Al Mayadeen | May 20, 2026
Pro-Palestine demonstrators occupied the rectorate building of Ghent University on Wednesday, demanding the institution completely end its academic and research relationships with Israeli entities, according to Belga News Agency.
The protest came after the university announced it would withdraw from five remaining projects linked to Israeli partners under the Horizon Europe framework. Activists argued the measure did not go far enough and accused the university of maintaining ongoing cooperation despite the decision.
The latest mobilization builds on a campaign that began in 2024, when pro-Palestine students established encampments and demonstrations at the university amid the Israeli war on Gaza. Following those protests, UGent severed ties with several Israeli institutions, including the Holon Institute of Technology, MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, and the Volcani Center after the university concluded they no longer met its human rights standards. … Full article
MEMO | May 20, 2026
Israeli forces on Tuesday evening burned several homes in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank.
Local sources said Israeli forces set fire to a house in the Tal’at al-Ghabr area and another belonging to the Al-Rashid family. The sources said the Israeli army had been using the homes as military barracks for more than a year and a half.
The sources added that Israeli forces also burned another house in the camp later in the evening, although its ownership was not immediately known.
The Israeli army launched a large-scale military operation in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp on 21st January 2025, displacing all residents of the camp and surrounding areas, estimated at around 22,000 people.
Palestinian Information Center – May 20, 2026
BEIRUT – The Lebanese health ministry announced today, Wednesday, that 31 people were killed and 61 others were injured in the past 24 hours.
According to the ministry, the death toll from the ongoing Israeli aggression, which started on March 2, 2026, has climbed to 3,073 martyrs, while the total number of the wounded has increased to 9,362 people.
Israeli airstrikes killed at least 21 people in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, according to the country’s health ministry and media.
12 of them, including three children and three women, were killed in a single attack that hit a house in the town of Deir Qanoun al-Nahr, the state-run National News Agency reported.
By Kurt Nimmo | Another Day in the Empire | May 20, 2026
Not long after a couple kids shot up a mosque in San Diego, the Jewish American Security Act (JASA) was rolled out in the Senate by two uniparty “representatives,” Jacky Rosen (Democrat faction) and James Lankford (Republican faction). … continue
Press TV – May 20, 2026
The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has rejected as totally “baseless” the US Central Command (CENTCOM)’s narrative regarding the missile strike on Minab’s Shajareh Tayyebeh school, saying the US is attempting to shun accountability for the massacre of more than 170 students and teachers.
In a post on his X account early Wednesday, Esmaeil Baghaei said that the “claim by US Central Command (CENTCOM) that the targeted #Shajareh_Tayyebeh Elementary School in #Minab was located within a ‘missile launch facility’ is a baseless fabrication and an appalling lie.”
On the very first day of the unprovoked war of aggression by a US-Israeli military coalition on February 28, US Tomahawk missiles struck Shajareh Tayyebeh Girls’ Elementary School in Minab, in southern Iran, killing at least 175 people, most of them schoolgirls.
Baghaei’s remarks came after Adm. Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, claimed during a House committee hearing that the school was located near an active Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) cruise missile base. … continue
Press TV – May 20, 2026
Iran reports increased ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz under new arrangements to facilitate transit via the key Persian Gulf waterway.
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Wednesday that a total of 26 ships had passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.
The IRGC Navy’s command, which controls the Strait in cooperation with the Iranian Army, said in a statement that the ships that passed through the Strait during the period included “oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels”. … continue
By Linnea Lueken | Climate Realism | May 18, 2026
Sky News claims that a recent Alaskan tsunami was caused by a climate change-induced landslide. This claim is speculative at best, since it is difficult to say whether the particular tidewater glacier is retreating because of warming or other factors that impact glacial movement. Climate change and glacial retreat have always occurred, but media overuse of the former term conflates natural shifts with supposed human-caused change. This has made it difficult, if not impossible, to discuss natural hazards. … continue
By George Samuelson | Strategic Culture Foundation | May 20, 2026
In yet another chapter pulled straight from the pages of Orwell, educators across Wales are being trained to identify and report “racist incidents” by toddlers – yes, you read that right, toddlers – under new legislation endorsed by government ministers and funded by taxpayers.
The initiative turns daycare centers into miniature surveillance camps for the government’s “anti-racism” agenda.
The program has received over £1.3 million in taxpayer funding via the Welsh Government, and distributed to more than 300 nurseries, daycare centers and kindergartens.
Administrators are absurdly advised to determine whether a child’s interaction with other children could be considered a hate crime and, if so, contact police. … continue
Sputnik – 20.05.2026
Armenia continues to hold six Russian citizens on espionage-related charges linked to alleged filming activities for Azerbaijan, despite what their supporters describe as weak evidence and the absence of any classified material, RT reports.
The individuals—Artem Makhmutov, Daniil Semenyuk, Viktor Tikhomirov, Emirkhan Emirkhanov, Said Aliyev, and Vladislav Yeliseyev—were detained between June 2024 and March 2026. Three of them grew up together in a Moscow orphanage.
According to the defense, they were hired to film a documentary about Azerbaijani cultural heritage sites in Armenia, including mosques, cemeteries, and churches. None of the locations were restricted or classified. Daniil Semenyuk was arrested at the airport before entering the country.
The producer who commissioned the project, a Russian national from the film industry, has since disappeared and cannot be reached. Viktor Tikhomirov went to Armenia to investigate his friends’ detention and was subsequently arrested himself. … continue
By Prof. Glenn Diesen | May 20, 2026
I argue that European states have made themselves legitimate targets by being participants in attacks on Russia. The emotional and often hysterical reactions this argument provokes reveal the extent of the radicalisation engulfing Europe.
Most countries avoid sending weapons to states engaged in war precisely because doing so risks making them participants in the conflict. Many Western leaders, from Boris Johnson to Marco Rubio, recognise that this is a proxy war. European states provide weapons, intelligence, targeting, planning, and contractors. European leaders openly speak about the need to bring the war to Russian territory and to destroy Russian refineries, while rapidly expanding the production of long-range weapons to support this objective. Attacks are now also being launched from the territory of the Baltic states. It is therefore difficult to deny that European states are directly involved in military actions against Russia. As this involvement escalates, Russia is under ever-greater pressure to retaliate and restore its deterrence. This should all be common sense, yet in Europe, recognising the march to war is considered a controversial observation. Why? … continue
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | May 20, 2026
The Ukrainian regime continues intensifying its persecution against the faith traditionally followed by the majority of the local population. In yet another episode exposing the worsening internal crisis in Kiev, a Russian human rights organization recently sent an official letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, denouncing what can be described as a systematic campaign of persecution against the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
The document, signed by Ivan Melnikov, vice-president of the International Movement Human Rights Defense Committee, described a series of violations allegedly committed by Ukrainian authorities and radical nationalist groups. According to the complaint, the Kiev regime has been promoting continuous repression against representatives of the Orthodox Church historically linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, while simultaneously favoring the so-called “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, considered politically aligned with the Ukrainian government.
According to the letter sent to the UN, the process of religious persecution has intensified proportionally to the escalation of the war. In recent years, hundreds of canonical Orthodox churches have been forcibly seized by radical activists and Ukrainian security forces. The purpose of these operations would be to transfer the temples to religious structures considered more loyal to Kiev’s current political project. … continue
RT | May 20, 2026
Almost two out of three violent attacks against politicians in Germany in 2025 targeted members of Alternative for Germany (AfD), government data shows. An MP from the right-wing party blamed the development on what he called a years-long defamation campaign.
