Breaking
Secure Stock Strategies
Author

admin

Browsing
World

Three Americans and 34 others sentenced to death over coup attempt in Congo

A military court in Congo handed down death sentences Friday to 37 people, including three Americans, after convicting them on charges of taking part in a coup attempt.

The defendants, who also included a Briton, Belgian, Canadian and several Congolese, can appeal the verdict on charges that included terrorism, murder and criminal association. Fourteen people were acquitted in the trial, which opened in June.

Six people were killed during the botched coup attempt led by the little-known opposition figure Christian Malanga in May that targeted the presidential palace and a close ally of President Felix Tshisekedi. Malanga was fatally shot while resisting arrest soon after live-streaming the attack on his social media, the Congolese army said.

Malanga’s 21-year-old son Marcel Malanga, who is a US citizen, and two other Americans were convicted in the the attack. His mother, Brittney Sawyer, has said her son is innocent and was simply following his father, who considered himself president of a shadow government in exile.

The other Americans were Tyler Thompson Jr., who flew to Africa from Utah with the younger Malanga for what his family believed was a vacation, and Benjamin Reuben Zalman-Polun, 36, who is reported to have known Christian Malanga through a gold mining company.

The company was set up in Mozambique in 2022, according to an official journal published by Mozambique’s government, and a report by the Africa Intelligence newsletter.

Thompson’s family maintains he had no knowledge of the elder Malanga’s intentions, no plans for political activism and didn’t even plan to enter Congo. He and the Malangas were meant to travel only to South Africa and Eswatini, Thompson’s stepmother said.

The reading out of the verdict and sentencing before the open-air military court were broadcast live on television.

Last month, the military prosecutor, Lt. Col. Innocent Radjabu. called on the judges to sentence to death all of the defendants, except for one who suffers from “psychological problems.”

Earlier this year, Congo reinstated the death penalty, lifting a more than two-decade-old moratorium, as authorities struggle to curb violence and militant attacks in the country.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Keep Reading
By
World

UN staff member among 10 killed during Israel military operation in West Bank

Sufyan Jaber Abed Jawwad, who worked as a sanitation worker in El Far’a Camp in the West Bank, “was shot and killed on the roof of his home by a sniper during an overnight Israeli military operation in the early morning of September 12,” the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement.

But the Israeli military has accused Jawwad and the others killed of being “terrorists.”

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), confirmed Friday that Jawwad was killed in an operation in the West Bank’s Far’a area and alleged that he was “hurling explosive devices that posed a threat to the forces operating in the area.”

“IDF troops opened fire toward him to remove said threat, and he was killed,” Shoshani said. He added that Jawwad was “known to Israeli security forces and he had been complicit in additional terrorist activities.”

The IDF said in an earlier statement on Friday that its troops had located and dismantled “a vehicle rigged with explosives, explosives laboratories, operational communications rooms, and weapons” during the operation that killed Jawwad.

Jawwad – the first UNRWA staffer to be killed in the West Bank in more than 10 years – is survived by his wife and five children, according to UNRWA.

In Gaza, at least 220 staff have been killed since October 7, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Jawwad’s killing in a statement on Friday, calling it “a heinous crime.”

The IDF has voiced distrust of some UNRWA staffers before. In January, it accused several UNRWA members in Gaza of direct involvement in the Hamas-led October 7 terror attack on Israel. A UN investigation in August found that nine UNRWA employees “may have” been involved in the October 7 attack and no longer work at the agency.

The other people killed in the Israeli operation over the past 48 hours were killed in the areas of Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Tubas, according to the IDF.

Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, said the five killed in Tubas were members of the Tubas Battalion in the West Bank who were “preparing ambushes and explosive devices against” Israeli forces.

Operations in the West Bank

The death comes amid increasing Israeli military action in the West Bank.

Recent Israeli operations have had a heavy impact on humanitarian resources in the area, leaving the refugee camps of El Far’a, Tulkarem, Nur Shams and Jenin “especially affected” and destroying basic infrastructure including water and electricity, UNWRA said.

