Free Republic

Jiménez said investigations into the cause of the incident had begun but added that “everything indicates” an accident, and that she would share more details upon completion of the investigation. Jiménez also highlighted the “heroic” actions taken by the pilot who crash-landed the helicopter in an empty lot instead of a populated area. Images from the crash showed the smoldering remains of the helicopter and police cars around a grassy area.

One of the Sinaloa cartel leaders who launched a struggle for control of the gang following the re-arrest of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was captured Tuesday ... Damaso Lopez, known by the nickname "El Licenciado" — a title for college graduates. Lopez was long considered Guzman's right-hand man and helped him escape from a Mexican prison in 2001. Lopez, 51, is believed to have been locked in a dispute with Guzman's sons for control of the cartel's territories. The head of Mexico's federal detectives' agency, Omar Garcia Harfuch, said Lopez was "one of the main instigators of violence in Sinaloa...

Old Hugh Hewitt is apparently getting good intel (14 August FR Post "Military Coup in Mexico"). Powerful and influential senior Mexican General, General Segio Aponte Polito, was recently removed from his position as the 2nd Military District Commander (LA Times, 9 Aug). Unlike the US, Generals in Mexico don't get “resigned”..they play major roles in many power broker positions (and yes, until late, behind the scenes). The Mexican Military is fed up with not being able to control the spiraling arms race and increasing sophistication of the cartels. Expect to see Aponte in the future..and before the US election...Wait and...

Since Monday, Haiti has been sinking into chaos in widespread anti-government protests that have turned violent in parts of Port-au-Prince, as well as rural cities like Petit Goave and Gonaives. The protests had been intensifying for weeks, stoked by the rising cost of living, a scarcity of U.S. dollars, political manipulation and the lack of fuel at the pumps after two suppliers, providing 40% of the market, stopped ordering. “This incident is simply unacceptable. The looted food was intended to feed nearly 100,000 schoolchildren until the end of the year and provide emergency aid to the most vulnerable families in...

And note-- O'Keefe is in a lawsuit with the New York Times. The FBI launched a political raid on Project Veritas' offices, and the personal homes of James O'Keefe and his reporters -- with battering rams at the ready -- and then not only seized his private, confidential, protected communications with counsel, but then immediately leaked them to the corporation they are politically allied with whom James O'Keefe is suing. The New York Times immediately ran a hit piece which they intend to help their court case, claiming that James O'Keefe talked to his lawyers about how to avoid breaking...

Ashraf Ghani played a central role in the design and implementation of the post-Taliban settlement in Afghanistan, serving as UN adviser to the Bonn process and as Finance Minister during Afghanistan's Transitional Administration. He has worked at the World Bank and taught at Johns Hopkins and Berkeley universities. He has been nominated for the job of Secretary General of the United Nations and considered for the job of President of the World Bank. He chairs the Institute for State Effectiveness.

A bill that the Mexican president is expected to approve soon would curtail private investors in the energy industry and possibly reverse gains in lowering carbon emissions. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has never been short of criticisms about his predecessor’s legacy. But he has reserved a special contempt for the sweeping overhaul that opened Mexico’s tightly held energy industry to the private sector.He has called the changes a form of legalized “pillaging,” the product of corruption and a resounding failure. He has suggested that some foreign energy investors are “looting” the nation and that Mexican lawyers who work for...

Dozens of students abducted from a school in northwest Nigeria last week have been rescued, the state government announced Saturday. Gov. Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger state said that 38 abductees, including several staff members, were rescued around 4 a.m. Bello met with the victims, all of whom were present at a press conference Saturday afternoon, except for one who was being treated at a local hospital for exhaustion. The victims, members of the Government Science College of Kagara, had been abducted Feb. 17 by gunmen in military uniforms. One student was shot and killed in the attack. Nigerian schoolchildren...

For generations, the United States has been viewed by much of the world as an infallible beacon of strength and power, thanks to its economic, military and social prowess. These days, the country is far from dominant. Instead, America is exhibiting all of the key indicators that political experts use to characterise a failing state – the kind of nation on the brink you might’ve found in the post-Soviet era or in war-torn regions of Africa and the Middle East. The notion that the world’s oldest functioning democracy could ever fail was, until recently, “unthinkable to all but the most...

The nation’s leading Spanish-language news network continues to inject its opposition to President Donald Trump into every possible angle. The most recent instance of institutional bias is reflected in a report on a recent study by the American Heart Association.

In what appears to have been a routine patrol, 30 members of Mexico's National Guard were caught off guard and ambushed from an unsuspecting local house. After repelling the initial attack, authorities soon discovered Ovidio Guzmán López, son of "El Chapo" and suspected co-leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, hiding inside the home. Chaos quickly ensued as gunmen blocked streets with burning vehicles. The scenes that unfolded were reminiscent of a war zone.