AfD politicians were targets in a total of 121 cases last year, almost twice as many as all other major German political parties combined, the federal government said in a response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD MP Martin Hess. The party was also the most frequent target of non-violent politically motivated offenses, the data suggested. The total number of crimes committed against the AfD in 2025 surpassed 1,800.
Around 60% of violent politically-motivated crimes were committed by left-wing suspects, Nius media outlet reported, citing police data provided by the government. Only 11% of offenses were reportedly attributed to right-wing suspects. … Full article
By Alan Mosley | The Libertarian Institute | May 20, 2026
If Thomas Massie were president, there would be no American involvement in the war in Iran. Rep. Massie (R-KY) introduced a bipartisan resolution barring “unauthorized hostilities” against Iran and said flatly that, “The ongoing war between Israel and Iran is not our war.” Massie respects the Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 grants Congress the exclusive power to declare war. A Massie presidency would not begin hostilities at the behest of a foreign nation and then pretend the War Powers Resolution clock never started when Iran didn’t turn out like Venezuela (which he also wouldn’t have started). … continue
It took US lawmakers eight attempts to push through a largely symbolic resolution that is doomed to fail
RT | May 19, 2026
The US Senate has advanced a resolution aimed at curbing President Donald Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran without congressional approval or a debate on the rationale, cost, strategy, and clear end goal.
The chamber voted 50-47 on Tuesday to take up the war powers resolution, which would require Trump to end US hostilities against Iran, marking the first time either chamber has moved such a measure forward since the conflict began in February.
Four Republicans – Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – joined almost all Senate Democrats in supporting the eighth attempt to advance such a measure. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against it, while three Republicans did not vote. Cassidy, who had previously opposed the effort, switched sides after losing a primary race in which Trump had endorsed his opponent.
The measure is highly unlikely to pass, as it still faces a final Senate vote, major obstacles in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, and an almost certain veto by Trump if it reaches his desk.
Even so, Democrats have cast the vote as politically significant, arguing that it forces Republicans to go on record over an increasingly unpopular and costly conflict. … Full article
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | May 19, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal challenging the constitutionality of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The court rejected the case without comment, upholding a 2025 federal appeals court ruling dismissing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit, filed in 2021 by Health Freedom Defense Fund and LAUSD employees with California Educators for Medical Freedom, alleged LAUSD’s vaccine mandate violated their fundamental rights to reject medical treatment.
The mandate resulted in more than 1,000 employees losing their jobs.
In July 2025, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an earlier dismissal of the lawsuit, ruling that it was reasonable for LAUSD to think the vaccines protected public health, based on comments by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other public health authorities.
Τhe 9th Circuit also found that LAUSD had a right to mandate the COVID-19 shots, even if the vaccines didn’t provide immunity or prevent transmission.
Michael Kane, director of advocacy for Children’s Health Defense, called the Supreme Court’s decision “surprising,” and said the lower court’s ruling creates a potentially dangerous precedent for unvaccinated employees in any industry.
“It is so incredibly scary what this precedent now is,” Kane said. “It’s a really bad blow to fired unvaccinated workers and to our liberties in general.” … Full article
By Freddie Ponton | 21st Century Wire | May 19, 2026
In March 2026, an investigation in Haaretz argued that West Germany may have “secretly financed” much of Israel’s Dimona nuclear project through off‑the‑books loans worth roughly 2 billion Deutschmarks, funneled under the cover of “Negev development.” Historical clues indicate that Germany secretly funded Israel’s nuclear program and raise the questions about how much Dimona cost, who really paid for it, and what that says about Germany’s postwar “moral responsibility”.
This article picks up where that story stops. It goes back to Bundestag files, development‑bank records and declassified intelligence histories to show, in considerably sharper detail, how Bonn built a secret credit machine for Israel, who ran it, and how it locked Germany into a nuclear order it still refuses to name.
Germany did not just look away while Israel built the bomb. It helped pay for it, hid the money off the books, and then spent decades pretending that nothing of the sort had ever happened. Today, the same state that secretly bankrolled Dimona presents itself as a guardian of non‑proliferation and lectures Iran on the dangers of nuclear ambiguity. … continue
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Croatian President Zoran Milanovic rejected Israel’s proposed ambassador to Zagreb over the policies of the current Israeli government and what he described as a breach of diplomatic protocol, according to statements released on 19 May by the Croatian presidency.
“The proposed Ambassador of the State of Israel has not received, nor will he receive, the consent of the President of the Republic Zoran Milanović,” the president’s office said in a statement.
The Croatian presidency said it had previously avoided public comment on ambassadorial nominations in line with diplomatic practice. It accused Israel of violating an “unwritten rule” by publicly announcing the nominee before receiving formal approval from Zagreb.
“In light of this action by the Israeli side,” the office said, the president confirmed the nominee would not be approved, linking his decision to the “policies pursued by the current Israeli authorities.”
Israeli media identified the nominee as Nissan Amdur, who was appointed to replace outgoing ambassador Gary Koren, and is now expected to arrive in Croatia as chargé d’affaires, a diplomatic posting that does not require presidential approval. […]
Milanovic, who has repeatedly condemned Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, saying that “there is not cooperation with Israel as far as the Croatian Army is concerned,” adding that Israeli actions in Gaza amounted to “a brutal policy” and “horrific, unprecedented disregard for humanitarian law and humanity.”
The Croatian president also defended the decision as a sovereign prerogative of his office, saying that “granting or withholding of consent for proposed ambassadors is a sovereign right” of the presidency.
The reports said it is the first time a Croatian president has refused approval for an ambassadorial appointment.
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Italian authorities are holding three shipments suspected of carrying military-grade steel from India to Israel after activists from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and No Harbour for Genocide (NHB) exposed their contents, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 18 May.
According to the activists, the shipments amount to roughly 806 tonnes of military-grade steel and could be used to manufacture up to 17,458 artillery shells for the Israeli army.
They said the cargo originated from R L Steels & Energy Limited in Aurangabad and was destined for IMI Systems, now known as Elbit Systems Land, in Ramat Hasharon.
Three consignments transported by the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) are being held in Gioia Tauro and Cagliari, while another three were reportedly rerouted toward Sri Lanka after activists began tracking the vessels. … continue
Press TV – May 19, 2026
The Israeli army received about 2,500 complaints related to sexual assault and harassment within its ranks in 2025, amid a deepening moral crisis among the occupying regime’s forces.
According to data presented to an Israeli parliamentary committee on Tuesday, the army’s Yahalom unit received 2,420 reports of sexual assault within the military during 2025, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. [..]
Reports of sexual assault within the Israeli army have steadily increased over the years, rising from 668 complaints in 2014 to 2,092 in 2024.
The way Israel handles sexual harassment and assault complaints inside the army has drawn criticism, particularly due to the relatively low number of indictments compared with the total number of complaints filed.
The developments come as Israeli soldiers and extremist settlers use gender-based violence, including sexual assault and harassment, to force Palestinians from their homes in the besieged Gaza Strip and across the occupied West Bank.
Suicidal tendencies have also risen among Israeli soldiers amid the US-backed war on Gaza and the ongoing aggression in Lebanon. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
WEST BANK – Extremist Jewish settlers set fire to a wheat field and attacked Palestinian farmers in an attempt to steal their harvest in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu Agency that settlers burned parts of a wheat field in the village of al‑Sawiya, Nablus governorate, before locals and civil defense crews managed to contain the blaze and prevent it from spreading.
