Researcher Charged with Illegally Using U.S. Grant Funds to Develop Scientific Expertise for China
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/researcher-charged-illegally-using-us-grant-funds-develop-scientific-expertise-china
New York Times Falsely Blames Churches for Huge Spike in Coronavirus Cases
President Trump wanted houses of worship to reopen, and the New York Times is trying to not only blame him for wanting them to reopen during the pandemic, but also blaming churches as a “major source” of coronavirus cases.
“Weeks after President Trump demanded that America’s shuttered houses of worship be allowed to reopen, new outbreaks of the coronavirus are surging through churches across the country where services have resumed,” read the report, which was published Wednesday.
“The virus has infiltrated Sunday sermons, meetings of ministers and Christian youth camps in Colorado and Missouri. It has struck churches that reopened cautiously with face masks and social distancing in the pews, as well as some that defied lockdowns and refused to heed new limits on numbers of worshipers,” the report continued. “Pastors and their families have tested positive, as have church ushers, front-door greeters and hundreds of churchgoers. In Texas, about 50 people contracted the virus after a pastor told congregants they could once again hug one another.”
The report also mentions a Florida teenager who died from the coronavirus after attending a church youth group party—though they failed to mention she had a rare autoimmune disorder and childhood cancer.
The New York Times literally is trying to put the fear of God in churchgoers, hoping to replace their Christian faith with subservience to government social-distancing edicts and media reporting.
And then you get to the following paragraph:
More than 650 coronavirus cases have been linked to nearly 40 churches and religious events across the United States since the beginning of the pandemic, with many of them erupting over the last month as Americans resumed their pre-pandemic activities, according to a New York Times database.
Just 650 cases. According to the New York Times, 650 cases linked to churches is a “major source” of coronavirus cases out of the more the 3 million official cases there have been since the beginning of the pandemic. There have been over 430,000 new cases in the month of July alone, but 650 cases linked to churches is a “major source” of coronavirus cases? That represents just 0.02 percent of all cases since the start of the pandemic, and 0.15 percent of new cases just from July.
These 650 church-linked cases are literally a drop in the bucket. Yet the New York Times wants you to believe churches are partially to blame for the recent spike in cases. What they don’t want you to know is that the recent surge in cases, when you take into account the incubation period of the disease, appears to be linked to the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and riots that started in late May. But the New York Times wants to scare people of faith away from their places of worship. Meanwhile, the very same day they published this attack on churches, they also published a report arguing that the recent protests and riots did not play a role in the recent spike in cases.
And we’re supposed to believe there isn’t a hidden agenda here.
https://pjmedia.com/columns/matt-margolis/2020/07/09/new-york-times-falsely-blames-churches-for-spike-in-coronavirus-cases-n624904
American Contractor Charged as Part of Theft Ring Responsible for Stealing Government Equipment from U.S. Military Base in Afghanistan
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/american-contractor-charged-part-theft-ring-responsible-stealing-government-equipment-us
Summit With Trump Might Not Happen This Year, Kim Jong Un's Sister Says
The nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have been stalled ever since the fiasco at the Hanoi summit in February 2019.
A summit between US President Donald Trump and the North Korean leader might not take place this year, but "we never know", Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong, said on Thursday, according to Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
She added that, if it happens, the summit will only benefit the United States.
On Monday, the DPRK said it does not intend to hold negotiations with the US, KCNA reported, after media and some officials elaborated on the need to resume US-North Korea talks on denuclearisation before the US presidential election in November this year. The DPRK responded that Washington intended to use dialogue with Pyongyang as a tool for grappling with its internal political crisis.
The landmark summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, promised progress in denuclearising the Korean peninsula, but was, however, cut short, because Washington turned down Pyongyang 's offer to lift some sanctions in exchange for reciprocal steps on Pyongyang's part.
While it was negotiating with the US, the DPRK suspended test launches of its short and medium-range missiles, but resumed the tests after no deal was struck in Hanoi.
https://sputniknews.com/world/202007091079841271-summit-with-trump-might-not-happen-this-year-kim-jong-uns-sister-says/
Employee of Angela Merkel's Press Office Suspected of Spying for Egypt
An employee at German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s press office is suspected of spying for Egypt’s intelligence service, AFP reported Thursday, citing a police report.
