Monday, June 12, 2023

Cuba hits back at ‘slanderous’ US claims that China has had a spy base on the island since 2019




CUBA has hit back at further claims that there has been a Chinese spy base on the island since at least 2019.

An unnamed United States official briefed reporters that Washington believes that China has been using the Caribbean island as a base for intelligence gathering for at least the last four years.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US 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.

But Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio hit back at the briefing in a Twitter post on Saturday.

Mr de Cossio wrote: “The slanderous speculation continues, evidently promoted by certain media to cause harm and alarm without observing minimum patterns of communication and without providing data or evidence to support what they disseminate.”

MORNINGSTAR UK CPBB

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that China and Cuba had reached an agreement in principle to build an electronic eavesdropping station on the island.

Without providing evidence, the White House called the report inaccurate but added that Chinese spying from Cuba was not a new development.
In a flurry of moves, Saudi Arabia lays groundwork for its post-oil future

ByLucy Cormack
June 12, 2023 — 

Marathon talks between the world’s biggest oil-producing nations in Austria saw Saudi Arabia commit to cut oil production by 1 million barrels a day in July – a unilateral stab at stabilising a volatile oil market.

The unexpected announcement following the meeting of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) last weekend was made against a backdrop of slumping oil prices, the war in Ukraine and soaring global inflation.



Saudi Arabia is cutting oil production by 1 million barrels a day, taking it to its lowest level in several years.CREDIT:AP

The International Monetary Fund suggests Saudi Arabia needs oil above $US80 a barrel to fund its pipeline of multibillion-dollar “giga-projects” at the centre of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s Vision 2030 strategy.

But the kingdom is trying to talk a fine balance – keeping oil prices high, even as it looks to remake itself in a post-oil-dependent future.


RELATED ARTICLE

Antony Blinken tells Saudis reform means improving nation’s human rights

Saudi Arabia’s ambitious blueprint includes a plan to transform hundreds of kilometres of Red Sea coast into a climate-controlled future city, called Neom.

“There is a lot of spending going into these grandiose projects,” said Kate Dourian, a non-resident fellow of The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.

“Presumably, the reason for the unilateral [oil production] cut is a test to see how it affects price. And if it does, then that will probably be extended.”

Vision 2030 is the crown jewel in the kingdom’s diversification plan, as it works to project a new image – recasting its reputation and boosting non-oil private sectors.

At the end of an inaugural two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the “historic” plan was in the kingdom’s interests in pursuing modernisation, “including the expansion of human rights”.

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom had gone through a “significant reform process” but the government was driven by “the needs and desires of the Saudi people”.

“We are always open to having a dialogue with our friends, but we don’t respond to pressure. When we do anything, we do it in our own interests,” he said.


NEOM: The Line future-city, a centrepiece of the Vision 2030 strategy for Saudi Arabia.


The kingdom’s hopes don’t just rely on nation-building at home.

Harnessing the soft-power of sport is another area Riyadh has set its hopes on.

At the core of Vision 2030 is Saudi Arabia’s flex to woo the world’s most popular sports – and its stars – into its orbit, with billions already being pumped into football, golf, Formula 1 racing and pro-wrestling.

There is money to be made, as shown by Qatar’s 2022 FIFA World Cup,
CREDIT:WORLD CUP AUTHORITY

Sporting event revenue has grown by an annual 8 per cent since 2018, and is forecast to reach $3.3 billion next year, according to global consultancy EY.

From a global sports industry worth somewhere in the region of about $750 billion – 40 per cent of which is accounted for by the US – there is money to be made, as shown by Qatar’s 2022 FIFA World Cup, cricket in Dubai and Abu Dhabi’s annual Rugby Sevens tournament.

“We’re talking about countries that are hugely dependent upon oil … having to think about what else they can do,” said Simon Chadwick, a geopolitics and economics professor at SKEMA Business School.

“Whether it’s football, cricket, rugby or the Olympics; it’s a global language. It transcends lots of other things.”

This week’s stunning announcement that the LIV Golf tournament owned by Saudi’s $980 billion wealth fund would finally merge with the PGA Tour and Europe’s DP World Tour was a win for the kingdom.

With the merger to form a new global golf entity, Saudi Arabia acquired its desired sporting legitimacy, Chadwick said. “It’s no longer an outsider – it’s at the top table.”

Dr Anas Iqtait, lecturer in Middle East economics at the Australian National University, said the pursuit of international sporting legitimacy sought to reshape the nation’s global image as a destination for sport, business and investment.