Other witnesses reported that settlers assaulted Palestinian farmers in the eastern area of Idhna town, al-Khalil governorate, as they transported their wheat harvest.
One armed settler stopped a Palestinian vehicle loaded with wheat and tried to seize it, sparking tension in the area.
On Monday, settlers burned 500 dunums of farmland in the village of al‑Mughayir, northeast of Ramallah, under military protection.
IMEMC | May 18, 2026
Israeli occupation forces delivered demolition and stop‑work orders on Monday targeting 15 Palestinian homes, including inhabited structures, in the town of Tuqu’, southeast of Bethlehem, in a continued effort to restrict Palestinian construction while expanding nearby illegal colonies.
Occupation troops invaded the al‑Halqoum neighborhood on the western side of the town and handed residents military notices ordering the demolition or immediate halt of construction.
The orders give homeowners one week to comply, despite several of the homes having been previously targeted with similar notices.
Tuqu’ has faced repeated invasions and demolition threats in recent years as Israeli authorities intensify measures aimed at preventing Palestinian development while enabling the growth of surrounding illegal colonies and outposts.
The Cradle | May 19, 2026
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has ordered the forced displacement of occupied Jerusalem’s Khan al-Ahmar in response to reports that he may be targeted by an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, along with other officials.
Smotrich also vowed to impose “war” on the Palestinian Authority (PA), while National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, reportedly also a target for a potential ICC warrant, has lashed out at the court as well and vowed to continue escalating against Palestinians.
In response to the new reports about the warrants, Smotrich signed an order on 19 May for the displacement of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin community east of occupied Jerusalem whose strategic location is considered critical to the territorial continuity and viability of a future Palestinian state.
“Issuing international arrest warrants against the prime minister, the defense minister, and the finance minister is a declaration of war. The Palestinian Authority is the one that started the war, and therefore it will get war. I promise all our enemies. This is just the beginning,” Smotrich said on X.
For decades, the Jahalin Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar has faced persistent targeting and forced displacement threats by Israel, which seeks to demolish the entire village under the pretext of lacking building permits.
Israeli policies have hindered the community’s daily life by denying them access to electricity and water, repeatedly destroying infrastructure, and confiscating solar panels.
Located along a critical highway corridor in the West Bank’s E1 zone, the area is viewed as vital to a future Palestinian state. Israeli efforts to erase it are intended to connect Israeli settlements like Maale Adumim to occupied Jerusalem.
A day before Smotrich’s threats, Ben Gvir took to social media to slam the Hague and vow to accelerate the forced displacement of Palestinians and torture of prisoners. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
GAZA – Two Palestinian fishermen were injured by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, amid ceasefire violations persisting for the 222nd consecutive day.
According to media sources, two fishermen from the al‑Najjar family were injured in the morning when an Israeli gunboat opened fire at them as they were working near the coast of Khan Yunis in southern Gaza.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes struck the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, bombing the tent camp for displaced families just hours after ordering residents to evacuate over the phone.
Another airstrike targeted al‑Tina street of Khan Yunis, while Israeli forces detonated several buildings in the eastern areas of the city.
A warplane also bombed the al‑Faluja area of Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Palestinian Information Center – May 19, 2026
Six people were killed and three others were wounded in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon Tuesday, marking the latest breach of the ceasefire agreement, Lebanese media reported.
According to state news agency NNA, four civilians were killed and two others injured when Israeli warplanes bombed a house in the al‑Mahfara neighborhood of Kfarsir, Nabatieh district.
Earlier, a drone strike targeted a vehicle near the Harouf municipality building, killing one civilian and injuring a council member as they were going to distribute bread to local residents.
Another drone targeted a motorcycle in Froun, Bint Jbeil district, killing one person.
Further strikes that targeted other areas of southern Lebanon were reported last night and on Tuesday.
Press TV – May 19, 2026
The Kata’ib Hezbollah resistance movement has warned the Amman government against ongoing reconnaissance missions launched by the United States and Israel from Jordanian soil against Iraqi resistance fighters, particularly the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).
“In the wake of unfolding developments across the region and US-Israeli actions against Iraq’s security and stability, the enemies are aggressively seeking to escalate tensions against the (Iraqi) resistance front and the PMU,” Abu Mujahid al-Assaf, the security chief of the group, said in a statement on Monday evening.
He warned that the patience of heroic resistance fighters in the face of blatant Israeli violations of ceasefire agreements and recurrent acts of aggression against Iraq’s national sovereignty is about to run out.
Assaf noted that the bulk of US and Israeli surveillance missions are being launched from Jordan, warning that this serves as a prelude for attacks against Iraq.
The Jordanian government, therefore, is strongly advised to take lessons from missile and drone operations conducted in retaliation for the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran, as “patience is starting to run out,” the senior Kata’ib Hezbollah official emphasized. … continue
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Yemeni armed forces have intercepted and shot down a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drone as it was flying in the skies over the northwestern oil-rich province of Ma’rib.
Local sources reported that powerful explosions rattled the provincial capital city of Ma’rib on Monday as Yemeni air defense units targeted the intruding surveillance aircraft over the nearby Ma’rib al-Wadi district.
The sources added that the US reconnaissance drone was struck with an anti-aircraft missile launched from the Sirwah district.
Images shared on social media platforms showed the wreckage of the drone strewn across a desert area east of Ma’rib al-Wadi district.
Among the debris was the fuel system of the unmanned aerial vehicle, as well as its reconnaissance equipment.
The downed drone was apparently armed with two AGM-114R9X air-to-ground precision strike and semi-active laser (SAL) guided missiles.
Press TV – May 18, 2026
A newly-released Congressional report says the American military lost at least 42 aircraft during 40 days of the US–Israeli war of aggression against Iran, with estimated costs already reaching billions of dollars.
The report, prepared for Congress using information from the Pentagon, United States Central Command, and defence media outlets, estimated the total cost of the aircraft losses at approximately $2.6 billion.
US lawmakers, however, warn that the real figure could be significantly higher, saying it remains “unclear” whether the Pentagon has fully accounted for all combat losses during the war against Iran. […]
Questioning Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jules Hurst, US Democratic Congressman Ed Case referred to an earlier report by the defence outlet The War Zone and asked whether the Pentagon had calculated the full replacement cost of the destroyed aircraft.
Hurst declined to confirm the losses publicly, saying the Pentagon still needed to conduct a “full diagnosis” before estimating repair and replacement costs.
The War Zone report cited by Case said that the United States Air Force carried out nearly 13,000 flights during the 40-day war with Iran.
The congressional report now says that actual long-term costs could rise far beyond current estimates.
According to the assessment, replacing some of the destroyed aircraft could require restarting production lines for systems that are no longer manufactured.
It noted that the destruction of an E-3 Sentry could force the Pentagon to revive the cancelled E-7 Wedgetail replacement program at a cost exceeding $2.5 billion.
Analysts cited in the report estimated that total aircraft losses and replacement programs could eventually exceed $7 billion. … Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly rejected “baseless and selective accusations” leveled by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz against the Islamic Republic regarding a mysterious failed explosion incident near a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
In a post on X on Monday night, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ismail Baghaei sharply criticized Merz for invoking international law and regional security only when it suits Western political interests, while turning a blind eye to clear acts of aggression against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities.
