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Investors warn Evergrande could face ‘uncontrolled collapse’ that would be a disaster for China’s property sector
A group of Evergrande bond investors have issued a warning over the troubled Chinese developer, the WSJ reports.
Last month, Evergrande canceled a $19 billion debt restructuring, warning bondholders of wider turmoil.
“This would likely lead to an uncontrolled collapse of the group,” the investors wrote.
A group of investors who hold more than $6 billion in bonds issued by embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande said the developer may soon face bigger trouble that could spread to the rest of the country’s real estate market. Could.
A statement from bond investors cast doubt on the company’s efforts to win over regulators amid trading turmoil and mounting debt, the Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported on Monday.
Last month, Evergrande canceled a $19 billion debt restructuring at the last minute, citing regulatory hurdles, which had been in the works for years. In their letter, the investors said the deal must be completed otherwise the consequences could be dire.
Bond holders said the inability to restructure Evergrande would “likely lead to the uncontrolled collapse of the group.” Evergrande defaulted in 2021 and remains China’s most indebted property developer. As of June, it had approximately $332 billion in liabilities, including thousands of unfinished homes it had yet to deliver.
The group of investors said the company’s failure to proceed with the loan deal could spill over into the rest of the property sector and have a “devastating impact” on competitors who are already facing their own issues. He said the company should deal with regulators and restructure.
“This is the only way to resolve the cloud of uncertainty surrounding regulatory issues,” investors said. “Until then, the base case is that China Evergrande Group will be liquidated at the next winding-up hearing on October 30, 2023.”
In August, Evergrande filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection.
Should regulators fail to approve the deal, investors said it would “make any offshore restructuring of Chinese real estate companies mission impossible.”
Meanwhile, China’s largest developer, Country Garden, has been able to avoid default, but was late on a bond payment in August. Another developer, Sunac China Holdings, is now aiming to restructure about $11 billion of dollar debt, according to the Journal.
Evergrande said in March that if it cannot secure a restructuring deal and liquidation becomes necessary, bond investors would likely get a return of around two to nine cents on the dollar.
Source: markets.businessinsider.com
-Alma Winkle, Business News
Government Interest Payments Now Top Defense Spending
Image Credit: Vertigo3d/iStock/Getty Images Plus
The federal government is now spending more to pay interest on the government’s gross debt of $33 trillion than it does on national defense, according to the U.S. Treasury’s monthly statement.
The reported data totaled government receipts and outlays for fiscal year 2023 through August, noting that over $807 billion has been spent in interest on the nation’s debt securities, while the Department of Defense’s budget, including all military programs, totaled around $696 billion in the same period.
Considering that the United States reportedly spends more money on defense than all other countries, the reported debt interest payments should be a shot across the bow for Congress and President Biden. America is sinking under the weight of out-of-control government spending that’s accelerated by the president’s disastrous economic policies, better known as “Bidenomics.”
Bidenomics fueled inflation that topped 9 percent in June 2022. That led the Federal Reserve to increase interest rates to slow inflation, which has cost the government more money to service its debt, as the Treasury report revealed.
It’s no wonder that Congress was forced to pass a continuing resolution to keep the government from being shut down late last month, as the divided chamber seeks to find an agreeable course to end the fiscal insanity.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) shared that on September 15, the nation’s gross debt was “$33.0 trillion, up from $23.4 trillion in February 2020, before the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis necessitated massive short-term borrowing. Based on estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), we estimate that gross debt will rise to $50.8 trillion by the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2033. As a share of the economy, gross debt is currently around 124 percent of GDP and is expected to rise to 129 percent of GDP by 2033.”
In addition to the national debt, our government has other and much larger fiscal liabilities, some of which are unfunded. “According to the Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Report of the United States Government the U.S. has $39.0 trillion of liabilities, with publicly-held debt comprising about 62 percent of those liabilities and accrued benefits for veterans and federal employees making up most of the remainder. The government also has some softer liabilities (often referred to as ‘obligations’) to pay future Social Security and Medicare benefits in excess of revenue under current law,” stated the CRFB. “The present value of these unfunded social insurance obligations over the next 75 years is about $75.9 trillion, bringing the government’s total liabilities to $114.9 trillion. Net of government assets, the government’s net position under this measure is -$110.0 trillion.”
-David Kelly, The New American
Statement from President Joe Biden on American Citizens Impacted in Israel
As we continue to account for the horrors of the appalling terrorist assault against Israel this weekend and the hundreds of innocent civilians who were murdered, we are seeing the immense scale and reach of this tragedy. Sadly, we now know that at least 11 American citizens were among those killed—many of whom made a second home in Israel.
It’s heart wrenching. These families have been torn apart by inexcusable hatred and violence. We also know that American citizens still remain unaccounted for, and we are working with Israeli officials to obtain more information as to their whereabouts. My heart goes out to every family impacted by the horrible events of the past few days. The pain these families have endured, the enormity of their loss, and the agony of those still awaiting information is unfathomable.
The safety of American citizens—whether at home or abroad—is my top priority as President. While we are still working to confirm, we believe it is likely that American citizens may be among those being held by Hamas. I have directed my team to work with their Israeli counterparts on every aspect of the hostage crisis, including sharing intelligence and deploying experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts.
