By Mattias Desmet | April 25, 2024
I guess you remember how a few years ago, the media called everyone who refused to wear a mask or get vaccinated a ‘grandma killer’. To protect the elderly, to save every minute of their lives – that was all what mattered.
Here is something to think about: Last week, I stumbled upon an article in a Dutch mainstream newspaper which declared in a technical and deliberate way that the ‘mysteriously persisting excess death’ has certain advantages: it saves the state hundreds of millions of costs of taking care for old people. I checked my calendar. An April fools’ joke maybe? No – it was no joke.
One could argue, of course, that this is just one article. What am I making a fuss about? Let me give you another example. A few weeks ago, the director of a government health insurance fund stated in an article published on the website of Belgian national television that euthanasia should be considered as a solution for the rapid ageing of the population. Exactly. Old people cost too much money. Let’s kill them.
These too are the words of only one man. Yet such words are not printed in the newspapers in such a guileless way if there is not a certain tolerance for such messages in society.
Let’s face it: some people want to get rid of the elderly. And these people look suspiciously a lot like those who blamed you for being a heartless criminal when you suggested that the corona measures would do the elderly more harm than good.
Upon closer examination, the sentimental ‘protection of the elderly’ during the corona crisis was rather cruel and absurd. For instance: why were the elderly dying in hospitals not allowed to see their children and grandchildren? Because the virus could kill them while they were dying?
Beneath the surface of the state’s concern about the elderly lurks exactly the opposite: the state wants to get rid of the elderly. Soon there might be a consensus: everyone who wants to live beyond the age of seventy-five is irresponsible and egoistic – a grandson killer. At least these old bastards must pay a carbon tax.
And in the end, not only old people have to die. Humans cause climate change – they are a detrimental virus proliferating on the surface of the earth. The planet would be better off without humans. … continue
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | April 26, 2024
Children’s Health Defense (CHD) attorneys asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear CHD’s case against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for granting emergency use authorization of COVID-19 vaccines for children and babies.
CHD’s lawsuit, filed Jan. 24, 2022, alleges the FDA misused the emergency power to push dangerous biologics on minors.
Robert Barnes, CHD’s attorney of record in the case, filed the petition for a writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review district and appeals courts’ decisions that have prevented the lawsuit from moving forward.
CHD CEO Mary Holland told The Defender:
“CHD’s petition to the U.S. Supreme Court raises a critical question: Who can sue the FDA for malfeasance? So far in this case, the district and appeals courts have said that parents of vulnerable children cannot sue the FDA for its patent misinformation.”
In other words, Barnes said, “When the FDA lies to kids, who can hold them accountable and stop the lies?”
In this situation, the FDA “stooped so low as to use Sesame Street and Elmo to lie to kids about the safety, efficacy and necessity of the COVID-19 vaccines,” Barnes told the Defender.
Someone — or some organization — must be able to hold the FDA accountable, Barnes said. “The FDA is not above the law. That is why CHD is asking the Supreme Court to answer the question.” … continue
US police have arrested more than 500 protesters during a crackdown against pro-Palestinian protesters on university campuses across the country on Thursday.
Anti-riot police used chemical irritants and tasers against protesters, who set up camps in defiance of police warnings from Massachusetts to California, to protest against Israel’s savage war against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Protesters were arrested at schools including the Ohio State University, the University of Minnesota, Indiana University and Princeton University.
At Emory University in Atlanta, police clashed with protesters, including students from other Atlanta universities and area activists and arrested dozens of protesters, including faculty members.
Videos are shared on social media, showing officers using tear gas, tasers and handcuffs to detain protesters.
Emory’s vice president for public safety Cheryl Elliott said in a statement that law enforcement “released chemical irritants into the ground” to disperse the crowd after protesters ignored multiple warnings. … continue
Press TV – April 26, 2024
The German police have cleared a pro-Palestinian camp in Berlin amid a growing number of such protests across Europe that have been following the model of student tent protests throughout the United States’ universities.
Law enforcement confronted protesters that had camped outside the German parliament and chancellery in the capital on Friday.
The Berlin camp, named “Besetzung Gegen Besatzung (Occupy Against Occupation),” began on April 8.
The participants had been calling for an end to the Israeli regime’s ongoing genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and Berlin’s generous arms support for Tel Aviv amid the brutal military onslaught.
More than 34,300 Palestinians have been killed and over 77,200 others wounded in the war that the regime began following a retaliatory operation by the Palestinian territory’s resistance movements.
German authorities issued a prohibition order against the camp, alleging that some of the protesters had committed “violations,” including “the use of unconstitutional symbols and forbidden slogans,” Reuters reported. … Full article
Sputnik – 26.04.2024
The US Cluster Munition Coalition said it was shocked by Washington’s decision to transfer its cluster munitions to Ukraine for the fifth time, citing the long-term humanitarian consequences such weapons could have.
On Tuesday, the US Senate passed a $95 billion bill containing approximately $61 billion in Ukraine-related funding, including via a loan. US President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Wednesday. The US Department of Defense later unveiled a $1 billion military aid package for Kiev, including cluster munitions and air defense supplies.
“The US Cluster Munition Coalition (USCMC) is appalled by President Biden’s decision to again transfer internationally prohibited cluster munitions to Ukraine … The US Cluster Munition Coalition condemns this transfer decision due to the devastating and long-term humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions,” the coalition said in a statement released on Thursday.
The coalition added that it was “dismayed by the need to condemn such an action for the fifth time.” It also urged Biden to immediately stop the transfer of such weapons. … Full article
Sputnik – 26.04.2024
The United States and the United Kingdom have scaled down their naval presence in the Red Sea despite lack of abatement in the intensity of attacks carried out by Yemen’s Houthis rebels on Israeli-linked ships, the rebel movement’s leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, said on Thursday.
“Our operations have not decreased, as the Americans claim, presenting this as their achievement, but rather the movement of their warships has decreased. There has been an 80% reduction in the movement of US Navy ships, not our operations,” al-Houthi was quoted by Iranian broadcaster Almasirah as saying on the occasion of 200 days of hostilities in the Gaza Strip. … continue
BY ALISON WEIR | ISRAEL – PALESTINE NEWS | APRIL 25, 2024
… The Times has failed to run a correction about an extremely erroneous statement that you published in Sunday’s New York Times.
A front page article stated that there have been “scores of civilian casualties” in Gaza. (A “score” is 20. “Casualties” means people killed or injured.)
In reality, there have been tens of thousands of such casualties: Israeli forces have killed over 33,000 Palestinians and injured over 76,000 people, over half of them women and children. … Full article
BY JOHN MCEVOY | DECLASSIFIED UK | APRIL 23, 2024
On 1 April, Israeli forces launched a series of airstrikes on a convoy of aid workers in Gaza, killing three Britons, a Polish national, a Palestinian, an American-Canadian dual citizen, and an Australian.
The Israeli Air Force carried out the bombing with a Hermes 450 drone. According to Campaign Against the Arms Trade, this drone may be powered by a R902(W) Wankel engine produced in Britain by UAV Engines Limited (UEL).