“Mr. Friedrich Merz, hypocrisy becomes evident when a clear attack by the United States and the Zionist regime on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is not only not condemned, but is effectively justified,” Baghaei wrote.
“Yet, regarding an incident that was a false flag operation by the enemies of peace and regional harmony — and even the UAE has not officially blamed Iran for it — suddenly the language of ‘international law’ and ‘regional security’ is invoked,” he added.
The spokesperson stated that any genuine concern for the safety of nuclear sites and the people of the region must be applied equally and without double standards.
“If an attack on nuclear facilities is considered a threat to the people of the region, this principle must apply equally to all countries, not only when it serves Western political interests,” Baghaei stated. … Full article
Press TV – May 19, 2026
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says that a resumption of the US‑Israeli war on Iran is unlikely given the widespread global opposition and lack of public support in the United States for another war in West Asia.
In an interview with Geo News’ “Capital Talk” program on Monday, Asif said Israel strongly desires the war to restart and be fought by America on its side, but “my hunch says that this war will not happen again.” … continue
RT | May 19, 2026
The EU will turn to a long-term strategy involving cow dung to stave off a looming fertilizer shortage, rather than supporting farmers with immediate measures like suspending tariffs on Russian and Belarusian imports, Politico wrote on Monday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which handles an estimated one third of the global fertilizer trade, and a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) – a commodity important in the production of nitrate fertilizers. The key waterway was blocked during planting season in the Northern Hemisphere, with analysts warning of a potential global shortage of crucial crop nutrients and a delayed world-wide food shock.
As the EU had already secured fertilizer supplies this crop season, any knock-on effect for the bloc’s farmers and consumers is likely to be delayed, Politico wrote.
However, some EU officials have reportedly warned that a long-term strategy relying on cow dung would not be enough.
“Manure can be a contribution, but it can never substitute the urea-based, the nitrogen-based fertilizers,” Politico cited Italian MEP and AGRI Committee member Herbert Dorfmann as saying. … Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 19, 2026
China reaffirmed its support for Cuba on Tuesday, condemning US sanctions and calling on Washington to end coercive measures against the island nation, Global Times reported.
Speaking during a regular press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions that are not authorized under international law and expressed support for Cuba’s efforts to protect its sovereignty and national security.
“China has consistently opposed illegal unilateral sanctions lacking basis in international law,” Lin stated, while urging the United States to “immediately end its blockade against Cuba and all forms of coercion and pressure.”
He further accused Washington of undermining the Cuban people’s rights to development and basic living conditions. … continue
RT | May 19, 2026
NATO should strike Russia’s Kaliningrad to make a point to Moscow, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has said.
Kaliningrad Region is a Russian exclave of over a million people, which sits on the Baltic Sea coast and borders NATO member-states Lithuania to the north and Poland to the south.
In his interview with Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung on Monday, Budrys insisted that the Europeans “need to turn our fear of the [Russian] threat into a sense of self-empowerment.”
“We must show the Russians that we can penetrate their small fortress that they have built in Kaliningrad,” he said.
The minister claimed that “NATO has the means to raze the Russian air defense and missile bases there to the ground in an emergency.” … Full article
RT | May 19, 2026
Estonia has shot down an alleged Ukrainian drone over its territory for the first time, the NATO and EU member state’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has said.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of incidents related to Ukrainian UAVs targeting northwestern Russia, particularly energy facilities in Leningrad Region. Some of the aircraft eventually crashed in Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Finland.
Moscow has warned that if it turns out that the Baltic States and Finland “deliberately provide their airspace” to Kiev’s UAVs, Moscow has the right to self-defense in response to an “armed attack” under Article 51 of the UN Charter. … continue
By Jacob G. Hornberger | FFF | May 18, 2026
To date, President Trump and the U.S. national-security branch of the federal government (i.e., the Pentagon, the CIA, and the NSA) have assassinated around 200 people in small boats on the high seas near South America. Such assassinations are quickly becoming a normalized part of American life, especially within the mainstream press. […]
Make no mistake about it: The Pentagon’s assassinations of those boat people constitutes murder, pure and simple. In its enforcement of US drug laws, the Pentagon has simply been operating as a police force, one that legally and constitutionally lacks the power to exercise deadly force to enforce the drug war. None of those 200 dead people were ever been convicted of a drug crime. None of them has ever even been charged with a drug crime. There were no grand-jury indictments of any of them. There were no warrants issued calling for their arrest. Every one of the victims was an innocent person, given our system of criminal justice that presumes people innocent of crimes until they are proven guilty in a court of law based on competent and relevant evidence.
Were any of those assassinated boat people American citizens? We don’t know. Some of them might well have been. We just don’t know because their bodies were left in the ocean where they were killed. But US officials don’t care whether they were Americans or not because the power of the executive branch and the national-security branch to assassinate people extends not just to foreigners but also to American citizens.
That’s what the Anwar al-Awlaki case was all about. He was an American citizen who was accused of engaging in terrorism, which is a federal criminal offense. The federal judiciary had the opportunity to stop the national-security branch from assassinating him, but refused to do so. The Pentagon ended up assassinating him. Again, he was an American. They can do the same to any American.
How is it possible to live in a free country in which the government wields the omnipotent power to kill people? It’s not possible. Any people who live under a regime that wields the omnipotent power of assassination are not living in a genuinely free society, no matter how much they convince themselves that they are. … Full article
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | May 18, 2026
The UK’s Online Safety Act has been in force for less than a year and it is again being used to censor political speech during an election.
TikTok blocked and then deleted a campaign video by Reform UK’s Spokesperson for Home Affairs, Zia Yusuf, after someone reported it under the OSA’s content reporting mechanism.
The video was about immigration policy and takes place during a period of campaigning for a by-election.
TikTok cited its “Hate Speech and Hateful Behavior” rules. The law that gave the complainant the reporting tool and that gives TikTok every financial reason to comply without asking too many questions, is the Online Safety Act.
The OSA was sold to the British public as child protection. The actual legislation requires platforms to police all content against UK law, including broadly defined “hate speech” provisions.
Companies that fail to comply face fines of up to £18 million ($24m) or 10% of their qualifying worldwide revenue, whichever is greater. For a platform the size of TikTok, that penalty could run into billions. The rational response to that kind of liability is to delete first and never think about it again. […]
TikTok did not say it independently concluded the video was hateful. Someone filed a report through the OSA’s mechanism and the platform treated that report as reason enough to act. There is no requirement that reports be made in good faith, no penalty for filing frivolous ones, and no transparency about who complained or why.
This is a system built for political abuse. If you want a political opponent’s video deleted during an election, you file a report. The platform, facing enormous financial penalties for under-enforcement, does the rest. … Full article
By Cindy Harper | Reclaim The Net | May 18, 2026
X has agreed to process the vast majority of content flagged as illegal “hate” under the UK’s Online Safety Act within 48 hours, giving Ofcom, Britain’s speech regulator, a significant new enforcement win. […]
X’s agreement also includes the dedicated UK illegal content reporting tool, which is specifically designed for flagging content that violates Britain’s censorship law.
That tool creates a direct pipeline from whoever reports the content to X’s review queue, and from there to Ofcom’s auditing process. The 24-hour average and 48-hour backstop create a system where the pressure is always toward deletion. When you have to process 85% of flagged content within two days and a regulator is auditing your speed, the incentive is to delete first and reconsider never.
