Day: October 22, 2023

As Israel attacks Hamas in Gaza and trades fire with Hezbollah on the Israeli-Lebanon border, concerns grow that conflict in the region could widen. Some are speculating the U.S. military could be drawn into the conflict as well.

(NewsNation) — A 66-year-old male driver with three passengers aged 15, 39 and 45 sped through the I-8 Telegraph pass checkpoint, seriously injuring two Border Patrol agents Saturday in Arizona’s Yuma Sector.

One K9 agent is in the ICU in critical but stable condition, while the other injured agent is stable and expected to make a full recovery.

“Border Patrol agents put themselves in harm’s way daily to keep us safe. Even what appears to be routine duties can be dangerous. I wish our agents a speedy and healthy recovery,” said retired U.S. Border Patrol Yuma Sector Chief Chris T. Clem.

The vehicle was registered to an owner in Phoenix, although the owner was not present in the vehicle. The official cause of the incident is pending toxicology analysis but there is currently no evidence linking it to human smuggling.  

Both the driver and passengers were confirmed to be in the United States legally, having recently crossed a port of entry just 25 minutes before the incident. It is believed that the driver maintained a high speed of 80-90 mph to reach the checkpoint so quickly.

There have been rumors from eyewitnesses suggesting that the driver was under the influence of alcohol, but according to agents at the scene, there was no sign of intoxication. Toxicology reports are pending to determine if a medical emergency might have been a contributing factor. 

Yuma City Mayor Doug Nicholls also called for the community’s prayers and support for the two affected Border Patrol agents. 

(NewsNation) — Most Palestinians do not have confidence in President Joe Biden’s ability to facilitate a fair peace treaty, according to a recent Gallup World poll survey conducted before the October 7 Hamas attacks. 

84% of Palestinians expressed little to no trust in Biden, with 70% stating they had “no trust at all” in him. 

In the period leading up to the October 7 attacks, approximately one in four Palestinians residing in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem expressed support for a two-state solution, where an independent Palestinian state coexists with Israel.

However, support for a two-state solution among Palestinians has decreased significantly since 2012, when nearly 59% endorsed the idea. 

The two-state solution has historically been the foundational concept for peace mediation between both sides, dating back to the British government’s Peel Commission in 1937. More recently, the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2002 Saudi-backed Arab Peace Initiative have aimed to establish conditions for Palestinian self-determination and outlined goals for two independent states. 

According to the poll, among Palestinians aged 15 to 25, one in six expressed support for a two-state solution, compared to 34% of Palestinians aged 46 and older.

With a significant young population in the Palestinian Territories, where 69% are under 29, growing skepticism among youth raises concerns about the future amid diplomatic challenges.

81% of Palestinians believed that a permanent peace of any kind would not be achievable, including 84% of those living in the Gaza Strip. Only 13% of Palestinians retained hope that peace might one day be attainable, 75 years after the establishment of the Israeli state.

Israelis also expressed pessimism regarding the prospect of peace. In a 2017 Gallup survey, 30% of Israelis believed peace would be possible, while 57% thought it would not be achievable. 

Two more civilians killed in strikes, AFP reports; Ukrainian missiles shot down over Crimea; Deported children repatriated from Russia; AFU successfully defends ‘deadlocked’ Avdiivka

Donald Trump finally got around to attacking Sidney Powell today, a full 48 hours after she cut a cooperating plea deal against him in Fulton County. Even though Trump’s whiny rant about Powell makes clear that Trump knows he’s screwed and can’t do a thing about it, there’s been the usual hand wringing about how it means Trump is “getting away with it all.”

So let’s be clear here. Trump’s attack today on Sidney Powell is bad – for Trump. It’s a clear cut case of witness tampering. And you don’t need a gag order for it to be witness tampering. So it’s irrelevant if there’s no gag order in Fulton County, or if there’s a temporary stay on a gag order elsewhere. None of that matters.

Fani Willis and Jack Smith can both charge Trump with witness tampering against Powell, if they feel that Trump’s post today is realistically enough to convince a trial jury to convict Trump on witness tampering. These prosecutors will have to make these decisions, and if you trust them overall, then you have to trust that they’ll make the most appropriate decision here.

And no matter how much fretting you might see about it on social media, Trump doesn’t gain anything by doing this. It’s not going to intimidate Powell out of testifying against him (she’s already made her decision can’t back out of it even if she wanted to). It’s not going to keep the courts from being able to seat an impartial jury (we’re talking about finding twelve people who don’t follow politics out of a jury pool of thousands). Of all the doomsday hype you’re going to hear about how Trump’s attacks on Powell are supposedly going to help Trump or cause unspecified “damage,” none of it’s real. None of it can actually benefit Trump.