According to the report, police conducted “executive measures” against the male suspect in December 2019 after they uncovered that he “worked for years for an Egyptian intelligence service,” AFP reported.
The report, which noted that enlisted spies purposely seek out fellow Egyptian nationals, also stated that Egyptian secret service agents in Germany collect information on groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the Coptic Christian community.
"There are indications that Egyptian services are trying to recruit Egyptians living in Germany for intelligence purposes through their visits to Egyptian diplomatic missions in Germany and their trips to Egypt," the report said, AFP reported.
According to German newspaper Bild Daily, the man worked at the visitor service of the Bundespresseamt federal government press office (BPA), which is led by Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibart. The employee was reportedly in a mid-level position and would have completed at least two years of vocational training. Part of the investigation involved searching the visitor service premises.
An investigation into the suspect is reportedly ongoing but a spokesperson for the BPA told AFP that the press office would not comment on the investigation.
According to German Federal Foreign Office, Germany and Egypt have “intensive” economic and trade relations, with Germany being Egypt’s second-biggest trading partner following China. Egypt is also a popular tourist destination for Germans, with 1.8 million Germans having visited the Middle Eastern country in 2019.
https://sputniknews.com/society/202007091079841576-employee-of-angela-merkels-press-office-suspected-of-spying-for-egypt—report/
West Virginia Mail Carrier Admits To Attempted Election Fraud
ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA – Thomas Cooper, a mail carrier in Pendleton County, has admitted to attempted election fraud, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell says.
Cooper, age 47, of Dry Fork, West Virginia, pled guilty to one count of “Attempt to Defraud the Residents of West Virginia of a Fair Election” and one count of “Injury to the Mail.” Cooper held a U.S. Postal Service contract to deliver mail in Pendleton County. In April 2020, the Clerk of Pendleton County received “2020 Primary Election COVID-19 Mail-In Absentee Request” forms from eight voters on which the voter’s party-ballot request appeared to have been altered.
The clerk reported the finding to the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, which began an investigation. The investigation found five ballot requests that had been altered from “Democrat” to “Republican.” On three other requests, the party wasn’t changed, but the request had been altered.
Cooper was responsible for the mail delivery of the three towns from which the tampered requests were mailed: Onego, Riverton, and Franklin, West Virginia. Cooper admitted today to altering some of the requests.
https://breaking911.com/breaking-west-virginia-mail-carrier-admits-to-attempted-election-fraud/
From Coincidences to Coincidences, Covid and the “Boston Connexion” Serves Gilead’s Remdesivir?
We bring to the attention of our readers this important article of France Soir, translated from the French (by France Soir)
Each day brings new developments in what is now commonly known as the “LancetGate”. The WHO’s latest flip-flop, relayed by the many media who quickly relayed the fray against HCQ in the study published on May 22, is a perfect illustration of this. As is the one announcing tonight that The Lancet is withdrawing the Mehra et al. study after much criticism.
France Soir, far from following the media wolf pack, puzzled by these disturbing results, had already obtained and published on May 23 an exclusive interview with Dr. Mehra, the main author of this study.
The often evasive answers produced by Dr Mandeep R. Mehra, a physician specializing in cardiovascular surgery and professor at Harvard Medical School, did not produce confidence, fueling doubt instead about the integrity of this retrospective study and its results.
We have already published the results of our initial investigations in several articles. However, the reported information that Dr. Mehra had attended a conference sponsored by Gilead – producer of remdesivir, a drug in direct competition with hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) – early in April called for further investigation.
It is important to keep in mind that Dr. Mandeep Mehra has a practice at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) in Boston.
The study published on May 22 in The Lancet, based on the collection, processing and analysis of massive data from the shared medical records of 96,032 patients in 671 hospitals worldwide by Surgisphere, was preceded by another study published on May 1st, 2009 in the New England Journal of Medicine, where Dr. Mehra was also the main author.
That study relied on the shared medical records of 8,910 patients in 169 hospitals around the world, also by Surgisphere.
Funding for the study was “Supported by the William Harvey Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The development and maintenance of the collaborative surgical outcomes database was funded by Surgisphere.”
The study published on March 1st sought to “… assess the relationship between cardiovascular disease and drug therapy with in-hospital death in patients hospitalized with Covid-19 who were admitted between December 20, 2019 and March 15…”.
