Actress Drops out of Prestigious Awards Ceremony over ‘Distressing’ Events in Israel

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U.S. actress Natalie Portman has pulled out of a June awards ceremony in Israel because of concerns over “recent events” there, event organizers said Thursday.

Portman, who was born in Jerusalem, will not travel to Israel in June to receive the Genesis Prize, sometimes referred to as “The Jewish Nobel.”

“Recent events in Israel have been extremely distressing to her, and she does not feel comfortable participating in any public events in Israel,” the Genesis Foundation, which sponsors the award, quoted a Portman representative as saying . . .

Clashes have erupted in recent weeks between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters along the Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip. Live fire from Israeli troops has killed dozens of Palestinians and wounded hundreds more, sparking international criticism of Israel’s response to the protests. Israel says it is defending its border and has accused the militant group Hamas, which loosely governs Gaza, of organizing the mass demonstrations a cover for attacks.

Portman was announced as the winner of the 2018 Genesis Prize in November. She had committed to give the $1 million award to “philanthropic programs focused on advancing women’s equality in all aspects of human endeavor,” the Genesis Foundation said. (Read more from “Actress Drops out of Prestigious Awards Ceremony over ‘Distressing’ Events in Israel” HERE)

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Violence in Post-Refugee Sweden Reaches Staggering Levels

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Much has been written over the past several years about the massive influx of mostly Muslim refugee migrants to Europe and the radical cultural changes those migrants brought with them to the nations they ultimately settled in.

Bear in mind that the overwhelming majority of those migrants weren’t really refugees at all, as the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees admitted in a report. For the year 2015, only about 0.4 percent (less than 300 total) of the 118,000 refugees accepted by other nations around the world were actually in dire need of resettling and could honestly proclaim themselves a refugee, according to The Western Journal.

That means more than 99 percent of those who fled North Africa and the Middle East for western and northern Europe were migrating for economic or criminal purposes, and though that fact is typically downplayed by European governments, the reality of the situation is increasingly intruding on their precious innocent refugees narrative.

Perhaps the most vivid example of this reality is the case of Sweden, a prosperous Scandinavian nation once considered one of the safest countries on earth but which is now wracked with rapidly spiking levels of violent crime, according to a shocking report in Politico.

Sweden took in so many migrants and refugees that the nation was dubbed a “humanitarian superpower,” and the generosity of the nation’s welfare state in conjunction with their open arms for third-world migrants was held up as the “Swedish model” for other progressive nations to emulate. (Read more from “Violence in Post-Refugee Sweden Reaches Staggering Levels” HERE)

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First They Came for the Guns, Then the Knives, Now They’re Coming For…

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By The Daily Caller. The U.K. will become the first country to ban plastic straws in hopes of saving the environment from plastic waste.

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced Wednesday to criminalize the use of all plastic waste by 2042. The ban includes stirrers and cotton swabs, two of the major causes of environmental disaster, according to May.

“Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,” May said in the statement announcing the ban.

England has already foisted excessive fees on plastic bags in the name of protecting the climate. London, for its part, is also taking part in the campaign to ban items deemed too dangerous for use.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan cracked down in March on knife-carrying citizens in response to a spate of stabbings that pushed the city’s murder rate past New York’s for the “first time in modern history.” (Read more from “First They Came for the Guns, Then the Knives, Now They’re Coming For…” HERE)

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The UK Plans to Ban Plastic Straws as Early as Next Year

By Buzzfeed News. UK Prime Minister Theresa May announced plans on Wednesday to ban plastic straws as early as next year, which would make Britain the first nation to do so.

The plastic straw ban, which would also include stirrers and cotton swabs, is part of an effort to eliminate all plastic waste by 2042, which the prime minister announced in January. England has already banned microbeads and put fees on plastic bags, which has substantially reduced their use.

Now May hopes to encourage Commonwealth nations — 53 countries that are mostly former British colonies — at a meeting in London next week to join in on the plastic straw ban.

“Plastic waste is one of the greatest environmental challenges facing the world, which is why protecting the marine environment is central to our agenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,” May said in the announcement.

Britain plans to spend £61.4 million ($87.2 million) to develop new ways of eliminating plastic waste and to help Commonwealth countries do the same. (Read more from “The Uk Plans to Ban Plastic Straws as Early as Next Year” HERE)

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Mexico Faces Power Struggle as Politicians Are Constantly Murdered

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Since Mexico’s election season was launched in September, at least 82 candidates and politicians have been murdered according to Reuters and security consulting firm Etellekt. . .

Given the power of Mexico’s drug cartels, it’s unsurprising that the victims of these assassinations come from an array of political parties. Experts believe that gangs are behind the killings in an effort to intimidate lawmakers — and further infiltrate the government with politicians who are corruptible and will show them favor.

Vincente Sanchez, a professor of public administration at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana told The Daily Mail: “Criminal gangs want to be sure that in the next government, they can maintain their power networks, which is why they are increasing attacks.”

Such slayings have become all too common in Mexico of late. After five politicians were killed within a week around the turn of the new year, the country’s president of the National Association of Mayors declared, “We have called on the president asking for an immediate meeting to implement a security protocol for mayors. The insecurity cannot continue this way in our country.” . . .

