Mexico Expels North Korean Ambassador Over Nuclear Tests

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The Mexican government on Thursday said it had declared the North Korean ambassador to Mexico persona non grata in protest at the country’s nuclear tests, an unusually firm step that moved it closely into line with Washington.

In a statement, the government said it had given Kim Hyong Gil 72 hours to leave Mexico in order to express its “absolute rejection” of North Korea’s recent nuclear activity, describing it as a grave threat to the region and the world.

Mexico has traditionally sought to steer clear of diplomatic ructions, but in the past few months it has adopted robust language to condemn the governments of Venezuela and North Korea as they descended into increasing international isolation. (Read more from the author of “Mexico Expels North Korean Ambassador Over Nuclear Tests” HERE)

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Students Mocks ISIS on Facebook, Gets Investigated for Islamophobia

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A law student at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland who supports President Trump is now under investigation for “Islamophobia” after he mocked ISIS in a Facebook post.

Robbie Travers, 21, posted the following comment to Facebook in April after the U.S. Air Force dropped the “mother of all bombs” on an ISIS tunnel network in Afghanistan:

“Excellent news that the U.S. administration and Trump ordered an accurate strike on an ISIS network of tunnels in Afghanistan. I’m glad we could bring these barbarians a step closer to collecting their 72 virgins.”

After Travers made the comment, second-year history student Esme Allman accused him of “blatant Islamophobia.”

Now Travers is being investigated by the university for a “hate crime” because his post allegedly put “minority students at risk and in a state of panic and fear,” the U.K. Independent reported. There has been no police investigation. (Read more from “Students Mocks ISIS on Facebook, Gets Investigated for Islamophobia” HERE)

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ISIS Urges Supporters to Poison Food at U.S. Grocery Stores

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After urging its supporters in the west to turn cars into weapons, guidance that inspired terror attacks in the UK, Spain and France, ISIS is now calling for sympathizers to poison the food in US supermarkets with cyanide, according to SITE.

In recent days, channels associated with the terrorist army have posted calls for attacks on Europe, Russia and the United States to mark the occasion of the Islamic “Sacrifice Feast” Eid al Adha. In the third part of an English-language series on jihad, IS advised would-be attackers to inject food for sale in markets with cyanide poison. According to Spiesa, the organization has tested these methods on prisons, causing horrifically painful deaths.

“The Islamic State group used prisoners as “human guinea pigs,” carrying out chemical weapons experiments in order to plan for attacks against the West, documents found in Mosul have revealed. The papers detailing the tests, which led to the agonizing deaths of prisoners, were discovered at Mosul University in January when it was recaptured by Iraqi special forces. The documents verified by United States and British forces were detailed by The Times in a report published Saturday.

Prisoners had their food and water contaminated by the sprinkling of chemicals found in easily accessible pesticides. The US and Britain now fear that the same methods could be used on a larger scale to contaminate food supplies in the West.”

(Read more from “ISIS Urges Supporters to Poison Food at U.S. Grocery Stores” HERE)

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North Korea Says Nuclear Tests Are ‘Gift Packages for the US’ and Warns More Will Follow

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North Korea said nuclear tests are “gift packages” to the United States and that more will follow.

Han Tae Song, the ambassador of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the UN in Geneva, made the comment during a UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament today.

The warning comes two days after his country detonated its sixth and largest nuclear test.

“The recent self-defence measures by my country, DPRK, are a gift package addressed to none other than the US,” Han told the Geneva forum.

“The US will receive more gift packages from my country as long as its relies on reckless provocations and futile attempts to put pressure on the DPRK.” (Read more from “North Korea Says Nuclear Tests Are ‘Gift Packages for the US’ and Warns More Will Follow” HERE)

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Report: Trump Ready to Dump S. Korean Trade Deal

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At a time when tensions in the Korean Peninsula are increasingly high, President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to end a free trade deal with South Korea

According to The Washington Post, which cited unidentified sources “close to the process,” the decision is far along but not final, although it could be announced next week.

The Wall Street Journal also reported Trump is considering pulling out the deal.

The White House confirmed to The Post that the deal is being discussed, but would not comment further.

The Post said some of Trump’s advisers are opposed to the move. It named national security adviser H.R. McMaster, Defense Secretary James Mattis and National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn as being against the deal ending.

South Korea has been working closely with the United States to oppose North Korea’s missile program, but that that partnership could be impacted if the nations begin a trade war.

The South Korean trade agreement has been in effect since 2012.

If the United States were to withdraw, goods imported from South Korea could cost more, because the U.S. could slap heavy tariffs upon them. Cars, cell phones and various electronic items are all major imports form South Korea.

U.S. action could spur a similar response from South Korea, making U.S. products more expensive in that country.

U.S. trade representative Robert E. Lighthizer said in July that since 2012, the U.S. “trade deficit in goods with Korea has doubled from $13.2 billion to $27.6 billion, while U.S. goods exports have actually gone down. This is quite different from what the previous Administration sold to the American people when it urged approval of this Agreement. We can and must do better.”

