Reganelite

Capture of crucial site marks turnaround in fortunes for Sudanense Armed Forces over last month. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) have claimed control of the national broadcast building in the city of Ondurman from their rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF).The paramilitary RSF captured the site in the first days of the war almost a year ago. The RSF's loss of the important piece of national infrastructure is the latest in a string of victories claimed by the army. Footage posted by the army showed some of its troops within a kilometre of the radio and TV building cheering after seizing vehicles and weapons. Middle East Eye could not independently verify the footage. Since late January, the SAF had been concentrating its efforts in Omdurman and Bahri, cities that lie across the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers from the capital Khartoum. The previous months had seen a string of devastating defeats for the military. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-army-claims-control-national-broadcast-building-omdurman Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Jimmy Cherizier tells Al Jazeera: ‘It’s not just people with guns who’ve damaged the country but the politicians too.’ A powerful Haitian gang leader has rejected attempts by foreign nations for an electoral road map and a path to peace as the country plunges deeper into violent chaos and armed groups control most of the capital following the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Regional leaders of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) held an emergency summit last week to discuss a framework for a political transition, which the United States had urged to be “expedited” as gangs wrought chaos in the capital, Port-au-Prince, amid repeatedly postponed elections. “We’re not going to recognise the decisions that CARICOM takes,” Jimmy “Barbecue” Cherizier, a former police officer whose gang rules vast swaths of Port-au-Prince, told Al Jazeera. Rights groups have accused his gang alliance of committing atrocities, including killings and rape. “I’m going to say to the traditional politicians that are sitting down with CARICOM, since they went with their families abroad, we who stayed in Haiti have to take the decisions,” Cherizier said, flanked by gang members wearing face masks, adding that he rejected plans for a transitional council made up of the country’s political parties. “It’s not just people with guns who’ve damaged the country but the politicians too,” he added. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/16/overthrow-the-system-haiti-gang-leader-cherizier-seeks-revolution Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Destruction of buildings, too few ambulances and having to work in ‘red zones’ all adding to trauma. There have been no medical evacuations from northern Gaza for more than a month so severely injured people are trapped in damaged hospitals where they cannot get adequate treatment, a leading medical charity has warned. Ambulances need urgent access to take the most vulnerable patients for specialist care, said Patrick Münz, head of mission in Gaza for German medical charity Cadus. There are no intensive care units operating in northern Gaza, so Palestinians most seriously injured in Israeli airstrikes and fighting on the ground have died. But dozens of patients in the two functioning hospitals in Gaza City have been stabilised after amputations or with severe burns, and could survive if they got treatment in Rafah or beyond Gaza. Cadus is working with the World Health Organization trying to get ambulances into the north for evacuations, travelling with UN aid convoys bringing food or medical supplies. “The people we will transport at least at the beginning are critical care patients, but who are stable,” said Münz, adding that there had been no transports for over a month. “They should have been evacuated yesterday already.” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/17/severely-injured-patients-are-left-in-limbo-as-charitys-relief-efforts-are-scuppered Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Chae-ran made her first escape after finishing high school. She’d been assigned a job at a coal mine, like her father and most people in their village near the Chinese border – but the teenager didn’t want to spend her life doing hard labor, deep underground. She’d seen other villagers crossing the river that separates North Korea from China to find work and wanted to help support her family. So, one day, without telling her mother, she and a friend left home with the help of a broker – people who plan and facilitate the journey out of North Korea for a fee. She remembers it was early evening in autumn; the sky was still light when she crossed the river. But upon reaching the other side, she and her friend were put into cars and driven into northwestern China, where they were given a choice, she said: entertain customers at a bar, or marry a Chinese man. “I wanted to cry but I knew nothing could change even if I did,” she said, speaking in Korean during a conversation with CNN. “I thought I couldn’t work at a bar so that left me only one option, marrying a Chinese man.” Shortly afterward, Chae-ran says she was separated from her friend, who she never saw again, and introduced to the man who had bought her, a Chinese farmer eight years her senior. “I didn’t like the man because he was short, but I didn’t want to be sold again so I stayed quiet,” she said. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/08/asia/north-korean-refugees-trafficked-china-intl-hnk-dst/index.html Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Presidential candidates in Senegal kicked off their election campaigns on Saturday, following weeks of violent protests across the African country after the vote was delayed. The 19 approved candidates vying for the top job now have a shorter period to rally supporters ahead of the March 24 election, expected to be the most tightly contested race since Senegal gained independence more than six decades ago. The former mayor of Dakar, Khalifa Sall, who is running for the fourth time, organized a marching caravan through the streets of the capital to begin his campaign. The front-runners will likely be former Prime Minister Amadou Ba as the ruling party's choice, and imprisoned Bassirou Diomaye Faye, a lesser known candidate who gained popularity as the chief of the dissolved PASTEF party. Diomaye Faye has been behind bars for nearly a year but is due to be released in time for elections after the president passed a decree to exonerate political prisoners. He has stepped in for opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, also in prison and who has been barred from running. In June, Sonko was charged with corrupting youth and sentenced to two years in prison. Ruling party candidate Amadou Ba is yet to launch his campaign. The only woman candidate is Anta Babacar Ngom, the head of Sedima, one of the country’s biggest food companies. The recent violent protests have also raised concerns for a country that used to be seen as a beacon of democratic stability in West Africa, a region plagued by coups and insecurity. President Macky Sall, who is prevented from running because of term limits, postponed the election last month, just weeks before it was to take place on Feb. 25. His announcement that the vote would instead be held 10 months from now plunged Senegal into chaos as opposition protests filled the streets. Senegal’s highest election authority, the Constitutional Council, rejected Sall's postponement and ordered the government to set a new date as soon as possible. https://www.africanews.com/2024/03/10/senegal-election-campaigns-begin-ahead-march-24-vote/ Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Experts say there is no guarantee on where packages end up, they are too few and do not reach those most in need. Images of US, French and Jordanian planes dropping pallets of aid from high altitude and crates of meals being parachuted into Gaza have garnered a lot of attention in recent days. However, as the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorates, questions have been raised on whether air-dropping is the best solution. On Friday, five Palestinians were killed and several wounded after a parachute landing a humanitarian air-drop load failed to open, bringing a pallet crashing down into a crowd of people waiting for food north of Gaza City's Shati refugee camp. The Palestinian Ministry of Health has stated that at least 20 Palestinians in Gaza have died since the start of the war due to dehydration and malnutrition, with several aid organisations warning that the number will grow if urgent action is not taken. The air-drops have come almost five months into Israel's war on Gaza, which has resulted in more than 30,900 dead and over 70,457 wounded in the besieged enclave. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/war-gaza-why-airdropping-aid-doing-more-harm-good Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Residents of Haiti's capital scrambled for safety on Saturday following the latest spasm of gang violence, with a UN group warning of a "city under siege" after armed attackers targeted the presidential palace and police headquarters. Criminal groups, which already control much of Port-au-Prince as well as roads leading to the rest of the country, have unleashed havoc in recent days as they try to oust Prime Minister Ariel Henry as leader of the Western hemisphere's poorest country. On Saturday, dozens of residents were seeking safety in public buildings, with some successfully breaking into one facility, according to an AFP correspondent. The unrest has seen 362,000 Haitians internally displaced -- more than half of them children and some forced to move multiple times, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said Saturday. "Haitians are unable to lead a decent life. They are living in fear, and every day, every hour this situation carries on, the trauma gets worse," Philippe Branchat, IOM's chief in Haiti, said in a statement. "People living in the capital are locked in, they have nowhere to go," he said. "The capital is surrounded by armed groups and danger. It is a city under siege." https://www.france24.com/en/americas/20240310-haiti-s-capital-under-siege-as-armed-gangs-attack-key-infrastructure Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Ukrainian and allied officials criticized Pope Francis for saying that Kyiv should have the “courage” to negotiate an end to the war with Russia, a