New court documents show that the UK government decided to continue arms exports to Israel on 8 April, one week after the strike on the aid workers who were employed by the charity World Central Kitchen (WCK).
The revelation will put additional pressure on the Foreign Office to justify its decision not to suspend arms sales to Israel. … continue
MEMO | April 26, 2024
The US has reversed its decision to impose sanctions on the extremist Israel Defence Forces’ Netzah Yehuda battalion, despite determining that soldiers in the brigade had committed “gross human rights violations” against Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank, ABC News reported. This marks the second time the administration of President Joe Biden has failed to push ahead with sanctioning Israelis for gross human rights violations since 7 October.
The Netzah Yehuda battalion, created for religious fundamentalists in Israel, has attracted many religious extremists and Zionist settler groups since its founding in 1999. The decision not to sanction the battalion was outlined in an undated letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken to House Speaker Mike Johnson, which ABC News obtained. […]
Earlier this month, the Biden administration failed to impose sanctions on extremist settlers after announcing in March that it would seek to punish individuals linked to settler violence. A month later the White House informed the Israeli Finance Ministry that banks in Israel do not need to freeze the accounts of settlers who have been placed under sanctions by Washington. … Full article
GAZA – The daughter of martyr Refaat Al-Areer, Shaima, was martyred on Friday along with her husband, engineer Muhammad Siam, and their newborn baby in an Israeli airstrike that targeted their apartment near Al-Rimal Clinic in Gaza City.
Media sources said Israeli aircraft launched several attacks this morning targeting the headquarters of the International Red Cross, which houses displaced people, and a residential apartment near Al-Rimal Clinic, resulting in a number of martyrs and wounded.
The sources revealed that among the martyrs was Shaima, the eldest daughter of martyr Dr. Refaat Al-Areer, who was previously assassinated last December in a deliberate Israeli airstrike targeting his sister’s home in Gaza City.
Dr. Refaat Al-Areer was one of the pillars of the English Section at the PIC, and the supervisor of its Social Media Department. He was martyred along with his brother, sister, and her four children.
The martyr Al-Areer also worked as Professor of English Language at the Islamic University which was destroyed in the Israeli aggression. A number of its staff along with its President were martyred as well.
Al-Areer was one of the courageous voices who spoke and wrote in English about the Palestinian cause and refuted the Israeli narrative. He is the author of the book “Gaza Writes Back”.
He was also hosted in distinguished interviews with various Western media outlets.
By Connor Freeman | The Libertarian Institute | April 25, 2024
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, an extremist settler and Jewish supremacist, has called on the police commissioner to create “local response teams” globally to protect Jewish communities overseas. This comes amid a wave of antiwar protests on college campuses throughout the US denouncing Washington’s backing for Tel Aviv’s slaughter against the Palestinians in Gaza, and calling for their universities to divest from companies connected with the Israeli war machine. The rallies are largely led and organized by anti-Zionist Jews.
“Diaspora Jews are currently suffering from a harsh wave of antisemitism in communities and on campuses in the US, Europe, and around the world,” Ben Gvir said on Wednesday, according to a report by the Israeli media network Arutz Sheva.
He continued, “I asked the police commissioner to draft a plan to aid in the creation of local response teams that will protect Jewish communities and institutions overseas, through professional tutelage, including a training program and technological solutions for security.” It’s not clear what these security teams would look like, but Ben Gvir clarified that these activities would be carried out “in cooperation with the local police and relevant authorities.”
Training programs and tactic exchanges between Israel’s notorious occupation forces and American police, spies, and federal agents has already been ongoing for decades, focusing on deploying authoritarian “violence and control including mass surveillance, racial profiling and the suppression of protests and dissent.” … Full article
Al Mayadeen | April 26, 2024
Late on April 25, Columbia University went back on an overnight deadline set for pro-Palestine protesters to leave their encampment, amid more college campuses in the United States attempting to stop such protests from taking place.
US police made large-scale arrests in universities all over the country, and even used chemical irritants and tasers to stop the protesters who are expressing solidarity for Palestine.
Columbia University is still the center of the student protest movement as it is where these protests began.
In a statement released at 11:07 pm (03:07 GMT today), the office of Columbia University President Minouche Shafik went back on the midnight deadline to disperse a large tent camp with around 200 students.
The statement said, “The talks have shown progress and are continuing as planned,” adding, “We have our demands; they have theirs.”
“This rumor is false,” it said in an attempt to deny that New York City police were called to the campus.
Speaking with AFP, one of the students, identifying as Mimi, said that she had been at the camp for seven days, emphasizing, “They call us terrorists, they call us violent. But… they’re the ones that called in the police when students were sitting in a circle.”
“The police are the ones with guns, the police are the ones with tasers, we only have our voices,” she stressed.
On April 24 and early 25, the police arrested more than 200 protesters at universities in Los Angeles, Boston, and Austin, Texas.
However, around 2,000 protesters gathered again on April 25.
At Emory University in Atlanta, in the southern state of Georgia, chemical irritants and tasers were used by riot officers to dismantle the protesters. Police were seen in photographs wielding tasers. The Atlanta Police Department claimed that officers, called in by the school, were “met with violence” and used “chemical irritants” in their response.
Police arrested 93 protesters, which authorities claimed were trespassing on April 24 at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. The university also canceled events at its graduation ceremony on May 10.
As reported by local media, police also arrested 108 protesters as they dismantled an encampment at Emerson College in Boston on April 25. … Full article
MEMO | April 25, 2024
Antiwar students from across the US capital are banding together, Thursday, to form a pro-Palestinian encampment less than 1 mile (kilometre) from the White House to demand their schools condemn Israel’s onslaught against the Gaza Strip and divest from Israeli businesses, Anadolu Agency reports.
The encampment has seen students from Georgetown University and George Washington University form a sit-in on the latter’s University yard, which is just over three blocks from the White House.
Hundreds of students walked out of classes at Georgetown early Thursday. A smaller group consisting of dozens of individuals then marched from the Catholic University to the encampment site.
One pro-Israel counter-protester was removed from the area by police. Three officers led the demonstrator away as he held a small Israeli flag between his hands.
It is unclear if students from four other major universities in Washington, DC – Howard University, American University, Gallaudet University and the University of the District of Columbia — have joined the demonstration. There are also several schools located along the border in Maryland and Virginia.
At least one other encampment was formed Wednesday at the University of Maryland – College Park. … Full article
Press TV – April 26, 2024
Authorities at a prestigious Paris university have called in the police to end pro-Palestinian students’ occupation of part of the campus, a protest method that is under way at dozens of American universities.
The law enforcement confronted the protesters, who numbered around 60, and had occupied the Sciences Po university’s Saint Thomas campus in the French capital’s Saint Germain des Pres neighborhood on Wednesday.
The protesters demanded that the university “cut its ties with universities and companies that are complicit in the [ongoing Israeli] genocide in Gaza” and “end the repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus.”
Undaunted by the authorities, as many as 150 students gathered again on Thursday.
“The director has crossed a red line by deciding to send in the police,” said Ines Fontenelle, a member of the Student Union at Sciences Po.
