[RFI.FR] On Thursday, 88 senators voted in favour of lifting Joseph Kabila's immunity; five opposed and three abstained.
Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi alleges Kabila conspired with the Rwanda-backed M23, whose recent offensive has intensified the more than three-decade-long conflict in the east of the country.
Kabila, who has been outside the country since 2023, was not present in the chamber at the time of the vote.
By the vote, "the Senate authorises the prosecution and lifting of Joseph Kabila's immunity," declared the upper house's speaker Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde.
Kabila now faces the prospect of being tried in military courts for "treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in an insurrectionary movement".
[IsraelTimes] Force working to identify suspect caught on CCTV footage approaching home in Golders Green and prying religious item from doorpost; community security says several houses targeted
No act too petty for the h8ters.
We have received multiple reports of incidents that appear to be deliberate acts of #antisemitism, involving the removal of mezuzah’s in #GoldersGreen.
We are liaising with police. If you’ve been a victim, contact #Shomrim NW London on 03009991234 quoting ref NW683-20/05/25 pic.twitter.com/FKAZHQh9cu
— Shomrim North West London (@shomrimlondon) May 20, 2025
[Times of IS] House of Commons, in London, on May 20, 2025.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced Tuesday that the United Kingdom is suspending free trade agreement negotiations with Israel and taking other punitive measures, including the imposition of sanctions on West Bank settlers, in response to Israel’s wartime policies during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
The announcement followed comments by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer earlier on Tuesday, saying he was "horrified" by Israel’s expanded ground campaign in Gaza.
"While the UK government remains committed to the existing trade agreement in force, it is not possible to advance discussions on a new, upgraded FTA with a Netanyahu government that is pursuing egregious policies in the West Bank and Gaza," the British government wrote in a statement.
[GEO.TV] Pak was the top nationality among asylum applicants in 2024-25 in the United Kingdom, according to figures published by the Home Office.
Paks accounted for 11,048 people or 10.1% of the total asylum applicants in the last year, the Home Office said.
A total of 109,343 people applied for asylum in the year to March 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001. The number is up 17% from 93,150 in the year ending March 2024, according to figures published by the Home Office.
In 2023-24, Pak was the third most common nationality (7.5% of the total) and in that year 7,003 applied for asylum.
The previous record was 108,138 in the 12 months to December 2024. The number of asylum applications in the UK has hit a new high, though the backlog of cases waiting for a decision has fallen to its lowest level since 2021.
Migrants who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel in small boats accounted for 33% of the total number of people claiming asylum in the year to March.
"Afghan" was the second most common nationality among people claiming asylum in the year to March (8,069 people, 7.4% of the total), down from 9,738 (10.5%) in 2023-24 when it was the most common nationality.
Along with Pakistain, the largest increase in asylum claims in 2024-25 came from Syrian nationals, which stood at 6,175 (5.6% of the total), up from 4,232 (4.5%) in 2023-24.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[KavkazUzel] The Chechen mosque in Leninaul was demolished in violation of the order of the Mufti of Dagestan, the issue will be resolved with the participation of theologians from the republics of the North Caucasus Federal District, stated the Mufti of Chechnya Salakh Mezhiyev, announcing a discussion of the restoration of the Aukhovsky District.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", in Leninaul, Kazbekovsky District, Dagestan, despite agreements with the authorities, a Chechen mosque built in the 19th century was demolished, village residents stated in a video message. The plot of land in Leninaul, where, according to representatives of the Chechen community, the 19th century mosque was located, was sold at auction to a representative of the Avar community, who transferred it for the construction of a mosque.
The authorities did not find any documents in the archives about the ownership of this plot of land by the Chechens, the administration of the Kazbekovsky District stated. The Muftiate and the Council of Chechens of Dagestan agreed to resolve the issue of demolishing the mosque in Leninaul according to Sharia law. Islamic scholars called the demand to build a mosque on the site of the demolished one not a norm of Islam, but simply a local tradition.
There are many unclear points in the story of the demolition of the mosque in Leninaul, but the decision to demolish it was hasty and provoked interethnic tensions, commentators pointed out, drawing attention to the lack of reaction to the statement of the Chechen Accidents by the Chechen authorities.
The Mufti of Chechnya, head of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus (CCMC) Salakh Mezhiev, stated that those who demolished the mosque in Leninaul disobeyed the Mufti of Dagestan.