Every platform operating in the UK is watching this deal and calculating the cost of resistance versus compliance. The message from Ofcom is clear: agree to our terms, on our timeline, using our preferred partners as evidence sources, or face investigation, fines, and potential shutdown. – Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
The Lebanese health ministry has reported eight fatalities from the latest Israeli strikes against multiple locations south of Lebanon, marking a fresh flagrant violation of the ceasefire brokered just weeks earlier.
The Israeli military unleashed a wave of airstrikes across the region on Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding 15 others, according to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health.
The ministry’s Emergency Operations Center confirmed the toll from several Israeli terror attacks targeting residential areas and towns in southern Lebanon, in yet another blatant breach of the fragile US-brokered ceasefire announced by President Donald Trump on April 16.
Among the deadly assaults was an airstrike on the town of Tayr Falsay, which claimed at least three lives and injured eight others, three of them children.
Additional Israeli strikes pounded the Tyre district town of Tyre Debba, killing two civilians, including a child, and wounding three others.
Three more people were killed in a separate Israeli attack against the town of Jouaiya in Tayr. … Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
The Israeli regime has launched the largest property seizure in al-Quds Old City since 1967 to expel Palestinians and expand Israeli settlements near al-Aqsa Mosque.
The Israeli authorities approved a plan on Sunday to confiscate Palestinian homes and shops along Chain Street, locally known as Bab al-Silsila Road, in the Old City of occupied al-Quds.
The move marks the first such large-scale expropriation in the area since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.
The decision confirms an order signed nearly 10 months ago by Israel’s so-called Minister of Heritage, which targets properties near the western side of the al-Aqsa Mosque complex and would lead to the expulsion of dozens of native Palestinians and shop owners.
Israeli Army Radio reported earlier this week that the road could soon become part of the so-called “Jewish Quarter.”
Israeli authorities described the move as part of efforts to strengthen Israel’s so-called “sovereignty” in the area.
The area sits only a few meters from the al-Aqsa Mosque and carries major religious, historical, and political significance for Palestinians.
The al-Quds Governorate described the plan as a “dangerous colonial escalation” that targets the heart of the Old City. … continue
MEMO | May 18, 2026
Two Palestinians were killed and four others wounded by Israeli gunfire in the Gaza Strip on Monday, in the latest violation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement, medical sources said, Anadolu reports.
The sources said the body of a Palestinian man and two injured people arrived at Nasser Medical Complex, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, after an Israeli strike near the Bani Suheila roundabout in the city.
Witnesses said an Israeli drone shelled a group of civilians near Bani Suheila, causing the casualties.
A Palestinian child also breathed his last from injuries sustained from a drone strike in Bani Suheila on Thursday.
Two young Palestinians were also injured, including one critically, in Israeli shelling of the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza. … Full article
The Cradle | May 18, 2026
Israeli naval forces raided and seized the latest Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters on 18 May after 54 vessels carrying activists, doctors, journalists, and humanitarian workers departed from Marmaris in Turkiye in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli warships surrounded the convoy roughly 250 nautical miles from Gaza and began boarding vessels in “another illegal high-seas interception in international waters.”
Israeli forces targeted the “non-violent civil society mission” whose participants were unarmed, detained activists, and deliberately destroyed cameras and filming equipment during the raid, according to the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza (ICBSG).
The committee said Israel was attempting to prevent documentation of the seizure and called for “immediate safe passage” for the legal humanitarian mission.
Turkiye condemned the raid and seizure as “an act of piracy,” while Israeli media, cited by several reports, said activists were transferred to a navy vessel before being taken toward Ashdod.
According to organizers, the flotilla included activists and supporters from around 70 countries.
Live broadcasts cited in the reports showed Israeli naval forces approaching and boarding vessels one after another in the Mediterranean Sea.
The raid followed an earlier Israeli operation near Crete that unfolded along similar lines, with forces seizing several flotilla vessels, brutalizing and detaining activists before transferring them to Israeli prisons.
The Global Sumud campaign said the latest operation reflects a broader effort to block both sea and land humanitarian routes into Gaza, including a separate overland convoy halted near Sirte in Libya. … Full article
Palestinian Information Center – May 18, 2026
ROME – Italy witnessed a nationwide general strike on Monday, affecting transportation, education, and logistics sectors, following calls by labor unions protesting military rearmament programs, rejecting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and expressing solidarity with the “Global Sumud Flotilla” attempting to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The strike coincided with demonstrations in several Italian cities under the slogan “Stop Everything,” organized by labor unions and civil society groups to protest rising living costs, military policies, and increased spending on weapons at the expense of healthcare and education, while also demanding an end to what protesters described as the genocide against Palestinians and supporting the flotilla heading to Gaza.
In the capital, Rome, protesters gathered in one of the city’s main squares, carrying banners urging the Italian government not to continue what they called “complicity in crimes” alongside Israel.
Demonstrators also waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans, including “Free Palestine,” expressing outrage over the Israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla. … continue
MEMO | May 18, 2026
Large-scale shipments of weapons and ammunition were allegedly transported to Israel over the past 24 hours through US military bases in Germany using dozens of cargo aircraft, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s Channel 13 reported Monday that dozens of cargo planes arriving from Israel at US bases in Germany were reloaded with ammunition before returning to Israel shortly afterward. […]
On April 30, Israel’s Defense Ministry announced that two cargo ships and several aircraft carrying 6,500 tons of ammunition and light armored vehicles from the US had arrived in Israel.
Media reports this week also claimed that the US and Israel have been making intensive preparations for possible strikes on Iran. – Full article
Press TV – May 18, 2026
A leading French opposition figure has denounced “European complicity” in the recent war of aggression waged by the US and Israel against Iran that ignited a wider conflict across the region.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the prominent figure of the left-wing to far-left La France Insoumise political party in France, and an expected contender in the 2027 French presidential election, made the remarks in a post on his X account on Monday.
He blamed Western capitals for sacrificing global peace for the sake of the colonial ambitions of US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Trump and Netanyahu’s crude threats to destroy Iran are only possible thanks to European complicity,” he wrote.
Mélenchon added, “The world’s peace is reduced to the interests of Trump and Netanyahu’s colonialism.”
The politician also directly addressed French voters, urging them to use the upcoming election to end their country’s subordination to such “criminals.”
Mélenchon called on the electorate to put an end to “France’s alignment with these criminals” and to “break the leash” at the ballot box. … Full article
blueapples on X | May 18, 2026
Ahead of a monumental primary on Tuesday, May 19th, which will determine whether or not the dying embers of America’s democratic process will be completely extinguished by the pro-Israel lobby, Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has introduced a bill into Congress that could deter future politicians actually willing to put America before Israel from suffering his same fate. On May 14th, Massie introduced the Americans Insist on Political Agent Clarity Act (”AIPAC Act”) in an effort to finally force the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (”AIPAC”) to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (”FARA”). The proposed legislation is the apotheosis of a crusade fought by Massie that has opened the eyes of the American people to see how the pro-Israel lobby has taken control over the country’s electoral process. Yet, despite widespread public support to force AIPAC to register as a foreign agent under FARA, the pro-Israel lobby’s stranglehold over Congress stands as a seemingly insurmountable obstacle keeping Massie’s proposed legislation from turning that into a reality. … continue
By Jack Hunter | The Libertarian Institute | May 18, 2026
When Donald Trump ran for president in 2024, he promised, among other things, no more U.S. regime change wars, no more of America sending its citizens’ dollars to fund foreign nations, and that he and Elon Musk would drastically cut federal departments and overall spending, finally taking a hatchet to the country’s mounting debt.