The agency said it had been forced to suspend its services to refugees in the area because of the “unacceptable risk” posed to both staffers and aid recipients by Israeli and Palestinian groups, including the danger posed by “improvised explosive devices by Palestinian armed actors.”

Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for “fundamental changes” to the way Israeli forces operate in the occupied West Bank after the killing of American activist Aysenur Ezgi Eygi at a protest last week.

The sharply worded rebuke came after the IDF said on Tuesday that it was “highly likely” that Eygi was “hit indirectly and unintentionally by IDF fire.”

Nearly 700 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since October, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah and the UN. The figures do not distinguish between militants and civilians.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Keep Reading
By
World

Same-sex marriage was on a roll in Asia. Not anymore

Rainbow flags rippled in the wind as gay and lesbian couples walked hand in hand down a makeshift aisle in Bangkok’s busy Siam shopping district.

Thailand’s Senate had just passed a marriage equality bill, and the local LGBTQ+ community was in the mood to celebrate.

While the ceremonies were symbolic enactments of same-sex weddings, the real thing could be just around the corner.

“Now I can freely say that I am gay,” said Pokpong, who can’t wait to marry his partner Watit Benjamonkolchai.

The law, passed in June, still requires the thumbs-up from the king, but that is expected soon, clearing the way for Thailand to become the first jurisdiction in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, and Asia’s third after Taiwan in 2019 and Nepal last year.

But the recent flurry of progress for marriage equality in Asia could stop there, with no other government in the region looking likely to follow suit anytime soon.

The winning formula

More than 30 jurisdictions worldwide now recognize same-sex marriage, according to the Pew Research Center. Since the first same-sex marriage law was passed in the Netherlands in 2001, progress has been made mostly in Europe, the Americas and Australasia.

Just across Thailand’s borders, homosexuality is illegal in Myanmar and Malaysia. Bans also exist in Sri Lanka, Brunei, Bangladesh and Indonesia’s ultraconservative province of Aceh. Maximum penalties range from lengthy jail terms to caning, according to the Human Dignity Trust, a United Kingdom-based body that supports strategic litigation worldwide against laws prejudicing the LGBTQ+ community.

“Despite some historic wins in the region… the human rights of LGBTI people across Asia continue to be denied,” said Nadia Rahman, policy advisor at Amnesty International’s Global Gender, Racial Justice, Refugees and Migrants Rights Programme. She added that people from these communities face “criminalization, threats of arrest, discrimination, digital surveillance, harassment, online abuse, stigma and violence.”

While liberalization in Thailand, Nepal and Taiwan was propelled by those places’ unique cultures and socio-political circumstances, scholars and activists said, most other Asian governments are held back by conservative social attitudes, influential religious groups and the lack of robust democratic systems.

Campaigners and academics in Asia say Nepal has long had a liberal judiciary willing to side with the LGBTQ+ community, while its deeply embedded culture of third-gender “hijras” laid the groundwork for liberal changes. In Thailand and Taiwan, many attribute progress to a combination of democratic development and a robust civil society.

Assistant professor Kangwan Fongkaew, who researches LGBTQ+ issues at Burapha University, said despite political instability in recent decades, Thailand’s political system was functional enough to channel popular demands into legislation.

“The majority of people in Thailand want marriage equality,” Kangwan said. “And now it’s time for Thailand to have that,” he added, calling it “the victory of the people.”

Unlike in mainland China – where LGBTQ+ activism is taboo and can draw backlash from authorities – the movement has thrived in Taiwan. Campaigner Jennifer Lu, director of gay rights advocacy Outright International in Taiwan, noted the importance of the island’s functional democratic system in the process of liberalization.

“This kind of democratic practice really creates the foundation of this progressive vibe,” Lu said.

