’ informants and logistics suppliers between April 7 and 28, 2022.
Onyeuko said 1,158 gunnies and their families comprising 164 men, 367 women and 627 children had surrendered to the military in the last three weeks.
Onyeuko said, "Troops neutralised 23 terrorists, rescued 619 civilians, and arrested 19 terrorists. Troops responded to a distress call of terrorists’ attack at Wanzamai in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
"Troops mobilised to the village and engaged the terrorist where scores of the bad boyz were potted. In the cause of the operation troops rescued 32 women and 18 children.
"Also, within the period under review, troops recovered 592 rustled cattle. Troops also rescued 179 civilians, neutralized 62 gunnies and apprehended 100 terrorists.
"The land component of Operation Hadin Kai with support of the air components conducted an offensive operation in Arina Woje in Marte Local Government Area of Borno state and neutralized a prominent Islamic State of West Africa Province Commander Abubakar Dan-Buduma and scores of the terrorists.
"Also, a notorious informant and logistic supplier to the Islamic State of West Africa Mallam Abba Sidi Lawan was arrested at Auno town in Konduga Local Government Area of Borno state.
"Similarly, troops arrested Abdurrazaq Hudu a logistics supplier of Islamic State of West Africa Province at Mutum Biyu village in Gassol Local Government Area of Taraba state."
The Nigerian Army has said troops of Operation Desert Sanity neutralised several Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) and Boko Haram terrorists in Borno, northeast Nigeria.
It said the troops also killed the Amir (commander) and spiritual head of Galta, close to Mandara Mountain in the South of Borno, during an operation around Manjo Ali Qere in the state.
The army in a post on its official Twitter handle on Friday morning said arms and ammunition were also recovered during the operation.
“Gallant Troops of Operation Desert Sanity neutralized several ISWAP/BokoHaram terrorists including the Amir & spiritual head of Galta during an aggressive clearance operation around Manjo Ali Qere in Borno State on Thur 28 April 2022. Arms & Ammunition were also captured,” the army wrote.
[BenarNews] Five suspected pro-Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems.... murderous Moslems and a soldier were killed in a gunbattle when government forces stormed the holy warriors’ jungle camp in the southern Philippines, the military said Friday.
The clash that took place on Thursday outside the remote town of Butig in Lanao del Sur province was the deadliest during the holy month of Ramadan involving suspected Islamic bad boys. Ramadan in the Philippines ends on Sunday evening.
"Five members of the Daulah Islamiyah-Maute Group were killed," said Brig. Gen. Jose Maria Cuerpo II, commander of the 103rd Infantry Brigade, adding that a soldier was killed and a second was injured during the intense ground and air attacks.
"Daulah Islamiyah" means "Islamic State" in the local language. The group has members from several Filipino bad boy factions including the Maute Group fighting out of Lanao.
Cuerpo said the troops launched the operation following reports from residents weeks ago about the presence of gunnies in the mountainous part of the village of Ragayan. Those complaints corroborated intelligence reports about an alleged terror group stockpiling construction materials and food supplies in the area.
"The encounter is proof that the forces of Evil are out to disrupt the peace whenever they are capable," Cuerpo told news hounds.
"It is for this reason that the Army is aggressive in its counter-terrorism operations. We will never let them succeed. Despite the unfortunate loss of one of our brothers-in-arms, we will never abandon the fight against forces of Evil wherever they may be."
FOUR-HOUR CLASH
Local battalion commander Lt. Col. Romulus Rabara, who led the assault on Thursday, said about 40 members of the Maute Group were present in the area, precipitating a four-hour gunbattle. Troops attacked with rounds of heavy artillery, Rabara said Friday, adding that Air Force attack helicopters provided air support to the ground offensive.
Rabara told news hounds he believed other murderous Moslem could have been injured, based on radio monitoring on the ground.
After the clash, troops recovered four high-powered firearms, including a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, ammunition, and improvised landmine and other materials.
Since January across the southern Philippines, troops have killed nearly 70 Daulah Islamiyah bad boys, 109 Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters ...a MILF splinter group aligned with the Islamic State... (BIFF), and 49 Abu Sayyaf ...also known as al-Harakat al-Islamiyya, an Islamist terror group based in Jolo, Basilan and Zamboanga. Since its inception in the early 1990s, the group has carried out bombings, kidnappings, murders, head choppings, and extortion in their uniquely Islamic attempt to set up an independent Moslem province in the Philippines. Abu Sayyaf forces probably number less than 300 cadres. The group is closely allied with remnants of Indonesia's Jemaah Islamiya and has loose ties with MILF and MNLF who sometimes provide cannon fodder... holy warriors, according to military records.
BIFF is a breakaway of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a former separatist group that signed a peace deal with the government and heads a transitional government in a Moslem autonomous region in the south. Abu Sayyaf is known for kidnappings, beheadings and kabooms. One of its factions is allied with the Islamic State
In May 2017, Maute group leaders and others launched the siege of Marawi, the capital of Lanao del Sur, joined by murderous Moslems from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. The attack lasted five months and as many as 1,200 bad boys, troops, and non-combatants were killed before the military, supported by foreign intelligence, regained control of the southern Philippine city.
