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Recent Appearances...

Gregorio Rosal

New Peoples Army

Southeast Asia

20030330

Europe

Spanish Far-Right Politician Shot In The Face Suspects A Link To His Work With Iranian Opposition

2023-11-10

[Sun-Sentinel] Spanish right-wing politician Alejandro Vidal-Quadras was recovering in a hospital Thursday after being shot in the face in broad daylight on a central Madrid street. Police were ruling out no hypotheses, including a possible link to the former European lawmaker’s ties with the Iranian opposition.

A police source close to the investigation told The Associated Press there was no evidence backing the Iranian link, but confirmed that Vidal-Quadras himself had raised that suspicion from his hospital bed and that investigators were looking into it as one of several possible motives.

In a sign that police were broadening the investigation to look into the Iranian angle, another official revealed that a provincial brigade that handles terrorism and extremism cases joined late on Thursday in the inquiries previously led by agents specialized in homicides.

Both officials spoke to AP under the condition of anonymity to protect the secrecy of the inquiries.

Vidal-Quadras, 78, was attacked at around 1:30 p.m. near his home in the Spanish capital and he was conscious when taken to a hospital by emergency crews.

There were no immediate arrests and police were checking on surveillance footage and witness accounts to identify the shooter, who had been seen wearing a black helmet. The suspect had fired one gunshot before fleeing on a motorbike driven by an accomplice.

A charred motorbike found later in the day in a suburban town on the outskirts of Madrid was being investigated, one of the officials said.

Four hours after the shooting, Madrid’s Gregorio Marañón hospital said the gunshot had fractured Vidal Quadras’ jawbone and that he would undergo surgery. It said the politician was in stable condition and his life was not in danger.

Vidal-Quadras was a member of Spain’s conservative Popular Party, its regional leader in Catalonia, and a European Parliament member before leaving after three decades when he fell out with then-Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

After he broke away, he helped found the far-right Vox party. He left Vox shortly after a failed attempt to win a European lawmaker seat in 2014.

As part of his political career, Vidal-Quadras has been aligned for decades with the Iranian opposition in exile, an involvement that was noticed by Tehran.

In January, the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced it imposed sanctions on Vidal-Quadras along with others who had ties with the exiled opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, accusing them of “supporting terrorism and terrorist groups.”

The group, known as the MEK, began as a Marxist organization opposing the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It claimed — and was suspected of — a series of attacks against U.S. officials in Iran in the 1970s, something the group now denies.

The MEK operates under a variety of names, including the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.

In mid-September, addressing a conference organized by the NCRI in Brussels, Vidal-Quadras criticized European Union officials and leaders for not being strong enough in their opposition to Iran and in their support for the exiled opposition.

The MEK also has paid former American and European officials to speak at their summits in the past.

More from Regnum, courtesy of badanov:

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
In the center of Madrid, an unknown person shot at the Spanish and Catalan politician Alejo Vidal Cuadras. The Spanish newspaper ABC reported this on November 9 .

According to the publication, the incident occurred in the Salamanca area. The 78-year-old politician was taken to the hospital, he was conscious.

Vidal Cuadras was the leader of the conservative People's Party of Catalonia from 1991 to 1996. From 1999 to 2014, he was Deputy Head of the European Parliament.

As reported by IA Regnum , Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez commented on the statement by the head of the government of Catalonia, Pere Aragones, about plans to achieve progress on an agreement with the country's authorities on holding a referendum on sovereignty. According to Sánchez, the Spanish constitution does not provide for any regions of the country to have the right to gain independence.

Link

Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: September 18th, 2022

2022-09-19

Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] 22:27 Putin "fails all his military-strategic goals" in Ukraine, said the head of the British Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, in an interview with BBC News: "At the very beginning, we said that this is President Putin's strategic mistake, and strategic mistakes lead to strategic consequences. And in this case it is a strategic failure. Putin is failing in all his military-strategic goals, he wanted to subjugate Ukraine, this will not happen. He wanted to take control of the capital, we saw that he was defeated earlier. We saw that he wanted to weaken NATO. Now NATO is much stronger, Finland and Sweden are joining us."

Radakin emphasized that Putin's army has always had problems with equipment and does not have enough manpower: "His forces are weak on the ground. And we also see the wonderful Ukrainian armed forces that show courage, they fight for their country and enjoy international support, which we provide everything." But despite all this, the war will continue for a long time, Radakin believes.

22:20 The "authorities" of the occupied Kherson region announced that classes in schools, universities and kindergartens were canceled in Kherson from September 19 to September 21 due to the "danger of shelling."

22:12 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he began today, as always, with a morning conference call: "Commander-in-Chief, Minister of Internal Affairs, intelligence leaders, Minister of Defense, Minister of Infrastructure, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Security Service, Head of the Office ", Ukroboronprom and some others who are responsible for the most important areas of assistance to our defenders. This is how my every day begins. Often with the same questions, often with similar answers."

