news

http://kcna.kp/en/article/q/752a5ed6efad807c4a75df65a996d084.kcmsf

KCNA is the state news agency of North Korea. kcna.kp is a website owned and controlled by DPRK.

mirror:
https://kcnawatch.org/newstream/1698284183-732859905/dprk-foreign-ministry-spokesman-on-israels-strike-at-palestinian-hospital/

https://www.reuters.com/world/north-korea-says-israel-bombed-gaza-hospital-calls-us-accomplice-2023-10-26/

The Chinese government will provide another batch of emergency humanitarian assistance of 15 million yuan (about $2.05 million), including food and medicine, to Gaza, said Xu Wei, spokesman for the China International Development Cooperation Agency on Thursday.

The suspect is believed to be Robert Card, a 20-year US Army veteran from Bowdoin Center, Maine.

(according to Telegrams so take with grain of salt)

EDIT: Name confirmed by news.

According to law enforcement, CARD recently reported mental health issues to include hearing voices and threats to shoot up the National Guard Base in Saco, ME.

The strike has lasted 40 days so far. The UAW National Negotiation team has reached an agreement with Ford. It still has to be voted on by union members, a process which could take up to a week.

The new contract includes: 25% general wage increase, return of Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), 150% wage increase for temporary workers, end of wage tier system at Sterling Axle and Rawsonville, bonuses to retirement plans (401k and pension), and the right to strike over plant closures.

Lawyers acting on behalf of Palestinian Australians are threatening legal action against the prime minister and other senior members of the federal government, arguing they have provided "encouragement and moral support" for alleged crimes by Israel.

Key points:

• A Sydney law firm says the government may have breached the Racial Discrimination Act in its response to the Israel-Gaza conflict
• The firm demands the government condemn alleged breaches of international law, and call for a ceasefire
• Israel's ambassador to Australia says Israel has complied with international law

Sydney-based law firm Birchgrove Legal has sent a letter of demand to Anthony Albanese, saying his government "appears to have contravened domestic and international law" over its position on Israel and has issued seven demands to prevent the continuation of legal action.

The firm said it was also considering whether ministers had breached Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act by "failing to uphold the human rights" of Australians who remain trapped in Gaza, as well as by "inducing, encouraging and authorising an environment of vilification, hate crimes and hate incidents" against Palestinian and Arab-Australians.

More than 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its unrelenting bombing campaign following Hamas' October 7 terror attack on Israel more than two weeks ago, according to health officials in Gaza.

Israel's response – which has included a blockade on food, water, and fuel into Gaza – has been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations, which said it amounts to "collective punishment", a war crime under international law.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday, Israeli Ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon defended Israel's actions as "in line and in full compliance with international law".

Birchgrove Legal said it was considering whether Australia's support for Israel, including remarks made by senior ministers, amounted to "complicity in genocide and other crimes".

The letter listed the Australian government's "failure to condemn dangerous rhetoric" emanating from Israel, the sale of weapons to Israel, and "historic advocacy on behalf of Israel to hinder [International Criminal Court] investigations into war crimes allegedly committed by Israel and Hamas" as their key concerns.

It said Australia's longstanding support for Israel has contributed to "an environment of lawlessness in that conflict where there is an extreme imbalance in military and political power in favour of Israel".

The firm also pointed to military technology contracts with Israel and support for dual Australian-Israeli nationals to travel overseas to "participate in a reasonably foreseeable genocide" as other examples of Australia's complicity.

"The Australian government should be aware that international criminal tribunals have previously examined the responsibility of those who have substantially contributed to a crime by providing encouragement and moral support to the perpetrators, and where the perpetrator is aware of this support," the letter said.

"Immediate action must be taken to ensure that Australian government policy towards the unfolding catastrophe in Gaza complies with international law and places the core humanitarian principles of proportionality, distinction, precaution and humanity at its heart.

"The genocide convention not only highlights the imperative of preventing or stopping an ongoing genocide, it also makes clear that inaction by states party to the treaty, including the third states, engages criminal complicity in genocide itself."

The letter refers to public comments made by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil between October 7 and October 16.

It includes itemised interviews and statements from Israeli officials, which it said, "constitute direct incitement to commit genocide" including remarks by Israeli politician Ariel Kallner who on October 8 said, "Right now, one goal, Nakba" — a reference to the mass expulsion of Palestinians in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

The 32-page letter also includes a chronological list of interviews and remarks by Australian government members, which it said demonstrate Australia's intention to provide "unconditional support to Israel regardless of what international crimes" may be committed.

One example it refers to is Mr Albanese's statement that, "We will stand with Israel, we always will", on October 10. Frustration at government response to Australians trapped in Gaza

Ms Wong this week called for a "humanitarian pause on hostilities" to allow essential and emergency supplies to reach civilians.

"The way Israel exercises its right to defend itself matters. It matters to civilians throughout the region, and it matters to Israel's ongoing security," she said in a statement on Wednesday, 18 days after Israel began its bombardment of Gaza.

"Innocent Palestinian civilians should not suffer because of the outrages perpetrated by Hamas."

Two federal government ministers have said that civilians in Gaza are being subjected to collective punishment, however, other members of the government have refused to use the same language.

