News Burst 27 January 26, 2024

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Editor’s Note: Please remember, this report from Italy’s gave a different date due to being in a much different time zone!

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Electric Vehicles (EVs) will never dominate the market and consumers should not be forced to buy them, Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda stated in comments published on the company’s website on Tuesday. Battery-powered vehicles will only ever reach 30% of the global market, while the rest will comprise hybrids, hydrogen fuel-cell, and fuel-burning cars, according to the head of the Japanese carmaker. Toyoda believes that EVs should not be developed to the exclusion of other technologies at a time when a billion people worldwide still live without electricity, while battery-powered EVs are expensive and need charging infrastructure.

The EU Commission is trying to downplay the significance of mass protests by farmers that have spread across Europe, including France, Germany, Poland, and even Belgium, with farmers blocking roads and taking to the streets to demand that their governments return fuel subsidies and stop “unfair” competition from Ukrainian products. Users of social media platform X have slammed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her perceived hypocritical promotional video and comments on the development of European agriculture amid ongoing protests. Netizens stressed that von der Leyen is actively funding Ukraine, while ignoring the needs of European farmers.

An escalating feud between US President Joe Biden and Texas Governor Greg Abbott over the country’s border crisis has emerged as a major test of where federal authority ends and when a state can defend its own interests – not unlike the impasse that triggered the American Civil War in the nineteenth century. Biden’s administration won a US Supreme Court ruling on Monday, upholding the right of federal authorities to dismantle the border barriers put up by the state. Abbott set down his battle lines on Wednesday, announcing that Texas will continue to defy Biden on border security – regardless of the court ruling – because the federal government has shirked its constitutional duty to defend the states. In lieu of Washington fulfilling its obligations, the governor claimed, the state’s right to self-defense “supersedes” all federal laws.

We may well be witnessing a pivotal moment in history – a letter of support for Texas Governor Abbott, in his defiance of the federal regime, has been published and signed by governors of half the states in the very disunited United States. These governors have also offered to send their National Guard troops to Texas, to support the Texas National Guard. What was just last week a legal dispute between the governor of Texas and the federal regime has now become a very real confrontation between Washington and 25 states. These states include all of the states who joined the Confederacy in the US Civil War, as well as some states that were on the Yankee side, and other states that were not even states back in 1861. ~ Russell Bentley

Israel plans to retake the Philadelphia Corridor , but experts warn it may be a bad idea. The 14 kilometer border separating Gaza from Egypt has been used for years by militants in the enclave to smuggle weapons, technology, money and personnel. To prevent this from happening, Israel is now considering reoccupying it. Several Israeli politicians, including Netanyahu, have said in recent weeks that the Philadelphia route should be retaken, with Israel establishing full control of the territory.

Severed limbs and screaming children in vases: the paedophilic and cannibalistic paintings of so-called artist Lena Cronqvist were featured in an exhibition at the European Parliament in Brussels earlier this year. The disgusting images not only provide deep insight into the artist’s seemingly severely damaged psyche, but her exhibition at the European Parliament once again illustrates the enormous decline in the values of the self-proclaimed West, reports Report24. The Swedish artist, born in 1938, prefers to represent in her paintings naive children who inflict violence on others or suffer violence themselves. ~ frontnieuws

Many monotheists think we are facing the end times. The reality is that we are facing early times. An ancient mastermind or group cult, known in folklore as Satan , is about to be defeated and humanity is about to be liberated. This will mark the beginning of a new Golden Age for humanity. As background for new readers, I will begin by summarizing my personal involvement in this war. Having grown up as an atheist focused on science, logic, and materialism, it took decades of meeting and reporting on the people who run the planet to conclude that they were taking orders from Satan. That’s why I decided to fight this entity by convincing Asians to cut off their money. The Satanists responded by offering me the job of Minister of Finance of Japan along with great wealth and power. All I had to do was follow their plan to kill 90% of humanity. They threatened to kill me if I refused. I have this on tape. Then I met groups that offered me protection, but only for the common good. We have decided to fight the Satanists. ~ Benjamin Fulford