Five years later, some areas of Marawi continue to remain inaccessible because of unwent kaboom! ordnance that has yet to be removed. Thousands of citizens remain in transitional centers..
A large Moslem minority lives in the southern part of the Philippines, Asia’s only predominantly Catholic nation.
If the Talibs cannot provide peace and prosperity, they demonstrate they do not have Allah’s approval...
[ToloNews] The corpse count from two blasts in Mazar-e-Sharif on Thursday evening has risen to 11, and the number of injured to 17.
Mohammad Asif Waziri, front man for the Balkh Police Command, said that the first blast occurred in the 3rd PD and the second in the 9th PD of Mazar-e-Sharif. According to Waziri, both blasts were caused by explosives placed in minibuses.
"We arrested the perpetrators of the Seh Dokan incident and brought them to justice. We will arrest the perpetrators of this case as soon as possible and bring them to justice," said Mohammad Asif Waziri, front man for the Balkh Police Command.
"We are completely tired of this situation. A few days ago, we had dozens of deaders and maimed. Last night, we had 14 to 15 deaders in this incident and we had more than twenty maimed," said Amir Khan, an eyewitness.
The victims of both blasts are civilians.
According to hospital sources, the condition of seven of the injured is critical, and three of the injured have had their legs amputated.
"Among the deaders are two women and a child, and the other seven are men," said Najibullah Tavana, director of Balkh's public health department.
Mohammad Zaman, along with his brother and nephew, were maimed in the first blast on Thursday as they were about to leave a shop. The legs of his 15-year-old nephew have been amputated.
"We were really stunned, we were in a situation where I could not think of anything for a moment about what to do," said Mohammad Zaman's niece.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pie fight, Bella opened her mouth at precisely the wrong moment... in one of the cemeteries, thirteen graves have been prepared for the victims, in which the bodies of two victims have been buried.
Thirteen-year-old Mohammad Yasin, who has lost his father, says he wishes that his peers will not lose their fathers like him.
"We are five members in the family, my father was martyred while selling (mobile phone) cards. I ask the government that no more children lose their fathers like me," said Mohammad Yasin, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif.
ISIS group grabbed credit for both blasts.
This comes as last Thursday a blast occurred in the Seh Dekan mosque in Mazar-e-Sharif in which 31 worshipers were killed and 87 others were maimed.
Yesterday we had the attacks in Mazar-e-Sharif claimed by ISIS, today we discover they once again attacked Shiites.
[Rudaw] The streets of Tehran on Friday morning were the scene of the Iranian forces’ latest developed tactical missile, with a range long enough to target Israeli cities, sending a strong message to Iran’s regional foe on Quds Day.
More vapourware for the collection, no doubt.
Thousands of Iranians erupted into the streets of the country on the last Friday of Ramadan to mark Quds Day, an annual day of protest initiated by Iran ...The nation is noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence... to support the Paleostinian cause.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFrontInfo] 22:40 VFU shelled the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, 1 person was killed and 3 more were injured, - DPR JCCC 21:40 Preliminary information was received through the operational line of the DPR JCCC about the death of one and the wounding of three civilians as a result of the shelling of the AFU of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. There is also information about damage to the housing stock and civilian infrastructure.
20:22 The Armed Forces of Ukraine fired at the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, firing 15 rockets from the BM-21 Grad. The representative office of the DPR in the JCCC stated.
20:20 Military investigators of the Investigative Committee of Russia recorded the consequences of the shelling of the city of Stakhanov by Ukrainian armed forces, the agency reports.
“It has been established that on the night of April 27-28, the command of the military unit, knowing that civilians who do not take part in hostilities live on the territory of Stakhanov, gave an illegal order to fire on it from various types of weapons, including artillery, in order to destruction of the local population and destruction of civilian infrastructure. As a result of the incident, private households were damaged, two people received shrapnel wounds, one of whom died,» the message says.
20:16 Shelling was recorded from the side of the armed formations of Ukraine: 18.10 from the direction of the settlement. Kamyshevakh along the settlement Pervomaisk with the use of artillery guns 152mm (four shells).
20:15 The Russian Investigative Committee is investigating the circumstances of the shelling by Ukrainian nationalists of one of the monasteries in the LPR.
20:14 A family of three was able to leave the Azovstal plant, Rossiya-24 TV channel reports.
19:00 Since the beginning of the current day, Ukrainian Nazis have fired more than a hundred shells of 122mm and 120mm caliber in the DPR. Seven settlements came under fire, where 11 residential buildings and two civilian infrastructure facilities were damaged.
19:00 During the day, under the fire of Kyiv punishers, one civilian of the DPR was killed. Another person was injured.
19:00 Since the beginning of the current day, the forces of the People's Militia of the DPR have destroyed 26 Ukrainian nationalists, eight firing points, one infantry fighting vehicle and one armored personnel carrier. Two 122mm D-30 howitzers and two cargo vehicles were captured.
18:19 DPR detained an OSCE SMM officer on suspicion of espionage.
17:29 Kyiv militants fired on Zolote-5 in the LPR. They fired five 120mm mines at him. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
17:07 Kyiv punishers shelled Gorlovka in the DPR. They fired five shells from an anti-tank grenade launcher into the city. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
16:24 Ukrainian Nazis fired at Shirokaya Balka and Lozovoe in the DPR. They fired 19 grenades at them. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
16:24 On Friday, 125 people, including 22 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoe.
