Mexico Deploying 15,000 Troops to U.S. Border to Stop Illegal Immigration into U.S.

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Mexican Secretary of Defense Luis Sandoval said on Monday that Mexico is deploying thousands of soldiers to the U.S.-Mexico border to help stop the massive flow of illegal immigration into the United States.

“Mexico has deployed almost 15,000 troops to the US-Mexico border to curve migration flow,” CNN reporter Nick Valencia tweeted. “An additional ~2,000 National Guard elements have also been deployed across the country’s southern border with Guatemala & Belize.: MX Secretary of Defense Luis Sandoval.”

The move by Mexico comes after the Trump administration increased pressure on the Mexican government to significantly increase its efforts to stop the seemingly endless flow of migrants that are illegally entering the United States.

Trump announced at the end of last month that Mexico would face tariffs that would devastate their economy if they did not step up to the table and make serious efforts to help stop the problem.

Trump tweeted: “On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied, at which time the Tariffs will be removed. Details from the White House to follow.”

(Read more from “Mexico Deploying 15,000 Troops to U.S. Border to Stop Illegal Immigration into U.S.” HERE)

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Christian Persecution 2019 a Scourge of ‘Mammoth Proportions’

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June 2019 is an “especially menacing time” for Christians both on the domestic and international fronts, writes Christian persecution expert John L. Allen in a report Sunday.

The U.S. Catholic Church is facing “one of the most serious potential violations of religious freedom in its history in the form of SB 360 in California,” writes Allen, author of the 2013 bestseller The Global War on Christians: Dispatches from the Front Lines of Anti-Christian Persecution, since the bill would compel priests to reveal information learned while hearing confessions as evidence against possible sex offenders. . .

On the international scene, “the scope of anti-Christian hostility is staggering,” Allen continues, with the number of Christians facing “harassment, physical assault, arrest and imprisonment, torture, and even death” on a daily basis estimated at around 200 million.

Christians in North Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and a host of other countries live under a constant threat of active persecution, as documented by Open Doors, a Christian persecution watchdog group. . .

“Just as one didn’t have to be Jewish to sympathize with the plight of dissident Jews in the Soviet Union, and didn’t have to be black to be outraged by apartheid in South Africa, similarly today one shouldn’t have to be Christian to recognize anti-Christian persecution as a human rights scourge of mammoth proportions,” Allen writes. (Read more from “Christian Persecution 2019 a Scourge of ‘Mammoth Proportions'” HERE)

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Expert: U.S. Invests More in Africa Under Trump Than Any Other President

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The United States has poured more investment into Africa under President Donald Trump than under any previous administration. . .

The Daily Maverick reported on Thursday:

Aubrey Hruby, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and co-author of the book The Next Africa, has told Al Jazeera that the US DFC [Development Finance Corporation] with its larger investment cap, provides an opportunity for the US to reframe the way it does development in Africa.

She said it was “utterly surprising” that this was happening under President Donald Trump, who has been criticised for derogatory comments about Africa and who previously proposed scrapping funding for Opic, which provided US companies with investment guarantees. She said in many ways, more resources had been put into Africa and US companies in Africa under the Trump administration than any other.

Critics once complained that President Trump lacked interest in Africa (at least outside of South Africa, where he has drawn attention to the plight of white farmers, who are often the targets of brutal crime). They also accused him of referring to some African nations as “sh*thole countries” (though he and others present denied the accusation). (Read more from “Expert: U.S. Invests More in Africa Under Trump Than Any Other President” HERE)

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China Hosts Taliban Delegation to Enlarge Role in Afghanistan

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A Taliban delegation recently traveled to Beijing to discuss U.S.-backed peace efforts as well as “mutual” counterterrorism concerns in Afghanistan, the Chinese foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday.

Indian media reported that New Delhi’s rival Beijing hosted the delegation — led by the Taliban’s political deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar — in a bid to expand its role in Afghanistan, which is expected to house projects from Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

Asked about the Taliban’s visit on Thursday, Lu Kang, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told reporters that the two sides exchanged views “on Afghanistan’s peace and reconciliation process, counter-terrorism and other issues of mutual interest.” . . .

The Trump administration has intensified peace-seeking efforts over the last year, making the political reconciliation between Afghanistan and Kabul the primary goal of its strategy to end the nearly 18-year-old war. Nevertheless, the Taliban’s refusal to allow Kabul to participate in the ongoing negotiations has surfaced as the primary hurdle to the talks.

