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Russia’s human welfare watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has said it is in touch with the health authorities in Uganda, after an outbreak of a new disease in the East African nation which causes shivering and walking difficulties among infected people.

A surveillance system is in place at Russian border checkpoints to identify people with symptoms of infection arriving from “epidemiologically unfavorable” countries, the department’s press service reported on Wednesday.

Last Friday, Ugandan outlet the Daily Monitor reported that a mysterious ‘dancing disease’ had infected around 300 people, mostly women and girls, in the southwestern Bundibugyo District, which borders the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The newspaper cited District Health Officer Kiyita Christopher as saying that no deaths have been recorded as a result of the ‘Dinga Dinga’ illness, which started spreading several months ago. According to Christopher, the disease is mostly self-healing, and in severe cases, doctors have successfully treated it with antibiotics.

Locals reportedly named the disease ‘Dinga Dinga’, meaning ‘shaking like dancing’, due to its symptoms, which include fever and uncontrollable body shaking.

An 18-year-old girl told the Daily Monitor that “she felt weak and paralyzed” after contracting the virus.

On Wednesday, Rospotrebnadzor said “there is no information about the disease on the official websites of the relevant departments of Uganda.”

“Rospotrebnadzor, within the framework of the current documents on cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Uganda, is in constant contact with partners to obtain confirmation of the outbreak of the disease. The situation is under control,” the agency stated.

In recent months, the landlocked country has expressed a growing interest in collaborating with Moscow in the health sector. In April, Ugandan Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja invited Russia to collaborate on pharmaceuticals, diagnostic equipment, and vaccines. According to TASS, she made the request at the first Russian-African International Conference on Combating Infectious Diseases in the African nation’s capital, Kampala.

During a high-level meeting on the sidelines of Russian Healthcare Week in Moscow earlier this month, Ugandan Health Ministry official Joseph Okware reportedly identified infectious diseases, emergency medical services, electronic medical records, and training of healthcare specialists as key areas where Russia can help Uganda.

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https://www.rt.com/africa/609544-uganda-dancing-illness-under-control-moscow/

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The British government has announced “the largest ever cash boost” to tackle soaring destitution in England, which Minister for Homelessness Rushanara Ali has admitted is “the worst housing crisis in living memory.”

Councils across the country will receive almost £1 billion ($1.27 billion) in new funding next year, it was revealed on Tuesday. The amount is equal to what councils spent on temporary accommodation for homeless families over the past year, recent figures show.

The funding aims to prevent “households becoming homeless in the first place,” according to a press release.

Earlier this month, housing charity Shelter reported that homelessness had risen by 14% in a year, with at least 354,000 people homeless in England, including 161,500 children.

The charity previously called on the government to “invest in genuinely affordable social homes” instead of “sinking billions into temporary solutions every year.”

The Labour government has said that “successive years of failure” to invest in prevention had resulted in a record number of households being homeless across England.

Ahead of the general election in July, which ended more than a decade of Conservative rule, The Guardian newspaper published an opinion piece identifying Tory policy decisions since 2010, such as repeated capping and freezing of local housing benefits, as a “direct cause” of soaring homelessness.

According to Shelter’s figures, the total cost of homelessness in England has doubled in the past five years, reaching £2.3 billion between April 2023 and March 2024. The figure includes £1 billion spent by councils on temporary accommodation for homeless families, and housing benefits.

Homelessness is a pressing issue in other parts of the UK. The government in Scotland declared a national housing emergency in May. In Wales, spending on temporary accommodation rose seven-fold between 2018 and 2022. In Northern Ireland, the number of placements in temporary accommodation has risen nearly four-fold since 2019.

A recent survey suggested that 57% of the British public do not believe the government will ever be able to eradicate “significant levels” of homelessness.

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https://www.rt.com/news/609543-uk-homelessness-new-funding/

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A major oil spill has contaminated a large stretch along the Black Sea coast in southern Russia’s Krasnodar Region after two tankers were severely damaged in a storm over the weekend. The vessels wrecked in the Kerch Strait between mainland Russia and Crimea.

Krasnodar Region Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Tuesday that fuel oil was found along the sandy coast between the cities of Temryuk and Anapa, popular tourist destinations, stretching for dozens of kilometers.

“This morning, while monitoring the shoreline, stains of fuel oil were discovered. Oil products washed ashore for tens of kilometers,” he said.

Two aging ships – the Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239 – each reportedly carrying about 4,000 tons of mazut, a low-grade heavy fuel oil, ran aground in stormy weather and high winds in the Kerch Strait, the passage that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, on Sunday. Powerful waves struck the tankers several kilometers off the Black Sea coast.

Both tankers drifted with a total of 27 crew members on board before running aground, according to reports. One crew member died as a result of the incident.

Footage from the scene shows one of the ships which broke in half, with its bow completely destroyed. Traces of black liquid – fuel oil – were seen spreading in the sea.

Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said the clean-up operation stretched along 49km (30 miles) of shoreline, with around 4,000 volunteers involved in the operation.

A state of emergency has been declared at five settlements in Temryuk and Anapa districts due to spilled oil on the shoreline, according to the regional authorities.

Numerous videos posted online show a black, oil-like substance along the coast at Anapa, and tarry stains along a beach.

Kondratev said the oil spill is “removable,” expressing confidence that “there will be no threat to the 2025 resort season.”

Local birdlife has already suffered from the oil spill, with multiple videos showing birds covered in oil. Marine ecosystems are also likely to face severe consequences.

Natural Resources and Ecology Minister Aleksandr Kozlov said on Monday that some of the fuel oil may have sunk to the seabed due to the cold weather.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/609531-russia-black-sea-oil-spill/

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Attorney General Merrick Garland finds himself in the congressional crosshairs as Republicans on Capitol Hill intensify investigations into his Department of Justice’s alleged coverup of a solar energy scandal centered around a plant based in Nevada called Crescent Dunes.

“I am writing to express my concerns and seek clarification regarding the recent motion filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) on November 6, 2024, to intervene and dismiss the False Claims Act (qui tam) lawsuit filed by CMB Export, LLC, against Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, and its affiliates,” Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX) wrote in a letter Tuesday to Garland. “This action raises significant questions about the decision-making process and rationale behind the DOJ’s intervention, particularly in light of the timeline and the lack of any clear justification for dismissing this case.”

Gooden’s inquiry, the second member of Congress to weigh in on this burgeoning scandal, was obtained exclusively by Breitbart News ahead of its public release. Rep. Carol Miller (R-WV) has already weighed in on the matter in previous reports and inquiries, so this represents an expansion of congressional interest in the case.

It comes after an exclusive Breitbart News investigation published in late November that revealed that in the immediate aftermath of President-elect Donald Trump—the former president of the United States—completing the greatest political comeback in the history of mankind when he defeated Democrat candidate Vice President Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election, the Justice Department moved the next day to withdraw support for a privately-funded lawsuit that aimed to recoup hundreds of millions of allegedly fraudulently obtained tax dollars from the Crescent Dunes solar project.

As Breitbart News reported at the time, an email sent less than an hour before the polls closed in the first states on election night on Nov. 5 showed the Justice Department changing course on this matter and withdrew support for a qui tam lawsuit it previously had green-lit. Then the next day in court Garland’s DOJ formally filed a motion to withdraw support for the suit brought by an EB-5 visa company that alleges it was screwed out of tens of millions of dollars as part of the larger Crescent Dunes boondoggle.

