SOTT (News) FULL 1062 by newskids 1 tourist dead after Paris knife attack, assailant was known by authorities for terrorist plans & radical Islam viewsOn 3, December 2023Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, a young Frenchman from the Paris region, was arrested on Saturday following the stabbing death of a German tourist in Paris and the attack on two other people with a hammer. He was a known person to authorities for his radical Islamism and psychiatric disorders. What he is accused of A German man was killed and two other people injured in a knife and hammer attack near the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Saturday evening. The assailant, Armand Rajabpour-Miyandoab, was arrested shortly after the incident and taken into custody. The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) has taken charge of the investigation for murder and attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise and for criminal terrorist conspiracy.… Read morePossible 6,500-year-old Stone Age cemetery discovered near the Arctic CircleOn 3, December 2023Archaeologists have found a mysterious prehistoric site believed to be a 6,500-year-old Stone Age cemetery just 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the Arctic Circle. The prehistoric site is known as Tainiaro, located about 50 miles south of the Arctic Circle in the Finnish region of Lapland. Although the hypothesis that the Tainiaro site is a Stone Age cemetery remains unproven, if confirmed, it could drastically alter ideas about the history of Northern Europe. Furthermore, the proof would make Tainiaro the northernmost Stone Age graveyard in the world. Back in 1959, local workers came across stone tools in Simo, which is situated near the Baltic Sea's northern edge, just 80 kilometers to the south of the Arctic Circle. The site, named Tainiaro, underwent partial excavations in the 80s. Th… Read moreBuhbye! Walmart stops advertising on X, adding to growing list of companiesOn 3, December 2023Retail giant follows Apple, Disney and IBM in halting ads on X Walmart no longer advertises on X, adding to the list of companies that have halted ads on the social media platform owned by Elon Musk. A spokesperson for the retail giant on Friday confirmed to FOX Business in a statement, "We aren't advertising on X as we've found other platforms to better reach our customers." The news was first reported by Reuters. Walmart has joined a growing list of major companies that no longer advertise on X. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images) A person familiar with the situation told FOX Business that Walmart's decision to stop advertising on X was not made overnight, but was rather a gradual progression away from the platform over quite some time.… Read morePrivate jets headed to Cop28 global warming conference "literally frozen on runway"On 3, December 2023While world leaders spoke at a 'global warming' conference in Dubai, located in the heart of the Arabian Desert, discussing the usual: banning gas stoves, cow farts, and petrol-powered vehicles, a powerful snowstorm grounded all flights at Munich Airport in Germany. "Private jets in Munich on the way to Dubai global warming conference are literally frozen on the runway, which has turned into a glacier," said Ryan Maue, a meteorologist and former NOAA chief scientist.… Read morePress advocates say Gaza war is deadliest conflict for journalists in over 30 yearsOn 3, December 2023"This might be the last video I post," Ayat Khaddoura, a Palestinian journalist and podcaster, said in a post on Instagram Oct. 13. It was one of many videos Khaddoura had been sharing with her hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, talking about living under Israeli bombardment and trying to survive with limited water and electricity. On Nov. 6, in a video she called her "last message to the world," she said: "We used to have big dreams, but now our dream is only to be killed in one piece so people know who we are." A week later, she was dead. An Israeli airstrike on her home in northern Gaza killed her.… Read moreIsrael demands 'security envelope', no Hamas on border after warOn 3, December 2023Israel will seek a "security envelope" with special zones and arrangements that will prevent Hamas from being positioned on its border after the war in Gaza is over, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday. On Friday, Reuters reported that Israel has informed several Arab states that it wants to carve out a buffer zone on the Palestinian side of Gaza's border to prevent future attacks as part of proposals for the coastal enclave after the war ends. Asked whether Israel was indeed seeking such a buffer zone, senior adviser Mark Regev told reporters: "Israel will have to have a security envelope. We can never again allow terrorists to cross the border and butcher our people the way they did on October 7."