espionage
Canadian election officials grilled over lack of focus on China, prosecution of Rebel News

From LifeSiteNews
When it comes to the CCP, many Canadians, especially pro-freedom Chinese Canadians, are concerned considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
Monitors for Canada’s federal elections admitted that despite getting hundreds of complaints claiming that agents of Communist China were interfering in the last two federal elections, it spent vast resources in a four-year chase against Rebel News for planting lawn signs promoting a book critical of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the 2019 election.
The admission was made earlier this week by Elections Commissioner Caroline Simard during the public inquiry being held to investigate alleged meddling in Canada’s two most recent federal elections by agents of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), formally titled the Foreign Interference Commission.
Mylène Gigou, who serves as senior director of enforcement in the Office of the Elections Commissioner, testified that “Canada Elections Act is extremely, extremely complex,” adding that they all “work in a small team where we work very closely with legal counsel.”
Nando de Luca, counsel for the Conservative Party, asked if it would be fair to say, “For investigations of breaches of the Elections Act by domestic actors, the Office has allocated far greater resources and spent far more time in its enforcement activities than it has in respect of alleged breaches of the Act by foreign operators?”
“It is difficult to answer such questions,” replied Simard.
In June 2019, the federal government amended Canada’s Elections Act. The rules require that third parties, including non-profit groups, register with Elections Canada if they spend more than $500 on any kind of “political advertising.” This includes any spending that boosts positions taken during election campaigns regarding issues of public policy. The new Elections Act also sets spending limits on third-party election advertising.
During the fall 2019 Canadian federal election, Rebel News head Ezra Levant Levant was promoting his book, The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption, via posters, lawn signs, billboards, and other methods. While the Elections Act permits book promotions, the Commissioner ruled that the lawn signs were not a typical promotion and because Levant was not “registered” as a campaign actor, his action was a violation of the rules.
As a result, Levant was fined $3,000 by the Commissioner, a decision which was upheld by a federal judge last December.
Conservatives question why feds used vast resources to target Rebel News
During the public inquiry this week, de Luca questioned why the Elections Commissioner went after Rebel News so strongly, while at the same time a massive number of complaints concerning CCP interference went un-investigated.
“We are talking about a period of well over four years that the Office of the Commissioner of Elections devoted expenses and resources to this one particular instance of contravention of the Elections Act,” said de Luca.
Now-retired Elections Commissioner Yves Côté, who was the one who green-lit the Rebel News prosecution, said, “I have no specific recollection.”
“The link with foreign interference is not apparent to me for the time being,” said Côté. “What you are saying about this case, I don’t see foreign interference at all in the picture. That said, yes, there was an administrative monetary penalty against Rebel News.”
The Foreign Interference Commission began on January 29 and “will examine and assess the interference by China, Russia and other foreign states or non-state actors, including any potential impacts, in order to confirm the integrity of, and any impacts on, the 43rd and 44th general elections (2019 and 2021 elections) at the national and electoral district levels.”
The inquiry is being headed by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, who had earlier said that she and her lawyers will remain “impartial” and will not be influenced by politics throughout the process.
In January, Hogue said that she would “uncover the truth whatever it may be.”
“The role of a Commission of Inquiry is to investigate the facts in order to understand what happened in a given situation. Under its mandate, it carries out an objective search of the truth while identifying specific matters, draws conclusions and make recommendations to the government,” she said.
The first set of hearings, or “Stage 1,” are taking place from now until April 10, and will include a host of witnesses including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The “Stage 2” part of the public inquiry will take place this fall and will look at the Trudeau government’s ability to both detect and fight foreign interference targeting Canada’s electoral processes.
The hearings are being held at the Library and Archives Canada building in Ottawa.
When it comes to the CCP, many Canadians, especially pro-freedom Chinese Canadians, are concerned considering Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the authoritarian nation as his favorite country other than his own.
The potential meddling in Canada’s elections by agents of the CCP has many Canadians worried as well.
The public inquiry comes after Trudeau launched a failed investigation into CCP allegations last year after much delay. That inquiry was not done in the public and was headed by “family friend” and former Governor General David Johnston, whom Trudeau appointed as “independent special rapporteur.”
Johnston quit as “special rapporteur” after a public outcry following his conclusion that there should not be a public inquiry into the matter. Conservative MPs demanded Johnston be replaced over his ties to both China and the Trudeau family.
conflict
Iran nuclear talks were ‘coordinated deception’ between US and Israel: report