Union spokeswoman Eleonore Schmitt also said the students would continue to mobilize “despite repression.” … Full article
Sputnik – 26.04.2024
PARIS – French servicemen are being promised a golden parachute for participating in fictitious “resignations” to fight in Ukraine said Nicolas Cinquini, a veteran of France’s counter-terrorism intelligence service, to Sputnik.
Cinquini is currently searching for information about French nationals who fight in the conflict on the side of Kiev. According to his findings, French state agents may have been in Ukraine since the start of the special military operation in February 2022 along with ordinary French civilians who went to fight for the Kiev regime on their own.
“These are agents who remain very secretive and are difficult to identify,” the former intelligence officer noted.
“Sources told us that in the ranks of the French army, specialists were given attractive offers: a false resignation, a guarantee of reinstatement upon completion, and an income significantly higher than their usual earnings,” he said. … continue
RT | April 26, 2024
Foreign military advisers in Ukraine are directly involved in the preparation of attacks on Russian territories, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday during a high-level meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) countries.
Apart from helping to prepare attacks, the West is also continuing to offer Kiev real-time intelligence data and train its military personnel, while foreign specialists and mercenaries are actively taking part in the fighting, he claimed.
“Almost every day, with the tacit consent of the West, Kiev uses the weapons it receives to cause damage to civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation,” Shoigu said. … Full article
RT | April 26, 2024
The Ukraine conflict is Washington’s doing and the US is deliberately trying to prolong the fighting, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on Friday during a meeting with his counterparts from Asian nations.
Shoigu is taking part in a gathering of military chiefs from members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a nine-strong mutual defense organization. The Russian minister used the forum hosted by Kazakhstan to reiterate Moscow’s position on the origins of its conflict with Ukraine.
He identified Washington as a major source of global instability, citing its record of military interventions abroad, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The US also uses less direct financial and diplomatic tools to damage its opponents, including by fueling chaos in different parts of the world, Shoigu alleged.
“The US had first created, and now is deliberately prolonging the Ukraine conflict,” the minister stated. “As it signals purported intention to de-escalate, the West keeps pumping Kiev with weapons.” … continue
Sputnik – 26.04.2024
ASTANA – Russia has never threatened NATO and has neither geopolitical nor military interests to attack the states of the alliance, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday.
“Russia has never threatened NATO. We have neither geopolitical nor military interests to attack the states of the bloc. We are simply protecting our people in our historical territories,” Shoigu said during a meeting of defense ministers of the SCO member countries in Astana. … continue
RT | April 26, 2024
NATO is directly responsible for the Ukraine conflict, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said during a press briefing on Friday, reacting to criticisms raised by the US-led military bloc.
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Beijing of supposedly supporting Russian weapons manufacturing through the export of dual-use components to the country.
“China says it wants good relations with the West. At the same time, Beijing continues to fuel the largest armed conflict in Europe since World War Two. They cannot have it both ways,” the official warned.
Wang rejected the claim, dismissing it as being based on nothing but rumors. China hadn’t started the Ukraine crisis, he insisited, and NATO’s responsibility for it is “unshiftable.” The US-led military bloc “should reflect on its role, stop shifting the blame, and do something practical to promote a political settlement,” he added.
According to Beijing, NATO’s expansion in Europe and refusal to take Russian national security concerns into consideration triggered the hostilities. A roadmap to peace that China proposed in early 2023 called for that core problem to be addressed, he noted. … Full article
RT | April 26, 2024
Washington is ready to introduce more sanctions against China over its alleged transfer of dual-use goods and components, which can supposedly be used by the Russian military industrial complex, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing following his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the US official recalled that Washington has already imposed sanctions against more than 100 Chinese entities and is “fully prepared to act” and “take additional measures.” … continue
By Drago Bosnic | Global Research | April 25, 2024
On April 24, US State Secretary Antony Blinken landed in China and officially started his (hopefully) diplomatic visit. The relationship between the two countries has worsened significantly. Beijing’s peaceful overtures have been met with nothing but hostility in Washington DC. The United States is simply terrified of the prospect that China will overtake it. However, this has already happened in many ways. … continue
By Paul Homewood | Not A Lot Of People Know That | April 25, 2024
On Sunday, the BBC did something unusual. It invited Luke Johnson, a climate contrarian, to join a panel with Laura Kuenssberg to discuss net zero. … continue
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | April 24, 2024
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) knew for years that certain popular smartphones exceeded the agency’s safety limits for human exposure to wireless radiation when held close to the body, according to data obtained by the Environmental Health Trust (EHT) via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
Rather than going public with the testing results, the FCC hid them — even when important lawsuits concerning cellphone radiation’s impact on people’s health were underway.
The outcome of such lawsuits might have been different, had the agency been honest about what it knew, said W. Scott McCollough, lead litigator for Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) & Wireless cases. McCollough called the FCC’s actions “scandalous.” … continue
By Debbie Lerman | April 18, 2024
During the Covid pandemic, the U.S. government spent billions of dollars on nearly 400 products intended to protect, diagnose and treat hundreds of millions of people – all with the label “EUA” or “Emergency Use Authorization.”
But what does EUA actually mean? […]
As noted in this article, the FDA/CDC clearly recognize that the process of granting Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) is unlikely to generate any information about the effectiveness or safety of a product. When we look at the letter of the law governing EUA, we see that this is, indeed, a correct assessment.
The EUA law does not impose any legal or regulatory standards that might determine whether a product is safe or effective. The only standards are whether the FDA believes the product may be effective and that its known benefits outweigh its known harms. If there are no known harms or known benefits, because the product has never been through the drug approval process, the FDA can use whatever information or standards it chooses to make that determination.
It follows from all of this that a company whose product is a candidate for EUA may attempt to demonstrate the product’s safety and/or effectiveness through whatever means it chooses. The existence of such an attempt (whether a clinical trial or other data-collecting mechanism), and how that attempt is conducted, are all up to the company. Nothing in the EUA law applies to how the company designs, conducts or analyzes any studies or other data-collecting mechanisms it chooses to pursue.
Applied to Covid products this means:
- No safety or efficacy data from clinical trials were required in order for Covid products to receive EUA.
- Any clinical trials referred to in the EUA process were conducted with no legally applicable regulatory standards.
- When we find out that these products lack efficacy or safety, that is not a surprise. It is a highly likely result of the process.
- There is no data from the EUA process on which to base non-EUA decisions about safety or efficacy of the product. So any non-EUA use of the product would require going through the legal approval process for regular medical products from the beginning.
More on the approval process for Covid vaccines here. – Read full article
‘Why is it called a biodefense project?’
By John-Michael Dumais | The Defender | April 24, 2024
With the recent spread of H5N1 bird flu to dairy cows in eight states — and the infection of a Texas dairy worker marking the second known human case in the country — public health officials are raising concerns over the adequacy and safety of stockpiled vaccines meant to protect against a potential pandemic, according to Barron’s.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) maintains bird flu is a low risk to humans — the infected dairy worker only contracted a case of conjunctivitis (pink eye) — and that there is currently no known mechanism for human-to-human transmission.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), avian flu is responsible for 463 deaths worldwide over the past 20 years. The CDC reports only two U.S. cases of bird flu, and both were mild. No Americans have died from the virus.