For American citizens who are currently in Israel, the State Department is providing consular assistance as well as updated security alerts. For those who desire to leave, commercial flights and ground options are still available. Please also take sensible precautions in the days ahead and follow the guidance of local authorities.
This is not some distant tragedy. The ties between Israel and the United States run deep. It is personal for so many American families who are feeling the pain of this attack as well as the scars inflicted through millennia of antisemitism and persecution of Jewish people. In cities across the country, police departments have stepped up security around centers of Jewish life, and the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and other federal law enforcement partners are closely monitoring for any domestic threats in connection with the horrific terrorist attacks in Israel.
In this moment of heartbreak, the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis. We remember the pain of being attacked by terrorists at home, and Americans across the country stand united against these evil acts that have once more claimed innocent American lives. It is an outrage. And we will continue to show the world that the American people are unwavering in our resolve to oppose terrorism in all forms.
The United States and the State of Israel are inseparable partners, and I affirmed to Prime Minister Netanyahu again when we spoke yesterday that the United States will continue to make sure Israel has what it needs to defend itself and its people.
-The White House
White House confirms at least 11 Americans killed in Hamas attack on Israel
The White House confirmed Monday that at least 11 American citizens have been killed since Hamas launched its terrorist attack Saturday on Israel.
"In this moment of heartbreak, the American people stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Israelis. We remember the pain of being attacked by terrorists at home, and Americans across the country stand united against these evil acts that have once more claimed innocent American lives," President Joe Biden said in an official White House statement. "It is an outrage."
More than 900 people in Israel have been killed so far, while Hamas, the terrorist group that controls the government of the Gaza Strip, claims to have more than 100 other people in captivity, according to Israel National News.
To put that number in perspective, given the size of Israel's population, it would be the "the equivalent of eight 9/11 attacks," Jerusalem Post editor-in-chief Avi Mayer wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the death toll was confirmed to be 800.
-Madeleine Hubbard, Just The News
Texas Moves to Reclaim Island From Cartels
Image Credit: A Texas DPS special operations agent clear a region with cartel activity | Image by Texas DPS Lt. Chris Olivarez/Twitter
Special law enforcement teams under the Texas Department of Public Safety have begun operations on a large island in the Rio Grande to stop drug cartels and other foreign criminal organizations from using it in their schemes.
Fronton Island, which is located in Starr County across the river from Los Guerra, Mexico, has reportedly been used by cartels to facilitate drug smuggling, human trafficking, and unlawful migration. In August, video footage showed armed men in body armor near the island operating on the Texas side of the border, per Fox 22 WFVX.
Chris Olivarez, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), explained, “The Elite [Texas DPS] Rangers Special Operations Group (SOG) began clearing an island for operational security in Fronton, TX. The island has been under control by transnational criminal organizations … for decades. The State … is now taking over to address threats posed to the border region.”
He went on to note that Gov. Greg Abbott, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, and the Texas Legislature gave DPS the “tools & authority to combat criminal organizations operating on Texas soil.”
A video posted on social media by Olivarez showed members of the SOG clearing trees, advancing through the brush, and driving motor vehicles on the island.
“This is OUR land,” Abbott posted. “We’ve taken control of it away from transnational criminal organizations that were using it to facilitate illegal immigration & drug smuggling.”
“Plant the Texas flag,” he added.
Commissioner Buckingham had authorized DPS to access Fronton Island on September 7, saying, “I have made a commitment to Texans to use all means available to gain complete operational control of the southern border. Based on the records of our agency, the Texas General Land Office (GLO) has determined that Fronton Island is state-owned land.”
“… While the federal government refuses to safeguard Texas communities, the GLO will step up and assist our state in its robust border security efforts,” she said. “It is my hope that with access to this island, the GLO can aid our brave men and women on the frontlines of this ongoing border crisis in stemming the tide of this overflow of illegal immigration.”
The GLO noted further, “Fronton Island has served as a hot spot for drug and human trafficking and dangerous cartel activity in the past couple of months. This more than 170-acre island is the latest state-owned island the GLO has allowed DPS to police and patrol in order to stem the flow of illegal immigration and various unlawful, dangerous cartel activities.”
It added that the GLO had already authorized DPS operations on two other islands around Eagle Pass.
On September 25, Olivarez shared a video of what appeared to be a Venezuelan flag planted on a small island near Eagle Pass, claiming that some “illegal immigrants … decided to claim a [Texas] island by placing a foreign flag — that was quickly taken care of by our DPS Tactical Marine Unit.”
Despite the historic levels of unlawful migration at the southern border, White House officials have dismissed concerns expressed by Texas regarding the situation. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recently said, “The president has done more to secure the border and to deal with this issue of immigration than anybody else.”
“He really has!” she continued, per Fox News. “Look, the president has done what he can from here, from the federal government, from the White House to put forth and manage our border in a safe and humane way to respect the dignity of every human, as he says all the time, and making sure that our communities are safe.”
-Jonathan Richie, The Dallas Express
Alabama Deploys National Guard In Response To Illegal Immigration Crisis
Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, has pledged to send 275 National Guard troops to the southern border while blaming President Joe Biden's policies for fanning the flames of the illegal immigration crisis.
