A church in Odessa dedicated to the Russian Orthodox saint Aleksandr Nevsky has been seized by anti-Russian activists. The incident follows a pattern of government-backed crackdowns on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the country’s largest denomination.
Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Ukrainian authorities have carried out raids on monasteries and churches, imposed sanctions on clergy members, and backed efforts to transfer UOC properties to the rival Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), whose clerics reportedly participated in the church takeover on Tuesday.
The OCU was launched as part of then-President Pyotr Poroshenko’s reelection campaign in 2019 and is considered schismatic by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) and the UOC.
The canonical Ukrainian church has denied accusations that it serves Moscow’s interests and formally severed all administrative ties with the ROC in 2022. Despite that, it faces a possible legal ban under a law that current Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky signed in 2024.
According to the UOC’s Odessa diocese, priests and parishioners arrived at the Aleksandr Nevsky church in the morning to find the gates locked. During a confrontation outside, one of the men involved in the takeover, who appeared to be a private security employee hired by the OCU, allegedly grabbed a priest by the throat. … continue
By Patrick Pillow | The Libertarian | June 24, 2026
Envision the following scenario: it is the 2008 U.S. presidential election between Senator John McCain (R-AR) and Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). As the results begin pouring in, a senator from another country writes to The New York Times and warns that if the elections don’t go a certain way, there could be “profound implications.”
We don’t have to imagine this scenario for long, because something very similar actually happened during Ukraine’s 2004 election. After the first round of voting, McCain released a statement to The Ukrainian Weekly, describing the election as “marred by widespread balloting irregularities.” He argued Ukraine’s November 21 run-off represented “a final opportunity to choose democracy,” that the world was watching closely, and that the outcome could carry “profound implications.”
This publication alone highlighted a running theme during regime changes during the 2000s. American politicians, NGOs, and media organizations consistently played an active role in the domestic politics of countries thousands of miles from the Mainland.
Ukraine provided an early example. Through the International Renaissance Foundation, approximately $300,000 was secured to fund Ukraine’s first independent radio station focused on social and political issues. The foundation also supported journalists connected to former Soviet-Georgia’s opposition press. This included reporters from 24 Hours and Rezonance, who produced articles ahead of Ukraine’s elections. … continue
An Essay on Armenia, the 2019 RAND Paper, and the Documents That Stopped Pretending
Lies are Unbekoming | June 24, 2026
The Congratulation
After the 2026 Armenian parliamentary election, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, issued a public statement congratulating Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The statement included a single sentence that deserves to be read slowly.
*”The spirit of the Velvet Revolution you led in 2018 is alive and well.”*¹
A head of EU government, on the public record, congratulating a sitting head of state for leading the regime change operation that installed him.
There are normally rules about saying this kind of thing. Western foreign policy preserves a careful firewall between the operations its institutions run and the popular uprisings its diplomats describe. The activists are local. The funding is laundered. The slogans are organic. The footage is candid. The country fell on its own. That firewall has held, more or less, for the entire post-Cold War period.
Von der Leyen’s sentence walks straight through it.
The 2018 Velvet Revolution in Armenia was the operation that brought Pashinyan to power. The European Commission’s President says, in 2026, that he led it. That formulation, you led it, is what the funders and trainers have always denied. The uprising was popular, they have always said. The momentum was its own.
She is congratulating him for leading it.
This essay is about three documents that fit together. The first is the 2018 annual report of the United States National Endowment for Democracy, which celebrates the operation that installed Pashinyan and names the media outlets the NED paid for. The second is a 2019 report published by the RAND Corporation, the Pentagon’s principal research arm, which lays out in catalog form the policy measures the United States should pursue against Russia. One of those measures is titled “exploit tensions in the South Caucasus.” It names Armenia specifically. The third document is von der Leyen’s 2026 statement. The first is the receipt. The second is the plan. The third is what the system now allows itself to say out loud.
The three documents describe a continuous operation running from the 1990s to the present. The methodology has been documented in publicly available academic literature since 1973, deployed in over a dozen countries between 2000 and 2014, and codified as state strategy by a Pentagon-funded research corporation in 2019. The operation has a name. It used to be a secret. It is no longer being kept. … continue
UK authorities have suppressed key intelligence and failed to act on warnings about atrocities in Sudan to preserve diplomatic and economic ties with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to testimony presented to lawmakers.
During a hearing of the UK Parliament’s International Development Committee on Tuesday, Nathaniel Raymond, director of Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab, said the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) ignored repeated warnings before the so-called Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured El-Fasher in October 2025.
Raymond told lawmakers that the assault was followed by a massacre that claimed at least 60,000 civilian lives.
He said British policymakers placed strategic ties with the UAE above efforts to prevent starvation, displacement, and mass killings in Sudan. … continue
Former Scottish National Party chief executive Peter Murrell was jailed for five years and three months on Tuesday after admitting to embezzling more than £400,000 ($540,000) from the party. The offenses took place over a 12-year period.
The case rocked the SNP and drew former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Murrell’s ex-wife, into a lengthy police investigation, although she was later cleared of wrongdoing.
The 61-year-old spent the stolen funds on hundreds of luxury purchases, including a £124,550 ($168,000) motorhome, a Jaguar SUV, jewelry, Montblanc pens, luxury watches, homeware, and designer stationery. He concealed the thefts by falsifying accounting records, entering false accounting codes in the SNP’s accounts, and submitting fake invoices, allowing him to embezzle a total of £400,310.65 ($540,400) over 12 years. … Full article
By Ian Proud | Responsible Statecraft | June 24, 2026
Sir Keir Starmer bowed to the inevitable Monday and resigned from leadership of the Labour Party and, therefore, from his role as prime minister.
The resignation had been brewing for some time. While Starmer led the Labour Party to an astounding landslide election victory in July 2024, by September 2025, he was already being labeled the most unpopular prime minister since polling began; this followed a series of U-turns and poorly handled crises. After heavy losses of council seats in local elections in May, the Labour Party moved quickly to remove him.
Former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is expected to become prime minister after an internal Labour Party leadership contest. (Labour maintains a majority in parliament, so it maintains the right to form a government.) Burnham will quickly find that he doesn’t have the money to fix public services, double defense spending, and continue to fund an unwinnable war in Ukraine. He also faces an almighty struggle to convince his party that aligning with the Trump administration on peace in Europe is the right approach, both politically and fiscally. … continue
It has been a while since I have written about Russia and the war in Ukraine, but Vladimir Putin’s speech on Tuesday (23 June) to graduates of Russia’s higher military academies and security institutions (military cadets/officers) at the Kremlin merits attention because it carries an indirect but profound warning to the West. … continue
The US Senate has approved a war powers resolution aimed at preventing President Donald Trump from waging military aggression against Iran without congressional authorization, marking a significant political rebuke of the administration’s military adventurism.
The measure passed on Tuesday in a 50-48 vote, with four Republican senators joining Democrats in support of the resolution.