Still, government agencies and Big Pharma manufacturers are building their capacity for bird flu vaccine production. … continue
Censorship academic Claire Wardle helps guide the journal’s descent into authoritarian, censorship hell.
By Paul D. Thacker | The DisInformation Chronicle | April 25, 2024
Medical authorities and like-minded charlatans address public failure with several strategies. One method is to deny error, feign outrage at critics pointing to the screwup, and shroud yourself in the holy mantle of science. When caught lying about the science on masks and the possibility he funded a lab accident in Wuhan, Anthony Fauci famously deployed this strategy by first denying what he had said, and then striking back at his critics, “Attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science.”
The second strategy science academics and kindred con artists deploy is to ignore their blunder, blunder onward while feigning expertise, and hope the public has the mental capacity of goldfish who forget their entire world every 15 minutes. After being humiliated several times for publishing COVID misinformation, The Lancet has landed on this second tactic, inverting reality to assert authority on misinformation—the very same topic they fucked up in the recent past.
But a few were not fooled. The Lancet’s announcement that they were publishing two papers warning about medical misinformation set off howls of laughter and merry disbelief on social media.
“You guys may want to sit this one out,” quipped conservative commentator, Tracy Beanz.
“Misinformation you say?” tweeted another, linking to news deriding a bogus study by a company called Surgisphere that the Lancet was forced to retract.
“By publishing falsehoods like the surgisphere fraud and the Lancet commission whitewash of lockdown failure and harms, the @Lancet was among the worst contributors to public misinformation during the covid era,” tweeted Stanford’s Dr. Jay Bhattacharya.
We’ll get to the Lancet’s COVID face plants in a second, because what makes their ballyhooed studies on misinformation all the more comical is who authored them: CDC scientist and academic Claire Wardle.
To recount: the CDC drowned the public in a flood of misinformation during COVID, compelling Congress to drag the CDC Director out of the DC swamps, and frog march her up to the Hill for several public floggings. Meanwhile, Brown University’s Claire Wardle must be deluded enough to imagine people have forgotten that she rushed out a fact-addled vaccine report in the pandemic’s first year, claiming that worries about COVID vaccine mandates were nothing but a conspiracy theory.
After vaccine mandates were forced on the public, Wardle gloried in her role as professorial fraud, and doubled down on her prior falsehood to proclaim that criticism of vaccine mandates was now the conspiracy theory. … continue
By Didi Rankovic | Reclaim The Net | April 25, 2024
The CEO of Rumble, a free-speech YouTube competitor, says that global censorship levels are on the rise, but that what’s particularly noticeable are censorship demands coming from Australia and New Zealand – who seem to be following in the controversial, to say the least, footsteps of France and Brazil.
On the one hand, this is surprising, given these countries’ formal democratic provenance.
On the other hand, their actions over the last years, including site blocking at ISP level, constant demands for more stringent regulation to facilitate social media content removal, and even the draconian Covid – and post-Covid era measures, tell a different story.
Chris Pavlovski told Mat Kim that the FreeNZMedia channel has now become a deplatforming target in New Zealand, for reporting about leaked data from the National Vaccination Database, that a whistleblower, former Health New Zealand IT employee Barry Young, made available.
And the data Young gave to reporters and activists concerns Covid vaccine-related deaths and claims that these facts are being covered up. … continue
By Kyle Anzalone | The Libertarian Institute | April 25, 2024
ByteDance says it will not sell off its popular video-sharing app TikTok after President Joe Biden signed a law that will ban the platform from American users in nine months if it is not sold away from Chinese ownership.
Several sources inside ByteDance say TikTok is not for sale, Reuters reported Thursday. The company officials explained that while TikTok is only a small portion of ByteDance’s business, the technology used by the platform is also utilized across ByteDance’s other services. The company believes selling TikTok will hurt its other business.
On Wednesday, President Biden signed a bill that will ban TikTok in nine months if the platform does not divest of all Chinese ownership. Some 170 million Americans—including Biden’s own reelection campaign—use the platform.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said he believes the company can defeat the ban in court on constitutional grounds and argued the platform will not be sold or banned. “Rest assured, we aren’t going anywhere,” Chew said. “The facts and the Constitution are on our side, and we expect to prevail again.”
Senator Rand Paul also voiced hopes TikTok would prevail in court. “The censors who abound in Congress will likely vote to ban TikTok or force a change in ownership. It will likely soon be law,” Paul wrote in a recent op-ed published by Reason. “I think the Supreme Court will ultimately rule it unconstitutional, because it would violate the First Amendment rights of over 100 million Americans who use TikTok to express themselves.” … continue
RT | April 25, 2024
Western liberal hegemony has failed and must be destroyed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban stated on Thursday, suggesting it could end as soon as this year.
Addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC Hungary) in Budapest, Orban criticized the existing “world order based on progressive liberal hegemony,” saying it has spawned numerous figureheads who are “not fit to be leaders,” with even “beauty pageants” knowing more about peace then they do.
He accused liberal politicians of building “hegemonic ideological control to which everyone must submit” instead of actual governing, while turning “state bodies into tools of oppression.” Such forces are a dangerous enemy whose time is coming to an end, Orban claimed.
“The progressive liberals sense the danger, the end of this era also means their end,” the prime minister argued. Their dominance could be overcome as soon as this year, Orban predicted, citing the upcoming EU Parliament and US presidential elections. … continue
RT | April 25, 2024
Beijing has condemned Washington’s deployment of intermediate-range missiles in the Asia-Pacific region and will take all effective measures to prevent the US from “messing up” the South China Sea, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian said on Thursday.
His comments come after the US kicked off its largest joint exercise with the Philippines since the Cold War in the South China Sea earlier this week. The exercise, dubbed Balikatan, is set to run through May 10 and is said to involve over 11,000 US soldiers and 5,000 Philippine servicemen. A French frigate as well as troops from France and Australia are also participating in the event.
Earlier this month, the US also held a separate two-week round of exercises with the Philippines dubbed Salaknib 2024, during which it deployed SM-6 missiles with a maximum range of more than 400km and a new medium-range MRC Typhon land missile system, which is capable of launching from the Philippines island of Luzon.
Asked to comment on the move, Wu stated that Beijing “firmly opposes” the deployment of such weapons by the US in the Asia-Pacific and stressed that such an action by Washington “severely threatens the security of regional countries and undermines regional peace and stability. China will take resolute countermeasures.” … Full article
Press TV – April 25, 2024
UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territory Francesca Albanese has called on the international community to immediately impose oil sanctions and an arms embargo against Israel.
“At this point, Israel has reneged on its international obligations to a degree that warrants an imperative implementation of immediate and unconditional sanctions which should entail first and foremost an arms and oil embargo,” Francesca Albanese said during a press conference on Thursday.
Albanese accused the United States and certain other Western states of being accomplice to Israel’s crimes by sending military aid and weapons.
