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Europe
Russia
14.07.2024 Russia 'strongly' condemns assassination attempt on former US President Trump. Peskov argued that the current administration in the US tends to resolve all issues, especially global matters, through the use of force. "No one is trying to seek a compromise. This includes economic pressure, sanctions that the US administration is very fond of, political pressure, or direct use of force, including military power,' he alleged. Referring to the attempted assassination of Trump, Peskov emphasized that violence is now being directed inward within the country. Peskov emphasized that they do not believe the current administration orchestrated the assassination attempt on Trump. He did, however, claim that the political climate created by the administration fueled such violence. "After numerous attempts to politically discredit and undermine candidate Trump using legal means, courts, and prosecutors, it is clear to all external observers that Trump's life is now in danger," he said. "We offer our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in this attack and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," he added. (Source: aa *)
* Anadolu Agency, a state-run news agency headquartered in Ankara, Turkey.
15:31, Sun, Jul 14, 2024 Russia today accused the US of bankrolling a bid to assassinate Putin. There were loyalist calls for the dictator to halt foreign trips because of a supposed risk to him from the security services of America, Britain and Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry bluntly alleged Ukraine was working on plots to strike Putin funded by the US. This followed quotes from the head of Kyiv’s military intelligence agency - the GRU - that there had indeed been unspecified failed attempts to assassinate Putin. 'They [assassination attempts] were made, but, as you can see, they were unsuccessful so far,' said Lt-Gen Budanov. Zakharova took this as evidence Kyiv was directly working on the assassination of 71-year-old Putin This was “prepared” with “American money” which had also funded the Ukrainian government and intelligence services, she said. Meanwhile, there are claims that a hushed-up explosion on March 13, 2024, in Moscow may have been linked to an attempt on Putin’s life. Telegram channel VChK-OGPU alleged that Chilikov - far from being a victim as was first believed - was a 'saboteur' who built an explosive device which detonated because he wrongly handled it. Chilikova was seriously wounded with limbs torn off. He had been due to have access to a major economic forum in St Petersburg attended by Putin, said the channel. (Source: express *)
* The Daily Express, a national daily newspaper. Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Asia
China
July 14, 2024 1:15 PM China and Russia's naval forces kicked off a joint exercise Sunday at a military port in southern China. The exercise, which began in Guangdong province Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats (Source: voanews * "by Associated Press))
* Voice of America, the international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. Headquarters Washington, D.C., United States
Gaza
July 14, 2024 | 08:37 AM An Israeli air strike killed at least 91 Palestinians and 300 injured in the designated humanitarian zone Al Mawasi in Gaza yesterday. It is a designated humanitarian area that the Israeli army has repeatedly urged Palestinians to head to after issuing evacuation orders from other areas. Many of those wounded in the strike were taken to the nearby Nasser Hospital, which hospital officials said had been overwhelmed and was 'no longer able to function' due to the intensity of the Israeli offensive and an acute shortage of medical supplies. The Israeli military said the strike targeted Hamas military chief Deif and Salama, the commander of Hamas’ Khan Younis Brigade. The Palestinian resistance movement Hamas said Israeli claims it had targeted leaders of the group were false and aimed at justifying the attack, which was the deadliest Israeli attack in Gaza in weeks. Separately, at least 20 Palestinians were killed yesterday in an Israeli attack on a prayer hall at a Gaza camp for displaced people in west Gaza City. (Source: gulf-times *)
* Gulf Times, one of three English language newspapers in the country. Headquarters Doha, Qatar
North America
United States
July 14, 2024 The attempted assassination of former President Trump has heightened concerns in Congress about member security, with some lawmakers even cancelling events and closing their offices in response. House Republicans are set to receive a security briefing from the House-sergeant-at-arms today afternoon. House Democrats will receive their own briefing tomorrow afternoon. Senior Democratic congressional staff will also receive a security briefing today. (Source: axios *)
* Axios, an American news website based in Arlington, Virginia.
