TYB
kek
https://www.rt.com/india/613137-usaids-role-uncovered-bangladesh-hasina/
USAID’s role uncovered in ‘regime change’ in South Asian nation
$21 million allotted for Indian elections recently cited by Donald Trump was actually meant for Bangladesh, new report claims
The $21 million in American taxpayer money earmarked for “voter turnout in India,” which was recently canceled by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was actually allocated to Bangladesh, according to an investigative report published by The Indian Express on Friday.
The media outlet claimed it had gained access to the funding records and learned that the allocation had been made by USAID in 2022, with $13.4 million already disbursed for “political and civic engagement” among students before the January 2024 elections in Bangladesh.
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to resign in August following massive student-led protests that left hundreds dead.
Earlier this month, DOGE released a list of items that have been scrapped as part of its cost-cutting initiative. It included money given to the US-based Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS). The list featured a $21 million program aimed at “boosting voter turnout in India,” $29 million in aid to “strengthen the political landscape in Bangladesh,” and $20 million for “fiscal federalism” in Nepal, among other programs. The names of the beneficiaries, as well as the total amount spent on these initiatives, were not disclosed.
In response, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed that the funding was proof of “external interference” in India’s election process. Authorities are looking into “deeply troubling” information about US governmental activity in the country, the Indian foreign ministry stated on Friday.
US President Donald Trump later mentioned the funding for “voter turnout” in India in several public speeches. “Why do we need to spend $21 million for voter turnout in India? Wow, $21 million! I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected,” he said during a speech in Miami on Wednesday. The next day, he repeated the claim at a Republican Governors Association (RGA) meeting, alleging the funding was practically meant for “kickbacks” to those who allocated the money.
However, according to The Indian Express, CEPPS was set to receive a total of $486 million from USAID, with specific allocations including $22 million for an “inclusive and participatory political process” in Moldova and $21 million for “voter turnout,” initially listed as being for India but actually intended for Bangladesh.
The $21 million grant was divided into six sub-grants between July of 2022 and October of 2024, with two sub-grants each allocated to three CEPPS member organizations: the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The uncovered files show that the IRI spent millions of dollars leading up to Hasina’s overthrow, secretly training opposition parties and creating a network focused on regime change, primarily among urban youth in Bangladesh.
In September of last year, GreyZone reported that leaked documents reviewed by the outlet showed that USAID had engaged in activities aimed at “destabilizing Bangladesh politics.”
The documents were marked “confidential and/or privileged,” GreyZone said, adding that the IRI, a Republican Party-run subsidiary, was explicitly tasked with this operation. However, The Dhaka Tribune, a Bangladeshi outlet, later refuted the outlet’s report, arguing that the data used in the story had been “doctored.”
Earlier this month, Mike Benz, a former State Department official, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, alleged that USAID funded last year’s regime change in Bangladesh due to Hasina’s opposition to a US military base in the region.
Mike Benz, a former State Department official, describes U.S. role in the ouster of the Hasina government in Bangladesh — listen from 24:37 onward. (It's important to remember that strategic skullduggery rarely leaves any political fingerprints.) https://t.co/45YEW2WiEe
— Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) February 8, 2025
Hasina has personally accused Washington of attempting to oust her from power because she had refused to allow the base. The US State Department denied these allegations at the time, with spokesman Vedant Patel calling them “laughable” and stating that any implication of US involvement in stirring the unrest which prompted Hasina to leave office is “absolutely false.”
https://www.rt.com/news/613132-lula-german-weapons-ukraine/
Brazil’s Lula refused to sell Germany weapons ‘to kill Russians’
The president has reiterated that the Ukraine conflict can only be resolved at the negotiating table
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva rejected an approach by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to purchase arms for Ukraine. The Brazilian head of stage stressed he wouldn’t sell weapons “to kill Russians” or anyone else.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at a joint media conference with the Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, Lula reiterated Brazil's neutral stance in the ongoing conflict between Kiev and Moscow.
Germany, in contrast, has been among Ukraine’s key backers, having supplied it with billions worth of military aid. Da Silva recalled that in January 2023, Scholz visited Brazil as part of a tour to drum up support for Kiev in South America and requested cannons for the war.
”I told my friend Olaf Scholz: ‘I will not sell weapons to kill a Russian, to kill anyone. So, I want to apologize, but Brazil will not sell the weapons you need because I want peace, and if I want peace, I cannot fuel the war. We want peace between Russia and Ukraine. Now, this is only possible if both are at the negotiating table’,” he said.
Lula has long advocated for talks to resolve the conflict and insisted that supplying arms would only escalate the situation, hindering prospects for peace.
Last May Brasilia and Beijing jointly issued a six-point plan for settling the Ukraine conflict, emphasizing “dialogue and negotiation” as the only “viable way out of the crisis.”