The law firm said to prevent further legal action the prime minister should issue a statement condemning alleged Israeli breaches of international law, ask ministers to rescind their public statements, call for a ceasefire and encourage accountability through the International Criminal Court.

"The first bill I'm going to bring to this floor in a little while will be in support of our dear friend Israel and we are overdue in getting that done," Johnson said as he accepted the speakership.

The House backed the resolution by 412 to 10, with six members voting "present," reflecting traditional strong support in Congress for the Jewish state. The non-binding measure reaffirms U.S. commitment to Israel and calls on Hamas to immediately cease attacks and release every hostage.

Sham election held. Culprit is Maria Corina Machado. The OG and totally not a CIA stooge. We're talking era.

Washington can't find any new blood to do their tricks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Corina_Machado

• She was also part of Yale University's World Fellows Program in 2009.

• founding of Venezuelan volunteer civil organization Súmate

• In 2018, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women (wonder why?)

• In 2019, amid the Venezuelan presidential crisis, she announced that she would launch a second presidential run if disputed interim President Juan Guaidó successfully called for an election; Guaidó was ultimately unsuccessful in his efforts.

• She is a presidential candidate for Vente Venezuela in the primary elections of the Unitary Platform of 2023, although on 30 June 2023 she was disputably disqualified for fifteen years

• She is the daughter of Henrique Machado Zuloaga, a prominent steel businessman

• Súmate led a petition drive for the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum of Hugo Chávez

• Chávez branded the leaders of Súmate as conspirators, coup plotters, and lackeys of the U.S. government. After the referendum, members of Súmate were charged with treason and conspiracy, under Article 132 of the Venezuelan Penal Code, for receiving financial support for their activities from the  National Endowment for Democracy (NED). In 2005, The Wall Street Journal said Machado faced conspiracy charge stemming from the $31,000 grant from the NED for "non-partisan educational work".

• the Venezuelan government considers her "a member of a corrupt elite that is doing the bidding of the much reviled Bush administration"

• She also faced treason charges for signing the Carmona Decree during the 2002 Venezuelan coup attempt.

• On 21 March 2014, Machado appeared as an alternate envoy at the request of Panama at the Organization of American States (OAS), amid the protests in Venezuela, to speak about the situation in Venezuela.[39] According to The Wall Street Journal, following her appearance at the OAS, "pro-Maduro parliamentarians, who dominate the National Assembly", claimed her appearance at the OAS was prohibited by Venezuela's constitution, and removed her from the National Assembly

• She has described herself as a centrist liberal, saying in an interview with El Estímulo that the categories of left and right were invented by Marxists and that she is the only non-socialist poitician in the Venezuelan political spectrum...Vente is a party of centre liberals. (well scratch a lib and a bleeds)

• She defended the claim that "being rich is good"

• Machado is divorced

Drought turns Amazonian capital into climate dystopia | The Guardian

Forest fires leave Manaus with second worst air quality in the world, while low river levels cut off communities

[...]

A withering drought has turned the Amazonian capital of Manaus into a climate dystopia with the second worst air quality in the world and rivers at the lowest levels in 121 years.

The city of 1 million people, which is surrounded by a forest of trees, normally basks under blue skies. Tourists take pleasure boats to the nearby meeting of the Negro and Amazon (known locally as the Solimões) rivers, where dolphins can often be seen enjoying what are usually the most abundant freshwater resources in the world.

But an unusually dry season, worsened by an El Niño and human-driven global heating, has threatened the city’s self-image, the wellbeing of its residents and the survival prospects for the entire Amazon basin.

The forest capital has been enveloped in a murky brown haze reminiscent of China during its most polluted phase. The usually vibrant port has been pushed far out across the dried-up, rubbish-strewn mud flats.

[...]

Rivers are the only means of access in many parts of the Amazon. As their levels have fallen, some communities have been cut off, raising concerns of a humanitarian disaster. Elsewhere, navigation is only possible by small boats, which make transport more expensive.

In summary: The agency responsible for assigning "Halal" certification to food in South Africa is no longer accepting produce from Isnotreal. This act of boycott could set a very fun precedent indeed.

Trade between Pissrael and South Africa also has dropped by 87.4% this year.

Hurricane Otis made landfall near Acapulco, Mexico, early Wednesday morning as a dangerous Category 5 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, with life-threatening and destructive flash flooding and mudslides.

All eyes on dangerous Hurricane Otis in the East Pacific

Hurricane Otis is drifting northward across southern Mexico. The tropical cyclone’s wind intensity increased from a 50-mph tropical storm at 4 p.m. CDT on Monday to a 165-mph Category 5 hurricane at 1:00 a.m. CDT on Wednesday. Since making landfall, the storm has started to lose wind intensity, becoming a Category 4 storm as of 4 a.m. CDT.

The storm has rapidly strengthened, which occurs when winds increase by 35 mph or greater in 24 hours or less. In fact, the sustained winds in Hurricane Otis increased by 80 mph in 12 hours, the most rapid intensification on record for the East Pacific basin since at least 1966. AccuWeather has placed an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ wind gust of 210 mph for Otis.