Republican Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Rand Paul of Kentucky broke ranks with their party to back the measure, while Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against it.
The resolution would require the president to seek authorization from Congress before using military force against Iran.
The Senate vote follows the House of Representatives’ approval of the same measure earlier this month.
Although the resolution does not carry the force of law and does not require the president’s signature, its passage represents a formal expression of congressional opposition to such aggression. … Full article
By Lucas Leiroz | Strategic Culture Foundation | June 23, 2026
The Arctic has been one of the main critical points of Donald Trump’s strategy since his rise to power. The increase in American presence (military and civilian) in the region is part of Trump’s broader strategy to “control the Western Hemisphere.” The main challenge for the U.S. is to try to overcome Russia’s long-standing presence in the region – as well as China’s growing presence. Many analysts doubt the American capacity to neutralize the advance of its geopolitical rivals in Arctic technology. … continue
“Fauci can be indicted if he fails to be honest about his former lies, for which he needed a pardon”
By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D. | The Defender | June 23, 2026
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Monday subpoenaed Dr. Anthony Fauci to testify publicly next month before the U.S. Senate, after Fauci backed out of a voluntary appearance.
“Today, I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month,” Paul wrote in a post on X on Monday.
An inside source with knowledge of Paul’s plans told The Defender on condition of anonymity that Fauci is expected to testify under oath about “everything” — from his involvement in funding gain-of-function research that may have created COVID-19 to the subsequent cover-up of a possible lab leak.
The pardon shields Fauci from federal prosecution for his official acts dating back to 2014.
“He’s been slow-walking information to us for six months or more,” Paul told Semafor. “We’ve been negotiating over the date for several months. He agreed, then he said he wouldn’t. So, I think it’s time that we bring him in. I think there’s a lot to discuss.” … Full article
The documents, released late last week, include emails, press releases, whistleblower materials, grant reports, scientific papers and more. They contain allegations that Fauci directed funding for gain-of-function coronavirus research, influenced U.S. Intelligence Community assessments of COVID-19 and its origins, and worked with the intelligence officials to shape the community’s public-facing findings.
The papers don’t prove the lab-leak hypothesis. However, they demonstrate that the voices of those who questioned the “natural origins” theory were systematically suppressed, according to Dr. Byram W. Bridle.
“Those who tied SARS-CoV-2 to the Wuhan laboratory ecosystem from the beginning are vindicated in pointing to a cover-up of the hypothesis, the conflicts, and the inquiry itself,” James Lyons-Weiler, Ph.D., wrote on Substack.
Richard Ebright, Ph.D., told The Defender that it is “absolutely clear there has been a concerted effort to cover up the lab origin of COVID and U.S. government involvement in the lab origin of COVID.”
He also said it is “absolutely clear that this coverup involved malfeasance by officials at NIAID, NIH, HHS, USAID, CIA, and ODNI up to and including former NIAID Director Fauci, former NIH Director Francis Collins, former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, former USAID Director Samantha Power, and former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.”
Ebright said criminal prosecutions and other penalties should be considered.
“For Fauci — protected from arrest and prosecution by his autopen pardon — subpoenas, debarment and a clawback of federal pension and benefits should be priorities. For Fauci’s criminal associates — none of whom are protected by pardons — subpoenas, arrests, prosecutions, debarments and clawbacks of federal pensions and benefits should be priorities,” Ebright said. … Full article
Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has turned the UK into an “authoritarian hellhole,” with more people being jailed and arrested for social media posts than in any other country in the world, former MP George Galloway has told RT.
Starmer announced on Monday that he would step down as prime minister and Labour Party leader by September, citing a widespread internal revolt against his leadership.
Speaking to RT’s Rick Sanchez, Galloway, who was expelled from the Labour Party in 2003 for his vocal opposition to the Iraq War, welcomed the move.
Galloway argued that Starmer, who assumed office in July 2024, had made the UK subservient to the interests of Israel, Ukraine and the EU.
The British people were “rejoicing” at his departure, Galloway said, suggesting that Starmer’s plunging approval ratings had made him a liability for Labour. Only 18% of Britons viewed him favorably in mid-June, according to YouGov. … Full article
By Francis Menton | Manhattan Contrarian | June 14, 2026
I often make fun of the federal government as operating with what it thinks is an “infinite credit card,” outside and beyond any budget restraints. And thus all problems, real or imaginary, can be solved by dispensing some of the infinite federal loot. In its partial defense, the federal government does have the ability to print money, although that ability too eventually runs into limits.
And then we have New York City. The City has no ability to print money, but nevertheless operates as if there are no constraints on spending. The sky is the limit! Recently I wrote about how the City spends about triple the national average per student on preK-12 education, and more than double the national average per capita on Medicaid. Those are crazy excessive amounts, but at least education and healthcare are bona fide purposes for the spending of resources.
But how about spending huge amounts of money on pure fantasies that accomplish absolutely nothing? Yes, we have that too. For today’s example, how about “climate resiliency”? … continue
If these precedents on emissions charges and compulsory offsets stand, the appetite of unelected institutions for fiscal power will grow
By Brenda Shaffer | The Telegraph | June 22, 2026
International energy and climate policies stand at the center of one of the most defining political issues of our time: the expanding power of unelected institutions such as the United Nations in the lives of people in democratic societies.
Two UN agencies – the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – plan to tax global shipping and aviation for their greenhouse gas emissions. This would mark the first time an unelected institution has levied taxes on major sectors of global economic activity. The planned levies would expand the power and budgets of these agencies with no democratic accountability.
Regardless of one’s views on climate change, proponents of democracy should recognize the threat posed by taxation without representation and oppose this power grab by the UN. … continue
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a $55.9 billion budget in the last week, with a tax on publishers of the kind the Supreme Court has been striking down for close to ninety years.
The state will now bill companies according to the size of the audience they reach. Planted in 1,600 pages of spending law sits a “social media platform fee,” a monthly charge pegged to “the number of Illinois users from whom the social media platform collects data within a month.” Illinois will charge platforms for hosting speech and, the bigger the audience, the bigger the bill.
Pritzker expects the levy to bring in roughly $200 million. He told reporters he feels “much more confident about the social media platform fee” surviving court than the budget’s other contested levies on digital ads, crypto, and prediction markets. Lawmakers aren’t even counting on revenue from those. That confidence is misplaced and the governor supplied the reason himself.
Defending the tax, Pritzker said it “requires companies to pay for the mental health and educational degradation they’ve caused.” By the governor’s own account, the state is charging platforms for the effects of the speech they carry.
When a government picks out one class of speakers and bills them for what their speech does to the public, it has created a lever over expression.
Taxing publishers because they are publishers is one of the oldest tools a state has used against the press, going back to the 1765 Stamp Act on pamphlets and newspapers that helped light the fuse for the Revolution.
