The IDF reported the destruction of a large network of Hezbollah underground structures in southern Lebanon. The 646th Brigade, part of the IDF’s 146th Division, carried out targeted ground raids based on precise intelligence to locate and dismantle the terror group’s operational sites. During the raids, IDF forces uncovered and destroyed multiple Hezbollah military sites and assembly points, neutralized several militants with support from the Israeli Air Force, and seized large stockpiles of weapons. Among the most significant findings was an extensive underground network stretching approximately 70 meters beneath rugged, forested terrain. This tunnel system included a concealed room with provisions for long-term occupancy, as well as weapons storage areas. In a separate raid, IDF forces found another underground structure equipped with living quarters and a weapons stockpile, which they promptly dismantled and confiscated. All identified tunnels and underground facilities were destroyed at the end of the operation.
Former VP Press Sec Marc Lotter: “The math doesn’t work. The Democrats are down 1.7 million early votes in the battleground states. In urban areas, they are down 1.4 million votes.”
Voters are gearing up to head to the polls to cast their ballots for either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris in one of the nation’s most historic presidential races.
Former President Donald Trump is stepping up his demands that the winner of the presidential race be declared shortly after polls close Tuesday, well before all the votes are counted. Trump set the pattern in 2020, when he declared that he had won during the early morning hours after Election Day. That led his allies to demand that officials “stop the count!” He and many other conservatives have spent the past four years falsely claiming that fraud cost him that election and bemoaning how long it takes to count ballots in the U.S. But one of many reasons we are unlikely to know the winner quickly on election night is that Republican lawmakers in two key swing states have refused to change laws that delay the count. Another is that most indications are this will be a very close election, and it takes longer to determine who won close elections than blowouts. In the end, election experts note, the priority in vote-counting is to make sure it’s an accurate and secure tally, not to end the suspense moments after polls close. “There’s nothing nefarious about it,” said Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The time delay is to protect the integrity of the process.” Trump’s demand also doesn’t seem to account for the six time zones from the East Coast to Hawaii. David Becker, an elections expert and co-author of “The Big Truth,” debunking Trump’s 2020 election lies, said it’s not realistic for election officials in thousands of jurisdictions to “instantly snap their fingers and count 160 million multi-page ballots with dozens of races on them.” Trump wants the race decided Tuesday night During a Sunday rally in Pennsylvania, Trump demanded that the race be decided soon after some polls begin closing. “They have to be decided by 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock, 11 o’clock on Tuesday night,” Trump said. “Bunch of crooked people. These are crooked people.” It was not clear who he was targeting with the “crooked people” remark. Timing is one example of why Trump’s demands don’t match the reality of conducting elections in the U.S. By 11 p.m. Eastern time, polls will just be closing in the two Western swing states of Arizona and Nevada. Trump has led conservatives to bemoan that the U.S. doesn’t count elections as swiftly as France or Argentina, where results for recent races have been announced within hours of polls closing. But that’s because those countries tabulate only a single election at a time. The decentralized U.S. system prevents the federal government from controlling elections. Instead, votes are counted in nearly 10,000 separate jurisdictions, each of which has its own races for the state legislature, city council, school boards and ballot measures to tabulate at the same time. That’s why it takes longer for the U.S. to count votes. Declaring a winner can take time The Associated Press calls races when there is no possibility that the trailing candidate can make up the gap. Sometimes, if one candidate is significantly behind, a winner can be called quickly. But if the margin is narrow, then every last vote could matter. It takes a while before every vote is counted even in the most efficient jurisdictions in the country. In 2018, for example, Republican Rick Scott won the U.S. Senate race in Florida, a state conservatives regularly […]
The IDF continues intensive operations in both the Gaza Strip and southern Lebanon, targeting terrorist infrastructure, eliminating militants, and securing weapons caches. In the Rafah region of Gaza, IDF soldiers have uncovered extensive stockpiles of weaponry, including mortars, RPG missiles, explosives, and AK-47 rifles. Over the past 24 hours, troops have neutralized numerous militants and dismantled several terror sites in the area. In Jabaliya, IDF ground forces eliminated dozens of militants through both close-quarters combat and airstrikes, and successfully disrupted multiple terrorist infrastructure sites. Similar efforts are ongoing in central Gaza, where the IDF continues to dismantle hostile sites and eliminate operatives. Meanwhile, IDF forces in southern Lebanon are conducting precise, localized strikes to target Hezbollah strongholds. A recent operation identified a group of militants preparing to launch anti-tank missiles. The Israel Air Force (IAF) quickly responded, striking the site and neutralizing the threat. Over the past day, the IAF has conducted approximately 100 strikes across Lebanon and Gaza, targeting weapons storage facilities, launch sites, and military installations. The IDF’s ongoing mission aims to prevent further attacks and dismantle the operational capabilities of terror groups in the region.