The study published on May 22 sought to evaluate the efficacy or otherwise of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, alone or in combination with a macrolide antibiotic.
It is therefore noteworthy that within 3 weeks, 2 large observational retrospective studies on large populations – 96,032 and 8,910 patients – spread around the world were published in two different journals by Dr. Mehra, Dr. Desai and other co-authors using the database of Surgisphere, Dr. Desai’s company.
These two practising physicians and surgeons seem to have an exceptional working capacity associated with the gift of ubiquity.
The date of May 22 is also noteworthy because on the very same day, the date of the publication in The Lancet of the highly accusatory study against HCQ, another study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine concerning the results of a clinical trial of…remdesivir.
In the conclusion of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, “remdesivir was superior to placebo in shortening the time to recovery in adults hospitalized with Covid-19 and evidence of lower respiratory tract infection.”
Concretely: on the same day, May 22nd, one study demeaned HCQ in one journal while another claimed evidence of attenuation on some patients through remdesivir in another journal.
The Lancet Published a Fraudulent Covid-19 Study: Editor Calls It “Department of Error”
https://www.globalresearch.ca/boston-connexion-serves-remdesivir/5717771
Federal Reserve Unhinged
Submitted by Joseph Carson, former chief economist at Alliance Bernstein
Since the pandemic tanked the economy in March the Federal Reserve has expanded its balance sheet by nearly $3 trillion to support the financial markets and asset prices. The injection of Fed liquidity into the financial system has roughly matched the $3 trillion in fiscal stimulus that Congress authorized to send stimulus checks to people, offer additional assistance to newly unemployed people, and provide loans to businesses.
Federal Reserve officials have also promised “unconditional support” as long as the pandemic continues to plague the financial markets and the economy. Never before has a group of non-elected officials been given unchecked authority and unlimited financial resources.
In 1996, a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan titled “The Challenge of Central Banking in a Democratic Society” is best remembered for the phrase, “ How do we know when irrational exuberance has unduly escalated asset prices”? But also in the speech, Mr. Greenspan stated, “Our monetary policy independence is conditional on pursuing policies that are broadly acceptable to the American people and their representatives in the Congress”.
Little did Mr. Greenspan know at the time that future Federal Reserve officials would concoct a twisted set of policies that offer incentives and protection to investors, and in the process unduly escalate asset prices.
In 1996, the same year as Mr. Greenspan speech, the market value of household equity holdings, directly and indirectly, owned matched the annual flow of disposable personal income. Since then boom and busts in asset prices pushed the ratio as high as 2X and slightly below the levels of 1996. (Note: In the chart below the latest observation for the ratio of equities to income is Q1 2020, while the data on the Federal Reserve balance sheet is through the end of Q2 2020.)
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/federal-reserve-unhinged
Next
‘Much higher’ death rate than Covid-19: Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan warns of dangerous local pneumonia
The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan has warned its citizens in the Central Asian country to exercise caution amid a large outbreak of viral pneumonia, which appears to be deadlier than the new coronavirus.
Between Covid-19 and the pneumonia outbreak, the diplomats described the health situation in Kazakhstan as “very grim.” Since the start of the year, 1,772 people have died of pneumonia in the country. In June alone, there were 628 fatalities, including Chinese citizens, a statement on the embassy’s website reads.
“The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of the new coronavirus pneumonia,” it said. The Kazakh Ministry of Health and other scientific bodies have been conducting “a comparative study” on the pneumonia virus and Covid-19, but no definitive findings have been made yet, the embassy added.
The diplomats urged citizens to take the same precautions as with the Covid-19 disease, which originated in China’s Wuhan in December and has infected more than 12 million people worldwide, killing over 550,000.
Chinese people in Kazakhstan were advised not to leave their homes without an urgent need, to avoid crowded places, wear a face mask, wash their hands often and swiftly seek medical help in case of any symptoms.
Kazakhstan’s Health Ministry said that it had registered more than 32,000 cases of pneumonia and over 9,400 cases of Covid-19 between June 29 and July 5. During this period, 451 people with pneumonia and 76 coronavirus patients died.