LIV Golf chief executive Greg Norman, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund governor Yasir al-Rumayyan and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan.
CREDIT:GETTY

“This redefined image is a significant factor in attracting foreign direct investment, which is integral to the successful implementation of the kingdom’s 2030 vision.”

While Saudi Arabia will bid to co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup, alongside Greece and Egypt, there are also hints it is eyeing an American NBA or NFL franchise.

Sport has long held currency in geopolitics, Chadwick argues, pointing to colonial era Great Britain’s deployment of sport around the Empire in the 18th and 19th centuries. But he says its value has clearly escalated.

“We’re now beginning to see sport being used for diplomatic purposes … sport being used for the purposes of nation-branding and soft power projection.”

With Reuters

Arab-China conference in Saudi Arabia sees $10bn agreements signed on first day

The New Arab Staff
11 June, 2023

It is anticipated contracts will total over $40 billion across the two days of the business event in Riyadh, Saudi media said.

The 10th edition of the Arab-China Business Conference started in Saudi Arabia on Sunday [FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty]

The opening day of this year's Arab-China Business Conference in Saudi Arabia on Sunday has seen $10 billion in agreements signed, according to sources.

Deals in the electric car industry reached $5 billion, sources told Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya.

It is anticipated contracts will total over $40 billion across the two days of the business event in Riyadh, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper said.

Al Arabiya reported that the first day saw the host country's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan say China was a $430-billion trading partner for the Arab world, a higher figure than for any other country.

He also said Chinese leader Xi Jinping's trip to Saudi Arabia "further consolidated bilateral relations".

"The conference of Arab and Chinese businessmen is an opportunity for the private sector to discuss investment prospects," Prince Faisal said.

"It is also an opportunity to work on strengthening Arab-Chinese friendship and to work on building a shared future."


Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman spoke about the issue of oil.

"When it comes to oil, oil demand in China is still growing. So of course, you have to capture some of that demand. So as chemical," he said.

"So of course we have to capture some of that demand. We want to invest in China, because we also have an ambitious program on crude to chemicals."

The 10th edition of the Arab-China Business Conference came after Prince Faisal, in a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday, said Riyadh's relations with Beijing were not a "zero-sum game".

Prince Faisal played down talk that the kingdom was moving away from the US in favour of its rival China.

"I don't ascribe to this zero-sum game," Prince Faisal said in Riyadh.

"We are all capable of having multiple partnerships and multiple engagements and the US does the same in many instances.

"So I'm not caught up in this really negative view of this. I think we can actually build a partnership that crosses these borders."

Analysis
Giorgio Cafiero

China's growing role in the Middle East was demonstrated when it brokered a surprise rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March, seven years after the two heavyweights severed ties.

The deal, announced in Beijing, followed recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and the US, its decades-old security guarantor, mainly over human rights and oil prices.

But Blinken said on Thursday: "We've also been very clear we're not asking anyone to choose between the United States and China.

"We're simply trying to demonstrate the benefits of our partnership and the affirmative agenda that we bring."

(AFP, The New Arab, Reuters)
'A Perfect Storm': Hundreds of Thousands of Fish Wash Up Dead on Texas Beach

"As we see increased water temperatures, certainly this could lead to more of these events occurring," one expert said.



A fish die-off caused by low oxygen levels as seen on June 9, 2023 along the Texas Gulf Coast.
(Photo: Quintana Beach County Park/Facebook)
COMMON DREAMS
Jun 11, 2023


Hundreds of thousands of fish washed up dead along Texas beaches over the weekend as a "perfect storm" of weather, water, and temperature conditions depleted the oxygen they needed to survive.

While die-offs like these are naturally occurring, the climate crisis can make them ever more likely.

"As we see increased water temperatures, certainly this could lead to more of these events occurring," Katie St. Clair, who manages the sea life facility at Texas A&M University at Galveston, toldThe New York Times Sunday, "especially in our shallow, near-shore or inshore environments."

"You could literally see a straight-across mass of fish floating on the water."

Thousands of dead fish began washing up on local beaches in Texas' Brazoria County Friday, Quintana Beach County Park wrote on Facebook. The park wrote that the fish were mostly Gulf menhaden.

The carcasses continued to wash in on Saturday. Park supervisor Patty Brinkmeyer toldCNN that the dead fish numbered in the "hundreds of thousands" since Friday morning.

In her 17 years at the park, Brinkmeyer said this was "by far" the largest of the three die-offs she had observed.

"You could literally see a straight-across mass of fish floating on the water," she told CNN. "It looked like a big blanket."