In one of his last campaign stops before Election Day, former President Donald Trump condemned the recent shooting of a Jewish man in Chicago, using it as an example to critique the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies. Speaking at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Monday, Trump described the Oct. 26 shooting as a “horrendous situation” and pointed to the suspect’s immigration status. “An illegal alien from North Africa, who Kamala let into our country with her horrendous, open border—just a dangerous, horrendous situation—traveled to a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago and tried to execute a Jewish man on the street, shooting him in the back as he walked to synagogue,” Trump said. “He then opened fire on police and paramedics, shooting an ambulance before police returned fire and ended his rampage fairly quickly.” The suspect, 22-year-old Sidi Mohamed Abdallahi, a Mauritanian national, faces 16 felony charges, including terrorism and hate-crime counts. Abdallahi reportedly entered the U.S. illegally and was detained by Border Patrol near San Diego in 2023, then subsequently released. Prosecutors allege that Abdallahi specifically targeted Jews, with evidence pointing to his intent to commit a hate crime. Abdallahi shot the 39-year-old Jewish man on Shabbos while he was walking to shul. Chicago police wounded Abdallahi in a gun battle that lasted approximately two and a half minutes. The incident has sparked significant backlash in the Chicago Jewish community, particularly after Mayor Brandon Johnson’s initial statement failed to acknowledge the victim’s Jewish identity. Neither President Joe Biden nor Vice President Kamala Harris has commented on the attack. However, Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, addressed the shooting in a speech in Pittsburgh on Oct. 28, referring to “the man who was shot in Chicago while walking to Shabbat services.” Emhoff pledged that he and Harris were committed to “extinguishing this epidemic of hate.” (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
More than 4,000 mail ballot applications have been challenged across 14 Pennsylvania counties, leaving election officials to decide voter eligibility during hearings that will extend well past Election Day. State elections officials say the “mass challenges” focused on two separate groups — people who may have forwarded their mail without also changing their voter registration and nonmilitary U.S. voters living overseas. The overseas voters are only entitled to cast ballots under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act for president and congressional seats. The state had a 5 p.m. Friday deadline to for anyone to challenge mail-in ballot applications; any ballots from those voters whose applications were challenged must be sequestered until the county elections board officials hold a hearing to adjudicate the claims. Those hearings must be no later than Friday, three days after Election Day. Pennsylvania is a critical swing state that could be a deciding factor in the contest between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump, a very close race on the eve of Election Day. If the margin is tight, the 4,300 mail ballots at issue could be enough to determine who wins the state and its 19 electoral votes. The effort follows a federal judge’s ruling last week to throw out a lawsuit by six Republican members of Congress seeking to make Pennsylvania election officials institute new checks confirming military and overseas voters’ eligibility and identity. The first county elections board hearing, conducted Friday in suburban Philadelphia’s Chester County, resulted in rejection of all of the challenges made to mail ballot applications, claims that people have moved and should have changed where they vote. “The scary part was that they had sent this letter with a voter registration cancelation form and claimed they got 2,300 voters to cancel voter registration” in Pennsylvania, Chester County Commissioner Josh Maxwell, a Democrat, said Monday. The challenges cost $10 a voter and it’s not entirely clear who filed each of them. In Chester County, they were filed by Diane Houser, a Trump supporter who said they were nonpartisan and from a grassroots network. Lycoming County will conduct a hearing Friday on the 72 challenges it received from Karen DiSalvo, a lawyer with PA Fair Elections, a conservative group that has fueled right-wing attacks on voting procedures. DiSalvo said she made the challenges in her capacity as an individual and not as a member of any organization. “The challenges submitted simply point out that the county election officials must properly process the voter registration applications that they already have for these applicants. The voters do not need to do anything –- all have received their ballot. To resolve the eligibility issues noted in the challenges, county officials should properly register the applicants,” DiSalvo wrote in an email. In York County, all the challenges — 354 — were denied Monday by the elections board, but chief clerk Greg Monskie said the board agreed to keep those ballots segregated during a period in which an appeal can be made. The Pennsylvania Department of State, which oversees elections, said that by Saturday there were some 3,700 challenges to mail ballot applications by overseas voters pending in 10 counties. There were also challenges pending in four counties to 363 voters based on supposed changes of address — plus the 212 […]