Image Credit: A Texas National Guard Soldier watches as an illegal immigrant walks into a makeshift camp in El Paso, Texas on May 11, 2023 (John Moore/Getty Images)
With the move, Ms. Ivey joins other Republican governors in dispatching their military forces to help stem the tidal wave of people seeking to cross the border without authorization.
"Every state has become a border state under the current policies," Ms. Ivey said in a statement.
"Alabama remains committed to being an integral part of the mission to protect our Southern Border," she added.
Earlier, Ms. Ivey joined 24 other governors in writing a letter to President Biden on Sept. 19, blaming his policies for incentivizing illegal immigration, which they said had risen exponentially under his watch, "in some areas by nearly 850%."
"States are on the front lines, working around-the clock responding to the effects of this crisis: shelters are full, food pantries empty, law enforcement strained, and aid workers exhausted," Ms. Ivey and the others wrote, citing estimates that the annual cost of illegal immigration at federal, state, and local levels is at least $150.7 billion.
Citing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, the governors pointed out that there have been over 5.8 million illegal crossings since President Biden took office—and another 1.6 million gotaways who evaded capture.
In September, CBP recorded over 260,000 illegal crossings at the southern border, marking an all-time high in a single month.
Image Credit: An aerial view of migrants waiting to be processed on the Mexican side of the border in El Paso, Texas on September 21, 2023 (Brandon Bell/ Getty Images)
Biden's Policies In Focus
Republicans have blamed President Biden for gutting the policies of his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, whose pledge to build a wall was a rallying cry for a series of actions that they credit for yielding comparatively low numbers of illegal border crossings.
During his first 100 days in office, President Biden took dozens of executive actions on immigration, including ordering a halt to the construction of the border wall—which his administration is now rushing to resume in an embarrassing yet welcome about-face.
In early 2021, when the Biden administration stopped the ongoing construction of the border wall, President Biden claimed that his predecessor's focus on constructing the wall was misguided and an example of his supposed inability to manage immigration and secure the border.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has denied that President Biden’s policies are to blame for the influx of illegal immigrants while accusing Republicans of turning the border issue into a "political stunt."
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Approves Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Emergency Declaration
Today, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. declared that an emergency exists in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and ordered Federal assistance to supplement Commonwealth and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Tropical Storm Bolaven beginning on October 9, 2023, and continuing.
The President’s action authorizes the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the islands of Agrihan, Alamagan, Pagan, Rota, Saipan, and Tinian.
Specifically, FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures (Category B), limited to direct Federal assistance, under the Public Assistance program will be provided at 75 percent Federal funding.
Mr. Benigno B. Ruiz of FEMA has been appointed to coordinate Federal recovery operations in the affected areas.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION MEDIA SHOULD CONTACT THE FEMA NEWS DESK AT (202) 646-3272 OR FEMA-NEWS-DESK@FEMA.DHS.GOV.
-The White House
FLASHBACK: US weapons left behind during Afghanistan withdrawal would be used in terrorist attacks against Israel, IDF official warned
An Israeli commander said that US small arms that were left behind during President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 have found their way into the hands of Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip. Weapons the US abandoned during the tumultuous and deadly withdrawal were seized by the Taliban
Following the August 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, which saw 13 servicemembers in killed, billions of dollars in US weapons and equipment, including Black Hawk helicopters, fell into the hands of the Taliban. An Israeli commander told Newsweek that IDF has seen the weapons in us by terrorist organizations in Gaza.The weapons continue to be a revenue source for the Taliban, who have sold and smuggled the weapons out of Afghanistan.
The commander was also concerned that “…they can research capabilities and then learn how to manufacture them. I'm talking especially about Iran.""The other problem," he added, "is that we are very worried that some of these capabilities are going to fall to Hezbollah and Hamas' hands."
It has been widely reported that Tehran has been reverse engineering US weapons technology including drones.
According to Newsweek, the Biden administration has alleged that Tehran has copied the US design for TOW anti-tank missiles "…to develop the Toophan system, which has been wielded by Hezbollah and fellow ‘Axis of Resistance’ militias in Iraq, Syria and Yemen."
Speaking with Fox News on Sunday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, "I want to track the serial numbers of the weapons that Hamas is using against Israel. And I want to know if they came from Afghanistan or if they came from weapons that we provided to Ukraine."
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that Iranian officials helped the Palestinian terror group Hamas plan the attack and gave the go-ahead to carry out Saturday’s sneak attack on Israel. It was the most severe attack on the Jewish state since the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
The outlet reported that officers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had been working with the Gaza Strip-based terrorist organization including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, since August to plan the Oct. 7 attack, which has killed over 700 and injured thousands more.
Dozens remain missing and are feared kidnapped after the incursion by terrorists into the Jewish state.
On September 11, President Joe Biden released $6 billion in frozen funds to Iran. The move, which was highly criticized, was to secure a prisoner swap deal in which five Iranians imprisoned in the US were handed over to the Islamic Republic in exchange for five American citizens who had been jailed.At the time, Biden's Secretary of State Antony Blinken insisted that the unfrozen money would "be available only for humanitarian trade." Yet, during an interview on Sunday with NBC News Blinken defended the move but conceded that the Islamic Republic has "always" put money towards funding terroristic operations.