Jul 14, 2024 Media reports said the shooter had fired as many as eight shots, while a photograph by The New York Times’ Mills appeared to show the streak of a bullet cutting through the air near Trump’s head - an indication of just how close of a call this was for the former president. At the news conference, the Secret Service was conspicuously absent, leaving the FBI and Pennsylvania police to brief reporters. Secret Service Director Cheatle's whereabouts were not immediately clear. The shooting came just over two years after Japan was rocked by the shocking assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and more than a year after a pipe bomb was thrown at Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who escaped without injury. Kishida condemned the Trump rally shooting in a post on X. “We must stand firm against any form of violence that challenges democracy,” he wrote. “I pray for former President Trump’s speedy recovery." (Source: japantimes)
July 14, 2024 Conspiracy theories began doing rounds on social media. Netizens were pushing unverified or unsupported claims on X. "Staged” became the second-highest trending topic with over 228,000 posts on the platform using the word. Posts suggesting that the shooting was staged were viewed several millions of times on X, while the same sentiments were echoed in Meta's Instagram and Threads, though to much smaller audiences. Another topic that went trending on X was "Antifa" after social media posts misidentified the gunman responsible for today’s shooting. The posts blamed a 'prominent Antifa activist' Violets for the shooting. One account went overboard with a photo of a man in sunglasses and a black hat from a video posted to YouTube before the attack in which the man claimed "justice was coming." The man, Violi, was actually an Italian YouTuber who vlogs about football. Violi had to clarify that the news was fake. "I am in Italy, I am in Rome and I had no idea what happened". (Source: theweek)
July 14, 2024 Just moments after being grazed in the ear by a bullet at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Trump was on his feet again, blood streaming down the side of his face, pumping his fist and urging his supporters to “fight!” The photo of that moment is already an icon of our time. And experts say that surviving the assassination attempt in such a dramatic fashion can only help Trump in the election, by drawing a stark contrast with the visibly aging Biden, and complicating the Democrats’ case that Trumphimself is a unique threat to American democracy. Former president Roosevelt was shot in the chest while campaigning for an unprecedented third term in the 1912 election. A delusional German immigrant named Schrank had pulled the trigger, he said, to avenge the ghost of former president McKinley, whose own assassination had paved the way for Roosevelt, McKinley’s veep, to first take the top job ten years earlier. The bullet was slowed down by Roosevelt’s eyeglasses case and a copy of his speech, which he continued to give. “I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot,” he said to the stunned crowd, “but it takes more than that to kill a Bull Moose!” Roosevelt managed to win more votes than sitting president Taft – their rivalry had in fact split the Republican party in two – they were both bested by the Democrats’ Wilson. In March 1981, President Reagan was shot by Hinckley Jr. after leaving a speech in Washington, DC. Reagan survived and was back on the job within two weeks. Hinckley was mentally ill and wanted simply to catch the attention of famous actress Foster. Reagan's approval ratings did surge by eight points to nearly 70% in the aftermath of the shooting. But economic gloom would pull them down by more than 40 points later in the year. Still, he had more than three full years to bounce back ahead of the 1984 election, which he won in a landslide. Will Trump be better able to parlay a failed assassination into a successful re-election? Unlike Reagan, he faces voters in less than four months, meaning that any sympathy bump he gets could last long enough to help on election day. Unlike Roosevelt, he has his entire party behind him - against an opponent whose own candidacy remains in doubt. But much will depend on what we learn about the identity and motivations of the shooter. And of course, four months is still an eternity in today’s news cycle. Before long, the “fight!” that Trump is in could still look very different. /photo/ (Source: gzeromedia *)
* GZERO Media, the digital media company launched by "Eurasia Group"
July 14, 2024 An Associated Press (AP) analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get astonishingly close to the stage where the former president was speaking. A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held. The roof where the person lay was less than 150 meters from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle. The AR-15, like the shooter at the Trump rally had, is the semi-automatic civilian version of the military M-16. Trump was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers when the gunfire began after 6:10 p.m. Witnesses heard multiple gunshots and ducked for cover. As the first pop rang out, Trump said, “Oh,” and the raised his hand to his right ear and looked at it, before quickly crouching to the ground behind his lectern. The people in the stands behind him also crouched down as screams rang through the crowd. Reporters covering the rally heard five or six shots ring out and many ducked for cover, hiding under tables. After the first two or three bangs, people in the crowd looked startled, but not panicked. The attack drew new attention to concerns about political violence in a deeply polarized U.S. less than four months before the presidential election. And it could alter the tenor and security posture at the Republican National Convention, which will begin Monday in Milwaukee. Organizers said the convention would proceed as planned. Trump flew to New Jersey after visiting a local Pennsylvania hospital, landing shortly after midnight at Newark Liberty International Airport. Video posted by an aide showed the former president deplaning his private jet flanked by U.S. Secret Service agents and heavily armed members of the agency’s counter assault team - an unusually visible show of force by his protective detail. President Biden, who is running against Trump, was briefed on the incident and spoke to Trump several hours after the shooting, the White House said. Many Republicans quickly blamed the violence on Biden and his allies, arguing that sustained attacks on Trump as a threat to democracy have created a toxic environment. They pointed in particular to a comment Biden made to donors on July 8, saying “it’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.” /video/ (Source: africanews * "with AP **"): https://tinyurl.com/mpvz3dec
* Africanews, a pan-African news network located in Lyon, France
.** Associated Press, an American news agency headquartered in New York City, U.S.