The President noted that perhaps now it seems to someone that after a series of victories a certain lull has come: “But this is not a lull, this is preparation for the next series of very important words for all of us, which must be heard ... Izyum, Balakleya, Kupyansk and Kharkiv are the cities and communities that we have liberated. These words are heard now. They are heard everywhere. Mariupol, Melitopol and Kherson are also heard, but will be heard even more often and louder when we liberate them. Donetsk, Gorlovka and Luhansk - and they are will sound. Dzhankoy, Yevpatoria, Yalta - and they too. Definitely. We don't talk about someone else's. Only our words, Ukrainian words, sound."

21:14 A powerful explosion in the courtyard of a high-rise building in the center of Melitopol is a likely result of the FSB's purge. According to preliminary data, during the showdown they wanted to eliminate one of the police collaborators - the so-called "head of the State Police of the People's Militia" Denis Stefankov, Mayor Ivan Fyodorov said. Russian media write that no people were injured in the explosion.

20:09 A powerful explosion thundered in Melitopol. According to preliminary data, explosives went off in the very center of the city - in one of the yards on Yaroslav the Wise Street. "We are waiting for details from the resistance forces," Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote.

19:35 Units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Kupyansk, Goptovka, Nikolaevka Second, Vesela Dolina, Odradovka, Maryinka, Novomikhailovka and Pravdino, the General Staff said in the evening report .

19:06 The Armed Forces of Ukraine crossed Oskol, now the Ukrainian military controls not only the right, but also the left bank of the river in the Kharkiv region, the StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.

18:54 Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets commented on the information about another shelling of the colony in Yelenovka, in which the "DNR" again accused Ukraine: "It surprises no one that not a single representative of the occupiers was injured, and the Russian Federation again accused Ukraine of shelling We already heard this in the summer." According to him, at the moment, Kyiv has not received information about the names of the victims, but is making a request about this both directly to the Russian Ombudsman Moskalkova, and through the UN and the ICRC.

Lubinets stressed that he was ready to personally arrive in Yelenovka to assess all the facts and communicate with witnesses of the shelling, wounded and detained citizens.

18:29 Iranian cargo planes regularly made flights to Russia this week. According to the Flightradar service, at least four flights of airlines associated with the Iranian military arrived from Tehran to Moscow these days.

18:13 OK Pivden speaker Natalya Gumenyuk said that the shooting in Kherson is a provocation of the Russians: "If the event has not yet ended, and the Russian television correspondent is in the center of events, please draw conclusions." She explained that the invaders are trying to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eyes of the residents of the city, to build a picture as if the Ukrainian army does not liberate Kherson, but captures it. That is why shooting and explosions in the middle of the city are instantly covered by Russian propaganda.

18:01 Russia will continue its offensive in the Donbass, regardless of any losses, according to a secret NATO intelligence report, the details of which became known to Business Insider. According to the expectations of alliance experts, the Russian Federation will intensify hostilities, especially with the use of conventional weapons, destroying infrastructure in all directions.

17:20 As a result of today's shelling of the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region, two people were killed, three were injured, the head of the OVA, Valentin Reznichenko, said. The Russians hit four times from Gradov and heavy artillery on three communities of the region - Pokrovskaya, Krasnogrigorevskaya and Nikopolskaya.

16:47 Military hospitals of the Russian Federation refuse to treat the so-called "volunteers" wounded in Ukraine. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, the number of conflicts between the units of the occupying forces is increasing due to inequality in the attitude of the command. Thus, the hospital in Rostov-on-Don refused to treat the wounded soldiers of one of the battalions of the "Union of Donbass Volunteers" due to the fact that the unit does not have the status of a regular armed formation - it was formed under the voluntary mobilization program of the BARS (military army reserve). In all such cases, doctors refer to a direct order from the command.

A conflict is also brewing between representatives of the RF Armed Forces and those “mobilized” from the territory of the “LDNR”, whom the Russians, during the retreat, left in positions without support and help. Because of this, losses in units sometimes reached 100% of the personnel.

16:19 NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems will strengthen the air defense of Ukraine, but it’s not worth talking about “closing the sky” after receiving them, Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said: “NASAMS could strengthen the existing air defense system, but we can talk about materiality only when there are enough of these complexes, batteries, etc., which can be dispersed throughout the country, covering both large cities and important state facilities." Today, it is hardly possible to say that Ukraine will have many of these complexes, Ignat added.

15:28 Russia is throwing missiles from St. Petersburg towards Ukraine, the Finnish edition of Yle writes, citing satellite images. In particular, all missile platforms were removed from the battery of the 500 anti-aircraft missile regiment near the village of Kerstovo.

15:05 Melitopol collaborators are in a panic, the traitors no longer want to cooperate with the invaders, waiting for the arrival of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said the mayor of the city Ivan Fedorov. According to him, a list of 118 collaborating police officers was published yesterday, some of them are now not going to work, hiding and waiting for the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

14:37 Russian media write that six powerful explosions thundered in the center of Kherson.

14:06 Borrell in his column for Le Jourlnal du Dimanche writes that only Ukrainians will determine the future conditions of the world. At the same time, he emphasizes that the war will not end soon: "Let's not have any illusions. Putin will not surrender voluntarily. And the war can last a long time. Of course, after the war there will be peace. But before making peace, you must end the war."

