Unease Over Chinese Investors Buying Farms Down Under

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With Chinese buyers eyeing farm land in Australia and New Zealand, authorities are coming under growing pressure to balance the need for foreign investment against accusations of “selling out.”

Currently up for sale is the S. Kidman and Co. Limited cattle empire — a vast Outback estate which covers 1.3 percent of Australia’s land mass and has an average herd of 185,000 cattle.

Treasurer Scott Morrison blocked its sale to all foreign investors in November, including from China, saying it was contrary to the national interest given part of the holding overlaps with a military testing range.

But Morrison recently approved the sale of Australia’s largest dairy farming business to a Chinese buyer, despite criticism that businessman Lu Xianfeng’s Aus$280 million (US$210 million) purchase of Tasmania’s Van Diemen’s Land Company could impact food security.

In a statement headed “Sell Out”, independent Senator Nick Xenophon labelled the decision “wrong, wrong, wrong” saying Morrison failed to give sufficient weight to an alternative Australian bid. (Read more from “Unease Over Chinese Investors Buying Farms Down Under” HERE)

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South Sudan Faces One of World’s Most ‘Horrendous’ Human Rights Situations

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A U.N. report describing sweeping crimes like children being burned alive and fighters raping women as payment shows South Sudan is facing “one of the most horrendous” human rights situations in the world,” the United Nations rights chief said Friday.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein lamented that the crisis in the world’s newest nation has been largely overlooked by the international community. His office said attacks against civilians, forced disappearances, rape and other violations could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The U.N report released Friday is the work of an assessment team deployed in South Sudan between October and January and says “state actors” bear most responsibility for the crimes. (Read more from “South Sudan Faces One of World’s Most ‘Horrendous’ Human Rights Situations” HERE)

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Abbas’ Fatah Praises ‘Heroic Martyr’ Who Murdered U.S. Veteran

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Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah organization on Wednesday praised as a “heroic martyr” the killer of West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran Taylor Force, according to an Israel-based media monitoring group.

On its Facebook page, Fatah posted a sketch of a man’s hand holding a knife over a map of “Palestine,” Palestinian Media Watch reported. Across the map is written “Bashar Masalha,” the name of the 22 year-old Palestinian who stabbed Force and 11 others in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area on Tuesday.

Written on the arm of the person holding the knife in the sketch are the words, “the heroic martyr.”

Meanwhile a news report on official Palestinian Authority television stated in part, “A complex operation was carried out in Jaffa, or more precisely in the Jaffa port, by the Martyr – according to Hebrew sources and sources in Qalqilya – Bashar Masalha, 22 … in which 12 settlers were hurt, among them an American tourist who was killed, according to the Hebrew sources.”

Separately, an Arabic-language article on a Fatah website page describes Masalha as a shahid (martyr). It also says, incorrectly, that the man he stabbed to death in the Jaffa “operation” was an Israeli. (Read more from “Abbas’ Fatah Praises ‘Heroic Martyr’ Who Murdered U.S. Veteran” HERE)

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Former Putin Aide Died of Blunt Force Trauma

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An autopsy has found that blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death for one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s former aides whose body was found in a Washington hotel room.

District of Columbia police spokesman Officer Hugh Carew confirmed the autopsy results for Mikhail Lesin on Thursday. The D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office said in a statement that other contributing causes were blunt force injuries of the neck, torso, arms and legs.

The medical examiner found the manner of death to be undetermined. Carew says police continue to investigate Lesin’s death. His body was found at the Doyle Dupont Circle Hotel in November. (Read more from “Former Putin Aide Died of Blunt Force Trauma” HERE)

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House Churches Multiplying Inside Iran Despite Persecution

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Christianity is spreading swiftly inside Iran despite a government crackdown against house churches.

Some Christians argue the actions of the Islamic Republic’s have actually created an opposite effect.

A London-based organization that trains Iranian Christians reports hundreds of thousands of new Christians–former Muslims–are worshipping secretly in a rapidly accelerating house church movement inside the Islamic Republic.

According to The Christian Post, a source affiliated with the Pars Theological Centre said the rapid church growth will eventually change Iranian society.

“This is not a political movement at all, but it will have political implications because it is touching the core foundations of society. This is battling prostitution and drug addiction. If you want to live in a country that doesn’t fund terrorists, you have to develop the values of the grassroots,” the source said. (Read more from “House Churches Multiplying Inside Iran Despite Persecution” HERE)

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West Pointer Murdered by Palestinian Terrorists in Israel

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2009 West Point Grad Killed in Jaffa Terror Attack

By Tovah Lazaroff. Taylor Force, 29, was killed Tuesday evening by a Palestinian terrorist who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa in which 12 other people were wounded.

“This horrific act of violence has robbed our Vanderbilt family of a young hopeful life and all of the bright promise that he held for bettering our greater world,” Vanderbilt chancellor Nicholas S. Zeppos wrote in a letter to the student body . . .

According to Force’s LinkedIn profile, he had completed tours of duty with the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

After graduating from the US Military Academy at West Point in 2009, he served as a field artillery officer until 2014.

