Saudi-Led Coalition Launches Large-Scale Attack On Al-Hudaydah And Reaches City Entrances (Map, Videos)

On November 3, the Saudi-led coalition and its Yemeni proxies launched a large-scale attack on the Houthi-held city of al-Hudaydah on the western coast of Yemen.

During the first day of the long awaited-attack, the Saudi-led coalition managed to impose control of the university of al-Hudaydah and a key air defense base, east and south of the city. The coalition developed its attack in the next day and reached the eastern, western and southern entrances of al-Hudaydah, according to the Sky News Arabia TV.

The UAE-based TV channel claimed that more than 70 fighters and commanders of the Houthis were killed in the attack, which is backed by Saudi-led coalition warplanes. Dozens of other Houthi fighters were reportedly captured.

A spokesman of the Yemeni Armed Forces [allied to the Houthis] denied the Saudi-led coalition claimes and said that the Houthis and their allies have repelled the attack on al-Hudaydah after fierce clashes.

“Enemy fighters are suffering from a psychological and moral breakdown after the failure of all of their attempts and sustaining significant loses, hundreds of these fighters fled the battlefield,” the al-Masirah quoted Brigadier General Yahya Sari as saying on November 4.

The Houthis and their allies estimated that 215 Saudi-backed Yemeni fighters have been killed since the beginning of the Saudi-led coalition attack on the al-Hudaydah. The coalition also lost more than 20 military vehicles.

In late October, the U.S. Department of State openly called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Yemen and said that it will work to start peace talks to end the war there. However, it appears that Washington secretly gave Riyadh a green light to launch a last attack on al-Hudaydah, on the hopes on pressuring the Houthis.

https://southfront.org/saudi-led-coalition-launches-large-scale-attack-on-al-hudaydah-and-reaches-city-entrances-map-videos/

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DOJ Investigates 'Mystery' Goldman Executive Involved In $4.5 Billion 1MDB Fraud

Last week, the DOJ filed the first round of criminal charges related to the massive international fraud that was the 1MDB scandal. US prosecutors allege that more than $4.5 billion was embezzled from the sovereign wealth fund, which was set up by the government of disgraced former Prime Minister Najib Razak, eventually leading the ransacked government fund to a default on nearly $2 billion of local currency bonds, briefly denting the value of the Malaysian ringgit. Holders of those bonds are still working on a restructuring deal with the fund. Meanwhile, former Goldman Sachs Southeast Asia Chief Tim Leissner has pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is expected to cooperate with authorities against other more-senior officials at the bank. One of his fellow bankers, Roger Ng, was arrested by Malaysian police and is expected to be extradited to the US.

There's little doubt that the scandal, which Goldman has, in typical Goldman fashion, tried to pin on a "few rogue employees," will lead to massive fines and possibly other penalties. The bank admitted as much in a regulatory filing on Friday, even suggesting that "other sanctions" - code for a guilty plea for the bank or even more severe penalties levied by the Treasury - could be forthcoming, per Reuters.

Leissner has already admitted that he accepted more than $200 million in stolen funds in an illegal kickback tied to the deal, as well as bribery charges related to his pursuit of the 1MDB deals. And as more details trickle out, the blithe disregard for US securities laws - and even the bank's own compliance department - attributed to Leissner and his team is looking even more galling.

More:

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-04/doj-investigates-mystery-goldman-executive-involved-45-billion-1mdb-fraud

Army Major Exposes The US Military's Empire Of Secrecy

“Democracy dies in darkness.” That’s an old saying that The Washington Post recycled as its motto at the dawn of the Trump era. Truth is, the journalists at the Post don’t know the half of it; nor do they bother to report on the genuine secrecy and increasing lack of transparency in the Department of Defense. Nothing against the Post - neither do any of the other mainstream media outlets.

But it’s true: Right under most Americans’ noses, the military has become more opaque over the last several years. Now, few outlets cover foreign policy with any particular gusto - after all, there’s so much to say about Stormy Daniels or the Brett Kavanaugh drama. But this trend should concern all citizens.

Thing is, what the U.S. military is up to on any given day is done in your name. If civilians are killed, locals alienated or civil liberties restricted, then the global populace, including concerned U.S. citizens, aren’t going to fix blame solely on the armed forces … they’re going to blame you! If for no other reason than this, citizens of an - ostensible - democracy ought to be paying attention. The military is a fierce, potentially brutal instrument, and anyone who cares about liberty ought to watch it closely.

Only that’s getting harder and harder to do in today’s political climate. On one issue after another the U.S. military has recently intensified its secrecy, has classified previously open information and has suppressed any remaining sense of transparency. Don’t just take my word for it: This week a relatively mainstream congressional Democrat, Adam Smith - a ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee—wrote at length on this very topic.

Make no mistake, these trends are long-standing and gradual. So, what follows is not some vacuous liberal attack on President Trump, who remains, for legal purposes, and so long as I remain in uniform, my commander in chief. Still, the time is long past when someone needs to scream from the proverbial mountaintop about America’s expanding empire of secrecy.

Though there are plenty of examples to review, there’s something else to keep in mind: The military isn’t some monolithic monster. It’s far more discreet than that, and so are these trends, so watch closely. Evidence abounds.

Soon after the inauguration, the military—which had long recognized and planned for the existential threat of climate change—received guidance to all but purge the term from its reports. It was to be replaced with more nebulous (and inaccurate) phrases, such as “extreme weather.”

Then there’s the minor matter of the war in Afghanistan and its progress—after, you know, 17-plus years. One of the key benchmarks or metrics for progress has been the success or failure of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF). Well, for years the DOD released annual casualty figures for the ANSF, and the trends were alarming. Afghan Security Force casualties are frankly unsustainable—the Taliban are killing more than the government can recruit. The death rates are staggering, numbering 5,500 fatalities in 2015, 6,700 in 2016, and an estimate of “about 10,000” in 2017. The reason we’re not sure about the exact count last year is because that data—admittedly at the request of the Afghan government—has been newly classified. This seems absurd. How can the legislature or the public determine the viability or prognosis of America’s longest war without such key statistics? The short answer is, it can’t. And so, the war drags on. …

What’s more, the military’s historically uneasy relationship with the press has also further chilled. As Rep. Smith reported, and complained about, the DOD had issued edicts to curtail or discourage officers from providing candid assessments on readiness challenges, the control of nuclear weapons and other key appraisals. Only after a prolonged public outcry were these once-common press interactions partially reinstated. Nevertheless, this all points to an alarming trend of apparent furtiveness.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-11-04/army-major-exposes-us-militarys-empire-secrecy