WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
After someone says, “No one is above the law,” and replies “No,” when asked if they will do something specific, does it count as a lie if they do the opposite?
On Dec. 1, President Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. gave a full and quite extensive Presidential Pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, despite saying he wouldn’t.
“Today, I signed a pardon for my son Hunter,” the President said in a statement. “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making, and I kept my word even as I have watched my son being selectively, and unfairly, prosecuted. Without aggravating factors like use in a crime, multiple purchases, or buying a weapon as a straw purchaser, people are almost never brought to trial on felony charges solely for how they filled out a gun form. Those who were late paying their taxes because of serious addictions, but paid them back subsequently with interest and penalties, are typically given non-criminal resolutions. It is clear that Hunter was treated differently.
“The charges in his cases came about only after several of my political opponents in Congress instigated them to attack me and oppose my election. Then, a carefully negotiated plea deal, agreed to by the Department of Justice, unraveled in the court room – with a number of my political opponents in Congress taking credit for bringing political pressure on the process. Had the plea deal held, it would have been a fair, reasonable resolution of Hunter’s cases.
“No reasonable person who looks at the facts of Hunter’s cases can reach any other conclusion than Hunter was singled out only because he is my son – and that is wrong. There has been an effort to break Hunter – who has been five and a half years sober, even in the face of unrelenting attacks and selective prosecution. In trying to break Hunter, they’ve tried to break me – and there’s no reason to believe it will stop here. Enough is enough.
“For my entire career I have followed a simple principle: just tell the American people the truth. They’ll be fair-minded. Here’s the truth: I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this, I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice – and once I made this decision this weekend, there was no sense in delaying it further. I hope Americans will understand why a father and a President would come to this decision.”
A majority of people did not agree with the President’s decision, suggesting that it was dishonest and could hurt his legacy. While most were not too concerned about the mercy on the gun and tax charges, this section of the pardon raised eyebrows:
“A Full and Unconditional Pardon For those offenses against the United States which he has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 1, 2014 through December 1, 2024, including but not limited to all offenses charged or prosecuted (including any that have resulted in convictions) by Special Counsel David C. Weiss in Docket No. 1:23-cr-00061-MN in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware and Docket No. 2:23-CR-00599-MCS-1 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
One of the biggest detractors was none other than his predecessor – and successor – President-elect Donald Trump.
“Does the Pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 Hostages, who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of Justice!”
On the surface, the pardon seems like an escape from any issues. However, if Hunter Biden is subpoenaed to appear before a Congressional panel, he cannot use the Fifth Amendment (“plead the fifth”) on account of the Amendment only applying when prosecution is possible. That said, with a presidential pardon covering everything from 2014 up to Dec. 1, 2024, he cannot do so, as prosecution is impossible on account of the pardon.
Basically, the legal woes for the Biden family may not only continue, but get worse.
MASS SHOOTING UPDATE
Information recent as of 12-3-2024 at 12 p.m.
2024 Mass Shooting Stats: (Source: Mass Shooting Tracker – https://www.massshootingtracker.site/data/?year=2024)
- Total Mass Shootings: 541
- Total Dead: 643
- Total Wounded: 2248
- Shootings Per Day: 1.60
- Days Reached in Year 2024 as of December 3: 338
WORLD
THE QUEST TO END AIDS
Ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 is within reach, but only if global leaders commit to dismantling barriers to healthcare and upholding human rights, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on World AIDS Day.
Observed annually on December 1, the World AIDS Day serves as a reminder of the global fight against the pandemic while commemorating lives lost and celebrating progress.
“Every 25 seconds, someone in the world is infected with HIV,” Mr. Guterres said.
“One-quarter of people living with HIV – more than nine million people – lack access to lifesaving treatment,” he added.
He called for a rights-based approach to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention and treatment, highlighting the harmful effects of discriminatory laws and practices that stigmatize women, girls, and minorities.
“The fight against AIDS can be won,” Mr. Guterres stressed, “If leaders take a rights-based approach to ensure that everyone – especially the most vulnerable – can get the services they need without fear.”
“We will overcome AIDS if the rights of everyone, everywhere, are protected. I call on all leaders to heed this year’s theme and take the ‘rights’ path,” he declared.
UNAIDS, the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, reinforced the call, urging governments to “take the rights path to end AIDS.”
Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS Executive Director, stressed the importance of removing systemic barriers to healthcare.
“To protect everyone’s health, we need to protect everyone’s rights,” she said.
Its World AIDS Day report showed that respecting and protecting human rights can help ensure equitable access to HIV services and prevent new infections.
It also revealed how gaps in realization of human rights, and abuses and violations obstruct the end of the AIDS pandemic.
The UNAIDS report underscores that progress will stall without a human rights-based approach. In 2023, 1.3 million people were newly infected with HIV globally, three times the target of no more than 370,000 annual infections set for 2025.
In addition, 63 countries still criminalize LGBTQ+ people, while widespread gender-based violence and limited educational opportunities for women and girls leave them particularly vulnerable.
Last year, they accounted for 62 percent of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Worse still, nine out of ten new infections among 15 to 19-year-olds are among girls, reflecting systemic gender inequalities, according to UNICEF.
