‘Deep State’ Elements Pushing for Syrian Conflict – Dennis Kucinich Tells Larry King

Former Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich told RT’s Politicking that there are ‘deep state’ elements influencing US foreign policy, citing examples from the Trump, Obama, and Bush administrations.

The current Ohio gubernatorial candidate claimed there are elements in the Pentagon, the State Department, and the CIA trying to influence the Trump administration to be “more hawkish, more interventionist.”

“Frankly it appears they have succeeded,” he told host Larry King, apparently referring to recent US airstrikes in Syria, before giving examples of similar action taken by Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush.

In the latter’s case, the president was pushed to attack Iraq by the Pentagon and the State Department, Kucinich said. “Bush didn’t understand international relations.”

Kucinich also blamed these agencies for foiling a potential ceasefire tabled by the Obama administration in Syria: “A few days after that, without the president's say so, there was an attack on a Syrian army base that killed 100 soldiers - Russia pulled out of the deal.”

“Who did that? The president? No. It was done extra constitutionally by elements in the Pentagon, in the CIA and in the State Department.”

“It’s about elements in the government who have their own idea of the way policy should go but they weren't elected by the American people. And should we be concerned about that, you bet we should,” he warned.

Kucinich came under fire recently for taking a $20,000 payment to speak at a UK conference organized by a group opposed to US-led regime change in Syria. He insists his focus is on resolving conflict through multi-party talks.

“My involvement has always been to try to keep things on a path towards peace, to open up a dialogue with all parties,” he said.

Mayor of French ‘Jihadi Capital’ Calls on the State to Stop Islamism from Flourishing in his Town

The New Normal - French Islamization

A file photo shows a court sketch made on April 4, 2018 in Paris of defendants from Lunel during their trial at the Paris courthouse for terrorist conspiracy © Benoit Peyrucq / AFP

The mayor of a southern French town known in the media as the ‘Jihadi capital’ and ‘French Molenbeek’ has called upon the state to prevent the “radicalized Muslim community” from “flourishing” in Lunel.

“I solemnly appeal to the state to prevent fundamentalist Islamic movements from flourishing freely in Lunel,” Mayor Claude Arnaud wrote in an emotional letter, first seen by France Bleu newspaper. The town has been hit hard “by the consequences of radical Islam, which is the gateway to Islamic terrorism,” Arnaud wrote.

With 26,000 residents, the coastal settlement on the Mediterranean, 20km from Montpellier, has become an unofficial symbol of jihadism. Earlier in April, five people were tried for supplying extremists in Syria. Some of them were also accused of briefly traveling to the conflict-stricken country to join the ranks of terrorist groups. Four of the accused received prison sentences, while the fifth was released.

“In Lunel, we have a radicalized Muslim community… One day you summon all your courage to take certain measures,” Arnaud said, apparently referring to his appeal to the state.

The name of the small town, with a record unemployment rate of nearly 20 percent, hit the headlines back in 2013, when reports emerged that around 20 people from Lunel between 18 and 30 left for Syria. Eight of them were reportedly killed battling alongside terrorists.  

Following the infamous trial, Lunel entered the media spotlight, the mayor said, describing the situation as a “true media massacre.” The small town was nicknamed the “Jihadi capital” and the “French Molenbeek.” The latter is an infamous Brussels suburb known for being a “hotbed of extremism,” as a number of Islamists behind the Paris and Brussels attacks grew up and lived there.

In late March, the mayor advocated a motion calling for extremists who served their time in prison to be banned from returning to the town. The text of the motion was then sent to the authorities of the Hérault department where Lunel is located.

Terrorist attacks in France have left over 200 dead across the country since January 2015. The biggest loss of life took place in November of 2015, when at least 130 people were killed in coordinated attacks in Paris and Saint-Denis, a northern Parisian suburb. In 2016, at least 84 people were killed in Nice when a truck driven by an Islamic State sympathizer plowed through crowds during Bastille Day celebrations.

A recent terrorist-related assault took place in southern France in March, when a suspected IS gunman opened fire at police officers and later stormed a local supermarket, killing four and injuring dozens.

It seems obvious that radicalism is being taught in Lunel. It may require the closing of a mosque or three to stop it.

Two Muslim Jihadi Attacks Kill 40 Tauregs in Northern Mali

Thomson Reuters

Two attacks in northern Mali left 40 people dead, mostly young men.

(Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool/Canadian Press)

Suspected jihadists killed 40 Tuaregs, mostly young men, in two attacks in northern Mali's Menaka region, which the local governor said seemed calculated to spark an ethnic conflict between Tuareg and Fulani herders.