Blinken stated, "Iran has unfortunately always used and focused its funds on supporting terrorism, on supporting groups like Hamas. And it’s done that when there have been sanctions, it’s done that when there haven’t been sanctions, and it’s always prioritized that."
In 2021 Biden "restored" $235 million in aid to the Palestinians despite concerns that the money would fund terrorism. At the time Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said, "I am deeply troubled by recent decisions from the Biden Administration to turn a blind eye to behavior by the Palestinian Authority."
He added, "In 2019, the Palestinian Authority provided $343 million to subsidize ‘Pay to Slay’ attacks where terrorists and their families receive cash rewards for attacking Israelis and Americans." Graham alleged the Biden administration was "subsidizing terrorism."Blinken's latest comments come on the heels of the news that emails revealed Biden’s Iran envoy Robert Malley helped to fund and direct an Iranian intelligence operation designed to influence the US and allied governments.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the now-suspended Biden official helped Iranian agent Ariane Tabatabai infiltrate some of the most sensitive positions in the State Department and the Pentagon.
The Taliban have also reportedly requested Iran, Iraq, and Jordan to allow the terrorist group passage to Israel so it can "conquer Jerusalem."
The widely circulated online statement from the Taliban's foreign office read: "If the Muslim countries neighboring Israel grant us the right of passage, we will conquer Jerusalem."-Ari Hoffman, The Post Millennial
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Iran denies it had role in Hamas attack on Israel, claims accusation is ‘political’
Image Credit: Palestinians ride on an Israeli military vehicle taken from an army base overrun by Hamas terrorists near the Gaza Strip fence, in Gaza City, October 7, 2023. (Abed Abu Reash/AP)
Gaza Strip fence, in Gaza City, October 7, 2023. (Abed Abu Reash/AP)
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran on Monday rejected as unfounded allegations it had a role in the massive assault on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist terror group Hamas.
“The accusations linked to an Iranian role… are based on political reasons,” foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani told reporters.
The Islamic Republic, he said, does not intervene “in the decision-making of other countries, including Palestine.”
Senior Hamas official Ali Baraka echoed the point, asserting that Iran was not given a heads up before the Friday morning attack was launched.
“It was a surprise to everyone, including Iran,” Baraka told NBC News in an interview.
“We did not inform them that there was an operation that would happen at dawn on Oct. 7, he added. “After the operation began, we informed Iran.”
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Iran helped plan the attack but officials from various countries involved have since refuted the claim.
Hundreds of Palestinian terrorists from the Iran-backed Islamist group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, infiltrated Israel at dawn on Saturday under the cover of a massive rocket barrage. Gunmen roamed through communities and areas in southern Israel, killing at least 700 people and kidnapping over 100 others who were taken to Gaza as captives. Over 2,000 people in Israel were injured.
Israel has responded with airstrikes across Gaza targeting terrorist infrastructure.
The Palestinians put their death toll at 430.
Image Credit: Israeli rescue teams evacuate a wounded person near the southern city of Sderot on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian terror group Hamas launched a large-scale surprise attack on Israel. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)
Iran, which does not recognize Israel and has made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, was one of the first countries to hail the Hamas assault.
The Palestinians had “the necessary capacity and will to defend their nation and recover their rights” without any help from Tehran, Kanani said.
“Talking about an Iranian role aims at turning public opinion (away from the facts) and at justifying the potential future actions” of Israel, the spokesman added.
Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations also denied allegations the Islamic Republic had any role in the Hamas attack, in a statement issued overnight.
The Wall Street Journal reported that “Iranian security officials helped plan Hamas’s Saturday surprise attack on Israel and gave the green light for the assault at a meeting in Beirut last Monday,” citing senior members of Hamas and Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.
On Sunday, President Ebrahim Raisi said Iran supported the Palestinians’ right to self-defense and warned Israel must be held accountable for endangering the region.
Raisi — who has spoken with the leaders of Hamas and the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad group since the Hamas attack — also urged Muslim governments to “support the Palestinian nation.”
A US official said Sunday it was too soon to say if Iran was “directly” involved in the Hamas attack, adding however that there was little doubt that Hamas was “financed, equipped and armed” by countries including Iran.
On Monday, the IDF also said there was no evidence yet of Iran’s role.
“Iran is a major player but we can’t yet say if it was involved in the planning or training,” said IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari.
-AFP, TOI Staff and Jacob Magid, The Times of Israel
US deploying ships closer to Israel, sends munitions
Image Credit: Unsplash
President Joe Biden ordered US ships and warplanes to move closer to Israel in a show of support on Sunday, while sending fresh military aid after attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Pentagon said it was sending the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its accompanying warships to the eastern Mediterranean, while boosting fighter aircraft squadrons in the region.
The United States, a major supplier of arms to Israel, has moved quickly to affirm its backing for Israel after Saturday’s surprise attack from the Gaza Strip, vowing “rock solid” support and warning other parties to stay out of the conflict.
Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “conveyed that additional assistance for the Israeli Defense Forces is now on its way to Israel with more to follow over the coming days,” the White House said.
“The leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to ensure that no enemies of Israel believe they can or should seek advantage from the current situation,” it said in a statement.