A qui tam lawsuit is when a private entity seeks to fund litigation to recoup alleged fraud on behalf of the taxpayers, and while it costs nothing to taxpayers to bring one, the DOJ has to signal approval for it to move forward. After years of dragging its feet on this, the Biden DOJ finally did just that midway through 2023, and by early 2024 the litigation was proceeding until this shocking reversal on election night.

The incoming Trump administration has made clear that the president-elect will be very focused on energy policy, and particularly on stopping questionable leftist so-called “renewable” energy boondoggles like wind and solar energy. This flies in the face of the policies of the outgoing president, Democrat Joe Biden, whose administration expanded Barack Obama-era efforts to use federal lands to push green energy projects like Crescent Dunes.

Crescent Dunes goes back to that Obama era, where it got its start, and purportedly uses a bunch of mirrors in the desert to reflect sunlight to heat molten salt in a giant tower. The problem with this plant, which went bankrupt and then eventually opened under new ownership but still only produces a fraction of the energy originally promised, is the technology has proven to be particularly faulty. In addition to wildlife concerns as birds have reportedly even caught fire mid-flight after getting caught in the reflected sunlight, there have been reports of workers being hospitalized after exposure to poisonous gases emitted from the tank.

In his letter, Gooden made clear to Garland that he sees this as even bigger than just the Crescent Dunes project but something that possibly affects all green energy-focused items from the left.

“The allegations in this case represent not just potential financial fraud but a breach of the public trust,” Gooden wrote. “The Crescent Dunes project, like other failed ‘green energy’ initiatives, has already cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and the dismissal of this case raises serious concerns about the Department’s commitment to protecting public funds and prosecuting fraud.”

At issue with the lawsuit in question are hundreds of millions of dollars in Treasury Department grants issued at the very end of the Obama administration to Crescent Dunes, and whether those grants were fraudulent, as the plaintiffs of the qui tam suit allege.

“As you know, this qui tam lawsuit alleges serious fraud involving approximately $275 million in cash grants from the Department of Treasury under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,” Gooden wrote to Garland. “Despite investing three and a half years in investigating this case, it is deeply troubling that the Department of Justice reversed its position shortly after the presidential election, claiming dismissal is in the public interest and citing undue burdens on federal agencies. This decision is perplexing, given that the government stands to lose nothing by allowing CMB Export, LLC, to proceed with the case.”

Gooden asks Garland six pressing questions on the case:

What specific facts or circumstances led the Department to determine that dismissing this case is “commensurate with the public interest”?

Given the significant taxpayer losses alleged in this case, how does the Department justify its claim that discovery and litigation obligations would impose “an undue burden” on the Treasury, Department of Energy, and DOJ?

Given that the Department of Energy (DOE) played a role in approving and facilitating the transactions under investigation, what safeguards were in place to ensure the DOJ’s decision-making process was free from undue influence or conflicts of interest?

Why did the DOJ wait until November 6, 2024—one day after the presidential election—to file its motion to dismiss after previously allowing the case to proceed in August 2023?

Was the timing of this motion influenced by political considerations, particularly the transition to a new administration?

How does the DOJ reconcile its decision to dismiss a case that seeks to recover taxpayer dollars with its responsibility to uphold accountability and transparency in cases of alleged fraud against the government?

Gooden also asked Garland to provide him with immediate access to all government documents on this front and advised the outgoing Attorney General to preserve all records of this matter.

“To ensure transparency and accountability are upheld in this case, I request immediate access to all records and communication in relation to the Crescent Dunes project and its subsequent dismissal,” Gooden wrote. “Please preserve all information relating to this process, including all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that is or may be potentially responsive to a congressional inquiry, request, or investigation. For the purpose of this request, ‘preserve’ means securing and maintaining the integrity of all relevant documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, by taking reasonable steps to prevent the partial or full destruction, alteration, testing, deletion, shredding, incineration, wiping, relocation, migration, theft, mutation, or negligent or reckless handling that could render the information incomplete or inaccessible. This includes preserving all compilations of documents that have already been gathered in response to requests, even if copies of individual documents may still exist elsewhere.”

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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/12/17/exclusive-merrick-garland-in-crosshairs-as-congressional-inquiry-into-crescent-dunes-solar-scandal-coverup-expands/

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A previously unidentified disease that has broken out in the southwestern Kwango province of the Democratic Republic of Congo is a severe form of malaria, the country’s Health Ministry has announced.

Earlier this month, the local authorities reported that the disease, which was not initially identified, had claimed 143 lives in November. Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches.

“The mystery has finally been solved: it’s a case of severe malaria presenting as a respiratory illness,” the Health Ministry stated, noting that widespread malnutrition in the area had increased susceptibility to the disease. Since October, there have been 592 reported cases with a fatality rate of 6.2%, the statement said.

Most of the affected individuals are children. The outbreak is concentrated in nine of the 30 areas within the Panzi health zone, approximately 700km (435 miles) from Kinshasa, which complicated the investigation and response efforts.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent a team of experts to the Panzi region to assist in identifying the disease and managing the outbreak.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus revealed that ten initial samples from patients in the DRC affected by the mysterious illness had tested positive for malaria. However, he stressed that this finding did not rule out the presence of other diseases occurring simultaneously.

The provincial health minister, Apollinaire Yumba, told Reuters that malaria treatment provided by the WHO was being distributed across the primary hospital and healthcare facilities in the region.

Malaria, one of the deadliest infectious diseases globally, is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. It can take weeks to show symptoms and typically causes fever, vomiting, chills, and flu-like symptoms. While treatable, malaria remains a significant threat in developing countries, claiming approximately 600,000 lives annually, 93% of which are in Africa.

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https://www.rt.com/africa/609534-drc-discovers-cause-mystery-illness/

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Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf announced Tuesday that he intends on stepping down from frontline politics before the next election, marking the end of a controversial career defined in large part by identity politics and attacks on fundamental liberties.

Following the downfall of Nicola Sturgeon in 2023, Humza Yousaf was elevated to the top of the leftist-separatist Scottish National Party (SNP) and thus took over the reigns of power in Holyrood as first minister of Scotland, becoming the first Muslim leader of a Western nation.

Yet Yousaf’s rule only lasted a little over a year, having been ousted amid collapse in public support in May of this year.

With little prospect of returning to power, Yousaf announced that he would be stepping down ahead of the next Scottish election, saying Tuesday that after 15 years in politics, “the time will be right for me to move on.”

Characteristic of his time in office, which focussed heavily on leftist ethnic politics, the Pakistani-heritage politician returned to his identity in his resignation, stating: “There is no way this son of immigrants could have ever dreamt of being the leader of his country when he was a boy. People who looked like me and who were of my faith simply were not represented on the front benches in politics anywhere in the UK.

“It is often said that you cannot be what you cannot see. I hope by becoming the first First Minister of Colour, and first Muslim leader of a Western democratic nation, I have sent a clear message to every young person, of any background, who aspires to get involved in public service that you do belong and are just as deserving of opportunity as anyone else.”

The statement harkened back to one of his most controversial moments in office, in which Yousaf lamented in a Black Lives Matter-inspired speech before the Scottish parliament in 2020 that there were too many white people in positions of power in Scotland, a 93 per cent white nation.