Menaka governor Daouda Maiga told Reuters by telephone that the attacks happened in the remote desert villages of Awakassa on Friday and in Anderanboucane, a day earlier.

Jihadist groups are seen as the greatest threat to security across Africa's Sahel region. They have proved adept at exploiting local tensions between ethnic groups to sow discord — such as those between mostly lighter-skinned Tuareg and black Fulani herdsmen over scarce watering points in the Sahara.

Tuareg and Fulani Herdsmen are both Muslim.

Bajan Ag Hamatou, a local legislator, confirmed the attack, as did Menaka town's mayor, Nanout Kotia.

Rising violence across Mali has cast doubt over the feasibility of elections scheduled for the end of July, in which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita will seek a second term.

Islamic State's Saharan affiliate is active in the Menaka region bordering Niger. It is led by an Arabic-speaking north African called Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi, but the majority of its fighters are Fulani.

"The dead were mostly youths, no women or children, mostly of the age where they can carry arms," Maiga said.

The victims included many members of the Tuareg militia National Movement for the Salvation of Azawad (MSA).

"The MSA is fighting the Islamist groups, which are composed mostly of Fulani," Maiga said. "So these two attacks were reprisals against them. They want to transform the conflict into something inter-communal."

Mali has been in chaos since Tuareg rebels and Islamists swept across its deserts in 2012, despite a French intervention to push them back the following year, and a large French military and UN peacekeeping presence.

Canada is sending troops and helicopters to Mali this summer to assist the ongoing UN peacekeeping mission. 

The helicopters will  carry out medical evacuations, shuttle around United Nations peacekeepers from other countries and occasionally support the so-called G-5 Sahel countries which are carrying out counter-terrorism operations against Islamic extremists.

Lies, Hypocrisy, Intrigue, and 'Whataboutism' Surround Douma CW Investigation

Twitterati challenge journalist who bemoaned Douma testimony

as ‘bizarre & underwhelming’

© Bart Maat / AFP

Witnesses giving public testimony about the alleged chemical attack in Douma – what can be uncomfortable about that? A lot, according to one journalist, as the event was organized by Russia. Readers were not convinced.

© Michael KoorenNo attack, no victims, no chem weapons: Douma witnesses speak at OPCW briefing at The Hague (VIDEO)

The Intercept's Robert Mackey took issue with Russia's decision to allow an 11-year-old "victim" of the alleged attack to speak at The Hague about his experience, claiming that the boy's testimony was an affront to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons’ (OPCW) ongoing investigation and included nothing to support the theory that the gas attack was staged.

"Rather than wait for @OPCW to verify its claim that there was no chemical attack in Syria, Russia staged its own event at OPCW headquarters in The Hague and flew in an 11-year-old witness who said nothing to support the theory that he acted in a hoax video," Mackey wrote on Twitter, linking to his Intercept piece.

In his article, Mackey cites an OPCW statement which recommended that the boy, Hassan Diab, and sixteen other witnesses be interviewed by the fact-finding mission, and that the briefing should be postponed until after the investigation is completed.

However, Mackey's report failed to mention that according to Russia's envoy to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, the participants in The Hague event were ready to be interviewed – but were turned down by the OPCW investigators. "The experts are sticking to their own guidelines," Shulgin said during the briefing. "They've picked six people, talked to them, and said they were 'completely satisfied' with their account and did not have any further questions."

The OPCW statement cited by Mackey stated that "the team also interviewed some people related to the Douma incident, who were brought to Damascus."

It would seem that the Russian's concern, though they haven't actually stated it, is that the OPCW is gearing to whitewash the whole thing so that the USA, UK and France can continue to pretend they were justified in bombing Syria. It makes them complicit, intentionally, in a false flag operation. 

Dismissing the testimony as “bizarre” and “underwhelming,” Mackey soon discovered that his readers saw things a bit differently. “Actually, the case of Russia and the Syrians who appeared in the ‘White Helmets’ video, who testified there was no chemical attack, is overwhelmingly convincing. It is a far out conspiracy theory to suggest the Douma hospital workers were not telling the truth. This Intercept article is absolutely insane,” one commenter wrote.

The article’s comments section is inundated with criticisms of Mackey’s dismissive attitude towards the witnesses – and Mackey didn’t fare much better on Twitter.

"Rather than wait for the @OPCW to verify claims of a chemical attack in #Douma, the US, UK and France BOMBED Syria. Did you object to that, Robert?" Sharmine Narwani, a Middle East analyst and former senior associate at St. Anthony's College, Oxford, tweeted back at Mackey.

Narwani's objections to Mackey's line of reasoning appeared to resonate with many on Twitter. "You must have missed those new and smart missiles that were fired before verification," one user wrote in response to Mackey's tweet.