The US president further “pledged his full support for the Government and people of Israel in the face of an unprecedented and appalling assault by Hamas terrorists.”
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s worst escalation in decades has claimed more than 600 lives on the Israeli side, the government press office said, while Gaza officials reported at least 370 deaths in Israeli air strikes.
Israel’s Netanyahu has steeled his shocked nation for what he called a long war ahead, with tens of thousands of Israeli forces already deployed to battle holdout Hamas forces and prepare a possible Gaza ground offensive.
– ‘Ironclad support’ –
The conflict has also stoked fears of a wider conflagration. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah movement said Sunday it had fired shells and missiles at Israeli positions.
With tensions rising, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was sending forces to “bolster regional deterrence efforts” after discussions with Biden.
As well as the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier, this deployment includes a guided missile cruiser and four guided misile destroyers, Austin said in a statement.
“The United States government will be rapidly providing the Israel Defense Forces with additional equipment and resources, including munitions,” Austin added.
The movement of US ships and planes and the aid to Israel “underscores the United States’ ironclad support for the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli people.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier that Biden ordered his administration to give Israel “everything it needs in this moment to deal with the attacks from Hamas.”
A number of Americans may also have been take hostage, Blinken said.
“We have reports that several Americans were killed. We’re working overtime to verify that. At the same time, there are reports of missing Americans and there again, we’re working to verify those reports,” Blinken said.
He told ABC that “this is a massive terrorist attack that is gunning down Israeli civilians in their towns, in their homes, and as we’ve seen so graphically, literally dragging people across the border with Gaza.
“So, you can imagine the impact this is having throughout Israel. And the world should be revolted at what it has seen.”
-Insider Paper
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Zelensky warns Russia will ‘again try to destroy’ power grid
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Friday that Russia will “again try to destroy” Ukraine’s power grid this winter and that Kyiv was making “preparations” to protect its heating facilities.
Fears for Ukraine’s energy security have risen ahead of the winter months as war with Russia has dragged on for almost 20 months.
Last cold season Russia led a campaign of targeting Ukraine’s power grid and energy facilities, leaving thousands to face freezing temperatures in the winter, which can be severe in parts of Ukraine.
“This winter, Russian terrorists will again try to destroy our power system,” Zelensky said in his daily evening address.
“We are fully aware of the danger,” he said.
He added that Kyiv was preparing for “the protection of our generating facilities and provision of electricity and heat, restoration of everything damaged by Russian strikes and hostilities.”
He said government officials met to discuss the protection of energy facilities.
“Winning this winter, going through all the difficulties and giving protection to our people is very important,” he said.
Ukraine late last month reported Russia targeting energy facilities throughout the country, but said it was too early to tell whether it was part of a renewed Russian campaign.
-Insider Paper
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Erdogan ready to mediate between Israel and Palestine
Attempting to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestinians in Gaza through military means would only further exacerbate the people’s suffering and provoke a “spiral of violence in the region,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday during talks with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog.
Ankara also asked both Israelis and Palestinians to avoid further bloodshed and vowed to step up its diplomatic efforts to restore calm in the region.
“Türkiye … is ready for all kinds of mediation, including prisoner exchange, if the parties request it,” Erdogan wrote in a lengthy statement on X (formerly known as Twitter). The Turkish president made the statement following a phone conversation with Herzog and talks with several Arab leaders, including Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
Erdogan himself called Monday’s talks “very productive,” adding that Ankara would expand its diplomatic contact and would “make every effort to end the conflict.” Israeli media reported that the Turkish leader had warned the Israeli president against indiscriminate strikes against Gaza and imposing “collective punishment” against all Palestinians.
In his statement, Erdogan also said that Israel’s own policies were partly to blame for the outbreak of violence over the weekend. West Jerusalem’s approach, which includes “constantly harassing the Palestinian people, disregarding the safety of their life and property, seizing their homes and lands” only stirs up conflicts and leads to unrest, which ultimately threatens the security of both Palestinians and Israelis themselves, he argued.
Türkiye condemns both attacks on Israeli civilians and “oppression, cruelty, extrajudicial killings, and threats to life and property” of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli authorities and illegal settlers, Erdogan said. He also called both the “disproportionate” destruction of Gaza and attacks on Israeli cities “completely unacceptable.”
It is not time to “act impulsively,” the Turkish leader said, calling on Israel to halt its bombing campaign against Gaza and on Palestinians to stop the “harassment of civilian settlements in Israel.” Both sides should act with “reason, coolness, and human conscience,” he added.
Neither of the two sides has publicly responded to Erdogan’s offer so far. According to British tabloid The Sun, the Gaza-based Hamas militant group was reportedly open to discussing a potential truce with Israel as of Monday.
The developments came in the wake of a major Hamas attack on Israel. Militants breached the border between Gaza and the Israeli territories and briefly overran nearby settlements last weekend. The group also launched thousands of missiles at Israel. The attack claimed the lives of more than 900 Israelis, according to the authorities.
The Israeli military responded with massive air strikes against Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant also announced a “complete siege” of the Palestinian exclave on Monday, adding that electricity, fuel, and food will be cut off in the area, which has a population of over 2 million people.