“Take my portfolio, for example. The Lord President: white. The Lord Justice Clerk: white. Every High Court judge: white. The Lord Advocate: white. The Solicitor-General: white. The chief constable [of Police Scotland]: white. Every deputy chief constable: white. Every assistant chief constable: white. The head of the Law Society: white. The head of the Faculty of Advocates: white. Every prison governor: white,” Yousaf exclaimed, adding: “That is not good enough.”

Despite his apparent antipathy towards the native population, Yousaf later put himself up as candidate to lead the country following the fall of his former boss Nicola Sturgeon, after she was infamously stumped as to whether biologically male rapists should be allowed in female prisons if they claim to be transgender.

Though his time in office as first minister was short, having only lasted a little over a year, Yousaf’s reign in Edinburg will likely be felt for years to come, with his government having presided over the introduction of one of the strictest censorship laws in the Western world.

Under the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act, those found guilty of the vaguely worded “stirring up hatred” against a protected class, such as racial and sexual minorities, face up to seven years in prison. Such is the scope of the draconian legislation that even comments made in the privacy of one’s home could be deemed criminal.

In an ironic twist, following the passage of the law, members of the public logged complaints with the police against Yousaf over his 2020 rant against white people being in power in Scotland. So numerous were the reports that Police Scotland were said to have distributed a script to officers explaining why Yousaf’s comments supposedly did not breach the law.

It is currently unclear what the future will hold for Yousaf after he completes his term as a Member of Scottish Parliament in 2026. However, he suggested earlier this year that he may leave Scotland altogether over the rise “Islamophobia” in the United Kingdom.

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/17/race-baiting-ex-scottish-leader-humza-yousaf-announces-plans-to-step-down-from-politics/

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As American classrooms obsess over pronoun usage and gender identity debates, Poland is taking a drastically different approach: preparing its children to face real-world threats.

The Polish government has now made firearms training a mandatory part of primary school education, prioritizing national security and self-reliance over a woke agenda.

At schools like the Nicholas Cernus Primary School in Skaryszew, students as young as 13 and 14 are learning to handle rifles and pistols under the supervision of trained professionals.

Instead of live ammunition, students train using ball guns, air guns, small arms replicas, and virtual or laser-based shooting systems, where a green light indicates a successful hit, according to The Express.

Students describe the experience as both “cool” and “fun,” but the underlying message is clear – readiness for future threats.

Poland, sharing a border with war-torn Ukraine, has felt increasingly threatened by Russia’s invasion. The Ministry of Education emphasized that equipping young people with basic firearm knowledge is critical for national defense and resilience.

“The current challenges and threats require supplementing the goals of education and teaching content with issues related to state defense, acquiring shooting skills, and preparing students to cope with threats caused by hostilities,” said the Polish Ministry of Education and Science.

Meanwhile, American schools remain bogged down with ideological battles.

Across the United States, public education has strayed far from its intended purpose.

Parents are waking up to the reality that their children are not being taught critical skills like mathematics, science, and history, but instead subjected to leftist ideologies.

Classrooms are increasingly filled with lessons on gender theory, critical race theory, and radical political agendas disguised as modern curriculum.

Teachers’ unions and progressive policymakers continue to push divisive, anti-American narratives, eroding the values of self-reliance, personal responsibility, and patriotism that once defined American education.

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https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/12/poland-makes-firearms-training-mandatory-primary-school-students/

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Kiev declared Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov a suspect in alleged use of chemical weapons against its forces.

Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces (RChBZ), has died in a blast together with his aide. According to investigators, an explosive device hidden in a scooter was detonated on Tuesday morning near the entrance of a residential building in Moscow’s south-east.

Here’s what is known about Kirillov:

From September 2014 to April 2017, he served as the head of the Military Academy of the RChBZ named after Marshal of the Soviet Union Semyon Timoshenko.

In April 2017, Kirillov became the chief of the RChBZ troops.

Kirillov dealt with anti-terrorism both domestically and abroad. He exposed the provocations of the controversial White Helmets volunteer organization in Syria, and participated in mitigating the consequences of natural and man-made disasters.

Since the beginning of the military operation against Ukraine in February 2022, Kirillov has spoken at briefings held by the Ministry of Defense, where he shared information about Ukrainian developments in the areas of radiological, chemical, and biological weapons. In March 2022, he announced that Ukrainian biolaboratories were studying the potential for transferring highly dangerous infections through migratory birds.

The same month, Kirillov presented copies of documents that, according to him, confirmed the Pentagon’s funding of biological laboratories in Ukraine.

In June 2024, Kirillov stated that spent nuclear fuel and hazardous chemical waste were being imported into Ukraine for a potential “dirty bomb” creation. He added that radiochemical substances were still being brought into Ukraine for disposal. According to him, these supplies were overseen by Andrey Yermak, Vladimir Zelensky’s right-hand man, with primary routes passing through Poland and Romania.

In October 2024, the UK slapped Kirillov with sanctions after he accused Ukraine of preparing a false-flag chemical weapons attack with the aim of framing Russia and undermining its position at the OPCW. Kirillov noted that NATO had provided Ukraine with a much larger amount of chemical protective equipment than the country actually needs, calling it further evidence of an impending plot.

In November 2024, Kirillov said that Ukraine planned to seize a nuclear power plant during its large-scale incursion into the Kursk Region.

Kirillov was killed in the blast one day after Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) formally declared him a suspect in the alleged use of chemical weapons against Kiev’s military. The general rejected claims that Russia had been attacking Ukraine with riot control agents and chemical weapons, recalling that the OPCW had confirmed the complete destruction of all Russian chemical weapons stockpiles in 2017.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/609471-kirillov-explosive-blast-key-takeaways/

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The southern Syrian village of Hader has reportedly requested to be incorporated in the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights, according to the Times of Israel. The outlet cited an unverified video where a member of the Druze community expressed concerns over the future of his people.

Bashar Assad’s government fell last week after opposition forces, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadists, launched a surprise offensive across Syria and took control of its major cities, including the capital Damascus. The erstwhile president has since resigned and sought asylum with his family in Russia.

In a video posted to X on Friday that features captions in English, a Hader resident claiming to be a representative of the Druze people, an esoteric ethnoreligious group, urged a large crowd to consider what their future will be like. The village is located within the buffer zone between Israel and Syria, which IDF troops entered last week.

“If we have to choose, we will choose the lesser evil,” he said. “And even if it’s considered evil to ask to be annexed to the [Israeli] Golan, it’s a much lesser evil than the evil coming our way,” the man added, apparently referring to the HTS, which was formerly known as the Al Nusra front - an offshoot of Al Qaeda in Syria.

“That evil might take our women, might take our daughters, they might take our houses,” he said, pleading for the Syrian Druze to be freed from the “injustice and oppression” that had been imposed on them in the past, and could be imposed again by Islamist rebel groups.

“We have asked to be annexed to the Golan to preserve our dignity” the man, who claimed to speak on behalf of the Druze community across the surrounding area of Quneitra Governorate, said. “We ask in the name of all the surrounding area to join our people in the Golan, and to live with freedom and dignity like our people are living [in Israel].

Around 48% of Syria’s Druze resided in the Suwayda Governorate some 90 kilometers from the border with Israel prior to the civil war, the Times of Israel reported citing a 2010 census. Since then, however, it is believed that many of them have fled the region for safer parts of the country.