Acceptance of non-traditional gender identities has grown stronger since. In May, Taiwan’s then President Tsai Ing-wen invited homegrown drag queen Nymphia Wind to perform at the Presidential Office to celebrate her win on hit TV talent show “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

Activists and members of the LGBTQ+ community parade in Kathmandu, Nepal on June 10, 2023.
Sanjit Pariyar/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Members of the LGBTQ+ community celebrate after the Thai parliament passed the final senatorial vote on the same-sex marriage bill, in Bangkok on June 18, 2024.
Chanakarn Laosarakham/AFP/Getty Images

Asia’s next best bets

While other Asian jurisdictions have the potential to be the fourth to allow LGBTQ+ couples to marry, according to experts, they are not convinced changes will come anytime soon.

India is also a democracy, and – like neighboring Nepal – has laws protecting transgender people, so is a legitimate contender. But campaigners there say authorities are lukewarm on the need for change.

Activist Anish Gawande, who co-founded Pink List India, a group tracking politicians’ stance on LGBTQ+ issues, said understanding for sexual minorities is growing in the world’s most populous nation. He has recently been appointed the first openly gay national spokesman of a political party. But he said the government refuses to do more than it needs to please the international community.

LGBTQ+ activists petitioned India’s highest court for the right to marry, only to be told it should be decided by the government.

The government, run by India’s third term Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set up a committee to look into the issue, but without any notable outcome, Gawande said, adding that with neither New Delhi nor the courts taking the lead on the issue there was “a stalemate for LGBTQ+ rights in the country.”

Japan – the only G7 country that does not recognize same-sex relationships – has seen piecemeal victories for LGBTQ+ rights through multiple court cases and at the prefecture level.

In early July, Hiroshima’s high court approved a trans woman’s request to alter her birth gender status without undergoing gender-affirming surgery. And some local governments, including Tokyo, have issued certificates to honor de facto same-sex relationships for administrative purposes, such as housing subsidies.

But on the national level, Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage and local courts have returned conflicting verdicts on the issue.

Polls suggest popular backing. Up to 68% of Japan’s adults support same-sex marriage, the highest share in Asia, according to the Pew Research Center. But in a country where the government takes pride in traditional values, change can be slow.

And in neighboring South Korea, traditionally conservative views on sexuality persist.

Scuffles broke out last year in the city of Daegu as local officials led by the mayor clashed with police during a protest against an LGBTQ festival. Organizers of the flagship Seoul Queer Culture Festival also lost their venue last year to a Christian youth concert.

There have been some progressive successes, however. The country’s Supreme Court ruled last month that same-sex partners should be entitled to spousal benefits from national health insurance.

Professor Andrew Kim, from Korea University’s College of International Studies, said religious groups are influential in the country. “The missionaries who came to Korea from the US … they are largely conservative protestant missionaries,” he said.

Uncertainties in the region

One argument for legalizing same-sex marriage is the economic advantages of doing so, especially if neighboring economies aren’t.

Multinational companies need to move their staff around – including those who aren’t heterosexual – and have been lobbying for changes in financial hubs such as Singapore and Hong Kong, which would both like to attract and retain major company HQs.

“If you’re a country that welcomes these high-tech companies with very liberal policies, yet the rest of the society is repressive, like Singapore for example, where same-sex partners cannot get visas, the governments will have to think about how it manages these things,” said Shawna Tang, senior gender studies lecturer at the University of Sydney.

But even in the face of such pressure, neither Hong Kong’s nor Singapore’s government seems particularly keen to liberalize.

Singapore’s parliament decriminalized sex between men in 2022, but amended the constitution to effectively block court challenges that could lead to same-sex marriage.

In Hong Kong, the Court of Final Appeal ordered the city’s government last September to create a legal framework to recognize the rights of same-sex couples. But months have lapsed, and the government has not yet responded.

The court also stopped short of granting same-sex marriage, meaning this could be as far as the efforts get. And with Beijing tightening its grip on the city in recent years, activists said, the political space needed to facilitate change is shrinking.