From LifeSiteNews
Reports state that U.S. peace talks were a ruse and that Trump gave Netanyahu a ‘green light’ to hit Iran’s nuclear and military sites, killing top commanders.
A senior Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post that Tel Aviv and Washington worked together to convince Tehran that diplomacy was still possible after Israel was ready to attack Iran. Just hours before Israel’s massive assault began, President Donald Trump maintained he was still committed to talks.
The Israeli outlet reports, “The round of U.S.-Iranian nuclear negotiations scheduled for Sunday was part of a coordinated U.S.-Israeli deception aimed at lowering Iran’s guard ahead of Friday’s attack.”
READ: Israel strikes Iran’s nuclear sites, kills top commanders in massive air assault
In a post on Truth Social shortly before the Israeli strikes began, Trump declared that “We remain committed to a Diplomatic Resolution to the Iran Nuclear Issue! My entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran. They could be a Great Country, but they first must completely give up hopes of obtaining a Nuclear Weapon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
After the Israeli attack was in progress, Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied that the U.S. was involved. However, American officials have said the White House was aware Israel was set to begin striking Iran, with Trump telling Fox News he was briefed on the operation.
Barak Ravid of Axios, moreover, later reported that Tel Aviv was given “a clear U.S. green light” to start bombing, citing two unnamed Israeli officials.
Sources speaking with Axios said the perceived split between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was coordinated behind the scenes. “Two Israeli officials claimed to Axios that Trump and his aides were only pretending to oppose an Israeli attack in public – and didn’t express opposition in private,” the report explained. “The goal, they say, was to convince Iran that no attack was imminent and make sure Iranians on Israel’s target list wouldn’t move to new locations.”
The sources said that Trump and Netanyahu discussed the attack during a phone call on Monday. After the call, reports said Trump pressed Netanyahu not to attack Iran, but that was another effort to deceive Iran.
In a second post following the attack, Trump said he gave Iran the opportunity to make a deal, and suggested that Israel used American weapons in the massive air raid. “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done,” the president wrote.
The post continued, “I told them it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come – And they know how to use it.”
The U.S. and Iran began negotiations on establishing a new nuclear agreement in April, with the two sides engaging in five rounds of Omani-mediated talks. At times, a deal appeared possible, with Iranian officials saying the dialogue was leading to progress. A sixth round of talks was scheduled for Sunday, but now appears unlikely.
A second source speaking with the Jerusalem Post said the goal of Israel’s military operations was not the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities, but rather to hit missile sites and top Iranian leaders to bring down the government.
Israel has conducted several rounds of strikes so far, hitting nuclear facilities, residential buildings in Tehran, and military sites. Iran has confirmed that several military leaders and nuclear scientists were killed in the bombing.
espionage
FBI Director: CCP Behind Wave of Pathogen Smuggling as Third Chinese Student Charged in Michigan Lab Probe

Sam Cooper
“In a follow up interview with FBI and ICE HSI agents, Han admitted to sending the packages and lying about their contents”
In an intensifying pattern of national security investigations targeting unauthorized biological shipments from China into Detroit, U.S. authorities on Monday confirmed the arrest of a third Chinese national allegedly involved in smuggling undeclared bio-materials into the United States—this time for use at a University of Michigan laboratory.
“This case is part of a broader effort from the FBI and our federal partners to heavily crack down on similar pathogen smuggling operations, as the Chinese Communist Party works relentlessly to undermine America’s research institutions,” FBI Director Kash Patel posted to X on Monday evening.
The latest defendant, Chengxuan Han, is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China and a doctoral student at the College of Life Science and Technology in Wuhan. She has been charged with smuggling goods into the U.S. and making false statements, according to a federal criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
From September 2024 through March 2025, prosecutors allege, Han sent four international shipments containing concealed biological materials to individuals affiliated with a University of Michigan lab. The contents were identified as Caenorhabditis elegans — roundworms commonly used in genetic and biomedical research. The packages were mis-manifested and not declared in accordance with U.S. import regulations.
On June 8, Han arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on a J-1 visa and was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. She allegedly denied having sent any biological materials to the U.S. and made false statements about the nature of the shipments. Agents also discovered that content on her electronic device had been deleted three days before her arrival — a detail included in the federal complaint.
“In a follow up interview with FBI and ICE HSI agents, Han admitted to sending the packages and lying about their contents,” Patel commented.
“The alleged smuggling of biological materials by this alien from a science and technology university in Wuhan, China — to be used at a University of Michigan laboratory — is part of an alarming pattern that threatens our security,” said U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. “The American taxpayer should not be underwriting a PRC-based smuggling operation at one of our crucial public institutions.”
The case marks the third time in one week that Chinese nationals connected to the University of Michigan have been charged with allegedly smuggling undeclared biological material from China into the U.S. for laboratory research.
On June 3, federal prosecutors charged Yunqing Jian, 33, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, and her boyfriend, Zunyong Liu, 34, with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the U.S., false statements, and visa fraud. Jian and Liu are accused of importing Fusarium graminearum — a fungus considered in some scientific literature to be a potential agroterrorism threat — into the country without proper declaration.
Officials allege Liu, who conducts research on the same pathogen at a university in China, initially lied to investigators but later admitted to smuggling the fungus for research in Jian’s Michigan lab.
The Bureau is a reader-supported publication.
To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
-
conflict2 days ago
One dead, over 60 injured after Iranian missiles pierce Iron Dome
-
Crime15 hours ago
Manhunt on for suspect in shooting deaths of Minnesota House speaker, husband
-
Business4 hours ago
Carney’s European pivot could quietly reshape Canada’s sovereignty
-
Alberta4 hours ago
Alberta’s grand bargain with Canada includes a new pipeline to Prince Rupert