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https://www.rt.com/news/609362-syrian-village-israel-annexation/

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Two tankers carrying oil products are sinking in the Kerch Strait, the passage that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, according to the Russian Emergency Ministry.

The Volganeft 212 and the Volganeft 239 sent out distress signals and requested assistance amid high winds and powerful waves. The Russian water transport agency has said a total of 29 crew members were on board the two vessels.

According to Russian media reports, powerful waves struck the tankers several kilometers off the Black Sea coast. The Volganeft 212, carrying more than 4,000 tons of fuel oil, has run aground, and the Volgoneft 239 is drifting after sustaining damage.

Emergency rescue helicopters have flown response teams to the Kerch Strait area to assist the vessels. Their efforts, however, have been hindered by worsening weather.

A rescue boat has also been sent to the area. So far, 13 crew members from the damaged tankers have been brought to safety, and one fatality has been confirmed, the Emergency Ministry said.

Preliminary findings suggest that one of the ships broke in half after the storm caused it to run ground. An investigation has been launched, Russia’s Southern Transport Prosecutor’s Office said.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/609382-two-tankers-sink-sea/

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A mysterious flu-like illness that has claimed dozens of lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in recent weeks is likely malaria, according to preliminary laboratory findings announced by the authorities on Wednesday.

Samples taken from infected individuals indicated that nine out of 12 tested positive for malaria, although the quality of the samples was reportedly poor.

Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Congolese microbiologist and director-general of the National Institute for Biomedical Research in Kinshasa, indicated that research is ongoing to confirm if this represents a localized epidemic. He suggested that malaria is the probable culprit, noting that most victims have been children.

Earlier this week, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also noted that most samples have tested positive for malaria. However, he acknowledged that multiple diseases could be at play, adding that further samples would be collected and analyzed.

According to the WHO, there have been 406 reported cases of the mystery illness and 31 deaths between October 24 and December 5. Most of these cases have affected children under 14 in nine of the 30 areas in the Panzi health zone, Kwango Province, in the southwest of the country.

Last week, the DRC’s Health Ministry announced on social media that 376 people had been infected and 79 had died, with most victims being children under five.

The unidentified disease manifests as a fever, headache, cough, runny nose, and body aches. Without a conclusive diagnosis, it remains unclear whether the cause is viral or bacterial, according to Dieudonne Mwamba, head of the country’s National Institute for Public Health.

Local authorities, including Provincial Health Minister Apollinaire Yumba, have urged residents to take precautions to prevent the further spread of the illness, advising them not to touch the deceased.

Due to the region’s remote location – around 700km (435 miles) from the capital, Kinshasa – and limited local testing capacity, samples had to be transported over 500km to Kikwit for analysis.

The WHO reported on Sunday that the affected area faces worsening food insecurity, low vaccination rates, and limited access to diagnostics and quality healthcare. The region also suffers from shortages of health workers, supplies, and transportation, with “very limited” malaria control measures in place.

Specialist teams from the WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are continuing their investigations.

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https://www.rt.com/africa/609293-mystery-illness-drc-linked-malaria/

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Cuba and Bolivia are expected to officially join BRICS as partner states on January 1, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has said.

In an interview with Izvestia newspaper on Friday, Ryabkov confirmed that both countries had received invitations.

“We are confident that everything will work out in terms of their joining the group as partners,” the diplomat said.

The new ‘partner country’ status was approved at the BRICS summit in October, hosted by Russia in Kazan, and is intended to serve as an alternative to membership after more than 30 nations applied to join the organization.

Following the gathering, Russia, which at present holds the group’s rotating presidency, announced that 13 new countries could become BRICS partner states after the new status was introduced.

BRICS initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and was expanded earlier this year to include Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates.

The group is now holding consultations with the invited nations to formalize their membership, Ryabkov told the outlet.

Earlier, Belarus announced it had officially accepted the invitation to become a BRICS partner. Indonesia has also been awarded partner status by the economic group, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Pankin.

The list of aspiring partners has not been officially announced, but it reportedly includes Türkiye, Algeria, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam as candidates.

Although discussions regarding the partner status of these countries are still ongoing, the senior diplomat confirmed that none of the invited nations had rejected the invitation.

“This is a big, serious prospect for all the countries that have been invited, so there are just a few days before the list is made public,” he noted.

Partner-country status provides for permanent participation in special sessions of BRICS summits and foreign ministers’ meetings, as well as other high-level events. Partners can also contribute to the group’s outcome documents.

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https://www.rt.com/news/609309-brics-partners-cuba-bolivia/

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Twelve original unknown tracks from the late King of Pop Michael Jackson have been discovered in a storage unit in California, Hollywood Reporter wrote on Friday.

The unexpected find was made by former traffic police officer turned stay-at-home dad, Gregg Musgrove during a “treasure hunting” venture, when he was informed about a storage unit he had purchased in Van Nuys, California.

The unit had previously belonged to music producer Bryan Loren. Inside, Musgrove found tapes containing 12 unreleased tracks that Jackson had recorded between 1989 and 1991, before releasing his album Dangerous.

Under US law, a storage unit is considered legally abandoned 60 to 90 days after non-payment, depending on the state. At that time, the units may be auctioned off to bidders who gamble on their contents.

Musgrove stated that while some songs had been rumored or partially leaked, several are complete originals. “I’ve gone to all the fan sites. Some of them [the songs] are rumored to exist, some of them have been leaked a little bit,” Musgrove told The Hollywood Reporter. “A couple aren’t even out there in the world.”

Among the notable tracks is “Don’t Believe It,” which appears to address media rumors about the pop star. Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, faced controversy over accusations of sexually abusing minors. Despite the scandals and their impact on his reputation, his commercial success as an artist remains strong.

Another track, “Truth on Youth,” reportedly a duet with LL Cool J, showcases Jackson’s versatility as he rhymes alongside the iconic rapper.

Musgrove and his attorney reached out to the Jackson Estate, which has continued to capitalize on the singer’s image and music use for commercial purposes since his death, about the tapes earlier this year.

The estate reportedly conducted its own research into the recordings, but declined to purchase them for undisclosed reasons. The estate provided Musgrove with a letter clarifying that they do not claim ownership of the tapes.

They emphasized, however, that any potential buyer would not own the copyright to the recordings or compositions, as those rights remain with the estate. Consequently, the tapes cannot be released publicly.

Musgrove plans to present the tapes to major auction houses soon, potentially attracting celebrity memorabilia collectors.

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https://www.rt.com/pop-culture/609301-unreleased-michael-jackson-tracks-found/

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The New York Police Department (NYPD) has warned US healthcare executives of an increased risk to their lives, after ‘wanted’ posters featuring corporate bosses appeared across the city and online, following this week's shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Following the shooting outside a Hilton hotel in central Manhattan by a masked, hooded attacker, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione was arrested as a suspect. He appeared in a Pennsylvania court on Tuesday and was charged with second-degree murder.

The NYPD bulletin obtained by ABC News highlighted viral posts featuring the names and salaries of several other health insurance CEOs.

“Both prior to and after the suspected perpetrator’s identification and arrest, some online users across social media platforms reacted positively to the killing, encouraged future targeting of similar executives, and shared conspiracy theories regarding the shooting,” the bulletin said.

The ‘wanted’ posters, plastered across Manhattan, include images of industry leaders with text punctuated with bullet shapes, saying Thompson was killed due to medical claims that were rejected by his company.