… Read moreStudy finds children with liberal parents more likely to suffer mental health problemsOn 3, December 2023Children who grow up in politically liberal households are more likely to suffer mental health problems than their conservative peers, according to a new study. An Institute for Family Studies-Gallup report found that "political ideology is one of the strongest predictors" of which caregiving styles a parent adopts, and conservative parents are associated with the best mental health outcomes for their children. "Conservative and very conservative parents are the most likely to adopt the parenting practices associated with adolescent mental health," study author Jonathan Rothwell, who is also the principal economist at Gallup and nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, wrote . "Liberal parents score the lowest, even worse than very liberal parents, largely because they are t… Read moreRussia boosts size of armed forces by 170,000 troopsOn 3, December 2023President Putin's decree takes number of Russian service personnel to 1.32 million amid continuing Ukraine war. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the country's military to increase the maximum number of troops by nearly 170,000 people, as Moscow's invasion of Ukraine continues into its 22nd month. Putin's decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the strength of the armed forces to 1.32 million service personnel and increases the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2.2 million. "The increase in the full-time strength of the armed forces is due to the growing threats to our country associated with the special military operation and the ongoing expansion of NATO," the Russian Ministry of Defence said in a statement.… Read moreKing Charles issues call to arms in Cop28 opening statementOn 3, December 2023Rishi Sunak's attendance comes after he scaled back pledges to help the UK reach net zero by 2050... King Charles gave a call to arms in his Cop28 climate summit opening statement, as Rishi Sunak expressed delight over the monarch's record championing the issue. Sunak said it was a "proud moment" for him to witness Charles deliver his speech on Friday, which "speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country". "We've got our head of state there, delivering a call to arms in the opening statement, which speaks volumes about the respect that he's got on this issue around the world. "We've got the head of government there with me, and we've got our chief diplomat there and the foreign secretary. There are very few countries that will be able to say what I've just said."… Read moreTrading in death responsibility: 'Woke' funds funnel $5 trillion into arms industryOn 3, December 2023In the cutthroat world of asset management, my gig as an investment banker at Zurich's top Swiss joint was a tightrope walk between challenge and monotony. Crafting portfolios for the high rollers at the biggest Swiss bank needed a delicate mix of precision and strategy. The daily grind of summarizing, stacking up, and shaping portfolios for the wealthy wasn't just a skill; it was a meticulous drill where financial stability was the goal and the payoff. In the established 60-40 asset allocation doctrine - a fundamental principle in wealth management - the goal was straightforward: allocate 60% to stocks and 40% to bonds. This implicit guideline, honed through market wisdom, provided clients with a safeguard against the unpredictable nature of individual stocks. However, the intricacies of… Read moreNorth Korea rules out talks with 'two-faced' USOn 3, December 2023Pyongyang has rejected an offer to resume dialogue with Washington, saying its sovereignty is not open to negotiation... North Korea has blasted Washington for offering renewed peace negotiations even as it ramps up military provocations in the region and tries to deny Pyongyang's sovereign right to develop its aerospace program. Kim Yo-jong, North Korea's foreign policy chief and sister of leader Kim Jong-un, dismissed the possibility of resuming negotiations with US officials on Wednesday, citing the "extreme double standards" displayed at this week's UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting regarding the launch of Pyongyang's first spy satellite. She claimed that US officials asked North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to set the time and agenda fo… Read moreKiev's counteroffensive casualties top 125,000 - MoscowOn 3, December 2023Heavy troop losses and Western weapons did not help Ukraine achieve its goals, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said... In the six months since Kiev launched its push against Russian defensive lines, it has lost over 125,000 troops and 16,000 heavy weapons, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated during a ministerial meeting on Friday. The Ukrainian government and its Western backers had high expectations for the operation, for which the former's army was provided with main battle tanks and other advanced arms. Ukrainian officials predicted that the push would help their country reclaim territory lost since major hostilities started in February 2022, and potentially launch an incursion into Crimea, which had broken away from Kiev in the wake of the 2014 armed coup. The Russian