Taliban narco-jihadis, who are fighting to establish a sharia-compliant Islamic emirate in Afghanistan, consider themselves the only legitimate government of Afghanistan, dismissing Kabul as an American “puppet.” (Read more from “China Hosts Taliban Delegation to Enlarge Role in Afghanistan” HERE)

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Ilhan Omar Goes All in to Defend World’s Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism

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Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) repeatedly advocated for Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism — on Thursday, tweeting multiple times that the United States should not take action against Iran, even as Iran has repeatedly attacked cargo ships in the area and shot down a U.S. military drone this week.

Omar then falsely suggested that the U.S. was the “aggressor” in the situation with Iran, completely ignoring Iran’s multiple attacks on oil tankers in the region in recent weeks and Iran’s decision to shoot down a military drone this week. . .

Later in her tweet thread, Omar wrote: “So I urge you: be strong. Do not listen to the warmongers and war profiteers whispering in your ear. Do not send our men and women into harm’s way. And I urge the American people to make your voice heard. Organize. Call your member of Congress. Let all our leaders know that a war with Iran would be a catastrophe. #NoWarOnIran”

(Read more from “Ilhan Omar Goes All in to Defend World’s Leading State Sponsor of Terrorism” HERE)

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The OTHER Malaysian Airlines Flight: Three Russians and Ukranian Charged with Shooting down MH17

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By Townhall. Just days after The Atlantic published their comprehensive investigation on the whereabouts of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared into thin air in March 2014, a European joint task force revealed it has leveled charges against four men — one Ukranian and three Russians — for a second Malaysian airlines tragedy: the July 2014 explosion of MH17.

The BBC reports that the four men, who investigators believe were in direct contact with Russian officials, are accused of transporting missiles into an area of Ukraine for the purpose of shooting down a passenger jet. The four “did not push the button themselves,” investigators say, but provided the local milita with the means used to down the Malaysian airlines flight.

The joint investigative team is Dutch and plans to prosecute the four men — Igor Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov from Russia, and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenkoin — in the Netherlands under Dutch law. The trial won’t begin until 2020, however, since Dutch authorities say they still have at least eight more persons of interest to investigate in relation to the case.

Investigators believe that Girkin, a former Russian intelligence official, was in “direct contact with the Russian Federation” and that he and his team were well aware of what they were arming local militias to do, and that they’d reported their progress to Russian officials. . .

Unsurprisingly, Russia has refused to cooperate with the investigation and disputes the Dutch investigators’ findings. Russian officials say they do not believe any of their anti-aircraft missiles ever crossed the Russian border into Ukraine, even though investigators believe that the missile that hit MH17 belonged to the “53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile brigade,” based in Kursk. (Read more from “The OTHER Malaysian Airlines Flight: Three Russians and Ukranian Charged with Shooting down MH17” HERE)

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MH17: Four Charged with Shooting down Plane over Ukraine

By BBC News. For the first time since Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down in July 2014, prosecutors have announced charges against suspects in the case. . .

The passenger jet left Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport at 10:15 GMT on 17 July 2014 and was due to arrive at Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia the following day.

A few hours after take-off, the plane lost contact with air traffic control about 50km (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

At the time, an armed conflict was raging on the ground in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces, and several government military aircraft had been downed in the previous weeks, while government air strikes were being carried out on rebel-held areas.

The plane crashed in the Donetsk area, in territory controlled by separatists. Parts of the wreckage were found distributed over an area of about 50 sq km (19 square miles). (Read more from “MH17: Four Charged with Shooting down Plane over Ukraine” HERE)

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INCREDIBLE: Hong Kong Protesters Embrace Unexpected Christian Anthem

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A hymn sung by Christian groups participating in the anti-extradition Hong Kong protests has caught on and become an unlikely anthem for the movement of millions in the streets.

For the past week, “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord” has been heard almost non-stop at the main protest site in front of the city’s Legislative Council, and at marches and tense stand-offs with police, Reuters reported.

Although only 10 percent of the population is Christian, church groups quickly rallied after being alarmed by reports of police brutality to make a safe haven for protesters as the government said it had to crack down on “organized riots.” . . .