By Chris Menahan | If Americans Knew | June 22, 2026
Zionist lawfare activist Hillel Neuer blasts UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for saying “America is controlled by the Jewish Lobby”—then brags about successfully lobbying the US government to sanction her and close her bank accounts for her criticism of Israel. … continue
A prominent US lawmaker has voiced strong concern over the Israeli regime’s unlawful detention of 20-year-old Palestinian-American student Sama Safi, who was violently abducted from her family home in the occupied West Bank during a pre-dawn raid on June 2.
Congressman Derek Tran said in a post on X on Monday that he is “deeply alarmed” by Safi’s ongoing imprisonment without charges.
“Safi was taken from her home in the middle of the night and continues to be held without charges,” he said, describing the arrest as “part of a disturbing pattern of the Israeli regime denying Palestinians their basic due process rights, often at risk to their health and safety.”
“The United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens abroad, and we must hold our allies to basic standards of equal justice under the law,” Tran added.
He urged the Trump administration “to use every diplomatic tool available to bring Sama home safely.”
Safi, a psychology honors student at Birzeit University, which is a longstanding symbol of Palestinian academic excellence and resistance to occupation, was one of four female students seized in coordinated Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank. The others include fellow Birzeit students, one of whom is a member of the Palestinian women’s national soccer team.
The Zionist regime has claimed the arrests were linked to “promoting hostile terrorist activity,” a standard pretext used to justify the suppression of Palestinian student activism and the broader resistance movement.
Palestinian sources and rights advocates describe the detentions as part of a systematic campaign targeting youth and intellectuals who refuse to submit to occupation and apartheid policies. … Full article
A growing body of evidence points to the normalization of sexual violence as a tool of control inside Israeli detention sites
By Robert Inlakesh | The Cradle | June 22, 2026
He begged his lawyer not to come.
Each visit set off a chain of events he could not stop. The guards waited for the lawyer’s arrival, then used it as their moment. By the time the meeting ended, the punishment had already been carried out.
The account, relayed by Israeli human rights lawyer Ben Marmarelli, is not an isolated one. Similar testimonies have surfaced from Palestinian detainees across Israel’s prison system. What emerges from them is a recurring practice in which access to the outside world carries its own punishment, with sexual violence used to intimidate prisoners and deter them from speaking out.
“Every time I come, they rape him!” Marmarelli said, describing what he encountered while documenting prisoner testimonies. One of his clients eventually asked him to stop visiting, fully aware of what each meeting would bring.
Nearly three years after the Hamas-led Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, a dense record of claims, counterclaims, and investigations has accumulated. Early narratives focused heavily on allegations directed at Palestinian fighters, many of which circulated widely despite the absence of verifiable evidence.
Since then, reports from international organizations, medical personnel, lawyers, and survivors have accumulated, describing repeated cases of sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees. The accounts, drawn from different sources and locations, describe practices that recur and operate largely out of public view. … continue
Palestinians abducted, imprisoned, starved, electrocuted, tortured, raped, and even subjected to simulated burial.
By Eva Karene Bartlett | In Gaza | June 23, 2026
In late 2023, Israeli soldiers abducted and imprisoned a Palestinian man (among many abducted at the same time) from a school in Jabaliya, Gaza, which he and other displaced Palestinians had been sheltering in. He was held hostage in Israeli prisons for nearly two years, during which time he was severely tortured by repeated and prolonged electrocution (including multiple times a day). His Israeli torturers at some point locked him in coffin-like box for two weeks in their attempt to psychologically break him.
According to Imad Nabhan, he refused to act as an informant for Israel. The Israeli soldiers first attempted to bribe him into collaboration, then defaulted to Israel’s (now well-documented) norm of brutal physical and psychological torture of Palestinian captives.
Nabhan’s release in October 2025 saw Imad so physically debilitated by the electric shock torture that he fell unconscious into violent seizures numerous times daily.
At the end of May, he spoke about the torture he endured in Israeli prisons, including his “coffin torture”. He reported that he had been held in “an iron container with a wooden box inside it,” where his hands and feet were tied, fed through a tube in a small hole, just enough to keep him alive. … continue
GAZA – Two Palestinian civilians were martyred and others were injured in separate Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday evening.
According to media sources, one martyr and several wounded citizens were evacuated to the hospital after an Israeli drone targeted a tent in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis.
Another citizen was killed and others were wounded when an Israeli drone bombed a motorcycle near Street 5 in the west of Khan Yunis.
A child was also injured when Israeli forces opened fire towards the Iqlimi area of Khan Yunis.
Earlier in the morning, Israeli tanks fired bullets and projectiles east of Khan Yunis, while gunboats launched a similar attack on Rafah.
Israeli forces also detonated several buildings east of Khan Yunis.
A report issued by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory on 23 June found that Israeli troops are deliberately targeting Palestinian children in Gaza and the occupied West Bank as a central element of their ethnic cleansing campaign.
“The evidence shows that Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by the Israeli security forces,” said Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the commission.
He added, “Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law.”
The independent commission noted that the systematic targeting of Palestinian children by Israeli forces has inflicted profound, irreversible devastation.
These deliberate atrocities are characterized by mass trauma, physical disability, starvation, and the deliberate destruction of healthcare, education, and maternity services, including the dismantling of orphanages.
Beyond the immediate violence, children face arbitrary detention, torture, and sexual violence, all of which are utilized to erode the foundational structure of Palestinian society.
This intergenerational assault aims to dismantle the demographic vitality of the Palestinian people, creating an “occupied psyche” that strips children of their safety, development, and hope for a future.
Doctors of various international backgrounds have provided detailed accounts of treating Palestinian children who were deliberately targeted by Israeli snipers, describing a “steady stream” of non-combatants with single, high-caliber gunshot wounds specifically to the head or chest.
The inquiry found that children accounted for roughly 30 percent of all those killed during the genocide in Gaza.
The figure, however, likely underestimates the actual toll, as thousands remain buried under an estimated 61 million tons of debris.
While the Gaza Health Ministry has officially recorded approximately 72,000 deaths, experts believe between 10,000 and 14,000 additional bodies are trapped beneath the ruins of homes, schools, and hospitals.
Independent research teams suggest the total death toll, when accounting for the indirect effects of infrastructure collapse, malnutrition, and disease, may exceed 600,000. … continue
On Monday, several Chilean organizations delivered more than 80,000 signatures to the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, demanding Israel’s expulsion from the organization for war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
The collection was led by the Lawyers for Palestine association and the Sign for Palestine campaign, with collection points in various countries. The signatures were presented at the United Nations headquarters in Santiago, Chile.
“Israel is the country that most intentionally tramples on international law, resolutions, and the international order. Now they are taking that policy to Lebanon, where there are already more than 5,500 victims,” said Nelson Hadad, a member of Lawyers for Palestine. … continue
Israel is not part of the negotiations between the US and Iran and will continue its offensive on Lebanon until Hezbollah is “fully dismantled,” not just disarmed, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said.
Smotrich, a far-right extremist member of Israel’s security cabinet, made the remarks Tuesday morning in an interview with Israeli Army Radio.