m… Read moreIsrael plans 'Wrath of God' campaign to assassinate Hamas leaders across the worldOn 3, December 2023The operation recalls Israel's hunt for the terrorists behind the attack on Israelis at the 1972 Munich Olympics — which became the Spielberg film 'Munich'... Israeli leaders are planning a program of targeted assassinations of Hamas leaders across the world — reminiscent of the "Wrath of God" operation that targeted the terrorists behind the attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, according to a new report. Those in the sights of Mossad assassins include top Hamas heads living in Lebanon, Turkey, and Qatar, the Wall Street Journal reported. Video from Qatar of Hamas political leaders celebrating the October 7 attacks while living comfortably in the wealthy Gulf emirate reportedly enraged Israeli officials. Israel's clandestine operations have become the subject of both mov… Read moreNotorious mobster stunned by latest Hunter Biden allegations: 'Mind-blowing'On 3, December 2023Former Gambino underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano spoke out to FOX News following the latest bombshell report in the Biden family influence peddling investigation. Gravano appeared on Jesse Watters Primetime on Thursday after a bank investigator tasked with detecting money laundering flagged "unusual" and "erratic" activity in regard to several large-sum wire transfers to accounts belonging to Hunter Biden. A Bank Secrecy Act manager for one institution said the payments therein didn't appear to match with "any services rendered" by Owasco P.C., an entity controlled by the current first son. "That's bank lingo for 'bribe'," host Jesse Watters claimed prior to introducing Gravano. Watters added that the bank investigator finished his report by saying activity on the account appear… Read moreIndigenous community in Ecuador wins legal fight to reclaim ancestral land after more than 80 yearsOn 3, December 2023An indigenous community has won a court battle to regain ownership over its ancestral homeland in the Ecuadorian Amazon, more than 80 years after they were displaced because of war. An Ecuadorian appeals court backed the Siekopai nation's claim over Pë'këya, a biodiverse territory in northeast Ecuador along the border with Peru, according to a court ruling provided to CNN by Amazon Frontline, a nonprofit organization working with indigenous people to defend their land rights. The Siekopai were displaced during the Peru-Ecuador war in the 1940s. Last September, the community, which has only about 800 members, filed a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian state, claiming it was violating their right to ancestral property, Amazon Frontline said. In its ruling on Friday, the Provincial Court of Sucum… Read moreHow Kiev wanted to expand the war to BelarusOn 3, December 2023Well, Kiev - literally - never sleeps. This document - attached, and verified at the highest level, is a report on several recon operations on the Ukraine-Belarus border conducted four months ago. Several Ukrainian Special Ops groups had been engaged in deep recon previous to a possible Hail Mary-style plan: launching an offensive against the territory of Belarus, thus expanding the U.S. proxy war on Russia "multilaterally". It's not clear if this was a Kiev idea; a plan dictated by the NATO masters; or a mix of the two. Minsk, of course, was not exactly observing from a distance. Now let's get to the meat of the matter. The document specifies "aerial reconnaissance 130 Rbpak crew MATRICE-30", in an intel report dated July 21, 2023. "An aerial survey of the Republic of Belarus was conducte… Read moreNATO chief says 'be ready for bad news' from UkraineOn 3, December 2023NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO should be ready for bad news from Ukraine, according to his interview with ARD television on Saturday. "We should also be prepared for bad news," he said, when asked if he feared that the situation in Ukraine would worsen in the future. "Wars develop in phases. But we have to support Ukraine in both good and bad times." It is crucial to boost ammunition production, Stoltenberg said, conceding that NATO countries were unable to meet the increased demand for them. He said Ukraine is now in a "critical situation," but declined to recommend what Kiev should do.… Read moreUkraine blocks ex-president Poroshenko from leavingOn 3, December 2023Ukraine's security service said on Saturday it had prevented former president Petro Poroshenko from leaving the country on grounds that Russia planned to exploit a planned meeting with Hungary's prime minister to hurt Ukrainian interests. Poroshenko's political party, European Solidarity, said the former president had scheduled only meetings in Poland and the United States and warned the SBU security service against becoming involved in politics. Poroshenko was turned away at a border post on Friday.