Decades of forgotten research show natural light is an essential nutrient our bodies are being starved of
A Midwestern Doctor | The Forgotten Side of Medicine | September 17, 2026
Story at a Glance:
• Sunlight is one of the most important things for our health (e.g., it halves our risk of dying or getting cancer), yet all we ever hear is how important it is to avoid it.
• While the importance of vitamin D is generally recognized, many of the other critical functions of light within plants, animals and human beings remain almost completely unknown, and hence are the focus of this article.
• One of the defining characteristics of modern life is continual exposure to unnatural light (particularly from energy efficient light bulbs). This is viewed as relatively benign, but decades of forgotten research (and a growing body of new research) show it is a root cause of a myriad of inexplicable physical and behavioral illnesses.
• Cells communicate with each other through faint emissions of ultraviolet light. This was once one of the most active fields in biology (yielding over 700 papers, 11 Nobel nominations, and a blood test which detected cancer with over 95% accuracy) before it was abandoned for political reasons and forgotten.
• The eyes and the blood conduct light throughout the body. When this process is disrupted (e.g., by glasses with lenses that filter out critical parts of the spectrum), a variety of significant illnesses can develop.
• In 2022, the federal government effectively banned the incandescent bulb because most of its output is “wasted” infrared rather than visible light, despite our bodies using that infrared for a myriad of essential processes. Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee introduced a bill to bring those bulbs back, which yesterday received its first hearing, and with public support, can free us from the unhealthy bulbs that have been forced upon us.
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Who controls the AI shaping what you read, write, and believe?
By Sayer Ji | September 12, 2026
For a decade, they suppressed what you posted. Now they’re building the layer that writes what you say — and Congress is about to hand it to three companies.
You already know about the censorship.
You know about the accounts that disappeared. The videos that got taken down. The doctors who lost their platforms in 2021. The “shadowban” that everyone used to argue was a conspiracy theory until the Twitter Files showed the internal Slack messages. You know the shape of it because you lived through it, or you watched someone you trust live through it. You know it happened.
Six of the Americans it happened to sued the federal government over it. Their case, Finn v. Global Engagement Center, was dismissed in July 2026 on pleading defects — a procedural ruling — without ever reaching the merits. The judge did not decide whether the White House pressured Facebook to reduce their reach by sixty percent. The judge decided the complaint had too many defendants. So the evidence sits in the public docket, unruled on, and those plaintiffs built Restore the First to make sure it did not sit there in silence.
This statement is not about that fight. It is about the one that is already replacing it, in a way that will make the last fight look almost quaint.
The censorship that is coming will not look like censorship. It will not remove your post. It will not shadowban your account. It will not throw up a warning label on your video. It will do something quieter and much harder to catch: it will compose what you say, before you say it. And on September 3, 2026, Bernie Sanders and Greg Casar introduced a bill to license which companies are allowed to build the layer that will do it.
Open your browser. Type any question into the search bar. Google no longer returns ten blue links. It returns an “AI Overview” — a single confident paragraph, generated by Google’s model, that answers the question directly. Most people never scroll past it. The links are still there. Almost nobody looks at them.
Now imagine — because it is not imagination, it is what is being pilot-tested at every major tech company this year — the same layer inside your text messages, your therapy apps, your kid’s homework helper, your car’s voice assistant, your smart speaker, your video calls. Not autocomplete. Not search. Everywhere.
That layer is called AI mediation. It sits between you and every act of speech, every act of listening, every question you ask, every answer you receive. … continue
MEMO | September 19, 2026
A top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, has placed a hold on a $2.8 billion weapons sale to Israel, The Hill reported on Friday.
Shaheen has voiced frustration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not addressed concerns raised by Democratic lawmakers over civilian deaths in Gaza, Israeli strikes in Syria, and growing violence against Palestinians by extremist Israeli occupiers in the West Bank. … continue
Al Mayadeen – September 19, 2026
All indicators of support for “Israel” have turned negative in the United States, with declining sentiment extending beyond Democratic voters to the wider US electorate, CNN reported.
The network’s chief data analyst, Harry Enten, cited polling from Ipsos, Fox News, Marquette Law School and the Pew Research Center, saying the figures point to a 67-point shift in sentiment toward “Israel” compared with the first Trump administration, when it enjoyed strongly positive net favorability.
Enten said the issue has increasingly become a broader American concern rather than one confined to the political left, as public attitudes toward “Israel” have continued to deteriorate.
More recent polling released in September provides further indications of this shift.
Polls show declining favorability toward ‘Israel’
A Marquette Law School national poll conducted from September 2-9 found that 29% of US adults held a favorable view of “Israel,” while 59% viewed it unfavorably, resulting in a net favorability rating of -30. … Full article
The Cradle | September 19, 2026
Turkish police announced the completion of an operation to dismantle an Israel-linked fraud network that stole hundreds of millions of dollars from victims on three continents over two years, Middle East Eye reported on 18 September.
The network defrauded victims in Europe, East Asia, and Africa of some $266 million by selling them fraudulent investments. […]
Turkish officials said an Israeli national who also holds a Portuguese passport operated the fraud network.
Potential call center employees were given polygraph tests to ensure they had no links to law enforcement or security agencies.
“Speaking Hebrew inside the office is prohibited,” the Turkish official said.
Employees were forbidden from attempting to scam Israelis. “One of the strictest rules reportedly enforced within the network is that Israeli citizens must not be targeted.”
Multiple fraudulent companies based in Israel have run similar scams, according to past investigations by Reuters and the OCCRP, a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group.
In one case, OCCRP identified a network of call centers based in Israel, Eastern Europe, and Georgia whose employees scammed at least 32,000 people out of at least $275 million. … Full article
MEMO | September 19, 2026
The Israeli army has closed the last access route leading to Khirbet Ras al-Ahmar, a small Palestinian village southeast of Tubas in the northern West Bank, completely isolating 47 Palestinian families for a fifth consecutive day, Anadolu reports.
The closure came after “more than two months of shutting all dirt roads leading to the village,” Thaer Basharat, a resident, told Anadolu on Saturday.
Basharat said the siege had been tightening for about three years but reached a critical stage five days ago, when the Israeli army dug a trench across the last remaining route to the village, which was only passable by livestock and agricultural tractors.
He said the village has been turned into a “cage” surrounded by trenches, walls and military zones.
“The 47 families in the village rely on livestock farming and are now unable to bring in their basic necessities or sheep feed,” he added.
Basharat said about 360,000 dunams (360,000,000 square meters) had served as grazing land for farmers in the village, but 90% of it had either been seized or placed off-limits, leaving farmers facing difficult conditions.
“The Israeli pressure aims to forcibly displace the entire community from the village,” he said.
Press TV – September 19, 2026
At least four Palestinians, including a child and the son of Gaza’s Health Ministry director general, have been killed in Israeli attacks across the Gaza Strip, with several others reported wounded, according to Palestinian medical and civil defense sources.
Three people were killed in attacks on Saturday, while another Palestinian died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike the previous day, medical sources told Al Jazeera.
In Gaza City, an Israeli drone targeted a civilian vehicle in the Sheikh Radwan market area, killing one person and injuring at least four others, including two children, according to Gaza’s civil defense agency.
The strike set the vehicle on fire, and rescue teams struggled to put out the blaze. One body was taken to al-Shifa Medical Complex and was reportedly burned beyond recognition.
An Al Jazeera correspondent, reporting from Gaza City, said the vehicle was hit by at least one drone missile and remained engulfed in flames for about half an hour before emergency and civil defense crews arrived.