In the latest blow to ongoing ceasefire efforts, Hamas has reportedly rejected a proposal for a short-term ceasefire and hostage release, insisting instead on a complete and permanent withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The U.S. State Department announced on Monday that Hamas had turned down a proposal backed by Egypt, which aimed to facilitate a temporary ceasefire and a phased release of hostages. The proposal, which would have begun with a 48-hour ceasefire, was designed to lead to the release of four Israeli hostages over a 10-day period. In exchange, Israel would have freed approximately 100 Palestinian security prisoners. However, Hamas’s leadership demanded assurances of a longer-term truce, something Israel has refused to commit to without substantial conditions. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the situation with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, stating in a readout that Hamas has once again refused even limited hostage releases that could provide relief to Gaza’s population. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu made clear last week that he would not end military operations in Gaza as part of a trade for hostages, despite pressure from some members of his coalition. Israel’s official position remains focused on dismantling Hamas and recovering all hostages, with Netanyahu demanding that any ceasefire deal allow for Israeli troops to retain positions along the Gaza-Egypt border corridor. Despite Hamas’s rejection of the Egyptian-mediated proposal, talks are reportedly ongoing, with mediators from Qatar and Egypt still trying to broker a solution. Qatar recently put forth its own proposal, which would include a month-long truce and the release of 11-14 hostages, but Hamas has not yet responded. Meanwhile, security officials within Israel have expressed skepticism about the likelihood of a breakthrough. According to Channel 12, Israeli negotiators warned Netanyahu on Sunday that without flexibility on Israel’s part, the deadlock may continue, even following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last month. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Top American and Saudi officials met in Washington last week to discuss a potential security agreement, according to sources cited in an Axios report on Monday. The discussions reportedly focused on a scaled-back security deal that does not include the normalization of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel. The prospects for normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem have cooled amidst the ongoing conflict in Gaza, which has drawn heightened global attention. Saudi Arabia has paused on forging diplomatic ties with Israel, as Israel has yet to outline a clear path toward a Palestinian state, a factor central to Riyadh’s considerations. Despite these hurdles, Washington and Riyadh are reportedly exploring a more limited security arrangement that would provide some guarantees to Saudi Arabia. The Biden administration hopes to reach a deal before President Joe Biden’s term concludes in January, though this falls short of the full defense pact that Saudi Arabia initially sought. Last week, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan indicated that Riyadh could move forward on certain bilateral agreements with the US, even if a broader accord involving Israel remains elusive. The Biden administration has actively worked to broker an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement as part of a larger US diplomatic initiative in the Middle East. Those efforts encountered setbacks following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which resulted in over 1,200 deaths and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza. Addressing the Knesset on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to peace with Arab nations, citing the 2020 Abraham Accords, which established formal relations between Israel and several Gulf nations under the auspices of then-US President Donald Trump. “I aspire to continue the process… to achieve peace with other Arab countries,” Netanyahu said, emphasizing the importance of “peace out of strength.” Saudi Arabia has not yet joined the Abraham Accords, and normalization remains a sensitive topic in the region. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently embarked on a tour of the Middle East, with stops in Tel Aviv and Riyadh, as Washington seeks to strengthen diplomatic ties and support stability amid the conflict. “There remains, despite everything that’s happened, an incredible opportunity in this region to move in a totally different direction,” Blinken commented before departing Israel, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s pivotal role in any potential realignment. Meanwhile, Saudi National Security Adviser Musaad bin Mohammed al-Aiban also visited Washington, where he met with Blinken, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, and key Biden administration advisers. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