… Read moreBEST OF THE WEB: Cop28 president says there is 'NO SCIENCE' for phase out of fossil fuels, it would 'take world back into caves'On 3, December 2023The president of Cop28, Sultan Al Jaber, has claimed there is "no science" indicating that a phase-out of fossil fuels is needed to restrict global heating to 1.5C, the Guardian and the Centre for Climate Reporting can reveal. Al Jaber also said a phase-out of fossil fuels would not allow sustainable development "unless you want to take the world back into caves". The comments were "incredibly concerning" and "verging on climate denial", scientists said, and they were at odds with the position of the UN secretary general, António Guterres. Al Jaber made the comments in ill-tempered responses to questions from Mary Robinson, the chair of the Elders group and a former UN special envoy for climate change, during a live online event on 21 November. As well as running Cop28 in Dubai, Al Jaber i… Read moreOne dead, 11 missing in flash floods around Indonesia's Lake TobaOn 3, December 2023One person died and 11 were missing after flash floods hit near Lake Toba in Indonesia's North Sumatra province, the country's disasters agency BNPB said, with scores of people evacuated and rescue efforts underway. Heavy rain followed by flash floods on Friday evening hit the region located on the shores of the lake, damaging dozens of houses, a church, a school and a hotel, BNPB said in a statement on late Saturday. Lake Toba, the world's biggest volcanic lake, is a popular tourist destination for Indonesians and international visitors.… Read moreTanzania Floods: Tragedy strikes Hanang District with 20 fatalities and 70 injuries after heavy overnight rainOn 3, December 2023In the early hours of December 3, 2023, the tranquil life in Katesh and Gendabi areas within Hanang District, Manyara Region, Tanzania, was interrupted by severe flooding. The overnight rains triggered mudslides and instigated the partial collapse of Mount Hanang. The aftermath - a shocking tally of at least 20 fatalities and 70 injuries, with homes, shops, business areas, and the main bus station in Katesh lying in ruins.… Read moreLeopard mauls 13-year-old boy to death in Indian district of Bijnor, 18th human kill there in 9 monthsOn 3, December 2023A 13-year-old boy was mauled to death by a leopard at a sugarcane field on Thursday. The attack occurred around 1.30pm at Sabdalpur Rehra village in Bijnor district. Notably, this is the 18th human kill in a leopard attack in nine months in Bijnor. The last incident was on November 3, when a big cat killed another boy. The forest department claimed that more than 40 leopards have been trapped and relocated since the attacks began in February. On Thursday, Alfez along with friends went to a sugarcane field, 500m away from the village. Once they reached, a leopard suddenly appeared and dragged him away. Alfez's friends then screamed for help. Farmers working nearby started looking for the boy.… Read moreElephants claim 3 lives in 4 days in Indian district of Sundargarh - 18 killed there in 11 monthsOn 3, December 2023Residents of villages in Sundargarh district are living in fear as elephants, in search of food, have reportedly claimed three lives in the past four days, bringing the total number of human deaths to 18 in the past 11 months. The ongoing paddy harvesting season has escalated the human-elephant conflict, with incidents reported across various forest divisions. On November 29, Hiralal Behera (25) was killed by a wild elephant while attempting to protect his standing crops near Gargarbahal village in Bargaon range. The following evening, Mangri Munda (58) lost her life when a wild elephant attacked her house at Bhaluadihi in Patmunda under the Koida range. Additionally, the death of a woman in a suspected elephant attack inside the Satabhaya forest of Birmitrapur range on November 29 is pend… Read moreEruption on newly formed island caught on camera off the coast of Iwo Jima, JapanOn 3, December 2023Newly released aerial footage captured by the Japanese coast guard showed a volcano exploding on a new island formed off the coast of Iwo Jima.… Read moreUnable to defeat Palestinian resistance, Israeli regime intensifies killing and torturing childrenOn 3, December 2023Despite Western media's systematic attempts to normalize Israeli state terrorism, it is inescapably evident even from their distorted lens just how wicked the Netanyahu regime is. All Palestinians released so far in hostage exchanges by the Israeli regime are women and children. Women and children! Why were they even in detention in the first place? What sort of despotic regime does that? One that is supported to the hilt, militarily and diplomatically, by the United States and other Western governments. So much for "Western Values". And for all their valiant attempts to cover up for outrageous war crimes, the Western media can only be seen to be contemptible laundromats washing the blood away. They are as complicit in this sickening genocide as the U.S. and European governments are. The B… Read moreSkies in Mongolia mysteriously turn blood-redOn 2, December 2023In an extraordinary celestial display, the skies over Mongolia turned deep, blood-red as the country experienced one of the rarest auroral events on Friday and early Saturday. The intense colouration is attributed to the initial impact of a significant solar storm that collided with Earth, creating a spectacle that left onlookers in awe. The phenomenon, known as an aurora, typically occurs closer to the poles and is often green in colour. However, the auroras seen in Mongolia were of a striking crimson hue, a rarity caused by the interaction of solar particles with oxygen at high altitudes — over 241 kilometres above the Earth's surface, where the atmosphere is much thinner.