Earlier on Saturday, another drone strike in northern Gaza killed Basir al-Bursh, the eldest son of Munir al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Basir was targeted in the az-Zahra neighborhood west of the Jabalia refugee camp, where another person was also seriously wounded, according to the report. He was taken to hospital in critical condition after suffering major blood loss but was pronounced dead upon arrival. … Full article
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iran’s top security official says the country remains committed to its policy of non-weaponization of its nuclear program, adding that withdrawal from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) is possible in response to military and political threats from the United States and the Israeli regime.
Major General Mohsen Rezaei, who serves as the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), said in remarks published on Saturday that Iran is still committed to a religious decree by the late Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, that forbids nuclear weapons.
“We remain committed to the fatwa of the martyred Leader of the Revolution and have not changed our nuclear doctrine, but we do not know what will happen in the future,” Rezaei said in an interview with the Qatari-based news channel Al Jazeera.
The SNSC chief said, however, that what the US and the Israeli regime have done to Iran in the past months, including a military aggression earlier this year and the following campaign of economic and political pressures, allows the country to withdraw from the NPT.
“We have not yet made a decision in this regard, but this issue depends on US behavior,” said Rezaei. … Full article
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Yemeni armed forces have claimed responsibility for two separate missile and drone attacks on strategic installations deep inside Saudi Arabia in retaliation for Riyadh’s smear campaign and ongoing acts of aggression against the Arab Peninsula nation.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesperson for Yemen’s military, announced in a statement on Saturday that Yemeni army units had targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh, as well as Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Yanbu port city on the Red Sea coast.
He added that both operations, involving swarms of homegrown ballistic and cruise missiles as well as combat drones, were successful and caused massive blazes at the impact sites.
Saree noted that the attacks were in reprisal for Saudi Arabia’s unsubstantiated allegations of an attempted drone attack near the city of Mecca, and an unrelenting onslaught against the Yemeni nation.
The drone and missile operations were also in response to the Saudi enemy’s vile attempts to target the Yemeni capital Sana’a through tactics once employed by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. The tactics included indiscriminate shootings and bombings targeting civilians, he added. … continue
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Flames and a large plume of black smoke have been reported near King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, as the airport faced major flight delays and cancellations.
Images posted on social media platforms showed smoke rising from a fuel storage depot at the airport in the aftermath of the strikes. The cause and extent of the fire near the airport were not immediately known.
It comes hours after the General Directorate of Saudi Civil Defense issued its first air raid alert since the resumption of military aggression on neighboring Yemen in July.
Saudi authorities have not yet issued a statement on the incident.
Early Saturday, Saudi Civil Defense issued emergency warnings via the National Early Warning Platform to residents across Riyadh and the adjacent governorate of al-Kharj, alerting them to an immediate potential hazard.
The alert was directly broadcast to mobile devices using cellular network protocols, as multiple powerful explosions were heard in the Saudi capital.
Saudi Civil Defense officials instructed residents to remain calm, stay indoors, and shelter in interior rooms away from windows, balconies, or glass surfaces.
Members of the public were also urged to avoid open spaces, gatherings in public areas, or filming emergency operations.
According to Saudi media outlets, similar sirens also sounded in Yanbu port city on the Red Sea coast of western Saudi Arabia, al-Ula city northwest of the holy city of Medina, the cities of Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Abha in southwestern Saudi Arabia, as well as Jeddah and Taif. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | September 18, 2026
Saudi warplanes carried out 26 airstrikes with F15 aircraft over the past 24 hours, spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, announced on Friday.
Saree said the strikes “took off from Khamis Mushait Air Base and targeted Taiz province” south of the capital, Sanaa, noting that the total number of airstrikes carried out this week reached 300, using F15 and Typhoon aircraft that took off from Khamis Mushait and Taif bases and targeted the provinces of Taiz, Hajjah, Marib, Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Amran, Al-Hudaydah, and Saada.
The Yemeni Saba News Agency reported that “Saudi forces carried out artillery shelling targeting the border districts of Shada and Al-Dhaher west of Saada province in northern Yemen.” … Full article
By Jenny Williams | MEMO | September 19, 2026
… Ultimately, the unfolding crisis from Hormuz to Bab Al-Mandeb highlights the terminal structural decay of contemporary Western foreign policy. Short-sighted political calculations and unconditional alignment with aggressive, expansionist regional agendas drive a militarism that actively dismantles stability rather than securing it.
As long as Washington and Tel Aviv continue to prioritise kinetic dominance over diplomatic parity, justice and respect for regional sovereignty, they remain prisoners of their own making. They must now watch helplessly as the maritime arteries of global trade slip permanently from their imperial grasp. – Full article
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iran’s Judiciary has issued indictments against 159 senior US and Israeli political and military officials over the assassination of the martyred Leader, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and military commanders, Judiciary spokesman Ali Kazemi says.
Kazemi said on Saturday that 92 of the accused are US nationals and 67 are Israeli, adding that the indictments had been issued and the cases referred to court.
He said a separate civil case, filed collectively by people in Tehran and concerning material, moral and punitive damages, is being heard after the jurisdiction of Iran’s courts to consider the lawsuit was established. A hearing date will be set soon, he added.
Regarding the cases involving martyred commanders, Kazemi said cases have been opened and investigated concerning 19 commanders. Indictments were ultimately issued against 97 US and Israeli officials, including 74 Americans and 23 Israelis. … continue
The Cradle | September 19, 2026
The Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BDDK) revoked Iran’s Bank Mellat license, citing vague financial risks amid Washington’s economic sanctions campaign on Tehran, Turkiye’s Official Gazette reported on 18 September.
The regulator invoked Article 71(b) of Turkiye’s banking law, which allows a license to be revoked if a bank is deemed a threat to depositors or to the stability of the financial system, thereby ending the lender’s 44-year presence in the country. … continue
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says military intervention cannot create security and coercion cannot bring peace, calling for a fundamental shift from militarism and intervention toward sustainable development, respect for national sovereignty, and lasting peace.
Addressing the “Calling for a Global U-Turn: Recentering Development, Reclaiming Humanity, Restoring Justice in a Crazi(er) World” conference at the 2026 Global Town Hall hosted by the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia on Saturday, Araghchi said decades of foreign intervention, military pressure, and endless wars in West Asia have demonstrated that military intervention does not create security and coercion does not lead to peace.
The tragedy of Gaza and the ongoing crimes committed by the Israeli regime are among the clearest and most horrific manifestations of this failed pattern, Araghchi said.
He warned that a dangerous pattern has emerged in which military force is no longer being used as a last resort, but as a permanent mechanism for reshaping the political and security landscape of the region.
Under such circumstances, aggression becomes normalized, escalation becomes institutionalized, and destruction turns from a consequence of war into a tool for advancing political objectives, he said. … continue
Press TV – September 19, 2026
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has hit back at recent claims by his French counterpart Jean-Noël Barrot accusing Iran of human rights violations, criticizing Paris for its silence over the killing of Iranian schoolchildren by the United States.
Addressing Barrot in a post on X, Araghchi said, “1.5mn Algerians were slaughtered by France in their War of Independence. Less than 1/10 of them have been recorded by Paris, which refuses any apology for its colonial crimes.”
“Stop your crocodile tears @jnbarrot. Your silence when the US massacred our schoolkids said it all,” he added.
Arahgchi was referring to the February 28 air raid on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School in Minab in southern Iran, which was carried out on the first day of the US-Israeli military aggression against the Islamic Republic and is considered the war’s deadliest attack on civilians.
The assault killed 168 people, including 120 students and 26 teachers. More than 110 people were wounded.