15:27 The fire at the oil depot in Donetsk was extinguished. The object caught fire as a result of shelling from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
15:18 Kirovsky district of Donetsk: houses are on fire. The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to hit the area with artillery.
14:54 Kyiv punishers fired at the Kirovsky district of Donetsk. They fired seven 122mm shells at him. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
14:12 Kyiv Nazis fired at Olginka in the DPR. Four people were injured.
13:42 Another Ukrainian "heroes" tried to escape from Mariupol dressed as a woman. The border guard and the fighter of the National Guard were caught at the exit from the city. During interrogation, like all Ukrainian soldiers, they said that they did not want to fight, they worked in the kitchen, and they joined the army because of benefits and pensions.
12:36 Ukrainian punishers fired five rockets from the Grad MLRS in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
12:36 Kyiv Nazis fired at Yasinovataya in the DPR. They fired six 122mm rounds at her. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
11:45 Ukrainian Nazis fired at Pervomaisk in the LPR. They fired five 122mm shells at him. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
11:45 The People's Militia of the DPR, with the support of the Russian army, has already liberated 173 settlements.
11:45 Ukrainian militants fired at the Petrovsky district of Donetsk. They fired five 122mm shells at him. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
10:30 Over the past day, Ukrainian Nazis fired more than a hundred shells of 122mm, 120mm and 82mm caliber in the DPR. Nine settlements came under fire, where 56 houses, ten infrastructure facilities and two cars were damaged.
10:30 Over the past day in the DPR, under the fire of Ukrainian punishers, seven civilians were killed, including one child. In addition, another 54 were injured, including five children.
10:30 Over the past day, the forces of the People's Militia of the DPR destroyed 52 Ukrainian nationalists, two firing positions of 122mm D-30 howitzers, one infantry fighting vehicle, one armored personnel carrier and two cargo vehicles. One armored personnel carrier and one cargo vehicle were captured.
10:20 During the day, the forces of the People's Militia of the LPR destroyed 15 Ukrainian militants.
10:20 More than 600 people, including 80 children, were evacuated from Mariupol to Bezymennoye in a day.
09:32 A civilian in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk died as a result of shelling by Kyiv militants. Another person was injured.
09:29. The Kyiv regime intends on Friday to try to get the Azov militants out of Mariupol. A source in the Ukrainian presidential administration told Reuters that "an operation to evacuate civilians" from Azovstal is scheduled for Friday.
08:42 Ukrainian Nazis fired at Yasinovataya in the DPR. They fired three 122mm shells at her. Information about the victims and destruction is being specified.
08:20 During the day, fire was opened on Pervomaisk in the LPR six times. Kyiv Nazis used howitzers and RZSO Grad. Four civilians were injured, nine buildings were destroyed.
08:20 A resident of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, born in 1995, was injured as a result of shelling by Ukrainian militants.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[ColonelCassad] Quite often we encounter a lack of understanding by ordinary people of what is happening at the front. In some ways, this is the fault of television experts, who for eight years have dispersed jingoistic patriotism about “worthless Ukrainians”. In some ways, this is a banal lack of understanding of the specifics of military operations in the region.
In the Kharkov and Lugansk regions, relatively slow rates of advance of the allied troops are maintained. In the south, in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions, progress is almost imperceptible at all.
Therefore, some may have an erroneous idea that the second phase of the NMD announced by the Russian military command has stalled.
However, it is not.
The main task of the second phase involves the establishment of complete control over the Donbass. And here it is necessary to take into account several factors:
▪️The Donbass grouping of the Armed Forces of Ukraine consists of the most trained and motivated units, including those deployed from Western Ukraine.
▪️The enemy had eight years to think over and implement a defense in depth along the entire line of contact with the forces of the LPR and DPR.
▪️The Ukrainian side deliberately does not evacuate the population from the combat zone, using civilians as human shields. Evacuation is carried out only when military personnel mix with civilians as part of the evacuation convoys.
All this, of course, complicates the main task of the second phase of the SVO, but does not make it impossible.
Currently, the allied forces are making active attempts to break into the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in several places at once:
▪️Slowly but surely there is progress in the Izyum direction.
▪️The allied forces have completed the operational encirclement of Liman: the entire area is under the fire control of the Russian side.
▪️The battles for Rubizhne continue, where the enemy's defense is gradually being crushed.
▪️The people's militia of the LPR liquidated a powerful fortified area in Novotoshkovsky and advanced towards Orekhovo.
▪️The assault on Popasna continues: for a month and a half regular troops, "Kadyrovtsy" and "Wagnerites" have been slowly taking the city.
Popasnaya is called almost the Stalingrad of the current special operation. The comparison, although overly pretentious, is still correct. Yes, there is a successful operation to liberate Mariupol.
But if we compare the scale of the forces and means involved, as well as the prospects for the operation, then Popasnaya is one of the critical points for the success of the second phase of the NWO.