… Read more7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the Philippine Sea, 5 aftershocks of mag.6 or greaterOn 2, December 2023A major, 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The temblor happened at 10:37 p.m. Philippine time, data from the agency shows. As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake's reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.… Read moreLong-term butchery: Israel planning for Gaza war to last over a yearOn 2, December 2023The Financial Times reported speaking with sources who said that Israel plans to wage war on Gaza for over a year. In a little less than two months, Israel has killed at least 15,000 people, damaged 100,000 buildings, displaced 1.7 million Palestinians, and destroyed most of Gaza's medical facilities. On Friday, FT reported sources said Israel was preparing for a multi-phase conflict in Gaza that will last at least a year. "This will be a very long war...We're currently not near halfway to achieving our objectives," said one person familiar with the Israeli war plans. According to the sources, Israel's goals include "killing the three top Hamas leaders — Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Marwan Issa — while securing a decisive military victory against the group's 24 battalions and undergrou… Read moreLavrov sheds light on West's plan to set up military bases in Black Sea, Sea of AzovOn 2, December 2023The West sought to set up a US military base in the Black Sea and a British base in the Sea of Azov after the Minsk accords were reached, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following an Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) foreign ministers' meeting. "The plan was to establish a US military base in the Black Sea and a British one in the Sea of Azov. If you look at the map, you will understand that this is unacceptable [for Russia] under any circumstances," he pointed out, commenting on the West's attempts to threaten Russia's security from Ukraine with the Minsk Agreements still in place.… Read moreTexas Attorney General Ken Paxton sues Pfizer, alleges pharma giant lied about COVID vaccine efficacyOn 2, December 2023Paxton's office accused Pfizer of 'unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company's COVID-19 vaccine' Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer, alleging that the pharmaceutical giant lied about the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine. In a press release obtained by Fox News Digital, Paxton's office accused Pfizer of "unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company's COVID-19 vaccine and attempting to censor public discussion of the product." Paxton said Pfizer's claim that its vaccine possessed 95% efficacy against infection was "highly misleading."… Read moreUS flying 'routine' spy missions from UK's Cyprus base near Gaza for 'third party governments'On 2, December 2023Leaked cable raises the possibility the US is flying surveillance missions over Gaza from RAF Akrotiri and sharing the intelligence with Israel, which would further implicate Britain in war crimes in Gaza. The cable, published by WikiLeaks and classified as 'secret', was written in April 2008 by the US embassy in London and sent to Washington. A letter included in the cable is from Will Jessett, then the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) director of counter-terrorism, who asks for "new procedures for requesting intel flight clearances" regarding US spy missions from British bases. Jessett refers to "the regular intelligence flights that the US undertakes from RAF Akrotiri" - the huge British air base on Cyprus. He added that "these flights have become routine". He goes on to write that the Amer… Read moreLarge families should be the norm - PutinOn 2, December 2023Families with many children should become a dominant trend in modern Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday, insisting that achieving this goal should become the government's utmost priority. Speaking at the World Russian People's Council - a forum organized under the auspices of the Russian Orthodox Church - to discuss the country's future, Putin placed special emphasis on the importance of family values. "Large families must become the norm, a way of life for all of Russia's peoples," he said, describing the family not only as the pillar on which the state and society stand, but also as "a source of morality."