In the near-term, Brazoria County Parks Department director Bryan Frazier told The New York Times that the fish kill was caused by a "perfect storm" of conditions.

These were cloudy skies, calm waters, and warm temperatures, Quintana Beach County Park explained on Facebook.

"Cooler water is capable of holding much more oxygen than warmer water, and fish that find themselves in warm water can end up in big trouble," the park said. "When water temperature rises above 70 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes hard for menhaden to receive enough oxygen to survive."

Because both water mixing and photosynthesis can add oxygen to the water, calm and cloudy days can also mean less oxygen for the fish to breathe.

In the longer term, a 2019 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that the climate crisis was increasing low-oxygen events, also known as hypoxia, in coastal waters.

The Gulf of Mexico already has one of the largest low-oxygen areas in the world—known as a "dead zone" because fish and other marine life cannot survive there—caused by nutrient pollution from agricultural and urban runoff into the Mississippi River.

When oxygen gets too low near the sea floor, "fish and shrimp leave the area and anything that can't escape—like crabs, worms, and clams—dies," the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

The Gulf is also extremely vulnerable to other climate impacts like sea level rise and more intense hurricanes.

"I would say all of those things, put together, are going to create enormous pressure on the coastlines in the Gulf of Mexico—leading to the potential loss of wetlands and damage to inshore communities," Dr. Lisa Levin, an oceanographer at University of California, San Diego, and one of the authors of the 2019 report, toldWWNO at the time.

Additional die-offs of menhaden specifically could add to those pressures, as St. Clair told the Times that the fish play an important role in the ecosystem.

"You could see cascading impacts if we continue to have these large fish kills," she said.

In the immediate future, things are looking up for the Texas coast.

"It appears the last of the fish have washed in. The most recent are deteriorated to the point of being shredded skeletons. Our beach crew should have the pedestrian beach cleared today and begin the Quintana public beach tomorrow," Quintana Beach County Park wrote on Facebook Sunday.

NOAA also predicted June 5 that this summer's Gulf dead zone would be smaller than average, at approximately 4,155 square miles rather than 5,364 square miles.

However, for some, the incident remains a sign of a mounting emergency.

"Another example of how the fossil fuel industry destroys the planet's life-nourishing ecosystems," lawyer and human rights advocate Steven Donziger tweeted Sunday.


Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

OLIVIA ROSANE is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
$$$ FOR ANTI-MIGRANT AUSTERITY 
Tunisia: EU considering €1bn aid package as migration surges

The aid would develop Tunisia's battered economy, rescue state finances and deal with migration crisis, with funds contingent on it agreeing to painful economic reforms


Tunisians protest over worsening economic woes in Tunisia's second city of Sfax, 
18 February 2023 (AFP)

By MEE and agencies
Published date: 11 June 2023 

The European Union said on Sunday it may loan Tunisia over €1bn ($1.07bn) to help develop its battered economy, rescue state finances and deal with a migration crisis, with most of the funds contingent on it agreeing to painful economic reforms.

The offer was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during a visit to Tunisia along with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is anxious about migration across the Mediterranean.

Their effort, spurred by increasing concerns in Europe about Tunisia's economic stability, is part of a last-ditch push by major donors to persuade President Kais Saied to agree to the terms of a $1.9bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

Saied has so far rejected the proposals, originally made by his own government, to cut subsidies and restructure loss-making state-owned companies, saying this risks a social explosion.

Tunisian state media cited Saied as saying he had "confirmed" during the meeting with the European leaders that "solutions cannot be in the form of diktats and the IMF should review its prescriptions".

Donors say time is almost up for Tunisia to agree to the loan and avert a collapse in its state finances, but they are unwilling to lend it money without the reassurance of fully costed reforms that could allow it to repay its debts.

A factsheet released by the EU said the body would lend Tunisia up to €900m to help its macro-finances once it finalised the IMF programme, for which a preliminary agreement was reached in October.

The EU could also provide €150m in budget support this year "in the context of a reform agenda", the factsheet said.

'Window of opportunity'


Von der Leyen added that the EU would also this year provide Tunisia with €100m for border management, search and rescue, anti-smuggling operations and returns "rooted in respect for human rights".

Tunisia's presidency said in a statement that it was creating a partnership with the EU to combat illegal migration. But Saied also said: "The solution that some secretly call for is to settle migrants in exchange for money, a solution that is neither humane nor acceptable."

Meloni, who also visited Tunisia last week, has pressed for the IMF to relax conditions for its loan programme.