In other words, the opposite of the last Republican president, George W. Bush.
It is 2026, the United States is stuck in a seemingly endless regime change war in Iran, America continues to funnel money to nations around the world (particularly Ukraine and Israel), Musk is long gone and any promises of spending cuts through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are but a distant memory.
At this juncture, President Trump’s goal seems to be to become more George W. than George W.
Then there’s Thomas Massie, the libertarian-leaning Republican U.S. congressman from Kentucky’s 4th district, who was an avid supporter of Ron Paul’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012. … continue
By Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man | Responsible Statecraft | May 18, 2026
Israel is officially entering election season, and with it comes the perennial and inescapable excitement among some progressives in the United States who are eager to see Israeli voters send Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu packing.
That excitement, however, is an illusion. It is built on a belief, long clung to by American supporters of Israel, that Israel without Netanyahu would somehow become a liberal democracy that aligns more with their own values.
That illusion is based on a false view of Israeli policy in the decades before Netanyahu’s reign. It ignores the fact that the foundations of the current reality — the massive expansion of settlements, the entrenchment of the occupation and the repression of the Palestinian people — were a collective national project long before Netanyahu became their champion. Today, the cognitive dissonance that allows Americans to brush aside that same Israeli national consensus is reflected in the fantastical picture painted of Netanyahu’s would-be successors.
Take, for example, Naftali Bennett, the only Israeli politician who has managed to unseat Netanyahu in the past decade. In a blitz of Hebrew-language interviews in recent weeks, Bennett has laid out his political platform, looking to appeal to secular Israeli voters who seek political change. He vowed to legalize civil marriage and introduce public transportation on the Jewish sabbath — a strategy that may win a significant share of votes, but only represents a small slice of his worldview.
On the issues that have soured the American public against Israel — namely, its war on Gaza, which human rights organizations, genocide scholars and a U.N. Commission have called a genocide against Palestinians — Bennett doesn’t represent a change for the better. In fact, Bennett’s strategy is to outflank the current government from the right.
Unlike Netanyahu, who ultimately relented to international pressure and began letting food into Gaza in May 2025 to curb a famine of his own creation, Bennett stated that his future government “would not let hundreds of Hamas trucks to enter [Gaza] every day.” Like Netanyahu, Bennett has said that Gaza must remain under permanent Israeli control — even after the war. And although Bennett has been careful to claim that Israel does not target Palestinian civilians, he has regularly suggested that Palestinian civilians are legitimate targets, most recently asserting that 70% of Palestinians want to murder all Israelis. Even back in 2018, Bennett explicitly advocated shooting Palestinian children attending protests in Gaza, stating, “They are not children — they are terrorists.”
In Bennett’s telling, it is the personas of hard-right cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir — not the policies of the Israeli government — that have led to growing international pressure. He is betting that a new government, by being more careful in its choice of words and presentation, would improve Israel’s ties with the U.S. and European states, even as the country executes the exact same policies of displacement and violent domination. He is not offering liberal democracy; he is offering a more efficient, quieter version of the same repression and expansionism. … Full article
RT | May 18, 2026
Andrey Yermak, formerly the chief of staff to Vladimir Zelensky, has been released from custody after posting bail worth approximately $3.2 million, one week after being charged in a major money laundering case.
Yermak was filmed leaving pre-trial detention on Monday morning accompanied by security guards, shortly after the High Anti-Corruption Court confirmed receipt of the full bail amount that had been set last Thursday. Some Ukrainian commentators interpreted the fact that the influential former aide spent the weekend behind bars as a sign of weakening political influence surrounding Zelensky’s inner circle.
Opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak claimed the necessary funds had been assembled by Friday evening, but delays in processing the transfer meant the payment was finalized only after business hours, forcing Yermak to remain in custody over the weekend.
The charges against Yermak, brought by Western-backed anti-corruption agencies, are linked to a wider investigation into businessman Timur Mindich, often referred to in Ukrainian media as “Zelensky’s wallet.”
Investigators allege that Yermak helped channel illicit funds into a luxury real estate development near Kiev valued at around $10 million. Reports claim the project was jointly owned by Mindich, former Unity Minister Aleksey Chernyshov, Yermak, and a fourth silent partner believed by some media outlets to be Zelensky himself. … Full article
Sputnik – 18.05.2026
The US would need to deploy 7,800 satellites costing $743 billion over 20 years to intercept a limited raid of 10 simultaneous missiles as part of a space-based layer of the proposed Golden Dome system, Sputnik found based on analysis of the system by the US Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The space-based interceptor layer represents the most expensive component of the Golden Dome system that CBO estimates would cost $1.2 trillion to develop, deploy, and operate for two decades. This space layer alone accounts for 60% of the total expenditure and 70% of the $1 trillion in acquisition costs. This total estimate significantly exceeds the $185 billion figure cited by the director of the Office of Golden Dome for America for the system’s objective architecture over the next decade. … continue
RT | May 18, 2026
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla has accused the US of fabricating a pretext for a potential invasion following an Axios report claiming that the island had acquired attack drones from Russia and Iran.
Rodriguez Parrilla described the Axios report as an attempt to concoct a “fraudulent case to justify the ruthless economic war against the Cuban people and, eventually, military aggression.” He added that Cuba “neither threatens nor desires war.”
“Certain media outlets are playing along, spreading slanderous claims and publishing insinuations leaked by the US government,” the minister said.
US President Donald Trump imposed an oil embargo on the Caribbean island in February, prompting blackouts and fuel shortages, and has repeatedly threatened military action. Earlier this month, he suggested that Cuba could become Washington’s next target after the conflict with Iran.
On Sunday, the US-based outlet cited classified intelligence reports alleging that Cuba had acquired more than 300 drones since 2023 and had discussed possible attacks on the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, American warships, and Key West Air Force Base in Florida. A senior US official told Axios that the White House views Cuba’s potential use of drones as “a growing threat.” … Full article
By Philip Giraldi • Unz Review • May 16, 2026
President Donald Trump is back from his business trip to China which had a lot of ambiguity over issues like Taiwan without having done either much discernible damage or benefit to American interests. The trip ended with the American participants dropping all the gifts that they had received from the Chinese into a large garbage bin on the tarmac before they boarded their plane. And while the president was gone Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to everyone’s surprised announced that he was canceling plans to deploy an additional 4,000 Texas-based US soldiers to Poland for a long-planned nine month rotation that includes training with NATO allies. The assignment was also originally intended to serve as a possible resource should the situation with Russia-Ukraine happen to spill over into adjacent NATO countries. The troops were already moving to establish themselves and their equipment in their new Polish bases when the surprise cancelation order was issued, possibly as a follow-up to Trump’s threats against NATO for failure to support the US war against Iran.
As the situation in Eastern Europe stands, Russia has warned that an increasing level of NATO involvement in the conflict through its provision of weapons, intelligence and even some boots on the ground is already crossing several red lines which might quite plausibly be regarded as acts of war. … continue
Press TV – May 18, 2026
Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has said that any possible agreement with the US must ensure an end to the war on all fronts and lift the naval blockade and sanctions imposed against the country.
Gharibabadi laid out Iran’s conditions for an agreement with the United States to end the war as he briefed members of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission on Monday, according to Ebrahim Rezae, the committee’s spokesman.