The disparity is also evident in access to treatment, including for boys and young men.
While 77 percent of adults living with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), only 57 percent of children aged 0 to 14, and 65 percent of adolescents aged 15 to 19 do.
“Children and adolescents are not fully reaping the benefits of scaled up access to treatment and prevention services,” said Anurita Bains, UNICEF Associate Director of HIV/AIDS.
EUROPE
ILLEGAL STREAMER SHUT DOWN
Authorities have struck a blow at illegal streaming networks, by shutting down one of the world’s largest illegal service. Eurojust and Europol supported the operation, which involved cooperation between Italian, Croatian, Dutch, Romanian, Swedish, Swiss and UK authorities. In a large-scale operation, over 100 searches were carried out against 102 suspects. Eleven suspects are arrested in Croatia.
The suspects illegally distributed material from streaming services online, including films and series. They also pirated more than 2,500 television channels such as sports channels. The illegal service served more than 22 million users worldwide. They were able to make over EUR 250 million in illegal profits per month. The economic damages to the copyright holders of the material is estimated at EUR 10 billion.
To evade authorities, the suspects allegedly used encrypted messaging services to communicate and false identities to register phone numbers, credit cards, server rentals and television subscriptions. On November 26, during an international operation, the servers hosting the illegal streaming were seized and shut down, disrupting the services.
Collaboration between authorities was set up at Eurojust to take down the streaming service. Coordination meetings at Eurojust’s headquarters allowed authorities from Italy, Croatia, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom to work together on the investigation and plan the operation to shut down the service and arrest the suspects. Europol supported the operation by deploying experts and analyzing the available intelligence during the investigation phase.
The cooperation between the authorities culminated in a joint operation to take down the services on November 26. During searches in Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Croatia, the United Kingdom and China, over EUR 1.6 million in cryptocurrency and EUR 40,000 in cash was seized. Croatian police arrested 11 suspects.
The authorities involved in the actions were:
- Italy: Public Prosecution Office Catania
- Croatia: The Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organized Crime
- Netherlands: Fiscal Information and Investigation Service; Public Prosecution Service Rotterdam
- Romania: Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism; Direction for Fighting Organized Crime – Cyber Crime Fighting Service
- Sweden: National unit against organized crime at the Swedish Prosecution Authority; Swedish Police Authority
- Switzerland: Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland; Federal Office of Police
- United Kingdom: City of London Police
MIDDLE EAST
HARD TIMES IN SYRIA
The ongoing escalation of violence in northwest Syria linked to the wider conflict in Gaza and Lebanon has left civilians dead and injured, hospitals “overwhelmed” with healthcare attacks on the rise, the UN warned on Dec. 3.
Renewed fighting last week led by the terrorist group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and other armed factions has engulfed parts of Aleppo, Idlib and Hama, destabilizing frontlines that had remained unchanged since 2020.
UN human rights office (OHCHR) spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told reporters in Geneva of “a number of extremely concerning incidents resulting in multiple civilian casualties, including a high number of women and children, stemming from attacks by both HTS and by pro-Government forces.”
“The hostilities are resulting in destruction and damage to civilian objects, including health facilities, buildings hosting institutions dedicated to education, and food markets,” he added.
OHCHR has already begun the process of verifying deadly attacks impacting civilians including the deaths of four civilian men on 29 November, “reportedly as a result of multiple ground-based strikes by HTS” hitting an area hosting Aleppo university’s student dorms, the OHCHR spokesperson said.
“According to information gathered by our Office, all victims were students of the university and, following that, many other students fled the university complex,” he added.
Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stressed that the situation in the area is “fluid and constantly changing”. While OCHA runs “very solid” coordination mechanisms within Syria and across the border with the humanitarian hub in Gaziantep, Türkiye, it has been forced to put its operation on hold “because of the insecurity,” as active fighting is ongoing and many roads are closed.
OHCHR spokesperson Mr. Laurence also highlighted an incident on Dec. 1 in which 22 civilians were killed, including three women and seven children, and at least 40 others were injured, “reportedly as a result of multiple airstrikes by pro-Government forces in Idlib” which hit a local market and five residential areas in the city.
“We remind all parties of their obligations and responsibilities under international human rights law and humanitarian law: civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected,” he stressed.
Echoing this call, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria warned in a statement on Tuesday that “the brutality of past years must not be repeated, or Syria will be driven onto a new trajectory of atrocities.”
Turning to the dire health situation in the northwestern regions, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Syria, Christina Bethke, said that referral hospitals, to which scores of patients are being evacuated from Aleppo by “brave first responders” such as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, are “overwhelmed” with trauma cases.
“Thousands of injuries have already been admitted in the last four days alone,” she said, while doctors and nurses “are working around the clock to save lives, even at great personal risk to themselves and their families, choosing to stay instead of to flee.”
However, “it’s not the entire area that is locked down,” he said. “There are still places where we can respond, for example, in the reception centers in Idlib” for people uprooted by the violence.
According to OCHA, some 16.7 million Syrians were already in need of humanitarian assistance at the start of 2024.