"Before this happened, on May 6, we sent our delegation, our representatives to the Mufti of Dagestan. They reported that such a question was at issue, to which the Mufti of Dagestan quite rightly, clearly and distinctly said that this was unacceptable," he said in a video published on the KCMSC Telegram channel.
But the mosque was demolished. "The people who did this disobeyed, first of all, the Mufti of Dagestan. After that, we sent our delegation again, and the Mufti of Dagestan, of course, expressed his dissatisfaction with what happened. We agreed that after the Hajj we would sit down and discuss this at the level of theologians," the publication from May 23 says.
He noted that the Dagestani side had called for this investigation. Therefore, this incident will be resolved according to Islamic norms with the participation of theologians from other republics of the North Caucasus.
This has been a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens are unable to move into their homes
"There will be two questions. Firstly, to what extent does the demolition of the mosque comply with the norms of Islam, what happened, and what should we do next. The second question is a sore point for many years. Upon returning from exile after Stalin's repressions, Chechens cannot move into their homes. As the chairman of the Coordination Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus Federal District, I would like to note that this trial will not only be between theologians of Dagestan and Chechnya. Other theologians from all spiritual administrations of the North Caucasus will also be present there," the mufti emphasized.
The Aukhovsky district, where the Chechens-Akkintsy lived compactly, was liquidated in 1944 after Stalin's deportation of the Chechens and Ingush. In the northwestern part of the district's territory, the Novolaksky District was formed, this part was populated by Laks from the mountainous part of Dagestan, and the southeastern part of the district was transferred to the neighboring Kazbekovsky District together with the villages of Yurt-Aukh and Aktash-Aukh and populated by Avars from the neighboring village. Thirteen years later, in 1957, the Akkin Chechens, like the rest of the deported Vainakh peoples, were allowed to return to their historical homeland.
[RFI.FR] La Belle France plans to build a maximum-security prison wing for narcos and radicalised Islamists near a former penal colony in its overseas department of French Guiana, sparking outcry among residents and local officials. Kids! Kids! Devil's Island is coming back!
The wing will form part of a $450 million prison announced in 2017, which is expected to be completed by 2028 and hold 500 inmates.
The prison is to be built in Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, a town bordering Suriname that once received prisoners shipped by Napoleon III in the 1800s, some of whom were sent to the notorious Devil's Island off the coast of French Guiana.
French Justice Minister G rald Darmanin announced plans to build the high-security wing during an official visit to French Guiana on Saturday, saying: "I have decided to establish La Belle France's third high-security prison in Guiana."
DRUG TRAFFICKING
Darmanin was quoted by French weekly newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche as saying that the prison also aims to keep suspected narcos from having any contact with their criminal networks.
French prison attack probe shifts from terrorism to narco gangs
''We are seeing more and more drug trafficking networks,'' he told news hounds. "My strategy is simple — hit organised crime at all levels. Here in Guiana, at the start of the drug trafficking route. In mainland La Belle France, by neutralising the network leaders. And all the way to consumers. This prison will be a safeguard in the war against narcotrafficking."
Darmanin, who forged a reputation for a tough stance on drugs in his previous role as interior minister, added that the prison's location "will serve to permanently isolate the heads of drug trafficking networks" since "they will no longer be able to contact their criminal networks".
He also said in a Facebook post that 15 of the wing's 60 spaces would be reserved for Islamic murderous Moslems.
French media, quoting the Justice ministry, reported that people from French Guiana and French Caribbean territories would be sent in priority to the new prison.
The US Justice Department said Elias Rodriguez, 31, has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder, as well as other charges, including the murder of foreign officials.
An affidavit filed by an FBI agent in support of the criminal complaint said that as police escorted Rodriguez from the building, he shouted, “Free Palestine.”
The document said police reviewed security footage showing Rodriguez walking past the victims outside the museum, then turning, pulling a firearm from his waistband, and shooting them in the back.
After the victims fell to the ground, he approached them and fired several more times, as Milgrim attempted to crawl away from him. Milgrim then sat up while Rodriguez reloaded, and he shot her again, the video shows, according to the affidavit.
Investigators recovered 21 empty shell cases and a 9mm handgun from the scene that matched a firearm Rodriguez purchased in Illinois in 2020. He flew from Chicago to Virginia with the firearm in his checked baggage, the affidavit said. He had declared the firearm for the flight.