Rezaei said the deputy foreign minister updated lawmakers on the ongoing indirect negotiations between Iran and the US and the proposals exchanged between the two sides through Pakistan.
“Gharibabadi emphasizes that in any possible agreement, [it must be stipulated that] the war must end on all fronts, including Lebanon, US forces must withdraw from the region surrounding Iran, the naval blockade must be lifted, sanctions must be cancelled, and Iranian assets must be released,” the spokesman said. … continue
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
Tehran has signaled that, under Iran’s sovereign rights over its territorial seabed, the country could regulate optical fiber cables crossing the Strait of Hormuz through permits, oversight mechanisms, and transit fees, highlighting the strategic importance of the waterway in global communications and finance, Iran’s Fars News Agency has reported.
Iran could require sovereign permits, impose oversight measures, and levy fees on subsea communications infrastructure passing through the strategic waterway, as per the report.
The report underscores the growing geopolitical importance of undersea digital networks alongside the strait’s longstanding role in global energy transit.
Fiber-optic cables routed through the Strait of Hormuz facilitate more than $10tn in daily financial transactions worldwide, the news agency reported, citing a report by the UK-based Policy Exchange research center. The corridor reportedly serves as a critical link connecting Gulf states, Asia, and Europe through high-capacity telecommunications systems. … continue
The Cradle | May 18, 2026
Two months after US President Donald Trump announced a $40-billion scheme to provide insurance for vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, not a single dollar of coverage has been provided, the Financial Times (FT) reported on 18 May.
In March, Trump said the US would provide insurance “at a very reasonable price” to ships seeking to navigate the strategic waterway after it was effectively shut after the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Amid the fighting, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it would attack ships linked to the US and Israel, while maritime insurers in London raised insurance rates drastically or canceled coverage altogether.
As oil prices skyrocketed, Washington recruited insurers Chubb and AIG to help provide cover for ships, while promising escorts from the US Navy in a bid to allow traffic through Hormuz to resume.
“But the up to $40bn program has not yet been used at all, two people familiar with its operations said, even as insurance rates have been stuck at multiples of their prewar levels,” FT wrote.
According to insurance brokers speaking with the British newspaper, Trump’s scheme failed because it could not meet all the requirements for ships transiting the strait and depended on the US Navy providing ongoing military escorts, which it was unable to do. […]
Chinese ships and vessels belonging to other nations, which have coordinated with Iran, including France and India, have crossed throughout the war and the so-called ceasefire period. – Full article
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
In a statement published on Monday, the IRGC said its forces prevented an operation by armed groups based in northern Iraq that were attempting to transfer a “large shipment of American weapons and ammunition” into Iran via Kurdistan province.
The IRGC said the shipment was confiscated and contained significant quantities of weapons, ammunition, and military supplies, adding that any actions threatening Iran’s security would be met with a “decisive and strong response.”
Intelligence operation in West Azerbaijan
In a related statement, IRGC intelligence forces in Iran’s West Azerbaijan province said they had also identified and confiscated a large shipment of security-disrupting materials during an attempted transfer near the border city of Urmia.
According to the statement, the shipment included explosives, ammunition, and improvised explosive devices, which the groups allegedly intended to transport deeper into Iran to “destabilize security and create chaos.”
The IRGC also referred to past statements by US President Donald Trump, who had previously spoken about arming groups near Iran’s northwestern borders. … Full article
RT | May 18, 2026
Tehran will take the US and Israel to court over attacks on Iranian cultural sites, the Islamic Republic’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, has said. […]
Gharibabadi wrote in a post on X on Sunday that at least 149 historical landmarks and museums in 20 Iranian provinces, including five UNESCO-registered sites, have been damaged by the US and Israeli bombardment.
The authorities in Tehran “will register, document, and pursue this assault on its cultural heritage within the framework of international responsibility; for it will allow no power to sacrifice the history of the great Iranian nation to its military and political objectives of today,” he wrote.
Cultural sites must be protected during conflicts in line with the 1954 Hague Convention and the fundamental rules of humanitarian law, the diplomat added.
“Iran’s cultural heritage is not merely a national asset of the Iranian people; it is part of humanity’s shared memory,” Gharibabadi said.
The Persian civilization, centered in modern-day Iran, is one of the world’s most historically influential and oldest cultures, stemming from the Achaemenid Empire founded in 550 BC.
The attacks on historic landmarks by Washington and West Jerusalem constitute “a clear manifestation of the lawless behavior of the American regime and the Zionist regime,” the deputy minister insisted. … Full article
By Trita Parsi | May 17, 2026
The Middle East is once again teetering on the brink as Trump appears poised to reignite war with Iran. Press reports indicate he will convene military advisers on Tuesday, though my understanding is that both the meeting and the decision are likely to come sooner. Over the past several hours, Trump has flooded Truth Social with a barrage of incendiary threats. While some of this may be theatrical brinkmanship designed to force Tehran into submission, sources in the Iranian capital tell me they expect the United States to resume hostilities within the next 48 hours. … continue
By Anthony Watts | Climate Realism | May 12, 2026
The Guardian claims in “‘Point of no return’: New Orleans relocation must start now due to sea level, study finds” that New Orleans has effectively entered a “terminal condition” and must begin an organized population retreat because sea-level rise will surround the city within decades. This is false. The article relies on speculative climate modeling, paleoclimate analogies, and worst-case sea-level projections that are nowhere near what actual tide gauge measurements of sea level show today.
The story warns that southern Louisiana faces “3–7 meters of sea-level rise” and shoreline retreat of up to 100 kilometers inland. That claim is extrapolated from comparisons to a warm period 125,000 years ago when ice sheets were in a very different configuration, not based on observed current data trends. The result of computer model simulations of ancient paleoclimate conditions has no bearing on the present, nor is it in-line with actual sea-level trends.
Measured sea-level rise along the Gulf Coast is well documented by long-running tide gauges operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The observed rate in the region is on the order of millimeters per year, not meters per decade as seen in the sea level trend graphic from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration … continue
By Paul Homewood | Not A Lot Of People Know That | May 15, 2026
I think we can all see where this is going! … continue
Al Mayadeen | May 18, 2026
A senior commander in Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Wael Abdel Halim, and his daughter were killed overnight in an Israeli airstrike targeting a residential apartment on the outskirts of Baalbek in eastern Lebanon.
Al Mayadeen’s correspondent in the Bekaa Valley reported that Israeli occupation aircraft struck the apartment in the al-Basateen neighborhood shortly after midnight using a guided missile, killing martyr Abdel Halim and his daughter and injuring several others.
Rescue and emergency crews continued operations at the site following the attack, working to remove rubble and search for survivors beneath the destroyed building.