While short on resources, Mexican authorities have started to provide security for candidates. But Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, said, “State and local authorities are outgunned and outmaneuvered and the federal forces cannot be everywhere. There is an urgent need…to provide greater protection and insulation against organized crime.” (Read more from “Mexico Faces Power Struggle as Politicians Are Constantly Murdered” HERE)

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Israeli Arab Doubts That Wearing a Yarmulkah Is Dangerous in Berlin. Then This Happens.

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By The Daily Wire. Two young men wearing yarmulkahs on the streets of Berlin were attacked by three young thugs, one of whom, an Arabic-speaking man, whipped out a belt and started to whip them, but there was one additional piece of evidence the attackers didn’t know: one of the victims was a young Israeli Arab who was testing his friend’s statement that wearing a yarmulkah in Germany is dangerous.

That young Arab, Adam Armoush, told the Israeli broadcaster Kann, “They kept cursing us and my friend asked them to stop cursing. They started to get angry and one of them ran to me and I knew it was important to film it because there would be no way to catch him by the time police arrived. Honestly, I’m surprised a thing like this could happen.” (Read more from “Israeli Arab Doubts That Wearing a Yarmulkah Is Dangerous in Berlin. Then This Happens.” HERE)

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Jewish Men Beaten with Belt in Berlin Anti-Semitic Attack

By The Telegraph. There has been public outrage in Germany after video footage emerged of two Jewish men being violently assaulted in an apparent anti-Semitic attack in central Berlin.

The two men, who were both wearing kippah, traditional Jewish skullcaps, were insulted before being set upon and whipped with a belt in one of the city’s most fashionable neighbourhoods.

A group of three unidentified men can be heard on the video clearly shouting “Yahudi”, the Arabic word for Jew.

The two victims stood their ground and threatened to call the police before their main assailant was dragged away by his companions.

The incident was videoed by one of the victims, who was named by Israeli television as Adam Armoush, a 21-year-old Israeli citizen living in Berlin. (Read more from “Jewish Men Beaten with Belt in Berlin Anti-Semitic Attack” HERE)

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Report: U.S. Plans to Create Arab Force to Replace American Troops in Syria

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By The Daily Caller. The Trump administration is seeking to raise an army of Arab soldiers from Syria’s neighboring countries that would take over for American troops and help stabilize the northeastern part of the country after the defeat of Islamic State, according to U.S. officials.

John Bolton, President Donald Trump’s new national security adviser, has called Egypt’s acting intelligence chief to ask if Cairo would contribute troops to the effort, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The plan comes as the Trump administration searches for a way forward in Syria after launching punitive strikes against targets associated with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons program. There are about 2,000 American troops deployed inside Syria, and Trump has expressed a desire to withdraw at least some of them this year.

Still, top administration officials say American troops will remain in Syria until the U.S. accomplished three goals: The total defeat of ISIS, ensuring chemical weapons can’t be used in any way that harms U.S. interests, and establishing a vantage point to watch what Iran is doing in the country.

As he mentioned in his address announcing the allied strikes, Trump is seeking to enlist the help of regional governments to accomplish those objectives. (Read more from “Report: U.S. Plans to Create Arab Force to Replace American Troops in Syria” HERE)

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U.S. Seeks Arab Force and Funding for Syria

By CNN. President Donald Trump’s newly minted national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo are among those spearheading a push to build a coalition of Arab military forces that could replace US troops in Syria and serve as a stabilizing force in the region once ISIS is defeated, according to sources familiar with internal discussions.

While convincing nations like Saudi Arabia to join the cause is sure to come at a price, the Trump administration is considering an offer that includes putting a compelling reward on the table, a source close to the White House told CNN.

A similar concept was initially floated in 2013 as part of the Obama administration’s anti-ISIS strategy, but the idea of establishing an Arab force aligned with US interests recently picked up new momentum after President Donald Trump declared that he wants to withdraw US troops from Syria and have other countries “take care of it.”

Specifically, the US is pursuing contributions from Egypt, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help counter Iran in Syria by filling the void should the US significantly reduce its footprint in the country. (Read more from “U.S. Seeks Arab Force and Funding for Syria” HERE)

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Russian Journalist Who Investigated Pro-Putin Mercenaries in Syria Dies in ‘Mysterious’ Fall

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Russian journalist Maxim Borodin died after falling from the fifth-story balcony of his apartment in the city of Yekaterinburg last week. While local police are dismissing the notion of foul play, friends and colleagues of Borodin are calling for an independent investigation over suspicions that Borodin may have possibly been targeted.

The day before his death, Borodin reportedly called his friend Vyacheslav Bashkov at five o’clock in the morning, saying his building was surrounded and that there was “someone with a weapon on his balcony and people in camouflage and masks on the staircase landing.” But later, Borodin called back to say it was all a false alarm and that Russian security services were simply conducting an exercise.

But Bashkov added: “His work was very dangerous. He was one of the best.”