“As religious assemblies were exempt, it could protect the protesters. It also shows that it is a peaceful protest,” Edwin Chow, 19, acting president of the Hong Kong Federation of Catholic Students, told Reuters. “This was the one people picked up, as it is easy for people to follow, with a simple message and easy melody.”

The simple hymn heard around Hong Kong was composed by Linda Stassen-Benjamin in the United States in 1974 for Easter.

(Read more from “Hong Kong Protesters Embrace Unexpected Christian Anthem” HERE)

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New Zealand ‘Factsheet’ Wipes Israel from the Map, Has Horrifying Replacement

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New Zealand’s government recently erased Israel from the map in a “factsheet” on Palestine marred by numerous factual inaccuracies and minimal nuance, provoking outcry from Jewish and Israeli voices.

The “factsheet” labels all territory currently governed by Israel as Palestine. It also calls Palestine as a “state,” which is not consistent with the New Zealand government’s official view. . .

The “fact sheet” was first published by New Zealand’s Immigration Agency under the title ‘State of Palestine Refugee Quota Factsheet” to give a brief overview of how the Israeli-Palestinian conflict created Palestinian refugees. It is unclear who exactly created the “fact sheet” nor the editing process for it.

After the documents made the rounds on social media with numerous people weighing in on the subject, the government took down the controversial document:

Ashley Church, the director of the Israeli Institute of New Zealand, called for the retraction of the “fact sheet” and an apology from the New Zealand government. (Read more from “New Zealand ‘Factsheet’ Wipes Israel from the Map, Has Horrifying Replacement” HERE)

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Mexican Cartel Members Ask for Asylum at Border Following Bloody Shootout

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By Daily Wire. Alleged members of the Sinaloa Mexican drug cartel turned themselves in at the U.S. border last week after being involved in a massive gun battle right next to the border that resulted in numerous deaths.

“The first shootout occurred at approximately 1 pm on the outskirts of Agua Prieta in colonia Infonavit Alamito, when a group of cartel gunmen riding in several vehicles intercepted a red Chevrolet Silverado and a black sedan and immediately opened fire,” Breitbart border expert Robert Arce reported. “The muzzle reports could be heard for several minutes, according to several local media sources.”

“Numerous amateur cell phone recordings were immediately posted on social media by citizens and local journalists, capturing the audio of the gunfire and the aftermath of the deadly shooting,” Arce continued. “In one video posted online, a group of presumed onlookers approach the Silverado and are seen looting a rifle, handgun, and ballistic armor.”

(Read more from “Mexican Cartel Members Ask for Asylum at Border Following Bloody Shootout” HERE)

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Sinaloa Cartel Shootout in Agua Prieta Leaves Nearly a Dozen People Dead

By News 4 Tucson. . .Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told News 4 Tucson, the gun battle started Monday afternoon. He said they received information that the gun battle was the result of an internal rift within the Sinaloa cartel.

Sources told News 4 Tucson four cartel members showed up at the port of entry asking for asylum and claimed “credible fear”.

Authorities took them into custody.

The Sinaloa drug cartel is the most ruthless and dangerous of the cartels. Evident by Monday’s gun battle in broad daylight. He recounted an incident that occurred “one of the victims that had been shot was taken to a hospital in Agua Prieta,” Dannels said. “The cartel members who wanted him dead followed him to the hospital where they shot and killed him.” (Read more from “Sinaloa Cartel Shootout in Agua Prieta Leaves Nearly a Dozen People Dead” HERE)

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Pentagon Approves Sending 1,000 More Troops to Mideast After Oil Tanker Attack

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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) released new images Monday showing the aftermath of mine attacks against two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week, including some images purporting to show Iranian forces removing an unexploded device from the hull of one of the vessels.

Hours later, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he had approved a request from CENTCOM to send approximately 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East “to address air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region.

“The recent Iranian attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region,” Shanahan said. “The United States does not seek conflict with Iran. The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests.”

The military says that some of the 11 new images taken from a Navy helicopter show members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy removing a limpet mine from the side of the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous oil tanker. Other photos show a large hole on the side of the Courageous, above the water line, that officials say appears to have been caused by another mine.

In a statement, Central Command reaffirmed the Trump administration’s previous claim that Iran was responsible for the attacks on the Kokuka Courageous and the Front Altair “based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine.” (Read more from “Pentagon Approves Sending 1,000 More Troops to Mideast After Oil Tanker Attack” HERE)

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