Borrell urged the EU to step up assistance to Ukraine, continuing the course chosen on February 24: "Not to be directly involved in the conflict, but to mobilize huge economic and military resources to allow the Ukrainians to restore their trampled sovereignty."

13:59 Podolyak commented on yesterday's shooting in Kherson: "Large-scale shooting in the center of Kherson is another manifestation of the growing tension between PMCs, convicts, Kadyrovtsy, the military of the Russian Federation and the FSB. The number of "domestic conflicts" is increasing. The parties are aggressively dividing the loot against the background of the news about the approach of the Armed Forces of Ukraine".

13:56 The European Commission has proposed to freeze payments to Hungary from the EU budget by about 7.5 billion euros due to corruption, said EC spokesman Eric Mamer.

13:38 As part of the work of the Coordination Headquarters, a Single Center and a round-the-clock hotline for receiving applications from the Russian military and their families have been launched. The state project I want to live is designed to help the Russian army to safely surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Russians are guaranteed maintenance in accordance with the norms of the Geneva Conventions, and Ukraine needs to replenish the exchange fund. For information on how to surrender, Russian servicemen or their relatives and friends should call: +38 066 580 34 98; +38 093 119 29 84. Also, information about the surrender in Russian is on the telegram channel https://t.me/hochu_zhyt

13:06 The "DNR" stated that the colony in Yelenovka was fired again - allegedly by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As a result of the shelling, a Ukrainian prisoner of war was killed, four more were wounded. "DPR Ombudsman" Daria Morozova expressed hope that the death and injury of Ukrainian prisoners in Yelenovka on September 18 "will push the members of the UN mission to a more active position." She also stated that the new shelling of the colony speaks of the need for "at least a rare presence" of the UN mission in the "DPR". At the same time, Morozova added that the date of the visit of the UN mission to the colony in Yelenovka is unknown.

12:55 In Svatovo, Lugansk region, a blow was struck at the bus station where the Russian military was based, said the head of the OVA Serhiy Gaidai.

12:32 In the Kharkiv region, during the evacuation of a mental hospital in the village of Strelechya, doctors and patients came under fire, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said. According to preliminary data, four medical workers were killed and two patients were injured. It was possible to evacuate 30 people, in total, more than 600 patients are treated in the institution.

11:49 A group of 20 Ukrainian soldiers will arrive in Spain tomorrow to learn how to work with Western tanks, artillery and anti-aircraft batteries, writes Infodefensa. The training will last almost a month and will take place at the San Gregorio training ground near Zaragoza. The purpose of the course is not only to develop skills in handling weapons of NATO standards, but also to learn the rules for storing and transporting ammunition.

11:26 The "authorities" of the occupied Nova Kakhovka said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling the city, air defense is working.

10:38 At night, the Russians fired at a hotel in the center of Kramatorsk, one person was injured, the mayor of the city Alexander Goncharenko said.

10:35 British intelligence writes that over the past seven days, Russia has increased the number of strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine - in particular, on power grids and a dam on the Ingulets River in Krivoy Rog. Faced with setbacks at the front, Russia has likely expanded the number of places it is prepared to strike in a direct attempt to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and government, analysts say.

10:29 Forced mobilization has begun in the Mariupol region. The first "capture" of men took place yesterday in Mangush, said Petr Andryushchenko, adviser to the mayor of Mariupol. According to his forecast, the same expects Mariupol in early October.

Andryushchenko also said that on the border of the Donetsk and Zaporozhye regions in the area with. Starodubovka at about 23:00 was recorded the launch of five missiles, previously - air defense.

10:22 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the enemy on the morning of September 18.

personnel - about 54,480 (+230) people liquidated,

tanks - 2210 (+8),

armored combat vehicles - 4718 (+17),

artillery systems - 1309 (+3),

MLRS - 312 (+0),

air defense systems - 168 (+0),

aircraft - 251 (+0),

helicopters - 217 (+1),

UAV operational-tactical level - 918 (+7),

cruise missiles - 238 (+2),

ships/boats - 15 (+0),

automotive equipment and tankers - 3578 (+7),

special equipment - 122 (+1).

10:14 Yesterday, late in the evening, the Russians fired at Nikolaev. According to preliminary information, civilian infrastructure was damaged - a hospital and a car garage cooperative. Previously, no casualties or injuries were reported, the OVA said. In the Nikolaevsky region at night, the enemy continued shelling the city of Ochakov, as a result of which two people were seriously injured, residential buildings were damaged.

10:01 In Nikopol, three people were injured from night enemy shelling, said the head of the Dnepropetrovsk OVA, Valentin Reznichenko.

09:58 In the Donetsk region over the past day, five civilians were killed from Russian shelling - two in Bakhmut, two in Vugledar and one in Georgievka. Another 18 people were injured, Pavel Kirilenko, head of the OVA, said.

09:54 The "authorities" of the occupied Zaporozhye region reported that they had decided to deport "unreliable citizens" to Ukraine for subversive activities. Four people were expelled the day before.