Professor Peter Newman, from the University of Toronto’s Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, said while things are improving in Asia, progress has been “extremely uneven.”

“In at least six Asian countries, same-sex intimacy and relationships remain criminalized, as well as the gender expression of transgender people, with punishments on the books from eight years and ’100 lashes’ in Indonesia and Malaysia, to life imprisonment in Bangladesh,” he said.

Even in places where same-sex marriage has been legalized, widespread challenges persist from school to workplace bullying to stigma in health care services, he said.

But Suen, from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said across Asia, public discussions have bloomed, and that Thailand’s move to legalize same-sex marriage was an encouraging sign.

“The outlook is positive, but it’s going to take a while,” Suen said.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Keep Reading
By
World

Germany opens its doors to Kenyan workers in controlled migration deal

Germany has struck a controlled migration deal with Kenya, which will see Berlin open its doors to skilled and semi-skilled Kenyan workers.

The deal was signed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Kenya’s president William Ruto on Friday. Ruto landed in Germany on Friday for an official two-day visit.

While the exact number of workers that will arrive in Germany has not been disclosed, a spokesperson for Kenya’s presidential office previously said it was looking at employment opportunities for up to 250,000 Kenyans.

Migration is a major flashpoint in Germany, and has fueled the rise of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. Germany welcomed more than one million people during the migrant crisis of 2015-2016 and more recently took in large numbers of Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s invasion.

The agreement comes as Scholz’s government launches a crackdown on illegal immigration, recently announcing a tightening of border controls. Late last month, Berlin unveiled new security measures aimed at speeding up the deportation of rejected asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants which will begin next week.

As well as deterring irregular migration, the deal is intended to address labor market needs in both countries, providing opportunities for Kenyan workers while supplementing an ageing Gemany’s shortage of skilled laborers. It also intends to simplify the repatriation of Kenyans who are in Germany illegally.

The two countries agreed to step up their cooperation on repatriation, with the introduction of measures such as the use of biometric data to identify those who are required to leave Germany.

Expired passports and identity cards will now also be accepted as travel documents to facilitate repatriation.

According to the German government, there are currently around 14,800 Kenyan citizens living in Germany. Around 800 of them are required to leave the country.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said she was “very pleased” with the outcome.

“We want to consistently enforce the repatriation of people without a right to remain – this is an important building block for limiting irregular migration. We have made good agreements for this,” she said.

“On the other hand, we want to attract qualified workers, who we urgently need in many areas of our economy.”

The German Interior Ministry adds that it is in confidential talks with several other countries regarding migration agreements.

The new security package came in the wake of a fatal attack in the western city of Solingen, in which three people were stabbed to death on August 23.

The suspect was identified as a 26-year-old Syrian man with alleged links to ISIS, who had previously been due for deportation.

This post appeared first on cnn.com

Keep Reading
By
Politics

Lawmakers crack down on CCP influence in US government tech, warn of potentially ‘devastating’ cyber attack

There is a new bipartisan effort in Congress to take on the growing threat of cyberattacks by China and other U.S. adversaries.

A bill led by Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, would impose new guardrails on the technology the U.S. government is able to purchase by forcing a federal agency or office to only purchase it from ‘original equipment manufacturers’ or ‘authorized resellers,’ according to the bill text obtained by Fox News Digital.

Fallon explained this would ensure U.S. technology is bought from ‘trusted sources’ rather than a third party that could potentially be sourcing that equipment from nations like China, Russia or Iran.

‘[O]ur adversaries have been targeting our hardware and software systems through selling the U.S. government counterfeit products through what are known as ‘gray market’ sellers,’ Fallon explained. ‘These products, although marketed as genuine hardware, allow our enemies to gain access to U.S. government systems, making it far easier to conduct subsequent cyberattacks.’

The Texas Republican warned the U.S. was being hit with ‘millions of attacks daily,’ and that the growing sophistication of artificial intelligence (AI) technology was making cyberattacks easier to pull off.