In June, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross made the administration’s concerns public as Trump sought to renegotiate the deal.

“There are a lot of very specific problems,” Ross told South Korean President Moon Jae-in on June 30.

“For many, many years, the United States has suffered through massive trade deficits….we’ll be changing that,” Trump said during his part of the June 30 meeting with Moon.

“The fact is that the United States has trade deficits with many, many countries, and we cannot allow that to continue,” Trump added at the time. “And we’ll start with South Korea right now.” (For more from the author of “Report: Trump Ready to Dump S. Korean Trade Deal” please click HERE)

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French Police Officers Injured During Clashes With Migrants

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Three police officers were injured during clashes with migrants Saturday by the French port of Calais.

Calais has become a hotspot for migrants who want to make it to the United Kingdom through the Eurotunnel. Migrants frequently attempt to hijack trucks on the motorway and many “took advantage of the bottleneck to board a few trucks,” according to local deputy police chief Jean-Philippe Vennin.

“Our British colleagues had opened only nine out of 14 lanes this weekend though we expected 9,000 vehicles in the Eurotunnel and 7,500 at the port,” Vennin told AFP.

Police used tear gas to stop migrants and three police officers were reported injured. Police did not comment on whether any migrants were hurt during the clashes. (Read more from “French Police Officers Injured During Clashes With Migrants” HERE)

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Sonic Assault: More American Diplomats in Cuba Have Health Issues

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Unusual health attacks on U.S. diplomats in Cuba continued as recently as August despite previous assessments that the activities had stopped in the spring, the U.S. said on Friday.

“We can confirm another incident which occurred last month and is now part of the investigation,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.

The U.S. is continually revising its assessments of the extent of the attacks as new information is obtained, Nauert said. An investigation has not been completed.

The announcement that the attacks – in which a potential covert sonic device caused a series of issues, including permanent hearing loss – comes after the union representing American diplomats said that mild traumatic brain injury was among the diagnoses given to diplomats victimized in the attack.

The American Foreign Service Association said additional symptoms had included brain swelling, severe headaches, loss of balance and “cognitive disruption.” (Read more from “Sonic Assault: More American Diplomats in Cuba Have Health Issues” HERE)

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Putin Warns N. Korea Situation on Verge of ‘Large-Scale Conflict’

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Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile programme.

Putin, who is due to attend a summit of the BRICS nations in China next week, wrote in an article published on the Kremlin’s web site ahead of his trip that he favoured negotiations with North Korea instead.

“It is essential to resolve the region’s problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any preconditions (for such talks),” Putin wrote.

“Provocations, pressure, and bellicose and offensive rhetoric is the road to nowhere.”

The situation on the Korean Peninsula had deteriorated so much that it was now “balanced on the verge of a large-scale conflict,” said the Russian leader. (Read more from “Putin Warns N. Korea Situation on Verge of ‘Large-Scale Conflict'” HERE)

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Donald Trump Just Retaliated Against Russia. Here’s What He Did.

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A common narrative presented by opponents of President Donald Trump is that he is, at best, too friendly with Russia, and at worst, actively working with the adversarial nation to further his own personal or business interests.

If that was ever the case, it doesn’t appear to be so anymore, as the Trump administration announced Thursday that Moscow will be required to shut down diplomatic posts in several major American cities in a continued tit-for-tat of Cold War-esque maneuvering between the two nations . . .

Why is the Trump administration doing this? Russian President Vladmir Putin ordered the expulsion of more than 700 U.S. diplomats after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia in July. Those sanctions were the result of Russian interference in the 2016 election, human rights violations, the annexation of Crimea and military operations in the Ukraine. (Read more from “Donald Trump Just Retaliated Against Russia. Here’s What He Did.” HERE)

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Hormones Used to Cure Fear of Migrants?

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A group of researchers from Germany and the United States claims to have found at least a partial cure for xenophobia, a much heralded accomplishment in the wake of a historic migrant crisis that has swept more than 1.7 million Muslim refugees from the Middle East and Africa into Europe’s cities and led to fissures in social cohesion that some predict have sewn the seeds of civil war.

According to the researchers, the hormone drug oxytocin administered in combination with peer influence caused people inclined to have “negative attitudes” toward migrants to actually want to reach out and help them.

“Researchers have shown in a new study that the bonding hormone oxytocin together with social norms significantly increases the willingness to donate money to refugees in need, even in people who tend to have a skeptical attitude towards migrants,” the study concluded.

The experiment was carried out on three test groups by researchers at the University of Bonn Medical Center in cooperation with the Laureate Institute for Brain Research in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the University of Lübeck in northern Germany. They conducted three experiments in which they tested a total of 183 subjects, who were all German natives. The subjects were asked to read about the needs of real-life refugee families and decide whether to donate money to them or to native German families with needs. (Read more from “Hormones Used to Cure Fear of Migrants?” HERE)

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