If this were a sports game, this would be the point late in the game where Trump is losing so hopelessly, he’s committing personal fouls out of frustration – which only ensures that he’ll lose in even uglier fashion than he otherwise would have. So if Trump wants to keep digging this hole, so be it. This is all going very, very poorly for him.

The post Make no mistake, Donald Trump’s attack today on Sidney Powell is good for us and bad for Trump appeared first on Palmer Report.

Nine Republicans will seek the top job in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday when their party members meet to nominate a new candidate for speaker and try to end three weeks of chaos.

Combative conservative Jim Jordan was the last lawmaker nominated for the job but he was unable to get enough fellow Republicans to back him in a full House vote. He is no longer a candidate.

Here are the Republican lawmakers now running to be speaker of the House, which has been without a leader since Oct. 3:

Bergman, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general who has been in Congress since 2017, said on Friday his “hat is in the ring.” He is from Michigan.

Donalds, a Black Republican from Florida and member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, announced his candidacy in a statement late on Friday. Last month, a source close to Donalds told Fox News that he was considering whether to run for Florida governor in 2026.

Emmer, the House’s No. 3 Republican and chief vote counter, has won the endorsement of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted by hardline party members on Oct. 3. A former ice hockey coach from Minnesota, Emmer said in a social media post on Saturday that he was running “to bring our conference together and get back to work.”

Hern, from Oklahoma and chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus in Congress, kicked off his run for speaker minutes after Jordan said he had dropped out of the race.

Johnson, a socially and fiscally conservative constitutional law attorney from Louisiana, has been a member since 2017. He said in a letter to colleagues on Saturday that he was running as a consensus candidate and billed himself as a “team player and a bridge-builder.”

Meuser, who is from Pennsylvania and has been in the House for four years, has endorsed former President Donald Trump for the 2024 White House race. In a letter announcing his candidacy for speaker, Meuser said the speaker’s office had to prioritize each member and “the unique needs of their districts.”

Palmer, an outspoken defender of former President Trump, was elected to Congress in 2014. He is the chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, whose goal is to unite congressional Republicans.

Scott, a Georgia lawmaker who has kept a relatively low profile in his 12 years in Congress, also launched his candidacy on Friday. He challenged Jordan for the nomination last week but failed.

Sessions, a Texas congressman since 1997 who chairs the House Rules Committee, declared his candidacy on Friday, saying he has the experience to unite the party.

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Israel bombarded Gaza with air strikes early on Monday and its aircraft struck southern Lebanon overnight, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a meeting of his top generals and his war cabinet to assess the escalating conflict.

Israel’s attacks concentrated on the Gaza Strip’s centre and north, Palestinian media reported. A strike on a house near the Jabalia refugee camp, in northern Gaza, killed several Palestinians and wounded others, according to media reports.

Health authorities in Gaza said at least 4,600 people were killed in Israel’s two-week bombardment that began after a Hamas Oct. 7 rampage on southern Israeli communities in which 1,400 people were killed and 212 were taken into Gaza as hostages.

Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian discussed in a call late on Sunday the means of stopping Israel’s “brutal crimes” in Gaza, Hamas said in a statement.

Israel has amassed tanks and troops near the fenced border around Gaza for a planned ground invasion aiming to annihilate Hamas.

Fears that the Israel-Hamas war could mushroom into a wider Middle East conflict rose over the weekend with Washington warning of a significant risk to U.S. interests in the region and announcing a new deployment of advanced air defenses.

Washington has already dispatched a significant amount of naval power to the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers, support ships and about 2,000 Marines, to help deter attacks by Iran-affiliated forces.

“What we’re seeing … is the prospect of a significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday.

Iranian security officials told Reuters Iran’s strategy was for Middle East proxies like Hezbollah to pursue limited strikes on Israeli and U.S. targets but to avoid a major escalation that would draw in Tehran, a high-wire act for the Islamic Republic.

In neighbouring Syria, where Hamas’ main regional backer Iran has a military presence, Israeli missiles hit Damascus and Aleppo international airports early on Sunday, putting both out of service and killing two workers, Syrian state media said.

Along Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, the Iran-backed Hezbollah group has clashed with Israeli forces in support of Hamas in the deadliest escalation of frontier violence since an Israel-Hezbollah war in 2006.

Israeli aircraft struck two Hezbollah cells in Lebanon early on Monday which were planning to launch anti-tank missiles and rockets toward Israel, its military said.