Kiev now fights only to prolong the life of the Zelensky regime, that’s why it is doing stupid things. An Il-76 transport plane was shot down in Russian airspace on Wednesday. It was reportedly carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war scheduled for a prisoner exchange, escorted by three Russian military guards and six crew members. All on board were killed. The plane appears to have been destroyed by missiles fired from a US-supplied Patriot system. The incident raises a critical question: What were Ukrainian soldiers doing so far from their homeland that airlift was necessary? The answer is simple: POWs were initially held in the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics , but then came a Ukrainian HIMARS attack on a prison camp in Olenovka near Volnovakha on July 29, 2022, killing 53 people. This appears to have been the reason for the transfer, with the aim of moving prisoners of war away from the high-tech precision weapons systems supplied to Kiev by NATO. Today we can say with absolute certainty that this did not help. Ukraine has once again shown the world how dangerous it can be for its own citizens. ~ Sergey Poletaev

Russia does not want to enter into a “big war” and has no intention of attacking other countries, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. He lamented that relations with the US are at rock bottom, and blamed Washington for the current state of affairs. In recent weeks, senior officials in several European nations have been urging their citizens to prepare for a potential military confrontation with Russia. Moscow, however, has insisted that it has no interest in waging war against NATO. Speaking at a Q&A session at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Lavrov said that despite growing escalation and bellicose rhetoric, “no one wants a big war,” including Russia. “We have lived through ‘big wars’ many times in our history,” he added.

In the footsteps of assassins and those who hire them Andrey Derkach, a former Ukrainian parliamentarian who became widely known for publishing recordings of conversations between ex-Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko and high-ranking foreign officials, including Biden (who was then US vice president), gave an extensive interview earlier this month to journalist Simona Mangiante. During this conversation, he disclosed sensational new details about the “special ties” between the Biden family and the Ukrainian authorities. According to Derkach, “President [Vladimir] Zelensky’s office was involved in distributing the Poroshenko-Biden recordings and helped organize the media coverage [of the story].” At the time, Zelensky and his team were interested in exposing his political rival by any means possible. Everything changed after the start of the 2020 US election campaign and the arrival of Biden as president. “In a situation when Zelensky and [Ukrainian presidential aide Andrey] Yermak are begging Biden and [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken for money, a [news] story about how they had once created problems for Biden’s election campaign is a big problem for them,” Derkach explained.

Poland is planning to develop new rules for helping Ukrainian refugees, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported on Tuesday. Local officials believe that many immigrants are taking advantage of benefits to which they are not entitled, the paper noted. A special protection regime for Ukrainian refugees which expires in early March will be extended for another six months, the paper claimed, adding that the rules of assistance are likely to significantly change following that. Aneta Zochowska, of the Lena Grochowska Foundation for refugees, suggested that long-term state aid should be extended only to the sick, dependent and disabled, mainly from the frontline regions. The article also noted that although the Polish government introduced a regulation last spring that Ukrainians living in shelters for a longer period of time should partially pay for food and accommodation, it hasn’t been enforced.

More than one in four (28%) Americans between the ages of 18 and 25, known as Generation Z, identified as LGBTQ in a survey published earlier this week by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI). The figure was the largest percentage recorded for any generation by the pollster, which conducted its research during August and September on a sample of over 6,600 people. Nearly half of the non-heterosexual Gen Zers said they were bisexual, amounting to 15% of all Gen Z adults. Gays and lesbians (5% of total) were outnumbered by “other” (8%). Generation Z was far more likely to identify as something other than straight than previous generations. Among millennials, 16% said they were some form of LGBTQ, with gays and lesbians nearly as common as bisexuals (5% vs 7%).