She said on Sunday there was "an important window of opportunity" to finalise the aid agreement before the European Council at the end of June.


French migrant centre overwhelmed as sub-Saharan Africans flee Tunisia
Read More »

Von der Leyen also laid out a series of longer-term European efforts to help Tunisia's economy, including ongoing projects for a €150m digital cable link to Europe and a €300m renewable energy power export project.

She said the EU would also expand opportunities for young Tunisians to study, work and train in the EU to help them develop skills that could be used to boost the Tunisian economy.

In March, the World Bank suspended its work with Tunisia after African migrants were attacked in the country, following a xenophobic speech by Saied at the end of February.

The bank's outgoing president, David Malpass, said Saied's tirade had triggered "racially motivated harassment and even violence" and that the institution had postponed a planned meeting with Tunisia until further notice while it assesses the situation.

In Saied's speech, widely denounced as racist, the Tunisian president had said “there has been a criminal plan since the beginning of the century to change the demographic structure of Tunisia and there are parties that received large sums of money after 2011 for the settlement of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa”.

The US also weighed into Saied's comments.

“As you heard from the World Bank, we too are deeply concerned by President Saied's remarks regarding migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Tunisia and reports of arbitrary arrests of migrants in recent weeks," US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price had said.

"We urge Tunisian authorities to meet their obligations under international law to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants," he added.
Engulfed in crises

Tunisia has been engulfed in crises since July 2021, when Saied unilaterally suspended parliament and dissolved the government in what many have called a "constitutional coup".

He subsequently ruled by decree, before pushing through a new constitution that enshrined his one-man rule.

Tunisia’s economy has imploded, with the country wracked by high inflation and shortages of basic commodities from fuel to cooking oil, a crisis exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Saied has also become more bellicose with western officials. In February he ordered the expulsion of Esther Lynch, Europe's top trade union official, over a speech his office called "blatant interference" in the country's internal affairs.

 'UNTARNISHED DIAMOND OF EUROPE'S JEWISH HERITAGE'?

In Tel Aviv, Lithuanian PM extols Israel alliance but sidesteps Nazi collaboration

Holocaust expert calls Ingrida Å imonytÄ—’s speech at AJC confab ‘pathetic’ for ignoring country’s role murdering Jews; Vilnius urges Israel to help Ukraine fend off Iranian drones

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Å imonytÄ—'s speaks at the American Jewish Committee's Global Forum event in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 11, 2023. (Courtesy of AJC)
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Å imonytÄ—'s speaks at the American Jewish Committee's Global Forum event in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 11, 2023. (Courtesy of AJC)

Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Å imonytÄ— called Israel’s defenses “the best antidote against Iranian weapons,” in a speech in Tel Aviv Sunday, outlining security interests shared by Israel and other Western democracies in light of Russian-Iranian cooperation against Ukraine.

The remarks, delivered to an American Jewish Committee gathering, featured no mentions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or alleged Israeli wrongdoing, despite severe criticism of Israeli actions from the European Union, which Lithuania is a member of. But Å imonytÄ— also did not mention Lithuanians’ role in persecuting Jews during the Holocaust, instead describing the Nazi’s systemic killing machine as a horror visited equally on Jews and Gentiles alike.

Å imonytÄ— told the hundreds of Jewish leaders and activists at the Global Forum summit about certain aspects of the centuries-long presence of Jews in Lithuania, which she described in positive terms and as a bridge that unites Lithuanian-Israeli bilateral relations.

In a speech following Å imonytÄ—, Greek lawmaker Margaritis Schinas, one of the European Commission’s eight vice presidents, also did not reference any of the Commission’s frustrations with Israel, including over the demolition of an EU-funded Palestinian school in the West Bank last month.

Both speeches underlined a well-documented split over Israel in the EU which often requires consensus for major foreign policy actions. Israel has forged warm relations with some of the bloc’s eastern member states – Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic –as well as with Greece and Cyprus, which reportedly helps block critical EU moves.

But to some, Å imonytÄ—’s decision to paper over the widespread collaboration and murderous persecution of Jews by Lithuanians during the Holocaust, or the divisive debate this is generating in Lithuania today, also highlighted the price that sometimes comes attached to such support.

Efraim Zuroff at the Vilnius home of his uncle and namesake, Efraim Zar, who was murdered in the Holocaust, in this undated photo. (Ruta Vanagaite)

“It’s absolutely pathetic,” Efraim Zuroff, the Eastern Europe director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, said of Å imonytÄ—’s speech, which earned thunderous applause from the largely American audience.