“Israel is not part of the negotiating talks with Iran by choice,” he said, adding: “We will not hold talks with the devil.”
“We are not a party to the negotiations between the United States and Iran, and they do not concern us at all,” Smotrich said.
“We will continue operating in Lebanon fully,” he added. … continue
Two people were killed and a third was injured on Tuesday by gunfire from Israeli forces in southern Lebanon, according to the official National News Agency (NNA).
In detail, the NNA reported that two young men were martyred and a third was wounded when Israeli army soldiers opened machine-gun fire toward them near a bulldozer working to open a road in the Deir neighborhood of the town of al-Nabatieh al-Fawqa.
This marks the first Israeli violation of the ceasefire that results in casualties since it was announced on Sunday, amid the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US, with Article 1 explicitly stipulating an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Separately, Israeli occupation forces carried out a drone strike on the town of Kfar Tibnit in the Nabatieh district, while also dropping sound bombs over the town, according to local sources.
In the Bint Jbeil district, an Israeli drone dropped two sound bombs in the towns of Baraachit and Ayta al-Jabal, while in the town of Hadatha, Israeli forces set fires at its outskirts before withdrawing toward the town square. … continue
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei says the United States has an obligation to remove all economic sanctions illegally imposed on Iran under a memorandum of understanding between Tehran and Washington.
“The obligations of the US are clear: Lifting primary, secondary, UN Security Council, and IAEA-related sanctions,” the official said, addressing a weekly press conference on Tuesday.
The comments concerned Clause Seven of the Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding that was recently signed between the two sides.
As part of the provision, all sanctions against Iran must be lifted, with the United States being obliged to remove the Security Council’s coercive measures and to resolve the relevant issues with its own allies.
Baghaei noted an earlier license issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of the Treasury providing sanctions relief for Iran’s oil, petrochemical, and derivative sectors for a period of 60 days.
“Other sanctions will be discussed over the 60-day period,” he stated. … Full article
While the US certainly suffered some reputational damage and significant economic costs from its unprovoked attack on Iran, the United Arab Emirates may really be the big loser. Let’s focus on Dubai. … continue
The former Israeli intelligence official turned whistleblower, Ari Ben-Menashe made some explosive claims to journalist Afshin Rattansi in the latest episode of his Going Underground TV Show, alleging that then president Bill Clinton made a deal with then Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, but then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, a known close associate of Jeffery Epstein, used blackmail about Clinton’s known connection with Jeffery Epstein and his trafficking operation of underage girls, to end the deal. … continue
After Being Defeated In Iran, Israel Targets Türkiye.
By Justin K.P. – The Dissident – June 22, 2026
The idea of Israel going to war with Türkiye- a NATO member- potentially triggering World War III seems insane.
And yet Israel is using their war rhetoric towards Türkiye.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry put out a post seemingly laying the groundwork for an Israeli war, claiming that “Hamas terrorists based in Turkey are directing attacks against Israelis, funding terrorism, and recruiting operatives. The network is exposed. The facts are clear.” … continue
A wave of strange property attacks targeting Jewish sites in Canada is attributed to apolitical youth paid in crypto. The violence follows the same playbook seen in Australia and the UK. While Iran and Palestine solidarity campaigners are blamed, Israel exploits the tension.
Canada is the latest in a string of nations to attribute a wave of high-profile but mostly low-consequence attacks to a mysterious online “gun-for-hire” plot. If Canada follows the pattern set in Australia, Europe and the UK, the “foreign entity” its government is already blaming for orchestrating the petty violence will be identified as Iran.
According to the Toronto Star, “Police believe that several young people have been hired to carry out shootings throughout the city and the wider GTA, including the U.S. consulate shooting, shootings at synagogues and Jewish schools, as well as shootings targeting the waste management company GFL Environmental.”
It is Israel, which happens to be the only nation to have extracted any political benefit for the growing wave of pay-for-play attacks on Jewish targets in the West. … continue
The Ukrainian military will bomb Belarusian communication towers along the 1,000-kilometer border unless President Alexander Lukashenko takes them offline and “proves” to Kiev that he is not aiding Moscow, Vladimir Zelensky said on Sunday.
Belarus, a close Russian ally, has largely stayed out of the Ukraine conflict since 2022, while calling on Moscow and Kiev to engage in dialogue. However, over the past few weeks, Zelensky has been ramping up his rhetoric about an allegedly growing threat posed by Belarus – and has threatened it with a preemptive strike.
“At the intelligence and military levels, Belarus received a message: stop helping the Russians. The issue with the relay stations has been ongoing for a long time,” Zelensky said in a post on X on Sunday, reiterating his claim that the communication towers are being used by Russia to coordinate drone strikes.
Lukashenko has repeatedly said that Belarus has no intention of waging war against any nation and “is not threatening anyone,” but Zelensky said his words have “meant nothing since the first day of the war.”
“If he does not remove them, we will remove everything ourselves. Similarly, we’re sending a message: please stop supplying fuel to the Russian army,” he added, insisting that it was not a “threat,” but a statement of fact. … Full article
Since June 9, residents of Deir Abu Mishal maintained a continuous presence on the village’s lands in order to prevent settlers from taking them over, despite ongoing attacks by soldiers and settlers, who are trying to establish a new outpost in Area B, on the villages land.
On June 8, settlers erected a tent on Palestinian-owned land near Deir Abu Mishal, marking the beginning of an effort to establish a permanent presence in the area. Residents subsequently organized daily activities to protect the land and oppose the expansion of the outpost.
On Thursday, June 11, Israeli forces fired live ammunition and tear gas during confrontations in the area. Local youths attempting to maintain a presence near the site of the outpost were beaten and pepper-sprayed after being surrounded by a group of settlers.
On Friday, June 12, a group of young residents succeeded in removing an Israeli flag that had been placed on top of the hill the settlers were seeking to take over. Israeli military and police forces present at the scene responded with extensive use of live ammunition and tear gas. Ten people were detained during the incident and later released. One resident of the village was injured after being struck in the head by a tear gas canister and required medical treatment. … Full article
Palestinian detainee Saber Al-Amital from the Negev region has reportedly died in Israeli custody, Palestinian rights groups announced on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
According to family members, Al-Amital had no known pre-existing medical conditions before his arrest earlier this month.
Al-Amital was detained by Israeli authorities on 4June and was interrogated by Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, according to Palestinian sources.
The sources said he was denied access to legal counsel during his detention.
According to information provided by his family, Al-Amital appeared before a court the day after his arrest and told the judge that he was in good health.
The court subsequently approved extending his detention until June 11 on the basis of what it described as reasonable suspicions.
No official Israeli statement regarding the cause of death was immediately available. … Full article
Israeli forces raided church-owned land belonging to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem in the town of Silwan, south of Al-Aqsa Mosque on Monday, in the latest move targeting Palestinian religious properties in occupied East Jerusalem, Anadolu reports.
In a statement, the Jerusalem Governorate said personnel from Israel’s so-called “Nature Authority” raided the church-owned land and forced the official in charge of overseeing the property to leave the site.