“UnitedHealthcare killed everyday people for the sake of profit. As a result Brian Thompson was denied his claim to life. Who will be denied next?,” one of the posters read.

“Healthcare CEOs Should Not Feel Safe, Deny, Defend, Depose,” anther wrote.

The NYPD has reportedly suggested that Mangione could be viewed as a “martyr” by some, and encourage other attacks. The bulletin warned that the shooter’s actions have the “capability to inspire a variety of extremists and grievance-driven malicious actors to violence.”

The police document also included examples of social media users who justified Thompson’s shooting.

“My mom was denied chemo multiple times and suffered tremendously they missed her cancer for two years because she was constantly denied… she will have life altering damage because of it. F*** him may he rest in piss,” one person wrote, according to the report.

Another post on Reddit cited in the bulletin lamented corporate influence over the US government.

“The politicians are compromised and the corporations are suffocating us - all CEO’s should be considered. Sucks when your government is bought by these CEO’s who immediately impact the masses.”

Timothy Gallagher, a former FBI agent and the managing director of Nardello and Co, a global investigations firm, told the BBC on Thursday that given the amount of attention to the suspect and the number of people who have their own grievances the “threat of a copycat is real”.

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https://www.rt.com/news/609252-us-ceo-hit-list-warning/

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President of Argentina Javier Milei announced Wednesday that his administration is preparing a structural tax reform that will eliminate 90 percent of existing taxes in 2025.

Milei announced the plan, alongside other policies he seeks to implement in his second year in office, while marking the end of his first. Among them was a plan to negotiate a trade deal with President-elect Donald Trump’s administration once he takes office in January.

Tuesday marked one year since Milei took office on December 10, 2023, and became Argentina’s first libertarian president, succeeding socialist former President Alberto Fernández. At the time he took office, Argentina faced a severe economic crisis that dramatically worsened as a result of Fernández’s disastrous socialist policies. Milei implemented a series of drastic “shock therapy” measures to avert the collapse of the country’s economy and avoid a hyperinflation spiral.

Milei’s policies successfully reduced the inflation rate in Argentina, dropping it from 25.5 percent in December 2023 to 2.7 percent in October 2024 while also allowing the nation to experience ten months of continued trade surplus as of November.

Additionally, Milei spearheaded a dramatic overhaul of the Argentine government during his first year, reducing the number of ministries from 18 to nine on his first day and outright replacing other institutions — such as Argentina’s bloated AFIP revenue service, which was dissolved and substituted with a much smaller agency in November. The Argentine president also introduced a series of sweeping reforms that Congress passed in late June.

Milei marked his first year in office by delivering a speech in the evening hours of Tuesday in the company of his ministers and members of his administration. He reviewed the results of his policies and announced a series of upcoming measures.

In his roughly 35-minute speech, Milei thanked Argentines for electing him and for “having endured, as you did, the hard months we had at the beginning of our administration,” assuring that their sacrifice “will not be in vain.”

“There is a saying that says ‘good times create weak men, weak men create hard times, hard times create strong men, and it is strong men who create good times.’ This year, we Argentines have proven to be strong men and women, forged in the heat of difficult times,” Milei said.

“We have shown that, when a people touches the bottom of the abyss, its urgency to undertake a deep and irreversible change becomes a true force of nature,” he continued.

Milei stressed that his administration will continue with his economic reforms throughout 2025 and to that end, he stated that his administration is currently finalizing a “structural tax reform” that will reduce the amount of national taxes by 90 percent while restoring tax autonomy to Argentina’s provinces.

“Thus, next year we will see a real tax competition among the Argentine provinces to see who will attract the most investment,” Milei said.

The Argentine president ensured that his administration will also eliminate existing currency control measures inherited by his government next year and stated that there would be a “free competition of currencies” which, Milei explained, will allow “all Argentines will be able to use the currency they want in their daily transactions.”

“This means that from now on every Argentinean will be able to buy, sell and invoice in dollars or the currency they consider, except for the payment of taxes, which for now will continue to be in pesos,” Milei said.

The Argentine president posited that it is also essential to “break the foreign trade chains that are currently suffocating us” to accelerate the country’s economic recovery. Argentina is a member of the regional Mercosur trade bloc, a group that Milei has fiercely criticized in the past and which he now holds its pro-tempore presidency as of last week.

Milei proposed the elimination of tariff barriers among Mercosur members and added that one of his administration’s goals in Mercosur is to “increase the autonomy of the members of the organization vis-à-vis the rest of the world, so that each country can trade freely with whomever it wants as it suits them.” One of those trade deals, he said, would hopefully be a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States next year — something that, Milei said, “should have been signed 19 years ago.”

“Imagine how much we would have grown in these two decades if we had traded with the world’s leading power. All that growth was taken away from us with the simple signature of a group of bureaucrats, who refused to accept the benefits of free trade,” Milei said.

“In this way, Argentina will stop turning its back on the world and will once again be a protagonist of world trade, because there is no prosperity without trade and there is no trade without freedom,” he continued.

Milei said that his administration will continue with the deregularization and reduction of public spending throughout his second year through a “ruthless audit” that will see the elimination of unnecessary agencies, secretariats, public companies, and state institutions.

Other upcoming policies announced by Milei include proposing an “anti-mafia” law inspired by the United States’ Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act to fight against organized crime, federal police reforms, the creation of an “anti-narcoterrorism” unit in cooperation with Mercosur to combat drug trafficking in the tri-border area that Argentina shares with Brazil and Paraguay, and the “imminent presentation of a plan to build new nuclear reactors and research small or modular reactor technologies,” among others.

Milei observed that 2025 will see Argentina hold midterm legislative elections and stressed that “unlike what politicians usually do, who in election years spend their time squandering the money of all Argentines” his administration would “do something different” and continue implementing his economic reforms.

“It is unique in the history of modern democracies that a government begins the election year without an expansionary fiscal and monetary policy, because that is precisely the logic of the past that has sunk us,” Milei said. “We are not going to fall into this temptation that seduced the caste, because we are the future and the prosperity.”

“We are going to continue our adjustment program to be able to lower taxes and return money to the private sector, and we are going to put on the table an agenda of profound reforms, developed on the pillars that I told you about today, so that society can legally choose which country it wants,” he continued.

The Argentine president concluded by stating that Argentina is heading towards a “future of prosperity” and said 2024 will be remembered as the “first year of the new Argentina.” Milei further stressed that, unlike other moments in the nation’s history where hope was based “on empty words, we have brought results.”

“You can see them, you can feel them. That future of prosperity is within our reach. There is nothing you can do to prevent it: you can get on the train of progress or you can be run over by it,” Milei said.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/12/11/argentinas-javier-milei-announces-90-tax-reduction-in-2025/

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Governments across Europe are stopping Syrian refugee applications, but whether a fresh migrant wave or a period of repatriation now follows is unclear.

European governments are now embodying what was considered by the political and media establishment as unacceptably racist in 2015 when Donald Trump said to shut down immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”. Nations across the continent have now enacted a hard stop on Syrian refugee applications and are remarkably blunt in explaining this is because they don’t know exactly what the collapse of the Syrian regime will mean, and what will happen next.

Germany and Austria were the first to move on Monday, but since the United Kingdom, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Greece, Finland and Norway have joined them in suspending new Syrian refugee claims, a decade after the Europe migrant crisis began and four million Syrians filed for protection in Europe.