statement many interpreted as a call on Ukraine to surrender. The foreign minister of Poland, a vocal ally of Kyiv, and Ukraine’s ambassador to the Vatican both used World War II analogies to condemn the pope’s remarks, while a leader of one of Ukraine’s Christian churches on Sunday said that only the country’s determined resistance to Russia’s aggression had prevented a mass slaughter of civilians. In an interview recorded last month with Swiss broadcaster RSI and partially released on Saturday, Francis used the phrase “the courage of the white flag” as he argued that Ukraine, facing a possible defeat, should be open to peace talks brokered by international powers. https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-pope-francis-488ac1d4c5ae86cb34dcae2ab2dade12 Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

The West African Sahel nation has been struggling to contain armed groups for a decade. Around 170 people were “executed” in attacks on three villages in northern Burkina Faso a week ago, a regional prosecutor has said, as violence flares in the country. Aly Benjamin Coulibaly said in a statement on Sunday that he had received reports of the attacks on the villages of Komsilga, Nodin and Soroe in Yatenga province on February 25, with a provisional toll of “around 170 people executed”. The attacks left others wounded and caused material damage, the prosecutor for the northern town of Ouahigouya said, without apportioning blame to any group. He said his office ordered an investigation and appealed to the public for information. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/3/around-170-people-executed-in-burkina-faso-attacks-regional-official-says Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Thousands of doctors in South Korea took to the streets of Seoul on Sunday to protest the government’s plans to increase medical school admissions and what they see as a broader lack of support for the country’s medical system. The doctors say the government needs to address a wider range of challenges facing the healthcare system than just the total number of doctors trained per year. Their concerns include staffing in specific fields and the price the government pays for essential medical treatments as well as establishing a proper infrastructure for educating large numbers of new medical students. The government’s plan, announced in February, will increase the number of students admitted to medical schools by 2,000 starting in the 2025 academic year which would bring the total to 5,000 per year. Trainee doctors are also angry over difficult working conditions that include low pay and long hours. Around 8,000 trainee doctors in South Korea began striking on February 21 by submitting their resignation. A further 1,000 have resigned since then. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/03/asia/south-korea-doctors-demonstrations-intl/index.html Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

Armed gangs have stormed the main prison in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, releasing many inmates. The vast majority of about 4,000 men held there have now escaped, a local journalist told BBC News. Among those detained were gang members charged in connection with the 2021 killing of President Jovenel Moïse. Violence in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, has worsened in recent years. Gangs aiming to oust PM Ariel Henry control 80% of Port-au-Prince. The latest upsurge in violence began on Thursday, when the prime minister travelled to Nairobi to discuss sending a Kenyan-led multinational security force to Haiti. On Friday, Kenyan President William Ruto said he and Mr Henry had signed an agreement and were working to fast-track the deployment. Violence has been rife since President Moïse's assassination in 2021. He has not been replaced and elections have not been held since 2016. Under a deal, elections were to be held and the unelected Mr Henry was due to stand down by 7 February, but that did not happen. Since he left the country for Kenya, unrest in Port-au-Prince has escalated further, with gang leader Jimmy Chérizier (nicknamed "Barbecue") declaring a co-ordinated attack to oust the prime minister. "All of us, the armed groups in the provincial towns and the armed groups in the capital, are united," said the former police officer, who is thought to be behind several massacres in Port-au-Prince. A wave of shootings in the capital has left four police officers dead and five injured. At the weekend the French embassy in Haiti advised against travel in and around the capital. Haiti's police union has asked the military to help reinforce the prison. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-68462851 Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/reganelitek