The governorate said the land, owned by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, covers around 11 dunams (2.72 acres) and is located near the Al-Bustan neighborhood in Silwan.
According to the statement, Israeli authorities seized the land on June 15 and surrounded it with fences and gates, prompting the Patriarchate to file a lawsuit demanding the restoration of the land and the removal of Israeli control over the property.
An Israeli court has postponed a ruling in the case until Thursday after the Patriarchate submitted documents proving its ownership and continued use and maintenance of the land before its seizure.
According to Jerusalem-based institutions, the move is part of escalating Israeli measures targeting Palestinian land and religious properties in occupied East Jerusalem, particularly in neighborhoods surrounding Al-Aqsa Mosque. … Full article
At least three Israeli strikes hit a busy street in Gaza City in broad daylight on Monday, killing a Palestinian schoolgirl on her wayfrom final exams, in the latest Israeli violation of the US-backed ceasefire.
Raghad Ashour, a high-school student who was her family’s only child and whose father had previously been killed by Israeli forces, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the al-Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City after returning from taking her final secondary school examination.
Israeli occupation aircraft targeted a civilian vehicle in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, resulting in the killing of paramedic Maisara Al Khawaja and the injury of three others. … Full article
Despite months of attempts by Israel to support local armed groups in the Gaza Strip as an alternative to Hamas, growing Israeli media reports indicate that the experiment has failed to achieve its objectives, amid widespread public rejection of these groups and accusations that their members have committed abuses against civilians.
In this context, the Hebrew news website Zman Yisrael published a lengthy report concluding that more than 99 per cent of Gaza’s residents still live under Hamas rule, while the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to rely on armed militias that cooperate with the Israeli military despite their limited influence on the ground.
The report said these groups had failed to pose a genuine challenge to Hamas’s continued rule in the enclave. It added that their operational objectives remain vague and unclear even to observers closely following developments in Gaza.
According to the report, the practical impact of these militias is almost non-existent, apart from what it described as counterproductive outcomes that have harmed Israeli interests and weakened prospects of building trust between Gaza’s residents and those supporting the groups.
The website quoted residents from different parts of Gaza as saying they do not support the armed groups, arguing that they do not represent them or their national interests. Instead, they are widely viewed as tools linked to the Israeli project in the territory.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry says Tehran will continue its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under existing procedures and in accordance with parliamentary legislation and decisions by the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
Esmaeil Baghaei, who serves as spokesperson for the Iranian negotiating team, said on Monday that “Iran’s engagement with the Agency, in fulfillment of its obligations under safeguard agreements, will continue within the existing framework and in line with the resolutions of the Majlis (parliament) and the decisions of the Supreme National Security Council.”
The remarks came after US Vice President JD Vance said during a press conference at the Bürgenstock hotel that Iran had agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into the country.
Sources familiar with Saturday’s talks in Switzerland said Tehran did not negotiate over its nuclear program during the 18-hour discussions and did not agree to any new commitments, IRNA reported.
Meanwhile, Fars News Agency quoted an informed source as saying that Vance’s claim was “false”.
Under the “Law Requiring the Government to Suspend Cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” enacted on June 25, 2025, Tehran has invited IAEA inspectors to visit its active nuclear facilities on a case-by-case basis, subject to approval by the SNSC. … continue
Iran could recover up to 1.6 million barrels per day within four to eight weeks, independent political analyst Faisal Alshammeri told Sputnik commenting on Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi’s recent announcement that oil and petrochemical export restrictions against the Islamic Republic have been lifted.
Iran returning “sustainably to the pre-war range of about 1.9 million barrels per day may require a full quarter,” Alshammeri pointed out.
The analyst pointed to “the uncertainty surrounding the political and legal framework” as Iran’s “primary challenge” in terms of durable oil exports.
“Sustainable normalization will depend on banking, insurance, shipping security and, above all, the durability of the political agreement” between Iran and the US, Alshammeri underscored.
He was echoed by energy economist Kazi Sohag of Saint Petersburg University who didn’t rule out a substantial increase in Iran’s oil output already in July.
“Iran can recover a good chunk of exports relatively quickly if the US waivers are implemented and the Strait of Hormuz is kept open,” Sohag noted.
As for potential first-wave buyers, China is expected to be the initial and largest importer of revived Iranian crude, the analysts predicted. They added that India could form the second wave, while Türkiye may also return relatively early. South Korea, Japan, and eventually EU member states could follow suit in the future.
In Switzerland, amid the alpine calm where empires go to perfume panic as diplomacy, Iran delivered another masterclass in the ancient art of refusing to kneel.
The Americans arrived with the usual imperial luggage: threats, ultimatums, sanctions theology, and that peculiar Washington habit of mistaking obedience for “peace.” Iran arrived with something far less fashionable and far more effective: leverage. Not the decorative leverage of think-tank seminars and cable-news generals, but the real kind — the kind that closes straits, terrifies markets, freezes war rooms, and forces the self-appointed masters of the universe to rediscover geography.
The spectacle would be hilarious if it were not so historically obscene. … continue
The supply chain constraints affecting US missile production are structural in nature; they cannot be solved merely by throwing money at them, The National Interest website introduced its article written by by Harrison Kass and titled “Why Can’t America Make More Interceptor Missiles?”.
The article maintained that one of the sharpest conflicts stemming from America’s wars in the Middle East is the rapid depletion of its anti-air interceptor missile inventory, adding that months of operations in the Middle East during the Trump administration—first Operation Rough Rider against the Houthis in Yemen, then the far more expansive Operation Epic Fury against Iran, alongside consistent support for Israeli air defenses in the post-October 7 period—have consumed advanced interceptor missiles at a pace far faster than America’s existing defense industrial base can replace them. … continue
Against the odds, the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the US and Iran appears to be holding, after threats and counter-threats. It may collapse, but it has survived a first round of talks between the two sides in Switzerland over the weekend.
President Trump started a war on Iran against all sober guidance and in violation of the US Constitution’s requirement that only Congress can declare war. There must be a reckoning for our elected leaders who violate their oath of office, the Constitution, and simple common sense.
However, what is more telling is the reaction when President Trump finally took the correct move and attempted to end the war. The neocons who had hailed him as a great leader – Levin, Bolton, Pompeo, etc. – suddenly turned against him when he turned against further escalation of the war.
Even Trump’s top funder, Miriam Adelson, attacked Trump in her newspaper Israel Hayom. “You could have been the greatest president of all, but you failed,” the newspaper wrote in an editorial.
Not much gratitude from the Israel-first crowd, even if the war was started to benefit Israel.
And more telling even than this was the reaction of the “opposition” party in Congress, the Democrats. … continue
Following the conclusion of the first round of the Iran-US talks in Switzerland on Monday, the media committee of the Iranian negotiating delegation issued a statement outlining the main points and understandings reached during the talks.
The Bürgenstock talks outline a phased framework linking security arrangements, financial measures, and sanctions relief to conditional implementation steps.