The ‘wait and see’ approach underlines somewhat the idea the collapse of the Syrian regime appears to have caught the UK government off guard and with no coherent messaging prepared. Senior Labour figures repeatedly contradicted each other this week, with Foreign Minister David Lammy refused to be drawn on whether the UK would be suspending Syrian asylum claims even as his colleague the Home Secretary was announcing just that within minutes.

Read more,

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/10/uk-joins-rush-of-european-states-suspending-syrian-refugee-claims/

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In the wake of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Germany and Austria have suspended all asylum applications from the war-torn country until further notice.

Amid the chaos of the storming of Damascus by the al-Qaeda-linked Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group and the fleeing of former dictator Bashar al-Assad to Moscow, Berlin and Vienna have both announced they will suspend accepting asylum applications from Syrian migrants.

German broadcaster NTV reports that a spokesman for the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) confirmed Monday that all asylum applications from Syrians will be temporarily suspended as the situation in the country is “confusing” and therefore no serious judgements on asylum claims can be made for the time being.

The agency noted that while this decision will not apply to asylum requests made under the EU migrant sharing Dublin regulations, however, it will apply to the vast majority of Syrian nationals. According to the report, there are currently 47,000 asylum applications pending from Syrians, with 46,081 initial applications, which will now be suspended.

A spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior said that while asylum cases are typically handled on a case-by-case basis, BAMF has the authority to defer decisions on applications if the situation in the applicant’s home country is unclear and Syria now firmly qualifies as such.

Since the move by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel to open the gates of Europe in 2015 amid the civil war in Syria, the country shot to the top of countries of origin for asylum seekers in Germany. At present there are around 975,000 Syrian nationals living in Germany, with around 600,000 residing in the country on a temporary residence permit under some form of asylum protection.

Following outrage after a Syrian asylum seeker killed three people and injured several others with a knife at a “festival of diversity” in the city of Solingen in August, there has been increased pressure on the leftist government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is facing a tough re-election bid, to clamp down on mass migration and restart deportations to nations such as Afghanistan and Syria, which were paused over supposed safety concerns.

In response to a demonstration among Syrian diaspora migrants in Berlin on Sunday celebrating the fall of Assad, Alternative for Germany (AfD) chancellor candidate Alice Weidel said: “Anyone in Germany who celebrates ‘free Syria’ evidently no longer has any reason to flee. They should return to Syria immediately.”

Germany’s left-wing interior minister, Nancy Faeser, said in a statement per The Telegraph: “Many refugees who have found protection in Germany now finally have hope of returning to their Syrian homeland and rebuilding their country.”

However, she hedged the notion of mass repatriations by noting that the “situation in Syria is currently very unclear” and therefore “concrete possibilities of return cannot yet be predicted at the moment and it would be unprofessional to speculate about them in such a volatile situation.”

“In view of this unclear situation, it is right that the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has today imposed a freeze on decisions for asylum procedures that are still ongoing until the situation is clearer.”

Germany was joined Monday by the neo-liberal government in neighbouring Austria in suspending asylum applications from Syrians, impacting initially around 7,300 Syrian asylum applications. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner also announced that the country’s family reunification scheme for Syrian migrants has also been suspended until further notice.

The move by Austria and Germany comes amid growing warnings that the Islamist coup of the Assad regime in Syria could spark another European Migrant Crisis. Even prior to the fall of Assad over the weekend, the United Nations warned that food shortages, in large part caused by the country’s civil war, could result in as many as 1.5 million Syrians fleeing their homes this year.

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/09/germany-and-austria-suspend-asylum-applications-from-syrian-migrants-following-fall-of-assad/

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The fall of the Assad regime in Syria has been hailed by globalist leaders, however, there are growing warnings that the instability in the country may lead to a repeat of the migrant crisis that destabalised Europe.

Over the weekend, the 50-year dynasty in Damascus came to an end as Bashar al-Assad fled the country, seeking asylum in Russia, after rebel forces including the al-Qaeda offshoot Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) jihadist militia stormed the Syrian capital.

European leaders on Sunday were quick to hail the fall of Assad. French President Emmanuel Macron exclaimed that the “barbaric state has fallen”, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that Berlin stands with “all Syrians who are full of hope for a free, just and safe Syria”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that the “Syrian people have suffered under Assad’s barbaric regime for too long and we welcome his departure.”

Yet, there is increasing concern that large numbers of Syrians will once again flood into Europe as they did during the European Migrant Crisis of 2015 when the civil war saw many flee the country.

Jordan Bardella, the president of Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally party in France, warned: “In a few months, it is possible that we will pay the consequences of this takeover of power by Islamist fundamentalists through significant migratory flows.”

The anti-mass migration Member of the European Parliament pointed to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Lybia in 2011 when he was killed by Western-backed rebel forces amid the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ as an example of how the overthrow of dictators in the Middle East can lead to worse outcomes and have ramifications for Europe.

Germany, which bore the brunt of most Syrian migration following former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open the gates of Europe to mass influxes of foreigners from Africa and the Middle East in 2015, is now home to 974,136 Syrian nationals, over 600,000 of whom are living in the country on a temporary residence permit.

Following a string of Islamist terror attacks in Germany this year, the leftist government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz restarted deportations to Taliban-run Afghanistan, and over the summer, the Münster Higher Administrative Court in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia ruled that Syria was safe enough to begin deporting migrants back to their homeland.

While some Syrians at an anti-Assad demonstration in Berlin after the fall of the regime said this weekend that they were planning on returning home, others said that they intended to remain in Germany.

The chancellor candidate for the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, remarked: “Anyone in Germany who celebrates a ‘free Syria’ evidently no longer has any reason to flee. They should return to Syria immediately.”

Even before the fall of the Assad government in Damascus over the weekend, there were warnings that another migrant crisis may be on the horizon, with years of civil war in Syria severely disrupting agriculture and supply chains within the country.

The United Nations World Food Program has warned that the looming food crisis could see up to 1.5 million Syrians flee from their homes.

While some of this migration will likely be to other areas of the country, many surrounding countries are still accommodating large numbers of Syrians. Therefore, new migrants may seek refuge in Europe, where they can benefit from the large social welfare programmes and free housing, making the option more attractive.

Anticipating the potential of another migrant surge, British MP Rupert Lowe, a member of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party, said: “Implementing a zero-tolerance policy is now urgent – anyone who comes here illegally is detained and deported.

“We don’t know who these men are, where they have come from, or anything about their true motives. We MUST send a message. If you come illegally, you WILL NOT stay.”

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/09/europe-migrant-crisis-2-0-warnings-grow-following-the-fall-of-assad-in-syria/

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Georgia is planning to prohibit wearing masks at public events, according to the country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, as cited by the TASS news agency. The country has been experiencing major protests after EU membership talks were suspended.

Kobakhidze announced in late November that Georgia would halt negotiations on potential accession to the bloc until 2028, citing “blackmail and manipulation” from EU officials. Brussels has since imposed personal sanctions against members of the Georgian government.

Since then, the capital city of Tbilisi has been rocked by anti-government, pro-EU rallies in which protestors have repeatedly clashed with law enforcement, shot fireworks, and thrown Molotov cocktails at riot police, who have deployed tear gas and water cannons in an effort to disperse the demonstrators.