-RT News
Reportedly Armed Suspect Crashes Car Into Chinese Consulate in San Francisco
Image Credit: The flag of the People’s Republic of China flies in the wind above the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco, California on July 23, 2020. Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images© Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images
A person reportedly armed drove their vehicle into San Francisco's Chinese Consulate building on Monday, according to a local media report.
The person driving the car was also suffering from a gunshot wound, according to the San Francisco Standard.
The driver, who police believe was armed, allegedly attempted to ram the vehicle into the consulate building. The suspect was then shot by a police officer inside the lobby of the consulate.
The person was taken to the hospital where they later died, the San Francisco Police Department confirmed Monday evening.
Police also requested bomb squad technicians to the scene because of concerns that the vehicle may have had an explosive inside.
The San Francisco Police Department warned people to stay away from the area surrounding the consulate near the intersection of Laguna Street and Geary Boulevard, near the city's Fillmore District.
The Consulate-General for the People's Republic of China said in a statement that the crash severely damaged the embassy's building.
"Our embassy severely condemns this violent attack," the consulate said.
This story will be updated as more details become available.
-Eli Walsh, The Messenger
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Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle)
"We No Longer Feel Safe!" Paris Residents Fear Next Wave Of Migrants Arriving From Lampedusa
Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
Concern is mounting in the French capital over the latest wave of illegal immigrants to head from the Italian island of Lampedusa to northern Europe, with Parisian residents worrying about their own security.
Several local residents discussed the issue of immigration with the French broadcaster CNews, expressing their fear that Paris could see an influx of new arrivals, with tens of thousands of migrants landing on Italian shores in recent weeks.
“We don’t feel safe,” one resident of the 18th arrondissement near the Jardins d’Éole told the channel, explaining that a number of newcomers to the neighborhood had participated in civil disorder and organized crime including drug trafficking.
“They fight and cause problems,” added another resident who admitted she felt scared and intimidated by groups of adult males loitering in her neighborhood.
It isn’t just local residents who are expressing concern. Local politicians have also voiced their displeasure at the degradation witnessed on Parisian streets in recent times, with many new arrivals to the French capital resorting to sleeping rough and establishing ghettos due to a saturation of social services.
“You regularly have clashes, cases of alcoholism and drug addiction on the public roads of these neighborhoods, and unfortunately, networks of crack traffickers who take advantage of the presence of these people,” said Pierre Liscia, regional councilor for Île-de-France.
Other elected officials have called for strong measures to be put in place to relocate newcomers from the streets to more secure accommodations in an attempt to clean up affected neighborhoods.
“I am calling for a major emergency plan for the northeast of Paris, to get migrants out of the street is the dignity that we owe them, and thus resolve the problem of local residents who are on the frontline of nuisances and inconveniences,” said Parisian councilor Pierre-Yves Bournazel.
The European Union is currently discussing asylum reforms in a bid to prevent migrants from entering the bloc and traveling at will to desired, more prosperous nations. The EU migration pact will see countries obligated to receive their fair share of newcomers and face financial penalties should they fail to comply.
The plans have been vociferously opposed by both Hungary and Poland, which claim the pact infringes on their national sovereignty. Initial proposals were recently passed in Brussels by qualified majority voting, despite resistance from Budapest and Warsaw.
Lampedusa has been inundated with scores of illegal migrants arriving in small boats from the African mainland, many of whom continue to migrate to the north of Italy and cross into France and Germany.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed ahead of an informal summit of EU leaders in Granada, Spain, this week that his government will never agree to the EU’s asylum proposals, adding that Poles “do not want another Lampedusa in Poland.”
Ahead of the Polish election next weekend, Morawiecki reiterated his government’s commitment to border security and took aim at Poland’s liberal opposition who would waive Brussels’ plan through.
“We are at a turning point in how Polish sovereignty and borders will be treated. For (the opposition) PO and the European Commission, borders are obsolete,” Morawiecki said.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
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Jonathan Choe Journalist (Seattle)
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Rabies Vaccines Airdropped From Planes Throughout The Southeastern States In October
The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is now airdropping millions of doses of oral rabies vaccines (ORV) throughout several Southeastern states, as wild raccoons and other wildlife are reportedly spreading the disease.
Image Credit: Oral Rabies vaccination sachet dropped from airplanes. (Courtesy of USDA)
The program to scatter the vaccines in the mountainous forests of the Western North Carolina region is being coordinated between the USDA and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). Affected counties include Buncombe, Haywood, and Transylvania counties.
"Avoiding contact with wild animals and vaccinating our domestic animals and pets is the best way to prevent rabies, which can often be fatal," said Erica Berl, NCDHHS Deputy State Public Health Veterinarian, in a press release. "The wildlife rabies vaccination program prevents the spread of rabies among animals in the wild, which in turn prevents humans, pets, and other animals from becoming infected."
The vaccine, RABORAL V-RG, comes in a matchbook-sized plastic packet which is coated in fishmeal, or encased inside a fishmeal polymer coating.
"Humans and pets cannot get rabies from contact with the baits, but if they encounter them, they should leave them undisturbed," said the USDA. "Dogs that consume large numbers of baits may experience an upset stomach, but there are no long-term health risks. If adults or children come in contact with baits, immediately rinse the contact area with warm water and soap."