Key developments include a Lebanon ceasefire monitoring mechanism, structured communication over the Strait of Hormuz, coordinated asset release arrangements, and temporary sanctions relief measures tied to energy exports. … continue
In the 1820s, when John Bostock first documented the condition in London, every case he could find was in the middle or upper classes. He inquired at the dispensaries and across the country and found, in his own words, no unequivocal case occurring among the poor.¹ Twenty years earlier, a new medical procedure had been introduced in England. The disease appeared in the class that received the procedure. Those who had not received it remained free of it. The procedure was Edward Jenner’s vaccination, the insertion of material from cowpox lesions into incisions in the human arm. The material’s origin was the cow.²
Hay fever did not exist in the medical literature before this. The first cases appeared in the population that had received the procedure. The mechanism by which injection of foreign protein produces sensitization to bystander substances was discovered before the end of the century, demonstrated in animal models repeatedly since, and conceded by establishment investigators in at least one specific case. The condition that tens of millions experience as a feature of biology is an artifact of the syringe. … continue
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC), which reviews scientific data on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and other therapeutics on behalf of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), voted 9-0 in dual votes to recommend approval of the vaccine for the 50-64 and 65-plus age groups.
Today’s votes took place after several hours of presentations based on the findings of Moderna’s Phase 4 clinical trial data for its mRNA-1010 vaccine. The trial compared the efficacy of mRNA-1010 to that of a conventional, non-mRNA flu vaccine.
Daniel O’Connor, founder and CEO of TrialSite News, told The Defender today’s favorable votes “may reflect the committee’s view that the benefit-risk profile is acceptable.” However, the vote “does not erase the fundamental concerns surrounding this application.” … continue
By Brenda Baletti, Ph.D. | The Defender | June 18, 2026
A pharmaceutical regulatory expert says Merck failed to adequately warn the public that its Gardasil HPV vaccine could be linked to postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) and other autoimmune-related conditions, according to a public court filing.
The expert report, released after Merck settled hundreds of Gardasil lawsuits, alleges the company had sufficient evidence to strengthen the vaccine‘s safety warnings years earlier but chose not to do so.
Since Merck’s highly profitable Gardasil vaccine first came on the market in 2006, the list of side effects on the label has grown.
Over time, Merck added reports of dizziness, fatigue, fainting and other conditions. And eventually, the label noted that there had been postmarketing reports of autoimmune diseases, motor neuron disease, transverse myelitis and other conditions.
The collection of symptoms — along with evidence from animal studies, Merck’s own clinical trials, case reports submitted to the company and published scientific literature — all indicated that Gardasil could cause autoimmune disorders and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) in some individuals.
Yet the company never warned the public about these risks, according to regulatory affairs specialist Stephen Amato, Ph.D., a professor and department chair of Graduate Regulatory Affairs and Life Science at Northeastern University and former U.S. Food and Drug Administration consultant with decades of experience in pharmaceutical regulation.
Amato concluded that Merck should have added stronger warnings about possible autoimmune-related adverse events, including POTS, to the Gardasil label. […]
Amato also criticized aspects of Merck’s clinical trial design, postmarketing surveillance practices and its marketing of the vaccine.
Amato contends that Merck’s marketing materials overstated the vaccine’s benefits and that the company’s pharmacovigilance efforts prioritized protecting the product’s reputation rather than fully investigating potential safety concerns. – Full article
Britain’s communications regulator is pressing Telegram to find ways of seeing what its users say to one another in private. Ofcom has begun questioning the messaging app about how it detects and prevents illegal incitement, following the conviction of a Ukrainian man for arson attacks on a car and properties connected to Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Roman Lavrynovych, 22, was reportedly drawn in through a public Telegram channel that advertised money to post and print leaflets, and that channel broke no laws. It offered legal work and told anyone interested to “contact in private messages.” The real offers, first for the poster work and later for the arson, reportedly moved into one-to-one chats away from public view.
A spokesperson for Ofcom said it had contacted the app “to seek further clarification” because the arsonist had been directed on Telegram by a handler linked to Russia.
The regulator frames this as a preliminary stage ahead of any formal investigation, though the questions point in one direction. If nothing illegal appeared in the open channel, the only place left to look is inside the private conversations between individual users.
That request carries a cost the regulator has not spelled out. Telegram cannot scan private messages for signs of incitement without reading private messages, all of them, belonging to everyone, not the handful that turn out to involve a crime.
The arson plot stayed hidden in personal chats precisely because that is where people expect to speak without an audience. Asking Telegram to surface that content means asking it to treat ordinary private conversation as something to be inspected by default. … continue
Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla has condemned US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s claim that there is no oil blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba.
In a post published on X on Sunday, Rodríguez wrote: “When [Rubio] talks about incompetence in Cuba, he should be asked why he lies chronically and contradicts the US president and his spokeswoman by denying the existence of the total fuel blockade that the White House acknowledges.”
“There is no oil blockade on Cuba, per se,” Rubio claimed on Saturday while guest-hosting the daily White House press briefing.
Rodríguez stated that Rubio’s references to the situation in Cuba are consistently framed in a way that avoids responsibility and self-accountability, describing it as “an attempt to present himself as a savior.”
The Cuban foreign minister also denounced the “economic suffocation plan” against his country, saying it prevents foreign companies from selling parts and technology needed for the island’s thermoelectric plants.
The plan “prevents any company in the world from selling oil to our country” and also targets CUPET, the Cuban company responsible for fuel logistics and energy infrastructure, he explained. … continue
As people around the world celebrate the global football competition known as the World Cup, pro-Palestine activists have called out FIFA for its complicity in Israeli apartheid, and called on the global football operation to drop its ties with Sentrycs, and Israeli anti-drone technology company.
According to the Israeli news site Globes, “As part of its acquisition spree in Israel, US company Ondas (Nasdaq: ONDS) last November bought Sentrycs, which develops and produces anti-drone technologies. Sentrycs technology has been chosen to provide security against drones during the World Cup this summer in the US, Canada and Mexico.”
Quds News reports that Sentrycs, the company securing World Cup matches, is an Israeli company founded in Tel Aviv under the supervision of individuals who worked and trained in Unit 8200, the intelligence unit of the Israeli army. The company’s products are also used by the Israeli army and by weapons manufacturers affiliated with the Israeli government, such as Rafael.
According to Quds News, this role makes Sentrycs complicit in the genocide in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and its technologies have contributed to the commission of war crimes. Sentrycs’ participation in securing World Cup matches is a reward for the company despite its crimes against humanity, instead of subjecting it to boycott and accountability.
On Saturday, illegal colonizers, with the support of Israeli soldiers, injured at least six Palestinians in the Hebron and Salfit governorates. Settlers demolished a barn in the town of Arraba, southwest of Jenin, while soldiers and settlers harassed farmers and prevented them from accessing their land.