In a joint effort with Boro Park Shomrim, the NYPD arrested a home attendant suspected of stealing high-end wigs and personal belongings from a New York City residential building. The arrest follows more than a month of reports of theft from residents, who noticed valuable items disappearing from their apartments. Shomrim launched an investigation in response to these concerns. Volunteers closely monitored the attendant’s movements, noting her frequent and unauthorized visits to the building outside of her scheduled work shifts. During one of these surveillance shifts, Shomrim volunteers observed the home attendant taking unauthorized items from the building. They promptly notified the NYPD, who quickly arrived on the scene and arrested the suspect in the act. After the arrest, police, working alongside Shomrim volunteers, searched the suspect’s residence and recovered numerous stolen wigs and personal belongings taken over recent weeks. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
The nation’s federal law enforcement and election security agencies are debunking two new examples of Russian election disinformation on the eve of Election Day, highlighting attempts by foreign actors to sow doubt in the U.S. voting process and warning that the efforts run the risk of inciting violence against election officials. In a joint statement late Monday, federal officials pointed to a recent article posted by Russian actors falsely claiming that U.S. officials across presidential swing states were orchestrating a plan to commit fraud, as well as a video that falsely depicted an interview with an individual claiming election fraud in Arizona. U.S. intelligence reveals that Russia-linked influence actors “are manufacturing videos and creating fake articles to undermine the legitimacy of the election, instill fear in voters regarding the election process, and suggest Americans are using violence against each other due to political preferences,” read the statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “These efforts risk inciting violence, including against election officials.” A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. Federal officials warned that Russia will likely release additional “manufactured content” on Election Day and poses “the most active threat” when it comes to foreign election influence. The statement also noted that Iran remains a “significant foreign influence threat to U.S. elections.” The effort described by federal officials is part of a wide-ranging influence operation by Russia designed to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sow discord among American voters. Intelligence agencies have assessed that Russia, which also interfered on Donald Trump’s behalf in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, again prefers the Republican nominee and is likely to persist in its influence operations well after Election Day. Besides manufactured videos intended to promote disinformation, U.S. officials also have accused Russian state media of a covert, multimillion-dollar operation to spread pro-Russia content to American audiences and have seized dozens of internet domains they said fostered propaganda. In their statement, officials also drew fresh attention to Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election, which include a hack-and-leak operation designed to harm Trump’s candidacy. The Justice Department in September charged three Iranian hackers in that effort. Iranian actors also have created fake news sites and impersonated activists online in attempts to sway voters, according to analysts at Microsoft. The tech giant said last month that Iranian actors who allegedly sent emails aimed at intimidating U.S. voters in 2020 have been surveying election-related websites and major media outlets, raising concerns they could be preparing for another scheme this year. As large tech firms and intelligence officials have called out foreign interference this election cycle, Russia, China and Iran have rejected claims that they are seeking to meddle with the U.S. election. The Arizona video promoted on social media by Russian actors on Monday purported to show an anonymous whistleblower revealing an election fraud scheme. Federal officials said the Arizona Secretary of State’s office had already refuted the content of the video. Earlier this week, U.S. officials confirmed that a video claiming to show voter fraud in two left-leaning counties in Georgia was fake and the product of a Russian troll farm. And last month, they attributed to Russia another fake […]