The House bill, the Securing America’s Federal Equipment (SAFE) Supply Chains Act, is backed by a bipartisan companion bill in the Senate.

That push is being led by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Senate Homeland Security Committee Chair Gary Peters, D-Mich.

A ‘gray market’ refers to an alternative channel for purchasing and selling genuine goods without the authorization of the manufacturer.

It has been a particularly prevalent issue in the high-tech sphere, and though the lack of transparency makes its full scope hard to quantify, the technology gray market is believed to have cost manufacturers billions of dollars in losses, according to AGMA Global.

China’s technology gray market is prevalent. A report from the Hong Kong-based Asia Times earlier this year said Chinese firms were getting around U.S. export controls to acquire high-end American AI chips for their own military and research uses.

Additionally, while the U.S. government does have existing bans on certain Beijing-backed companies, the new bill would prevent China from using middle men to obscure those and other illicit sources and flooding the U.S. market.

Fallon said the legislation would ‘prevent the federal government from even being at risk of being duped into procuring these harmful products.’

‘The world is at peak instability and danger. Simply put, we are at an inflection point, which means we must do everything in our power to protect our vulnerable systems from cyber-attacks and intrusion from our enemies,’ he said.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By
Politics

Putin threatens war with NATO as Russian military aircraft spotted off Alaska

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that his country will be ‘at war’ with NATO if the West lifts restrictions on its missiles in Ukraine. His announcement comes on the heels of Russian military aircraft being spotted flying off the coast of Alaska. 

President Biden – among other western nations’ leaders – has come under intense pressure to lift the U.S. ban on Ukraine using American long-range missiles to strike deep inside Russia. 

‘This will mean that NATO countries – the United States and European countries – are at war with Russia. And if this is the case, then, bearing in mind the change in the essence of the conflict, we will make appropriate decisions in response to the threats that will be posed to us,’ Putin told reporters on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Washington, D.C., on Friday for talks with Biden that are expected to largely center on the use of western weapons to strike inside Russia. 

The U.S. scrambled Russian fighter jets it had detected flying in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Thursday. 

In a post to X, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it detected and intercepted the planes, but they did not violate American or Canadian airspace. 

‘This Russian activity in the Alaska ADIZ is not seen as a threat, and NORAD will continue to monitor competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence.’

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sowed doubts that allowing free rein with U.S.-provided Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles would change the tide of the war. 

‘I find that relationship between what the Pentagon is advising the president based on intelligence versus the international pressure to be the really interesting part of the story,’ Seth Krummich, a retired Army colonel and vice president at international security firm Global Guardian, told Fox News Digital. 

Ahead of the discussions, Moscow said it revoked accreditation for six British diplomats in Russia, accusing them of spying. 

Putin on Thursday raised doubts about whether Ukraine could even use long-range missiles for offensive strikes alone without the help of western intelligence in targeting. ‘The Ukrainian army is not capable of using cutting-edge high-precision long-range systems supplied by the West’ without NATO assistance in targeting,’ Putin warned. 

‘The real risk here is either a manufactured event by Russia with disinformation or no kidding, a mistake happening using Western or NATO-provided long-range missiles that could trigger a war or a significant escalation,’ Krummich said.  

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By
Politics

Johnson faces major leadership test as GOP wars over government shutdown

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing his last critical leadership test of this year as congressional lawmakers grapple with a looming government shutdown deadline at the end of this month. 

The House Republican Conference is at odds over how to proceed with funding the government in the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. A growing contingent of GOP lawmakers are resigned to a short-term spending patch called a continuing resolution (CR) until December to give negotiators more time to work out next year’s federal spending.

Conservatives on Johnson’s right flank, however, want him to keep fighting for a six-month CR attached to a bill that would require proof of citizenship in the voter registration process – which the Democrat-controlled White House and Senate have called a nonstarter.