With violence around its heavily guarded borders increasing, Israel on Sunday added 14 communities close to Lebanon and Syria to its evacuation contingency plan in the north of the country.

Hezbollah announced the deaths of six more fighters late on Sunday, raising to 26 the number of its members killed since Oct. 7.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh called on the international community to create “a united front” to stop Israel’s attacks in Gaza and allow desperately needed aid which has only begun to trickle in.

A second convoy of 14 aid trucks entered the Rafah crossing to the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday night, and U.S. President Joe Biden and Netanyahu affirmed in a call “there will now be continued flow of this critical assistance into Gaza,” the White House said.

The U.N. humanitarian office said the volume of aid entering so far was just 4% of the daily average before the hostilities and a fraction of what was needed with food, water, medicines and fuel stocks running out.

Biden also ramped up his diplomacy, convening separate calls on Sunday with the leaders of Canada, France, Britain, Germany and Italy, after speaking with Netanyahu and Pope Francis.

Netanyahu also held a phone call with the leaders of France, Spain and the Netherlands late on Sunday, the Israeli leader’s office said.

“The prime minister noted his nation’s unity and determination to eliminate the military and governing capabilities of Hamas,” Netanyahu’s office said.

French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will visit Israel this week.

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Argentina’sgeneral election vote was being counted on Sunday evening, with early signals suggesting the under-fire Peronist ruling coalition was performing better than expected, while all eyes remained on far-right libertarian radical Javier Milei.

Argentines flocked to the polls on Sunday to vote in a tense national election where wild-haired outsider Milei has hogged the limelight amid the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades and rising anger with the traditional elite.

Around the South American country voters cast their ballots, with three main candidates likely to split the vote: frontrunner libertarian economist Milei, centrist Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa and conservative Patricia Bullrich.

While no official data has been released, nor formal exit polls, local news channels cited leaked early data to say Massa was outperforming pre-election polls and in first place, ahead of Milei and then Bullrich. Reuters could not verify that.

The mood at Massa’s election bunker, however, was jubilant. Pre-election polls had shown him in second place behind Milei.

Officials and sources from all three of the main candidates indicated they expected a run-off, though all said their candidate had a chance to make it. To win outright, a candidate needs over 45% of the vote or 40% and a 10-point lead.

Any run-off would be held on Nov. 19.

With the three top candidates offering starkly different visions, the ballot is likely to roil financial markets, set a new political and social path for the nation and impact its ties with trade partners including China and Brazil. Argentina is a major grains exporter with huge lithium and shale gas reserves.

“We have never had so much polarization,” said 72-year-old pensioner Silvia Monto as she voted in Buenos Aires on Sunday.

Milei, pledging to “chainsaw” the economic and political status quo, has seen angry voters flock to his tear-it-all-down message, fed up with annual inflation at close to 140% and poverty affecting over two-fifths of the population.

“Milei is the incarnation of all society’s demands,” said Juan Luis Gonzalez, who wrote a biography of him titled “El Loco”, meaning the crazy one. He thinks Milei, a brash former TV pundit likened to Donald Trump and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, will win despite being an “unstable” character who could damage Argentina further.

“I see a very worrying situation,” Gonzalez said.

Election authorities said turnout was around 74%, up from the August primaries, but considerably lower than the 81% participation at the last general election four years ago.

Whoever of the trio emerges victorious will have to deal with an economy on life support: central bank reserves are empty, recession is expected after a major drought, and a $44 billion program with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is wobbling.

Milei’s recipe of shock therapy includes pledges to dollarize the economy, shut the central bank, slash the size of government and privatize state entities. He has criticized China, favors looser gun laws, opposes abortion and is anti-feminist.

“He is the only one who understands the situation in the country and understands how to save it,” said Buenos Aires student Nicolas Mercado, 22.

Susana Munoz, 62, a retiree, meanwhile said the rise of Milei was a reflection of upheaval globally, where high inflation, conflict and migration was stoking divisions.

“The world is complicated and we aren’t immune to that,” she said as she voted on Sunday. “The right is advancing everywhere and that we have characters like Milei is unthinkable.”

Massa, current economy chief, is in the running despite overseeing inflation hitting triple digits for the first time since 1991. He has said he will cut the fiscal deficit, stick with the peso and defend the Peronist social welfare safety net.

“Peronism … is the only space that offers the possibility that the poorest of us can have basic things at our fingertips,” said bricklayer Carlos Gutierrez, 61. “I trust that Massa will get it right.”

Bullrich, a former security minister who is popular in business circles, has seen her support diluted by the unexpected emergence of Milei. Pollsters see her as the most likely of the top three runners to miss out on a second round.

