Argentine Leader Calls Brazilian President a ‘Thief’ and a ‘Convict’

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Brazil has recalled its ambassador to Argentina in protest over what it said were “insults” levelled by Argentine President Javier Milei against his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during a visit to Brazil.

Milei was speaking at a rally in São Paulo to launch the campaign of Flávio Bolsonaro, who will be running against Lula in Brazil’s presidential election in October.

While Milei did not use Lula’s name, he railed against “the thief” and “the convict”, referring to the time Lula spent in jail before his corruption convictions were annulled and he successfully ran for president in 2022.

Milei is a political ally of Flávio Bolsonaro, son of jailed ex-president Jair Bolsonaro.

Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to more than 27 years in jail for plotting a coup aimed at keeping him in power after he lost the 2022 election to Lula. (Read more from “Argentine Leader Calls Brazilian President a ‘Thief’ and a ‘Convict’” HERE)

Ukraine Attacks Iranian Vessel in Caspian Sea, Tehran Furious, Says Zelensky Trying to Drag Europe into Gulf War

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Iran summoned a Ukrainian diplomat in Tehran on Sunday to protest an attack on an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, as the war in the Middle East threatened to overlap with the Ukraine conflict.

Iran said the attack left one sailor dead and injured several others. The country’s foreign ministry complained to Ukraine’s chargé d’affaires in Tehran early on Sunday and “conveyed Iran’s strong protest over the ‘hostile and criminal act.’” Iran’s Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

In a post on X highlighting Ukraine’s attacks on distant Russian targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that his country’s forces “also achieved very strong results with long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea – including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.”

Russia has long used Iranian-designed Shahed drones in its war on Ukraine, a weapon that analysts sometimes refer to as “the poor man’s cruise missile.”

But the latest attacks by Ukraine, combined with Saudi military strikes on Iran-backed Houthi targets in Yemen following the rebel group’s attacks on Red Sea shipping in recent days, represent a widening of the Middle East conflict. (Read more from “Ukraine Attacks Iranian Vessel in Caspian Sea, Tehran Furious, Says Zelensky Trying to Drag Europe into Gulf War” HERE)

Israeli Security Minister Joins Jewish Extremists as they Storm Temple Mount

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By The Guardian. Israel’s far-right minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, joined thousands of Jewish extremists who stormed Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site on Thursday.

Escorted by armed police, they prayed, waved the Israeli flag and sang the national anthem in a provocative display of political power.

Under a fragile, decades-old agreement known as the status quo, non-Muslim prayer is banned at the site, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif compound and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Ben-Gvir has eroded the agreement in recent years through a series of inflammatory visits to the compound, and unilateral changes to rules for Jewish visitors, including allowing them to bring prayers and printed religious material to the site. . .

In a statement, the Palestinian ministry of religious endowments and affairs said: “These provocative practices, emanating from the highest political levels of the occupying government, seek to ignite a religious war throughout the entire region.” (Read more from “Israeli Security Minister Joins Jewish Extremists as they Storm Temple Mount” HERE)

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Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

By Reuters. Israeli far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday, praising Jewish visitors he ​said had prayed at the site in breach of arrangements ‌that allow only Muslim prayer there.

His visit drew condemnation from Jordan and Palestinian officials. . .

Jordan’s foreign ministry and the Palestinian religious affairs ministry both condemned Ben-Gvir’s ​visit, which they said violated the status-quo agreements.

Jordan ​said Ben-Gvir’s ⁠visit was “a desecration of the sanctity of the mosque, an escalation, a barbaric act, and unacceptable provocation.”

There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. ⁠Previous such ​visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted ​announcements from Netanyahu saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the ​status quo. (Read more from “Israel’s Ben-Gvir visits flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound” HERE)

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US Launches New Wave of Strikes Against Iran for Ninth Straight Night; CENTCOM Announces 3 US Service Member Deaths in Jordan, Iraq

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U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) launched another round of strikes against Iran on Sunday, extending its military campaign into a ninth straight night.

“CENTCOM began conducting a new wave of strikes against Iran at 7 p.m. ET today for the ninth consecutive night,” the command said in a post shared on X. . .