… Read moreThe new 'Chinese disease' panic is upon usOn 2, December 2023News has been spreading throughout the media about a "disease outbreak" in China. For many, this brings back bad memories. The illness, described as a form of pneumonia, has reportedly gone widespread very quickly, triggering comparisons to how the Covid-19 pandemic emerged. As with the coronavirus, it was not long before there followed accusations of a government cover-up of the extent of the spread. Cases of the same illness occurring outside of China have been the target of media attention, such as those in Denmark and the US, as has the World Health Organization's request for more information and Beijing's response.… Read moreBarbaric: Israel used more explosive power against Gaza in one month than on HiroshimaOn 2, December 2023Israel's offensive against Hamas has also been deadlier than years of US assaults on Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a UN report RT's Steve Sweeney takes a look at the overall statistics from Israel's relentless assault on Gaza as it seeks to eliminate the militant group Hamas. The damage sustained by the Palestinian enclave has already been described by the UN as "the darkest chapter in Palestinian history." According to a new UN report, the combined explosive power unleashed by the IDF in Gaza since October 7 already exceeds that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the US at the end of WWII. The Palestinian death toll is now higher than the count following several years of US strikes on Afghanistan and Iraq. The Israeli bombardment campaign was launched following the surprise H… Read moreThe goal is ethnic cleansing, not defeating HamasOn 2, December 2023The funny thing about Henry Kissinger dying at age 100 is that he lived long enough to become one of the least crazy warmongers in the DC swamp — not because he got saner, but because the US empire has gotten so much crazier. Almost everyone running the US government today is a worse warmonger than Kissinger was at the end of his life. Sane person: Stop murdering thousands of children. Crazy person: You hate people because of their religion. Israeli officials keep openly saying again and again that the plan for Gaza is ethnic cleansing, yet the western political/media class adamantly insists on continuing to frame Israel's actions in Gaza solely as a war against Hamas. Hamas isn't the target, it's the excuse.… Read moreIsrael planning global assassination campaign - WSJOn 2, December 2023Israeli spies are preparing to assassinate Hamas leaders living in Lebanon, Türkiye, and Qatar once the war with the militant group is over in Gaza, officials have told the Wall Street Journal. The operation was reportedly planned more than a month ago, but postponed so that hostage negotiations could take place. The Israeli intelligence services began drawing up plans for the assassination campaign after Hamas' October 7 attack on the Jewish state, the American newspaper reported on Thursday, citing anonymous officials. Some reportedly wanted to embark on the campaign immediately, but were ordered to wait so that negotiations to free the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas could progress. The killings have been authorized by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the officials said, ad… Read moreWar-torn Yemen shuts Red Sea chokepoint on Israel and shames the impotent Arab/Muslim leadersOn 2, December 2023Yemen may be slated as the poorest country in the Arab region, but it is emerging as posing the most potent threat to Israel. In the past week, the Yemenis have detained three Israeli cargo ships as they transit through the Red Sea. There is poetic justice in this. Yemen doesn't have much oil reserves. It has been devastated by more than eight years of war and famine, and yet it is showing a strength that puts so-called rich Arab and Muslim nations to shame over their venality and lack of integrity. While Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates corner vast oil wealth and Muslim leaders like Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan talk tough, it is war-torn, impoverished Yemen that is taking any meaningful stand against Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Strategically located at the sout… Read moreAppeals court rules Trump doesn't have immunity from civil suits over Jan. 6 riotsOn 2, December 2023Former President Trump is not immune from civil lawsuits blaming him for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, an appeals court ruled Friday. The appellate court was asked to decide whether Trump's false claims of election fraud and rallying cry for supporters to gather at the Capitol and "fight like hell" was outside his presidential responsibilities, meaning he could be held liable for it under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. A three-judge panel affirmed unanimously that Trump's post-election efforts to subvert the 2020 election results were done in his capacity as a presidential candidate — not a president. "When a first-term President opts to seek a second term, his campaign to win re-election is not an official presidential act," Chief Judge Sri Srinivasan of the U.S. Court of A… Read moreJapan approves world's