In southern Lebanon, Israeli occupation forces continued their aerial and artillery attacks on several areas. … Full article
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- How Iran’s Strait of Hormuz cable sovereignty could reshape global internet governance
- US suffers ‘total defeat’ in war against Iran, faces irreversible strategic collapse: Neocon analyst
- Trump rejects ‘unacceptable’ Iranian response after call with Netanyahu
- By rejecting Iran’s proposal, US enters a strategic nightmare with no escape
- The important change in Iran’s latest response to Trump
- IPCC Admits Apocalyptic Climate Scenarios Are “Implausible” – Meaning Most Media Scare Stories Over Last 15 Years Are Officially Junk
- Wrong, AP, Wildfires Have Always Burned at Night
- 90% Subsidized… Bielefeld Germany’s €7 Million Hydrogen Garbage Truck Fleet Sits Idle
- Latvian defense minister resigns over Ukrainian drone incursion
- Colonizers Injure Two Women, Expand Attacks Across West Bank
- Three Palestinians Killed in Israeli Strikes Across Gaza
- Why the Israeli assassination strategy is leading them to defeat
- Israel’s barbaric aggression martyrs 39 in Lebanon in single day of ceasefire violations
- How The US Blockaded Itself In The Strait Of Hormuz
- Iran submits response to latest US proposal for ending aggression
- In Her Attack On Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s Hypocrisy Is On Full Display
- When Mandates and Shaming Are Ethical
- ‘Callous and Careless’: AAP Pushes Doctors to Vaccinate Hospitalized Children
- Former Netanyahu security chief arrested in child solicitation operation in US
- Ukrainian draft enforcers open fire at Roma residents – media
- Mélenchon vows to withdraw France from NATO if elected president
- GM to pay $12.75 million for illegally selling drivers’ data
- 46 IPCC Scientists Break Rank, Publicly Challenge Long-Standing Dogmatic Climate Claims
- Coming Off Seroquel Alone
- Health Insurers and Organizations Literally Bribe Pediatricians to Give Your Baby Vaccines
- Virologist at Center of Coronavirus Research Loses NIH Grants, University Places Him on Leave
- Group indicted for insider trading allegedly used ‘going to Israel’ as code for illegal sales
- Israeli Police Kill Unarmed Palestinian In Rahat
- Palestinian killed, another injured in Israeli strike in northern Gaza
- ‘Israel’ kills father and daughter in Nabatieh, 3 in Burj Rahhal
- US-Israeli strategy to weaken Iran’s core industries failed: Vice president
- Iran’s ‘threat’ to Western hegemony is not nuclear weapons
- Iran warns UAE, Bahrain over alignment with US, Israeli interests
- ‘Little Sparta’: Why The UAE Attacked Iran for Israel’s Sake
- Bahrain arrests dozens of clerics in widespread crackdown
- Israel pressuring Trump to ‘destroy’ Iran’s energy infrastructure: Report
- Iran Blames European Tanker for Oil Slick Near Kharg
- Starmer faces revolt as Labour collapses across Britain
- SYRIA: New Revelations Expose OPCW’s Central Role in the Douma Cover-Up
- ‘Israel’ kills 4 in Friday aggression on Southern Lebanon
- Father And Child Injured by Colonizers Amid Escalating West Bank Attacks
- Hamas leaders say targeting families will fail to extract concessions
- Harrowing testimonies expose Israeli torture of Gaza hospital director
- UAE provides $100m for US-backed Gaza police force vetted by Shin Bet
- Britain quietly approves $11.85m arms licence to Israel despite Gaza ban
- Britain’s population replacement has passed the point of no return
- Prediction: NATO’s Collapse & Nuclear War
- Iran – End of the Drought & the Destruction of US Radar Installations in the Middle East
- Saudi Arabia denies opening airspace for US aggression against Iran: Report
- ‘Operation Fauxios’: Axios, Israeli spy, and $2 billion oil scam to prop up Trump
- US-Iran ‘Calibrated Escalation’ Risks Sliding Into All-Out War – Expert
- Iran blasts US ceasefire violations, says Washington trapped in ‘self-created quagmire’
- Iranian forces strike US vessels in swift retaliation for tanker attack: Top military commander
- US Warplane Attacked Iranian Commercial Ship in Gulf of Oman
- US war on Iran to raise shipping costs by $500M per month, Maersk says
- Growing public anger in US toward Trump’s war on Iran, new poll shows
- UK crackdown on pro-Palestine speech faces landmark legal test
- Israeli ‘double tap’ strike hits paramedics in south Lebanon hours after renewed bombing of Beirut
- Three Gaza police officers killed as Gaza genocide death toll reaches 72,628
- ‘Israel’ kills Azzam al-Hayya, son of Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya
- What has Guterres supported in Gaza?
- UAE received $80m in EU farming subsidies as calls grow for sanctions over Sudan genocide
- NATO members divided over Ukrainian drone incidents
- Trump gives green light for new arms deliveries to Ukraine
- Ukraine steps up strikes on Europe’s largest nuclear plant – Moscow
- U.S. Blockade Against Cuba Must End Immediately: China
- China strongly condemns Israeli lawmakers’ Taiwan visit as ‘despicable,’ warns against crossing red lines
- Iran maritime authority offers services to commercial vessels operating in Strait of Hormuz
- Bahrain expels three MPs for criticizing monarchy’s security policies
- The FCC Wants Your ID Before You Get a Phone Number
- Canada House of Commons Tracks Online Posts About MPs
- German arson case: Antisemitism commissioner’s inner circle now top suspects after police raids
- British journalist faces ‘anti-terror probe’ after Iran visit, reporting on US-Israeli crimes
- Texas has an Israel Investment Problem
- The Global Sumud Flotilla Ambush: Greece Turns Crete into Israel’s Dock
- Israel orders demolition of nearly 50 Palestinian facilities near East Jerusalem for settlement project
- Four Palestinians killed in Gaza amid ongoing ceasefire violations
- ‘Israel’ bombs Beirut’s Southern Suburb despite ceasefire
- Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill 7 more people, including paramedics
- The surcharge tax Americans pay to finance Israel-first wars
- Trump’s ’Project Freedom’ just got blown out of the water. What now?
- Cuba, Nicaragua, Mexico – Pentagon Reportedly Eyeing Targets in Latin America
- Rubio ‘lying’: Cuba slams denial of US blockade; claims debunked
- Trump’s Self-Serving Narrative Crashes Against the Reality of War
- US, Iran inching closer toward one-page MoU to end war: Axios
- Cargo Ship CGM San Antonio Attacked in Middle East – Report
- ‘Operational failure’: Israeli media blast Trump’s Hormuz project halt
- ‘Project Freedom’ perishes in 48 hours, Trump retreats under the wall of Iran’s asymmetric deterrence
- Trump Adds Zionist Lobbyist to Iran Negotiating Team
- Ukrainian drone strike kills 5 civilians in Crimea – governor
- Romania Strikes Back and Humiliates the EU After Their 2024 Electoral Coup
- Israel threatens Gaza flotilla activists with death after abduction
- Met refuses to probe British nationals accused of war crimes in Gaza
- Armed settler storms Palestinian schoolyard in Jenin, chases students
- Israeli attacks on Gaza kill civilians, worsen health crisis
- Hezbollah denies activity in Syria amid persistent and false claims
- Israel targets southern Lebanon with internationally banned phosphorus shells
- Israeli strike kills two people in southern Lebanon
- Melkite bishops concerned over Israeli demolitions in South Lebanon
- Israel’s Obliteration Ecocide from Gaza to Lebanon and Beyond
- Black tide from US-Israeli aggression on Iran chokes Persian Gulf turtle nesting sanctuary
- US attacks civilian cargo boats heading to Iran’s shores, killing 5 on board
- UAE deports tens of thousands of Pakistanis, seizes their savings amid war on Iran: Report
- Wheels Down in Tbilisi: Was a Routine U.S. Military Stopover a Deliberate Signal to Iran?
- Macron: France Won’t Join Any Military Action to Open Strait of Hormuz
- Ships divert from Hormuz Strait, cluster off Dubai coast
- Trump’s second strike on Iran would be suicidal. But that’s not the reason why he won’t go ahead with it
Aletho News 