Johnson was forced to delay a planned vote on that bill last week amid a wave of Republican defections from lawmakers who saw it as a ‘messaging’ tactic without a sufficient plan to get the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act enacted.

How he navigates the political quagmire could be pivotal for the Louisiana Republican in the House GOP’s December leadership decisions.

A majority of GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital saw little appetite for a coup – particularly so close to the election – but several did acknowledge that Johnson would face backlash if he fully acquiesced to Democrats on spending.

‘If there’s an omnibus, I think he’ll likely get challenged for speaker,’ one GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital, noting the challenge would be significant.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, admitted there was room for blowback but did not see any imminent threat to Johnson.

‘If he really flubs this, and people feel like they were deceived – but I don’t see that he’s on that path now,’ Burlison said.

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., noted he was close to Johnson personally but said broadly, ‘I think if we get jammed with an omni it will be a significant factor in any kind of leadership elections across the board.’

He said it was ‘not really a topic of conversation at this point’ but added that it ‘could be part of the calculus’ for others.

Meanwhile, Reps. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, and Cory Mills, R-Fla., who have not shied away from criticizing the speaker, suggested it was inevitable that he would face some sort of rival.

‘I think in order for Mike Johnson to remain speaker, in my humble opinion, it’s going to require some Democrats to help him,’ Nehls told Fox News Digital, adding that House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, would be a ‘great’ candidate.

Jordan was one of several Republican leaders who ran for speaker after the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., over McCarthy’s own handling of government spending last fall. Jordan’s bid was derailed by opposition from moderates, however.

Mills, who came out against Johnson’s CR plan, said, ‘I think he’s gonna have a significant leadership challenge regardless.’

‘I don’t think this is going to be that pivotal moment where it’s a make or break, but what I will say is, is that the one guarantee that I continue to try and sound the alarm on or beat the drums on, is…we’re heading towards economic collapse,’ Mills said.

Meanwhile, another conservative lawmaker who spoke with Fox News Digital anonymously was emphatic that, unlike his predecessor, Johnson is safe from a political coup.

‘I think just what little conversations I’ve had with him last weekend, what little conversations I’ve had with him and staff, I think they are genuine in wanting to make sure we don’t end up with an omnibus,’ that conservative said.

In addition to pressure from within his own conference, Johnson is also having to navigate government funding talks while the Republicans’ 2024 nominee, former President Donald Trump, is actively calling for a partial shutdown if election security legislation cannot be passed.

Johnson, for his part, has told reporters that he is still sticking firmly to his course and would work through the weekend on the issue.

‘We’re going to continue to work on this. Whip is going to do the hard work to build consensus, we’re going to work through the weekend on that. And I want any member of Congress in either party to explain to the American people why we should not ensure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections,’ Johnson said earlier this week.

If Republicans lose the majority, Johnson will only need a majority vote of his conference to remain its leader. A Speaker of the House, however, needs a majority of the entire chamber – meaning the GOP would likely need to be in lock-step for him to win.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By
Politics

Trump adviser Alina Habba hits campaign trail to attract Arab American support in swing state Michigan

Former President Donald Trump’s senior adviser, Alina Habba, has hit the campaign trail to attract Arab support in the key swing state of Michigan. 

Habba, who also is an attorney on Trump’s legal team, is a first generation American. Both of Habba’s parents are from Iraq. 

Habba has been crisscrossing Michigan since Thursday, participating in nearly a dozen events and engaging in meetings in Arab American communities — including with Indian Americans and Chaldean Americans. 

‘As someone who understands how tight-knit and faith-driven these communities are, I’m incredibly proud to be here with the Arab American communities in Michigan,’ Habba told Fox News Digital. ‘Many of us have roots in countries where we left behind persecution for the freedom that we now cherish.’ 

Habba told Fox News Digital it is ‘vital that we speak up to protect that freedom here in the United States.’ 

