Month: June 2021

Screenshots of a virtual meeting, which have gone viral, show a Canadian politician urinating on camera during a work meeting. 

William Amos, a Liberal MP for Pontiac, Quebec, released a statement Thursday about the incident:

Last night, while attending House of Commons proceedings virtually, in a non-public setting, I urinated without realizing I was on camera. I am deeply embarrassed by my actions and the distress they may have caused anybody who witnessed them. 

While accidental and not visible to the public, this was completely unacceptable, and I apologize unreservedly. I will be stepping aside temporarily from my role as Parliamentary Secretary and from my committee duties so that I can seek assistance. 

I will continue to represent my constituents and I’m grateful to be their voice in Parliament. I am deeply appreciative for the support of my staff and the love of my family.

This is not the first time Amos, 46, was captured in the nude during a virtual meeting. In April, he was accidentally caught on video changing into work clothes after a workout. 

“Obviously, it was an honest mistake, and it won’t happen again,” Amos said at the time. 

“You’re either laughing at someone who’s having the worst experience of their life or you’re laughing at people who were subjected to nudity without their consent at work. I just can’t find an angle where that would be funny to me,” Ottawa-based sexual violence prevention instructor Julie Lalonde told Vice at the time.

Conservative Deputy House Leader Karen Vecchio was suspicious that the on-camera urination was “accidental.” 

“This is the second time Mr. Amos has been caught exposing himself to his colleagues in the House, and the House of Commons, virtual or otherwise, must be free of this type of unacceptable behavior,” Vecchio said.

From professional meetings to online classes to online educational classrooms, virtual conference calls have had their fair share of embarrassing episodes for people who didn’t understand how to turn off the session. 

On May 29th, Hollywood “legend” Steven Seagal has opted into a career change.

He joined a Russian political party.

As South Front reports, Seagal received a party membership card of an alliance named Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth.

It was formed earlier in 2021, when three leftist parties, all of which support Putin, merged into one.

In November 2016, Segal was granted Russian citizenship. In August of 2018, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry appointed him to the unpaid position of “special representative for Russian-US humanitarian ties.”

He lamented the lack of ability, even in Russia, to arrest people for no apparent reason, just fining them for breaking the laws.

“Without being able to arrest people, when we just fine them, they are probably making more money of the production of the things that are defiling the environment,” said in his welcome speech at a party event.

The party controls a faction in the lower house of the Russian parliament and plans to take part in a parliamentary election in September.

The US-born Seagal is known for his action movies of questionable quality, and his alleged martial arts prowess. Russian President Vladimir Putin seems fond of him and martials art, and as such they, apparently, have become “best friends.”

In 2018, Russia tasked Seagal with improving humanitarian ties with the United States at a time when relations between the two countries have deteriorated to their worst level since the Cold War.

As a Russian representative, Seagal visited Venezuela earlier in May and presented a samurai sword to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Previously, he was a member of the For Truth party (on February 22 it merged with Fair Russia and Patriots of Russia).

According to the actor, his priorities will be the fight against environmental crimes and the protection of Lake Baikal. Seagal also called for the demilitarization of outer space, stressing that he is extremely concerned about this problem.

Answering the TASS question whether he considers himself a socialist, Sеаgal noted that A Just Russia – For Truth is not a socialist party “in the Soviet sense of the word.”

“This is a different party, it is different. Because people have quite open views on what is good, what is good for the country, for the people. And this does not correspond at all with the outdated Soviet concepts,” he is sure.

He likely will not run for a seat in Russian parliament due to his American citizenship.

In a seeming repeat of the Trump admin attempt to impose a full naval blockade on Venezuela to prevent fuel and oil imports and exports, especially involving Iranian tankers, the US military is said to be actively monitoring two Iranian naval vessels which are believed headed toward Venezuela.

Washington has reportedly warned the Maduro government against receiving the warships, which likely have elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force members aboard. The two “rogue states” (as the US sees them) have become increasingly close especially under the prior four Trump years as they cooperated in circumventing US sanctions, and have grown militarily more cooperative. 

Days ago Politico was the first to report on their movements – but whether they are intent on entering Venezuelan waters is still largely subject of speculation. “An Iranian frigate and the Makran, a former oil tanker that was converted to a floating forward staging base, have been heading south along the east coast of Africa, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive subject,” the report said.

Politico continued: “Senior officials in President Nicolás Maduro’s government in Caracas have been advised that welcoming the Iranian warships would be a mistake, according to a person familiar with the discussions. But it’s not clear whether Maduro has heeded that warning: At one point on Thursday, U.S. military officials understood the ships had turned around, but as of Friday morning they were still steaming south, one of the people said.”

On Monday Iran’s foreign ministry responded to the reports, asserting the country’s right to freely navigate international waters, but stopped short of confirming or denying any operation involving Venezuela. “Iran has constant presence in international waters, is entitled to this right on the basis of international law, and can be present in international waters. No country can violate such a right”, an Iranian spokesman said. The spokesman then warned:

“I warn that nobody should make a miscalculation. Those who live in glass houses must be cautious.”

#Iran has warned the US against “any miscalculations” after reports emerged that the US was monitoring two Iranian warships said to be en route to Venezuela.