09:37 In the border village Arrows of the Kharkiv region, the invaders fired from a tank at a civilian car, killing two women, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinenubov. Five civilians were hospitalized with wounds in Kupyansky district, three wounded in Kharkov, two injured in Izyumsky district, one in Chuguevsky.

09:16 Orban said at a closed meeting that the war in Ukraine could continue until 2030, and Ukraine could lose a third or half of its territory, writes Szabad Európa. According to the Hungarian prime minister, the war would have been local, but the West intervened and made it global, and now Europe is "shooting itself in the foot" with sanctions.

07:42 Over the past day, the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Mikhailovka Second, Veselaia Dolina, Odradovka, Marinka, Novomikhailovka and Pravdino, the General Staff said in the morning report . According to the General Staff, the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region caused the reduction of enemy brigades: in some of them only 10% of the personnel remained.

06:25 The Amekan Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes that Russian forces continue to conduct pointless offensive operations around Donetsk and Bakhmut instead of focusing on defense against the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Analysts say the continuation of Russian offensive operations in the Donetsk region may indicate that Russian decision-making remains in question.

Russia's inability to send large-scale reinforcements to the eastern Kharkiv and Lugansk regions makes much of Russia-occupied northeastern Ukraine highly vulnerable to Ukrainian counter-offensives. Ukrainian forces are likely to expand their positions east of the Oskol River and north of the Seversky Donets River, which could allow them to encircle Russian troops around Liman. Further eastward Ukrainian advance along the northern bank of the Siversky Donets could render Russian positions around the Liman unusable and open approaches to Lisichansk and finally to Severodonetsk.

05:52 Zelensky, in an interview with Reuters, admitted that Ukraine would return Crimea through diplomatic means: “It is necessary to de-occupy the territories. It may happen that Crimea will return through the diplomatic path. It can happen. And of course, people in Ukraine, of course, would support diplomatic more way to resolve this issue.

04:13 Russia has caused serious damage to Ukrainian forces with the help of Iranian Shahed-136 drones, writes WSJ with reference to the Ukrainian military. Thus, according to the Ukrainian commander, Iranian drones destroyed two 152-mm self-propelled howitzers, two 122-mm self-propelled howitzers, and two armored personnel carriers in the zone of action of his brigade alone.

00:58 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin at the SCO summit in Uzbekistan that now is not the time for wars: "I know that today's era is not an era of war, and we have talked with you many times on the phone about democracy , diplomacy and dialogue - these are all things that concern peace ... We will definitely have the opportunity to discuss how we can take the path of peace in the coming days, I will also be able to understand your point of view. According to CNN, Modi's comment was made public a day after Putin acknowledged that China also had "questions and concerns" about the Russian invasion.

00:10 Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky called for the creation of an international tribunal because of the crimes of the Russian Federation in Izyum: "We must not leave this unattended. We stand for the punishment of all war criminals. I call for the speedy creation of a special international tribunal that will prosecute the crime aggression".

Link

Africa Subsaharan

Kenya Finds 3 Venezuelans Breached Its Election Servers Illegally, top court orders recount in 15 polling stations

2022-09-01

[Breitbart] The Kenyan national police service’s investigative unit, the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), allegedly determined in recent days that three Venezuelan nationals had illegal access to Kenya’s electoral commission servers five months ahead of the country’s general election on August 9, during which a disputed presidential vote occurred, Kenya’s the Nation newspaper reported Monday.

The Nation reported the development on August 29 loosely citing an alleged “forensic analysis” by Kenya’s DCI that it said it had “learnt” of, though the newspaper did not cite specific or anonymous sources nor did it state how it obtained the alleged information.

The newspaper reported:

The three Venezuelans who were arrested upon landing in Nairobi two weeks before the General Election had not been contracted by the electoral commission but had access to its servers five months before the disputed polls, a forensics analysis shows.

The analysis, of computers confiscated from Salvador Javier, Jose Gregorio and Joel Gustavo by the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), shows that the three were among dozens of non-Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) staff who had extensive access to the agency’s servers, the Nation understands.

The Nation said that the Kenya DCI’s alleged investigation into the Venezuelans’ access to Kenya’s electoral commission servers “is currently among various electoral fraud matters being investigated by the DCI, whom the Azimio coalition wants to be summoned to the Supreme Court to testify in their petition.”

The newspaper referred to Raila Odinga, who was the presidential candidate for Kenya’s opposition Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition party in the country’s August 9 general election. Odinga is currently contesting the results of the August 9 presidential vote. The chairman of Kenya’s election commission, Wafula Chebukati, declared current Kenya Deputy President William Ruto the winner of the presidential election on August 15 with 50.49 percent of the vote, though “[f]our out of the seven commissioners disowned the result,” Reuters noted on August 30.

Odinga alleged that the vote’s result was fraudulent immediately after the final tally was announced and has since submitted an official petition to Kenya’s Supreme Court contesting the election’s result. Kenya’s Supreme Court is expected to issue its verdict on the matter on September 5.

Odinga on August 22 specifically alleged that Venezuelan nationals had interfered in Kenya’s latest presidential election. Speaking to a crowd of his supporters, Odinga said his legal team had “enough evidence to show foreigners, those people from Venezuela, were brought into the country to try to steal our victory but it won’t be possible.” Odinga cited the alleged interference of Venezuelans in Kenya’s August 9 presidential in his official Supreme Court petition, according to the Nation.