Rodriguez later told detectives that he admired Aaron Bushnell, an anti-Israel activist who self-immolated outside the Israeli embassy last year in protest, calling Bushnell a “martyr.” Rodriguez, a 30-year-old from Chicago, also said he had bought a ticket to the event at the museum three hours before it started.
The case is being investigated by the FBI and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, and is being prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Yechiel Leiter, said the attacker was inside the event before the attack.
“He milled around inside the event. We still don’t know exactly what he said, but he said enough that they removed him,” Leiter said at a press briefing at the scene of the attack. “He went outside, waited for embassy workers to come out, and shot them.”
Three others escaped the shooting unharmed, Leiter said.
At his first appearance in court on Thursday, the suspect waived his right to a detention hearing, and a preliminary hearing in the case was set for June 18.
Rodriguez said little during the proceeding except to answer, “I do” to questions from a federal magistrate judge about whether he understood his rights.
FBI agents were seen at his apartment in Chicago on Thursday, where law enforcement blocked off the street.
On Wednesday night, three armed security officers stood guard as the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington held its annual meeting in the nation’s capital. On the agenda: discussions about the various ways antisemitic rhetoric can lead to violence.
Hours later, JCRC CEO Ron Halber said, he found out about the deadly shooting of two Israeli embassy staff at the Capital Jewish Museum. It was a nightmare come to life.
“It’s just godawful. There’s no other way to describe it. It was a horrific, antisemitic, anti-Israel, violent attack,” Halber told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Thursday. “For years I’ve said in Washington, we’re lucky we’ve never had anything” of this magnitude attacking the Jewish community. “That record came to an end last night.”
In the attack’s aftermath, Jewish community professionals including Halber are refocusing, again, on how to protect their institutions from threats. The shooting has also raised urgent questions: What went wrong? And what needs to change?
“Why they failed tonight we obviously have to figure out,” Eric Fingerhut, CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, said in an interview with JTA hours after the shooting, regarding security.
He added later, “The risks have continued to rise as antisemitism has risen and as anti-Israel behavior in America has risen and our security teams have worked so hard to keep up with that. They obviously didn’t succeed tonight but we will not stop until we’ve ensured the security of our community.”
The timeline of the attack is relatively clear and, to security analysts, troubling: According to reports, the attacker shot his victims, the couple Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, on the street outside the museum as the event, organized by the American Jewish Committee, was winding down.
He then walked inside the museum, where an eyewitness said organizers offered him water and he remained for around 10 minutes until police arrived and he confessed to the shooting. Both elements of the incident — that the attacker was able to reach his victims outside the event and then proceed inside for an extended period of time — indicate missteps, according to security professionals.
“What concerned me as a seasoned law enforcement official is in all the work and the efforts that we put into training civilians, his behavior was almost literally screaming that there’s an issue here,” said Paul Goldenberg, the former head of the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide. Goldenberg said that in a widely circulated video of the suspect entering the building, he appeared nervous and disheveled, with jerky movements.
Goldenberg says in the future, rank-and-file attendees need to be aware of those signs — and act on them by alerting someone.
“The second he walked in after the shooting there should have been a plan,” added Goldenberg, who is now the chief policy adviser and head of global policing at Rutgers University’s Miller Center on Policing. “If we know that he just shot individuals outside, whatever security was in place, he never should have made it inside that building.”
Neither the AJC nor the museum immediately responded to JTA queries about who was responsible for security on Wednesday night. But by Thursday afternoon, five of the leading Jewish groups that focus on security put out a series of security recommendations for future events.
The recommendations focus principally on expanding the security perimeter of events; withholding the details of events and vetting attendees; and coordinating with law enforcement or hiring security guards.
The AJC had done at least some of that: The invitation said the location would be “shared upon registration.”
“The Jewish community is already among the most hardened targets in the country,” Oren Segal, who oversees the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told JTA prior to the recommendations being publicized. “Bulletproof glass and metal detectors is the norm. And the question is, how broad does the perimeter need to be for the Jews to feel secure?”
Leading up to the event, the museum was broadly conscious of threats. The day before the shooting, it had announced a new security grant from the local DC government — one that Halber said the JCRC had helped arrange — in connection to a new exhibit on LGBTQ Jews.