More via the Epoch Times' Matt McGregor;
The program began in August distributing throughout the Northeast to mid-Atlantic regions such as Maine, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
It continued into mid-September from mid-September to mid-October in Massachusetts.
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Throughout October, the program will be dispersing vaccines by airplane, helicopter, and vehicle in the Southern states such as Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
'A Serious Public Health Concern'
According to the USDA, ORV distribution has taken place in the United States since 1990.
In Canada, it’s been used since 1985, and in Europe, it began in 1980.
There are 16 states in the U.S. distributing vaccines for raccoons.
Texas uses them for gray foxes and coyotes.
“Rabies is a serious public health concern,” the USDA said in an August press release. “While rabies is almost always fatal once symptoms appear, it also is 100% preventable. Human exposures can be successfully remedied if medical attention is sought immediately following exposure.”
Ninety percent of rabies cases in the United States are found in wildlife, the USDA said.
“Costs associated with rabies detection, prevention, and control may exceed $500 million annually in the United States,” the USDA said.
The goal of the program, according to the USDA, is to keep raccoons from spreading the virus to states where it hasn’t been found or isn’t widespread.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
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Afghanistan earthquake death toll nears 2,500 – media
The death toll from the earthquake that struck Afghanistan on Saturday has risen to 2,445 while more than 9,200 people have been injured, the Xinhua news agency has reported. According to the outlet, 13 villages in the Zanda Jan district of Herat have been completely wiped out and many victims remain trapped under the rubble.
Afghan national and provincial authorities have deployed around a dozen rescue teams to assist the victims, the outlet reported. However, it added that a lack of equipment has forced local residents and rescuers to dig with their bare hands in search of survivors or bodies.
The Afghan director for Save the Children, Arshad Malik, described the scale of the damage as horrific. “The numbers affected by this tragedy are truly disturbing – and those numbers will rise as people are still trapped in the rubble of their homes in Herat,” said Malik, as he called for an “urgent injection” of funds from the international community.
The Financial Times reported, citing the head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, Mohammad Sohail Shaheen, that the government intends to seek foreign help. In particular, Kabul is hoping to receive food, tents, and medicine.
The Iranian Red Crescent Society has already sent ten rescue teams and humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, while Pakistan and China said they had contacted the Afghan authorities to assess immediate needs.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry also expressed solidarity with the Afghan people, emphasizing that it is “fully prepared to provide necessary assistance for recovery.”
“We express our sincere words of sympathy to the friendly Afghan people, the families of those killed, and those injured as a result of this natural disaster,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Monday. According to Russia’s presidential special representative for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, Moscow has not received requests for help but is ready to consider any such appeal.
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck on Saturday evening 40km west of the city of Herat. Strong aftershocks were felt in the neighboring provinces of Badghis and Farah. After the initial quake, several tremors of magnitude 5.9 and 5.5 were recorded, according to the US Geological Survey. The earthquake is among the world’s deadliest this year, after disasters in Turkey and Syria killed nearly 50,000 people in February.
-RT News
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EU Digital Identity Wallet Pilots Roll Out Under The Radar
Authored by Stavroula Pabst via The Brownstone Institute,
As 2023 continues, the European Commission appears busy developing and running pilots for its EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI), which it intends to make available to all EU citizens in the near future. But while the European Commission (EC) boasts the prospective EUDI’s convenience, security, and wide range of prospective use cases in daily life, what’s less discussed is the tool’s potential for a bevy of ethical and surveillance-related issues.
What is the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI)?
The EU Digital Wallet, often referred to as the EU Digital Identity Wallet (EUDI), is slated to be offered to the European public in the years ahead. According to the European Commission, “EU Digital Identity Wallets are personal digital wallets allowing citizens to digitally identify themselves, store and manage identity data and official documents in electronic format. These may include a driving licence, medical prescriptions or education qualifications.”
As legislation streamlining their slated use across Europe is finalized, the European Commission is advancing its efforts to roll out EUDIs amongst the general European public, where over 250 private corporations and public authorities are participating in four large-scale pilot projects. At the time of writing, the EU has invested €46 million into these pilots.
Indeed, a wide range of use cases are already being tested in the EUDI pilot projects. These include using the wallets to access government services, register, and activate SIM cards for mobile network services, sign contracts, facilitate travel, and present educational credentials. All together, these use cases suggest the Digital Identity Wallets’ prospective utilization across a wide range of services essential to daily life.
Convenience, But for Whom?
The European Commission frequently plays up the digital wallet’s convenience, with messaging boasting that users will be able to use the Wallets to check into hotels, file tax returns, rent cars, and securely open bank accounts. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the following in a 2020 State of the Union address, where she proposed the concept of a “secure European e-identity:”
Every time an App or website asks us to create a new digital identity or to easily log on via a big platform, we have no idea what happens to our data in reality. That is why the Commission will propose a secure European e-identity. One that we trust and that any citizen can use anywhere in Europe to do anything from paying your taxes to renting a bicycle. A technology where we can control ourselves what data is used and how.
Certainly, von der Leyen is correct that “we have no idea what happens to our data” when we create online accounts or log in to private services, positing that Digital ID can work to solve a core problem many people have when using the internet.