14 July 2024 The Secret Service is facing questions after former US President Trump was shot at during a rally in Pennsylvania. Trump was quickly bundled off stage and into a waiting vehicle after shots were fired just a few minutes into his speech at 18:11 local time on Saturday. Trump is now "doing well". One bystander was killed in the shooting, and the two others critically injured, were all male. Their identities have not been released. The Director of the Secret Service, Cheatle, has been summoned to testify before the US House of Representatives on 22 July by the Oversight Committee - the main investigative board of the US House of Representatives. At a news conference on Sunday, FBI special agent Rojek said it was "surprising" that the shooter, who has been named as 20-year-old Crooks, was able to open fire before the Secret Service killed him. An investigation into the attempted assassination, which is already under way, involves the FBI, the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security. Law enforcement sources told CBS News that Crooks had been armed with "an AR-style rifle' and 'had fired from a building a few hundred metres from the venue'. At here are questions about how prepared the Secret Service was. Bystanders who spoke to the BBC suggested the gunshots may have come from a one-storey building to the right of the stage where Trump was speaking. One witness - Greg - told that he had spotted a suspicious-looking person "bear crawling" on the roof of the building about five minutes after Trump took to the stage. He said he pointed the person out to police. "He had a rifle, we could clearly see him with a rifle," he said. "We’re pointing at him, the police are down there running around on the ground – we’re like ‘hey man there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle’ and the police did not know what was going on." "Certainly Trump needs more protection - there’s a lot of inquiry now about whether the Secret Service was totally prepared," Mr Moore, senior adviser to Trump's campaign said. However, FBI spokesperson, Mr Guglielmi says there is an "untrue assertion" circulating that someone on Trump's security team had requested extra security "resources" and that request was "rebuffed". "This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources and technology and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo," Mr Guglielmi said. Warren and Debbie were at the venue and told the BBC they heard at least four gunshots. Republican Congressman Jackson told the BBC that his nephew was injured in the shooting. He sustained a minor wound to his neck and was treated at the scene, Mr Jackson said in a statement. Some had speculated that Trump had been set to reveal his running mate at the Butler rally. Senator Vance, who is thought to be on the shortlist to become Trump’s vice-presidential candidate, said the rhetoric from the Biden campaign had led directly to this incident. Collins - a Republican congressman - accused the president of “inciting an assassination”. (Source: bbc *)
* British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the oldest and largest local and global British public service broadcaster, founded in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company. Headquartered in London, England.
July 14, 2024 AP photographer Vucci recounts the moment shots were fired, his experience from the rally with Trump. /video; photo/ (Source: youtube */ Associated Press): https://tinyurl.com/4rrhwy25
* YouTube, an American online video sharing platform owned by Google. Headquarters San Bruno, California, United States
9 128 views; 66 comments on July 14, 2024
Jul 14, 2024 Just before the shots rang out, some in the crowd said, it seemed as if law enforcement snipers who were perched atop a barn had noticed movement nearby. The snipers seemed to be focusing on something off to the side of the grandstand in the direction of a building and a water tower just outside the farm show grounds. "I saw them with their binoculars,” said Cyrus, 54, who had come over from New Castle, Pennsylvania. "Then they got their guns.” Once the shooting broke out, he said, the snipers returned fire. Miller, the commissioner of the Texas Department of Agriculture, who had come to the rally to cheer on Trump, said he turned and saw a person behind him bleeding profusely, their white clothes reddening as people gathered around to help. Others saw a man directly behind Trump, who appeared to be bleeding from the head. Several at the rally said they would later see a couple of people being carried out, limp and covered in blood. According to the Secret Service, one person who attended the rally was killed, along with the suspect, and two spectators were seriously injured. The FBI identified the suspect as Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. And authorities recovered an AR-15-type semiautomatic rifle at the scene Trump returned to his feet. He had a little blood on his forehead. But he seemed not to have been badly injured. He raised his fist in the air. The crowd cheered "USA! USA!” though the cheers were not quite as robust as they had been just a few minutes earlier. Trump was ushered into an SUV by law enforcement officers. Later, on Truth Social, Trump said that he had been "shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear,” and Secret Service officials said he was safe. Other officers then told everyone to leave. (Source: japantimes */ The New York Times **)
* The Japan Times, Japan's largest English-language daily newspaper. Headquarters Tokyo, Japan