He lambasted specifically her statement that the Holocaust was “an indescribable trauma upon Lithuania, leaving lasting scars that persist even to this day.” More than 90% of the country’s Jewry was murdered during the Holocaust, including at the hands of Lithuanians.

It “says that Lithuanians are suffering from the Holocaust, and then fails to mention that they’re the ones who carried out the Holocaust,” Zuroff told The Times of Israel.

A historian who specializes in the Holocaust in Lithuania, Zuroff has long criticized what he regards as Holocaust distortion there.

Zuroff criticized the AJC for hosting Å imonytÄ—’s speech and not pushing back on what he said was her dishonesty about Lithuania’s Holocaust-era record.

The Vilnius University building is illuminated with the colors of Ukraine to mark the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of the country, in Vilnius, Lithuania, February 24, 2023. (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)

According to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial and Museum, Lithuania was one of the few Nazi-occupied countries where locals showed “enthusiasm” for collaboration with Germany. Even when this enthusiasm “subsided … hostility towards Jews and denunciation persisted,” the museum says.

Zuroff’s criticism is part of a broader debate in Israel and the Jewish World about the tendency in Eastern Europe to ignore Nazi collaboration and the differences in how World War II impacted Jews and their non-Jewish neighbors.

In Poland, legislation from 2018 that made it illegal to blame the Polish nation for Nazi crimes sparked an uproar and a diplomatic crisis with Israel that has only begun to be resolved recently.

The Hungarian-Israeli alliance has also been the target of criticism amid controversies over what critics of the government consider an attempt to whitewash Holocaust-era complicity, though the Hungarian government disputes this.

In Kaunas, Lithuania, more than 50 Jews were murdered by Lithuanian nationalists on the eve of the German take-over of the city, June 1941 (public domain)

Multiple Nazi collaborators are widely celebrated as heroes in Lithuania because they opposed the Soviet Union, which ended up dominating Lithuania’s territory until 1990.

Glossing over those facts, Å imonytÄ— declared Lithuania “can be rightfully called the untarnished diamond of Europe’s Jewish cultural heritage, forged over a generation by the Jewish community in Lithuania.”

A spokesperson for AJC declined to comment on Zuroff’s criticism. The Lithuanian embassy in Israel did not immediately reply to a request for its response to Zuroff’s remarks.

The issues she sidestepped have left a mark on Israel’s bilateral ties with Lithuania.

In 2019, then-Israel’s ambassador to the Baltic nation Yosef Levy told a Lithuanian audience, “The most patriotic thing you can do is teach history honestly,” because: “People have to know what happened here. It’s an open wound.”

A demonstrator beats a swastika-emblazoned drum at a far-right march in Kaunas, Lithuania on February 16, 2015. (Canaan Lidor)

Instead, Å imonytÄ— spoke at length about Russia, joining voices from Ukraine and elsewhere who have urged Israel to shed what remains of its neutrality and supply Kyiv with air defenses, especially against drones allegedly produced and supplied by Iran.

Russia “gets access to Iran’s weapon supply and Iran at the same time is advancing its nuclear program and inflaming regional instability,” she said. She accused Moscow of sending drone parts to seven companies in Iran producing the UAVS, saying it showed the need for “a wider solution to ban export of drone components to Iran.”

But she added that “we all know that Israel’s defensive systems remain the best antidote against Iranian weapons.”

Ukraine and others have long pushed Israel to lend the hard-earned fruits of its experiences fighting Iranian drones, missiles and armaments to Ukraine as it battles the Russian invasion, including the Iron Dome air defense battery. Israel has largely refused, ana analysts have noted its interest in keeping an open line with Moscow, which controls the skies over Syria.

Much of Å imonytÄ—’s speech was about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, which sparked fears in Lithuania that an increasingly belligerent Russia could threaten their country’s sovereignty. She suggested that Israel, which has attempted to avoid worsening its ties with Russia over the Ukraine war, belongs firmly to the anti-Russian coalition and should share from its experience to prosecute Russian war crimes.

Despite their geographic distance, Israel and Lithuania “stand together as nations that have overcome great obstacles to secure our right [place] in the world,” Å imonytÄ— said, adding that Israelis “have built a thriving nation that serves as a beacon of democracy and progress in the region.”

Israel’s “contributions to science, technology and culture are remarkable, and continue to make strides that benefit humanity as a whole,” she said.

Other dignitaries attending the four-day Global Forum, which began Sunday, include Austrian Federal Minister Karoline Edtstadler and US Ambassador Tom Nides. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked AJC for hosting its event in Israel to celebrate the 75th anniversary of its establishment.