Mexico’s National Guard fatally shot two Colombians and wounded four others in what the Defense Department claimed was a confrontation near the U.S. border. Colombia’s foreign ministry said in a statement Sunday that all of the victims were migrants who had been “caught in the crossfire.” It identified the dead as a 20-year-old man and a 37-year-old woman, and gave the number of Colombians wounded as five, not four. There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy. Mexico’s Defense Department, which controls the National Guard, did not respond to requests for comment Monday on whether the victims were migrants, but it said one Colombian who was not injured in the shootings was turned over to immigration officials, suggesting they were. If they were migrants, it would mark the second time in just over a month that military forces in Mexico have opened fire on and killed migrants. On Oct. 1, the day President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, soldiers opened fire on a truck, killing six migrants in the southern state of Chiapas. An 11-year-old girl from Egypt, her 18-year-old sister and a 17-year-old boy from El Salvador died in that shooting, along with people from Peru and Honduras. The most recent shootings happened Saturday on a dirt road near Tecate, east of Otay Mesa on the California border, that is frequently used by Mexican migrant smugglers, the department said in a statement late Sunday. The Defense Department said a militarized National Guard patrol came under fire after spotting two trucks in the area, which is near an informal border crossing and wind power generation plant known as La Rumorosa. One truck sped off and escaped. The National Guard opened fire on the other truck, killing two Colombians and wounding four others. There was no immediate information on their conditions, and there were no reported casualties among the guardsmen involved. One Colombian and one Mexican man were found and detained unharmed at the scene, and the departments said officers found a pistol and several magazines commonly used for assault rifles at the scene. Colombians have sometimes been recruited as gunmen for Mexican drug cartels, which are also heavily involved in migrant smuggling. But the fact the survivor was turned over to immigration officials and that the Foreign Relations Department contacted the Colombian consulate suggests they were migrants. Cartel gunmen sometimes escort or kidnap migrants as they travel to the U.S. border. One possible scenario was that armed migrant smugglers may have been in one or both of the trucks, but that the migrants were basically unarmed bystanders. The defense department said the three National Guard officers who opened fire have been taken off duty. Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who left office Sept. 30, gave the military an unprecedentedly wide role in public life and law enforcement; he created the militarized Guard and used the combined military forces as the country’s main law enforcement agencies, supplanting police. The Guard has since been placed under the control of the army. But critics say the military is not trained to do civilian law enforcement work. Moreover, lopsided death tolls in such confrontations — in which all the deaths and injuries occur on one side — raise suspicions among activists whether there really was a confrontation. For example, the soldiers who opened fire […]
Tragedy struck Montreal’s Belzer kehilla on Monday evening as news spread of the tragic petirah of 11-year-old Yaakov Austerlitz. Yaakov z”l, the son of Rabbi Yosef, was struck by a truck as he crossed the intersection at Parc Avenue and Bernard Street when he was struck by a truck turning onto the roadway. Hatzolah and paramedics valiantly attempted lifesaving measures at the scene, but were sadly unable to revive him. Further information and levaya details will be published as they become available. Baruch Dayan Ha’Emes. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
As the 2024 presidential race heads into Election Day, a new PBS News/NPR/Marist poll (totally liberal) shows Vice President Kamala Harris with a 4-point lead over former President Donald Trump among likely voters nationwide. Harris has 51 percent of likely voter support, compared to Trump’s 47 percent, according to the poll, placing her lead just outside the poll’s 3.5-point margin of error. However, national polling results may be less significant than the close races in key swing states, where nearly all polls show a razor-thin margin between the candidates. Among independent voters, Trump currently holds a 5-point lead over Harris, signaling a tight contest in battleground areas as the nation prepares to vote. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Some Republican-led states say they will block the Justice Department’s election monitors from going inside polling places on Election Day, pushing back on federal authorities’ decades-long practice of watching for violations of federal voting laws. Officials in Florida and Texas have said they won’t allow federal election monitors into polling sites on Tuesday. And on Monday, Missouri filed a federal lawsuit seeking a court order to block federal officials from observing inside polling places. The Justice Department announced last week that it’s deploying election monitors in 86 jurisdictions across 27 states on Election Day. The Justice Department declined to comment on Monday on the Missouri lawsuit and the moves by other Republican-led states. The race between Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and Republican nominee Donald Trump is a dead heat, and both sides are bracing for potential legal challenges to vote tallies. The Justice Department’s election monitoring effort, a long practice under both Democratic and Republican administrations, is meant to ensure that federal voting rights are being followed. Here’s a look at election monitors and the states’ actions: Who are the election monitors? Election monitors are lawyers who work for the Justice Department, including in the civil rights division and U.S. attorney’s offices across the country. They are not law enforcement officers or federal agents. For decades, the Justice Department’s civil rights division has sent attorneys and staff members to monitor polling places across the country in both federal and non-federal elections. The monitors are tasked with ensuring the compliance of federal voting rights laws. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division enforces a number of statutes protecting the right to vote. That includes Voting Rights Act, which prohibits intimidation and threats against those who are casting ballots or counting votes. And it includes the Americans with Disabilities Act, which mandates that election officials ensure people with disabilities have the full and equal opportunity to vote. Where are election monitors being sent? The 86 jurisdictions that the Justice Department will send monitors to on Tuesday include Maricopa County, Arizona and Fulton County, Georgia, which in 2020 became the center of election conspiracy theories spread by Trump and other Republicans. Another place on the list is Portage County, Ohio, where a sheriff came under fire for a social media post in which he said people with Harris yard signs should have their addresses recorded so that immigrants can be sent to live with them if the Democrat wins the presidency Other areas where federal monitors will be sent include Detroit, Michigan; Queens, New York; Providence, Rhode Island; Jackson County, South Dakota; Salem, Massachusetts; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Manassas, Virginia; Cuyahoga County, Ohio and Northwest Arctic Borough, Alaska. The Justice Department’s monitors will be in St. Louis, Missouri; four jurisdictions in Florida and eight jurisdictions in Texas. What’s happening in Missouri? In filing the lawsuit on Monday, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said state law “clearly and specifically limits who may be in polling places.” He also accused the federal government of “attempting to illegally interfere in Missouri’s elections.” The lawsuit states that Missouri law “permits only certain categories of persons to be present in voting locations, including voters, minor children accompanying voters, poll workers, election judges, etc.,” and not federal officials. The Justice Department also sought to monitor polling places in Missouri in 2022. The agency planned to have officials at Cole County, which includes Jefferson City, the state capital. County Clerk […]
Just hours away from Election Day, betting markets show one of the tightest races in recent history, with Republican candidate former President Donald Trump holding a slight edge over Democrat candidate Vice President Kamala Harris. According to the latest data from Oddschecker, Trump’s probability of victory stands at 56%, while Harris is close behind at 44%. The odds currently place Trump at 8/11 (-138) and Harris at 5/4 (+125). Trump’s lead has slightly decreased from the 60% backing he saw in October, while Harris’s odds have improved from 47% over the same period. “As we head into the final hours before Election Day, the betting markets are showing some decisive shifts, especially in the swing states,” said Leon Blackman, spokesperson for the UK-based Oddschecker, which compiles odds from 80 sources. “Trump’s lead in the overall odds reflects a trend we’ve seen steadily build throughout October, but recent betting sentiment has shown a late surge for Harris, particularly in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.” In key swing states, Republicans are picking up betting support in Arizona and Nevada, while North Carolina and Pennsylvania remain stable with Republicans holding a slight edge. Michigan and Wisconsin are the only two states where Democrats are the betting favorites, while Georgia shows a slight dip in Republican probability. The Betfair Exchange, a major platform for political betting, has recorded over $220 million in wagers on the U.S. election, making it the second-most bet-upon political event in history, following the 2020 election where an unprecedented $2.6 billion was wagered. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