What gives control over Popasna:
▪️the ability to continue the offensive simultaneously in several directions;
▪️exit to a large transport hub - the city of Bakhmut, the occupation of which will disrupt the supply of part of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;
▪️the possibility of creating several boilers with cutting off the Slavic-Kramatorsk group from the rest of the forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass.
Understanding these prospects, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine transferred part of the units from the Rubizhne-Severodonetsk-Lysichansk agglomeration to Popasnaya. This made it possible to partially compensate for the losses suffered by the 24th Lviv mechanized brigade.
And although the allied forces already control most of the city, the assault on Popasna is still one of the most difficult operations at once for several reasons.
Difficulties of Popasnaya
▪️The settlement is located on a hill, where there is a whole network of natural water obstacles. This significantly slowed down the pace of the offensive in the early days.
▪️For 8 years, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have made a powerful fortified area out of the city, surrounding it (especially along the southern outskirts) with a system of platoon and company strongholds, which are interconnected by communications. These communications make it possible to covertly transfer personnel and armored vehicles to firing positions with the possibility of prompt withdrawal to shelters.
▪️The allied forces will probably deal with the liquidation of strongholds, where units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now trying to withdraw from the city, after the liberation of the territory of Popasna itself.
▪️Most of the city is a private sector, in which Ukrainian servicemen dug trenches, trenches and equipped dugouts in the basements. Cleaning every house takes a lot of time and effort.
▪️In rare multi-storey buildings, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine created positions for snipers and fire spotters.
▪️There are still civilians in Popasna, which does not allow the allied forces to fully use aviation and artillery.
And so it turns out that it will take more time to storm a town of twenty thousand than to liberate half a million Mariupol.
However, this operation is gradually coming to an end.
At the moment
▪️Under the control of the allied forces is the entire eastern part of the city, the railway station "Popasnaya-1", the building of the local administration.
▪️Several strongholds were liquidated around the city.
▪️There is an additional cleansing of the southwestern outskirts and preparations for an offensive towards the Popasnyansky car repair plant.
▪️The servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine gradually understand the futility of further resistance and surrender in small groups.
The result of Popasna's liberation will not be long in coming, and the second phase of the special military operation will proceed at a different speed.
1. Yampol is being cleared or has already been cleared.
2. Up to 1000 Vushnikov are pressed to the river near Oskol.
3. Fighting on the outskirts of the Red Estuary.
4. Between Krasny Liman and Slavyansk yesterday the Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up the railway bridge.
5. Fighting continues in the area of the village of Pashkovo south of Kurulka, a few kilometers from the Barvenkovo-Slavyansk highway.
6. Also ongoing fighting for Orekhovo west of Novotoshkovsky.
Both sides note heavy losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the fire impact of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
[Townhall] A transgender inmate at Rikers Island reportedly raped a female prisoner and has been sentenced to seven years, the New York Post reported Monday.
Ramel "Diamond" Blount, 33, pleaded guilty to attempted rape on April 7. Investigators said in February, Blount, who lived in the female section of Rikers, approached a female inmate in the restroom after she finished showering and raped her.
The victim reported the rape to officials at the prison who then administered a rape kit. The results matched Blount’s DNA recorded in the New York State Registry. Blount recieved a seven-year sentence with eight years of post-release supervision and will be required to register as a sex offender.
This month, Matt reported how two female inmates at a women’s prison in New Jersey fell pregnant after having sex with a transgender inmate. Kara Dansky of the Women’s Human Rights Campaign told Tucker Carlson in an interview shortly after that “transgender women” should not be housed with women in prison.
"But, a couple takeaways from this that I just want to point out are first of all, the state is not getting away with this by telling its residents that they are housing men in women’s prisons. What are doing, of course, is they are telling the residents that they are housing so-called ’transgender women’ or ’trans women’ in women’s prisons, suggesting that there is some sort of subcategory that is called ’transgender women’ or ’trans women’ and it’s not true. The fact of this story shoots a hole right through the trope that ’trans women are women," Dansky added.
"Obviously, that is not true, because the individuals that are the focus of this story impregnated women and every thinking adult, no matter what the president of the United States has to say on the matter, knows that there is no category of women who can impregnate women," she concluded.
This week, Townhall covered how a federal judge ordered the Bureau of Prisons to secure "gender-affirming" surgery for a transgender inmate. This comes after the Bureau denied the inmate the surgery early this year.
[Dawn] Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... ’s All Parties Hurriyat Conference
...an alliance of 26 political, social and religious organizations formed as a united political front to raise the cause of Kashmiri separatism. In other words, a willing tool of Pakistan...
on Thursday appealed to the Indian government to let Moslem worshippers offer the important last Friday prayers of Ramazan — Jummat ul Vida — at Srinagar’s central Jama Masjid as per tradition, but there was no sign of New Delhi yielding.
India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s watch has come under severe criticism for abuse of its religious minorities, which includes censure of its treatment of Kashmiri Moslems. Secular and democratic lobbies in the US have urged US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken to accept the report of the alleged mistreatment of Moslems filed in the annual report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The report for 2022 on religious freedoms and human rights ...which often include carefully measured allowances of freedom at the convenience of the state... the world over was released on Monday.