first 'self-amplifying mRNA' Covid vaccine - with no safety or efficacy dataOn 2, December 2023After years of injecting themselves with foreign-made mRNA injections, patriotic Japanese Covidians will finally get the chance to put some domestically made lipid nanoparticles into their bloodstreams. From NHK World: A Japanese Health Ministry panel has said a coronavirus vaccine developed by Daiichi Sankyo can be used for inoculations in Japan. It would be the first Japanese-made Covid shot available for practical use. Would you be surprised to know that the majority of the panel still wears masks? The panel of experts held a meeting on Monday. The experts said they confirmed the vaccine's effectiveness, and that they have no serious concerns over its safety. Banzai! Unfortunately, the article doesn't give any details of the effectiveness the experts apparently confirmed. Fortunately, D… Read moreChild grooming content on X drops by 83% after Disney pulls adsOn 2, December 2023The content safety team for the social media site X (formerly Twitter) has announced major progress in fighting child grooming on the platform. According to their statistics, child grooming content on Elon Musk's social media app has plummeted by 83% since Disney pulled ads in an effort to boycott X. "X is safer from abhorrent content aimed at sexualizing children now that Disney is out of the picture," said the Content Safety Officer, "We're seeing a reduction in gender confusion, trans ideology, and creeps telling kids to ignore their parents and just do whatever they want. A huge win for all involved." In contrast, Disney announced plans to scale back much of its entertainment production funding, as it has been having trouble finding new venues in which to groom kids. At publishing time… Read moreWill the Irish become a minority in Ireland by 2060?On 2, December 2023Recent events in Ireland, when an Algerian man with Irish citizenship stabbed several people including two children which led to riots, suggest that there may be concern in some sections of Irish society at the current levels of immigration. But the Irish are lucky. Their Government has already told them how many migrants they, as signatories to the UN Compact on Safe and Orderly Migration, expect to import over the next 17 years. In 2019, the Irish Government published a national planning strategy called 'Project Ireland 2040'. The document states: The aim of Project Ireland 2040 is to construct an improved Ireland for all of us. By 2040, there will be approximately one million additional people living here in Ireland. This population growth will require hundreds of thousands of new jobs,… Read moreBEST OF THE WEB: Irish leftists blame violence against women on misogyny to hide the real cause: Open bordersOn 2, December 2023Ireland's rate of deadly violence against women could fall dramatically through sensible migration policy and other basic programs. A 2022 report by RealClearPolitics confirmed what many Europeans had long suspected but could not prove because of data obfuscation by individual governments: Europe has a massive immigrant violent crime problem. The 10-year data study showed that across the EU, "each one percentage point increase in immigrant population is associated with a 3.6 percent increase in the homicide rate." In Germany, where police and politicians fiercely guard immigrant crime statistics, an academic study found that asylum applicants were responsible for a massive 10.4 percent rise in violent crime in Lower Saxony alone in 2015 and 2016, an apparent effect of Angela Merkel's 2015… Read moreBEST OF THE WEB: Unusually large Southern Hemisphere ozone hole baffles scientistsOn 2, December 2023The ozone hole over Antarctica keeps intriguing by its unusual pattern this 2023 season. The Southern Hemisphere ozone hole size had a series of rebounds in late November, as shown by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) data, at a period when it usually declines until its closure. This behaviour raises questions about what's behind yet another peculiar ozone hole season. The Southern Hemisphere ozone hole is unusually large, at a time when it normally reduces until its total closure, generally in December. Instead, since the end of October the ozone hole area has virtually remained unchanged, with a series of rebounds, remaining at a size of some 15 km2, to become the third largest after 30 November.… Read moreUkraine another historic U.S. war failure a la Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and moreOn 2, December 2023The U.S.