Western security officials believe Russia is behind a covert operation that aimed to ignite fires on cargo or passenger planes flying to the United States and Canada. The plot, allegedly part of Moscow’s escalating sabotage campaign against Washington and its allies, involved two incendiary devices shipped via DHL that ignited at logistics hubs in Leipzig, Germany, and Birmingham, England, in July, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the investigation. The devices, which were hidden inside electric massagers filled with a magnesium-based flammable substance, sparked a multinational investigation. European investigators and intelligence agencies have now concluded that the incendiary devices were part of a Russian test run to determine if similar devices could reach North America undetected. The plot appears to have been orchestrated by Russia’s military-intelligence agency, known as the GRU, according to Pawel Szota, head of Poland’s foreign-intelligence agency. “If one of these packages had exploded, causing mass casualties, it would represent a major escalation in Moscow’s campaign against the West,” Szota warned. Polish authorities have already arrested four individuals in connection with the fires and are collaborating with European law enforcement to track down additional suspects. According to Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office, the group aimed to test a route for sending incendiary devices to the U.S. and Canada. Although officials did not directly attribute the plot to Russia, Szota and other Western intelligence leaders have pointed to Russian involvement. The Kremlin denied any knowledge of the plot, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissing the accusations as “unsubstantiated insinuations.” The DHL fires have intensified concerns among Western intelligence agencies over Russia’s growing sabotage activities across Europe. Authorities allege that Russia has been involved in a string of destructive acts, including arson in the U.K. and Czech Republic, attacks on pipelines and data cables in the Baltic Sea, and tampering with water supplies in Sweden and Finland. High-level intelligence warnings about Russia’s increasingly reckless actions came in the wake of the DHL incidents. Richard Moore, head of the U.K.’s MI6, and Ken McCallum, head of MI5, have both publicly criticized Russia’s escalating operations. McCallum warned that Russia was orchestrating “arson, sabotage, and more dangerous actions,” while Moore remarked that Russian spy agencies had “gone a bit feral in some of their behavior.” German investigators who tested replicas of the incendiary devices noted that the magnesium-based fires would be challenging to extinguish with conventional airplane firefighting systems. A similar device on a plane mid-flight could have forced an emergency landing or, in the worst-case scenario, led to a catastrophic crash over open water. Although no arrests have been made in the U.K., German police described the lack of casualties as a “lucky coincidence” due to a delayed flight. DHL, which transports packages using both cargo and passenger aircraft, confirmed its cooperation with authorities in the investigation. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented additional security measures for air cargo in response to the alleged plot. The TSA stated that it regularly works with both domestic and international carriers to enhance security, though it declined to comment directly on the plot. The potential threat of Russian sabotage targeting commercial aircraft marks a concerning new phase in Moscow’s campaign against the West, raising questions about how far Russia’s intelligence agencies are willing to go—and whether they have full Kremlin authorization. (YWN […]