North Korea’s munitions factories are “operating at full capacity” to produce weapons and shells for Russia, according to South Korea’s defense minister, as Moscow’s devastating war in Ukraine grinds into a third year. The latest estimate from South Korea offers fresh clues on the crucial but highly secretive role North Korea is playing to help resupply Moscow’s war of attrition at a time when Ukraine’s own need for vital military resupplies is being held up by predominantly Republican lawmakers in Washington. The weapons and military equipment, which include millions of rounds of artillery shells, is being delivered to Russia in exchange for shipments of food and other necessities, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Monday. Since August, Pyongyang has shipped about 6,700 containers to Russia, which could accommodate more than 3 million rounds of 152 mm artillery shells or more than 500,000 rounds of 122 mm multiple rocket launchers, according to Shin’s ministry. “While North Korea’s arms factories (for non-Russian exports) operate at 30% capacity due to shortages of raw materials and electricity, the factories producing weapons and artillery shells for Russia are operating at full capacity,” Shin said in a meeting with reporters. In exchange, food accounts for the largest portion of containers from Russia to North Korea, and the food supply situation in the isolated Asian nation seems to be “stable,” according to the defense ministry. In a fact sheet released Friday, the US State Department said North Korea has delivered more than 10,000 containers of munitions or related materials to Russia since September. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/28/asia/north-korea-munitions-factories-shipments-russia-ukraine-intl-hnk/index.html Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Warning comes as Israeli forces again opened fire on Palestinians waiting for food aid in northern Gaza. Officials from the United Nations have accused Israel of “systematically” blocking aid from reaching desperate Palestinians in Gaza, warning that at least one-quarter of the enclave’s population was a step away from famine without urgent action. The warnings on Tuesday came as footage from northern Gaza showed Israeli forces again opening fire on Palestinians gathering to collect food in the area. It was not immediately clear if the shooting led to deaths or injuries. Israel’s war on Gaza, now in its fifth month, has killed at least 29,878 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The assault began after Hamas – the armed group that governs Gaza – launched attacks inside Israel on October 7, killing some 1,139 people and taking 253 others captive. Israel’s subsequent military campaign – which has included daily air attacks, a ground offensive into north and central Gaza and the closing of all but one crossing point into the territory – has laid much of the Palestinian enclave to waste and triggered a worsening humanitarian crisis. “Here we are, at the end of February, with at least 576,000 people in Gaza – one-quarter of the population – one step away from famine,” Ramesh Rajasingham, the deputy chief of the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), told the UN Security Council (UNSC). https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/28/at-least-576000-people-in-gaza-one-step-away-from-famine-un-says Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Germany’s lower house of parliament voted to legalize cannabis for limited recreational use on Friday despite warnings from the opposition and medical authorities. The new rules mean adults can possess small amounts for personal use but the drug remains banned for under 18s. In total, 407 German lawmakers voted in favor of the new regulation, 226 lawmakers voted against and four lawmakers abstained from Friday’s vote. The passage of the bill follows a controversial national debate about the pros and cons of allowing easier access to the drug. The move makes Germany the third country in Europe – after Malta and Luxembourg – to legalize the drug for recreational use, removing cannabis from the official list of banned substances. The Netherlands bans possession of drugs but some municipalities permit them to be sold in coffee shops under its so-called policy of toleration. In other countries, like Australia and the US, rules vary in different localities. Under the new legislation, put forward by Germany’s ruling coalition party, adults can cultivate up to three plants for private consumption and be allowed to possess 50g at one time at home, and 25g in public, starting from April 1. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/23/europe/germany-cannabis-legal-parliament-intl/index.html Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

The animal translocation scheme by wildlife NGOs including African Parks, once headed by the royal, has been dogged by controversy. Four more people have died after an elephant translocation overseen by two wildlife organisations, including one that was headed by Prince Harry, in a protected area in Malawi. The recent deaths bring the total fatalities connected to the relocated elephants to seven. In July 2022, more than 250 elephants were moved from Liwonde national park in southern Malawi to the country’s second-largest protected area, Kasungu, in a three-way operation between Malawi’s national park service and two NGOs: the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), and African Parks. Prince Harry was president of African Parks for six years, before being elevated to the board of directors from 2023. The movement of elephants was among the largest of its kind ever attempted, the conservation groups said at the time. The groups used images of the 263 elephants being transported for fundraising, and videos of the huge animals