Dr. Patrick Slattery’s News Roundup
A service of DavidDuke.com
From The Independent
Five of world’s biggest investment banks pay no UK corporation tax
JP Morgan Securities Plc, had $2.6bn (£1.75bn) in profits last year but paid no tax Getty
From PressTV
Two senior figures of Daesh killed in Iraq airstrikes
The Iraqi military media office said in a statement on Thursday that Iraq’s F-16 fighter jets had carried out successful operations in Salahuddin Province north of the capital Baghdad, killing Omar Abu Jandal al-Doraji, known as the chief of Daesh’s mining and bombing operations, around the city of Samarra.
The statement said another airstrike hit the house of Sheikh Abd al-Hadi, the chief executioner of Daesh, in the northern Nineveh Province.
Iraqi officials declared on Thursday that eight senior Daesh commanders were killed in airstrikes in Hawija and Anbar, north and west of Iraq respectively, adding that the attacks also killed dozens of other terrorists in the two locations.
The Iraqi military and allied volunteer fighters have stepped up military operations in a bid to fully liberate Ramadi, the provincial capital of Anbar.
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From Russia Today
Declassified: US secretly told Japan that USSR downed Korean Boeing in 1983 by mistake
Published time: 24 Dec, 2015 09:23
A Korean Air Lines Boeing 747-230B identical to the one that was shot down © wikipedia.org
Back in 1983, the US secretly informed Japan that a Korean Air Boeing-747 was downed over the Soviet Union by mistake, a declassified document reveals. Officially, Washington always accused Moscow of intentionally shooting down the passenger jet.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry has declassified diplomatic documents over 30 years old regarding one of the most terrible air crashes in history, the downing of the Korean Air Lines’ Boeing 747-230B over Sakhalin Island, USSR, on September 1, 1983, reports TASS.
Tokyo has revealed that two months after the catastrophe, a high-ranking official of the US administration confidentially informed Japan’s diplomats that Soviet Union had mistaken the ill-fated aircraft with an American reconnaissance plane.
The same US official also informed that Washington intended to locate and fish up the black boxes of the downed passenger jet using some sort of “secret means,” but the USSR was first to do so.
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From Russia Today
Turkish forces barely regrouped, far from announced partial withdrawal – Iraqi defense spokesman
Published time: 24 Dec, 2015 01:22
© Aris Messinis / AFP
Despite the announcement of a “partial withdrawal” of Turkish forces from a training camp near the ISIS-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul, Ankara has done nothing to follow up on its empty statements, the Iraqi defense ministry says.
“In fact there is no Turkish troop withdrawal. There are just statements from Anakara,” said Iraqi defense ministry spokesman Nasir Nouri Mohammed, TASS reported. According to the spokesman, Ankara’s forces “only slightly relocated near the same positions.”
This cannot even be called a “partial withdrawal,” Nouri Mohammed said, let alone a full withdrawal of the Turkish contingent.
Tensions between the two countries have increased dramatically since Turkey reinforced its military deployment in Iraq with about 150 soldiers backed by artillery and around 25 tanks in a base near the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL)-controlled northern Iraqi city of Mosul on December 4.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes rise significantly in London
(JTA) — The number of anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim hate crimes recorded this year by police in London was 61 percent higher than in 2014.
The figures released this week by the Metropolitan Police listed 483 anti-Semitic hate crimes documented over the 12 months that preceded Nov. 1, 2015. In the previous 12-month stretch, 299 incidents were reported.
Hate crimes against Muslims, described as “Islamophobic crime” by the London police, saw a similar increase, rising to 818 over the 12 months that preceded Nov. 1, 2015 from 499 in the previous 12 months.
Commenting on the statistics, a spokesperson for the Community Security Trust, or CST, which is British Jewry’s watchdog and security service, told the Jewish News of London: “Any rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes is of concern. We hope that this reflects improved confidence amongst victims and witnesses to report hate crimes to the police as well as any rise in the number of hate crimes taking place.”