From as far as Algeria, Iraq and Georgia, an assortment of senior government officials converge on this small facility for training by top U.S. experts to prevent the kinds of materials used to build weapons of mass destruction from crossing their borders. In just its third year of operation, the U.S.-funded Cyprus Centre for Land, Open Seas and Port Security (CYCLOPS) has far exceeded expectations. From the dozen courses that officials were initially hoping to hold annually, demand has skyrocketed, with scheduled training sessions for next year expected to surpass 50, says the center’s director Chrysilios Chrysiliou. So far, over 2,000 officials from 20 countries including Yemen, Libya, Armenia and Ukraine, have received training on radiological and nuclear detection for customs officers, methods of smuggling weapons of mass destruction, and chemical terrorism investigations among a host of other topics. On Monday, a group of Cypriot and Egyptian officials started a two-day seminar on maritime cybersecurity led by the U.S.-based Sandia National Laboratories. “This uniqueness has actually brought … a lot of success which could not had been foreseen when Cyclops was initially being created,” Chrysiliou told the Associated Press. According to Chrysiliou, key to the center’s success has been the top-notch level of instruction participants receive from U.S.-based experts, including from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, that specialize in counter-proliferation programs. The center also boasts an array of the latest in cutting-edge detectors able to sniff out radiological, chemical and biological agents and explosives that countries in the wider region don’t possess or have access to. “Here, the participants have the opportunity to see the latest technology in in detecting all of the range of the threats,” said Chrysiliou. “It’s like a showcase of what exists out in the market.” For instance, trainees are taught on how to detect and properly dispose of the radiological elements of discarded medical equipment that militants could use to fashion a weapon. Another emerging threat is the possible use of off-the-shelf drones to disperse chemical or biological agents over populated centers. CYCLOPS has been the product of ever-closer Cypriot-U.S. defense and security ties, earning plaudits from U.S. officials all the way up to the White House. During Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides’ meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden last week, the center figured prominently as an example of enhanced bilateral security cooperation. The center was built on a $7 million U.S. government grant, $2 million of which was for the purchase of border security equipment. The island nation’s proximity to the Middle East was seen as an asset to helping train officials from the region, whose options for such training would otherwise be very limited. The Cypriot government has secured another $5.6 million in European Union funding to expand the center and purchase additional high-tech equipment. “There’s such a huge interest by different agencies of the U.S. and the U.N. too, because they have seen the value of utilizing CYCLOPS because of its proximity to their neighboring countries,” Chrysiliou said. Another selling point for the center is that it’s situated a stone’s throw away from Cyprus’ main international airport of Larnaca and is close to top-flight accommodations that this tourism-reliant country is known for. The center’s managers want to procure an expansive virtual reality system enabling officials to safely […]
In a discussion on Steve Bannon’s WarRoom podcast Monday, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson claimed that electronic voting machines serve no purpose other than to enable Democrats to “steal elections.” Carlson’s comments come just a day before the 2024 U.S. presidential election, and he urged for a nationwide ban on the machines, asserting they are “criminal” and “immoral.” During the interview, Carlson argued that most Trump supporters, as well as undecided voters, believe that election fraud is a serious threat and that the Democratic Party is willing to manipulate results to achieve victory. “The whole country seems to have accepted the reality that one of the two big political parties doesn’t believe in democracy,” he said, calling the situation “dark.” Carlson’s remarks on electronic voting machines follow his involvement in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News. Dominion had sued the network over its role in promoting claims that Dominion’s machines rigged the 2020 election. The case concluded with Fox agreeing to a $787.5 million settlement, and Carlson was dismissed shortly after. In the interview, Carlson criticized conservative media outlets for not joining his call to ban voting machines, arguing that they “don’t work” and fail to deliver faster or more accurate results. “The only reason to have electronic voting machines is if you want to subvert them,” Carlson insisted. He also accused billionaire Reid Hoffman of funding efforts to “harass” him by leaking his private texts, which were disclosed during Dominion’s lawsuit. The lawsuit against Fox revealed several of Carlson’s private messages, which contradicted his public claims about the 2020 election. In one text to Sidney Powell, a Trump lawyer who spread conspiracy theories about voting fraud, Carlson demanded evidence, writing, “You keep telling our viewers that millions of votes were changed by the software. I hope you will prove that very soon.” Powell never provided such evidence. (YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