“Those in glass houses should be careful,” Foreign Ministry spox Khatibzadeh said today.https://t.co/VdlKfKwI4s

— Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) May 31, 2021

Last year on multiple occasions Venezuela’s military escorted Iranian fuel tankers through its coastal waters after Trump vowed to send a military blockade to the Caribbean.

Despite the threats, multiple tankers made it to the Venezuelan coast; however in some other instances US authorities were able to seize Iranian fuel on the high seas much earlier before ships made it near South America’s coast.

After Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) attempted to combat cartels through peaceful means – namely his “hugs, not bullets” campaign to appease criminal organizations, the notoriously violent Jalisco cartel responded by kidnapping several members of an elite police force in the state of Guanajuato, torturing them to obtain the names and addresses of other cops, and is now hunting them down and killing them at their own homes, “on their days off, in front of their families,” according to the Associated Press.

This type of direct attack on the police is rarely seen outside of Central America, and stands to become the  most direct challenge to AMLO’s attempt to peacefully ‘manage’ the country’s competing cartels. The cartels, meanwhile, have already declared war on the government – focusing their efforts on eradicating every member of an elite state force known as the Tactical Group, which the cartel accuses of treating its members unfairly.

“If you want war, you’ll get a war. We have already shown that we know where you are. We are coming for all of you,” reads a banner signed by the cartel and hung on a Guanajuato building in May.

“For each member of our firm (CJNG) that you arrest, we are going to kill two of your Tacticals, wherever they are, at their homes, in their patrol vehicles,” the banner continues.

Officials in Guanajuato — Mexico’s most violent state, where Jalisco is fighting local gangs backed by the rival Sinaloa cartel — refused to comment on how many members of the elite group have been murdered so far.

But state police publicly acknowledged the latest case, an officer who was kidnapped from his home on Thursday, killed and his body dumped on a highway.

Guanajuato-based security analyst David Saucedo said there have been many cases.

“A lot of them (officers) have decided to desert. They took their families, abandoned their homes and they are fleeing and in hiding,” Saucedo said. “The CJNG is hunting the elite police force of Guanajuato.” -AP

According to one Guanajuato news outlet, Poplab, at least seven police officers have been killed on their days off so far this year. In January, a female state police officer was tortured and killed, after gunmen went to her home and murdered her husband first. Her bullet-ridden body was then dumped. Poplab adds that Guanajuato has had the highest number of cops killed of any Mexican state for at least three years – with at least 262 police officers having been killed.

“Unfortunately, organized crime groups have shown up at the homes of police officers, which poses a threat and a greater risk of loss of life, not just for them, but for members of their families,” reads a May 17 decree by the Guanajuato state government, which promises to provide an unspecified amount of funding for protecting the police and prison officials.

“They have been forced to quickly leave their homes and move, so that organized crimes groups cannot find them,” the decree continues.

According to Saucedo, the security analyst, “This is an open war against the security forces of the state government.”

Australia and New Zealand have managed to keep COVID cases and deaths at a minimum thanks largely to their isolated status, which has enabled both countries to “raise the drawbridge”, so to speak, keeping out most foreigners since the start of the crisis.

But even with Australia’s notoriously stringent COVID-19 restrictions, a few cases have managed to slip by. In the face of the biggest cluster uncovered in months, Melbourne and the surrounding Victoria State entered their 4th lockdown last week. Though it was only supposed to last a week, that could soon change as more cases are confirmed.

Source: Worldometer

Reuters reports that 5 new cases were discovered over the last 24 hours, bringing the total number in the Melbourne cluster to 51.

Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria, the epicentre of the country’s latest coronavirus hotspot, reported 11 new cases of community transmission on Monday and authorities warned the situation could worsen in coming days.

The state officially reported five new cases in the 24 hours to midnight. At a press conference on Monday, authorities announced a further six cases were recorded after the late night cut-off which will reflect in Tuesday’s data, taking the current cluster to 51.

Victoria went into a strict seven-day lockdown on Friday after new COVID-19 infections in the state capital Melbourne ended its three-month run of zero community cases. Authorities identified several Melbourne schools, supermarkets, department stores and gyms among hundreds of exposure sites.

The rising tally has raised questions about whether the current lockdown might be extended, since several cases have been connected to a nursing home, and another deadly nursing home outbreak is exactly what Australia’s public health authorities are trying to avoid.

Authorities are concerned about the virus taking hold in aged care homes after two workers and one resident at the Arcare facility in Melbourne tested positive, the home operator said in a statement.

Another resident is being re-tested for COVID-19.

Victoria endured one of the world’s strictest and longest lockdowns last year to suppress a second wave of COVID-19 that killed more than 800 people in the state, accounting for 90% of Australia’s total deaths since the pandemic began. Hundreds of elderly Victorians in residential aged care facilities were among the fatalities.

The Australian government has faced criticism for the country’s relatively slow vaccine rollout, as well as for its citizens’ reluctance to take the AstraZeneca jab following cases of extremely rare blood clots. Overall, Australia has been among the most successful globally in curbing the pandemic thanks to swift contact tracing, snap lockdowns and strict social distancing rules, with 22,275 local cases and 910 deaths.