"Given the worsening human rights and religious freedom situation for minorities and the Modi government’s lack of actions, it is important that USCIRF’s recommendation to include India to be a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) be accepted by Sec. of State Blinken," American Moslem Institution said in an appeal.
The group said it applauded the decision of USCIRF to designate India as a CPC country, given that "religious freedom conditions in India significantly worsened in 2021." It said systemic intimidation and violence has moved from the real world and has substantially increased online by "both official and non-state actors...to spread hatred and misinformation."
Furthermore, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led "government, leaders emboldened Hindu-nationalist groups have advocated, instituted, and enforced sectarian policies seeking to establish India as an overtly Hindu state, contrary to India’s secular foundation and at grave danger to India’s religious minorities."
In Srinagar, APHC chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, denounced the repeated closure of Srinagar’s central Jama Masjid by the Indian government.
"Not allowing congregational prayers on the occasion of Jumatul Vida at the central Jama mosque of the valley, which is thronged by lakhs of valley Moslems on this blessed day — when offering prayers at Jama Masjid has greater blessings for the namazis, is outrageous, and against the fundamental human right to religious practice."
The Mirwaiz said in a statement that the same holds true for barring people from praying at Jama Masjid on the holy occasion of Lailatul Qadr. APHC said that such orders against Moslems and circulars being issued by authorities in valley school asking the staff members not to wear hijab, "in a place where Islam is the religion of the vast majority is deeply distressing, causing great angst and hurt to people and further deepening the conflict."
The statement said Mirwaiz asked the authorities to revoke the ban on prayers and allow Moslems across the valley access to central Jama Masjid on these very important and holy days of Ramzan."
APHC said that, people as in the past, will observe Jumatul Vida as ’Youm e Quds’ and Youm e Kashmir’ to stress "the urgent need for a peaceful resolution of the lingering Paleostinian issue and the Kashmir conflict and the human lives they consume."
[WashingtonExaminer] Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit this week against a national Black Lives Matter charity for failing to fork over information about its finances.
The lawsuit is part of an investigation Rokita launched against the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation in February that is seeking to determine whether the embattled charity violated Indiana state law by deceiving donors and misapplying its assets.
The foundation claimed to have raised $90 million in 2020 in the aftermath of St. George Floyd ...the patron saint of Minneapolis, a sterling example for our children and indeed for us all. St. George was martyed by the Devil's agents in blue while standing on a street corner preaching tolerance and racial justice or something like that... 's killing, but the charity has yet to file an IRS ...the Internal Revenue Service; that office of the United States government that collects taxes and persecutes the regime's political enemies... Form 990 disclosing what it did with the funds. The charity was exposed in early April for trying to conceal its cash purchase of a $6 million Los Angeles mansion with donor funds in October 2020, which a watchdog group alleged could be a violation of IRS charity laws.
The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation has also yet to announce publicly who has been in charge of the charity since its co-founder Patrisse Cullors ...Sticky fingered co-founder of Black Lives Matter. An avowed communist, she collects real estate like people used to collect stamps, when not checking into luxury resorts for conferences... resigned in May 2021 amid the scrutiny of her own real estate purchases. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the group did disclose in filings to Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, and New Mexico in February that Bill and Crooked Hillary Clinton ...former first lady, former secretary of state, former presidential candidate, Conqueror of Benghazi, Heroine of Tuzla, formerly described by her supporters as the smartest woman in the world, usually described by the rest of us as The Thing That Wouldn't Go Away. Politix is not one of her talents, but it's something she keeps trying to do... insider Minyon Moore and the law firm run by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias had taken up key roles with the charity.
And in February, the foundation shut off its ability to raise funds amid legal threats from California and Washington over its lack of financial and operational transparency.
Rokita sent a civil investigative demand to the charity on Feb. 23 that requested the charity to disclose all of the property it owns in Indiana, as well as produce a general ledger showing all payments and the recipients of those payments that the charity has made since January 2020.
The foundation did not respond by Rokita's March 25 deadline, he said in his lawsuit Tuesday. The attorney general's lawsuit requested state courts to compel the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation to comply with his records request.
"There are many Indiana stakeholders and donors who have been impacted by these allegations. This lawsuit will allow for a court to swiftly and efficiently resolve the state’s request for information," Rokita said.
He added that the foundation could be barred from future fundraising in Indiana if the charity fails to comply with his demand.
Cullors, who was in control of the foundation while it raked in $90 million in 2020 and spent $6 million on its Los Angeles mansion, said during an event in early April that she finds it "triggering" whenever she hears terms such as IRS Form 990, which is the document charities are required to disclose to the public detailing their financial activities.
The poor darling.
She added that activists suffer trauma and their lives are put at risk when their charities are required to disclose publicly what they did with their tax-deductible donations.
"This doesn't seem safe for us, this 990 structure — this nonprofit system structure," Cullors said. "This is, like, deeply unsafe. This is being literally weaponized against us, against the people we work with."
[Dawn] The Punjab 1.) Little Orphan Annie's bodyguard
2.) A province of Pakistain ruled by one of the Sharif brothers
3.) A province of India. It is majority (60 percent) Sikh and Hindoo (37 percent), which means it has relatively few Moslem riots.... Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) claimed to have arrested the criminal mastermind as well as the controller of the Johar Town kaboom from Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... The arrests came during an intelligence-based operation carried out by the CTD with the coordination of the top intelligence agencies.