Casting a shadow over the event was the government’s plans to shuffle the judiciary, which has roiled the country with months of massive demonstrations and heated political fighting.

Speaking at the event Sunday, President Isaac Herzog, who is hosting compromise talks between the government and opposition, described the crisis as an opportunity to “air out our differences” and a testament to the strength of Israeli democracy.

Critics of the overhaul say it risks compromising the judiciary’s independence. Supporters of the plan say it merely imposes necessary checks and balances on the judiciary to ensure democratic principles of government.

People attend a protest against the planned judicial overhaul in Tel Aviv, on June 3, 2023 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid warned in a Q&A with AJC chief Ted Deutch, a former Democrat congressman, that “having a democracy is existential for Israel. If we will not be a democracy, we will not be.”

In his speech, Deutch urged the Global Forum participants to consider Israel’s achievements.

“Think about Israel at 75 and the success that she has become. We’re standing here in Tel Aviv, the center in the world for innovation and technology, the kinds of technology that’s literally changing the way the world does business and how we confront the problems that the world faces,” Deutch said.

END HORSE RACING
2 horses die at Belmont Park, adding another black eye for sport during Triple Crown season

Excursionniste euthanized after Belmont Stakes; Mashnee Girl had same fate Sunday

IF HORSE DIES EUTHANIZE THE OWNER

By Scott Thompson | Fox News

Two horses were euthanized at Belmont Park, the site of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

The first came on Saturday following the final race of the Belmont Stakes, which came immediately after the main event in which Arcangelo won the 155th running.

Excursionniste was injured and ended up getting euthanized, marking a horse’s death at all three Triple Crown race sites, which includes Churchill Downs (Kentucky Derby) Pimlico Race Course (Preakness Stakes).


Arcangelo wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes on June 10, 2023, in Elmont, New York. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Then, Mashnee Girl was euthanized on Sunday following "catastrophic injury" to the left front leg during a race at Belmont Park, per the New York Racing Association.

It was the same injury that occurred to Excursionniste.

PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo released a statement Saturday following the death of Excursionniste.

"Racing couldn’t manage to keep all horses alive for even one Triple Crown day this year," she said in the statement. "Belmont Park did not do enough to prevent Excursionniste’s death. PETA urged the New York Racing Association and the New York State Gaming Commission to require CT scans for all horses racing today in order to screen for preexisting injuries, which are present in 90% of these fatalities. They refused."

"The racing industry is digging its own grave – as well as this horse's."



People gather around a giant statue of Secretariat at Belmont Park as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of Secretariat at the 2023 Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on June 10, 2023. (Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Churchill Downs suspended all racing until July 3 following 12 total deaths at the track this year, all of which are being investigated.

The announcement came Friday where Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanien said, "The team at Churchill Downs takes great pride in our commitment to safety and strives to set the highest standard in racing, consistently going above and beyond the regulations and policies that are required."

"What has happened at our track is deeply upsetting and absolutely unacceptable. Despite our best efforts to identify a cause for the recent horse injuries, and though no issues have been linked to our racing surfaces or environment at Churchill Downs, we need to take more time to conduct a top-to-bottom review of all of the details and circumstances so that we can further strengthen our surface, safety and integrity protocols."


Arcangelo with Javier Castellano up wins the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 10, 2023, in Elmont, New York. (Al Bello/Getty Images)

Bob Baffert’s horse Havnameltdown suffered an injury to the left front ankle during an undercard race before the Preakness Stakes ran, which led to being euthanized at the Maryland track.

Horses die in consecutive races at Belmont Park, following history-making event

Mashnee Girl didn't survive the first race on Sunday, nor did Excursionniste in the 13th on Saturday.

The field breaks from the starting gate in the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race in Elmont, N.Y., on June 10.
Seth Wenig / AP


June 11, 2023,
By David K. Li

Horses died in consecutive races at Belmont Park, dealing more untimely blows to the beleaguered sport which had little time to celebrate of its most uplifting events of the year.

Mashnee Girltrained by Mark Hennig, broke down in the first race on Sunday, suffering a catastrophic injury to her left front leg at the storied race course just outside of New York City before she was put down.

"Despite the immediate response and best efforts of on-site attending veterinarians, the horse was humanely euthanized due to the severity of the injury," New York Racing Association Vice President Patrick McKenna said in a statement on Sunday.