The $30,000 grant was meant to help the museum cover the costs of security guards both at the front desk and roaming around the museum “to make sure that everybody is safe and that we are prepared in the event of an emergency,” executive director Beatrice Gurwitz told local news at the time. She added that the grant “also helps our staff prepare.”
Signs in window: “Proud Union Home,” “Justice for Wadea”
Jewish Voice for Peace (founded by Hamas BDS activist Hatem Bazian, while its social media managers live in Lebanon and a large chunk of its funding comes from the Soros Open Society Foundations)
Party for Socialism and Liberation - Chicago
ANSWER Chicago (formerly known as International A.N.S.W.E.R.)
Yesterday we learnt that Mr. Rodriguez‘s father, Eric Rodriguez, was an activist for veteran’s and federal workers’ rights, for which he was honoured by Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), who brought him to see President Trump’s joint speech to Congress in March. This report adds that he had served in the Army National Guard, which sent him to Iraq.
[GEO.TV] Pakistain extended its airspace closure for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines until 4:59 am local time on June 24, the Pakistain Airports Authority said in a statement on Friday.
The restriction applies to "all aircraft registered, operated, owned, or leased by India" and includes Indian military aircraft, the authority said in a statement.
Meanwhile,
...back at the abandoned silver mine, there was another explosion... India also extended airspace closure for Pakistain or Pakistain-operated airlines till June 23.
The move extends restrictions first imposed last month amid continuing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the Pahalgam attack in April, which resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir ...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there.... (IIOJK).
India had unilaterally closed its airspace to Pak flights on April 23, prompting a reciprocal ban from Islamabad the next day. India then took several other measures against Pakistain.
Later, on May 6-7, India launched unprovoked attacks on multiple Pak cities. In response, the armed forces of Pakistain launched a large-scale retaliatory military action, named "Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos", and targeted several Indian military installations across multiple regions on May 10.
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[IsraelTimes] TV report says Hamas chief made mistake of meeting with top commanders without his usual protective ‘hostage belt’; when Israel was sure no captives were present, it bombed
The strike that targeted and possibly eliminated Hamas ..a regional Iranian catspaw,... leader Muhammad Sinwar in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... earlier this month was made possible when the terror chief made the rare mistake of moving without a defensive "hostage belt" protecting him, according to a Friday report.
Channel 12 aired new details on the massive strike on Sinwar and other top Hamas officials in a Khan Younis tunnel on May 13 that is currently believed to have killed Sinwar, the de facto commander of Hamas in Gaza, following Israel’s killing of his brother Yahya last October.
The network said Muhammad Sinwar was almost always surrounded by hostages throughout the war, as Hamas leaders realized this was a strong deterrent against Israeli liquidation attempts. And indeed, Channel 12 said Israeli intelligence had long tracked Sinwar but repeatedly ruled out potential strikes on him when presented with the opportunity due to fears there were hostages in his vicinity.
"No risks are taken if there’s even a one percent chance that hostages are in the area," a security source told the network.
The report said Sinwar became even more careful following the death of his brother in a firefight with Israeli forces, and that only a very small number of people knew his location at any time, echoing a report Thursday in the Wall Street Journal.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... for unknown reasons, Sinwar decided on May 13 to meet with the commander of the Rafah Brigade in Hamas’s military wing, Mohammad Shabana, as well as other senior commanders, without his usual escort of hostages.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Hamas and Arab officials who said the meeting of tap-ranking Hamas figures was convened to discuss their approach to talks on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, among other matters.
Presented with this opportunity, the Israeli Air Force immediately began preparing for a strike, the report said, though top officers expected it would likely be called off due to fears of harming hostages.
However,
a poor excuse is better than no excuse at all... when ironclad intelligence arrived that no hostages were present, the IAF was given the green light, jets were scrambled, and the bombing went ahead.
The strikes targeted an underground command compound below the European Hospital. The Hamas-run health ministry reported 16 dead and over 70 maimed in the strike, though there was no immediate word if Sinwar was among the casualties.
The IDF later bombed the area several more times, in an apparent attempt to prevent anyone from approaching the tunnel and aiding the terror operatives.
According to the officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, Hamas recovered Sinwar’s body a day after the strike and temporarily buried it in another tunnel, with the intention of moving his remains to a more suitable grave once the fighting ceases.
Saudi channel al-Hadath reported that Sinwar’s body was was recovered along with the remains of 10 of his aides. Hamas has not confirmed this.