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky dismissed the proposal as “just a political statement,” accusing them of colluding with Russia.
Lula hit back, saying that Ukraine should heed Brazil’s advice about seeking peace in the conflict. “Those who want to talk to us now could have talked to us before the war had started,” he said.
On Thursday, Russia’s top diplomat Sergey Lavrov and his Brazilian counterpart Mauro Vieira discussed the need to address the root causes of the Ukraine conflict and this week’s Russian-US talks in Riyadh, the foreign ministry in Moscow said. Speaking on the sidelines of G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, they also discussed upcoming high-level meetings and plans for collaboration between Moscow and Brasília, especially within BRICS, the ministry statement added.
Last month, Lula accepted Moscow’s invitation to attend the 80th anniversary celebrations of Victory in World War II in the Russian capital on May 9.
https://www.worthynews.com/102490-chinese-spies-human-smugglers-violent-criminals-latest-ice-arrests-in-florida
Chinese Spies, Human Smugglers, Violent Criminals Latest ICE Arrests in Florida
An alleged Chinese spy, human smugglers and violent criminals are the latest to be arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents in Florida.
One recent arrest was of a Chinese-Canadian national charged with three counts of using an unmanned aircraft to photograph vital defense installations and equipment at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Xiao Guang Pan, 71, used an unmanned aircraft to photograph vital defense installations and equipment at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base over a period of three days in January, according to a criminal filing. He allegedly took aerial photographs of Space Launch complexes, a payload processing facility, a submarine wharf, and munitions bunkers, according to the complaint published by ICE.
Federal law prohibits unauthorized photographs from being taken of vital defense installations. Pan faces a maximum of one year in federal prison on each count.
He is among several alleged Chinese operatives who’ve been arrested in more than 60 espionage-related cases in the last few years, The Center Square reported.
Off Florida’s coast, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents disrupted a maritime smuggling attempt on Tuesday, apprehending 24 illegal foreign nationals and seizing two vessels.
After AMO Multi-Role Enforcement Aircraft (MEA) aircrew detected a vessel off the coast of Bimini, Bahamas, they notified two AMO Coastal Interceptor Vessel maritime crews of their location, course and speed. Within a few hours, CBP AMO Marine Interdiction Agents intercepted a 27-foot twin-engine Sea Ray near Elliott Key, Florida.
They then discovered multiple people on deck and others concealed under the aft seat. None possessed valid documentation to enter or remain in the U.S. and were transferred to U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous to be repatriated.
During questioning, the vessel’s operator disclosed a plan to rendezvous with a second boat. While transiting inshore, AMO agents located and interdicted that boat also, which was also found east of Elliott Key. On board was a U.S. citizen and a lawful permanent resident, one of whom was participating in the smuggling operation ICE said.
In total, they apprehended 21 Chinese nationals, one Ecuadorian, one Colombian, and one Dominican adult male suspected of being the smuggler, and seized both vessels.
In another instance, CBP AMO agents intercepted a maritime smuggling attempt and apprehended 13 foreign nationals off the coast of Florida. This came about after CBP AMO Marine Interdiction agents with the Miami Marine Unit identified a suspicious vessel operating without navigation lights and the operator of the vessel initially failed to comply when agents told him to stop.
They interdicted the vessel, a single-engine 18-foot center console, operated by an adult male Bahamian national. Once on board, they found 12 foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter the U.S. With the exception of one individual who was taken to a local hospital for medical issues, the rest were transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous to be repatriated.
Under Trump, the U.S. Coast Guard has expanded its existing role in repatriation efforts, The Center Square reported.
In another multi-agency targeted operation in Palm Beach County, ICE and Border Patrol agents arrested 32 illegal foreign nationals with a range of criminal convictions.
moar..
>she will leak info
you suppose the bird will sing?
cuz i pegged her as DS too
time will tell
https://freebeacon.com/media/nbc-settles-defamation-lawsuit-with-georgia-doctor-whom-rachel-maddow-dubbed-the-uterus-collector-avoiding-high-stakes-trial/
NBC Settles Defamation Lawsuit With Georgia Doctor Whom Rachel Maddow Dubbed the ‘Uterus Collector,’ Avoiding High Stakes Trial
NBC's top anchors made ‘verifiably false’ statements about a doctor they accused of performing ‘mass hysterectomies’ on female inmates at ICE facility, a federal judge ruled last year
NBCUniversal quietly settled a $30 million defamation lawsuit filed by a Georgia doctor after MSNBC’s biggest stars—including Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, and Chris Hayes—falsely accused him of performing "mass hysterectomies" on women detained at an immigration facility during the first Trump administration and dubbed him the "uterus collector."