Investigations indicate three precision-strike Tomahawk missiles hit the school. The school was struck three separate times.
On Thursday, a United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission concluded there are “reasonable grounds” to believe the US committed war crimes during its war of aggression on Iran, citing indiscriminate attacks that resulted in massive civilian casualties, including the devastating strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh School.
“This treaty is mostly for show, but in legal terms it’s much ado about nothing” because “the US already had free access to Greenland and the main responsibility for the defense of Greenland,” Swedish military and geopolitics analyst Mikael Valtersson told Sputnik, commenting on the new US-Denmark Greenland deal.
While the agreement grants the US permanent military access, basing and overflight rights, Valtersson pointed out that Washington already had these rights, and that it was the US itself that “voluntarily and drastically reduced its own military resources on Greenland” after the end of the Cold War.
Valtersson suspects the deal is “mainly a PR stunt for the US government ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.”
However, given fears in Denmark and Europe in general that the current administration’s “erratic foreign policy” might trigger an actual military conflict over Greenland, which “would have created a huge crisis in Transatlantic relations,” the agreement is likely to be a relief to the EU, and will let Copenhagen “stop worrying about a potential military confrontation with the US” over the dependency.
Issues & Insights | September 17, 2026
As of Sept. 16, there had been zero Atlantic hurricanes. Not since 1941 have we gone so far into hurricane season without one forming. Global warming, it seems, has failed to do its job as demanded by the climate zealots and grifters.
There has been at least one hurricane every year since the historical record began in 1851. There’s time for one or more storms to form this year, as there are still about two months left in the Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Nov. 30. It seems more likely, though, that we are living in the first year that there will be no hurricanes on record since researchers began documenting them in 1851. The Atlantic Accumulated Cyclone Energy index is running “about 85% below the 1991–2020 climatological normal for this point in the season,” says Pierre Gosselin of the No Tricks Zone, a site that offers a healthy dose of climate skepticism.
All the best people have been telling us for decades that man’s use of fossil fuels was going to increase hurricane frequency and intensity, much like the London-based Independent assured us in 2000 that in Great Britain “Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past.”
Of course this was nonsense. It still snows in Britain. Yet this didn’t stop a Bloomberg opinion crank from declaring in 2024 that snow was “becoming a thing of the past” because humans have been “warping the climate by burning fossil fuels.” We wonder how he’s handling the news in 2026 that the recent five-year mass gain in Antarctic ice sheet “was driven by a massive increase in snow and ice accumulation.” … Full article
By Anthony Watts | Watts Up With That? | September 14, 2026
In a recent USA Today story “Hottest summer ever? US breaks longstanding record,” the writer claims that the United States just experienced its hottest summer ever based on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) latest temperature analysis. That claim is misleading, based on an incomplete causal analysis. The best available evidence suggests that much of the reported “record” depends on adjusted temperature datasets and weather stations increasingly affected by urban development, while the nation’s highest-quality climate network tells a very different story.
USA Today accurately repeated NOAA’s announcement that the average temperature for June through August 2026 was the warmest in the 132-year record for the contiguous United States, edging out 1936 and 2021 by just 0.4°F.
That sounds straightforward enough, but unfortunately, it isn’t. … continue
Prominent Israel flunkies too dumb and lazy to produce their own genocide apologia
By Mouin Rabbani | September 19, 2026
When journalists are exposed for fabricating or plagiarizing their reports, responsible media typically remove the offending columns from their websites. They will often additionally attach a health warning to the rest of that journalist’s published work.
Numerous journalists have in fact, and quite properly, been fired for fabricating and/or plagiarizing their stories.
In recent weeks the historian Matthew Ghobrial Cockerill has published a series of remarkable exposés on Twitter demonstrating that a number of the most prolific, aggressive, shameless and invariably vulgar Israel flunkies and genocide apologists have consistently resorted to Artificial Intelligence (AI) to produce their third-rate propaganda.
In other words these fraudsters, including John Spencer, Andrew Fox and various fellow travelers, are so lazy and intellectually limited they don’t even possess the capacity to formulate and articulate their own lies. In some cases they have additionally and explicitly denied that that they use AI.
As Cockerill has thoroughly and convincingly demonstrated and documented, these clowns are not using AI to improve or edit or polish their original work, but rather to produce it from scratch. … continue
Britain’s child safety pitch arrives bundled with age checks, Ofcom fees, and a preferred class of news providers.
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | September 18, 2026
British officials were reportedly summoned to the US embassy in London earlier this week to be told that the US government was unhappy with three parts of the UK’s online censorship law, the Online Safety Act. […]
The three parts of the law that the US has taken issue with are: the fees that regulator Ofcom charges to fund its work, the ban on under-16s using social media, and the “trusted media” prominence plans. […]
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s comments around the “trusted media” plan were that it is “vital that we make sure that people have better access to trusted and accurate news and that our regulated public service media is seen and heard in the fierce battle against mis and disinformation.”
But this “fierce battle” is censorship, and the US reaction to it, as well as to the other two contentious points, is clearly not motivated by a desire to protect speech, but rather, to protect US companies. … Full article
By Freddie Ponton | 21st Century Wire | September 18, 2026
Investigate Europe and Reporters United uncovered a coordinated campaign against European universities seeking to cut ties with Israeli institutions. A letter sent to Brussels shows how future access to European research funding became a source of pressure.
In May 2024, Ghent University decided to end institutional collaborations with Israeli universities and research bodies that its human rights review identified as closely connected to the Israeli government or security services.
Both participated in WHEATWATCHER, an EU-funded agricultural research project coordinated by Ghent. When the Belgian university approached European officials about excluding them or leaving the consortium, the two Israeli institutions instructed Kesher, a Brussels law firm, to intervene on their behalf.
The response came in a 14-page letter sent to the European Research Executive Agency (REA) on November 12, 2024, in which Kesher accused Ghent of discrimination, restricting academic freedom, misusing ethical reviews and violating European financial and competition rules.
The firm asked the European Commission to remind Ghent of a rule allowing organisations responsible for serious failures in publicly funded commitments to be excluded from future EU award procedures. It also argued that the university should be prevented from applying the same policy when forming new research consortiums.
Kesher said its clients would pursue every available remedy “systematically.” If Ghent continued, they would file multiple complaints and begin whatever proceedings they considered necessary. The letter showed how the consequences could extend from the immediate costs of leaving one agricultural project to litigation and possible exclusion from future EU funding. … Full article
The Palestinian Information Center – September 18, 2026
NABLUS – An 18-year-old Palestinian woman was injured on Friday evening by live-fire shrapnel after Jewish settlers opened fire toward her as she stood outside her family’s home in the eastern part of Aqraba, south of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank.
Aqraba Mayor Salah Jaber said the settlers opened fire toward the young woman, injuring her. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, with no further details immediately available about the severity of her injuries. … Full article
IMEMC | September 18, 2026
On Friday, Israeli occupation forces killed a Palestinian in central Gaza and continued to violate the “ceasefire” agreement for the 344th consecutive day, carrying out attacks across the devastated coastal enclave.
Medical sources announced that Karam Mus’ad al-Masar’a died on Friday morning from wounds sustained when Israeli soldiers shot him on Julis Street in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
A medical source said two Palestinians were injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire near Nasser Medical Complex, west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, raising the number of Palestinians injured in the area since Thursday afternoon to five.
Israeli military vehicles opened heavy fire northeast and south of Khan Younis, while Israeli helicopter gunships fired east and south of the city. Israeli naval vessels also opened fire offshore along the Khan Younis coast.