** The New York Times, an American daily newspaper. Headquarters New York City, U.S.
14 July 2024 Not long before shots rang out, rally goers noticed a man climbing to the top of a roof of a nearby building and warned local law enforcement, according to two law enforcement officials. One officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder and Crooks quickly took a shot toward former President Trump, and that’s when the US Secret Service counter snipers shot him, said the officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity. He used an AR-15-type, semi-automatic rifle in the attack, according to law enforcement. On Sunday, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News that the AR-15 found next to Crooks’s body had been purchased legally by his father. Investigators later recovered a cache of explosives from Crooks’s car, according to reports. A witness, identified only as Greg, said that he tried to alert Secret Service agents to a rifle-wielding man he spotted “bear crawling” onto the roof of a nearby building before gunshots rang through the crowd. “We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. We could clearly see him with a rifle,” he told. (Source: independent *)
* The Independent, a British online newspaper. Headquarters London, United Kingdom
14 July, 2024 The spectator who was fatally injured - who has not been publicly named - appeared to have been caught in the crossfire, a witness told NBC. "It seemed like the man was in the way of the shots between whoever was shooting the gun and the president," he told the outlet. "The man who was hit, it seemed like he was in the crossfire." The witness, who gave his name as Joseph, said the man was shot from behind between benches as people fled the scene. A doctor attending the rally said the man was shot in the head. 'Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it,” Biden said. Mr Biden later said that he had spoken with Trump. Senator Hawley called the incident an assassination attempt and called for a congressional investigation. “The nation needs to know who did this. And why. And we need a full, public investigation by Congress into how it happened,” he wrote on X. (Source: thenationalnews *)
* The National, a United Arab Emirates state-owned English-language daily newspaper. Headquarters Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
(Jul. 14, 2024) Sounds of multiple shots were heard at Trump's rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with the Republican presidential candidate raising a fist as he was escorted to a vehicle by the U.S. Secret Service, video footage from event showed. /video/ (Source: reuters *): https://tinyurl.com/3vkxsjnk
* Reuters, News agency. Headquarters London, England
33 092 views
(Jul 14, 2024) Former President Trump was rushed off stage after loud bangs were heard and he fell to the ground at the start of a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday night. /video/ (Source: cnn *): https://tinyurl.com/mry63wph
* Cable News Network (CNN), a multinational news channel and website. Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
1 726 056 views
Globalization
July 14, 2024 By 2054 Bosnia’s population is expected to decline by over 26%, according to the median scenario from the UN, while the populations of Albania, Lithuania and Moldova will fall by 23%, 24% and 25% respectively. Other countries set to lose more than a fifth of their populations include Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia and Serbia. By the end of the century, the decline will be even steeper. Across the Emerging Europe region, the deepest decline is forecast to be in Ukraine, at 60%. Albania, Bosnia, Belarus, Latvia, Moldova and Poland are also expected to lose more than half of their populations. Population declines of more than 40% are projected by 2100 in Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia. These countries are among 63 countries and territories worldwide where populations peaked before 2024, a group that also includes major nations such as China, Germany, Japan, and Russia. Globally report indicates that the number of people living in these areas is projected to shrink by 14% by 2054. In countries with already low fertility levels, emigration further exacerbates population decline. In 62% of these regions, emigration is expected to continue reducing population size through 2054. The populations of 126 countries, including populous nations such as India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan and the US, are likely to continue growing through 2054 and beyond. (Source: intellinews *)
* bne IntelliNews, a news wire agency and media company. Headquarters Berlin, Germany
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