Saturday, December 8, 2018

NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SATURDAY 12/8/2018 NEWSDUMP EDITION


(MORE UPDATES POSSIBLE UNTIL 830 AM, EDITING ADDITIONS ETC.)

Yellow vests protesters made it onto the  streets of Paris this morning for Phase 4 of their protest against the policies of French President Emmanuel Macron.

But police operating in mobile units made arrests and took some into what is called "preventive custody" if they had items considered threatening  in their possession.

People entering the protest area are being searched by the police mobile units.

The BBC reported that phosgene gas, much stronger than normal tear gas used in previous protests, is believed to be in use against the protesters in Paris.  This report was dropped in a later version published by the BBC.

Here is a link to information on phosgene from the Centers for Disease Control....LINK

Protests moved out into the periphery of areas closed off by police.

The latest detention figures as of 530am Eastern US, 1130am in Paris were 492 arrests and 211  are still detained.

A special separate "Breaking News" post is operating through 830 am with occasional additions to it until that time.  Links are there to video and text sources in France.



The Battle of Brexit.

There's a big rally in London tomorrow sponsored by the party of Brexit, the United Kingdom Independence Party, UKIP.  '

The people are coming out onto the streets to oppose Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plan, considered to be a capitulation to the European Union.

UKIP leader Gerard Batten and younger leaders like activist for free speech Tommy Robinson have organized the rally and are speaking at it.

Tommy Robinson posted in part on "Facebook" Friday:

"Brexit means exit so dump the deal"


May's plan is set for a final vote in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou of the Huawei telecommunications firm is wanted by US authorities for breaching US sanctions on Iran.   That was revealed at her bail hearing in Canada Friday where she was arrested last Saturday.  

We learned this week that White House National Security Adviser John Bolton was fully aware of her impeding arrest as he sat with President Trump meeting China's President Xi Jinping in Argentina last Saturday.

James Fields Jr. was convicted of first degree murder and a host of other charges by a jury in Charlottesville, Virginia Friday.

Fields was a white nationalist involved in last year's protest in Charlottesville when police herded the nationalists through an angry crowd of left wing protesters who attacked them.

An apparently fearful, angry or agitated Fields left the protest and when leaving in his car drove into a crowd of the leftists, killing one and injuring others.

He has been convicted on state charges but faces federal ones as a "hate criminal" with the death penalty possible.   That will be up to the US Attorney General to decide.

William Barr, US Attorney General in the early 1990's during the George H.W. Bush presidency, is President Trump's choice to replace Jeff Sessions as Attorney General.

It was confirmed Friday that State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, formerly of Fox News and ABC News, is President Trump's pick to replace Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to the UN.
Additional word is that the post is being downgraded from a cabinet level one.  This would apparently pre-empt any Senate hearings on her appointment.

In Italy, six are dead and dozens injured after what's being called a "stampede" at a nightclub.
It happened in a town on the east coast of the country in the town of Corinaldo.  The stampede started when pepper spray was fired inside the club where a thousand people were thought to be inside.  The incident took place at 1am in Italy, 7pm Eastern time in the US.

In Germany a victory for Chancellor Angela Merkel as her designated successor Annegret Marie Krampbauer was selected to replace her as leader of the Christian Democratic Union.

Merkel is easing her way out amid high unpopularity.    Merkel will remain as Chancellor but is expected to step aside as Germany reaches its next elections in 2021.

The United States and the United Kingdom are blaming Russia and Syria for a jihadist opposition chemical attack on Aleppo, Syria last month.   They claim that the Russians and Syrians staged it with tear gas.

Russia and Syria may soon act militarily against various jihadist groups in Idlib Province in northern Syria including those backed by Saudi Arabia, an ally of the US and UK.

Both President Trump and Prime Minister May met with Saudi Arabia's de-facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, on the sidelines of the G20 summit last weekend.

The US, UK, Saudi Arabia and other countries this week advocated a no-fly zone in Syria with US Representative for Syria, James Jeffrey, speaking on their behalf..

And that's the way it really is, Saturday December 8th, 2018.

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