Media sources reported that a group of Israeli settlers from the nearby illegal “Beit Ein” colony stormed Palestinian lands in the “Al-Quraynat” area in the town of Surif, northwest of Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.
Occupation soldiers, providing protection for the illegal settlers, opened fire with live rounds towards Palestinians who resisted the incursion.
Two Palestinians, a father (57) and his son (27), sustained live gunshot injuries, while another young man (31) suffered a fractured jaw and bruising, after settlers assaulted him with batons.
Another group of colonizers assaulted Palestinians while they were picking sage in the village of Iskaka, northeast of Salfit in the central West Bank.
The settlers injured the citizens Bashar Lami, Aisha Lami, and Fawzia Lami after assaulting them; they were transported to the hospital for treatment. … Full article
Al-Jazeera Media Network condemned on 20 June Israel’s “deliberate killing” of one of its journalists in Gaza, Ahmad Washah, while calling on the international community to punish Israeli officials for this and other crimes against its media workers.
Ahmad Washah, a cameraman for Al-Jazeera Mubasher, was killed by an Israeli drone strike on a house in Al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza on Saturday.
He is the 12th Al-Jazeera media worker to be killed in Gaza since Israel began its genocide of Palestinians in October 2023.
The network called on “the international community and legal institutions to take urgent, practical measures to hold the Israeli officials involved in these appalling crimes accountable,” the statement added.
Washah’s brother, Mohammad, was killed in an Israeli strike just two months earlier, in April, also while working as a correspondent for Al-Jazeera Mubasher. Before Mohammed’s death, the brothers worked together as a team, with Ahmad filming for Mohammad. … continue
Two Palestinians, including a child, were killed and several others injured in Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip on Sunday, in the latest violations of a ceasefire in effect since Oct. 10, 2025, a medical source said, Anadolu reports.
An Israeli strike targeted a group of civilians near Dream Hall west of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, killing the two and injuring others, the source said.
Another Palestinian was critically wounded after an Israeli airstrike hit a tent at Ibn Sina School in the Al-Nasr neighborhood northwest of Gaza City, the source added.
Both locations targeted by the Israeli military lie outside areas where Israeli forces are deployed under the terms of the ceasefire agreement, witnesses told Anadolu Agency. … Full article
DAMASCUS – The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) carried out an incursion into Syrian territory early Sunday morning, reaching the village of Abdin in the Yarmouk Basin area of the western Daraa countryside.
The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that more than 10 military vehicles carrying troops advanced into the area between Ma’ariya and Abdin, eventually reaching the outskirts of Abdin.
The IOF reportedly searched several homes in the village of Abdin, sparking panic among local residents.
Southern Syrian areas, in particular, witness near-daily Israeli violations taking multiple forms, including airstrikes, incursions, the establishment of military checkpoints, as well as home raids and the detention of civilians, among them children and shepherds.
The Israeli military said on Friday that the commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Armored Brigade was killed in southern Lebanon, an announcement that has renewed attention on the same unit previously linked to the harrowing killing of six-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab in Gaza, Anadolu Agency reported.
The army stated that Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, from Beit HaShita and commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Brigade, was killed alongside three soldiers after their tank was struck by Hezbollah during confrontations in South Lebanon.
Ben Simhon is the fourth commander of the 52nd Battalion to be killed or wounded since the beginning of the Israeli war in Gaza and Lebanon, as per Israeli media.
The 52nd Battalion has come under international scrutiny over its involvement in the killing of six-year-old Hind Rajab. … Full article
Iran’s Prosecutor General Mohammad Movahedi Azad says the judiciary has launched hundreds of criminal and civil cases related to acts of aggression by the United States and Israel against the Iranian nation.
Speaking during a televised interview on Saturday, Movahedi Azad said the judiciary began legal proceedings immediately after the 12-day war in June 2025.
Legal authorities, he said, have since filed criminal complaints against those responsible and opened multiple cases at the Tehran Prosecutor’s Office.
According to him, more than 200 criminal cases have been referred to special investigative branches and are currently under review.
Several rulings, including compensation judgments against Washington and countries allied with it, had already been issued, with some entering the enforcement stage, he added.
In parallel, special civil courts staffed by judges with relevant expertise have been established to handle compensation claims arising from the aggression against the Islamic Republic. … continue
The Strait of Hormuz will not be reopened until a ceasefire in Lebanon is properly put into practice and oil wavers are issued, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday.
Citing a source close to the negotiating team, the news outlet reported that the waterway would remain closed until these conditions were met.
Iran reimposed its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz following continued Israeli attacks on Lebanese territory, with the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters stating that the Israeli aggressions violate the memorandum of understanding signed with the US. … Full article
The Iranian delegation to talks with the United States has raised objections directly with the American side over President Donald Trump’s latest threat of further military strikes, and is now weighing its next steps, a source told Press TV.
“The Iranian delegation has raised its objections to the American side and is currently assessing the conditions to give a proper response to Trump’s verbal threats,” the source said on Sunday.
Trump on Sunday threatened to restart war with Iran, warning Tehran to rein in its allies in Lebanon or face renewed and more powerful US military strikes.
“Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!” Trump wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform, referring to US war against the Islamic Republic, which started late February.
The threat was made as Iranian and American delegations were engaged in critical negotiations, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, at the Bürgenstock resort in central Switzerland, where they are working to implement a 14-point memorandum of understanding.
The talks were the first to be held under the terms of the Islamabad MoU agreed a week ago.
Trump’s threat of further military action against Iran is a direct contravention of US commitments under the interim deal, whose clause 1 commits both parties “not to initiate any war or any military operation against each other, and to refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.”
A source close to Iran’s negotiating team later told Tasnim news agency that the Iranian delegation left the venue of talks with the United States in protest over Trump’s latest threat.
BEIRUT – Seven people, including two Palestinians, were martyred following Israeli airstrikes on areas in southern Lebanon, the National News Agency (NNA) reported on Sunday morning.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, five citizens, including a woman and a child, were martyred in Israeli airstrikes targeting the town of Sohmor in the Western Beqaa district.
Two Palestinians were also martyred in an airstrike that targeted the Rashidiyah refugee camp in the Tyre district.
These Israeli attacks come despite reports by Hebrew media outlets saying that the Israeli leadership issued strict directives for a complete ceasefire in southern Lebanon, the second such order in less than 24 hours.
The new Israeli instructions reportedly followed American pressure after Iran reclosed the Strait of Hormuz in response to violations of the ceasefire agreement, which mandates a permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon.
Al Mayadeen’s Geneva Bureau chief reported on Sunday that various bilateral and trilateral meetings have begun at the Bürgenstock resort as preparations continue ahead of the first official session of Iran-US talks.
He added that the opening session is scheduled to take place at 2:30 PM al-Quds time.
The first file to be discussed after the inaugural session was the implementation of the first clause, which relates to ending the war, particularly on Lebanon, he further added.