Talking to the media at the Central Police Office on Thursday, Punjab CTD DIG Afzaal Ahmed Kausar and Operations DIG Kamran Adil identified the criminal mastermind of Johar Town blast as Samiul Haq ...the Godfather of the Taliban, leader of his own faction of the JUI in Pakistain. Known as Mullah Sandwich for his habit of having two young boys at a time. Now beyond all cares and woe, done in by his secretary in a lovers' quarrel... and controller as Uzair Akbar.
On June 23, 2021, a blast near the residence of Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... chief Hafiz Saeed ...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go.... in Johar Town had killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable. Days after the incident, the then information minister Fawad Chaudhry and National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf told a presser that the criminal mastermind of the attack was "an Indian citizen and he is associated with [Indian intelligence agency] RAW ... India's Research and Analysis Wing, Pakistain's equivalent of the Boogie Man... On Thursday, Mr Kausar and Mr Adil said the law enforcement agencies recovered from the alleged bully boyz the currencies of Iran, UAE, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire... , Afghanistan and Pakistain, laptops and other electronic devices used by them to carry out the blast.
Afzaal Kausar insisted that the possibility of involvement of foreign elements in the incident could not be ruled out.
Giving the details, he said the CTD Lahore teams had left for Balochistan on a tip-off on April 24. The team arrested the suspects from Kundi checkpost on the RCD Highway, Quetta. He added that the bully boyz were returning to Pakistain after crossing the international border.
Mr Kausar said Peter Paul David was earlier arrested from the airport and he had Samiul Haq alias Adnan who assigned him the target. He added that Samiul Haq, Uzair Akbar and some foreign elements had visited Dubai and held a meeting with another terrorist Eid Gul Khan.
After a week, Eid Gul Khan came to Pakistain. Later, Samiul Haq gave David three mobile phones and Rs600,000, asking him to reach Lahore to hit the target.
Both Samiul Haq and Uzair also sent some more money to David and Eid Gul through the known company. The DIG said David had told the CTD about the involvement of Ziaullah, Eid Gul, a woman, Ayesha, and Sajjad who were arrested on June 29, 2021.
DIG Kausar said the court had already awarded Eid Gul, Sajjad Hussain, Ziaullah, Peter Paul David death sentence ...the barbaric practice of sentencing a murderer to be punished for as long as his/her/its victim is dead... . Ayesha Eid Gul had been sentenced to five years imprisonment.
To a question, the DIG CTD Punjab said another runaway in the case, Muhammad Naveed Akhtar Khan, would also be arrested soon.
He said security had been raised in Punjab like other provinces after the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... University incident. To a question, he declared that the CTD Punjab had nothing to do with the arrest of the Baloch student from the Punjab University.
Taliban and a #Qatar-Turkey consortium for operating #Afghanistan’s five airports, including in the capital, have hit a deadlock after #Taliban have insisted their fighters will guard the facilities, officials say.https://t.co/TTFxtmufPR
Negotiations between the Taliban ...the Pashtun equivalent of men... and a Qatar ...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi... -The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor... consortium for operating Afghanistan’s five airports, including in the capital, have hit a deadlock after Taliban insisted their fighters will guard the facilities, officials said.
Kabul’s only airport was trashed in August when tens of thousands of people rushed to evacuate on any available flight as the United States wrapped up its withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
While the facility is open, with some domestic and international flights operating, it still needs a significant upgrade for major foreign airlines to resume full service.
This week Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi held two lengthy meetings with Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdurrahman al-Thani in Doha in a bid to reach a deal, officials from the two sides said.
But the talks, which also include rebuilding airports in Kandahar, Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... , Mazar-4-Sharif and Khost, have hit a deadlock.
"The contract for Kabul airport with Qatar-Turkey consortium is only for receiving technical support," a Taliban official said, requesting not to be named.
"Our people will protect the airport. The presence of foreign troops or security experts on our soil is not acceptable to Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan."
A Doha-based diplomat briefed on the talks said the Taliban had been "very demanding" when it came to security-related issues at Kabul airport.
Qatar and Turkey want a say in managing security at Kabul airport as they "don’t trust the Taliban," said an expert tracking the negotiations, who asked not to be named.
"Neither are willing to risk their aircraft and crew in exchange for a Taliban promise for their safety and security," he said.
Afghanistan's foreign ministry front man Abdul Qahar Balkhi tweeted that the two sides have "identified issues related to the contract that needed further discussions."
The full operation of Kabul airport is crucial for reviving Afghanistan’s shattered economy.
It is currently operated by the Afghan Civil Aviation Ministry, backed by experts from Qatar who arrived soon after the US withdrawal.
A United Arab Emirates-based company is engaged in ground handling services at the facility.
Currently, two Afghan airlines - Kam Air and Ariana Afghan - fly to Dubai, Doha, Islamabad, and Tehran from Kabul airport. Iran’s Mahan Air also operates flights to Kabul.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
04/30/2022
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#2
While the facility is open, with some domestic and international flights operating, it still needs a significant upgrade for major foreign airlines to resume full service.