Chief sanitary officer, Ayzhan Esmagambetova, warned that the mortality rate from pneumonia has increased in Kazakhstan four times this June compared to the same period last year. She pointed out that many of those sick were not diagnosed with Covid-19. However, this could be explained by fact that the coronavirus tests often lack precision, the official added.
https://www.rt.com/news/494296-china-warns-kazakhstan-pneumonia/
THE REVELATIONS OF WIKILEAKS: No. 8—Busting the Myth WikiLeaks Published Nothing on Israel & Syria
One myth about WikiLeaks is that it favors U.S. enemies and declines to publish documents against them, while another legend is that WikiLeaks, for obscure reasons, is soft on Israel, reports Patrick Lawrence.
As WikiLeaks continued its document releases, and as major news organizations continued to publish fulsome accounts and analyses of these releases, the media’s stance toward Julian Assange and his organization began to turn: What had begun as collegial collaboration was transformed into criticism and denigration — this in accordance with the hardening attitudes of the U.S. and allied governments.
The key events in this shift were WikiLeaks’ publication in October 2010 of “Iraq War Logs,” comprised of 392,000 Army field reports, and, a month later, the phased publication of “Cablegate,” a collection of 251,287 State Department emails. “Cablegate” was the first major release of U.S. diplomatic traffic in WikiLeaks’ “Public Library of U.S. Diplomacy.” At writing, this continually expanding collection makes available more than 3 million documents spanning the 1966–2010 period.
With these publications, along with “Collateral Murder” and “Afghan War Diary,” released earlier in 2010, WikiLeaks penetrated more deeply into the citadels of official secrecy than it had since its founding in 2006. This new reality stunned the Obama administration and the national-security apparatus invisibly but formidably behind it.
Official policy shifted. Washington began actively to pursue avenues through which Assange could be arrested, charged, and tried for one or another offense, however far-fetched, trivial, or unrelated to WikiLeaks’ work. It was at this time that Sweden alleged that Assange had raped two women during a visit to Stockholm for a media conference—allegations based on falsified police reports and concocted evidence.
The media’s treatment of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange faithfully reflected Washington’s newly activated hostility toward both. Myths arose; fallacies were disseminated as self-evident truths. One of these held that WikiLeaks favored America’s enemies — or those Washington deemed enemies — and declined to publish documents pertaining to them. High on this list were Russia and Syria.
Another myth had it that WikiLeaks, for obscure reasons, was soft on Israel, the record supposedly showing it had never published documents reflecting unfavorably on the Middle East’s apartheid state.
On April 13, 2017, shortly after President Donald Trump named him director of the CIA, Mike Pompeo addressed the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Washington think tank. Pompeo devoted a remarkable proportion of his speech to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. This reflects the timing of Pompeo’s C.S.I.S. presentation.
Less than a year earlier WikiLeaks had begun publishing mail stolen from the Democratic National Committee’s computer servers. By the time Pompeo spoke, the convoluted, devoid-of-evidence conspiracy theory we call “Russiagate” was fixed in the American consciousness.
Pompeo’s Ire, Clinton Liar?
What had surely incensed Pompeo as CIA director was WikiLeaks’ release from March to September 2017 of Vault 7, described by The New York Times as “catastrophic” for the agency as the “largest” leak in its history.
“It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is — a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,” Pompeo asserted. The press and broadcasters turned these remarks into headlines, and another groundless fabrication was on its way to being accepted as fact.
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/07/09/the-revelations-of-wikileaks-no-8-busting-the-myth-wikileaks-published-nothing-on-israel-syria/
People Who Wear a Mask in Their Car
Dis funny
9/11 memorial to lost firefighters destroyed by vandals in New York State
Police in Washingtonville, New York, are searching for vandals who tore down the flagpole at a 9/11 memorial built in honor of five local firefighters who died in the World Trade Center collapse.
The village woke up to the desecrated monument on Wednesday. Police Chief Brian Zaccaro told the local paper that the culprits must have used a tool to cut through the flagpole’s metallic frame. The vandals also wrote a message on the remaining base – Zaccaro, however, refused to disclose it.
Police suspect that the same vandals recently broke the sign for the nearby St. Mary's Parish Center.
The 9/11 monument includes a semicircle of black granite plaques, bearing the names of New York City firefighters, who died in the terrorist attack. Each plaque features a stone replica of a firefighter's helmet.