Al Mayadeen’s Geneva bureau chief later reported that the Iranian delegation held talks with the Qatari delegation in Geneva to discuss the ceasefire in Lebanon, adding that the negotiations are scheduled to conclude later today, in line with the agreed agenda.
He also reported that, following a meeting with the Iranian delegation, Pakistani Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff are holding talks with the US delegation, headed by Vice President JD Vance.
Sources had similarly told CNN earlier today that the talks will begin with an emergency session on Lebanon.
On a related note, an Iranian official had told CNN on Saturday that ending the Israeli war on Lebanon is “the most important item on the Iranian delegation’s agenda.”
Before departing for Switzerland, US Vice President JD Vance said that one of the top concerns included in the talks would be to make progress towards a ceasefire in Lebanon. … Full article
After every wave of strikes on Lebanon, the Israeli army claims striking Hezbollah, in response to what it insolently calls “the group’s repeated violations of the ceasefire,” listing fighters, command centers, rocket launch sites, and military infrastructure among the “targets”.
Yet the aftermath on the ground looks nothing like a battlefield of command centers and launch sites. It resembles more destroyed homes, grieving families, and children pulled from beneath the rubble.
By the end of June 19, Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health said Israeli attacks had killed 83 people and wounded 141 others across more than 30 towns and villages, many of them women and children. Images from the targeted areas showed destroyed homes, devastated residential neighborhoods, grieving families, and civilians being pulled from beneath the rubble, directly challenging “Israel’s” attempt to frame the assault as precise operations against “Hezbollah infrastructure”. […]
Despite “Israel’s” assertion that it was striking “Hezbollah infrastructure”, publicly available images from the targeted areas largely show damage to civilian neighborhoods and homes, with no sign whatsoever of military installations in any of the images.
While “Israel” claims its military operations are a “response to Hezbollah attacks and violations” of the ceasefire, Hezbollah announces that its operations are carried out in response to continued Israeli military advances and incursions into Lebanese territory, arguing that resistance against occupation forces constitutes self-defense enshrined in international law rather than a breach of the truce. … Read full article
Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich says the occupation’s forces will stay in Lebanon even if the United States demands their withdrawal.
In an interview with an Israeli newspaper published over the weekend, Smotrich was asked if the regime’s army would remain in Lebanon for years.
He replied, “Yes, and I say this as someone who is currently holding negotiations over the management of the army budget for the next decade.”
Asked if Israel should be forming military posts and bases in Lebanon, he said, “Everything, definitely.”
“But of course, until [the Lebanese resistance group] Hezbollah disarms, we aren’t moving a millimeter. This is the stance of the prime minister and the minister of military affairs, and mine too, and we are determined to stick to it,” the extremist minister added.
Smotrich also claimed the regime’s military won’t withdraw from Lebanon even in the face of an explicit US demand to do so.
He said he estimates that no such American demand will come, because “they understand our red lines.” … Full article
After a week where it seemed the US-“Israel” and Iran were inevitably sliding back into open war, President Trump finally decided to cut his losses and snatch defeat from the jaws of catastrophe. The terms of his submission to Iran, aptly signed in the Palace of Versailles, enter the historical record as among the most humiliating articles of surrender ever accepted, not least by a supposed global hegemon.
On the sidelines of the G7 summit in Switzerland, no less than Trump himself admitted that his decision to accede to almost all of Iran’s demands was meant to forestall an imminent economic depression triggered by the Hormuz blockade. Still more jarringly, all of the many systemic concessions given by Washington; the ending of the US naval blockade, the immediate suspension of US sanctions against Tehran, the handing over of Iran’s sovereign assets frozen around the world, the muzzling of “Israel” from continuing its pyromaniacal rampage of the last three years- all of this was given by Washington in exchange for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz (open before the war) and Iran’s willingness to negotiate the status of its nuclear program later on.
Of the agreed conditions, the most jaw-dropping article, which many found exceedingly difficult to take seriously, was the establishment of a fund for the reconstruction and economic development of Iran, amounting to $300 billion. The most up-to-date estimates of the damages caused to the Iranian economy by the US-Israeli aggression totaled $270 billion, a figure likely to be preliminary rather than final. Alongside this eye-watering sum, Tehran has already begun exporting its energy and petrochemical products free from the constraints of US primary and secondary sanctions, something almost certain to become permanent, while its $100 to $150 billions of international assets will bring in an added infusion of economic activity. … continue
… The US Military has blown through its jet fuel reserves. The problem is compounded becuase Diesel reserves are at 25 year low. Diesel and Jet Fuel are critical Distillates. So the Trump administration must make a choice: support the military jets with jet fuel, or support the trucking Fleet with enough diesel fuel, to provide food and products to US consumers. Trump can’t wage war and keep the economy going at the current rate because diesel and jet fuel compete with each other when comes to production. So the question is, do you want to wage war or do you wanna save the economy and keep the trucks moving on the road? This is the main reason Trump signed the MoU with Iran. … Read full article
I doubt these professors have anything to fear from a food tax
By Eric Worrall | Watts Up With That? | November 19, 2016
A group of researchers in Oxford University, England have suggested that imposing a massive tax on carbon intensive foods – specifically protein rich foods like meat and dairy – could help combat climate change. […]
This proposal, from a group of people who have probably never missed a meal in their lives, is totally obscene. High income countries often have a lot of poor people who would be hard hit by increases in the price of food.
Needlessly exacerbating the risk poor people don’t get enough to eat, especially children and pregnant mothers, who are especially vulnerable to adverse health impacts from lack of protein in their diet – if this ghastly proposal is ever implemented, future generations will look upon it as a crime against humanity. – Read full article
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A church in Odessa dedicated to the Russian Orthodox saint Aleksandr Nevsky has been seized by anti-Russian activists. The incident follows a pattern of government-backed crackdowns on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the country’s largest denomination.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has turned the UK into an “authoritarian hellhole,” with more people being jailed and arrested for social media posts than in any other country in the world, former MP George Galloway has told RT.
“The United States has a responsibility to protect its citizens abroad, and we must hold our allies to basic standards of equal justice under the law,” Tran added.
A report 
Palestinian detainee Saber Al-Amital from the Negev region has reportedly died in Israeli custody, Palestinian rights groups announced on Sunday, calling for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
IMEMC – June 22, 2026
Al-Jazeera Media Network 
The Israeli military said on Friday that the commander of the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Armored Brigade was killed in southern Lebanon, an announcement that has renewed attention on the same unit previously linked to the 
The Iranian delegation to talks with the United States has raised objections directly with the American side over President Donald Trump’s latest threat of further military strikes, and is now weighing its next steps, a source told Press TV.
After every wave of strikes on Lebanon, the Israeli army claims striking Hezbollah, in response to what it insolently calls “the group’s repeated violations of the ceasefire,” listing fighters, command centers, rocket launch sites, and military infrastructure among the “targets”.
After a week where it seemed the US-“Israel” and Iran were inevitably sliding back into open war, President Trump finally decided to cut his losses and snatch defeat from the jaws of catastrophe. The 
Aletho News 