From the Trenches World Report

Business Insider – by Tara Francis Chan

Authorities in the Chinese province of Xinjiang have begun collecting DNA and biometrics from all its residents, Human Rights Watch reported Wednesday.

All residents between 12 and 65 are having DNA samples, fingerprints, iris scans, and blood types collected.

Called The Population Registration Program, police will be collecting iris scans and fingerprints during home visits or by creating centralized collection points. Medical authorities will collect DNA samples and blood type information during yearly physicals that are then sent to police bureaus “for profiling.”   Continue reading “A Chinese province is collecting DNA and iris scans from all its residents”

Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Internet service providers clashed with Democrats and celebrities like “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill ahead of a vote on the Trump administration’s plan to revoke net neutrality rules barring the blocking or slowing of internet traffic.

The Federal Communications Commission is due to vote on Thursday on chairman Ajit Pai’s plan to rescind so-called net neutrality rules championed by Democratic former President Barack Obama that treated internet service providers like public utilities.  Continue reading “U.S. agency to vote on net neutrality rules despite outcry”

CBC News

The Liberal cabinet has given the green light for Canadian defence contractors to sell weapons to Ukraine in a watershed decision which a senior official of that country hopes will influence the Trump administration to follow suit.

The embattled eastern European country has been added to Canada’s automatic firearms country control list.

The decision was made on Nov. 23, according to a cabinet order posted online.  Continue reading “Canadian arms makers get OK to sell to Ukraine”

Business Insider

Republican leaders on Wednesday reached an agreement on their final tax bill, paving the way for an overhaul of the federal tax code by Christmas.

Republicans are moving with full speed to pass the tax bill, a process that gained urgency after the Democrat Doug Jones’ unexpected victory Tuesday in Alabama’s special election for a US Senate seat.   Continue reading “Republicans have a final deal on their tax bill — here’s what’s in it”

Sent to us by the author, Tracy Turner.

There are some people who truly believe that the U.S. Government has a great moral character, is sinless, flawless and is like a physician who follows the Hippocratic oath, “first do no harm”.   Continue reading “Documented Government Black Projects and Operations”

RT

Leaders of Islamic countries have called for East Jerusalem to be recognized as the capital of Palestine, stating that Donald Trump’s move last week had voided the status of the US as a mediator in the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

The Muslim leaders had gathered in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday for an emergency summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). They condemned the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The controversial move was branded “an attack” on the rights of Palestinian people in the final declaration by the summit.   Continue reading “Muslim leaders call for recognition of East Jerusalem as Palestinian capital”

RT

Russian Defense Ministry representatives have arrived in the North Korean capital. It is the second visit by Russian officials in two weeks, and comes as Washington claims it is ready for direct talks with Pyongyang, while still staging war games in the turbulent region.

The delegation is headed by Deputy Director of the Russian National Defense Command Center Viktor Kalganov, and has been on assignment in North Korea since Tuesday. The officials are to remain in Pyongyang for the rest of the week.   Continue reading “Russian military delegation arrives in N. Korea, scouting any chance for dialogue”

Mail.com

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The Latest on Gov. Mark Dayton’s appointment of a replacement for Minnesota Sen. Al Franken (all times local): 11:50 a.m. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken says Tina Smith will be an “excellent” U.S. senator in his place.

But Franken still isn’t setting a date when he’ll step down. Franken aid last week that he would depart “in coming weeks” after he was accused by several women of improper conduct. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton on Wednesday appointed Smith, his lieutenant governor, to fill fellow Democrat Franken’s seat until a special election next November.  Continue reading “The Latest: Franken praises Smith; still no date to leave”

Mail.com

NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused of carrying out a bomb attack in New York City’s subway system was influenced by the sermons and writings of a radical Muslim preacher, Bangladeshi officials said Wednesday in the hours before the man was expected to have his first court appearance in the U.S.

Akayed Ullah, a Bangladeshi immigrant living in Brooklyn, had asked his wife in Bangladesh to read the writings and listen to the sermons of Moulana Jasimuddin Rahmani, the currently imprisoned leader of a banned group called Ansarullah Bangla Team, said Monirul Islam, a top official of Bangladesh’s counterterrorism department.  Continue reading “Would-be suicide bomber in New York City faces court hearing”

Sputnik

Yale Law School students have requested a US court to permit a class-action lawsuit on behalf of US Air Force veterans who responded to the catastrophic 1966 hydrogen bomb accident in the Mediterranean Sea, but who have been denied disability benefits.

The 1966 accident occurred when a USAF B-52 carrying four hydrogen bombs collided with a USAF KC-135 tanker aircraft during a mid-flight refueling exercise. The refueling nozzle hit the fuselage and caused a major explosion seen by another B-52 pilot a mile away. All four airmen on the FC-135 were killed along with three of the four airmen on board the B-52.
Continue reading “‘Absolutely Ignored’: US Veterans Who Cleaned Up H-Bomb Accident Seek Benefits”

Shanghaiist – by Alex Linder

On Saturday evening, a fire broke out inside a two-story building in Beijing’s southern Daxing District, leaving 19 people dead in a tragedy that is becoming all too familiar on the outskirts of China’s booming mega-cities.

Of the 19 killed, 17 were migrants who had come to Beijing from other parts of the country for work. The blue-collar workers lived in unsafe, cramped conditions on the second floor of a rundown building just inside the capital’s Sixth Ring Road that was a fire hazard waiting to happen.   Continue reading “After fire kills 19 in Beijing shanty town, migrant workers flee ahead of forced demolitions”

“We are going to have a war on terror which you can never win, and so you can always keep taking people’s liberties away. The media is going to convince everybody that the war on terror is real. The ultimate goal is to get everybody in the world chipped with an RFID chip, and have all money be on the chips, and if anyone wants to protest what we do, we turn off the chip.”

Nicholas Rockefeller to producer Aaron Russo – eleven months before the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks

Free Thought Project – by Jay Syrmopoulos

Beijing, China – Revealing the extreme direness of the situation on the Korean Peninsula, a state-run Chinese media outlet based in a province bordering North Korea and Russia — the Jilin Daily — published a “common sense” guide for surviving a nuclear war, according to Reuters.

Although the full-page article of guidelines doesn’t specifically mention North Korea, the warning was clearly a result of the increasing tensions between a nuclear-armed DPRK, and the United States.   Continue reading “Time to Pay Attention: China Now Building Refugee Camps, Prepping for Nuclear War”

Inside Syria Media Center’ sources report on personnel changes and on the renewal of ISIS leadership. Senior officials in hiding are trying to optimize the management of their structure and continue to carry out illegal subversive activities in a number of Western countries.   Continue reading “ISIS Management Structure Inside: Fatally Wounded ISIS Try to Reallocate Resources and Reappoint its Killers”

Oil & Gas Journal – by Nick Snow

US Rep. Bill Johnson (R-Ohio) has introduced a pair of bills designed to facilitate US exports of LNG. H.R. 4605 would let exporters begin shipments after completing the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s review process instead of requiring them to wait for US Department of Energy approval, Johnson said. H.R. 4606 would codify DOE’s efforts to begin exports of small volumes of LNG to Caribbean and Central and South American countries.   Continue reading “US House bills introduced aimed at easing LNG exports”

AL.com – by Conner Sheets

Alabama is allowed to destroy digital voting records created at the polls during today’s U.S. Senate election after all.

At 1:36 p.m. Monday, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge issued an order directing Alabama election officials to preserve all digital ballot images created at polling places across the state today.   Continue reading “In final-hour order, court rules that Alabama can destroy digital voting records after all”