"Visit Afghanistan! See the dancing boys! Die in a burqa!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2022 9:03
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#3
Taliban insisted their fighters will guard the facilities
Concerns about them running too much interference for the heroin flights?
[ToloNews] The US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), released a report indicating that on-budget US reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan completely ceased with the fall of the previous government, but that Afghanistan continues to receive some reconstruction funds from the US through off-budget assistance and multilateral organizations.
"Although on-budget assistance ceased on August 15, 2021, SIGAR found that US agencies continued reconstruction assistance through 100 off-budget activities and activities implemented by multilateral institutions. Specifically, US agency off-budget assistance funded 85 activities, while assistance to multilateral institutions funded the remaining 15 activities. These ongoing efforts covered a range of activities, including emergency food assistance, health initiatives, and demining efforts," the report said.
According to SIGAR’s report, of the six US agencies that funded Afghan reconstruction in the 2021 fiscal year, four were operating in Afghanistan until October 1, 2021, when Washington's development aid to Kabul completely halted with the fall of the republic.
"SIGAR found that six US agencies—State, DOD, USAID, USAGM, DEA, and DFC—funded reconstruction activities in Afghanistan in FY 2021. Of these, only four (State, USAID, USAGM, and DFC) had ongoing reconstruction activities as of October 1, 2021," the report reads.
Based on SIGAR’s report, the 100 activities (off-budget and with multilateral organizations) have pledged more than $670 million to Afghanistan and have provided $ 470 million worth of food and health assistance to Afghanistan.
"As of October 1, 2021, the 100 activities had $676 million in obligations, $470 million in disbursements, and $64 million in unliquidated funds. State acknowledged that programming may benefit the Taliban ...Arabic for students... ," the report reads.
"U.S. agencies stopped providing on-budget assistance to the Afghan government on August 15, 2021, after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban returned to power. During FY 2021, U.S. on-budget assistance consisted of two USAID-funded activities and DOD’s support to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF)," the report further mentioned.
#Poland’s state gas giant says it is gradually restoring the flow of natural gas to municipalities that lost it after a Russian company halted supplies.https://t.co/eauHL580iI
#1
The thing about these Twitter bites is they don't tell you squat... like where are they getting the replacement supplies from. Since we're skipping spring and possibly summer this year, I'd like to know that US gas will be kept here.
#2
The tweet links to an Al Arabiya article, Mercutio — click on the text block at the bottom of the thing to go to the article instead of the original tweet. To whit:
Poland’s state gas giant said Friday it was gradually restoring the flow of natural gas to municipalities that lost it after a Russian company halted supplies when Warsaw slapped it with sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The supply cut was a separate development from Russia’s decision earlier this week to stop gas deliveries to Poland.
PGNiG said the Russian firm, Novatek Green Energy, complied with the demand to make its pipelines available to Polish companies that are now starting to convey their gas to the 10 affected areas.
They include the popular Baltic Sea resort of Leba, which was anxious about a lack of gas ahead of Poland’s long weekend through May 3, which usually brings many tourists there.
PGNiG said the handing over of Novatek’s infrastructure and the necessary documents took place “without problems and in good atmosphere.”
All affected locations should have gas on Friday, it said.
Earlier Friday, government spokesman Piotr Mueller warned that Novatek could face legal action under the country’s crisis management laws if the company didn’t immediately comply.
A subsidiary of a group controlled by OAO Novatek, Russia’s second-largest natural gas producer, Novatek was put earlier this week on Poland’s list of sanctions against 50 Russian and Belarusian businesses.
The sanctions are intended to curb the outflow of money from Poland to Russia’s war coffers. They come on top of European Union measures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24.
Upon reading, it is not as momentous as the headline suggests, for which I apologize. But Fred wasn’t feeling well last night, so we were rushing to cover his usual sources.
Hundreds of residents of Magazu and Marke communities in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara State have fled their homes over the incessant raids and attacks of button men, locally called bandidos.
According to Premium Times, Magazu, one of the biggest wards in Tsafe, is deserted.
According to sources, tired of the unrelenting attacks by the button men, people began deserting the town on Thursday evening. By Friday morning, almost everyone in the town has fled.
Bandit attacks in Tsafe Local Government are more frequent than in other parts of Zamfara, which is plagued by worsening insecurity.
The button men, who operate across Nigeria’s north-west region, have killed thousands of people and injured even more. They sack villages, and farmlands, and rustle livestock. They impose levies on communities before they may farm and defaulters are either killed or kidnapped.
The button men also operate a widespread kidnap-for-ransom operation across the entire region. They specifically target travellers, students of educational institutions, and government offices.
Experts say their kidnap-for-ransom operation is perhaps the worst in the country’s history.
As the government fails to protect residents of the areas, many communities have set up vigilante groups to resist the bandidos.
However, Switzerland makes more than cheese... this has worsened the security challenges in the area as it has given rise to a kaboom of tit-for-tat killings between the bandidos (who are mostly of Fulani ... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity... extraction) and the vigilante groups set up by the majority of Hausa communities in the area.
Abubakar Magazu, a villager said residents of the towns unanimously decided to leave.
He said residents unanimously decided to leave after some bandidos raided the town on Wednesday and kidnapped more than 30 people.