"Did the US, UK & #France wait for the #OPCW's conclusion before firing 100+ missiles into #Syria?" asked another.

Mackey responded to Narwani by claiming that he never said he supported the US-led missile attack against Syria, but that making such comparisons amounted to "whataboutism."

"You are the only one who compared the uncomfortable spectacle of bringing an 11-year-old to a press conference to airstrikes," Mackey wrote in reply to Narwani's comment. "Whataboutism is a tired, simplistic rhetorical strategy," he added.

Narwani shot back: "Please. You're gatekeeping now. Western media and politicians paraded around Bana, Omran, and Alan Kurdi's body to score cheap points. There was one child on a panel of half a dozen witnesses from Douma. Why was this one suddenly 'uncomfortable' for you?"

In a separate Twitter thread, Mackey hurled accusations of “whataboutism” at users who objected to the idea that Russia had “pre-empted” the OPCW investigation by allowing witnesses to speak at The Hague.

“If we accuse someone of gross hypocrisy [sp], the best answer they can give is, ‘that's whataboutism’?” one user wrote.

The OPCW fact-finding mission was initially delayed by the US-led missile strike against Syria in the early hours of April 14 – the same day that the team was scheduled to arrive in Damascus to begin its investigation.

There was also pushback against Mackey's claim that Diab's testimony did not raise questions about the authenticity of the widely-cited video that claims to show the chaotic aftermath of a gas attack.

"He is alive and well, as you can see, that supports the theory," one Twitter user noted.

The Twitterati were quick to point out the glaring hypocrisy of completely discounting testimony from Diab, while fawning over (and offering book deals to) Bana al-Abed, the Aleppo child who allegedly used her pristine English to tweet passionate calls for Western military intervention in Syria. Numerous video interviews have since shown that Bana struggles with the most basic English phrases. It has also been revealed that her father was a militant in the former jihadist-controlled city.

Wow! Is that a big surprise? NO!

One thing is for sure; there is a huge difference between reports from reporters who actually went to Douma and those who did not!

UK Reporter Astounded By What He Found in Douma

German Reporter Says Douma was Completely Staged - MSM Won't Report It

Former Russian Regional Leader Wins Slander Lawsuit over Reuters Report of ISIS Ties

Fake News costs Reuters £50,000

FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov at a news conference © Anton Denisov / Sputnik

Former president of the Russian internal republic of Kalmykia and the current head of FIDE, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, says he has proved in court that a Reuters report about alleged deals with ISIS was fake and aimed to slander him.

“I have won my court case against Reuters, they have already apologized and now I am expecting them to pay me £50,000 ($69,000) in damages,” RIA Novosti quoted him as saying. “I have already received official apologies from the Washington Times newspaper and there is another newspaper that we have sued for $500,000. Step by step, I am going to win,” he added.

Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is a Russian politician, businessman and chess grandmaster, who headed the Russian region of Kalmykia between 1993 and 2010, and is currently the president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE).

Ilyumzhinov filed a lawsuit against Reuters in March 2016, claiming that the agency’s report of his alleged oil deals with the Islamic State terrorist group was false, and that it damaged his reputation and honor. He also sued two chess players, who spread similar information on social networks, but the outcome of this case is not yet known.

In November 2015, the United States put Ilyumzhinov on the sanctions list over his alleged material aid and other actions in the interests of the Syrian government, central bank and President Bashar Assad.

In early 2017, Ilyumzhinov accused the US of staging a plot to oust him from the post of FIDE president. "I did not sign anything and I am not stepping down. I believe the Americans are behind this escapade and it looks like a set-up," he told reporters in comments on reports of his alleged resignation.

Also in early 2017, Ilyumzhinov told reporters that he would be running for FIDE president again in 2018, despite the problems caused by the US sanctions.

Christian Genocide in Nigeria - 20 Parishioners, 2 Clergy Murdered

Fulani Tribesmen massacre Catholic Church 

Nigerian President Buhari is a Fulani and appears to support them

Of course, you will find no mention of this on Mainstream media

by Raymond Ibrahim 

Two days ago in Nigeria, on April 24, around 30 Muslim herdsmen stormed a church during early morning mass and massacred nearly 20 parishioners and two clergymen.

Rev. Fathers Joseph Gor and Felix Tyolaha were slaughtered while officiating at the altar of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Mbalom village, Benue. 

Worshippers were gathered in the church for the daily 5:30 a.m. service when they heard gunshots. “People started scampering and wailing,” said Terhemen Angor, a local resident. Several people were “gunned down in cold blood while many sustained injuries including bullet wounds… After attacking the church, the invaders descended on the community and razed over 60 houses. The community is on fire and deserted, people are fleeing to neighbouring villages hoping to find a safe haven for their families.”