Museums in the UK have been facing growing pressure to return items stolen during the colonial era to their countries of origin. Ethiopia and Nigeria have both demanded that Britain repatriate looted ceremonial artifacts. Last July, Oxford University offered 196 cows to Maasai families in Kenya and Tanzania as compensation for artifacts stolen and exported to the UK over a century ago. Last year, the Asantehene opened negotiations for the return of the royal jewels to Ghana when he attended the coronation of King Charles.

The UK is lending a collection of gold artifacts to Ghana, one-and-a-half centuries after they were looted from a king in the West African nation in the 19th century. The repatriation of more than 30 “crown jewels” belonging to the Asante royal, traditionally known as Asantehene, was announced by the British Museum and Victoria & Albert (V&A) Museum on Thursday following a loan deal with the Manhyia Palace Museum in Ghana. Under the long-term agreement, the British Museum will lend 15 of the objects, consisting of a gold-plated ceremonial cap stolen from Kumasi, the Ashanti regional capital, during the Anglo-Asante wars, which were sparked by resistance to British rule. The V&A Museum intends to offer 17 items, including a gold peace pipe and gold discs worn around the necks of palace officials in charge of performing a customary rite to cleanse the king’s soul. “They will be exhibited this April to celebrate the 2024 Silver Jubilee of His Royal Majesty, the Asantehene, Osei Tutu II. These items will go on display in Kumasi, Ghana for the first time in 150 years through a long-term loan from the British Museum and the V&A,” V&A wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Serbian-born actor Milos Bikovic be axed from HBO’s award-winning series ‘The White Lotus’ over his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A dark comedy-drama set in a fictional resort chain, ‘The White Lotus’ has won 14 Emmy awards and two Golden Globes. Bikovic’s role in the show’s third season was announced earlier this month by HBO. “Milos Bikovic, Serbian actor who has been supporting Russia since the start of the full-scale invasion, is now set to star in HBO’s The White Lotus Season 3,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday. “@HBO, is it all right for you to work with a person who supports genocide & violates international law?”

One of the Ukrainian prisoners who died on Wednesday had spoken to RT in 2022 about why he surrendered. Konstantin Danilchenko was on the plane shot down by Ukrainian missiles over Russia’s Belgorod Region, with no survivors. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the IL-76 was carrying 65 prisoners scheduled to be exchanged later in the day. It was struck by two missiles, launched from Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, and went down on Wednesday morning. Everyone on board perished, including three Russian soldiers and six crew members. RT found Danilchenko’s name on the passenger manifest of the doomed flight, at number 11. It sounded familiar because of a 2022 video published by the Russian Defense Ministry, in which the recently captured Ukrainian soldier spoke about his reasons for surrendering. ”I wanted to live,” Danilchenko said in the video. “We are considered ‘meat’, and everyone understands why our leadership is so cold towards us.”

More than 1.4 million people in the UK have been disconnected from the energy grid since November as consumers struggle to pay their bills this winter, according to new research by state-funded Citizens Advice. Published on Tuesday, the study shows that over 3 million people have been cut off from energy in the last year because they could not afford to top up their prepayment meter. The average energy debt had increased to £1,835 ($2,332) by the end of 2023, up from £1,579 a year earlier. As the total energy debt pile – currently at £2.9 billion – continues to rise, it is weighing down millions of consumers and risks becoming unsustainable for the sector, the researchers warned.

Robots are helping the Russian Army in the special military operation zone against the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine has underscored the acute necessity and considerable effectiveness of utilizing ground-based robotic complexes, with the versatile Uran family standing out on a unified platform. The Uran-6 serves as a demining system, while the Uran-9 operates as a combat assault complex, and the Uran-14 functions as a multifunctional firefighting unit. Despite their diverse purposes, these machines share a range of common systems, including control mechanisms. They are also united by a robotic mission – to address combat tasks in environments where human action and survival are significantly more challenging, if possible at all.