"Let me be honest with you, these people will never allow us to rest. They’ve stopped us from going to farms and markets and now, they’ll not even allow us to live in peace.
"On Wednesday, they came to our town immediately after the Iftar (Moslem break of fast) and kidnapped over 30 residents and looted property. As big as this community is, nobody has more than two goats or any domestic animals in his house because the bandidos have stolen them," he said.
He said the bandidos attacked the town again Thursday night but did not abduct anyone.
"We’re always in fear," he said. "After Wednesday’s attack, we decided to leave the town. Some people started leaving yesterday (Thursday). They attacked again those of us who slept in the town yesterday, but I think they were there to scare us because they took nothing or anyone," he said.
A youth leader in Tsafe, Samaila Usman, said the residents from Magazu and Marke have been trooping into the local government headquarters as of Friday afternoon.
[Aljazeera] Two British volunteers providing humanitarian assistance in Ukraine have been detained by the Russian military.
The non-profit Presidium Network said on Friday that the two civilians were seized at a checkpoint south of the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia. It identified the pair as Paul Urey and Dylan Healy.
The stories about Putin not knowing how things are going in Ukraine because people are afraid to tell him the truth surely have an element of truth. But he still the one directing this war and its atrocities, 100%. pic.twitter.com/GUvX1YxjnC
#15
LOL IIRC correctly (/external entertainment influences applied) it was a civil comment about him needing to pay bills and both sides being too cheap O' bitches to make that happen for him to be a paid troll. I liked it
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/30/2022 17:36
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[AnNahar] The Lebanese Army on Friday said it has detained five people in the northern city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... as they prepared to smuggle 85 migrants colonists by boat to Europe.
The army said the smugglers were detained late Thursday as they were preparing to send 85 people on a boat after collecting a total of $400,000 from them. The boat was confiscated in a sea resort in the country's north, it added, and the detainees are being questioned.
The announcement came days after a boat carrying more than 60 migrants colonists capsized on April 23 off the coast of Tripoli. Seven bodies were recovered, with 47 people rescued and the others still missing. Survivors blamed the Lebanese navy of causing the accident by ramming into the boat. The army denied the accusations and said it was the migrant boat's captain who carried out dangerous maneuvers leading to the crash of his vessel into the navy's one.
For years, Lebanon Hezbollahstan ...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them... had been a country that hosted refugees. But since the country's economic meltdown began in October 2019, hundreds of people have attempted a perilous sea journey to Europa ...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum... to seek a better life. Several have drowned on the way, and hundreds have reached their destination.
Tripoli is Lebanon's second largest and most impoverished city. Lebanon, a nation of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees, is in the grip of a historic economic and financial crisis rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country's ruling class.
On Tuesday, Lebanon's government tasked the military judiciary with investigating last week's deadly sinking of the migrant boat.
Search and rescue efforts are still underway to locate those still unaccounted for since last weekend's incident.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[American Thinker] Governor Jay Pritzker and the Illinois Democrats want a state-mandated campaign sticker at all gas stations bragging that they aren't raising the price of gas by 2 cents a gallon on July 1 as planned.
[Front Page] Tech plutocrat Elon Musk announces he is buying Twitter to liberate this "virtual town square" from one-sided political censorship - and he is met with hysterical charges that he is attacking free speech. A woman who reposts TikTok videos of "woke" teachers bragging about their sexualize of children in their classrooms, is attacked by a Washington Post reporter who harasses the woman’s family in order to silence an enemy of "free speech" and purveyor of "hate" - just days after the reporter appeared in a video and bursts into tears over getting the same treatment she later inflicts on the anonymous creator of Libs on TikTok.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...46th president of the U.S. Sleazy Dem machine politician, paterfamilias of the Biden Crime Family, the guy who bungled Afghanistan...
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
... a peculiarly brutal tribe of Moslem herdsmen infesting Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and probably other places that are light on law and order and heavy on tribal identity...
...Arabic for 
Hezbollah
...The nation is noted for 
[Townhall] A Texas rancher has offered billionaire Elon Musk free land to build a new headquarters for Twitter, his latest acquisition. 
...the gang of subgeniuses trying to pass themselves off as the 
[IsraelTimes] Footage shows car drive up to entrance of settlement, two men open fire toward a guard post before fleeing; security forces searching area; nearby communities on lockdown
The kiss happens between Buzz Lightyear's friend Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) and another female character within the first 30 minutes of the film, which was shown to audiences at CinemaCon on Wednesday. 
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
The report showed that for 2021, 1,924 people were reported dead or missing on the Central and Western Mediterranean routes, while another 1,153 perished on the North African maritime route to the Canary Islands.
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling 
...The nation is noted for 
[Townhall] A 
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
...the patron saint of Minneapolis, a sterling example for our children and indeed for us all. St. George was martyed by the Devil's agents in blue while standing on a street corner preaching tolerance and racial justice or something like that...
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
...the occupiers of Greek Asia Minor...
...In 2006 unknown persons blew up Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the car he was traveling in, the road he was traveling on, and a few innocent bystanders of no account whatsoever. The person or persons unknow weren't Hezbollah, you can bet on that. Really. Even though there was an international tribunal that said it was them...