Israeli helicopter gunships opened fire toward Rafah in southern Gaza, while artillery shelled an area northeast of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.
East of Gaza City, Israeli helicopters opened fire, while occupation forces detonated several Palestinian homes in the Shuja’iyya neighborhood. … Full article
The Palestinian Information Center – September 18, 2026
GAZA – The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies said Israeli authorities continue to hold dozens of prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were detained before October 7, 2023, despite some having completed their sentences years ago.
According to the Center, more than 43 Gaza prisoners remain in Israeli prisons after completing their sentences, representing about 55% of the 80 Gaza prisoners who were already detained before the war. […]
According to the Center, Gaza prisoners, both those detained before the war and those arrested since October 2023, are being held under harsh conditions and denied basic rights while facing various forms of physical and psychological abuse.
The Center reported that prisoners have been restrained from behind with plastic ties for prolonged periods, forced to lie on the ground for hours, attacked with police dogs and subjected to other forms of physical abuse. It also said that Israeli forces have directly used tear gas and rubber-coated bullets against detainees.
The Center further accused Israeli authorities of deliberately starving Gaza prisoners by providing inadequate quantities of poor-quality food that, in some cases, was unfit for consumption. It said some prisoners have suffered severe physical deterioration and lost as much as half their body weight. … Full article
GCC internet will go dark if Trump renews hostilities
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | September 18, 2026
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait—are heavily invested in AI as part of a strategy to diversify away from petroleum. National AI strategies across GCC countries emphasize investment in research and development, encourage public-private partnerships, and create regulatory frameworks that support innovation. The GCC AI market size increased from USD $6.22 billion in 2025 to USD $7.60 billion in 2026. It is projected to reach USD $23.03 billion by 2034.
In April, Iran’s Tasnim news agency mentioned the submarine cables, landing stations, and data hubs in the Gulf as strategic pressure points in the conflict initiated by the United States and Israel. According to the market research company IMARC Group, subsea internet data cables in the Gulf sit at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and damage to these networks risks connectivity losses in one of the world’s most important internet traffic zones.
The economic importance of these cable systems extends far outside internet browsing or streaming services, notes Techstory, “because financial markets, payment systems and cloud computing firms depend on uninterrupted connections between continents every second of the day. Data centers in the Gulf and Asia also depend on those same cables to connect cloud systems serving businesses around the world.” Analysts estimate that networks linked to the GCC support roughly $10 trillion worth of financial transactions daily.
Iran claims the cables are within its territorial waters and fall under its jurisdiction. Tasnim and Fars suggest Iran may charge tech companies to use the internet cables, while Ebrahim Zolfaghari, a Brigadier General and the spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said that “companies like Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon” will be required to “comply with Iranian law” and pay licensing fees for cable passage, with repair and maintenance rights given exclusively to Iranian firms. … continue
Al Mayadeen – September 17, 2026
JPMorgan has abandoned its baseline forecast for how and when the Iran war could end, saying economic conditions once expected to pressure US President Donald Trump toward de-escalation have failed to produce a clear exit strategy.
“For the first time since the start of the Iran conflict, we don’t have a baseline view,” Natasha Kaneva, head of global commodities strategy at JPMorgan, said in a Thursday note, per CNBC. “We simply don’t know how to model the endgame.”
Kaneva said JPMorgan initially expected several economic red lines to push Trump toward an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in June. Those thresholds included oil prices above $100 a barrel, gasoline approaching $5 per gallon, and the 10-year US Treasury yield exceeding 5%.
“Six months later, many of those lines have been crossed, yet the exit strategy is less clear, not more,” she said. … Full article
RT | September 18, 2026
Bangladesh’s export factories are cutting production and Pakistan has rolled out fuel subsidies as disruptions to Gulf energy supplies drive shortages and higher costs across South Asia.
The pressure follows disruptions to oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz after the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis has also threatened trade through the Red Sea, another key route for Gulf energy supplies.
Bangladesh has been particularly exposed. The country relies heavily on imported LNG for electricity, and disruptions to supplies from Qatar have forced Dhaka to seek more expensive cargoes on the spot market. The gas and power shortages have triggered blackouts and factory shutdowns.
Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have climbed close to $30 per million British thermal units from around $10 before the conflict.
The pressure is now hitting Bangladesh’s garment industry, its biggest export sector. A survey by the Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association found that 55% of factories have seen buyers cancel or reduce orders because of gas and power shortages since late August, while 78% partially halted production.
Production delays are also raising costs. One garment producer spent $50,000 to air-freight jackets to a French buyer after delays, Reuters reported. Factories have turned to diesel to keep operations running, and industrial growth and production are slowing, Power Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud said this week. … Full article
MEMO | September 18, 2026
Italy will deploy naval forces to help ensure the safe passage of Italian vessels through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said on Thursday, amid heightened security concerns linked to renewed fighting in Yemen.
Speaking at a maritime forum, Crosetto said escalating clashes along Yemen’s western coast were disrupting navigation through Bab al-Mandab, a strategically important waterway connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The defence minister said the renewed security concerns in Bab al-Mandab were adding to disruptions affecting the Strait of Hormuz and increasing the economic impact of wider regional tensions.
Crosetto said that, in coordination with Italy’s Chief of the Defence Staff, he had decided to mobilize the Italian Navy and take measures aimed at protecting Italian vessels transiting the strait. … Full article
MEMO | September 18, 2026
An Italian aircraft was hit during attacks on an air base in Saudi Arabia, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Friday, Anadolu reports.
Crosetto said Saudi Arabia’s Ta’if air base, where Italian personnel are present as part of the anti-ISIS (Daesh) Operation Inherent Resolve, “was the target of several attacks,” according to Italy’s ANSA news agency.
“During the attack, an Italian F-2000 aircraft was hit. It was inside the base, in a remote area. … Full article
The Cradle | September 18, 2026
Israel is expected to seek “compensation” from the US in the form of weapons systems that Washington has so far declined to sell to Tel Aviv, in response to US plans to sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a $25 billion deal, Walla reported on 18 September.
A source familiar with the matter told the Hebrew news outlet that the Israeli military would prefer that no other country in West Asia receive the F-35 to preserve Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) in the region.
The deal marks the first time an Arab state gains access to the F-35, the US military’s most advanced warplane. … continue
Al Mayadeen – September 17, 2026
Saudi warplanes carried out 37 airstrikes across Yemen within 24 hours, killing and wounding several civilians, Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced.
According to Saree, Saudi F-15 fighter jets took off from the Khamis Mushait Air Base before striking several locations in the governorates of Taiz and Hajjah.
Sanaa-based Saba News Agency reported that two of the strikes hit the al-Barh Bridge in the Maqbana district, west of Taiz Governorate.
Two other airstrikes targeted the city of Abs in Hajjah, damaging four vehicles.
Saudi strikes target telecommunications infrastructure
The Saudi attacks also hit three telecommunications towers across Taiz Governorate. The targeted facilities were located in the al-Dhikra and al-Hawban areas of al-Taiziyah district and the al-Rahida area of Khadir district. … Full article
Press TV – September 18, 2026
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has called for temporary ceasefire and dialogue with Yemen’s Ansaraullah resistance movement, amid crippling Yemeni blockade and painful strikes on the kingdom, a report says.
Lebanon’s al-Akhbar news website, citing informed sources, reported that Riyadh has asked Oman to convey to Ansarullah its proposal for a two-week ceasefire and direct talks with the movement’s leadership with the aim of “addressing humanitarian demands” and ultimately “reaching a comprehensive agreement by the end of the truce.”