“Such facts of attacks satisfy only radicals, who are trying to artificially escalate the situation in the country,” Kobakhidze said at a Sunday briefing as cited by Interfax. “Today, everyone is wearing masks, so it is difficult for the police to respond [and to] identify those who are protesters and who are not.”

The prime minister specified that the measure is necessary to “prevent violence” committed by people covering their faces, emphasizing that similar legislation has been enacted in EU countries.

On Saturday, media reports emerged that a crew of reporters working for the opposition TV channel TV Pirveli was attacked by unknown assailants in masks, who pushed a journalist and beat up a cameraman.

Last week, a camera operator for the Georgian public broadcaster was injured by fireworks shot from a homemade rocket launcher wielded by an opposition protester in the streets of Tbilisi.

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https://www.rt.com/russia/608986-georgia-ban-face-coverings-protests/

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Authorities in Colombia on Thursday refuted claims made by the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), which stated that 20,000 unidentified bodies allegedly remain stored at a hangar in Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport.

A U.N. CED delegation conducted a two-week visit to Colombia in late November to study the country’s decades-old, forced disappearance crisis. According to a U.N. press release, the group met with dozens of local government authorities, civil society organizations, and victims.

“Although enforced disappearances started in Colombia around the 1940s, they are not just a crime of the past. They continue to occur daily across the country in diverse circumstances,” the group said.

The delegation asserted that there are discrepancies between institutional records on the number of forced disappearance victims, with reported figures received by the group ranging from 98,000 to 200,000. The reported discrepancies, CED stated, “make it impossible to determine the true extent.”

At the end of the visit, the U.N. group issued a press conference on Thursday in which its members shared some of its preliminary findings and stressed that enforced disappearances “are not a crime of the past” in Colombia. The group added that the existing material and human resources of the Colombian state “are not sufficient to meet the demand.”

“Enforced disappearances are not a crime of the past. During these two weeks, the people we interviewed conveyed the image of a society overwhelmed by the phenomenon of disappearances, which continue to occur daily throughout the national territory,” Juan Pablo Albán, one of the members of the U.N. delegation, said.

The U.N. group claimed that, in addition to its other findings, thousands of unidentified bodies “lie in poorly managed cemeteries or storage facilities, such as a hangar at Bogotá airport where around 20,000 unidentified bodies are currently stored.” CED’s full report is slated to be released in April 2025.

Colombian authorities immediately rejected CED’s claims. The Legal Medicine Institute released a brief statement moments later in which the institution claimed to be “unaware of the existence of such a hangar and has not received requests from any authority for the study and analysis of such cases.”

The Colombian Attorney General’s Office responded by immediately launching an inspection of Bogotá’s El Dorado International Airport. According to the Attorney General’s Office, no such bodies were found in any of the airport’s hangars by local officials throughout the inspection.

“After visiting the 27 hangars, we were able to verify that they are dedicated to airport activities such as private passenger boarding, aircraft repair, and storage of equipment for ground operations,” Tito Perilla, advisor to the Colombian Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office told reporters.

Other Colombian authorities refuted the U.N. group’s claims in the morning hours of Friday. Mayor of Bogotá Carlos Fernando Galán described the allegations as “very grave” in remarks given to reporters.

Galán stated that his office has no information on the U.N. report’s claims over the alleged 20,000 bodies in the airport hangar and stressed that the international organization must clarify its assertions and offer more evidence.

“I think it is very important that the United Nations, in this case the mission that came to Colombia, provide the support to be able to make that statement because there is nothing, no indication, no element that the local authority, the Attorney General’s Office, the Medical Examiner’s Office, the Police or the airport have, that indicates to us that this information has any kind of support,” Galán said.

Colombian Interior Minister Juan Fernando Cristo issued a message on social media in which he thanked the United Nations for its work in Colombia, which he described as “fundamental in the construction of peace,” but called for the institution to clarify its assertions.

“This is a very serious and unverified statement in the face of which public opinion deserves transparency,” Cristo said.

The Colombian radio station La FM reported on Friday morning that it received an email from U.N. media officer Vivian Kwok stating that the CED delegation’s members are not U.N. personnel.

“Please note that the Committee on Enforced Disappearances is a monitoring body made up of independent human rights experts from around the world. They are not UN officials,” the email reportedly read.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.

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https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/12/06/u-n-claims-colombia-was-hiding-20000-unidentified-bodies-in-airport-hangar/

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A large explosion in The Hague on Saturday morning saw a building partially collapse and multiple victims sent to hospital.

UPDATE 1445: Hague Mayor Jan van Zanen has confirmed that at least one dead body has been recovered from the scene of the explosion. The identity of the victim has not been made public.

The original story continues as follows…

Police said that a car was seen speeding away from the explosion in the Tarwekamp area of The Hague, broadcaster NOS reports. However, Dutch authorities have not confirmed the explosion is terror-related.

The police have called for witnesses to come forward, specifically regarding the car seen driving away “at very high speed at 6:15 a.m.”

The force also called on the public to submit any footage of the explosion or aftermath to help determine the cause.

At least four victims have been taken to hospital so far, but at the time of this reporting, searches in the rubble are ongoing for further victims. The partially collapsed building was comprised of apartments with a bridal fashion store at the ground level.

In a statement, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of The Netherlands said: “Our thoughts are with those affected in The Hague after the explosion and fire this morning. We sympathize with all those who have been personally affected or who fear for the fate of their loved ones. Our hearts go out to you and to the emergency services who are fully committed to the rescue work.”

Populist leader Geert Wilders, the main power behind the Dutch government, said: “Terrible news. Lots of strength to everyone and I think of the victims. Also strength and thanks to all emergency services!”

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/07/large-explosion-partially-collapses-building-in-the-hague-multiple-people-hospitalized/

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Economic changes and the movement to push back against total digital surveillance of daily life by using cash rather than cards to buy things appears to be having an impact, with cash transactions rising for the second year in a row, industry says.

Debanking activist and Brexit leader Nigel Farage has long beat the ‘cash is king’ drum on the importance of not allowing digital transactions to totally dominate everyday life as a protection against banks being able to arbitrarily turn off the ability of individuals to make payments if, say, they have the wrong political views. The view that cash still has utility appears to be permeating, as the British Retail Consortium states cash use has just risen for the second year running, starting a slow fightback against decades of decline againgt cards.

Near a fifth of all transactions in the United Kingdom last year were with coins and notes, 19.9 per cent, up from 18.8 per cent in 2022. Card remains dominant, making up 75 per cent of transactions, with cash having fallen hard from as many as half of all transactions as recently as 2013.

Breitbart London @BreitbartLondon

Shame, Fear Meant Even Rich and Powerful Didn’t Admit They’d Been Debanked Until Farage Broke Story.

British Retail Consortium states the economy’s condition, with many turning to cash as an easy way to budget — as you can’t overspend money you don’t physically hold — is a part of the explanation for the turn back to paper money. Their spokesman said: “Cash remains a vital form of payment for a sizeable minority of the population, particularly for its role in budgeting. This has made it important to many households during the recent cost of living squeeze.”

Critically, this return to physical money comes at a time when more businesses, venues, and services have started to refuse cash altogether, insisting on card payment. Campaigners say this is a serious issue for groups in society like the elderly and less wealthy who may not have a bank account or the knowledge to use mobile banking.