“Complicity with genocide is a crime on its own under the Genocide Convention, so definitely interested in investigating to what extent, the aid – political and military aid that has been granted to Israel by a number of countries primarily the United States, might amount to complicity. What I can tell you for sure is that this support is in clear violation, is in clear breach with the International Court of Justice interim order that ordered the suspension, among others, of the cessation of acts that might amount to genocide and unhindered access for the Palestinians to humanitarian aid.”
In January, the United Nations’ top court ordered the Israeli regime to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide in Gaza.
Albanese further said the European Union should impose sanctions on Israel, not merely on extremist settlers. “Settlers operate as part of Israel’s expansionism over what remains of historic Palestine,” Albanese said. “So it is Israel, not settlers per se, [that has] to be targeted by sanctions.” … continue
MEMO | April 25, 2024
Some 160 of UNRWA’s premises in the Gaza Strip have been “completely destroyed”, the agency’s Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, said on Tuesday.
“160 of UNRWA’s premises in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed,” he said, noting that 180 UNRWA staff have so far been killed in Gaza since 7 October.
Lazzarini also highlighted concerns about the spread of diseases in northern Gaza due to a significant accumulation of waste.
UNRWA, he added, has sufficient funds to continue its operations until the end of June after a number of countries reversed their decision to cease their backing of the agency.
The Cradle | April 25, 2024
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said in an interview published on 25 April that the group could potentially join forces with a Palestinian national army in the event that Palestine is recognized as a state.
“All the experiences of people who fought against occupiers, when they became independent and obtained their rights and their state, what have these forces done? They have turned into political parties and their defending fighting forces have turned into the national army,” Hayya told AP.
He also said that Hamas would be willing to join the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and form a unified government for Gaza and the West Bank with the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Fatah party, on the condition of a “fully sovereign Palestinian state” on pre-1967 borders and “the return of Palestinian refugees in accordance with the international resolutions.”
He added that Hamas would be willing to “live in a state and establish a ceasefire for five years or more in order to live in security.”
Hayya said that Hamas has offered this solution repeatedly over the years. … continue
IMEMC | APRIL 24, 2024
On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers fatally shot a young Palestinian woman on the bypass road #60, north of Hebron, in the occupied West Bank.
Media sources said the soldiers fired several live rounds from point-blank range at the woman and left her bleeding on the ground until she succumbed to her wounds.
The slain young woman has been identified as Maymouna Abdul-Hamid Harahsha, 20, from Hebron.
An eyewitness said he saw the soldiers point their rifles at the woman, who remained standing still, before firing many live rounds.
He stated that the woman did not make any sudden move or attempt to run towards the soldiers or away from them before they shot her.
“I was in a car across the street when I saw the soldiers pointing their guns at her,” the eyewitness stated, “She didn’t move at all, remained standing still, yet they shot and killed her.”
The Israeli army claimed the young woman “carried a knife,” and “intended to stab the soldiers.” … Full article
The Cradle | April 25, 2024
Officials from Gaza’s Civil Defense Department announced on 25 April that 392 bodies have been unearthed from three mass graves discovered at the Nasser Medical Complex in the city of Khan Yunis, with some showing signs of having been buried alive.
“We need forensic examination for approximately 20 bodies for people who we think were buried alive in the Nasser Medical Complex,” Palestinian Civil Defence member Mohammed Mughier told reporters on Thursday, adding that some were the bodies of children.
“Why do we have children in mass graves?” he added, stressing that the evidence shows the Israeli army committed “crimes against humanity.”
Ten of the bodies unearthed had their hands bound, while others still had medical tubes attached to them.
“There are indications of carrying out field executions against some of the victims, while the bodies of other victims carried signs of torture and others were buried alive,” officials from Gaza’s Civil Defense Department said during a press conference.
“Several victims were buried in plastic bags and placed at a depth of three meters, which accelerated their decomposition,” the officials added. … continue
US President Joe Biden authorized providing some $15 billion worth of military supplies to Israel this week.
While the United States has repeatedly voiced concerns about the massive civilian casualties caused by the ongoing Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, it does not deter Washington from sending military supplies to Tel Aviv, essentially helping Israel wage this campaign.
The latest multibillion-dollar package for Israel comes as the Israeli military leadership appears intent to attack Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip that is currently densely packed with refugees who fled from other parts of the Palestinian enclave ravaged by the Israeli invasion.
Although Biden reportedly warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month that an assault on Rafah would be a mistake, the White House does not seem keen to actually prevent Tel Aviv from carrying out this attack – which is likely to result in a large number of civilian casualties.
Earlier this month, CNN reported that the Biden administration authorized the transfer of some 1,000 MK82 bombs and an equal number of small-diameter bombs, apparently undaunted by the fact that the Israeli military seems rather keen to flatten buildings across the Gaza Strip via airstrikes.
The US leadership also seems unperturbed – or at least unperturbed enough to halt the military supplies to Israel or, heaven forbid, impose sanctions on Tel Aviv – by occurrences such as the Israeli airstrike on a humanitarian convoy in the Gaza Strip, which killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen food relief NGO.
By Fatima Al-Jabouri | Arabi21 | April 22, 2024
… The Italian cultural and academic community has responded to calls for a boycott, with more than 1,700 Italian academics and researchers bringing this issue to the national consciousness through an open letter to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This document calls for the cessation of industrial, scientific and technological cooperation with Israel. The signatories say this cooperation could support the development of technologies with both civilian and military applications, including optical technologies for combat. They state that, without explicit provisions prohibiting the military use of joint research, these agreements risk violating international and humanitarian laws by Israel, and Israel may exploit this academic cooperation to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The letter further stresses the moral and legal need for this and urges the suspension of this cooperation to force Israel to adhere to international standards, especially those stipulated in the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This letter also notes that the continuation of such partnerships may implicate Italian academic institutions in possible war crimes, a serious accusation currently under review by the International Criminal Court.
Furthermore, academics highlight the dire consequences of Israeli military operations in Gaza, namely the systematic destruction of educational infrastructure, which constitutes a serious attack on the right to education. Destroying schools and universities, along with the loss of lives among students and teachers, paints a horrific picture of the impact of the Israeli war on education in Gaza, which has been systematically destroyed.
In a closing call for solidarity, the signatories called for strengthening academic relations with Palestinian institutions. Along with international responses to other humanitarian crises, they proposed establishing educational programs and allocating funds to support Palestinian teachers and students.
The Italian academics’ action has already seen tangible results, as the University of Turin was the first to officially sever its academic ties with Israeli institutions. This decision, passed by the University’s Academic Council, marks an important moment in the broader academic boycott movement. The boycott by the University of Turin, a renowned institution with strong programs in the humanities, medicine and engineering, sets a precedent that could influence other universities in Italy and around the world. … Full article
MEMO | April 25, 2024
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi yesterday praised the “fruitful dialogue” held between police forces and universities following student protests calling on local universities to cut ties with their Israeli counterparts over the occupation state’s war on Gaza, Anadolu reported.