As in similar occurrences, “concerted efforts to get [a] reaction from the Benue Police Command failed,” according to Vanguard News. As far back as January 3, and further indicative of the authorities’ indifference, one of the slain reverends, Fr. Gor had written on Facebook, “Living in fear. The fulani herdsmen are still around us in Mbalom. They refuse to go. They still go grazing around us. No weapons to depend on ourselves.”

“In their classic style they burn down homes, destroy food items and kill,” a statement concerning this latest atrocity from the local Catholic diocese read. “The police seem to know nothing of the attacks which have been going on in other villages within Benue State.”

The statement suggests that Fulani herdsmen attacks are part of the anti-Christian jihad in Nigeria that is more commonly associated with the Islamic terror group, Boko Haram:

Many people are asking why the International community has remained silent over the massacre of Benue citizens? The answer is simple: It has been the goal of the jihadists to conquer Benue and Tiv people who resisted their advance into the middle belt since 1804; the [Christian] people who rejected Islam and fought for the unification of Nigeria in the civil war of 1967 – 1970… [T]he Muslim North is enjoying a sweet revenge overshadowed by an insensitive regime…. The diocese has been active in providing relief materials including education and skills acquisition lessons. To go for the priests means total destruction of everything we stand for and believe in!

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari

The frequency and deadliness of Muslim herdsmen raids on Christian farmers is “now more deadly than the Boko Haram jihadist insurgency that has ravaged Nigeria’s northeast,” reports Agence France-Presse.

“I have just returned from Nigeria where over 100 Christians were killed in the 2 weeks I was there. The killings are now weekly and this isn’t even Boko Haram!” a leading human rights lawyer, Emmanuel Ogebe, whose hometown is the site of this latest massacre of Nigerian Christians and their priests, told Gatestone.

The Fulani Herdsmen are jihadists who invaded the region in 1804 and imposed a puritanical form of Islam. It is impossible to separate their antecedents from their present. More than just a land dispute, the attacks on an American mission compound last month and today’s attack on a church service are indicators of the Islamist extremism driving this genocide.

Boko Haram and the Fulani “are not only allies but have collaborated on attacks in Nigeria,” continued Ogebe. “It is no coincidence that both are now waging jihad on Nigeria given their long history.”

Many Christians in Nigeria accuse its president, Muhammadu Buhari of being complicit. Although he publicly condemns the ongoing massacre by Fulani herdsmen of Christians, they contend that he does nothing to stop them. Ogebe goes further with his accusations:

Buhari, who is himself from the jihadists’ Fulani tribe, has filled his security council with his kinsmen. He infamously refused to visit Benue State after the New Year’s Day Massacre that claimed over 70 lives then commanded the state governor to go and “accommodate” the Fulani Herdsmen who had killed his people. The minister of defense has justified the killings and General Buhari’s Government condones and sometimes outrightly supports the Herdsmen. Worse still, General Buhari is a life patron of one of the Herdsmen associations that has claimed some of the attacks.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is set to visit the White House next week, April 30.

Asked if he could relay a message to the White House, Ogebe said:

General Buhari is presiding over a low-grade genocide perpetrated by his Fulani Herdsmen tribe. He must be told to fish out the murderers of Rev Fathers Joseph and Felix and bring them to justice. The killings must stop. US should halt aircraft sales to Nigeria until these attacks are halted and the perpetrators convicted.

Mbalom Village, Benue State, Nigeria

Turkish Court Sentences 14 Journalists on Terror Charges

It is vital for an autocratic government to get control of news reporting. Turkey has been working for years at shutting down newspapers that dare to tell the truth or reveal secret programs where the government is supporting ISIS, for instance. Erdogan, with his ambition to become Caliph of a new Ottoman Empire, will have his way.

By Daniel Uria 

A Turkish court sentenced 14 journalists from the Cumhuriyet newspaper to prison on charges that they worked to support groups the government considers terrorist organizations. Photo by Erdem Sahin/EPA

UPI -- A Turkish court sentenced 14 staff members from the country's leading independent newspaper to prison Wednesday.

Journalists for the Cumhuriyet newspaper were sentenced to between two to seven years in prison after the Turkish government accused them of supporting what they consider to be terrorist organizations including the Kurdistan Workers' Party and a movement led by cleric Fetullah Gulen, who is believed to have masterminded a failed coup while in exile in the United States.

Akin Atalay, the newspaper's chief executive who had been imprisoned for more than 500 days, denied the paper had aided terrorist organizations.

"The primary role of a newspaper is not to make money, but to present news, truth, criticism and views to the public," he said.