“In the petition, Mr Odinga’s legal team argues that three Venezuelans had the ability to remotely access and manipulate [the Kenya] IEBC [Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission]’s data,” the newspaper noted on August 22.

The Nation published an excerpt of the petition, which read:

Combined with the capability of the foreigners and anyone in possession of the contents and information in the electronic devices to remotely access and manipulate the entire IEBC data; and the manifest discrepancies and irregularities manifest during the General Election and the tallying, verification of count and declaration of the presidential election result; it is the inevitable conclusion that not only was the presidential election not secure, it is not verifiable, accountable, neutral or transparent.

IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati had claimed that the three Venezuelan nationals recently arrested by Kenyan authorities were “contracted by IEBC to provide support on behalf of Smartmatic International, the company contracted to provide electoral management technology by the commission,” the Nation recalled on August 29.

“Detectives who have been on the case since July now believe that was not the case, and that the three worked for a different entity linked to the North Eastern politician,” the newspaper noted on Monday, referring to an unnamed Kenyan politician.

Kenyan police arrested the still-unnamed Venezuelans in question at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in late July after authorities found Kenyan election materials stored inside their luggage. The Venezuelans had flown to Nairobi from Istanbul, Turkey.

“Smartmatic, the Greek company that won the tender to run the all-encompassing Kenya Integrated Elections Management Systems (Kiems), also insisted that three Venezuelans arrested at the airport with election kit stickers in their luggage were their full-time employees through a subsidiary company,” the Nation noted on August 22.

Kenya’s top court orders recount of election results in 15 polling stations

[ShabelleMedia] Kenya’s Supreme Court

...the political football known as The Highest Court in the Land, home of penumbrae and emanations...
on Tuesday ordered a recount of votes in 15 polling stations across the country as a dispute over this month’s presidential election results continues.

A petition was filed by 77-year-old Raila Odinga and his running mate Martha Karua to nullify the results of the Aug. 9 elections in which William Ruto was declared as president.

The top court ordered that the recounting exercise be concluded by Thursday, and also directed the election commission to give the petitioners access to any server(s) at the tallying center for storing and transmitting voting information.

A high-level delegation of African jurists arrived in Kenya on Monday to observe court proceedings that kick off on Wednesday. A bench of seven judges will preside over the appeal, which must be decided by Sept. 5. If they order the cancellation of the result, a new election must be held within 60 days.

Five-time presidential candidate Odinga rejected the "flawed" election results, calling them a "major setback" to democracy in the East African country that could trigger a political crisis. He had filed legal challenges in 2013 and 2017 as well.

Ruto won nearly 7.18 million votes, 50.49% of the total, while Odinga got 48.85% or over 6.94 million votes.

Link

Government Corruption

Former Space Company Executive Alleges Serial Lawbreaking By Democratic Governor

2022-01-07

[DAILYCALLER] A former aerospace company executive accused embattled Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

...Dem governor of New Mexico. People who don't support her are QAnon Lizard People, so shut up, damn you...
on Monday, as well as several of her appointees, of retaliating against him after he filed a whistleblower complaint. Zach DeGregorio, the former Chief Financial Officer of Spaceport America, alleges that one of Grisham’s political appointees, Alicia Keyes, encouraged him to falsify an economic impact study. He also alleges that Keyes mishandled a bond refinancing for the purpose of defrauding the state. When DeGregorio attempted to report the wrongdoing, he claimed, he was threatened with investigations and a firing.

DeGregorio resigned from his position at the company in June 2020, shortly after he filed a complaint alleging that Spaceport America Executive Director Daniel Hicks violated several state laws, which led to "possible waste and abuse of taxpayer funds." In the lawsuit, DeGregorio adds that Hicks attempted to break into his email account and accessed emails DeGregorio sent to Keyes about Hicks’ involvement in alleged procurement fraud.

After tracking software was placed on DeGregorio’s tech devices, he claims, he resigned.

A spokeswoman for Spaceport America declined the Daily Caller’s request for comment, citing an ongoing investigation.

Link

-Great Cultural Revolution

Phil Collins' battle of the Alamo: Genesis frontman is caught in US race row after his donation of £10m worth of memorabilia for museum is accused of 'glorifying myth of a handful of whites against a Mexican horde'

2021-10-19

[Daily Mail, Where America Gets Its News] Collins, 70, has been obsessed since childhood with the battle and even believes he is a reincarnation of one of those defenders

The Genesis frontman donated his hoard is weapons, clothing, letters and other artefacts from the legendary siege of the Alamo of 1836

Critics argue the collection helps perpetuate a narrative that focuses only on the battle's white leaders and ignores Latinos, Native Americans and black figures

Dunno about blacks and Injuns, except for Travis' slave, Joe, but the rest were considered Texians. The white ones intermarried cheerfully with the Texicans. Juan Seguin would have died with Davy Crockett and William Barrett Travis and Jim Bowie and the rest, had he not been sent to bring reinforcements and the "Never Surrender" message to Sam Houston. Juana Navarro Alsbury was the one who warned the defenders of Santa Anna's approach. Gregorio Esparza's brother was on the Mexican side. His brother Francisco was given permission to give him a decent burial.