The network settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed sum Thursday, avoiding a jury trial that was scheduled to begin on April 22 in Georgia’s Southern District. The suit arose from explosive MSNBC reports in 2020 alleging that Mahendra Amin, whom network anchors dubbed the "uterus collector," conducted unnecessary and unauthorized gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies, on immigrant women at an ICE facility.
Maddow, Wallace, and Hayes aggressively pushed those claims, which stemmed from a whistleblower complaint and became a centerpiece of MSNBC’s coverage of alleged abuses under President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. Amin sued MSNBC for defamation in September 2021, denying that he had performed any unnecessary medical procedures.
The case's conclusion marks the latest high-profile settlement involving a left-wing media network. Just last month, CNN settled its own bombshell defamation suit. A Florida jury determined that the network defamed Navy veteran Zachary Young by airing coverage that portrayed him as an "illegal profiteer" who operated in a "black market" while he worked to evacuate Afghans during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal. CNN was ordered to pay Young $5 million for economic and emotional damages. The settlement included additional punitive damages, but the amount remains confidential. CBS News, meanwhile, is reportedly eyeing a settlement with Trump over his lawsuit targeting the network's sloppy edit of Kamala Harris's pre-election 60 Minutes sit-down.
A federal judge ruled last year that the MSNBC hosts made 39 "verifiably false" statements about Amin. The judge found that a jury could reasonably conclude the network acted with "actual malice." Internal NBC documents revealed lingering doubts among reporters about the whistleblower’s claims, but aired the story anyway. Emails and texts uncovered during discovery showed that journalists, including Maddow and Hayes, had early reservations about the allegations.
Maddow—who was deposed for the lawsuit—and Hayes were personally involved in the off-camera vetting and editorial conversations around the segment to an extent that can be unusual for on-camera hosts, according to documents revealed during discovery. Last year, Maddow took a $5 million pay cut, reducing her annual salary from $30 million to $25 million over the next three years. At the time, she was hosting her show only one night per week, but she resumed a full five-night-per-week schedule during the first 100 days of Trump’s administration.
The saga began with a Sept. 15, 2020, NBC News article about the "uterus collector" by Julia Ainsley, a homeland security reporter, Jacob Soboroff, who covers immigration for NBC News and MSNBC, and Danielle Silva, an NBC News national reporter who covers immigration and education. The journalists obtained a whistleblower complaint from Dawn Wooten, a former nurse at the ICE facility, and interviewed her. The resulting story reported that "women are routinely being sent to a gynecologist who has left them bruised and performed unnecessary procedures, including hysterectomies."
Soboroff wrote in one text message that an immigration attorney he spoke with offered "mixed feelings" about Wooten. In another text, Ainsley expressed concern at the small number of procedures Amin was alleged to perform asking Soboroff, "Just two hysterectomies?"—far fewer than the "mass hysterectomies" the reporting suggested.
Still, MSNBC used the story to fuel its anti-Trump rhetoric, generating significant viewership and profits for NBCUniversal and its parent company, Comcast. The liberal network spent much of Trump’s first term pushing the debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative, including in dozens of segments on Maddow’s program.
moar..
https://www.rt.com/news/613144-canada-can-keep-anthem-trump/
Canada can keep anthem – Trump
The US President has once again suggested that America’s northern neighbor will “have to become the 51st state”
US President Donald Trump has joked that Canada can keep its national anthem when it joins the United States. The comment came at the Republican Governors Association meeting in Washington, DC on Thursday.
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of absorbing Canada, citing its dependence on the US.
”We’ll have to work out some deal … because I do like the ‘O Canada’ all right,” Trump said, referring to the anthem. “It’s a beautiful thing. I think we’re going to have to keep it for the 51st state.”
Ottawa has consistently dismissed the idea of the country being absorbed into the US, with outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau describing Trump’s idea as a “non-starter.”
Trump made the joke while referring to the trade dispute between the two countries.
“Canada is going to have to pay tariffs on automobiles, lumber, oil and gas, etc., they get 95% of their product from the United States. I think they’ll have to become the 51st state,” the US President has argued.
In response to the joke, Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk changed the anthem’s lyrics from “in all of us command” to “that only us command” while performing during a men’s ice hockey game between the US and Canada on Thursday. The ‘true north’ defeated Team USA 3-2 in overtime.
Earlier this month, Ottawa imposed 25% tariffs on US goods in retaliation for Washington’s levies on all Canadian produce that had been introduced over concerns regarding illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Faced with a looming trade war, Washington and Ottawa have agreed to delay the implementation of the tariffs until March 4.
Trump has also previously argued that Canada would struggle to remain viable without receiving hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies from Washington, as well as military protection from the US.