Atalay was sentenced to seven years, three months and 15 days in jail, while editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and investigative reporter Ahmet Sik were each sentenced to seven years and six months in prison. All staff members will remain free while their cases are appealed.

Three journalists were acquitted and the court ruled the case against former editor-in-chief Can Dundar, who was originally named prime suspect, would continue separately.

Sabuncu was defiant after the ruling, declaring neither he nor the paper were dissuaded by the case.

"I see this as an attack against us and against all the journalism community, against all our colleagues for us not to practice journalism in Turkey, to be scared while doing it," he said. "We can go to jail one more time if necessary. We will go on doing journalism with courage."

More than 50,000 people, including 160 journalists, were arrested in a government crackdown following the failed coup in 2016 that shut down 170 news outlets in the country.

Turkey's representative of the Committee to Protect Journalists Ozgur Ogret said the verdict sent a desperate message.

"The authorities were unable to prove their claims of malpractice and connections to multiple outlawed organizations at court," Ogret said. "Turkey's political climate demanded a sentencing, so they did with the vague terrorism law clause of 'aiding a terrorist organization.'"

Of course, any criticism of the government, or any revealing of state secrets no matter how illegal or onerous, could be considered aiding terrorist organizations. 

Madrid Leader Resigns After 2011 Shoplifting Video Surfaces

Corruption is Everywhere - A Liar and Thief in Spain

By Susan McFarland 

Cristina Cifuentes, the head of Spain's Madrid region, stepped down Wednesday amid shoplifting allegations. Photo courtesy Cristina Cifuentes/Twitter

UPI -- Madrid leader Cristina Cifuentes stepped down Wednesday amid shoplifting allegations, which are supported by video footage of the incident.

Cifuentes is accused of shoplifting two bottles of anti-aging cream in 2011. The video footage purportedly shows her handing them over to a supermarket security guard.

Last week, Cifuentes, 53, also surrendered a master's degree she obtained from King Juan Carlos University after allegations that two signatures on the document were forged. Accusations say she never attended classes or took exams for the degree.

At a press conference Wednesday morning, Cifuentes announced her resignation.

"In the political situation in which we are living through, and after having spoken to my team about it, I'm announcing my resignation as the premier of the Madrid region," Cifuentes said. "In life, you have to think about the general interest above the interests of just one person."

You're a bit late coming to that conclusion.

Cifuentes said the video amounted to a "campaign of harassment and demolition that has gone beyond politics."

She also said the shoplifting incident had been a mistake -- "an involuntary thing" that she paid for.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said "a new stage has emerged in Madrid.

"I hope these things do not happen again," he said.

Yeah, good luck with that Prime Minister.

Religious Symbolism in Germany and Islamization

The New Normal - Crosses and Kippahs

German state orders all government buildings to display a Christian cross

Religious symbol is already compulsory in public schools and courtrooms in predominantly Catholic Bavaria

Shehab Khan 
The Independent Online

Markus Soeder, Governor of the German state of Bavaria, hangs up a cross at the entrance of the state chancellery in Munich, Germany AP

A German state has ordered that Christian crosses should be placed on the entrance of all government buildings. 

Bavaria's conservative government has said the crosses should not be seen as religious symbols, but are meant to reflect the southern German state's "cultural identity and Christian-western influence."

Crosses are already compulsory in public schools and courtrooms in predominantly Catholic Bavaria.

The governing Christian Social Union — the Bavaria-only wing of Chancellor Angela Merkel's party — is hoping to avoid losing its state majority to Alternative for Germany (AfD), a party on the right whose anti-Muslim campaigns have struck a chord with some German voters.

Bavaria is one of the richer states in Germany and has managed migrant inflows better than other areas. Despite this, in the most recent election the AfD rose to 12 per cent in the region. 

There has also been talk of Bavaria’s own border guard after large numbers of migrants entered the state. 

The number of migrants could rise after Germany agreed to take in 10,000 migrants who were selected by the United Nations’ refugee (UNHCR) agency.

Ms Merkel said the refugees would be part of a resettlement programme in Germany but did not indicate where in the country they would settle or from which countries they would come.

Bavaria

Meanwhile:

Germany's Jews urged not to wear kippahs after attacks

A "Berlin Wears Kippah" rally is planned in the German capital on Wednesday

The leader of Germany's Jewish community has advised Jews to avoid wearing traditional skullcaps (kippahs) following anti-Semitic attacks.

Josef Schuster, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Berlin public radio that Jews should exercise caution in big cities.

His comments come ahead of a "Berlin Wears Kippah" solidarity march in the German capital on Wednesday.

Last week, two young men wearing kippahs were assaulted in the city. The attacker was filmed shouting anti-Semitic abuse.