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the U.S. military campaign against Iran is focused on ensuring Tehran has no path to obtaining a nuclear missile.

“We were doing a little job and stopping them from having a certain capability,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews.

“Now we’re just ending it, so it’s really not the same thing. What we’re doing now is we’re ending any chance that they can have a nuclear missile,” he added. . .

President Donald Trump on Sunday paid tribute to U.S. service members killed in recent attacks linked to Iran, saying American forces launched another round of strikes “in honor” of them.

At Joint Base Andrews, Trump also said the service members had sacrificed their lives to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Well, we feel very badly. But you know, those great people, those great patriots were out there fighting so that Iran could not have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.

“Iran has been very, very badly damaged. They’ve lost everything almost militarily. They’ve got very little left,” he added. (Read more from “US Launches New Wave of Strikes Against Iran for Ninth Straight Night; CENTCOM Announces 3 US Service Member Deaths in Jordan, Iraq” HERE)

Iran Reportedly Enlisting Insurgent Group To Cripple Crucial Flow Of Commerce If US Escalates Attacks

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Iran has reportedly said it will enlist the help of a terrorist group to further constrain global shipping if the U.S. military attacks Iranian energy infrastructure.

Iran has instructed Yemen’s Houthi rebels to prepare to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if the United States attacks Iranian power infrastructure, Reuters reported, citing Iranian and regional sources familiar with the communications. The report came as the U.S. military escalated its operations with repeated airstrikes on critical infrastructure, including highways, bridges and energy sites, according to the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters.

The Islamic Republic’s leadership already sent the request to the Yemeni Houthis, Reuters reported, citing two senior Iranian ‌sources and a regional source who spoke anonymously.

President Donald Trump threatened to attack Iranian energy infrastructure, according to an interview with Fox News’s Trey Yingst. It remains unclear if this is the reason the Iranians issued the request to the Houthis.

“I’ll save the energy targets for last, but ultimately we’ll hit energy targets,” Trump said.

(Read more from “Iran Reportedly Enlisting Insurgent Group To Cripple Crucial Flow Of Commerce If US Escalates Attacks” HERE)

Iran Puts Trump in a Coffin on Huge Billboard in Tehran

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The Iranian regime on Wednesday unveiled a massive billboard in Tehran, curved around the side of a building, that depicts President Donald Trump lying dead in a coffin.

Trump’s image on the billboard is disheveled and bloated, with straight, rigid legs and feet pointing straight up, suggesting rigor mortis has set in.

The billboard is also scrawled with graffiti-style messages, mostly written in Farsi, although “We Kill Trump” is clearly visible in English. The “blackboard” area of the billboard appears to be a homage to the billboard upon which farewell messages to the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were scrawled during his funeral last week.

Another message on the billboard said “In memory of Minab’s children,” a reference to the Iranian city where a U.S. airstrike on February 28 is believed to have struck an elementary school.

These death threats loom over Islamic Revolution Square, also known as Enqelab Square, which is one of the busiest intersections in the capital city of Tehran. The regime often uses the square to stage rallies and demonstrations, recently including the early stages of the week-long funeral for Khamenei. (Read more from “Iran Puts Trump in a Coffin on Huge Billboard in Tehran” HERE)

European Cars Now Must Track Drivers’ Eye Movements In Name Of Safety

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It became mandatory Tuesday for citizens of the European Union’s 27 member states to allow their cars to track their movements using artificial intelligence.

The European Union’s General Safety Regulation mandated Advanced Driver Distraction Warning (ADDW) systems that track drivers’ body movements, such as eye and head movements, in every new vehicle sold after July 7, according to Access Newswire.

“This is a driver support system,” Martin Krantz, CEO and Founder of Swedish AI company Smart Eye, told the Daily Caller News Foundation in an interview. “It’s a life-saving technology. It really helps to prevent accidents. It’s probably gonna be just like with the seat belt and the airbag.”

Smart Eye is one of the leading suppliers of eye-tracking and driver monitoring AI that is compliant with ADDW systems.