being lifted by crane were described as “scenes reminiscent of the Disney classic Dumbo”. In the days after the translocation, however, two people were killed by elephants in the area the animals were moved to, and a third person was killed in September that year. Communities warned of growing problems with human-wildlife conflict with the African mammals, which frequently raid crops. After the move, a community leader accused the wildlife NGOs of caring more about animals than people. An electric fence to protect people on the edge of the park had not been completed, he said, highlighting that the elephants had been moved from a protected area that already had a fence. Ifaw and the Malawian national park service contest that this was a condition of the translocation. African Parks disputed that the movement of the elephants had been rushed. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/feb/16/prince-harry-malawi-elephant-relocation-project-dead-aoe Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Egypt has severely restricted legal routes of entry from Sudan since the war began there, leaving refugees to pay smugglers with police connections to get them across the border. It took Iman Ali, her two children and her parents three nights to cross the border from Sudan, their war-torn homeland, into Egypt. Guided by smugglers, the family travelled along remote paths in a Toyota Hilux pickup, reaching the southern Egyptian city of Aswan after navigating many obstacles. “When we got to Aswan my parents were sick and my two children were dehydrated, because we had been sitting under the hot desert sun in the Hilux we rented,” the 35-year-old, now living in the Faisal neighbourhood of Cairo, told Middle East Eye. The guides who took the family helped keep them away from Egyptian police, she said. “I have a feeling they are an illegal network made up of Sudanese and Egyptian traders who have ties with the police in both countries,” Iman said. Working as an engineer in Sudan before the war erupted, Iman and her family are among thousands of Sudanese who have been forced to resort to illegal smugglers to cross the border into Egypt’s Aswan province. Despite freedom of movement, residence, work and property ownership being guaranteed by a 2004 agreement between the two countries, Egyptian authorities have imposed widespread restrictions on Sudanese entering Egypt, including people over 50 and children/under 18s. These restrictions were put in place following the eruption of the war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary in April last year. According to the UN, over 1.6 million people have crossed the borders of Sudan into neighbouring countries since then. Around 450,000 of those have gone to Egypt, joining some four million Sudanese already living there. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/sudan-egypt-border-migration-smugglers-police Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, said Friday that its bank accounts had been frozen by federal tax authorities, just weeks before an expected nationwide election. Authorities later temporarily restored access to the accounts, the party said, but not before the move drew widespread criticism from the Congress and its allies, who accused the government of conducting an attack on democracy. Congress Treasurer Ajay Maken told a news conference the accounts had been frozen after an investigation of the party’s income tax returns for the 2018-19 financial year. He added that the Income Tax Department had issued a payment demand for 2.1 billion rupees ($25.3 million) in connection to the ongoing probe. “The Congress party’s bank accounts haven’t been frozen. It’s the democracy that has been frozen,” Maken said. “Will there be only a one party system in this country?” Later on Friday, an income tex tribunal granted the party temporary access to its accounts ahead of a hearing Wednesday, lawyer and Congress lawmaker Vivek Tankha confirmed to CNN. CNN has reached out to India’s Income Tax Department and Finance Ministry, and multiple leaders within the Congress party for further comment. On Friday, Congress supporters gathered in Delhi’s iconic Jantar Mantar area to protest the action, as party chief Mallikarjun Kharge called on the judiciary to “save the multi-party system in this country and protect India’s Democracy.” https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/16/india/india-congress-bank-accounts-tax-frozen-intl-hnk/index.html Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