Israel has also not confirmed that Sinwar was killed, but Defense Minister Israel Katz said that "according to all the indications Muhammad Sinwar was eliminated."
Following the killing of Hamas’s top military commander, Muhammad Deif, last July, Muhammad Sinwar took charge of the terror group’s military wing. Later, after Sinwar’s older brother Yahya was killed by IDF troops, he became the de facto leader of the terror group in the Strip.
Israeli officials have described Muhammad Sinwar as obstinate concerning negotiations for the release of hostages, and an obstacle to reaching a ceasefire deal.
The younger Sinwar was also wanted for terrorist actions against Israel and has been active in Hamas for decades.
He was locked away Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out! by Israel in the 1990s for nine months and spent an additional three years in a Paleostinian Authority prison in Ramallah, from which he escaped in 2000. In 2006, Sinwar was part of the Hamas cell that kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. He also previously commanded Hamas’s Khan Younis Brigade.
Most of Hamas’s leadership has been eliminated by Israel during the ongoing war, which was sparked when the terror group stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
On Thursday, Paleostinian media reported that Zakaria Sinwar, brother of Yahya and Muhammad Sinwar, succumbed to wounds sustained in an Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... on Saturday night.
Zakaria, a lecturer at the Islamic University in Gaza, was initially said to have been killed in the strike, but media reports later said he had been critically injured.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Leonid Tsukanov
[REGNUM] Spy scandals in Israel have reached a new level: Israel Katz, the head of the Israeli Defense Ministry and one of the close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is in the crosshairs of Iranian intelligence.
The Israelis have uncovered an assassination attempt on Katz and are certain that its goal was to disrupt the operation to destroy the Iranian nuclear arsenal.
However, the desire to emphasize the “Iranian trace” in the spy story rather suggests the opposite: Tel Aviv is desperately looking for a reason to disrupt negotiations between Tehran and Washington, and at the same time justify its own operations against Iran.
CONSPIRATORIAL FRIENDS
The main defendant in the case is considered to be Roy Mizrahi, a 24-year-old computer science student at the Technion, one of the oldest and leading engineering schools in the country.
Mizrahi is known to have fallen into a honey trap and was recruited by Iranian operatives through the Haifa swingers' community he belonged to.
Moreover, by the time of the meeting with the Iranians, the suspect had accumulated a lot of debt due to his passion for card games, which gave Tehran's special services another lever of influence. The young programmer found himself firmly entangled in a spy network.
At first, he was entrusted with simple tasks: distributing propaganda materials and collecting information about the mood of Israeli youth. However, a little later they decided to use his computer engineer skills to his advantage.
On the orders of the Iranians, Mizrahi installed a live camera near the Haifa port and gave access to it to his handlers. According to some reports, he also participated in organizing small DDoS attacks on city institutions several times.
A few weeks later, when the new agent's loyalty was no longer in doubt, Mizrahi helped the Iranians expand their spy network by recruiting his friend Almog Atias.
He worked as a driver-forwarder and was known as a gambling addict, and therefore needed money. To "deepen the acquaintance" the Iranians gave him a "starting allowance" of $300.
At that time, Iranian intelligence apparently decided to entrust a promising agent with a truly big task.
OPERATION HAWK
The plotters were ordered to eliminate Israeli cabinet member Israel Katz. Since becoming defense minister in the fall of 2024, he has become one of the most ardent "hawks" in the coalition government and a lobbyist for a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear infrastructure. His elimination was entirely in Tehran's national security interests.
A few days after learning about the plan, the newly formed team was transferred to the south of the country, to the community of Kfar Ahim, where Katz lived permanently. There they were supposed to install a surveillance camera, ensuring constant monitoring of the minister's home. However, the appearance of a police patrol ruined their plans.
Fearing surveillance, the conspirators destroyed the camera and switched to a backup plan: an attack on the ministerial motorcade. For this purpose, a rifle and a pistol with silencers were purchased on the black market, as well as several homemade bombs.
Also, according to testimony, the accused tried to bribe the driver and security guard of the Minister of Defense in order to take his car away from crowded streets and eliminate strong resistance during the assassination attempt.
The plan was to eliminate Katz on the eve of the country's Independence Day (from April 30 to May 1), turning the assassination attempt into a political manifesto and "revenge for the bloody operation" in the Gaza Strip.