On Tuesday, hundreds of university students in the northern city of Turin disrupted a conference focused on the academic institute’s cooperation with other countries that was attended by ministers from the ruling coalition government.
They carried Palestinian flags and attempted to march to the conference venue at Valentino Castle in the city of Turin but were prevented by security forces. … Full article
Press TV – April 25, 2024
House Speaker Mike Johnson has threatened to use National Guard against students’ pro-Palestinian protests at US universities as he got booed and heckled at Columbia University.
Following a meeting with Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, the Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives along with a group of Republican House members urged Shafik to step down if she fails to control Gaza war demonstrations on campus during a press briefing at Low Library on Wednesday.
Johnson was joined by GOP Reps. Mike Lawler, Nicole Malliotakis and Anthony D’Esposito, all from New York, and Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.
“We just can’t allow this kind of hatred and anti-Semitism to flourish on our campuses. And it must be stopped in its tracks. Those who are perpetrating this violence should be arrested,” he said, accusing protesters of chasing down Jewish students and harassing them. … continue
Press TV – April 25, 2024
Anti-riot troopers have been called in to crack down on pro-Palestinian protesters on the campus of the University of Texas as similar rallies heat up throughout seats of learning across the United States.
Eyewitness footage recorded from the incidents on Wednesday, showed the forces charging the students, forcing them to the ground, and detaining them as other protesters chanted, “Let them go.”
At least 10 people were detained, The Texas Tribune reported.
Pro-Palestinian academic activism has grown significantly across the US since the onset of the Israeli regime’s US-backed war of genocide against the Gaza Strip.
The United States has been providing the regime with maximal military and intelligence support since October 7, when the latter unleashed the war. Washington has also vetoed several United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in the brutal military onslaught that has so far killed more than 34,100 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
American students have been raging against their universities’ connection to the Israeli regime and Washington’s all-out support for the genocide. … Full article
RT | April 25, 2024
Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz has said that Warsaw would be willing to “help” Kiev repatriate men of fighting age, an unspecified portion of some 950,000 Ukrainians granted temporary sanctuary in Poland. … continue
By Javier Vinós | Climate Etc. | April 18, 2024
The Sun is a variable star and the amount of energy it emits varies from month to month, year to year, and century to century. One of the manifestations of these variations are sunspots, which are more common when the Sun is more active and disappear when it is less active. These spots follow a solar cycle of about 11 years, but sometimes there is a longer period, decades or centuries, when the Sun’s activity is so low that there are no spots. These periods are called grand solar minima. There are also periods of decades or centuries when the activity is higher. These are called grand solar maxima.
The Sun provides 99.9% of the energy that the climate system receives. So, there have always been scientists who thought that variations in the Sun were the cause of climate change. The problem is that they never had enough evidence to prove it. Until now. … continue
By Kenneth Richard | No Tricks Zone | April 23, 2024
Adding CO2 to the atmosphere can have no significant climatic effect when rising above the threshold of about 300 ppm. Due to saturation, higher and higher concentrations do not lead to any further absorption of radiation.
If one were to paint a white surface black so as to allow it to absorb as much heat as possible, it is well known the first layer of paint has the most dominant impact on heat absorption. A second coat covers up any remaining grayish color and perhaps a few spots missed on the first layer. By the third layer, there is effectively no more heat absorption that can be attained with the additional coat, as the surface is saturated in black. It cannot become blacker.
Three Polish physicists have focused their attention on this saturation principle as it applies to CO2 in three recently published papers (Kubicki et al., 2024, 2022, and 2020). Their latest (Kubicki et al., 2024), published in Applications in Engineering Science, summarizes the experimental evidence from their 2020 and 2022 publications substantiating the conclusion that “as a result of saturation processes, emitted CO2 does not directly cause an increase in global temperature.” … continue
By Breeauna Sagdal | Brownstone Institute | April 24, 2024
Seasoned veterinarians and livestock producers alike have been scratching their heads trying to understand the media’s response to the avian flu. Headlines across every major news outlet warn of humans becoming infected with the “deadly” bird flu after one reported case of pink-eye in a human.
The entire narrative is predicated upon a long-disputed claim that Covid-19 was the result of a zoonotic jump—the famed Wuhan bat wet-market theory.
While the source of Covid is hotly contested within the scientific community, the policy vehicle at the center of this dialectic began years prior to Sars-CoV-2 and is quite resolute in force and effect. … continue
By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D. | The Defender | April 23, 2024
A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) confirmed a causal link between mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and myocarditis — but rejected a causal link between the vaccines and a host of other adverse effects including female infertility, Guillain-Barré syndrome, Bell’s palsy, thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome and heart attack.
Brian Hooker, Ph.D., chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense, called the NASEM report a “whitewash of the horrible truth regarding COVID-19 vaccines.”
Hooker told The Defender :
“The propaganda is so thick in the report it is difficult to know where to start. Although the NASEM report authors found a link between mRNA vaccines and myocarditis, they said it was mild — which couldn’t be further from the truth. It is shameful that they would downplay such a debilitating and life-changing adverse event from COVID-19 vaccines.”
The Health Resources and Services Administration, a subagency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sponsored the report. … continue
An Urgent Plea to All Readers for Help
BY JUSTUS R. HOPE | APRIL 23, 2024
Few stories are more compelling than the tale of Dr. Charles Hoffe. He is a Canadian small-town physician who clings to old-fashioned values. Dr. Hoffe enjoys treating patients even if he loses money doing so because Medicine is a calling for him, not a way to get rich.
His father came to visit and told him that he would never make a name for himself in this backwoods – yet charming – town of Lytton located in the heart of British Columbia. Charles explained that his goal was not to glorify himself, but instead to care for others. He enjoyed stitching the fingers of locals whose skill saws had slipped. He found satisfaction in bringing new life into this world, and he stood strong with the elderly until they departed. Dr. Hoffe was equally comfortable treating the town via its tiny emergency room.
Dr. Hoffe remained fiercely loyal to all under his care, and this was never truer than during the recent COVID-19 episode. While MSM stories abounded on the pandemic causing overflowing big-city hospitals, Hoffe recognized the disconnect between the reality in his small town. He did not see the pandemic materializing with his own eyes. The town of Lytton seemed relatively untouched by anything more serious than a mild flu.
Following the roll-out of the vaccine, Dr. Hoffe noticed a more extreme disconnect. Patients were showing up sick after vaccination. On one occasion he informed a vaccine-injured patient she would not require additional injections due to having sufficient immunity from previous virus recovery. A nurse reported him and despite 30 years of exemplary service without a single patient complaint, he was summarily fired from his position at the emergency department.
However, despite his income dropping by half without the emergency room, Dr. Hoffe persisted in keeping his patients’ safety first, even to his detriment. His first patient death from the pandemic came after vaccination, not from the virus. … continue
By Jacob G. Hornberger | FFF | April 24, 2024
A recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times demonstrates what is a warped interpretation of the term “patriotism.” The op-ed is about former football player Pat Tillman, who was killed in Afghanistan twenty years ago. It’s written by Bill Dwyre, a former sports editor for the Times.