“There's always someone sitting on those benches, from morning until night,” Washingtonville Mayor Joseph Bucco said of the memorial. He added that the park where the memorial is located has no surveillance cameras. On Facebook, Bucco announced “a reward in excess of $3,000” for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators.
The vandalism of statues and memorials is on the rise in the US, initially starting as a disorganized effort to take down monuments perceived to have links to racism. Recently, though, an increasing number of other statues have been defaced, including one of an elk set on fire in Portland, Oregon, with no clear political motivation behind the act.
https://www.rt.com/usa/494311-memorial-to-firefighters-vandalized/
Theresa May accused of ‘breathtaking’ hypocrisy after complaining about discrimination against black people
Former UK PM Theresa May has sparked anger after lamenting the rise in discrimination against black people in Britain, with some saying she is complicit for having overseen the government’s ‘hostile environment’ policy.
During an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, May contended that the increasing number of black people being stopped by police was evidence that individuals were being apprehended based on the color of their skin, adding that there was a “wider” societal issue at play.
I fundamentally believe that you should not be stopped on the streets of our country simply because of the colour of your skin.
May attempted to reinforce her passionate rhetoric on race by highlighting that during her time as PM she introduced the “race disparity audit,” which looked at discrimation within public services. However, people online have been left outraged by what May left out about her legacy on race issues while serving as home secretary (2010 - 2016) and later as prime minister (2016 - 2019).
Many critics on Twitter have pointed to the fact that she was the “architect” of the ‘hostile environment’ policy which culminated in the Windrush scandal. One commenter branded the Tory MP’s interview “Unbelievable hypocrisy, breathtaking.”
Another person sarcastically suggested that “she’s gonna flip when she hears about” the Windrush debacle and the hostile environment she championed at the time.
The 2018 Windrush scandal concerned people who were wrongly detained and denied benefits in the UK, with scores deported to Caribbean countries. It emerged that in 2010 the Home Office – led by May – destroyed the flight landing cards for a generation of Commonwealth citizens who had migrated to the UK, leaving many Caribbean migrants fearing for their right to remain in the country.
The ‘hostile environment’ was designed to make staying in the UK as difficult as possible, encompassed by the 2013 ‘go home vans’ that toured the country, trying to encourage ‘illegal immigrants’ to leave voluntarily.
May’s comments about racism come as research conducted by Labour’s Yvette Cooper – chair of the UK Parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee – showed that young black men were stopped more than 20,0000 times in London during the coronavirus pandemic (March-May). Of those searched, over 80 percent resulted in “no further action” being taken.
https://www.rt.com/uk/494273-may-hypocrisy-discrimination-black/
Prince Andrew is spotted for the first time since Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest as Attorney General Bill Barr confirms Epstein prosecutors 'definitely' want to speak to him
Duke of York has not been seen in public since Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in New Hampshire on July 2
Maxwell is in Brooklyn jail on perjury and child sex trafficking charges while allegedly helping Jeffrey Epstein
Andrew insists he has offered to speak to the FBI about his friendship with Epstein - but US authorities deny it
US Attorney General Bill Barr said Andrew must speak to FBI and his team 'definitely' want to interview him
Prince Andrew has today been pictured for the first time since Ghislaine Maxwell's arrest a week ago as Donald Trump's Attorney General said his prosecutors 'definitely' want to speak to the royal about his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged madam.
The Duke of York looked serious as he drove out of the gates of Windsor Castle this afternoon where he has been keeping a low profile at his lodge in the grounds of his mother the Queen's estate.
Andrew is involved in a war of words with the US authorities over whether he will assist their inquiries into the sex crimes of his paedophile friend Jeffrey Epstein, who hanged himself in a New York jail cell last summer.
Ms Maxwell was arrested on July 2 after a raid on her remote mansion in New Hampshire and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn after being charged with child sex trafficking and perjury. Epstein's 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts claimed she was trafficked by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17.
Today the US Attorney General Bill Barr said that Andrew must speak to the FBI and his team 'definitely' want to interview him.
He said: 'The department wants to talk to Prince Andrew. That's why the Southern District has been making efforts to communicate with him. We've made it clear that we'd like to communicate with him'.