Link

Africa North

Graves of Filipinos Executed by IS in Libya Discovered

2021-03-04

[LIBYAREVIEW] On Tuesday, the Embassy of the Philippines in 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...
announced that with the help of Libyan authorities, the graves of four Filipino oil workers who were executed 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....
(IS) fighters in Libya six years ago, have finally been located.

In a statement, the embassy said that it was able to confirm the location of the remains of the four Filipinos in a cemetery in the eastern coastal city of Derna. The four have been missing since they were kidnapped along with two coworkers from Austria and the Czech Republic by IS bad boys, as they attacked the Ghani Oil Field in southern Libya on 6 March 2015.

Embassy Chargé d’Affaires and Head of Mission Elmer G. Cato said nothing much had been heard from the kidnapped foreign oil workers until two years later, when a video showing their execution was found in a laptop seized from slain IS fighters in Derna.

According to the embassy, the six were employed by the Austrian contractor Value Added Oil Services (VAOS), had been presumed dead although their bodies were never recovered.

In 2018, Cato said that the embassy was informed that the remains of the four missing Filipinos could be among those recovered by the Libyan Red Islamic Thingy in Derna. Due to the unstable security situation, the embassy was not able to send a team to Derna to search for its nationals.

In October, embassy officials were able to travel to Benghazi and request the assistance of the authorities in finding the remains. On Tuesday morning, Libyan military authorities led the embassy officials to the Dahr Ahmar Islamic Cemetery 10 kilometers from Derna, where they said Donato Santiago, Gregorio Titan, Roldan Blaza, and Wilson Eligue were buried after their bodies were recovered six years ago.

The embassy explained that Libyan Red Islamic Thingy volunteers were part of the team that retrieved and later buried the remains of the six, as well as another volunteer who oversaw burials at the Dahr Ahmar cemetery. It noted that the volunteers were convinced that the bodies they buried there belonged to the six kidnapped foreign oil workers.

Cato said that the Office of Migrant Workers Affairs (OMWA) has conveyed the latest development to their families in the Philippines, and will make arrangements for forensics experts to assist in identifying the remains and transport them home.

Link

Caribbean-Latin America

12 Mexican Kops arrested over Camargo massacre

2021-02-04

A total of 12 police officers from Tamaulips were arrested for their role in the massacre of 19 individuals in Camargo municipality in Tamaulipas, according to a news report featured in the Mexican daily Milenio.

In January 22nd, a total of 19 individuals were killed and immolated in what Mexican officials suggest was a case of human trafficking.

3 Found dead in Tijuana

A total of three dead were found in Tijuana, according to a news report featured in the Mexican news daily Milenio.

One was found in a garbage bag in Ejido Francisco Villa neighborhood on Calle 3.

A second body was found at Calle 4 de Julio, in the Lomas del Matamoros neighborhood.

The third was found in front of a church in Sánchez Taboada Produtsa neighborhood.

Couple gunned down in Juarez

A man and a woman were shot to death in Juarez Wednesday afternoon, according to data supplied by the Mexican news daily El Diario de Chihuahua.

According to the report the two were aboard a vehicle hear the corner of Gregorio M. Solís and 16 de Septiembre.

Nearby witnesses said they heard at least 20 shots.

2 kidnapped in Cuauhtémoc

A 13 year old girl and a 20 year old man were abducted from a residence in Cuauhtémoc early Wednesday morning, according to information from El Diario de Chihuahua.

The local prosecutor said that an armed group took to two from a residence in Peasant neighborhood.

Decapitated head found in Juarez

A box containing a decapitated head was found early Wednesday morning in Juarez, according to a news report in El Diario de Chihuahua.

The head was in an advanced state of decomposition. It was found near the corner of Ulises Irigoyen and Genaro Artalejo streets in the Anáhuac neighborhood.

Four shot to dead in Juarez

A total of four unidentified individuals were shot to death early Wednesday morning according to a news report in El Diario de Chihuahua.

The incident took place near the corner of Óscar Flores Sánchez Boulevard and Montes Urales Street next to a food market. The four were found aboard a Dodge brand SUV

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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-

Puerto Rico discovers protective supply cache amid COVID-19

2020-04-05

[WAPO] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico ‐ The suspected mismanagement of essential supplies during Hurricane Maria turned out to be a boon for Puerto Rico as it fights a rise in coronavirus cases.

Health Secretary Lorenzo González said Saturday that officials discovered a cache of urgently needed personal protective equipment at a hospital in the nearby island of Vieques that remains closed since the Category 4 storm hit the U.S. territory in September 2017.

He said the equipment includes face masks, gloves, gowns and face shields that were in good condition and would be distributed to health institutions.

"They’re very useful at this moment," said González, who became the island’s newest health secretary this week, the third in the span of two weeks.