“The tracking [has] quite a high accuracy … So if you sit in your car and you’re driving your car, and then you look at the speedometer, then what happens is that the tracking realizes that this is the speedometer that you’re looking at,” the CEO added. “And then you’re allowed to take your eyes away from the road for a certain time period. Let’s say, for example, two seconds … You have a time … that you can spend on different objects [in your car].” (Read more from “European Cars Now Must Track Drivers’ Eye Movements In Name Of Safety” HERE)

How Ukraine’s Drone War Could Drag World Into Nuclear War

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The use of nuclear weapons is becoming increasingly likely as the Russian and Ukrainian militaries continue to blindly scramble up the escalation ladder through deep strikes into Russia, with alleged involvement from a NATO member country, military analysts warned on Monday.

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has accused Latvia of planning to launch drones from its territory in direct attacks against the Russian Federation. Russia could attack Latvia if these plans became a reality, which could trigger a chain of events leading to the use of nuclear weapons, analysts said during a meeting at the Quincy Institute broadcast by CSPAN on Monday.

“There are proponents of, I guess we can call it ‘escalate to de-escalate,’ people like prominent Russian academic Sergei Karaganov, who believe Russia must drastically up the airstrike campaign against Ukraine, seriously consider the employment of low-yield nuclear weapons as a means of ending the war, and strike Western targets inside NATO,” Quincy Institute research fellow Mark Episkopos said during the meeting on Monday.

The Russian Embassy in Washington, the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington and NATO did not respond to a request for comment.

When the Daily Caller News Foundation asked the panel about the potential for nuclear weapons use in Europe, analysts on the panel laid out two scenarios where the Russians would employ tactical nuclear weapons.

“We’ve had warnings throughout this war. If we provide HIMARS [missiles], the Russians will retaliate in some dangerous way, ATACMS [missiles], F-16s, etcetera, etcetera, and in each case, the Russians have not retaliated against the West directly, and so the impression is created that the Russians will never retaliate against the West directly. It’s just too dangerous for them to do so,” director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute George Beebe said during the panel. “The danger we’re facing is, there’s only one way we’ll know for sure. And that is, after the Russians retaliate directly.” (Read more from “How Ukraine’s Drone War Could Drag World Into Nuclear War” HERE)

Israel Says New Intelligence Reveals Iranian Plot to Kill Trump

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Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. Thursday that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, a finding that would mark an escalation in the war between Washington and Iran. The report follows the latest round of attacks between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has been publicly pledging to assassinate Trump since the US killed Iranian IRGC Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020. Trump on Wednesday alluded to threats to his life when speaking to reporters in Ankara, Turkey:

“They want to take out the U.S. leader — me,” Trump said to reporters. “I’m on every list. I saw this morning [that] I’m on every single one of their [hit] lists. And so far, I guess I’ve been a little bit lucky.”

Earlier on Thursday, crowds in Mashhad, awaiting former supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral cortege, chanted slogans demanding revenge on Trump for his death. “I swear by the blood of the Supreme Leader, Trump, we will kill you!” they shouted. They also held up signs saying “Kill Bibi” — the nickname of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.

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Over 100 Israeli Settlers Storm West Bank Village As Home Burns And Christian Land Dispute Escalates

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Over 100 Israeli settlers stormed the West Bank village of Deir Jarir under Israeli force protection Thursday in an escalation of the land rights dispute between the Catholic Church and Israel, sources say.

At the time of publication, the village, east of Ramallah, was facing an ongoing attack as settlers poured into the village in force, the Vulnerable People Project (VPP) told the Daily Caller based on information gathered by field monitors tracking the situation in real time.

Video shared by VPP shows more than two dozen men running down a hill as they approach the village.

Another video, taken from inside a house, shows the men as they arrived in Deir Jarir.

The village assault was initiated after a settler allegedly attacked a Palestinian vehicle and those occupying it. The driver, while attempting to escape, struck the settler with his vehicle while fleeing, according to information gathered by VPP.

In response, Israeli forces allegedly sealed the entrance gate to Deir Jarir, trapping residents inside as the situation escalated, VPP said. (Read more from “Over 100 Israeli Settlers Storm West Bank Village As Home Burns And Christian Land Dispute Escalates” HERE)