European countries' efforts to strengthen their armies in the face of the increased threat from Russia have clashed against young Europeans' unwillingness to join the armed forces. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed European countries to increase their military spending and strengthen their defence, as they scramble to reverse the shrinking of their armies that has occurred over the past decade or so. But their efforts have met a huge challenge: a lack of recruits willing to join their military forces. Despite new investment and a recent recruitment push, Germany recently announced that its troop numbers fell slightly last year. The country’s defence ministry said earlier this month that its army - the Bundeswehr - shrank by about 1,500 troops in 2023, for a total of around 181,500 men and women by the end of the year. The Bundeswehr’s plan is to increase its ranks to 203,000 troops by 2031. The UK also recently admitted it’s struggling to find recruits, with the country’s Ministry of Defence saying that 5,800 more people left the forces than joined them in 2023. The UK Defence Journal writes that the army has not met its recruitment targets every year since 2010. “The problem is one that all European countries share - including France, Italy, Spain,” Vincenzo Bove, professor of political science at Warwick University in UK, told Euronews. “I don’t think there’s one country that’s spared from it.” According to Bove, it’s unclear when exactly attracting recruits became a problem for European armies. “From my understanding, it started at least over 10 years ago in countries like the UK,” Bove said. “In the US, it started at least 20 years ago.” What’s certain is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has added pressure on European countries to solve the issue. But why are European countries struggling to recruit soldiers? https://www.euronews.com/2024/02/16/why-are-european-armies-struggling-to-recruit-soldiers Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Earlier this week the UN agency expressed ‘deep concern’ over the detention of prominent rights activist, Rocio San Miguel. Venezuela has ordered the local office of the United Nations human rights body to suspend operations and given its staff 72 hours to leave, accusing it of promoting opposition to the South American country. Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil announced the decision at a news conference in the capital Caracas on Thursday. He said the office – the local technical advisory office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – had been used by the international community “to maintain a discourse” against Venezuela. The move came two days after the UN agency expressed “deep concern” over the detention of prominent rights activist Rocio San Miguel and called for her “immediate release”. Gil said the UN rights office had taken on an “inappropriate role” and had become “the private law firm of the coup plotters and terrorists who permanently conspire against the country”. He said the decision would remain in place until the agency “publicly rectify, before the international community, their colonialist, abusive and violating attitude of the United Nations Charter”. In a statement, Venezuela’s government said it decided to suspend the activities of the UN rights office and “carry out a holistic revision of the technical cooperation terms”. It said the review would take place over the next 30 days. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/15/venezuela-orders-suspension-of-un-rights-office-gives-staff-days-to-leave Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

As war continues unabated in Sudan, an acute food emergency could kill hundreds of thousands of people by next year. The United Nations estimates that about 18 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger – double the figure from last year. A recent internet blackout across the country compounded the crisis by suspending money transfers, which the diaspora relies on to support loved ones in the country. As famine looms, aid agencies are calling for $4.1bn in funding to avert a catastrophe in Sudan and countries hosting Sudanese refugees. “Even if [hunger levels stay where they are], hundreds of thousands of children will die by next year,” said Alex de Waal, an expert on famines and the executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/2/12/famine-looms-in-sudan Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

A British man stranded in Rafah with his young family has told Middle East Eye that MI5 offered to help them to escape from Gaza but only if he agreed to work for the spy agency. The man, who said he did not accept the offer, now fears that his displaced family – who include a one-year-old daughter with a serious medical condition, and two other young children – is in imminent danger from an expected Israeli offensive and a humanitarian crisis that is worsening by the day. He said the family, which MEE is not identifying because of the sensitivity of their case, has registered with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), which has helped scores of British nationals to leave Gaza via the Rafah crossing to Egypt, but has been kept waiting for weeks. “I thought it would only take a few days or a week at most. I have been waiting for more than two months for them to get me and my family out of this crazy, dangerous war,” he said. The family has been living in a tent, among hundreds of thousands of others displaced from other devastated areas of Gaza, since being forced to flee their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in December in conditions which United Nations secretary general Antonio Guterres on Thursday described as a “humanitarian nightmare”. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-mi5-tried-recruit-british-man-stranded-gaza-offering-help-family-escape Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Human rights advocates are accusing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of misleading the public over weapons sales to Israel, which have come under greater scrutiny amid the deadly Israeli bombardment of Gaza. At issue is legislation that prohibits the government from exporting military equipment to foreign actors if there is a risk it can be used in human rights abuses. But regulatory loopholes, combined with a lack of clarity over what Canada sends to Israel, have complicated efforts to end the transfers. Dozens of Canadian civil society groups this month urged Trudeau to end arms exports to Israel, arguing they violate Canadian and international law because the weapons could be used in the Gaza Strip. But in the face of mounting pressure since Israel’s war on Gaza began on October 7, Canada’s foreign affairs ministry has tried to downplay the state’s role in helping Israel build its arsenal. “Global Affairs Canada can confirm that Canada has not received any requests, and therefore not issued any permits, for full weapon systems for major conventional arms or light weapons to Israel for over 30 years,” the department told Al Jazeera in an email on Friday. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/9/demands-for-canada-to-stop-supplying-weapons-to-israel-grow-louder Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Farmers in Italy, Spain and Poland demonstrated Friday as part of ongoing protests against European Union farming policies and to demand measures to combat production cost hikes, reduced profits and unfair competition from non-EU countries. Similar protests have taken place across the bloc in recent weeks. Farmers complain that the 27-nation EU’s policies on the environment and other matters are a financial burden and make their products more expensive than non-EU imports. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, has made some concessions over the last few weeks, including shelving plans to halve the use of pesticides and other dangerous substances. Nonetheless, the protests have spread. In Poland, where imports of cheap grain, milk and other produce from Ukraine have caused particular anger, farmers drove tractors across the country to slow down traffic and block major roads, some displaying signs that read “EU Policy is Ruining Polish Farmers.” https://apnews.com/article/european-union-farmers-protests-spain-1fc79edc0cf8e646a6f0fa3ae2166365 Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Pakistan’s 2024 general elections were dubbed the “most rigged” in the country’s history, with the popular Imran Khan barred from running and the military seen as backing former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. That was before results showed Khan-backed independent candidates leading the race. The stage appears to be set for a turbulent period after an irate electorate reacted to the military’s perceived meddling in politics – again. Voters in the 2024 Pakistani general elections manoeuvred sheaves of ballot papers offering a profusion of symbols including tables, chairs, apples, airplanes, calculators and kitchen appliances. But there was no cricket bat on the ballot. With former cricket star and prime minister Imran Khan behind bars, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was banned from using its signature icon in a country where symbols are important tools for the electorate because of high illiteracy rates. This forced PTI-backed candidates to run as independents, each using different symbols that stretched ballot papers and the national imagination. https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20240209-the-generals-elections-that-turned-against-pakistan-s-military Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite

Legislators in Argentina have approved President Javier Milei’s divisive “omnibus” reform bill after days of debate, paving the way for a decisive vote in the Senate. The lower chamber of deputies approved the package in principle by 144 votes to 109 in a vote on Friday. The sweeping bill, meant to start transforming the state and the economy, may undergo changes before heading to the Senate. While the vote took place, crowds of demonstrators gathered outside Congress to protest. Critics have said the government will use the bill to increase the exploitation of natural resources, benefit the private sector and cut resources for the environment and culture. “We have two clear options – become the largest slum in the world, or continue this path towards prosperity and freedom,” said Lorena Villaverde, a lawmaker from Milei’s far-right Freedom Advances party in support of the bill. Shortly before the vote, Milei said on social media that legislators had “the opportunity to show which side of history” they wanted to be on. “History will judge them according to their work in favour of the Argentines or for the continued impoverishment of the people,” a presidential statement said. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/3/argentinas-lower-house-approves-mileis-omnibus-reform-bill Reganelite YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@REGANELITE?sub_confirmation=1 Join Patreon for Exclusive Content https://www.patreon.com/Reganelite All my social media links here: https://linktr.ee/reganelite https://discord.gg/xCjFtYdSJp https://www.instagram.com/reganelite_shorts/ https://www.tiktok.com/@reganelite https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Reganelite