However, as further investigation showed, neither Mizrahi nor Atias shared the idea of Palestinian independence and voiced this version during interrogations only in the hope of creating international publicity.
Be that as it may, they failed to carry out their plan: a few days before the alleged assassination attempt, both were arrested.
The Israeli intelligence services did not make a fuss and preferred to first look for other leads in the Iranian network. Especially since the agents who were arrested began to give each other up, telling about caches of money, ammunition and special equipment.
Subsequently, in the wake of the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” several more investigations with a “Persian flair” were initiated, but Israeli operatives were never able to generalize them and discover a single spy network.
OCTOPUS HEAD
The Minister of Defense, by all appearances, took the news of the assassination attempt philosophically. His statements, made after the arrest of the conspirators (who were not yet officially known at the time), not only did not become more restrained, but, on the contrary, acquired a more militant tone.
Among other things, Katz declared a vendetta against the leaders of the Yemeni Houthis and promised to destroy the leadership of Hamas and Hezbollah. He used the news of the foiled plot, announced by counterintelligence, as a basis for attacks on Iran.
In particular, he called Tehran “the head of a terrorist octopus” and reaffirmed his commitment to “preventing at any cost” the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons.
It is noteworthy that the Israeli minister announced his readiness to fight on the eve of a new round of Iranian-American negotiations on peaceful nuclear energy.
Katz and his entourage have been pressing the White House for months to give the green light to an air operation against the opponent's nuclear facilities before the window of opportunity due to Iran's weakened air defenses closes completely.
Washington is slow and trying to keep interaction with Tehran on a diplomatic track. As a gesture of goodwill, the United States even withdrew some of the strategic bombers from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean that were transferred there in March 2025, and also agreed to a ceasefire with the Yemeni Houthis.
The easing of tensions between Washington and Tehran is weakening Tel Aviv's pressure. That is why Israeli military hawks led by Katz are desperately trying to use the "Mizrahi-Atias affair" as an argument to justify further confrontation.
EASTERN HINTS
The wave of criticism provoked by this spy story, at first glance, passed by the Iranians. Tehran had not reacted too violently to scandals with agents attributed to it before, and after the number of those arrested in spy cases exceeded fifteen, it began to essentially ignore the accusations of Tel Aviv.
At the same time, Katz’s speech with promises to respond to Tehran’s actions at any cost received a comprehensive response.
Official releases appeared (within a few hours of each other) on the websites of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, parliament and government; comments were given by high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and intelligence officials.
True, none of the agencies focused on the “Mizrahi-Atias affair,” limiting criticism to the inadmissibility of threats to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
The Iranian position was summed up by the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In one of his appeals to believers, he dressed up criticism of Israel in a religious story, emphasizing that "the one who constantly deceives will eventually become a victim of deception."
Thus, he pointed out that in the event of aggression against Iran, it would be too naive for Tel Aviv to count on unconditional military support from the United States. Especially in light of Donald Trump’s desire to “castle” in the Middle East and focus on supporting Arabian allies rather than Israel.
In general, the Iranian side made it clear to its opponents that Tel Aviv's speculations around spy stories do not frighten them and that Tehran is prepared to take a hit. In contrast, the Iranians put forward their own question: is Israel ready to face them one-on-one if something happens?
And, apparently, official Tel Aviv does not yet have a clear answer to it.
[IsraelTimes] Though the terror group was badly weakened by the war with Israel, popular support among Lebanese Shi’ites remains strong
Amid the rubble left by Israeli bombardment of south Leb ...Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects.... , campaign posters urge support for Hezbollah in elections on Saturday as the group aims to show it retains political clout despite the pounding it took in last year’s war.
For Hezbollah, the local vote is more important than ever, coinciding with mounting calls for its disarmament and continued Israeli Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s, and as many of its Shi’ite Moslem constituents still suffer the repercussions of the conflict.
Three rounds of voting already held this month have gone well for the Iran-backed terror group. In the south, many races won’t be contested, handing Hezbollah and its allies early wins.
"We will vote with blood," said Ali Tabaja, 21, indicating loyalty to Hezbollah. He’ll be voting in the city of Nabatieh rather than his village of Adaisseh because it has been destroyed.
"It’s a desert," he said.
The south’s rubble-strewn landscape reflects the devastating impact of the war, which began when Hezbollah began launching regular attacks on Israel in October 2023 in support of Hamas ..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,... following the latter terror group’s devastating attack on southern Israel.