About 17 hours earlier, in the 13th race on Saturday, a similar fate befell Hennig-trained Excursionniste, was also suffered a fatal injury to the front left ankle.

Both tragedies happened on Belmont's turf course as the field was nearing the top of the stretch.

"I'm not holding up very well," an emotional Hennig told NBC News, sniffling throughout the conversation. "It's been very emotional. I just can't fathom this ever happening, two horses you run in a row. I mean I've run over 10,000 horses and have never had anything close to this."

That tragedy unfolded just after the 12th race, when Arcangelo won the Belmont Stakes and made Jena Antonucci the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown jewel.

Animal rights group PETA was quick to blame Belmont for the twin tragedies.

“Two dead Thoroughbreds in two days with the same trainer on the same track means one thing: Belmont Park is failing to protect horses," PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo said in a statement. "Like Churchill Downs, Belmont must suspend racing immediately to avoid the same bloodbath. Anything less makes Belmont complicit in the fatalities.”

Including Mashnee Girl and Excursionniste, four horses have died during races at Belmont Park's spring/summer meet, which began on May 4 and has encompassed 1,670 horses starting in 214 races, according to McKenna.

"NYRA’s comprehensive safety strategy is informed by the most advanced science and research in consultation with independent experts, veterinarians, and horsemen," the NYRA rep said. "The health and safety of horses and jockeys competing at NYRA tracks is our highest priority and one that stands above all other considerations."

Mashnee Girl and Excursionniste both had clean bills of health with no concern for racing, their trainer said.

"Neither one of them has been on a vet's list, they're clean-legged horses," Hennig said. "It's just horrible, horrible, horrible luck. These horses were in good, sound racing condition. These two horses never had issues with these ankles, the same ankles that fractured."

Saturday’s Belmont Stakes capped a tumultuous five weeks of racing that normally shines a bright light on the sport of kings. Instead, a string of untimely death raised questions about the sport’s viability.

week ago Friday, Churchill Downs, host of the Kentucky Derby, announced it had temporarily stopped racing there to investigate its recent fatalities.

And shortly before National Treasure won the Preakness, the ordinarily party-filled day at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore was overshadowed by tragedy when Havnameltdown broke down at the top of the stretch of the $200,000 Grade IIII Chick Lang Stakes and had to be put down.
George Soros' son, 37, gives first interview since taking over father's $25B empire: 'I'm more political'

By Danielle Wallace FOXBusiness

‘Man Behind the Curtain’ author Matt Palumbo reacts to George Soros’ son, Alexander Soros, boasting about a meeting with Vice President Harris on ‘Varney & Co.’

Left-wing billionaire, investor and philanthropist George Soros, 92, is reportedly handing the reins of his $25 billion empire to his younger son, 37-year-old Alexander "Alex" Soros.


"I’m more political," Alex Soros told The Wall Street Journal in the first interview since his selection, indicating his intent on broadening his father's liberal goals.

He reportedly plans on continue in his father's footsteps in backing left leaning politicians.

"We think alike," George Soros said of his son and now successor, namely on voting and abortion rights, as well as gender equity.

"As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it, too," Alex Soros said, suggesting a significant financial role of the Soros foundation in 2024.


George Soros speaks during an event on day two of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. He recently handed control of his empire to his younger son, Alex Soros. (Jason Alden/Bloomberg via Getty Images / AP Newsroom)

He expressed concern to the Journal over the prospect of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House.

The Journal reported that Alex Soros was elected chairman of the Soros’s nonprofit Open Society Foundations, known as OSF, in December and now directs political activity as president of Soros’s super PAC, Democracy PAC, which has supported the campaigns of left-wing district attorneys and law enforcement in mostly Democratic US. cities, including that of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump.


Alex Soros has recently met with Biden administration officials, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, and heads of state, including Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, The Journal reported. George Soros told the Journal he previously did not want one of his children to take over the foundation as "a matter of principle" because he believed it should be "managed by someone who is best suited."

"He’s earned it," George Soros said of his son Alex.

George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, selected his younger son, Alex Soros, to take the helm of the family's $25 billion empire. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images / AP Newsroom)

Before a falling out, it was previously believed Alex’s elder half-brother, Jonathan Soros, 52, a lawyer with a finance background, was to be their father's successor, the Journal said.

In contrast with some on the left, Alex Soros said he believes free speech has become too restricted on some college campuses.

"I have some differences with my generation in regard to free speech and other things – I grew up watching Bill Maher before bed, after all," he said.

OSF directs about $1.5 billion a year to organizations backing human rights around the world, helping build democracies and some universities and education institutions, the Journal said.
 