‘We cannot allow our country to go down the same dangerous path,’ Habba added. ‘Donald Trump is the only option to ensure our values and way of life are safeguarded.’ 

Metro Detroit has the world’s largest population of Iraqis outside of Iraq, with an estimated 187,000 people. 

On Friday, Habba toured the Chaldean Foundation and the community. Habba also spoke to children at a school in the community and spoke to local leaders. 

‘The Chaldean community is driven by its faith and close-knit family ties,’ Habba told Fox News Digital, adding that Trump’s policies are attractive to them, and ‘resonating with independents, moderates, and traditional Republicans, especially here in battleground states like Michigan.’

Also on Friday, Habba is participating in a ‘Trump 47 Agenda Policy Tour’ event with Vivek Ramaswamy, Rep. Tim Walberg, Tudor Dixon and others in Farmington Hills. 

‘The Trump 47 Policy Tour is working, and we’re seeing results in key areas like Oakland County,’ Habba said. ‘The Chaldean community, with its 10 Catholic churches in Metro-Detroit, is a strong, faith-based force, and we stand united behind President Trump.’ 

According to the latest Fox News Power Rankings, key swing states like North Carolina, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Nevada are listed as ‘toss-ups.’

Michigan, though, is listed as ‘lean Democrat.’ 

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By
Politics

Kim Jong Un shows off his nuclear facility and calls for ‘exponential’ increase in warheads

North Korea released first-ever photos of a uranium enrichment site on Thursday.

Supreme leader Kim Jong Un  has been known to show off his nuclear bombs, but this week he revealed the facilities that create the key material that powers them. 

Kim released photos of himself touring the facility as he called for his military to ‘exponentially’ increase its nuclear arsenal and be ready for combat with the U.S. and its allies. 

The pictures released by state media KCNA show a glimpse into the country’s secretive nuclear program, which is banned under multiple UN Security Council resolutions. 

The images show Kim walking through rows of centrifuge machines that spin uranium at high speeds to produce nuclear warheads. 

Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and a production base for weapon-grade nuclear materials, KCNA said, and instructed the base to ramp up the number of centrifuges ‘in order to exponentially increase the number of nuclear weapons.’

‘He went round the control room of the uranium enrichment base to learn about the overall operation of the production lines,’ KCNA said, and was pleased to see the base ‘dynamically producing nuclear materials.’

The world gets little opportunity to glimpse life in the reclusive, nuclear-armed state, but photos also showed Kim visiting an army training base on Wednesday to ‘guide the drill of combatants,’ KCNA said/

On Thursday, North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea, which landed in the waters between the Korean peninsula and Japan. The distance of the missiles suggests that they were designed to attack South Korea.

It was North Korea’s first public weapons firing activity in over two months. 

Kim said that his pledge to double down on his nuclear efforts was because North Korea faces ‘a grave threat’ because of what he called ‘the reckless expansion’ of a U.S.-led regional military bloc.

Last week North Korea flew balloons full of trash toward South Korea for five straight days. 

Officials in Seoul slammed Pyongyang for its nuclear developments.

‘Any nuclear threat or provocation by North Korea will be met with an overwhelming and strong response from our government and military, based on the solid extended deterrence of the South Korea-US alliance,’ the Ministry of Unification was quoted as saying by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

It’s not clear how many nuclear warheads North Korea possesses. In July, a report by the Federation of American Scientists concluded that the country may have produced enough fissile material to build up to 90 nuclear warheads, but that it has likely assembled closer to 50.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By
Politics

‘Paisans for Kamala’ event features De Niro, Pelosi blasting Trump on immigration

‘Buonasera Tutti,’ former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio toasted as he opened a three-hour ‘Paisans for Kamala’ virtual dinner this week in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid headlined by staunch Trump critic Robert De Niro.

De Blasio co-hosted the event with Paul Mercurio, a comedian who works on Stephen Colbert’s CBS late-night program.