One of Borodin’s recent stories covered the deaths of three Russian mercenaries who were reportedly killed in a confrontation with US forces in Syria on February 7. The mercenaries worked for the Wagner Group, which was referred to as “a shadowy Kremlin-linked private military contractor” by the newspaper Borodin wrote for, Novy Den. . . .

With media being controlled by the state, Russia is known as one of the worst countries in the world for press freedom — out of 100 countries, they’re ranked 83rd by Freedom House, who calls Putin’s regime “a trailblazer in globalizing state propaganda.” (Read more from “Russian Journalist Who Investigated Pro-Putin Mercenaries in Syria Dies in ‘Mysterious’ Fall” HERE)

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Trump Mocked for ‘Mission Accomplished!’ Tweet

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By CNN. The Twittersphere piled on President Donald Trump after he tweeted Saturday that the US-led strikes on Syria “could not have had a better result.”

“Mission Accomplished!” he wrote of the US, UK and French strikes against targets in Syria over the suspected use of chemical weapons.


Twitter users immediately saw a connection to comments from President George W. Bush in 2003 when he gave a speech announcing an end to major combat operations in Iraq with a massive banner behind him that read, “Mission Accomplished.”

Bush gave his speech aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier a little more than a month after US troops were deployed to Iraq, and it would soon become clear that the mission was, in fact, not accomplished. As the war dragged on, it came to symbolize what had gone wrong in Iraq.

(Read more from “Trump Mocked for ‘Mission Accomplished!’ Tweet” HERE)

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Russia Claims Syria Air Defenses Shot Down 71 of 103 Missiles

By The Guardian. The Russian military has claimed that the Syrian air defences, whose most modern weapon is a three-decades-old Russian-supplied anti-aircraft system, shot down 71 of 103 missiles fired by the US and its allies, the UK and France, a claim denied by the Pentagon.

As further details began to emerge about the sites targeted by the US-led strikes, Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian military said the strikes had not caused any casualties and that Syrian military facilities suffered only minor damage.

It was not possible to verify the claims. The most up-to-date system that Moscow has supplied to the Syrian regime is the short range Pantsir S-1, which has an anti-missile capability.

Russia said its advisers had spent the last 18 months completely rebuilding the Syrian air defence system, and said the high number of intercepted rockets spoke to “the high effectiveness of the weaponry in Syria and the excellent training of Syrian servicemen prepared by our specialists”. (Read more from “Russia Claims Syria Air Defenses Shot Down 71 of 103 Missiles” HERE)

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Country to Lift Ban on Growing Human Organs in Animals

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A Japanese government-commissioned expert panel has greenlighted controversial scientific experiments to grow human organs inside the bodies of animals as early as this fall.

Under the auspices of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, the panel produced a report on research involving the development of human organs in the bodies of pigs and other animals. In the report, the panel concluded it would allow researchers to implant an animal embryo (a fertilized egg) containing human cells into an animal’s womb and have the animal give birth.

One method being considered for growing human organs inside animal bodies involves injecting human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells into an animal embryo and then returning the embryo to an animal’s womb to be birthed. The embryos are genetically modified to prevent specific organs from being created. . . .

The panel concluded such research could lead to discovering the underlying causes of diseases, securing organs to be used for transplants, and developing new treatments. Such research is already permitted in the U.S. and the U.K.

However, the panel in the same report decided not to allow research that could produce a creature ambiguous enough to blur the line between humans and other animals, crossbreeding of animals born as a result of the method, and fertilization using human germ cells. (Read more from “Country to Lift Ban on Growing Human Organs in Animals” HERE)

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No Jews Allowed on Temple Mount on Holocaust Commemoration

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It’s sadly ironic, says an Israeli Islamic scholar, that Jews won’t be able to ascend their Temple Mount next Thursday on Holocaust Remembrance Day because Muslims will be celebrating Muhammad’s “miraculous” night journey there on a mythical winged horse – an event not actually mentioned in the Quran.

The source of the Muslim holiday of “Isra” and “Mi’raj” is indeed is based on a story in the Quran, but the story doesn’t actually mention Jerusalem or the historic site of the Temple.

“This claim is simply fake news,” said Mordechai Kedar, a senior lecturer in the Department of Arabic at Bar-Ilan University, told Breaking Israel News. “It is entirely based on opinions and not on any textual source. Jerusalem is not mentioned in the Quran and there is not a basis to believe that Jerusalem had any significance for Muhammad.”

Kedar explained that in the Quran, Al-Aqsa specifically referred to a mosque near Jeharna in Saudi Arabia.

“In early Islam, we see that assigning holiness to the Temple Mount was criticized as an attempt to introduce Jewish concepts into Islam,” he said. “Jerusalem only took on any significance in Islam in the late 8th century when the Bedouin Muslims prevented the Damascus Muslims from making Haj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. As an alternative destination for Haj, the Damascus Muslims decided on Jerusalem, adding a Hadith (oral commentary) shifting the scene of Muhammad’s Night Journey to Jerusalem in order to justify their decision.” (Read more from “No Jews Allowed on Temple Mount on Holocaust Commemoration” HERE)

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