After nearly a year of war, Israel launched a major offensive against the organization. Hezbollah emerged as a shadow of its former self, with its leaders and thousands of its fighters killed, its influence over the Lebanese state greatly diminished, and its Lebanese opponents gaining sway.
In a measure of how far the tables have turned, the new government has declared it aims to establish a state monopoly on arms, meaning Hezbollah should disarm.
Against this backdrop, the election results so far indicate "the war didn’t achieve the objective of downgrading Hezbollah’s popularity in the community," said Mohanad Hage Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center, a think tank. "On the contrary, many Shia now feel their fate is tied to Hezbollah’s fate.
Hezbollah’s election performance "really matters," Hage Ali added. "It shows they still represent the great majority of Shi’ites and underlines the reality that any attempt by other Lebanese to disarm them by force would risk being seen as a move against the community and jeopardize civil peace."
Hezbollah’s arms have long been a source of division in Lebanon, sparking a brief civil conflict in 2008. Critics say Hezbollah has unilaterally involved Lebanon in wider Middle East conflicts.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for dialogue with Hezbollah over a national defense strategy, implying discussion of its weaponry, but talks have yet to begin.
Wednesday saw the Lebanese and Paleostinian Authority presidents agree that Paleostinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for any attacks against Israel, and to remove weapons that aren’t under the authority of the Lebanese state.
Foreign Minister Youssef Raji, a Hezbollah opponent, has said that Lebanon has been told there will be no reconstruction aid from foreign donors until the state establishes a monopoly on arms.
Hezbollah, in turn, has put the onus on the government over reconstruction and accuses it of failing to take steps on that front, despite promises that the government is committed to it.
A US State Department spokesperson said that while Washington was engaged in supporting sustainable reconstruction in Lebanon, "this cannot happen without Hezbollah laying down their arms."
"We have also made clear that transparency and economic reform are the only path to greater investment and economic recovery for the country," the spokesperson said in response to a Rooters query.
Hezbollah claims its weapons are now gone from the south, but links any discussion of its remaining arsenal to Israel’s withdrawal from five positions it still holds, and an end to Israeli strikes.
Israel says Hezbollah still has combat infrastructure, including rocket launchers in the south, calling this "blatant violations of understandings between Israel and Lebanon." It says the five positions are necessary to defend northern Israel from the threat of Hezbollah, which had planned an October 7-style attack on northern communities.
A French diplomatic source said reconstruction would not materialize if Israel continues striking and the Lebanese government does not act fast enough on disarmament.
Donors also want Beirut to enact economic reforms.
Hashem Haidar, head of the government’s Council for the South, said the state lacks the funds to rebuild, but cited progress in rubble removal. Lebanon needs $11 billion for reconstruction and recovery, the World Bank estimates.
In Nabatieh, a pile of rubble marks the spot where 71-year-old Khalil Tarhini’s store once stood. It was one of dozens destroyed by Israeli bombardment in Nabatieh’s central market.
He has received no compensation and sees little point in voting. Expressing a sense of abandonment, he said: "The state did not stand by us."
The situation was very different in 2006, after a previous Hezbollah-Israel war. Aid flowed from Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... and Gulf Arab states.
Hezbollah says it has aided 400,000 people, paying for rent, furniture, and renovations. But the funds at its disposal appear well short of 2006, recipients say.
Hezbollah says state authorities have obstructed funds arriving from Iran, though Tehran is also more financially strapped than two decades ago due to tougher US sanctions and the reimposition of a "maximum pressure" policy by Washington.
As for Gulf states, their spending on Lebanon dried up as Hezbollah became embroiled in regional conflicts and, echoing the US, they declared it a terrorist group in 2016. Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... has echoed the Lebanese government’s position of calling for a state monopoly of arms.
Hezbollah politician Hassan Fadlallah said it was up to the government to secure reconstruction funding and that it was failing to take "serious steps" to get the process on track.
He warned that the issue risked deepening divisions in Lebanon if unaddressed. "How can one part of the nation be stable while another is in pain?" he said, referring to Shi’ites in the south and other areas, including Beirut’s Hezbollah-dominated southern suburbs, hard hit by Israel.
[IsraelTimes] Oman’s FM says ‘some but not conclusive progress’ made in negotiations
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that Tehran’s discussions with the United States over its nuclear program were "complicated," as the fifth round of talks concluded in Rome.