Dwyre reminds us that Tillman was motivated to join the military after the 9/11 attacks. He gave up a $3.6 million football contract to join the U.S. military and was hoping to be sent to Afghanistan to fight the terrorists.
Dwyre writes, “It was a can’t-miss story of patriotism. Americans applauded from the safety and comfort of our homes and communities.” (Since he uses the pronoun “our,” presumably Dwyre fell into the “safety and comfort” group rather than the “patriot” group.)
Unfortunately, however, Dwyre doesn’t explain why Tillman’s act was one of “can’t miss” patriotism. Apparently for him it’s a self-evident truth. … continue
MEMO | April 24, 2024
Gaza’s Health Ministry, on Wednesday, reported the outbreak of meningitis and hepatitis among displaced Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.
A Ministry statement said several cases of meningitis and hepatitis were recorded due to the sewage overflow and the lack of clean water in refugee camps.
“This threatens to cause a health catastrophe, especially among children,” he warned.
The Ministry appealed to UN agencies and humanitarian organisations to urgently intervene to mitigate the health crisis. … Full article
Press TV – April 24, 2024
Iran and Pakistan have called on the United Nations Security Council to hold the Israeli regime accountable for its acts of atrocity across West Asia, notably its attacks on diplomatic missions and the territory of regional countries.
The call was made in a joint statement culminating Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi’s three-day visit to Pakistan.
“Recognizing that the irresponsible act [embassy attack] of the Israeli regime forces was a major escalation in an already volatile region, both sides called on the UN Security Council to end Israel’s adventurism in the region,” the joint statement said. […]
Tehran and Islamabad reiterated their commitment to key energy projects such as the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline Project.
Raeisi wrapped up his visit to Pakistan and flew on to Sri Lanka on Wednesday. – Full article
MEMO | April 24, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Wednesday “more has to be done” to stop pro-Palestinian protests that have spread across US campuses in recent weeks, Reuters reports.
“What’s happening in America’s college campuses is horrific,” he said in a recorded statement, accusing “anti-Semitic mobs” of taking over leading universities.
“It’s unconscionable. It has to be stopped. It has to be condemned and condemned unequivocally,” he said. “The response of several university presidents was shameful. Now, fortunately, state, local, federal officials, many of them have responded differently, but there has to be more. More has to be done.”
Protests over Israel’s actions in Gaza have intensified across US campuses in recent weeks, with the Gaza war now in its seventh month.
Pro-Palestinian protesters have called for a ceasefire and for their universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel. Dozens of students have been doxxed, suspended by the university and arrested by police. … Full article
Press TV – April 24, 2024
Pro-Gaza US protesters in New York’s Columbia University say they will stay put despite the university’s harassment and police crackdown.
The protesters said they refuse to concede to “cowardly threats and blatant intimidation” by university administration, asserting that they will continue to peacefully protest.
Columbia University threatened the students with the national guard after refusing to bargain in good faith.
The university announced a midnight deadline for talks regarding the removal of pro-Palestine encampments on the varsity campus, warning that their campsite will be forcefully cleared by police if no agreement is reached.
The university campus is being used as a campsite for hundreds of pro-Palestine protesters and other activists, who have gathered and set up numerous tents.
Pro-Palestinian protests at colleges have demanded that their universities divest from corporations doing business with Israel or profiting off the war in Gaza. At Columbia, protesters have also asked the university to end a dual-degree program with Tel Aviv University.
The deadline was announced by Columbia University President Minouche Shafik late Tuesday, as authorities across major American universities have launched their repression campaigns against the pro-Palestinian protests on campuses, amid rising anger over US’s support for Israel.
Shafik has issued a midnight deadline to protesters and organizers, warning that failure to comply will result in the forcible clearance of the camp by the New York Police Department (NYPD). … Full article
The Cradle | April 24, 2024
A source within Palestinian resistance movement Hamas told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on 24 April that the group holds around 30 Israeli army generals and officers from the Shin Bet security service as prisoners in the Gaza Strip.
“The movement alone has about 30 generals and Shin Bet officers, who were captured on October 7, from military units and some highly sensitive military sites,” the source said.
The source added that “these people in particular are in highly secured places, far from the hands of the occupation, and it is impossible to reach them under any circumstances,” and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have been hiding information from their people regarding “the identities of some of the prisoners.” … continue
Press TV – April 23, 2024
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says Israel continues to prevent its food convoys from reaching the north of the Gaza Strip, where food supplies are “a matter of life and death.”
UNRWA, wrote in a post on X on Tuesday that the agency needs “safe & unimpeded access” to the areas in the north of the besieged strip. … Full article
MEMO | April 24, 2024
In a shocking revelation during a hearing at the High Court, it has come to light that the UK government has suspended legal assessments over whether Israel is breaching International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The hearing was part of legal proceedings initiated in December by Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq and UK-based Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) against the UK after repeated written requests to suspend arms sales to Israel due to grave breaches of international law and UK rules.
According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Trade Government lawyer James Eadie admitted to a “hiatus” in legal assessments of Israel’s compliance with IHL for reasons he “couldn’t go into,” stating that “decisions of some importance have been delayed for some time.” Eadie also mentioned that these delayed decisions were due “imminently” – likely in mid to late May. … continue
Al-Manar – April 24, 2024
An Israeli airstrike demolished a two-story house belonging to the Qashaqash family, killing a woman and her niece and leaving six others wounded in Hanin town south Lebanon, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday.
The casualties included 11-year-old Sarah Qashaqash and her aunt Maryam Qashaqash.
Emergency response teams sprang into action, working to locate survivors buried beneath the rubble. Six wounded victims were rescued and rushed to the Martyr Salah Ghandour Hospital in Bint Jbeil.
The Lebanese Islamic Resistance – Hezbollah condemned the attack, vowing to respond to the “heinous crime” perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces.
The strike in Hanin comes after a previous Israeli aggression on Hebbariyeh, which targeted paramedics and killed seven, according to reports.
The latest aggression joins a series of Israeli airstrikes that have targeted civilians in Lebanon, adding to the toll of innocent lives lost in the ongoing Israeli aggression.
By Robert Inlakesh | MintPress News | April 17, 2024
Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel was framed in the West as a reckless attempt to spark a major regional war, but in reality, Israel has been attacking Iran for decades.
As is routinely the case with Western-backed wars, the corporate media’s timeline begins at the moment that suits their narrative. We have seen this play out recently, with the attempt to rob the Gaza war of all contexts before October 7, 2023. Similarly, when it comes to Israel’s conflict with Iran, the two have been embroiled in what is referred to as a “shadow war,” the details of which are pretty shocking. … continue
The Cradle | April 24, 2024
Washington threatened Pakistan with sanctions on 23 April over a trade agreement recently signed with Iran.
“We advise anyone considering business deals with Iran to be aware of the potential risk of sanctions. Ultimately, the Government of Pakistan can speak to their own foreign policy pursuits,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on 23 April.