During the livestream event, which featured several high-profile Italian Americans, many dinner guests lauded Harris while criticizing former President Trump’s immigration policies from the viewpoint of children or grandchildren of Italian immigrants.

De Blasio noted he had made an intentional visit to the childhood home of one such prominent Italian-American official.

‘We just did a little pilgrimage… [to] Little Italy in Baltimore — to the home of Nancy D’Alesandro-Pelosi; where she grew up,’ he said, as the former mayor also highlighted the visit on X, posing at Pelosi’s former home alongside Maryland State Sen. James Rosapepe, D-Laurel.

‘A dinner expresses who we are — we want to be a family as Italian-Americans — [and] bring everyone together for these amazing candidates,’ de Blasio said.

Mercurio went on to tell De Niro that Trump has ‘tapped into something’ within his base that have bonded them to him.

De Niro, who once expressed a wish to ‘punch [Trump] in the face,’ replied that he has indeed listened to some of Trump’s supporters.

‘I could very well see that there is a way, with them, that’s more for them than with Trump, because Trump doesn’t offer anything,’ the actor said.

‘We’ve seen this before in other countries and other societies… they think they can control someone like him… God forbid he becomes ‘the boss,’ all the people who thought they could control him, they’ll find out differently.’

Later, former Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who said his maternal side is ‘fully Italian,’ joined the dinner sporting a ‘White Dudes for Harris’ hat and spoke about the values he believes Harris brings to the table.

De Blasio soon displayed a slice of pizza and proceeded to eat it with a fork — in an apparent homage to a 2014 controversy that erupted when he dined in the same fashion in Staten Island.

De Blasio argued he remains correct that it is the proper way to eat a pie.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta later appeared and said he supports Harris because Trump appears to support isolationism, remarking that such behavior ‘didn’t work before World War II.’

‘[There is] the importance of presidents standing up to tyrants… not appeasing them,’ he said.

Later, actor Steve Buscemi said Harris struck the right tone as a descendant of immigrants.

‘Most immigrants are just looking for a better life, better opportunities, and they don’t deserve to be punished for pursuing that dream,’ Buscemi said. ‘Kamala Harris is smart, strong, kind and inclusive.’

When Pelosi appeared at the dinner, she recounted how her family lived for multiple generations in the Little Italy neighborhood of Baltimore that de Blasio visited.

‘My grandfather and his contemporaries came here thinking the streets would be paved in gold — little did they know they would pave the streets when they got here,’ said Pelosi, whose father and grandfather, both named Thomas D’Alesandro, were mayors of Baltimore.

‘It is an important race because of [Trump’s attitude toward immigrants] and so many other reasons. We must not take this election for granted,’ she said.

Pelosi went on to cite a speech by former President Reagan, highlighting the fact she was quoting a Republican, and saying that he understood in the speech that the Statue of Liberty is a ‘beacon of hope.’

She claimed to have recited the quote to Republicans, who did not applaud: ‘I said, ‘They don’t applaud for Ronald Reagan?’’

Near the close of the dinner, one of Trump’s former officials — who notably broke with the president years ago — appeared.

Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci quipped, in addressing de Blasio, ‘Can you imagine me, you and [former Republican Vice President] Dick Cheney getting together to support Vice President Harris?’

‘Yes, I can imagine it because each of us understands the systemic danger involved with the potential reelection of Donald Trump,’ he said, before pledging $5,000 to Paisans for Harris.

‘I bet they didn’t discuss Kamala’s support for ending Columbus Day, a very important national holiday for Italian Americans, named after the Italian explorer who discovered the Americas!’ Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national press secretary told Fox in a statement.

‘While Kamala Harris is supported by these disconnected California elites who wouldn’t know their Sunday dinner costs 21.5 percent more thanks to Kamala’s economic policies, President Trump will continue to earn the support of everyday Americans who want to lower costs, secure the border, and Make America Great Again,’ Leavitt added.

This post appeared first on FOX NEWS

Keep Reading
By