-led NATO alliance held its first NATO-Ukraine Council meeting this week in Brussels. As usual, the cliched promises of supporting the Kiev regime to the end were trotted out by all and sundry. In truth, these NATO events for Ukraine, and more generally, are becoming yawn fests. The whole sordid charade is only postponing the reality that the proxy war in Ukraine against Russia is a debacle for the Western powers. This is not something to gloat over. It is a tragedy and an abomination. Up to 400,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, as well as tens of thousands of Russian military personnel. Total casualty figures are no doubt in the millions. In addition, millions of civilians have been displaced as refugees in Russia and throughout Europe. Hundreds of billions of dollars and e… Read moreResearch shows human behavior guided by fast changes in dopamine levelsOn 2, December 2023What happens in the human brain when we learn from positive and negative experiences? To help answer that question and better understand decision-making and human behavior, scientists are studying dopamine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter produced in the brain that serves as a chemical messenger, facilitating communication between nerve cells in the brain and the body. It is involved in functions such as movement, cognition and learning. While dopamine is most known for its association with positive emotions, scientists are also exploring its role in negative experiences. Now, a new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine published Dec. 1 in Science Advances shows that dopamine release in the human brain plays a crucial role in encoding both reward and punishment… Read moreScott Ritter: Israel's Gaza offensive reveals political and military defeatOn 2, December 2023Israel and Hamas have extended the Qatari-brokered ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that Tel Aviv vowed would never happen. Comment: This article is from a few days ago during the 'humanitarian' pause - that Israel did not abide by - since then Tel Aviv has reignited their genocidal campaign with predictable ferocity. Former United Nations (UN) weapons inspector and US Marine Scott Ritter argued that the outcome was a political victory for the Palestinian resistance movement. Israel has lost both the political and military battle in the Gaza Strip, says a leading geopolitical commentator. Israel and the Hamas Islamic resistance movement that governs the besieged Palestinian enclave reportedly agreed on Tuesday to extend the four-day ceasefire, brokered by Persian Gulf Arab state Qatar, for anot… Read morePutin: The world is laughing at Germany's leadersOn 2, December 2023Berlin is abandoning its own national interests in order to satisfy the whims of its "allies," the Russian president has said Germany is being bossed by its Western partners because it lacks sovereignty, and its policymakers demonstrate poor leadership skills, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated at a meeting with young Russian scientists on Wednesday. Putin weighed on the EU's push to wean itself off Russian energy following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, arguing that by implementing the measure, Germany was only hurting itself. The president noted that either European countries are turning their backs on cheap energy on their own accord, or the decision-making is being "done by their allies from the United States due to political reasons."… Read moreMore than normal influx of hungry short-eared owls to UK from ScandinaviaOn 2, December 2023An influx of short-eared owls along England's east coast has sparked interest among bird-watchers across the UK eager to see the visitors. In recent weeks, large numbers of the owls have been spotted at places such as the banks of the Humber estuary. Wildlife guide Margaret Boyd, from East Yorkshire, said "so many more than normal" had been spotted in the area. A "shortage of food" in regions like Scandinavia was thought have left the owls looking further afield, she said. According to the RSPB, short-eared owls were "of European conservation concern" as their numbers were in moderate decline.… Read moreHeavy snowfall shuts down air, rail links in southern GermanyOn 2, December 2023Heavy snowfall overnight has paralysed air and rail connections in the southern German state of Bavaria, leaving thousands of travellers stranded. All flights were grounded at Munich Airport, a key regional and international hub, until 6am (05:00) GMT on Sunday, the airport said. Air traffic had initially been suspended until noon (11:00 GMT) on Saturday. "Passengers are strongly advised not to travel to the airport today [Saturday] and to check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling to the airport tomorrow," airport authorities said. German airline Lufthansa noted the knock-on effect of the closure of Munich airport, saying that many other airports in Germany, including the one in Frankfurt "are affected with limited flight operations". The severe weather, which i… Read moreEtna erupts again, sending hot lava down its snowy slopesOn 2, December 2023Mount Etna on the Italian island of Sicily erupted at dawn on Friday, creating a festive spectacle of fire and ice. At 3,3057 metres, it's Europe's tallest volcano and has been constantly active in the past ten years. But no one has been injured and no one is in danger. Volcanologists have described the activity on Etna in recent days as a succession of Strombolian eruptions - which are moderately explosive but short eruptions named after the volcano on the nearby island of Stromboli.… Read more