He also said officials recently located a warehouse with medicine and medical equipment worth $4 million donated during Hurricane Maria, and that nearly all of it had expired. He did not provide details about what specific items were found.

Puerto Rico has reported 18 deaths related to COVID-19, including that of a nurse, and more than 450 confirmed cases, including several police officers who join health workers in demanding more personal protective equipment.

"Police are going the extra mile right now, and the government is not protecting us like it should," said Gregorio Matías, vice president of a police union.

The discovery in Vieques outraged many on an island still struggling to recover from Maria and from a series of strong earthquakes that hit Puerto Rico’s southern region in recent months.

González said he has ordered an investigation into why those supplies were abandoned in Vieques. The announcement comes two months after a group of Puerto Ricans discovered and broke into a warehouse filled with emergency supplies in southern Puerto Rico at a time local officials sought urgent help for those affected by a string of earthquakes. Other similar discoveries have been made since Maria hit.

González said the government still needs other equipment including testing kits and ventilators, noting that there are only 500 available for an island of 3.2 million people with high rates of asthma.

"If that’s going to be the difference between life and death, people are going to die," he said. "Don’t take this lightly."

A doctor who leads a COVID-19 government task force has said the U.S. territory needs at least 3,000 ventilators with the anticipated peak in cases expected in early May. Puerto Rico is in the middle of a month long curfew that is one of the strictest in any U.S. jurisdiction and has shuttered non-essential businesses and banned people from going outside unless they have to buy food, medicine or go to the bank.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Saipan: The Island Where Chinese Mothers Deliver American Babies

2017-12-21

Another one of our thousand cuts that needs to go away. Yesterday.
[WSJ] SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands‐This U.S. territory in the western Pacific is known for its epic World War II battle, white-sand beaches and the enduring culture of its indigenous Chamorro people.

But for a certain class of Chinese parents, Saipan has become known as the latest hot spot for birth tourism, a place where women can give birth to babies who will automatically acquire U.S. citizenship.

The Northern Marianas, an island chain that includes Saipan, is the only U.S. soil that Chinese can visit without a visa, after a change in immigration policy in 2009 allowed Chinese and Russian tourists visa-free entry for up to 45 days.

"It’s just like if God opened a window for you," said a Chinese father who works as a translator here after coming a few years ago to ensure his child would be born American.

The Northern Marianas pressed for the visa waiver to support an economy reliant on tourism, notably to Saipan’s casinos and gambling parlors. The number of Chinese visitors has risen substantially since 2009 and now represents 36% of tourists to the island, which is four to five hours’ flight from Shanghai and Guangzhou. Tourism accounts for 72% of Saipan’s economy.

The number of American babies born here to Chinese women who entered as tourists also climbed‐to 472 last year from eight in 2009‐according to the Northern Marianas government. Last year, for the first time, more Chinese tourists gave birth here than Americans.

"As long as you have birthright citizenship, it’s true this is something that can be exploited," said Doris Meissner, former commissioner of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute. "This is the first I’ve heard of Saipan," she said. "That’s actually quite clever."

U.S. authorities don’t have a tally of how many people come to the U.S. each year to gain birthright citizenship. An association of Chinese birth-tour operators estimated that 10,000 Chinese birth tourists came to the U.S. in 2012.

Chinese travel businesses offer competing packages to help Chinese mothers reach U.S. soil and provide them with lodging, hospital care and domestic help.

There is nothing illegal about birth tourism, provided the visitor has the funds to pay for required medical procedures and doesn’t intend to overstay, said Jaime Ruiz, a spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

In 2015, when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raided nearly 40 locations tied to birth-tourism operations in Southern California, the search warrants cited suspected visa fraud, tax evasion and harboring illegal immigrants, among other charges. The related cases are ongoing, ICE said.

The translator in Saipan said immigration enforcement on the U.S. mainland had led more Chinese parents to consider Saipan. While birth-tourism packages to Los Angeles included guidance on how to qualify for a tourist visa, Chinese travelers to Saipan needn’t clear that hurdle.

American obstetrician Claire Grove said that when she came to work at a clinic on Saipan last year, she was surprised at how many Chinese women had come to the island to give birth.

She soon had a unique perspective on birth tourism.

Dr. Grove learned that Sen Sun, a translator, was running a business to help Chinese mothers deliver on Saipan. Concerned about what she believed to be Mr. Sun’s exploitation of illegal Chinese workers, Dr. Grove went to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

As a result of an FBI probe, the U.S. Attorney’s office in the Northern Marianas prosecuted Mr. Sun, leading to his Dec. 8 guilty plea of harboring illegal aliens in relation to his hiring of Chinese maids to care for birth tourists.

"They feel trapped without U.S. citizenship," Dr. Grove said of the maids. "They have no means to complain about not being paid or anything."

In his plea deal, Mr. Sun said he operated "an unregistered and therefore illegal business operation arranging travel, medical, and other services to pregnant foreign citizens," in which he charged women more than $15,000 each, before hospital bills. Sentencing is set for March.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the case against Mr. Sun, whose lawyer declined to comment on the case and on Dr. Grove’s accusation that Mr. Sun exploited his staff.