According to the report, the kingdom expressed its willingness to lift the siege on Yemen and allow the entry of aid into the country.
However, the report said, Ansarullah seeks “a final and comprehensive solution to the conflict, on the basis that there is a Yemeni-Saudi battle that has nothing to do with internal Yemeni affairs.”
The sources stressed that the resistance movement’s demands include an end to the blockade in all its forms: aerial, ground and naval, as well as Saudi Arabia’s military, security and political withdrawal from Yemen, and Saudi compensation for damage caused by the kingdom’s strikes. … continue
The Cradle | September 18, 2026
Syria has rejected a formal Saudi request to organize and deploy Syrian fighters to Yemen, according to Syrian sources speaking with Turkiye Today.
Riyadh reportedly spent months seeking military personnel to meet its needs in Yemen, but Damascus declined the request, citing a focus on reorganizing its own military.
“This issue has been exhausted and is over. The Saudi request was made several months ago. Syria politely turned it down, saying it was focused on its own military organization process and did not intend to enter a conflict as a third party,” one of the sources said. … continue
Press TV – September 18, 2026
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has declared that his country will not deploy troops or military assets to join the US-led military adventurism against Iran, defying calls from Washington to support the illegal war.
“There won’t be deployment that would involve or enter war. I can tell you that very clearly,” Lee said during a news conference on Friday. “We won’t deploy military assets in any form to that end.”
He also emphasized that Seoul has maintained the principle of not becoming directly involved in combat and will continue to do so. … continue
RT | September 18, 2026
Vladimir Zelensky is “scum” and a “suicide method chosen by the Ukrainian nation,” according to his former press secretary, Yulia Mendel, who was just blocked from speaking at the European Parliament.
Mendel worked for Zelensky during the early years of his tenure and resigned in 2021, citing personal reasons. In one of her latest critical interviews, she said her conscience compelled her to go public with the accusations she has made against her former boss in recent months.
“I ask God every day for forgiveness because I helped this scum to come to power and stay there,” she told Ukrainian blogger Lilia Bagirova on Thursday. “If I remained silent I would not have forgiven myself.”
Mendel also said that after watching Zelensky pursue policies she considers disastrous amid Ukraine’s conflict with Russia – including forced mobilization, while corruption continued to plague the country – she no longer regarded him as a human being. … Full article
RT | September 18, 2026
Russia has demanded that Japan remove US mid-range Typhon missile systems from its territory, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, describing the deployment as unacceptable and a threat to national security and regional stability.
In a statement published by the Foreign Ministry on Friday, Zakharova said Moscow sent Tokyo a formal protest note on September 3 after the US deployed the launchers to the southwestern island of Kyushu, 1,300 km from the city of Vladivostok.
“The Japanese side was told to stop this practice and remove the above-mentioned systems from its territory,” she said, adding that Moscow opposes these deployments regardless of the duration.
The US Army brought Typhon systems to Japan’s Kanoya Air Base in Kagoshima Prefecture in June for the Valiant Shield exercise and kept them there for another drill being held this month. The launchers are slated to leave Kanoya in mid-October but are expected to be stored at US military facilities elsewhere in Japan. No live firing is planned during the deployment.
The Typhon is capable of launching SM-6 missiles, as well as Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, which have a range of around 1,600 km. The US developed the Typhon after withdrawing from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, which prohibited US and Soviet ground-launched and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km.
Zakharova noted that China recently delivered a similar protest to Japan over its “remilitarization.” … Full article
Al Mayadeen | September 18, 2026
Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned UK Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow Danae Dholakia on Friday, lodging a formal protest over London’s growing supply of drones and other weapons to Kiev.
The ministry said in a statement that by continuing to arm Ukraine with long-range weapons, the UK is placing itself in the position of “accomplice to Kiev’s atrocities.” Dholakia was presented with a list of international obligations Russian officials say London is violating through its military backing of Ukraine.
Moscow said it reserves the right to take retaliatory measures under its right to self-defense, warning that the UK “bears full responsibility for any further unfavorable development of the situation.” The ministry said the UK side “has been required to abandon its escalatory course and bring its actions in line with its relevant international obligations.”
The ministry added that UK military facilities inside Ukraine used to carry out strikes on Russian territory “are a legitimate target for the Russian armed forces.” The ministry stressed that British actions in Ukraine “clearly aim at prolonging and escalating the armed conflict.” … continue
Sputnik – 18.09.2026
Russia’s overnight attack on the De Novo data center in Kiev “will significantly affect operations, particularly in the realm of intelligence data processing,” military expert Yan Gagin told Sputnik.
“Intelligence agencies relied on this center to process info gathered through their agent networks. It was utilized to facilitate strikes against our facilities, including deep within our rear areas,” with “every target logged into a specific system and database, processed and assigned a strike priority.”
This digital kill chain network “will now face certain operational difficulties,” Gagin believes.
“While they have redundancy measures involving other data centers, including in Europe, the fact that this specific facility has been partially disabled will have a serious impact on operations, particularly in the realms of data processing and potentially, target designation.”
Crucially, this includes targeting data received by Ukraine from its “NATO partners,” the observer emphasized. … continue
RT | September 18, 2026
Europe is moving dangerously close to a direct clash between NATO and Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has warned, accusing the West of seeking a “pretext” for a major conflict between the two sides.
Fico made the comment in a Facebook post on Thursday, which accompanied the remarks he delivered before traveling to Ukraine for a meeting with Vladimir Zelensky and several European leaders.
“I am deeply concerned that they are merely looking for a pretext for a major conflict between NATO and Russia,” he wrote.
Reflecting on the Ukraine conflict, Fico said that the hostilities had “gotten out of control,” while accusing European nations of engaging in increasingly bellicose rhetoric which he said risked dragging the continent into a broader war. “The situation has never been as serious and tense regarding the possibility of a pan-European war conflict as it is now,” he said. … continue
Press TV – September 17, 2026
An Israeli occupation court has extended the detention of Press TV correspondent Naqaa Hamed until September 23, 2026, continuing the regime’s systematic campaign to silence independent journalism in the occupied West Bank.
Hamed, 38, was abducted on September 14 by occupation forces at a checkpoint near Tuqu’ in Bethlehem.
Separated from her camera crew, she was transferred to an undisclosed facility and subjected to harsh interrogation regarding her journalistic work. She remains in custody without formal charges.
A Palestinian-American citizen and mother of three, Hamed has over 15 years of experience covering political and humanitarian crises. … Full article
MEMO | September 17, 2026
Israeli authorities on Thursday reduced the number of patients and wounded Palestinians allowed to leave the Gaza Strip for medical treatment in Egypt from 136 to 61 patients and companions, Gaza’s Health Ministry said, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the ministry said “a group of 136 patients and their companions had received official approval to travel before Israeli authorities reduced the number to 72 patients and companions and sent the remaining cases back.”
Despite the ministry’s objection to the measure and the start of transporting patients, the Israeli side requested that an additional 11 patients and companions be returned, bringing the final number allowed to leave to 61.
The ministry stressed that the patients and wounded Palestinians included in the group require “urgent specialized medical care” in Egypt. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | September 17, 2026
Five bodies and 28 injured people arrived at hospitals across the enclave over the past 24 hours as a result of ongoing Israeli aggression, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip announced on Wednesday.
The ministry said three of the dead were newly killed, while two died of their wounds. Since the announcement of a ceasefire on October 11, 2025, the ministry said the toll has reached 1,386 dead and 4,784 injured, in addition to the recovery of 831 bodies from under the rubble.
