Category: Western Media

At least 13 people were injured early Sunday when an apparent street party in Syracuse, New York, turned violent. Syracuse police Lt. Matthew Malinowski told reporters that at least four people suffered gunshot wounds and five others suffered apparent knife wounds. The other victims were apparently accidently struck by vehicles fleeing what the department called a “large gathering of hundreds of people” on the city’s West Side. All of those injured, three males and 10 females between the ages of…

Struggling to overcome recruiting shortfalls, the Army and the Air Force have bolstered their marketing to entice legal residents to enlist, putting out pamphlets, working social media and broadening their outreach, particularly in inner cities. One key element is the use of recruiters with similar backgrounds to these potential recruits. Airman 1st Class Joshua Fancisco, from the Philippines, left, Airman 1st Class D’elbrah Assamoi, from Cote D’Ivoire, center, and Airman 1st Class Jordan Flash, from Jamaica, looks at their U.S….

WASHINGTON – The US expanded a ban on imports from China’s Xinjiang region, placing two more companies on its so-called entity list, the first additions since a law targeting forced labour in the area took effect a year ago. Printing and imaging company Ninestar Corp and eight of its subsidiaries, as well as Xinjiang Zhongtai Chemical, were added to the list “for working with the government of Xinjiang to recruit, transport, transfer, harbour or receive forced labour” involving Uighur and…

China has been operating a spy base in Cuba since at least 2019, part of a global effort by Beijing to upgrade its intelligence-gathering capabilities, according to a Biden administration official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the U.S. intelligence community has been aware of China’s spying from Cuba and a larger effort to set up intelligence-gathering operations around the globe for some time. The Biden administration has stepped…

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will give up his parliamentary seat amid a long-running ethics investigation that is expected to produce a report into his behavior as prime minister next week. In a blistering statement announcing his resignation from the legislature, Johnson described as a “kangaroo court” the parliamentary committee tasked with examining whether he lied to fellow lawmakers about social gatherings inside government buildings that had flouted his own COVID-19 social distancing regulations. The committee had provided him…

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Thursday it was suspending food aid to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. A spokesperson said USAID had determined, in coordination with the Ethiopian government, that a “widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia”. The statement did not say who was behind the campaign. The United States is by far the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia, where more than 20…

China completed a second phase of joint air patrols with Russia over the Western Pacific on Wednesday, following flights on the previous day over the Sea of Japan and East China Sea, prompting concerns in Japan over national security. Both South Korea and Japan scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday, when the Chinese and Russian joint patrols got underway as part of their militaries’ annual cooperation plan. The flights are a “serious concern” for Japan’s national security, and those concerns were…

Fox News on Wednesday notified Mr Tucker Carlson’s legal team that the former prime-time host violated his contract with the network when he launched his own Twitter show on Tuesday, Axios reported, citing a copy of a letter obtained by the news website. Mr Carlson released the first episode of his new show on Twitter on Tuesday, weeks after being taken off the air by Fox following a damaging defamation lawsuit over false claims of election fraud. Fox News general…

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had an “open, candid” conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the early hours of Wednesday about a wide range of bilateral issues, a US official said. The top US diplomat arrived in Saudi Arabia late on Tuesday for a much anticipated visit amid frayed ties due to deepening disagreements on everything from Iran policy to regional security issues, oil prices and human rights. Washington has struggled to…

ROME — Magistrates in Italy are probing former Leonardo and Fincantieri officials as part of an investigation into alleged corruption. Police removed computer files from the homes of ex-Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo and a former Italian Italian prime minister, Massimo D’Alema, and are probing former Fincantieri executive Giuseppe Giordo amid claims bribes were offered to Columbian officials to buy planes and ships. Gianluca Luongo, D’Alema’s lawyer told Defense News the men were accused of offering the bribes while seeking to…

A Florida man has pleaded guilty to importing and selling counterfeit Cisco networking equipment to various organizations, including education, government agencies, healthcare, and the military. The 39-year-old resident of Florida, Onur Aksoy, conducted the scheme through 19 companies formed in New Jersey and Florida and in several online storefronts, collectively known as ‘Pro Network Entities,’  Aksoy had a criminal complaint filed against him approximately a year ago, with the Department of Justice accusing him of running the counterfeit scheme between 2014…

ATLANTA – Mr Chris Licht, the former television producer who oversaw a brief and chaotic tenure as chairman of CNN, is out at the network. Mr Licht’s 13-month run at CNN was marked by one controversy after another, culminating in his exit earlier this week. He got off to a bumpy start even before he officially started when he oversaw the shuttering of the pricey CNN+ streaming service at the request of its network’s new owners, who were sceptical about…

Treasury officials have been accused of being asleep at the wheel on breaches of confidential government information. Officials were grilled on their knowledge of potential breaches of confidential Treasury data by former PwC partner Peter Collins, who has been referred to federal police to investigate the allegations. Greens senator Barbara Pocock hit out at Treasury’s decision to sign new confidentiality agreements with Mr Collins after they became aware of a possible breach. While Treasury officials told the committee they had…

SINGAPORE — Canada is pledging to step up its military posture in the Indo-Pacific, with its defense minister announcing the nation will annually commit to the region an additional warship. This will boost the size of the Royal Canadian Navy’s annual deployment to the Indo-Pacific from two to three ships, according to defense minister Anita Anand, who added that the deployment would grow Canada’s regional presence, particularly in the Indian Ocean. Anand was speaking here at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue,…

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A federal judge says Tennessee’s first-in-the-nation law designed to place strict limits on drag shows is unconstitutional. In a 70-page ruling handed down late Friday night, U.S. District Judge Thomas Parker wrote that the law was both “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad.” He also added that the statute encouraged “discriminatory enforcement.” “There is no question that obscenity is not protected by the First Amendment. But there is a difference between material that is ‘obscene’ in the vernacular,…

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force walked back comments reportedly made by a colonel regarding a simulation in which a drone outwitted its artificial intelligence training and killed its handler, after the claims went viral on social media. Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said in a June 2 statement no such testing took place, adding that the service member’s comments were likely “taken out of context and were meant to be anecdotal.” “The Department of the Air Force has not…