A source close to Prince Andrew previously told DailyMail.com that he was 'bewildered' by the ongoing claims that he wasn't cooperating, and says his team tried to reach prosecutors several times.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8506817/Prince-Andrew-spotted-time-Ghislaine-Maxwells-arrest.html
DIG
Multiple Explosions Sound Off in Tehran, Power Outages Detected
MORE INFORMATION TO FOLLOW…
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202007091079841851-multiple-explosions-sound-off-in-tehran-power-outages-detected—reports/
Explosion heard in western Tehran: Iran state media
An explosion was heard in western Tehran on Friday, the official IRIB news agency reported, citing online reports.
There have been multiple explosions around military, nuclear and industrial facilities in the past week. IRIB did not provide any additional information about the cause of the blast or possible casualties.
Developing.
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/10/Explosion-heard-in-western-Tehran-Iran-state-media.html
https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2020/07/10/Explosion-heard-in-western-Tehran-Iran-state-media.html
https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1281356982574886912
Bolivia's acting president Jeanine Añez confirms she tested positive for coronavirus
Jeanine Anez, who has been Bolivia's acting president since the 2019 coup that ousted Evo Morales, confirmed that she has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The revelation comes two days after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced he had been infected with Covid-2019.
Anez said in a tweet that she was fine and would continue working in isolation.
He dado positivo a Covid19, estoy bien, trabajaré desde mi aislamiento. Juntos, vamos a salir adelante. pic.twitter.com/oA4YVYlZFa
— Jeanine Añez Chavez (@JeanineAnez) July 9, 2020
https://www.rt.com/news/494323-bolivia-president-jeanine-anez-coronavirus/
Multiple attacks on Iran by unseen adversary send clear warning to regime
Iran has suffered a series of six fires, explosions and chemical mishaps since June 26, waged by an unknown perpetrator.
Three weeks ago a paper written by the staff at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya’s Institute for Policy and Strategy argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s focus on extending Israeli sovereignty to parts of the West Bank was deflecting his attention and that of the world from Israel’s main threat: Iran.
The title given to the paper summed it up concisely: “Annexation ‘in,’ Iran ‘out,’ Israel harms the struggle against a nuclear Iran.”
According to the paper, not only did the incessant chatter about the possibility of annexation mean that the world was focusing on Israel rather than Iran, but the annexation issue led Netanyahu to take his eye off the Iranian ball, and this at a particularly inopportune moment: as Iran continues to test how far the world will let it go beyond the limits of the 2015 nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and as the UN is scheduled to consider lifting an arms embargo on the Islamic Republic in October.
All that was written three weeks ago. Less than two weeks ago, however, something dramatic changed: on June 26 an explosion rocked a facility that produces liquid fuel for ballistic missiles near Tehran, and another massive fire erupted in Shiraz. These were the first of a series of six fires, explosions and chemical mishaps since then, including at a medical clinic in Tehran, the Natanz nuclear site, a power plant in Ahvaz, and at a petrochemical plant in Mahshahr.
That all of this is a mere coincidence is unlikely, and the events indicate that somebody, somewhere – and it is anyone’s guess who that is and where – has not forgotten Iran, even amid the world’s preoccupation with corona, America’s turbulent domestic situation, and Israel’s debate (much less intense over the last week) over annexation.
These actions inside Iran send a strong message to the Islamic Republic – already reeling from the coronavirus, crippling US sanctions, a deep economic crisis and domestic foment – that it is vulnerable, that its most sensitive facilities can be reached and penetrated, and that facilities suspected of being used to further its nuclear and ballistic missile program can be severely damaged.
Iran has many proxies doing its dirty work around the region and the world, but whoever planned, green-lighted and carried out what look like premeditated attacks against key Iranian infrastructure has decided the time was right to go for the head of the octopus, and not suffice with hitting one of its many tentacles abroad.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/multiple-attacks-on-iran-by-unseen-adversary-send-clear-warning-to-regime-634355
Someones ahead of the curve on these developments……….
Explosions, power outages reported near Tehran
Al-Arabiya reported that the explosions occurred in missile depots belonging to the IRGC southwest of Tehran.
Explosions were reported west of Tehran on Thursday night, with some initial reports claiming that the explosions occurred at a missile depot belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
According to the Iranian Mehr News Agency, the explosions were reported by social media users west of Tehran and in the cities of Garmdareh and Quds.
Power outages were reported in the area after the explosions were heard, according to initial reports.
Al-Arabiya reported that the explosions occurred in missile depots belonging to the IRGC southwest of Tehran.