Jewish organisations in Germany have expressed alarm over a number of recent anti-Semitic insults and threats in schools.

At the weekend, Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned what she described as "another form of anti-Semitism".

She told Israel's Channel 10 TV network that aside from anti-Semitism by right-wing groups, similar threats were coming from some Muslim refugees in the country.

"Defiantly showing your colours would in principle be the right way to go [to tackle anti-Semitism]," he (Shuster) said.

"Nevertheless, I would advise individual people against openly wearing a kippah in big German cities," Mr Schuster added.

But he also stressed that if Germans refused to stand up to anti-Semitism "our democracy would be at risk".

"This is not only about anti-Semitism - it goes along with racism, it goes along with xenophobia. You need a clear stop sign here."

What about reaction from other groups?

Mr Schuster's comments apparently contradict the position taken on the kippah issue by the Berlin-based Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Anti-Semitism - the organisation which shared video of last week's attack on Facebook.

"I used to always advise my Jewish friends and acquaintances not to wear a kippah so as not to show their Jewish identity. I changed my opinion," a spokesman said last week.

"We must take up this fight and be visible again in public."

Separately, the head of Germany's Central Council of Muslims condemned recent anti-Semitic attacks.

"Anti-Semitism, racism and hatred are great sins in Islam, therefore we will also never tolerate that," Aiman Mazyek told Germany's Rheinische Post newspaper.

Say what?

Germany's Jewish population has grown rapidly since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.

Before 1989, the population was below 30,000 but an influx of Jews, mainly from the former Soviet Union, has raised the number to more than 200,000.

At Least Nine Killed as Van Strikes Pedestrians in Toronto

At least nine people were killed and 16 more were injured after a white van plowed into a crowd on a Toronto sidewalk on Monday. Photo by Warren Toda/ EPA

By Sommer Brokaw and Daniel Uria

UPI -- At least nine people were killed and 16 others were injured when a white van plowed into several pedestrians in Toronto on Monday, police said.

Toronto Police Deputy Chief Peter Yuen confirmed the casualties in the crash, which occurred at 1:30 p.m. at a busy intersection.

Sunnybrook Hospital confirmed it received eight patients from the scene, including one who was declared dead upon arrival, five others in critical condition, one in serious condition and one in fair condition, CP24 reported.

"Sunnybrook's Emergency Department has been locked down as an added precaution and access to the Bayview Campus is being controlled," the hospital said in a statement.

The driver fled from the scene, but police located the vehicle several blocks away and arrested the driver, police said.

No word yet on the identity of the driver, and no-one has mentioned the word 'terrorism' as of yet.

Toronto Mayor John Tory urged citizens to stay away from the area and called for all businesses along Yonge Street to close as police investigate the scene. He added there may be several days of disruption as authorities conduct the probe.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered condolences to the victims and their families following the crash.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible incident at Yonge and Finch in Toronto," Trudeau wrote on Twitter. "Thank you to the first responders working at the scene -- we're monitoring the situation closely."

Last Living Suspect from Paris Attacks Gets 20 Years for Belgium Gun Battle

By Ed Adamczyk

Salah Abdelsan, pictured on a wanted poster, was given a 20-year sentence Monday for a conviction

of attempted murder. Abdelsan is the last living suspect in the 2015 Paris terror attacks.

Photo courtesy Belgian Federal Police

UPI -- The last living suspect in the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks received a 20-year sentence Monday for his involvement in a gunfight with Belgian police.

Salah Abdeslam was tried and convicted of attempted murder for his role in a 2016 shootout with police, as they came to search a house where he was hiding in March 2016.

One accomplice was killed, but Abdeslam and co-defendant Sofien Ayari escaped.

Abdeslam was captured three days later in Brussels' Molenbeek neighborhood.

Ayari also received a 20-year sentence Monday after his conviction. Neither man appeared in court to hear their punishment.

Abdeslan's 2016 arrest marked the end of a four-month manhunt. He was extradited to France in 2016 and remains in custody as he awaits a trial for his alleged involvement in a night of terror in Paris.

Large-scale coordinated attacks -- which included bombings and shootings -- on Nov. 13, 2015, killed 130 people and injured more than 400 others. It was the deadliest terrorist attack in modern French history.

Gunless Coup in Armenia

Armenian Prime Minister resigns after protests

By Hilary Clarke, CNN

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, has stepped down following days of mass demonstrations in the streets of the capital Yerevan over what was seen as an unconstitutional power grab by the former president.

Sargsyan previously served two, five-year terms as president of the former Soviet Republic. First elected in 2008, he served as the country's head of state until he was appointed prime minister earlier this month.

Over the weekend Nikol Pashinyan, an opposition MP and leader of the protests, was arrested but was released Monday shortly before the announcement.