In China, websites advertising birth-tourism packages abound, with names such as GlobalBaby8.com, promising luxurious birth vacations to Saipan. The Chinese translator whose wife gave birth on Saipan said total costs can exceed $50,000.

"Everyone is feeling unsafe in China," the father said, citing among other things the political crackdown under President Xi Jinping. "We will do anything for our kids." The father still lives on Saipan with his wife and children, and fears they will be deported.

Recently in the obstetrics unit at Saipan’s main hospital, a pregnant Chinese woman walked down a hall in a hospital gown and pink slippers, trailed by her translator, past a painting of Chamorro warriors dueling in loincloths.

Doctors and administrators said the surge in the number of Chinese mothers is overwhelming health facilities. "It’s a strain for the community," said Esther Muna, CEO of government health provider Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation, which runs the hospital.

Ms. Muna said Chinese women in late stages of pregnancy presented difficulties when doctors didn’t know their medical history. In October, a Chinese mother died in childbirth on the island.

Saipan is leaving it to federal authorities to chase down immigration violators. The Justice Department in April said it was cracking down on immigration violations in the Northern Marianas, after the conviction of a Taiwan national for harboring a Chinese birth tourist who had overstayed.

"Federal and local authorities should know where birth tourists are being housed and should be able to identify overstayers," said Gregorio Sablan, the Northern Marianas’ congressional representative. "Cutting off visa-free travel to the Marianas for hundreds of thousands of visitors from China in order to prevent a few hundred birth tourists makes no sense from a business point of view."

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Caribbean-Latin America

Ahead of Pope's visit, Mexico gang violence targets priests

2016-02-12

A show of hands from the politicians who are supposed to represent us, please. Who thinks we don't need a wall?
When Pope Francis arrives in Mexico on Friday he will land in the most dangerous country for priests in Latin America, with dozens killed in the past decade.
Bring the Popemobile with the RPG-proof glass.
The drug war that has killed tens of thousands of people in the past 10 years has also claimed the lives of at least 36 priests, targeted by criminal organizations, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.

The latest victim was Father Erasmo Pliego de Jesus, whose burned body was found in November in Puebla, one of the most religious states in the world's second largest Roman Catholic country.

In April, Father Francisco Javier Gutierrez was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in Guanajuato, another central state.

Alejandro Solalinde, a priest famous for his defense of migrants at a shelter in the southern state of Oaxaca, had to temporarily flee Mexico in 2012 after receiving death threats.

"We will kill you," said one of the blunt messages that Solalinde received.

"One of them even had a price on my head. They offered five million pesos ($400,000) to have me killed," said the 70-year-old priest.

Solalinde is now watched over by four bodyguards day and night while police guard his shelter.

In addition to the 36 priests assassinated since 2005, two more have disappeared, joining the macabre list of 26,000 missing people across the country.

Mexico is "the most dangerous country in Latin America to be a priest," ahead of other notoriously crime-riddled countries like Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, according to the Catholic Multimedia Center.

Nelson Arteaga, sociologist at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences, said the deaths of dozens of priests since the government declared war against drug cartels in 2006 shows that they have not escaped the violence.

"Priests and nuns are targeted because we have gotten involved more and more in the human rights crisis of this country," Solalinde said.

"We are side-by-side with the victims and that makes us vulnerable to organized crime and its political arm."

- Bulletproof vest -

The violence worries Mexico's Roman Catholic Church.

"It has been terrible. Many priests are continuously affected by organized crime because there are people who see priests as a symbol of certain values that they don't agree with," Archbishop Norberto Rivera told AFP.

In Mexico City, a metropolis of 20 million people, at least 400 priests have faced extortion and threats, Rivera said.

The most dangerous areas for priests are the states of Guerrero in the south and neighboring Michoacan in the west.

Pope Francis will visit Michoacan's capital, Morelia, on Tuesday.

The avocado and lime growing region is known for a conflict that erupted in 2013 between vigilante militias formed by farmers to combat the cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel.

Authorities had to provide security to Miguel Patino, the bishop of Apatzingan, a city once controlled by the cartel, over fears that he faced an imminent attack in 2013.

A priest in the same city at the heart of Michoacan's so-called "Hot Land," Gregorio "Goyo" Lopez, wore a bulletproof vest during mass.

- Mass grave -

While Francis is not visiting Guerrero, which became infamous following the disappearance and presumed massacre of 43 students, the state has seen horrific violence against priests.

A Ugandan priest, John Ssenyondo, was kidnapped as he left mass in a mountain region and his remains were found later in a mass grave with 12 other bodies in November 2014.

A month later, at Christmas, the body of Father Gregorio Lopez Gorostieta was found with a bullet hole in the head, three days after he was kidnapped by gunmen at a seminary.

"Enough already! We don't want more blood. We don't want more deaths," the Mexican Episcopal Conference pleaded after Gorostieta's murder.

Pope Francis sent a letter to condemn the killing and urge that Mexican priests "continue with enthusiasm their ecclesiastic mission, despite the challenges, following Jesus' example."

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Southeast Asia

Rebels, Military: Filipino on U.S. most Wanted List Killed

2015-05-06