The cumulative toll since the start of the strikes on October 7, 2023 has risen to 73,821 dead and 174,897 injured, according to the ministry.
The collapse of a building in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday killed 21 people and injured more than 14 others so far, with a number of people still missing, raising the total number of deaths from building collapses to 61, the ministry said. … Full article
Sputnik – 17.09.2026
The Christian population in Jerusalem and Palestine is on the verge of extinction, as the government continues to push a racist and extremist approach towards the religious minority, Jerusalem activist Osama Barham told Sputnik.
“A war to deprive Christians of their livelihoods is being waged against them: there was an attempt to impose taxes on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, sparking protests in Resurrection Square that were Islamic-Christian in the fullest sense,” Barham added.
He stressed that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “blesses attacks on churches,” saying that when settlers spit at monasteries and churches, the government and the far right “bless it and say that it is one of the rituals of the Jewish religion.”
Barham emphasized that “no one in the Israeli government condemned the recent attack on a Christian woman wearing religious attire, while the assailant was released a few days later on the grounds of mental illness.”
He compared the incident to the 1969 arson attack on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the numerous killings in which the perpetrator is always declared “mentally unstable.”
MEMO | September 17, 2026
Laws that bind other nations do not apply to Israel, says Likud lawmaker Hanoch Milwidsky, claiming that the Jewish people’s divine calling exempts them from constraints imposed on others.
“We are not like everyone else, and that is why all the laws that apply to everyone else do not apply to us,” said Milwidsky.
His comments advocating Jewish supremacy were captured on video and have been shared on social media.
Milwidsky presents Jewish supremacy as a justification for exemption from laws that bind other nations, claiming that the Jewish people’s God-given status places them above rules binding others. He urges allegiance to religious authority while dismissing the views of international diplomats and leaders.
“The Jewish people are born a high people”, Milwidsjy went on to say. “Because they have a duty to create here a land of miracles and virtue.” … continue
Al Mayadeen | September 17, 2026
Saudi Arabia’s decade-long strategy of using military force, financial resources, and sustained pressure to contain the Yemeni Armed Forces or force them into a settlement on Riyadh’s terms is facing its most serious test since the kingdom meddled in Yemen in 2015, according to an analysis by Middle East and Africa writer Elfadil Ibrahim published by Responsible Statecraft.
After taking control of strategically important areas along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast, the Yemeni Armed Forces are advancing toward Marib, the last major stronghold of the Saudi-backed government forces and the location of some of the country’s key oil and gas infrastructure.
For the Saudi-backed government, the loss of the Red Sea coast was a major setback, but the fall of Marib would be far more consequential. It would deprive it of its last significant population and revenue center in northern Yemen while cutting off its remaining foothold close to the capital, as per the analysis.
In Ibrahim’s view, control of Marib would also give the YAF a route toward Shabwa and Hadhramawt, two energy-producing provinces in eastern Yemen. A share of the oil and gas wealth generated in those areas is among the YAF’s core demands, he added. […]
Yemen’s YAF sets terms as Saudi Arabia’s strategy falters
If military pressure … failed to weaken the YAF, negotiations appear to be the only viable short-term alternative, as per the analysis.
The movement has already publicly outlined its demands. In March, Ansar Allah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi put the compensation sought for oil-sector losses attributed to the Saudi-led aggression at more than $57 billion.
The demand comes in addition to calls to lift the brutal Saudi blockade on its airports and seaports and to secure a share of Yemen’s oil and gas revenues, the same resources the YAF are now positioning themselves to take control of militarily, as per the analysis.
For Riyadh, the path forward remains fraught with difficult choices. Even an agreement reached at such a high financial cost and under such challenging conditions would not erase the leverage the YAF have built, the analysis noted. – Full article
Press TV – September 17, 2026
Saudi Arabia is reportedly facing depleted reserves of missile interceptor systems and has appealed to regional partners and Western allies for assistance as Yemeni Armed Forces continue retaliatory missile and drone operations against strategic sites deep inside the kingdom.
The Associated Press, citing two regional officials speaking on condition of anonymity, reported on Wednesday that Saudi authorities have appealed to France, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, and Egypt to establish air-defense reinforcements in the region to bolster protection against missile and drone operations conducted by Yemeni Armed Forces.
The Yemeni operations are being carried out in retaliation for ongoing airstrikes and the blockade against their Arab Peninsula nation.
The outreach effort commenced due to the fact that Saudi Arabia’s principal ally and primary arms supplier, the United States, has faced a significant reduction in its interceptor inventory over the course of a six-month war of aggression on Iran, according to one official. … continue
Sputnik – 17.09.2026
The Saudi East-West oil pipeline, a critical bypass route for the kingdom’s oil exports around instability in the Strait of Hormuz, was closed last week after Houthi attacks and may remain shut for up to six weeks.
Pakistan has warned that any attack on an empty oil tanker under the Pakistani flag anchored in the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia will be regarded as an “act of war,” as Islamabad weighs its options amid rapidly shrinking diesel reserves. … continue
Press TV – September 17, 2026
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force has downed the 53rd US MQ-9 drone since the beginning of the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, the latest in a series of American unmanned aircraft destroyed by the country’s armed forces during the war.
The IRGC Aerospace Force intercepted and destroyed the unmanned aircraft at 10:12 a.m. local time on Thursday over Qeshm Island, using a new advanced air-defense system under the control of Iran’s integrated air-defense network.
The MQ-9 is the 53rd US drone to have been destroyed by Iranian forces. The total number of enemy drones destroyed by Iran’s armed forces since the beginning of the war has reached several hundred, according to the IRGC.
The latest downing comes two days after the IRGC announced the interception and destruction of three US MQ-1 Predator drones in a single day over the Strait of Hormuz. … Full article
Press TV – September 17, 2026
Russia and China have vetoed a US-drafted resolution during a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting, preventing an attempt to extend the mandate of the council’s Panel of Experts on Iran.
The meeting was held on Thursday under the agenda item of “non-proliferation” concerning the activities of the 1737 Sanctions Committee, after France used its September presidency of the UNSC to convene the session.
“The Security Council concluded its consideration of the Iranian nuclear issue, and the item non-proliferation was removed from the list of matters of which the council is seized,” the Russian delegation told the chamber, asserting that Resolution 2231 expired Oct. 18, 2025, leaving no procedural or legal foundation for the meeting. … Full article
BEIJING – China’s cooperation with other countries should not be subject to interference by third parties, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Thursday, commenting on the US bill on sanctions against Russia.
“China has always pursued normal trade and economic cooperation with countries around the world on the basis of equality and mutual benefit,” Guo Jiakun told reporters, adding that “this cooperation is not directed against third parties and does not tolerate interference or coercion by third parties.”
Earlier in the day, the US House of Representatives secured the required number of votes to approve the Senate version of the bill spearheaded by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia) on imposing new sanctions against Russia. The final document will be sent to President Donald Trump for signature.
A new independent investigation found that Kiev presented Ukrainian troops as civilian victims of the staged incident
RT | September 17, 2026
Britain orchestrated the ‘Bucha massacre’ narrative to prolong the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said, citing a new investigation into the alleged victims.
Zakharova said new evidence proves that Bucha was a “brazen falsification” commissioned by Kiev’s foreign sponsors and amplified by the Western media to eliminate any chance of a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. … continue
Sputnik – 17.09.2026
Strikes targeting the De Novo data center in Kiev on Thursday will create “an information vacuum and eliminate databases used to target our facilities – including those deep inside Russian territory,” military expert Col. (ret.) Anatoliy Matviychuk told Sputnik.