Others have expressed concern about the demise of cash because digital payments feed into a state of total surveillance, and having no recourse to traditional money can leave individuals unable to pay in the case of a technical error or even ‘debanking’, where financial institutions move to withdraw their services. The Swedish government recently underlined the utility of cash in an emergency, which, in its advice on preparing for war, told citizens to hold a week’s worth of cash in case digital payment systems were cyber-attacked.

Brexit leader Nigel Farage has been the victim of an attempted debanking by a major British bank and has taken up the cause of others similarly impacted. In 2023, he used the example of the Canadian Trucker protest, who were punished for disobeying the Canadian government by having their bank accounts frozen to warn of the perils of a ‘cashless society’.

He had said then: “Look, it happened in Canada. Remember the Canadian truckers. People who had gone about their business legally for years, suddenly a vaccine mandate came in, many didn’t agree with it. They protested peacefully in Ottawa, and what Justin Trudeau the PM do? He froze their bank accounts. You see, this can be misused in very, very frightening ways.”

Farage delivered the ‘Don’t Kill Cash’ petition with 300,000 signatures to Downing Street, which called on the government to “protect the status of cash as legal tender and as a widely accepted means of payment” and reverse the march to a cashless society, stating: “there are strong vested interests pushing for [cash] to be permanently replaced by debit and credit cards and other electronic payments. These cost you more in the long-run and enable 3rd parties to track you and your spending.”.

Just hours after the petition was handed over, the government stated it would fine banks which failed to protect access to cash.

Breitbart London @BreitbartLondon

Farage Tells Breitbart we are on the Verge of Banks Running ‘Word Checks’ on Customers Social Media.

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/07/cash-comeback-number-of-physical-payments-in-uk-on-the-rise/

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French President Emmanuel Macron will host a bilateral meeting on Saturday with US President-elect Donald Trump, ahead of the re-opening ceremony for the newly restored Notre-Dame Cathedral, national media reported on Friday.

France24, citing the Elysee Palace, said the sit-down with Trump will be followed by talks with Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky.

While it is unclear whether the three will hold a trilateral meeting, or if Trump will hold separate talks with Zelensky, the Ukrainian leader reportedly hopes for a chance to meet the US president-elect, according to AFP citing a government source in Kiev.

In addition the Zelensky-Macron talks, “other meetings are also possible, in particular with President-elect Donald Trump, who will also attend the event,” the source reportedly said.

National leaders and prominent figures from 50 countries are descending on the French capital for the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral, which was badly damaged by fire in April 2019. The UNESCO heritage site has undergone a €700 million renovation.

The UK will be represented at the event by Prince William, Kensington Palace has announced.

The grand event comes at a time of political strife for Macron. French Prime Minister Michel Barnier was ousted in a no-confidence vote earlier this week, after both left-wing and right-wing parties objected to the minority cabinet’s massive proposed austerity measures.

Despite heavy pressure from lawmakers, Macron has declared he will not step down as president, promising to stay in office until his term expires in 2027.

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https://www.rt.com/news/608870-macron-host-trump-zelensky-paris/

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Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been questioned by a Paris court for the first time on the charges against him, more than three months after his arrest, AFP news agency reported on Friday, citing an unnamed source.

Previous court hearings had focused on procedural issues relating to the terms of the tech billionaire’s detention. The charges against Durov relate to the alleged involvement of the messaging platform in a wide range of criminal activities.

Durov reportedly arrived at the court accompanied by two lawyers, David-Olivier Kaminski and Christophe Ingrain. The entrepreneur said he “trusts French justice,” but refused to comment on the progress of the case or the charges against him.

The Russian national, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE and Saint Kitts and Nevis, was arrested after landing in Paris on August 24. Durov was charged with multiple offenses, including complicity in distributing child pornography, and enabling drug dealing and money laundering. The charges stem from accusations that Telegram’s lax moderation rules allow for the widespread misuse of the messenger service.

The billionaire was later released on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million), but has been barred from leaving France while his case is ongoing. Some of the charges against him could carry sentences of up to ten years.

Durov has vehemently denied the allegations. In October, the entrepreneur revealed that the messenger service had been complying with privacy policies in several countries, and had been disclosing information about criminals to authorities for the past six years.

According to one of Durov’s lawyers, as cited by the French news agency, it was “absurd” to think that his client was “involved” in crimes committed via the messaging platform. An unnamed source close to the investigation told AFP that the entire legal procedure was having a positive effect in France and elsewhere, as Telegram has begun responding to legal requisitions more actively.

Commenting in August on Durov’s detention, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov highlighted the absurdity of holding the entrepreneur accountable for crimes committed using his network. Peskov quipped that Paris could use the same grounds to arrest the CEOs of Renault or Citroën, as terrorists use cars.

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https://www.rt.com/news/608881-durov-first-questioning-court-france/

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Boycotts against a bovine burp blocking feed additive intended to mitigate supposed impacts of methane emissions on the climate have been launched in Britain over safety concerns, which proponents of the treatment have branded as “misinformation”.

Great Yarmouth Member of Parliament for Reform UK Rupert Lowe, a staunch supporter of British agriculture who owns a farm in Withington, has joined a social media campaign to boycott diary and beef products produced with the feed additive Bovaer, The Times of London reports.

It comes as Danish-Swedish dairy giant Arla Foods has launched a trial use of Bovaer in the UK involving 30 farms, supplying milk products to major supermarket chains such as Aldi, Morrisons, and Tesco.

The food additive was developed by Dutch-Swiss chemical firm DSM-Firmenich as a means of reducing methane emissions from cattle, which has been raised as a concern by climate alarmist groups internationally.

Bovaer is a chemical compound comprised of propylene glycol, silicon dioxide, and 3-nitrooxypropanol also known as 3-NOP. Concerns have been raised online about the safety of consuming animal products produced with the compound, with some pointing to studies in rats suggesting a link to cancer.

Others have pointed to a warning from the Federal Drug Administration in the US (FDA), which has warned about potential damage to male fertility in handling 3-nitrooxypropanol, the Daily Mail reports.

Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10

I won't be consuming anything containing Bovaer.

I've requested that DEFRA undertakes an urgent review of its use in our food system.

The product’s supporters argue that the compound is broken down by cow digestion before entering into milk or meat and, therefore, is not a threat to people, with regulators in the United States, UK, and European Union all approving its use in cows to cut methane emissions.

However, the use of the compound has led to a large social media backlash, with many filming themselves ditching Bovaer-linked dairy products such as Lurpak butter and Cravendale milk. Meanwhile some dairy producers have begun to advertise their products as being free from Bovaer.

Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe has also joined the boycott, saying: “I won’t be consuming anything containing Bovaer. I’ve requested that Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] undertakes an urgent review of its use in our food system.”

The boycott has prompted a wave of articles debunking “misinformation” on social media, with the BBC’s fact-checking Verify service noting that the warnings of male infertility surround handling the 3-NOP compound in its “pure form – rather than when it is added to animal feed.”

The BBC fact checker also asserted that Microsoft founder Bill Gates is not involved with DSM-Firmenich’s development or production of Bovaer. The American billionaire has, however, invested in Australian start up Rumin8, a rival firm which has developed a similar compound to reduce methane in cow rearing.

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https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2024/12/06/boycott-of-cow-burp-blocking-bovaer-compound-launched-in-britain/

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