Pashinyan was the editor of Armenia's best-selling daily liberal newspaper Haykakan Zhamanak (The Armenian Times). He was often critical of Sargsyan and his predecessor, and his activism got him about two years in jail.

Armenian policemen detain an opposition supporter during a rally in central Yerevan on April 21, 2018, held to protest former president Serzh Sargsyan's election as prime minister.

"Nikol Pashinyan was right. I was wrong," Sargsyan said in a statement published on the state-owned Armenpress website.

"The situation has several solutions, but I will not take any of them. That is not mine. I am leaving office of the country's leader, of Prime Minister. The street movement is against my tenure. I am fulfilling your demand. Peace, harmony and reasoning for our country," he said.

Sargsyan took office as Prime Minister after being elected by parliament on April 17, eight days after his presidency ended.

His handpicked successor, Armen Sargsyan, no relation, was sworn in as President on April 9.

Under constitutional changes promoted by Serzh Sargsyan in 2015, the office of prime minister in Armenia became more powerful than that of president leading to concern of authoritarian rule descending on the country.

Sargsyan had previously said he would not try to become prime minster.

Nikol Pashinyan

Reports and video posted on social media showed scenes of jubilation in the capital Yerevan.

Sargsyan, 63, was a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I have to admit, giving more power to the Prime Minister, then getting the person you appointed as President to appoint you as Prime Minister does sound like something Putin would do. I suspect he's disappointed in Sargsyan resignation and concerned about what new elections might bring. I hope neither NATO nor George Soros are behind this; it could turn very ugly. Pashinyan has called for new elections.

You have to admire a man who sees the writing on the wall and steps aside before thing turn nasty. Well done, Mr Sargsyan.

German Reporter Says Douma was Completely Staged - MSM Won't Report It

This German reporter went live on ZDF in Germany and reported that he had met with many people in Damascus who had left Douma after the infamous chemical attack. They consistently reported that it was the rebel forces who brought chlorine canisters into the area and located them where they know Syrian troops would drop bombs. 

“People told us in a very convincing manner that this whole story was staged,” Uli Gack, a reporter with the German ZDF public broadcaster, said (referring to the alleged Douma chemical attack) while he spoke live on ZDF Heute (‘Today’) show on Satuday.

The scene of the attack, which allegedly took place on April 7, was in fact the “command post” of a local Islamist group, the reporter said, citing the witnesses he was able to speak to at the refugee camp.

He went on to say that, according to the locals, the militants brought canisters containing chlorine to the area and “actually waited for the Syrian Air Force to bomb the place, which was of particular interest for them.”

As the Syrian forces eventually struck the place, which was apparently a high-priority military target, the chlorine canisters exploded. The locals also told Gack that it is not the first such provocation in Douma that was staged by the militants.

According to other witness accounts, the militants deliberately exposed people to chemical agents during what they called “training exercises” then filmed it and later presented as an “evidence” of the alleged chemical attack in Douma.

The reporter then said he could not verify the people’s statements and cannot say if they are all true but called them quite “convincing” and added that they deserve attention.

Earlier, the Russian military said that they had found a laboratory operated by militants in central Douma, which was capable of producing chemical weapons.

In particular they found a cylinder filled with chlorine, which looks similar to the one that was shown in one of the videos of the alleged chemical attack in Douma and presented as a “chemical bomb dropped from a helicopter.”

The purported chemical incident in Douma allegedly took place on April 7. A week later, Washington and its allies launched a massive retaliatory missile strike against Syria, without even waiting for the Organization for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to start its investigation of the incident.

In the meantime, western media embarked on a massive campaign of accusing Moscow and Damascus of “blocking” the OPCW investigators from accessing the scene of the alleged attack. Gack, however, also seemingly dismissed this narrative, saying that the delay in the OPCW team’s work may indeed have been caused by security issues.

The German reporter also pointed out that some hidden extremist cells might be still operating and carrying out attacks in the recently liberated areas, even “weeks” after they had been retaken from militants.

Or, somebody ran around behind a building, fired a couple shots and a grenade to make it sound like the advance force was under attack. The OPCW's first delay was caused by the premature western strikes; I would be surprised if other delays weren't caused by western interests.

MSM response?

Gack’s report was immediately labeled as “propaganda” by some of his fellow journalists in Germany. A reporter with the German Bild daily, Bjoern Stritzel, who in particular is said to have been working undercover and actively communicating with Islamic State terrorists, lashed out at Gack, calling his report an “unbelievable pro-Assad propaganda on German Television.”

If you look for this report in English media, you will only find it in Russian News and in German on ZDF. MSM does not want to hear anything that remotely resembles the truth, only that which demonizes Assad and gives warrant to the west to keep bombing Syria to hell.