“Taylor was visiting Israel with his classmates in order to expand his understanding of global entrepreneurship and also to share his insights and knowledge with start-ups in Israel,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote in a Facebook post. “On behalf of the people of Israel, I send my condolences to Taylor’s family and friends. May his memory be a blessing.” (Read more from “2009 West Point Grad Killed in Jaffa Terror Attack” HERE)

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Cruz: Murder of West Point Grad in Israel Proves Radical Islamists Target Americans and Israelis Indiscriminately

By Michael W. Chapman. In reaction to the murder of Taylor Force, an American from Lubbock, Texas, and graduate of West Point who served multiple tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said the brutal crime “is grim evidence that the scourge of radical Islamic terrorism targets Americans and Israelis indiscriminately.”

Taylor Force, a 28-year-old MBA student, was visiting Israeli along with other students from Vanderbilt University, to study start-up companies.

He was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist on March 8, reported the Associated Press and other outlets, another victim in a wave of stabbing and shooting attacks by Islamic terrorists against police and civilians. (Read more from “Cruz: Murder of West Point Grad in Israel Proves Radical Islamists Target Americans and Israelis Indiscriminately” HERE)

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Top ISIS Leader ‘Omar the Chechen’ Believed Dead in U.S. Airstrike

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A top ISIS commander known by his nickname Omar the Chechen — and recognized by his distinguishable red beard — is believed dead from a U.S. airstrike in Syria, a senior defense official told NBC News Tuesday.

The likely death of Omar al-Shishani near the town of Shaddadi — seized by Syrian rebels from ISIS last month — would be a key gain for coalition forces in taking out one of the biggest names on the U.S.’s terror hit list.

The senior defense official said al-Shishani, born in 1986, is believed to have died along with a dozen other ISIS fighters in the airstrike Friday.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook added that al-Shishani — originally named Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili — was a Syrian-based Georgian national who held top ranks within ISIS, including minister of war . . .

[Omar al-Shishani] fought for Georgia’s military before contracting tuberculosis. In 2010, he was arrested for weapons possession and spent 16 months in jail. He later went to Syria to command forces fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad and rose the ranks of ISIS. (Read more from “Top ISIS Leader ‘Omar the Chechen’ Believed Dead in U.S. Airstrike” HERE)

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North Korea Threatens Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike on US

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North Korea threatened “indiscriminate” nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US mainland, as the two allies prepared to kick off large-scale joint military drills on Monday.

The threat to carry out what it described as a “pre-emptive nuclear strike of justice” was made in a statement by the North’s powerful National Defence Commission, citing the Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army (KPA).

It came just days after leader Kim Jong-Un ordered the country’s nuclear arsenal to be placed on standby for use “at any moment,” in response to tough new UN sanctions imposed over the North’s fourth nuclear test in January and last month’s long-range rocket launch . . .

While the North is known to have a small stockpile of nuclear warheads, experts are divided about its ability to mount them on a working missile delivery system.

The National Defence Commission described the annual South Korea-US military exercises as “undisguised nuclear war drills” that threatened the North’s national sovereignty, and vowed an all-out offensive in response to “even the slightest military action.” (Read more from “North Korea Threatens Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike on US” HERE)

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US Pays to Feed and Shelter Cuban Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica

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The United States government has been paying to feed and shelter thousands of Cubans trying to migrate to the United States, in what critics consider another sign of the lopsided treatment provided to Cubans under American law.

The Obama administration has tried hard to deter the crush of migrants arriving from Central America in recent years. It has pressed Mexico to crack down on migrants passing through its territory, while women and children who managed to cross the American border have been held in detention facilities.

But American law gives Cubans special status to live in the United States and apply for a green card, provided they make it here. That has set off a rush of Cubans who have taken advantage of changes inside Cuba that make it easier to leave, and who are worried that the Obama administration’s improved relations with their government will soon erase their privileged status.

In January, the United States pledged $1 million to help provide temporary shelter, potable water, food, sanitation and hygiene kits to thousands of Cubans who were stranded in Costa Rica while trying to make their way to the American border. (Read more from “US Pays to Feed and Shelter Cuban Migrants Stranded in Costa Rica” HERE)

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Inside China’s Plan for a Military That Can Counter U.S. Muscle

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With a series of edicts, speeches and martial ceremonies, President Xi Jinping has over the past six months unveiled China’s biggest military overhaul since the aftermath of the Korean War.

The plan seeks to transform the 2.3-million-member People’s Liberation Army, which features 21st-century hardware but an outdated, Soviet-inspired command structure, into a fighting force capable of winning a modern war. China is shifting from a “large country to a large and powerful one,” Xi explained in November. The restructuring will be a major focus of the country’s new defense budget, which will be announced Saturday as the annual National People’s Congress gets under way in Beijing . . .

Here are the key elements of Xi’s plan:

The first piece of the overhaul — announced by Xi during a grand military parade through Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3 — calls for eliminating 300,000 PLA personnel by 2017. While Xi presented the cutbacks as proof of China’s commitment to peace, they’ll largely target non-combat personnel and should make the country’s forces more focused and efficient . . .

Advanced military actions such as intercepting rival aircraft, carrying out drone strikes and using special forces to extract hostages, demand the sort of close collaboration China’s army-centric military has lacked. Xi intends to fix that by reorganizing the armed forces into five branches under a joint-command structure modeled after that of the U.S. (Read more from “Inside China’s Plan for a Military That Can Counter U.S. Muscle” HERE)

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