Besides being used to store “vast amounts of intelligence data to support the operations of Ukraine’s military” and drawn upon by Palantir, the massive data center served several other functions, including waging “information-psychological warfare on the Russian population” using local platforms.
With the facility destroyed or significantly damaged, “the whole process” of compiling intel “has to start from scratch…This represents a massive puncture in the [kill chain’s] logistics and information support for strikes against Russian territory and Russian troops,” Matviychuk emphasized. … Full article
Even vital child surgeons are not immune to anti-AfD purge campaigns
Remix News | September 17, 2026
A publicly owned hospital in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has fired a pediatric surgeon without notice after she ran unsuccessfully for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in a neighboring state’s local elections.
Dr. Svetlana Spirina, a senior physician in pediatric surgery at Klinikum Lippe in Detmold, appeared on the AfD ticket for Osnabrück’s city council in Lower Saxony’s Sept. 13 vote. While she did not win a seat, the hospital, owned solely by the Lippe district, then dismissed her immediately, the clinic confirmed.
Detmold and Osnabrück are about 85 kilometers (53 miles) apart.
Hospital spokeswoman Mandy Lange declined to discuss the case, according to local German news outlet NOZ. […]
Across Germany, AfD members and politicians have been targeted with professional consequences, including open threats. Many experts believe this harassment campaign is designed not only to strike fear but also to limit the pool of quality candidates the AfD can recruit as politicians. – Full article
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net |September 16, 2026
German Chancellor and CDU leader Friedrich Merz is once again advocating for an end to online anonymity.
Merz spoke at the Chancellery in Berlin on Tuesday, where he received the winners of the 61st federal “Jugend forscht” youth research competition, and took their questions. The event was streamed live by the government.
One of the participants asked Merz about introducing a real-name requirement on the internet, and how it could be reconciled with the work of informants, investigative journalism, and the need to sometimes be able to communicate anonymously.
Merz’s answer did not address the question of journalism at all. Instead, he spoke about the difficulties in establishing who is behind an online message, and who to hold responsible, as well as the proliferation of messages generated by bots.
“Please, nobody come to me with free speech. This has nothing more to do with free speech,” Merz said. Free speech, he continued, is “at best” a libertarian understanding of politics out of parts of the US, “that I personally do not share.”
A liberal society, he went on, must be able to protect its citizens “from false information, from personal denigration, from discrimination.” […]
… while Merz spoke about the need to protect “our democracy” from false information, he did not say who decides what is false. But he has personally filed hundreds of criminal complaints over the years, while his party and others refer thousands of social media posts to the prosecutors each year. And the police carry out hundreds of raids over insults and alleged hate speech.
In other words, the machinery is in place, and all that is needed is to make it easy to identify who is to be targeted. – Full article
RT | September 17, 2026
French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez is under fire over allegations that he helped fuel a false drug story about MEP and prominent pro-Palestine activist Rima Hassan while she was in custody over a social media post.
Hassan’s left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI), or France Unbowed party, has demanded that Nunez resign after a France 2 investigation released Wednesday alleged he leaked a false story to reporters about drugs purportedly found in Hassan’s belongings by police.
The drug was later identified as legal CBD (cannabidiol) and the probe was dropped, prompting LFI to accuse Nunez of media “manipulation” and fueling a false story.
What exactly happened?
The case dates back to April, when Hassan was summoned to Paris police headquarters over a since-deleted social media post quoting Kozo Okamoto. Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army, was convicted over the 1972 Lod Airport attack in Tel Aviv, carried out on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which killed 26 people.
The French-Palestinian MEP and prominent pro-Palestinian activist was placed in custody on suspicion of online “apology for terrorism,” an offense punishable by up to seven years in prison. […]
In 2014, France moved the offense of “apology for terrorism” (apologie du terrorisme) from its press law into the Penal Code, giving prosecutors greater scope to pursue individuals accused of defending or praising terrorist acts. Under this legal framework, French authorities have pursued a range of high-profile figures over controversial speech, including right-wing commentator Eric Zemmour, prominent Islamologist Francois Burgat, and pro-Palestinian activist Mahdieh Esfandiari.
LFI argues those powers are being disproportionately used against opposition politicians and pro-Palestinian activists. Its National Assembly leader, Mathilde Panot, said in April that under Macron, “the criminalization of political opponents has reached a new level.”
Hassan’s trial for alleged “apology for terrorism,” initially scheduled for July, was postponed at her defense’s request and is now due in October. … Full article
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- Pakistan threatens Yemeni strikes on KSA ‘could trigger’ Mecca defense pact
- Prize catch beneath the waves: What Iran actually gained from the capture of US submarine drone
- Iran attacks US-linked bases in Jordan, hits fighter jets hangars
- Qatar Warns of ‘Industrial Catastrophe’ If Strait of Hormuz Remains Closed
- French activist sues Ben-Gvir for abuse, torture
- Israeli universities expel 100 Palestinian students over Gaza war criticism
- Israeli Army Closes Tulkarem Zakat Committee Headquarters
- “Israel” imposes curfew, raids Anata and Shuafat camp
- Israeli Army Kills Palestinian During Home Siege Near Nablus
- Palestinians killed as Israel continues Gaza ceasefire violations
- Blaming the Victim in the Gaza Genocide
- Yemeni drones reportedly struck Saudi oil, military sites
- IRGC warns tanker crews near Kuwait, Bahrain after US attack on Kharg
- IRGC Navy seizes cutting-edge US unmanned submersible in Strait of Hormuz
- Lavrov: Russia, China keep no technological secrets from each other
- It’s OK to fight for a foreign army (as long as they’re our friends)
- Massie And Burlison Introduce Bill To Defund Flock Surveillance Cameras
- US Warns UK Against Forcing Platforms to Promote Preferred News
- UK Police Arrested 62,199 People Over Online Speech In Five Years
- Revealed: the insiders who filibustered the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion at the Green Party conference
- Mark Levin Trashes the Constitution to Protect Violent West Bank Settlers
- US ambassador threatens Britain with economic retaliation over Israeli settlement trade ban
- Buck-Dancing for Zion: Hakeem Jeffries
- Germany: After AfD victory, top CDU politician calls for first steps towards AfD ban
- Ukrainian Scam Machine Rakes in $1 Billion per Month Robbing European Citizens — Report
- US, South Korea and Japan Begin Joint War Games
- ‘Israel’ kills 5, including children, in attacks on Gaza
- Settlers kill Palestinian man near Qalqilya, wound two others
- Israeli army throws stun grenade at worshippers inside West Bank mosque
- Israeli attack on Kfar Roumman leaves nine martyrs: Medics, children
- Why Trump’s reckless ‘tanker for tanker’ gambit against Iran is also doomed to strategic failure
- Yemeni forces carry out strikes on Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Jizan, report says
- ‘Utterly preposterous’: US trying to bill world for war it started, Iran FM spokesman says
- ECB set to hike rates as war on Iran drives up energy costs
- Israel’s Rafael to produce missile parts at Volkswagen factory in Germany
- After historic German election, will the AfD rule Saxony-Anhalt?