"The negotiations are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings," said Araghchi, who leads the Iranian negotiating team in the talks mediated by Oman.
Araghchi said there was potential for progress in nuclear negotiations after Oman made several proposals.
Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi said "some but not conclusive progress" was made. "We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days to allow us to proceed toward the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honorable agreement."
The talks, which began in April, are the highest-level contact between the foes since the United States quit a landmark 2015 nuclear accord during President Donald Trump ...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party... ’s first term.
Since returning to office, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign on Iran, backing talks but warning of military action if diplomacy fails.
Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... wants a new deal that would ease the sanctions, which have battered its economy.
The fourth round of talks, in the Omani capital Muscat, ended with a public spat over enrichment. Witkoff said Washington "could not authorize even one percent" enrichment — a position Tehran called a red line, citing its rights under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Ahead of Friday’s talks, Araghchi said "fundamental differences" remained with the United States, while adding that Tehran was open to its nuclear sites undergoing more inspections.
"We will not have an agreement at all" if the United States wants to prevent Iran from enriching uranium, he said.
The talks came ahead of a June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the Vienna-based ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and the October expiry of the 2015 accord.
The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aimed to allay Western suspicions that Iran was seeking a nuclear weapons capability, an ambition that Tehran has denied, while enriching uranium to levels that have no civilian application.
In return for curbs on its nuclear program, Iran had received relief from international sanctions. But the accord was torpedoed in 2018 when Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States and reimposed sanctions. Iran responded by ramping up its nuclear activities.
It is now enriching uranium to 60 percent — far above the deal’s 3.67 percent cap but below, though close to, the 90 percent level needed for a nuclear warhead.
Analysts in Tehran said Iran was unlikely to back down.
"It’s quite simple; if the US expects Iran to halt nuclear enrichment, then there can’t be a deal," said Mohammad Marandi, a political scientist who was once an adviser on the nuclear issue.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran says the country’s nuclear industry employs 17,000 people, similar to other countries where uranium is enriched for civilian use.
"The Netherlands, Belgium, South Korea, Brazil and Japan enrich without possessing nuclear weapons," its front man Behrouz Kamalvandi said.
Iran’s enmity with Israel, whose main backer is the United States, has been a constant backdrop to the talks.
In a letter to the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... , Araghchi wrote: "We believe that in the event of any attack on the nuclear facilities of the Islamic Theocratic Republic of Iran by the Zionist regime, the US government will also be involved and bear legal responsibility."
The warning came after CNN ...formerly the Cable News Network, now who know what it might stand for... , citing unnamed US officials, reported Israel was making preparations to carry out such a strike.
The White House said Trump had a "productive discussion" with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday about Iran and the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington.
Friday’s talks took place before an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna in June, during which Iran’s nuclear activities will be reviewed.
The 2015 deal provides for the possibility of UN sanctions being reimposed through a mechanism called "snapback" if Iran fails to fulfil its commitments.
The agreement’s three European parties — Britannia, La Belle France and Germany — have warned they will trigger the mechanism if the continent’s security is threatened.
Araghchi said such a move would have "consequences — not only the end of Europe’s role in the agreement, but also an escalation of tensions that could become irreversible."
Mosssd ...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end... chief David Barnea and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer met US negotiator Steve Witkoff in Rome on Friday on the talks’ sidelines.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon if the nation is threatened.
"Iran almost certainly is not producing nuclear weapons, but Iran has undertaken activities in recent years that better position it to produce them, if it chooses to do so," a new report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency said.
"These actions reduce the time required to produce sufficient weapons-grade uranium for a first nuclear device to probably less than one week."
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... it likely still would take Iran months to make a working bomb, experts say.
Asked about the negotiations, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said "we believe that we are going to succeed" in the talks and in Washington’s push for no enrichment.
"The Iranians are at that table, so they also understand what our position is, and they continue to go," Bruce said Thursday.
One idea floated so far that might allow Iran to stop enrichment within the country but maintain a supply of uranium could be a consortium in the Mideast backed by regional countries and the US.
There are also multiple countries offering low-enriched uranium that can be used for peaceful purposes by countries.
However,
corruption finds a dozen alibis for its evil deeds... Iran’s Foreign Ministry has maintained that enrichment must continue within the country’s borders, and a similar fuel-swap proposal failed to gain traction in negotiations in 2010.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it 
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...