George Soros during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. Soros selected his younger son as his successor. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images / AP Newsroom)

Alex Soros is the only family member on the investment committee overseeing Soros Fund Management, which oversees money for the foundation and the family.

A Soros spokesperson said most of its $25 billion will be directed to OSF in the coming years, and about $125 million has been set aside for the super PAC.



Iran deploys tanks and heavy arms along borders with Iraq's Kurdistan region

Dana Taib Menmy
Iraq
07 June, 2023

The move comes after Tehran recently hosted top Iraqi security and defence chiefs and warned it would conduct cross-border operations if the Iraqi and the Kurdish authorities fail to disarm the Kurdish parries.

Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDP-I) fighters at a base in Iraq on the border with Iran on 28 July 2017 in the Zagros Mountains, northern Iraq. 


The Islamic Republic of Iran has reportedly deployed a large number of troops, reinforced with tanks and heavy weaponry, across its western borders with the Iraqi Kurdistan region where bases of several Iranian Kurdish opposition parties are located, Kurdish sources said.

The move comes after Tehran recently hosted top Iraqi security and defence chiefs and warned it would conduct cross-border operations if the Iraqi and the Kurdish authorities fail to disarm the Kurdish parries.

"Iran has deployed a lot of forces in the joint frontiers, they conduct patrols in the areas and Iran threatens to attack the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties," a senior leader in one of the Iranian Kurdish opposition parties said to The New Arab, under the condition of anonymity.

"That Iran has given a short ultimatum to the Iraqi government and Kurdish authorities in the Kurdistan region to disarm us is still a rumour and such threats and military deployments are not new for us," the source added.

Late in May, Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji headed a senior security delegation to Iran and discussed tightening the borders' security with senior Iranian officials.

Al-Araji's visit coincided also with a visit by Iraq's interior minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari. According to Iraq's state media, the minister discussed issues related to the security of the common borders between the two countries.

Iran reportedly increased pressure on the Iraqi federal government, as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), to implement a recent security pact in regard to the frontiers between the two countries. The border security agreement was signed in March and primarily aimed at tightening the frontier with Iraq's Kurdish region, where Iranian Kurdish opposition parties have set up bases. Under the signed security deal, Iraq pledges it would not allow armed groups to use its territory in the Iraqi Kurdish region to launch any border-crossing attacks on neighbouring Iran.

The Hengaw Human Rights Organisation posted videos on Twitter reportedly documenting Iran transferring heavy weapons to the Kurdish-populated cities in Iranian Kurdistan.
 
RELATED
MENA
Dana Taib Menmy

The Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) is an Iranian Kurdish opposition party that has waged an armed rebellion against the Iranian government since the 1979 Islamic revolution. It was founded in Iranian Kurdistan in 1946 by the late Kurdish leader Qazi Muhammad, the founder of the first modern Kurdish state of Mahabad.

Khalid Wanawsha, a member of KDPI's central committee, confirmed during a brief interview with TNA that Iran has deployed a lot of forces, reinforced by tanks and heavy weapons near the Kurdistan region borders.

"For the Islamic regime that does not respect any international norms and laws, it is not the first time that Teheran made such threats by moving forces in order to destabilise the borders and kill people," Wanawsha remarked.

"As per the Iraq-Iran security agreement, we heard it from the news agencies and neither Iraq nor the KRG has informed us about its content. Officials in the Kurdistan region have only told us to take the region's political situation into consideration," he added.

"Disarming or gathering us in camps is not accepted in any way and it is a red line for us. Meanwhile, we will regard the principles of a 'good' neighbourhood," Wanawsha stressed.

A well-informed source close to both the Iraqi and Iranian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told TNA last month that Tehran wanted the Iranian Kurdish groups to be entirely expelled from Iraq and sent to a third country, similar to the case of People's Mujahedin of Iran, also known as MEK (Mujahedin-e Khalq), which is an Iranian political-militant organisation opposing Iran's Islamic regime.

Iran accuses the Iranian Kurdish parties of "affiliating" with Israel, and Iran often voices concern over the alleged presence of the Israeli spy agency Mossad in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

The Islamic regime also accused Kurdish parties of stoking the nationwide protests, triggered by the death in custody in September of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Kurdish groups, in turn, strongly deny these accusations, saying that their activities are mainly "peaceful".

Bodycam: Cops Investigate Alleged UFO Crash and ‘Green Colored’ Alien Sighting in Las Vegas

 

SPOILER ALERT
IT'S A METEORITE