Last week, the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said that there are still militants in Douma who “terrorize citizens and, among other things, impede the normal work of representatives of the international community – the UN and the OPCW.” On Saturday, the OPCW eventually confirmed that its team visited one of the sites of the suspected chemical attack in Douma and collected samples for analysis.

French Celebrities Call for ‘Fight Against Anti-Semitism’ Before ‘It’s Too Late’

Islamization is Progressing - in France

© Jack Guez / AFP

Following a string of horrendous killings of Jews in France, more than 250 prominent artists and politicians have signed a manifesto denouncing the "new anti-Semitism" marked by "Islamist radicalization" in the country.

"We demand that the fight against this democratic failure that is anti-Semitism becomes a national cause before it's too late. Before France is no longer France," reads the manifesto published by Le Parisien and signed by politicians from the left and right, including former President Nicolas Sarkozy and film star Gerard Depardieu. 

The letter goes on to say that anti-Semitism is a problem not only for Jews, and that each attack measures French “democratic maturity.”

France, according to the letter, “has become the theater of deadly anti-Semitism. This terror spreads along, provoking both popular condemnation and a media silence that the recent white march has helped break.”

The signatories, who lambasted what they view as a "quiet ethnic purging" driven by rising Islamist radicalism in France, accused the media of remaining silent on the matter.

“Why this silence?... Because electoral cunning calculates that the Muslim vote is ten times higher than the Jewish vote.”

"In our recent history, eleven Jews have been assassinated – and some tortured – by radical Islamists because they were Jewish," the manifesto says. "French Jews are 25 times more at risk of being attacked than their fellow Muslim citizens."

France’s Jewish community of 500,000 is said to be the largest in Europe. According to the declaration, 50,000 Jews have been "forced to move because they were no longer safe in certain cities and because their children could no longer go to school."

The latest attack to shock France took place in March when an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, Mireille Knoll, was found in her burned Paris apartment with 11 stab wounds in a crime confirmed to be anti-Semitic in nature.

The woman’s death prompted 30,000 people to join a march in her memory in France, with President Emmanuel Macron pledging to fight anti-Semitism.

In April 2017, a Franco-Malian assailant beat to death a 65-year-old retired school teacher, Sarah Halimi, before throwing her from a third-story window in Paris. The man, identified as Kada Traore, shouted religious (that would be Islamic) slogans while murdering the woman in her apartment.

In March, Brigitte Bardot also spoke out against the out-of-control Islamization of France.

The Cost of Being Spoiled Brats

Korean Air heiresses resign from executive roles

By Daniel Uria  

Two Korean Air heiresses resigned from their executive roles Sunday after investigators raided the company's headquarters to collect evidence regarding allegations they had abused subordinates. Photo by Yonhap/EPA

UPI -- The head of Korean Air announced Sunday his two daughters have resigned from their positions at the company in light of allegations they abused subordinates.

Chairman of Hanjin Group and Korean Air Cho Yang-ho said his two daughters Cho Hyun-min, 35, and Cho Hyun-ah,43, will depart all posts at the Hanjin conglomerate, effective immediately.

He also said Korean Air will create a new vice chairman position to be filled by someone outside of the Cho family and will strengthen the board's role in company operations.

Cho Yang-ho also issued an apology for his daugters' behavior amid growing anger throughout South Korea against the the family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol, which dominate the country's economy.

"I am deeply sorry that problems connected to my family have worried the people and employees of Korean Air," he said. "As chairman of Korean Air and as the head of my family, I feel crushed by the immature behavior of my daughters."

The announcement comes after Seoul police raided Korean Air offices Thursday to investigate allegations that Cho Hyun-min yelled and threw water or plum juice at an advertising firm employee.

OK, this is a police incident? It's stupid, immature behaviour but the woman needs to be sent to her room not investigated by police. This is just bizarre! Her sister, on the other hand...

Investigators confiscated Cho Hyun-min's computer and two of her mobile phones and also seized mobile phones and a personal computer belonging to executive members during the marketing firm where her alleged victim works.

Police plan to determine whether the two sides had coordinated their stories and if any threats had been made to the marketing firm.

Cho Hyun-min has denied she threw the cup at the employee's face, saying she pushed it toward the ground and neither of the victims have reportedly expressed the wish to seek a case against the heiress.

The elder sister Cho Hyun-ah made global headlines in 2014 for a so-called "nut rage" incident, in which she after forced a plane to return to the gate and forced an employee to kneel and beg for forgiveness, over how macademia nuts were served.

She was sentenced to a year in prison, but later freed after an appeals court cleared her of the most of hampering an air route.