- ‘Russophobia a national sport’ – Polish party rallies against push to war
- US Placing Missiles in Europe to Cancel Strategic Stability Talks Prerequisites – Russian MFA
- Macron behind failed military mutiny – Niger
- Analysts warn of ‘colonization’ as US ‘saturates’ Australia with 110 bases
- Babies Whose Mothers Drank Fluoridated Water During Pregnancy Scored Lower in Problem-Solving
- Vaccination Data on Amish Children Screened for 2010 Autism Study Was Never Made Public
- CNAS Wonk Proposes Bombing China’s Artificial Intelligence
- Israeli airstrike kills two civilians, including child, in Gaza
- Eight Arab and Muslim states reject Israeli displacement plans for Gaza
- Israel’s Game
- Israel levels south Lebanon hospital, kills at least four within hours
- Israel to hold large-scale military drill near Jordan border
- “We Are Being Drawn Into a War We Don’t Want to Fight”: What Jordan’s Alliance with Washington Is Costing It
- On deadly sectarianism pushed on Syria and elsewhere by NGOs and media
- Is America preparing a tactical nuke for Iran?
- Trump Slaughters Wedding Guests, Zelenskyy Threatens Airliners
- Climate Extremists Target, Attack Large-Scale Power Grid Infrastructure In Germany
- IRGC: Missiles struck US carrier, destroyer in Gulf
- IRGC Navy strikes 3 tankers, 3 US vessels in response to US assault
- US approves $5 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia as it renews aggression against Iran
- Anti-War Activists Are Getting ‘Debanked’ In The UK
- NEW: Vaccinated People Spread Measles. The CDC, the WHO, and Johns Hopkins Just Said So on the Record.
- RFK Jr. Referred to DOJ Over Samoa Controversy
- New Adviser to RFK Jr. Investigating 2,500 COVID Vaccine Deaths in Military
- Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s sewage system triggers algal bloom, shutting down Israeli desalination plants
- German sponsorship of Zionist settlements exposed
- How Britain built a war network around Russia
- The dangerous European illusion about a war with Russia
- JD Vance Falsely Claims the US Does Not Murder Civilians
- 6-Week-Old Amish Infant With Fatal Genetic Condition Died From Measles, Coroner Confirms
- The Tamiflu scam
- U.S. Supreme Court Rejects New York Healthcare Workers’ Bid to Revive COVID Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit
- The Fall of Brazil’s Tyrannical Judge May Be Imminent: Moraes and His Sleaze Are Exposed
- ‘War criminal promotion tactics’: Adidas faces boycott calls over campaign featuring Israeli trooper
- Solidarity spreads across Brazil after US terrorism designation of Rawa Alsagheer
- Reporters Without Borders calls for EU to close loopholes allowing Europeans access to censored Russian media
- Husband of slain Turkish American activist criticizes lack of US investigation
- Racist Israeli minister unveils 7-year Gaza ethnic cleansing plan
- Two Palestinians killed, others injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza
- Trump refuses to rule out CIA-led armed riots in Iran as US war fails to deliver
- US sanctions Turkish bank over alleged IRGC transfers
- Reuters analysis confirms US munition directly hit wedding party in Sirik: Probe exposes American war crime
- Our bombs kill civilians from Palestine to Iran, US lawmaker says
- Ex-Pentagon official: US ‘intentionally targeting Iranian civilians’
- Sanctioning a Ghost: Europe’s Empty Gesture Against Iran
- Ukrainians in Indian jail involved in drone attack on Myanmar passenger plane – report
- West not safe from Ukrainian terror – Moscow
- Kiev demands global flight ban over Russia
- US House passes bill to punish universities over Israel boycotts
- Freedom Flotilla announces new mission to Gaza in October
- Israeli forces raid West Bank, Jerusalem as settlers cut water supply to Tubas community
- 66 Palestinian villages forcibly expelled by Israel from West Bank since October 2023: Rights group
- Abducted Gaza doctor’s testimony exposes appalling abuse in Israeli prisons
- ‘Israel’ abuses Gaza detainees, threatens them with execution in Ganot
- Israeli army kills 3 Palestinians, wounds others in Gaza Strip despite ceasefire
- Israel’s plan for forced transfer with international complicity remains on the table
- A proposal seeks to exploit Americans’ debt to force them into wars against Israel’s enemies
- Iran vows ‘heavy response’ to any Israeli escalation against south Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher: Report
- IRGC exposes US pattern of wedding assaults, says ‘lies’ won’t suffice
- Trump congratulates Hegseth on ‘good job’ after deadly Iran wedding strike
- Nearly half of US citizens say Washington’s post-9/11 wars ‘worth the cost’
- US troops will be targeted if they stay past September 30 deadline: Iraqi resistance group
- Europe enters winter with ‘dangerously low’ gas reserves amid Persian Gulf supply shock: Report
- Another European country transfers gold out of US
- ‘False narrative’ on China flood censorship coming from Washington – Nori Vitachi
- Norway seizes Russian Arctic science vessel at Kiev’s request
- NATO Frantically Seeks Excuses to Prolong Its ‘Artificial Existence’ — Lavrov
- The Bishkek Declaration: What the SCO Signed, and Why India’s Name on It Matters
- West trying to draw India into ‘games’ against China – Lavrov
- US Navy stretched thin in West Asia as supply routes collapse: NYT
- Hezbollah denies ties to alleged Syria-Lebanon ‘destabilization cell’
- Two Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire in Ramallah village
- Blair directed PA to eliminate mention of ‘Palestine’ from textbooks, former UK envoy reveals
- Is Israel paving streets with Gaza rubble containing bodies – and is the Board of Peace funding it?
- Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinians, Including a Child, in Gaza
- Palestinian Resistance and the Politics of Disarmament: A Historical Perspective
- Resistance won’t give up weapons as long as US troops stay in Iraq: Badr Organization
- Iran’s Army strikes US radar systems, troop positions across Persian Gulf
- Spanish police report alleges Morocco orchestrated mass migration into Ceuta
- Germany approves nearly $930M in arms exports to Israel amid Gaza genocide
- Israel receives sixth Drakon submarine for its navy from Germany
- Germany’s Policy Towards Russia Risks Dangerous Escalation – German Politician
- Germany: Merz claims AfD win will threaten economy, AfD quickly points out VW plans to close 4 plants
- Cuba: Negotiations With the US at a Standstill
- Belgium blocks latest EU push to seize Russian assets
- Moscow dismisses ‘fabricated’ German drone incident claims
- Zelensky threatens ‘every airline’ in Russian airspace
- New US ‘precision’ missiles responsible for multiple civilian deaths in Iran – report
- Shrapnel from US strike hits wedding reception in southern Iran, martyring five, including a child
- Iran vows ‘crushing’ retaliation following latest US airstrikes on southern provinces
- Belgium’s Leuven mayor refuses to host Europa League match against Israeli club
- Vance seeks support from pro-‘Israel’ voters, donors: Politico
- WFP halves food aid to occupied West Bank as funding for UN agency collapses
- All Christian schools in Jerusalem shut after Israel refuses entry to Palestinian teachers
- Israeli occupiers attempt to set fire to mosque in northern West Bank
- Gaza interior ministry says IOF abducted officer in al-Katiba raid
- Israeli warplanes, artillery bomb multiple southern Lebanon towns
- Israel’s ‘pilot zones’ become a cover for permanent occupation
- Turkish Foreign Minister: Netanyahu is a threat to humanity and the international order
- SCO leaders sign Bishkek Declaration against ‘western unilateralism’
- EU surrenders sovereignty to US coercion, becomes accessory to economic terrorism: Iran FM spokesman
- Washington sanctions regime reaches its breaking point
- Economy will withstand US sanctions, Iran Central Bank governor says
- Ukrainians turn anger on Kiev for storing explosives near their homes
- India’s anti-terror agency to question jailed Ukrainian mercenary
- Trump Censorship Machine Loses Again in Court
- EU targets ChatGPT, Reddit and Roblox under censorship law
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