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Ukraine’s brawling parliament hopes to learn from Israel’s — but who’s really worse?
When Israelis rank the things that make them proud of their country, the Knesset is rarely first on the list. Or second. Or third.
In a survey in April, Israelis put their parliament last among potential sources of national pride — behind the army, judiciary, education system and media. It doesn’t help that the Knesset’s 120 members are known for serious attendance issues and a propensity for corruption and sex crimes.
Yet for Ukrainian lawmakers, who are struggling with even worse PR problems, the Knesset is a role model.
Last week, the Knesset hosted a delegation of senior officials from Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada — a parliament with such severe discipline issues that it descended earlier this month into a fist fight for the second time in two years, after an opposition lawmaker shoved the prime minister.
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From the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
France is Israel’s largest source of aliyah for 2nd straight year
(JTA) — For the second consecutive year, France is the largest provider of Jewish immigrants to Israel with a record total of 7,328 newcomers in 2015.
The number of French citizens who immigrated to Israel under its law of return for Jews, or made aliyah, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 1 constituted a 10 percent increase over the 6,661 French olim who came during the corresponding period last year, according to Jewish Agency for Israel figures obtained Tuesday by JTA. In all of 2014, a total of 7,238 olim came from France.
Last year’s total, which was the highest since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, was surpassed last month with the arrival of 468 French Jews. According to the Jewish Agency, French aliyah has increased because of a mix of factors, including the community’s fear of anti-Semitic attacks, economic stagnation in France and its members’ attachment to Israel.
The most dramatic increase in aliyah this year came from Russia, which provided more than 6,000 olim in the first 11 months of 2015 — some 44 percent over the 4,458 who came in the corresponding period last year. In total, slightly more than 5,000 came from Russia last year.
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From PressTV
19 refugees drown in Aegean off Turkey on way to Europe
A total of 19 refugees, including six children, have lost their lives while trying to cross the Aegean Sea off the Turkish coast en route to Europe.
The Turkish coastguard said on Thursday that the refugees died when their boat capsized near Turkey’s western coastal town of Dikili, which lies directly across from the Greek island of Lesbos.
Rescue teams managed to save 21 people and were still looking for a missing refugee, the coastguard added.
The nationalities of the victims were not mentioned in reports.
Earlier on Thursday, at least eight refugees, among them six children, died and 14 others gone missing after enormous waves struck their overloaded vessel in the Aegean Sea, and tipped it over.
They were heading to the Greek island of Lesbos, when their wooden boat capsized off the shores of Bademli village in Turkey’s western province of Izmir.
Refugees make their way out of the sea, as their boat, on which they crossed a part of the Aegean Sea from Turkey, hit on rocks on the Greek island of Lesbos, on December 12, 2015. ©AP
Europe is facing an unprecedented influx of refugees who are fleeing conflict-ridden zones in Africa and the Middle East, particularly Syria.
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From Russia Today
Russia, Armenia unite air defenses, create regional system in the Caucasus
Published time: 23 Dec, 2015 11:26
© Alexander Vilf / Sputnik
Russia and Armenia have signed a collective security deal on a united regional air defense system in the Caucasus. Moscow is currently working on a similar system with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.
The air defense agreement between Russia and Armenia has been signed by the heads of defense of the two countries, Sergey Shoigu and Seyran Ohanyan.
In 2013 Moscow signed a deal on a joint regional air defense system with Kazakhstan. Russian and Belarusian systems have already been unified.
At the same time, Russia has handed over an S-300 air defense system to Kazakhstan. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, “this is a great – if not the key – contribution to the unified air defense system that has already been put in place.”
The creation of a joint missile air defense system with Armenia enables Russia to ensure its position in the South Caucasus, America’s Stratfor geopolitical intelligence firm noted in late November, about a month ahead of the current deal.
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