The warning came after Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi arrived in Pakistan on 22 April and met with top officials, including Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
“Both sides agreed to increase the volume of bilateral trade to 10 billion US dollars in the next five years,” Sharif’s office said in a statement. … continue
By Konstantin Asmolov – New Eastern Outlook – 24.04.2024
On March 28, 2024, Russia vetoed the extension of the mandate of the UN panel of experts to monitor the sanctions against the DPRK until April 30, 2025. This is important, because according to the established procedure, the decision to extend the term of office of the so-called 1718 Sanctions Committee must be made by April 30, otherwise it will be unable to continue with its activities. … continue
By Kit Klarenberg | Al Mayadeen | April 24, 2024
On April 11th, US General Christopher Gerard Cavoli, chief of Washington’s European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, addressed US lawmakers on Ukraine’s dire battlefield situation, warning Kiev “could lose” without further Wunderwaffe. Along the way, he made a number of startling disclosures about the size of Russia’s military, and losses, which detonated numerous narratives universally and unquestioningly perpetuated by the mainstream media from the very start of the proxy war to this day.
“We do not see significant losses in the air domain, especially their (Russian) long-range and strategic aviation fleets… Russia’s strategic forces, long-range aviation, cyber capabilities, space capabilities, and capabilities in the electromagnetic spectrum have lost no capacity at all,” Cavoli said. In all, while the Russian air force had lost “some aircraft”, this represented “only about 10% of their fleet”:
“The overall message I would give you is [Russia’s military has] grown back to what they were before… their overall capacity is very significant still, and they intend to make it go higher… Russia is reconstituting [its forces] far faster than our initial estimates suggested. The army is actually now larger — by 15% — than it was when it invaded Ukraine… Russia launches very large-scale attacks every few days keeping with their production rate… They produce, they save up, they launch a big attack.”
Such is the pace at which events move these days, many may have forgotten that in December 2023 a US intelligence report, conveniently declassified right when Volodymyr Zelensky was touring Washington desperately attempting to drum up support for yet more “aid”, suggested Russia had lost 90% of its prewar army, with combat deaths in excess of 300,000. The report claimed Moscow’s personnel and vehicle losses were so severe, it would take 18 years to replenish what was hemorrhaged over the invasion to date.
Independent analyst Will Schryver has coined the term “Imaginary War” in respect of the proxy conflict. It is a battle primarily concerned with convincing Western citizens that free, democratic Kiev is making a heroic stand against Russian barbarism, which it can and will win. Ukraine, with NATO’s backing, was until recently excelling in this effort. Every step of the way though, they’ve been losing the real war – and badly. … continue
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- X Says “Anti-Misinformation” Agency Spreading Falsehoods Caused “Incalculable” Damage
- FBI Wanted to Install Backdoor to Spy on Users, Telegram Founder Tells Tucker Carlson
- New Paper Finds Effect of Human-Caused Carbon Emissions on Climate is “Non-Discernible”
- ‘AVOID FALSE BALANCE’: AP Style Guide Aims to Silence Dissent From Climate Alarmist Narrative
- Dutch Parliament instructs government to demand a delay in both WHO votes – and if no delay, to reject proposals
- Harvard psychiatrist: Americans should be able to walk into a pharmacy & buy antidepressants over the counter
- US-UK launch new strikes on Yemen’s Hudaydah
- West’s backing of Israel after Iran’s retaliation ‘reckless, irresponsible’: Legal analyst
- Expert disputes ‘crazy’ claim that Israel downed 99 percent of Iranian projectiles
- ‘No evidence’ Iran developing nuclear weapons – IAEA
- ‘Unsubstantiated’: Iran rejects Argentine court’s blaming for AMIA bombing
- Kiev regime promotes terror in liberated Donbass regions
- NATO member explains why it will bar Ukraine from joining
- EU leadership must go – Orban
- Qatar Says ‘Surprised’ by Congressman’s Threat for US to Reevaluate Bilateral Relations
- US responds to Palestine’s UN membership bid
- Israel court extends detention of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh’s sister
- Over 350 Humanitarian Sites and Convoys Have Been Attacked in Gaza
- UN: Israel’s attacks on schools in Gaza are ‘systematic’
- Gaza authorities slam Israel for torturing Palestinian children
- Israel obstructs UN investigation into alleged rape on 7 October, prevents interviews of victims
- NYT tells journalists covering Israel’s war to avoid words ‘genocide,’ ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘occupied territory’
- EU Officials Dodge Their Own Surveillance Law
- Surge Pricing For Power On The Way
- Rise And Fall Of The German Economy… Energy Debacle Leading To Economic Meltdown
- Why US Scheme to Kill Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 is Dead in the Water
- Israel urges more sanctions on Iran
- US Will Try to Rally Other Nations to Sanction Iran Over Israel Attack
- Putin: Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel best way to punish aggressor
- NATO member blames Israel for Iranian attack
- Ukraine Tells United States It Wants to Be Treated Like Israel
- US Navy Depletes $1Bln Worth of Weapons in Middle East in 6 Months – Secretary Del Toro
- US to Buy $17 Bln Lockheed Missile Defense Interceptors as Public Debt Balloons
- Scholz has one trump card in talks with China, but he’ll never use it
- Ukrainian Special Services Behind Attempted Murder of Opposition Blogger Shariy – Source
- “Mobilisation has turned into a real nightmare for Ukrainians” – former PM Mykola Azarov
- US trial unveils horrors of Abu Ghraib scandal, decades later
- Two Palestinians killed in West Bank amid drastic rise in settler attacks
- Mass grave found in courtyard of Shifa Hospital
- Israel still imposing ‘unlawful’ restrictions on Gaza aid, says UN rights office
- Iran’s strike on Israel was much more successful than it seems. Here’s why
- US makes failed bid for Iran to allow ‘symbolic strike’ by Israel
- ‘Nothing You Can Do to Stop Us’: Iran’s Strikes on Israeli Bases Establish Deterrence
- Germany confirms its collaboration with genocide
- Whither Free Speech? College Campuses Sacrifice Professed Values to Altar of Zionism – Report
- Censorship & persecution of dissident voices continues across the world
- What authority would scare and shame an already frightened population?
- Congress Summons WEF-Affiliated Media Alliance Co-Founder Over Demonetization Scandal
- US-NATO: The Cost of War in Occupied Europe
- US ban on Russian metals ‘cuts both ways’ – Kremlin
- Ukrainian FM publicly blackmails West over oil prices
- Germany Escalates Donbass Conflict as Ukraine Admits Frontline is Deteriorating
- German leader greeted in China by deputy mayor
- US media smears China for Western failure to defeat Russia
- Scott Ritter: Ukraine ‘Owned’ by US, While With Israel It’s the Other Way Around
- Palestinian teenager killed by Israeli forces in occupied West Bank
- Palestinian woman injured in settler attack in Jordan Valley
- Israel continues to block aid deliveries into famine-stricken Gaza: Rights group
- What you need to know about the Iranian attack on Israel but will not find in mainstream news
- Iran’s drone strike busts a number of myths and strains Israel-U.S. relations
- Iranian Media Confirms Use of Unstoppable Hypersonic Missiles in Israel Counterstrike
- Macron calls for ‘isolation’ of Iran
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