Many voters were tired after many years of economic malaise.

“I vote out of obligation, but with little desire,” said Silvana Dezilio, 37, a housewife in Buenos Aires province.

“All governments promise things and end up sinking us a little more. It seems unbelievable, but we are getting worse and worse. We read that other countries have overcome the problems that for us are getting worse every day,” she said.

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Once effectively banned, Chinese science fiction has exploded into the mainstream, embraced by the government and public alike — inviting scrutiny of a genre that has become known for its expanding diversity and relative freedom.

Its new status was epitomized by this week’s Worldcon, the world’s oldest and most influential sci-fi gathering, which closed Sunday after taking place in China for the first time.

Held in the gleaming new Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, the event’s star was Liu Cixin, author of the international phenomenon “Three-Body” series and inspiration for the domestic blockbuster “Wandering Earth.”

But the wider science fiction fandom has become a rare space where diverse voices have flourished and a vast array of issues — social, environmental, even sometimes political — can be explored.

“In its nature, part of sci-fi is talking about the present,” award-winning author Chen Qiufan told AFP.

“It takes advantage of talking about outer space, or being set in different times, but reflects the human condition right now.”

Chen’s own novel “The Waste Tide” is set in a dystopian future China, where migrant e-waste workers toil in hazardous conditions, exploited by corrupt conglomerates.  

He grew up near Guiyu, once one of the largest e-waste dumps in the world.

Ecological destruction, urbanization, social inequality, gender, corruption, to name just a few — “these issues are intersectional and intertwined with each other,” said Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University’s Liu Xi.

Together, they “allow everyone to understand Chinese writers’ exploration of Chinese society,” she said.  

That can be rare to find in today’s China, where the space for political and artistic expression has shrunk drastically over the last decade under President Xi Jinping.

Spiritual pollution

Historically, science fiction has had a turbulent relationship with Chinese authorities — it effectively disappeared during the Cultural Revolution and then was banned as “spiritual pollution” in the 1980s.

Though it returned, it remained relatively obscure.

Writer Regina Kanyu Wang said it was only at university that she met other fans — together they formed one of the smaller clubs on campus.

Sci-fi was not taken seriously, and seen as something for children and young adults, Chen said.

That had its advantages.

“There was a lot of freedom… because nobody was reading science fiction, (authors) could just do whatever they wanted,” the University of Zurich’s Jessica Imbach told AFP.

The global success of the “Three-Body” series changed everything, catapulting its epic themes of technological prowess and the fate of humanity into the public consciousness.

“Whether you like science fiction or not, the social reality we are facing is becoming more and more like science fiction,” said Yu Xuying from Hong Kong Metropolitan University.

“We live in a high-tech era. And then your daily life is completely technological,” she said.

The pace of digital change in China, already fast, was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cash has all but disappeared, and stringent health regulations further enhanced the state’s significant surveillance capacity.

The international interest spike in Chinese sci-fi is also related to real-world concerns, Chen believes.

“I think there are different layers of reasons for the phenomenon,” he said.  

“But a major one is the rising economic and technological power of China on the world stage.”

A good vehicle

China’s government has been happy to capitalize on all this.

“At a national level, science fiction is a good vehicle for conveying the country’s discourse on its science and technology strength,” said Yu.  

It can also help “highlight the relationship between the Chinese dream (a Xi-era aspirational slogan) and science,” she said.  

Authorities have put their money where their mouth is.

The nebula-shaped Chengdu Science Fiction Museum, designed by the renowned Zaha Hadid Architects, was built at light speed in just a year to coincide with Worldcon.  

The event, historically fan-led and funded, this year was a “capitalistic initiative, coming top-down from the Chinese government,” said Chen.

“They want sci-fi to be the name card of the city, showing China’s openness and inclusiveness to the world,” he said.

Government attention comes with potential risk.

“The Three-Body Problem” has a different structure in English, with the narrative beginning with a violent Cultural Revolution scene.  

In the original Chinese, it was buried halfway through the book to make it less conspicuous, the translator Ken Liu was told.  

Liu told the New York Times in 2019 that increasingly, “it’s gotten much harder for me to talk about the work of Chinese authors without… causing them trouble.”

Some works he has translated into English, deemed too sensitive, have never been published in Chinese at all.  

“If you’re very marginal, if you have low print numbers in China, then it’s OK, you have more leeway. If you’re doing a mega big-budget movie… it’s much more complicated,” said Imbach.

“That’s what’s now also happening with science fiction,” she said.  

“As it’s becoming more mainstream, there is increased scrutiny.”

US says it will retaliate if American forces are attacked in Middle East  Al Jazeera English