Thursday's explosion is the most recent in a series of explosions and fires reported in industrial areas and infrastructure throughout Iran.
On Monday, at least two people were killed and three others injured in a large explosion at the Sepahan Boresh factory in the city of Baqershahr near Tehran, according to Iranian and foreign reports.
The explosion was caused by "negligence in filling oxygen tanks," the Kahrizak district governor told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Tuesday. The walls of the Saipa Press Company, located next to the factory, were damaged by the explosion as well.
The location of the explosion is not far from the warehouse where Iran's nuclear archive was found by Israel in 2018, reported the IntelliTimes intelligence blog. The Saipa Press Company is located about 11 km. northeast from the area where the nuclear archive was found in the Shurabad commercial area. A warehouse where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that nuclear equipment and material was stored is also located nearby in the Turouzabad area. The International Atomic Energy Agency found traces of uranium at the warehouse in 2019 and began investigating its origin, according to Reuters.
IntelliTimes reported that the Sepahan Boresh factory belongs to the Iranian automotive manufacturer SAIPA. It cooperates with the Iranian Ministry of Defense; the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps is involved in the company as well.
On June 26, an explosion was reported at a gas storage facility near Tehran. Iranian media reported that the incident happened in a "public area" in Parchin and not at a military site located nearby. Western security services believe Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations in Parchin more than a decade ago; Iran denies this.
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/explosions-power-outages-reported-near-tehran-634574
Wow Israel has all the info…..wonder why?
Wave Of Explosions And Fires At Critical Infrastructure Objects Hits Iran. Sabotage Or Accidents?
A number of incidents have taken place in Iran over the past few weeks:
On June 26, there was an explosion at a weapons depot in Parchin. Parchin hosts a military base in which, reportedly, nuclear activity had been carried out by Iran. Defense ministry spokesman, Davoud Abdi, told state TV that the blast had happened at a gas storage facility in a “public area” of Parchin rather than the military base. The fire had been put out and no casualties had been reported, he added, but gave no details about the cause of the blast.
On July 2, the fire broke out at the Natanz nuclear fuel enrichment site. On July 5, the government confirmed that the damaged building at the Natanz nuclear site was a new centrifuge assembly center.
On July 4, a fire knocked out a power station transformer in the southwestern city of Ahvaz. Fars News Agency reported that the fire at the Zargan power plant had broke out as a result of a transformer explosion. Later, a spokesman for the Iranian electricity industry told Iranian media that the “connection” of one of the transformers had caused the fire.
On July 7, an explosion at a factory south of Tehran killed two people and seriously injured three others. The explosion, which destroyed a factory in Tehran and caused extensive damage to a neighbouring factory, was described as an accident and attributed to human error, which caused oxygen tanks stored there to explode.
On June 30, an explosion killed 19 people at a medical clinic in central Tehran. According to Iranian media, the explosion was the result of a gas leak.
On July 3, there was a fire in the city of Shiraz. The town was also hit by the power outage a few days earlier. The power outage also affected the 7th Tactical Air Base, which is located outside of the city of Shiraz and is attached to the Shiraz Shahid Dastghaib International Airport.
https://southfront.org/wave-of-explosions-and-fires-at-critical-infrastructure-objects-hits-iran-sabotage-or-accidents/
California to sue over new Trump student visa restrictions
California officials on Thursday said they intend to file a lawsuit against the Trump administration to block it from forcing out international students whose schools in the U.S. move their courses online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The state's lawsuit in federal court comes a day after Harvard and MIT sued in federal court to stop the sudden policy change from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"Shame on the Trump Administration for risking education possibilities for students who earned the chance to study here, along with their health and wellbeing,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said.
In March, ICE had announced a new policy that student visa holders in the U.S. would be allowed to remain in the country if they're forced to attend virtual classes in light of the public health crisis.
Then on Monday, without warning, ICE reversed itself, saying that any international students attending schools that had moved their classes online would have to leave the country or transfer to a new school.
“The U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States,” ICE said Monday.
“Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.”
The order affects more than a million student visa holders in the U.S. California is suing on behalf of 21,000 international students at its public community colleges throughout the state. Becerra said there are about 184,000 total student visa holders in California.
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/506653-california-to-sue-over-new-trump-student-visa-restrictions