Author: Johnny King

Attack on police training academy and nearby airport one of the worst since unrest began more than a decade ago. More than 70 people are thought to have been killed in an attack by an al-Qaeda-linked group on Mali’s capital Bamako earlier this week, according to diplomatic and security sources. Hardline fighters from the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wa al-Muslimeen (JNIM) carried out the attack on an elite police training academy and the nearby airport on Tuesday, prompting shock and anger in the West African country. A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the AFP news agency that 77 people had…

Washington 6 Nov (50). Russian officials and proxy authorities in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine are undertaking a monumental effort to “filter” the population as a means of suppressing Ukrainian resistance and enforcing loyalty among the remaining population. The United States condemns Russia’s “filtration” operations, forced deportations, and disappearances in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine in which Russia’s forces and proxies have interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported Ukrainian, according to a broad range of sources, between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including thousands of children. Ukrainian citizens are being taken to filtration camps in a concerted effort to suppress their resistance.…

Washington 6 Nov (20). Donald J. Trump is back. Hate him or love him but we got four years more with the same narcissistic copy of Mussolini. Not Hitler, but Mussolini. Trump has managed to polarize everyone. On the policy side Trump is as shallow as the old guard. Trump brings back the babes of pretty in heels and tight dresses. But that’s all. Now a disclaimer. Harris and Biden are to blame for the Democratic defeat. So were Pelosi, Schumer, and Schiff but Harris and Biden topped it. And who wants a family crushing social climber who stepped over…

Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa go forward after no candidates gained 50% in first round. The Sri Lankan presidential election will be decided in a runoff, the country’s election body has said, after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner. The Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake garnered the most votes in the first round of voting, with 39.5% of the counted ballots, while the opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, finished second with 34%. All the remaining candidates, including the incumbent, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who trailed in third with 17%, have been disqualified, the…

Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski urged EU governments to stop providing social support to Ukrainian men of fighting age who are refugees in their countries. During the Yalta European Strategy, a forum for discussing Ukraine’s European future which was held in Kyiv, Sikorski said that to “help Ukraine’s war effort”, there should be “no financial incentives for avoiding the draft in Ukraine.” He referred to Russian drones crossing into NATO members’ airspace as reasons for EU governments to stop paying social security benefits to men of draft age and strengthen defence efforts against Russia. Airspace violations in Latvia and Romania…

Frankfurt, Paris (18/8 – 62.50) Ukraine has scored a series of victories in more than a week since launching a lightning offensive into Russian territory. Now the stakes are rising as its forces prepare to defend their gains and Russia begins to regain its footing. Last week, Ukraine deployed thousands of troops to the Kursk region in western Russia, removing Russian flags from captured towns and taking the initiative from Moscow for the first time in months. On Wednesday, officials in Kyiv said Ukraine would use seized Russian territory as a “buffer zone” to shield its north from Russian strikes.…

Lady Gaga was one of the biggest names to perform during Friday evening’s uniquely memorable Olympics Opening Ceremony in Paris. Gaga took to a specially built stage on the bank of the River Seine to give a performance inspired by French Cabaret. She sang Mon Truc en Plume, a well known French circus song. The Poker Face singer was the first musical act of the night, and appeared to experience some sound issues that fans on social media were quick to note were marring her performance once she sat down at her piano to sing. One also took issue with her vocals, calling her accent “French-adjacent.”…

With two bidders revealed in a matter of days and more in the wings, United States Steel Corp. — a symbol of American industrialization that for more than a century helped build everything from the United Nations building in New York City to the New Orleans Superdome — appears be on the cusp of being absorbed. Here’s what’s happened so far, and how the acquisition of U.S. Steel could reshape steelmaking globally. BIDDING WAR After rejecting a $7.3 billion buyout proposal from rival Cleveland-Cliffs on Sunday, U.S. Steel said it was considering its next move. On Monday, industrial conglomerate Esmark offered $7.8 billion for…

New York. (11 June – 31) US federal agents have arrested eight Tajikistan nationals in the US on terrorism charges. The arrests, carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, spanned across Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia. These actions coincide with recent alerts from US intelligence officials about a terrorist plot. ISIS, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is designated as a terrorist organization by numerous countries and international organizations, including the United States, the United Nations, and the European Union. The ability to surveillance certain foreign targets has been a subject of intense debate in Congress,…

Most dismissed retired IDF general Yitzhak Brick’s warning earlier this year of a Hamas invasion. Now Netanyahu wants his advice on how to win. Yitzhak Brick might be the only Israeli military official to see what was coming. And he’s been warning of it for some time. He also does not see a ground invasion of Gaza as the only option. And Israel must prepare for a multi-front war given the situation in the north. Brick cautioned, among other things, of problems with the competence of ground forces and made it clear that the ground invasion does not have to be…