Pakistan: Muslim kidnaps 14-year-old Christian girl, forces her to convert to Islam and marry him SEP 29, 2019 2:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER The objective behind these cases, which are growing increasingly common, is to expand the Muslim community at the expense of the non-Muslim community. The Islamic community should always be growing, and the non-Muslim community always shrinking. It’s an inherently Islamic supremacist imperative. “A 14-year-old Faisalabad Christian girl is kidnapped, forced to convert and marry,” by Shafique Khokhar, Asia News, September 25, 2019: Faisalabad (AsiaNews) – Samra Bibi, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl, was abducted by a Muslim man,...

Islamabad/Doha: Cash-strapped Pakistan on Monday secured a bailout package of $3 billionThe Gulf state is the fourth nation that has come forward to rescue Pakistan from default during past 11 months as the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan tries to overcome a ballooning balance-of-payments crisis.Earlier, China gave $4.6 billion in shape of deposits and commercial loans and Saudi Arabia provided $3 billion cash deposit and $3.2 billion oil facility on deferred payments. The United Arab Emirates also provided $2 billion cash deposit."The Qatari-Pakistani economic partnership will amount to $9 billion. Qatar affirms its aspiration for further development in the...

ISLAMABAD: An international detergent brand has come under fire for an advertisement questioning gender stereotypes in the conservative patriarchal country, with critics denouncing the company for allegedly insulting Islam. The commercial for Ariel soap, owned by US-based Proctor & Gamble, calls for women to break free of conservative norms and pursue careers. In the ad, several women representing different professions - including a journalist and doctor - are seen pushing dirty sheets hanging on a clothesline off the screen. The sheets are printed with common refrains used to reinforce the oppression of women in Pakistan, including the question “What will...

Islamic Terrorists Hit Pakistan Hotel to Target China There’s been a pattern of Islamic terrorists in the region targeting hotels. Here’s the latest attack. Pakistan. Heavily armed gunmen attacked a luxury hotel in southwestern Pakistan on Saturday, in an assault in which a Pakistani separatist group claimed to be targeting Chinese interests and warned of further violence. “After more than 10 hours of continuous battle and achieving all their targets the BLA fighters have used their last bullets on them and have left this world,” said a Twitter post by what claims to be the official account of the separatist...

Pray that you will survive and come out on the short-lived-other-side possibly shaken, but with an entirely new resolve and commitment to be part of the physical work and prayers to truly Make America Great Again And, In the Category of Failed States…. ...The envelope please. Yes! The United States of America takes the Academy Award for officially becoming a Failed State. We must admit that Venezuela gave the USA a run for its money; and speaking of money, we recently reached the failure-milestone of $22 trillion dollars in debt. But, the coup de grâce came when former FBI Agent...

Labourer whose blasphemy death sentence was overturned has been transferred to KarachiPakistani authorities have moved Asia Bibi, a Christian woman recently acquitted of blasphemy charges, to a new “secure area” and are barring her from leaving the country, a close friend and rights campaigner has claimed. Bibi, who spent eight years on death row, was transferred from a location near the capital to a house in the southern port city of Karachi, her friend Aman Ullah told the Associated Press. She and her husband are locked in a single room in a house where the door opens only “at food...

MEXICO CITY — An American anarchist who went by the name John Galton was shot dead at his home in the Mexican resort of Acapulco, sending shivers through a tightknit anti-establishment community of expatriates that organizes events in the violence-torn retreat with seminars on topics such as how to make money via cryptocurrencies. A woman describing herself as John’s partner, Lily, said via social media that she saw the gunmen go straight for John and his friend Jason Henza, 43. Henza made it to a private hospital with bullet wounds in an armpit, leg and hand. The hospital said he...

Mexicans have endured a week of gas shortages as the government takes drastic action to combat narco fuel thieves. Several states in the center of the country, including the capital Mexico City, have seen hundreds of petrol stations closed and long lines at those left open. {snip} The government of Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador, known as AMLO, has cut off the gas supply in a number of key pipelines transporting fuel from refineries. The aim is take the fight to the "huachicoleros" as the fuel thieves are known. Many are affiliated with larger drug cartels, who for years have been...

On December 19, 2018, President Trump declared correctly that “we have won against ISIS,” and announced that the remaining 2,000 American troops in Syria would be withdrawn. The president has made the right decision. Having won the war against ISIS, he does not want to lose the peace by getting into a military conflict with the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s forces, or with the Iranians or the Russians, or even with the Turks for that matter. As the father of an Army officer who is in theater right now, I think I have a right to an opinion. And in...