But critically, the European “e-identity,” and digital identification methods generally, pose a bevy of new issues for civilians in both the short and long term. Namely, while Digital ID can provide users access to services, a 2018 WEF report on Digital ID admits the tool’s propensity to exclude; “[f]or individuals, [verifiable IDs] open up (or close off) the digital world, with its jobs, political activities, education, financial services, healthcare and more.”
And indeed, within the control of a corrupted state or other governance structures, Digital ID’s propensity to “close off” the digital world appears ripe for misuse or abuse. Researcher Eve Hayes de Kalaf, for example, writes in the Conversation that “states can weaponise internationally sponsored ID systems” against vulnerable populations. She highlights an example from the Dominican Republic, where long-term discrimination against Haitian-descended persons manifested in the stripping of their Dominican nationality in 2013, rendering them stateless.
Meanwhile, it’s not difficult to imagine others falling through the digital “cracks” as Digital ID systems become mainstream and interconnected with, if not a prerequisite for, accessing critical social and financial services and supports.
As Jeremy Loffredo and Max Blumenthal elucidate in 2021 reporting for the Grayzone, for example, the 2017 introduction of Aadhaar, India’s biometric ID system, “which tracks users’ movements between cities,” led to a spate of deaths in rural India as difficulties accessing the Aadhaar system functionally blocked goods and benefits recipients from accessing the country’s ration stores, leaving them to even starve. India’s Scroll reported that, in a random sampling of 18 villages in India where biometric authentication had been mandated to access government-subsidized food rations, 37 percent of cardholders were unable to obtain their rations.
Despite the devastation it has caused, Aadhaar has ultimately been promoted as a success, and Rest of World reports that India’s setting up international partnerships to export its popular Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an instant payment system which uses the Aadhaar biometric ID system as its base, elsewhere.
Clearly, Digital ID poses significant possible societal harms if implemented hastily. Despite these possible harms, as I note for Unlimited Hangout, a near-universal adoption of Digital ID systems increasingly appears inevitable, with “Juniper Research [estimating] that governments will have issued about 5 billion digital ID credentials by 2024, and a 2019 Goode Intelligence report [suggesting] digital identity and verification will be a $15 billion market by 2024.”
Further, legislative strides have been made towards the digital wallet’s interoperability across the EU. In other words, key services are being hyper-centralized across borders and digitized in ways more traceable than paper counterparts could have been — all at the authorities’ fingertips.
Critically, the EUDI Wallet is apparently slated to connect with or otherwise include financial services, where EU citizens will be able to use their EUDI to open bank accounts and even apply for loans. Further, language from a European Central Bank policy brief on the European Digital Identity Framework suggests that the “EUDI wallet will bring benefits to all the stakeholders of the payment ecosystem” even including “foreseen support for the digital euro.”
While the European Commission’s keen to spotlight the EUDI’s alleged benefits for “the stakeholders of the payment ecosystem,” it appears less eager to discuss the dangers surrounding the plausible, if not likely, linkage of digital identity with money, and especially digital currencies, where elite capacities to track, or even manipulate or block civilians’ abilities to accept or make payments, could be unprecedented.
In short, EU Digital Identity Wallets are slated to be convenient for everyday civilian use. At the same time, these wallets, and other adjacent digital ID systems budding elsewhere, could also be convenient for governments and governance structures looking to surveil, monitor or otherwise manipulate or control critical aspects of citizens’ lives en masse.
-Tyler Durden, Zerohedge
Lindsey Graham Calls For Attack On Iranian Oil Refineries
War hawk Lindsey Graham appeared on Fox News and advocated launching an attack against Iran after the Hamas attack in Israel.
Some things never change.
There are only two genders and Lindsey Graham wants America involved in a war.
“For every Israeli or American hostage executed by Hamas, we should take down an Iranian oil refinery. The only way you’re going to keep this war from escalating is to hold Iran accountable. How much more death and destruction do we have to take from the Iranian regime? I am confident this was planned and funded by the Iranians. Hamas is a bunch of animals who deserve to be treated like animals,” Graham said.
“So if I was Israel, I would go in on the ground. There is no truce to be had here. I would dismantle Hamas. This is the best opportunity Israel has to destroy Hamas. Take it to the Iranians,” he continued.
“It is now time to take the war to the Ayatollah’s backyard,” he added.
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“Lindsey Graham will parade your children to their death so he can giggle in his closet. He needs to be removed from office,” UncoverDC Editor-in-Chief Tracy Beanz commented.
Lindsey Graham also said we shouldn’t “pull the plug on Ukraine.”
“If you pull the plug on Ukraine and let Putin get away with this, he will not stop. We will be in a war between NATO and Russia. We have a chance to reset the world here. Defeat Putin in the Ukraine. Dismantle Hamas now, and tell the Iranians if you escalate any more attacks coming from Iran, we’re coming after you,” Graham said.
This post accurately sums up Graham right now:
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Graham also implored Joe Biden to fly the Israeli flag on the White House.
The Messenger reports:
In his Monday Fox News appearance, Graham called for the White House to fly the Israeli flag in a sign of support between the two countries.
“Cloak the White House tonight in the Israeli flag. You did it for Pride Month… I want to see the Israeli flag over the White House,” he said.
-Danielle, 100 Percent Fed Up
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