"Donor-Recepient" Ties Must End: PM Modi Backs Trust-Driven Relations At G7

06/16/26 11:00 PM

PM Modi said energy, food, health, cyber and economic security have become so interconnected that building partnerships across nations is no longer optional but a necessity for global progress and prosperity.

"Won't Withdraw, Won't Commit Suicide": Israel Envoy On Action In Lebanon

06/16/26 5:03 PM

Israel envoy said Tel Aviv would not withdraw from its buffer zone in southern Lebanon until the Lebanese army demonstrates it can independently prevent Hezbollah from rearming.

'But — but Iran!' Trump's rigged-election rant hijacks Fox News war interview

06/11/26 1:56 PM

Asked Thursday about bombing Iran's civilian water supply on Fox News, Donald Trump launched into a minutes-long rant about rigged elections instead.Brian Kilmeade, the Fox News host who fielded Trump's call-in, had framed the water strike in approving terms — describing the U.S. campaign as an "Anaconda" strategy squeezing Iran into submission. But when he pointed out that American strikes had hit a water facility serving a population already running out of water, Trump changed the subject.The strike Kilmeade referenced had, the night before, knocked out drinking water for roughly 20,000 residents in the southern Iranian town of Sirik — during a heat wave pushing temperatures above 113 degrees. Weapons experts told CNN the munitions appeared to be US-made GBU-39 precision-guided bombs. The New York Times reported the strike may constitute a war crime; the Geneva Conventions explicitly protect drinking water installations from attack.Trump had other priorities."'In 2020, I got more votes than anybody in history, Republican Party,'" he told Kilmeade. "'And we got more votes, but the election was rigged.'"From there, Trump pivoted to the California governor's race, where his endorsed candidate, Steve Hilton, had just secured a spot on the November ballot against Democrat Xavier Becerra. Trump claimed he personally forced California officials to "approve" Hilton after going "on a tear" about election fraud — a claim with no factual basis. PolitiFact rated Trump's broader assertion that California's ballot-counting pace proved cheating as "Pants on Fire." Hilton advanced because he got enough votes under the state's standard counting procedures."'But — but Iran!" Kilmeade interjected, but Trump kept going."'It's a rigged election. Okay,'" Trump said.Kilmeade muttered he shouldn't have brought up the election at all. Trump, apparently satisfied, finally relented."'Let's get back to Iran,'" he said. "'Much simpler. It's a much simpler situation.'"Whether bombing a civilian water supply in 113-degree heat qualifies as simpler is a question international law experts are now actively debating.

'Chilling' detail buried in Trump's lethal strike post flagged by legal expert

06/13/26 2:08 AM

Trump's announcement of killing the leader of a Venezuelan gang carries a "chilling" detail, according to a legal expert.According to Trump, the U.S. military launched a "swift and lethal" strike against the leader of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that was a hot topic during the 2024 presidential election. Ryan Goodman, a chaired professor at NYU and editor-in-chief of Just Security, called out the details in Trump's Truth Social post announcing the strike.Goodman was alarmed in particular by a line of Trump's post calling the gang a "foreign army." "If they're this 'army,' what's the limiting principle for stopping that use of state lethal force?" Goodman asked. "More significant and chilling is how far you have to read down this Trump post to learn the individual was not extrajudicially killed inside the U.S."Additionally, he said the Justice Department's position on the Alien Enemies Act seemed to "fall completely apart," when the president said the strike was coordinated "closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well."Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua in March 2025, claiming the gang acts as an arm of the Nicolás Maduro government. The designation, his administration claimed, allowed him to deport Venezuelan migrants without ordinary due process. A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment contradicted Trump's claim that Tren de Aragua operates under Maduro's control."DOJ position - and statute - requires TdA to be acting on behalf of Venezuelan government," Goodman noted.

'Death warmed over': Trump's France appearance fuels new health concerns

06/15/26 7:05 PM

Experts were raising questions about President Donald Trump's health after photo and video footage showed the now octogenarian traveling between back-to-back events across the ocean.Trump went from Sunday night's UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House to France for the G7 Summit to discuss the next steps in the deal with Iran to stop the military conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.Political commentators reacted to the president's appearance in Évian-les-Bains, France, with French President Emmanuel Macron."The WH is trying to project Trump as the president who never stops working, going right from the UFC thing to Paris and nailing down the Iran agreement when others were sleeping. In reality, he looks and sounds totally spent. How much longer can they keep the plates spinning?" Conspiracy expert and author Mike Rothschild wrote on X."Trump does not look like a man that’s in full control of his faculties," entrepreneur and technologist Gissur Simonarson, co-founder of Cloud Sherpa, wrote on X."Trump looks like death warmed over," journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X."Trump, now 80 years old, is looking banged up after his big night at the fights and a flight to Europe," Rupar wrote in a separate X post."The blank eyes. A portal to hell," political commentator Bill Johnson wrote on X.The WH is trying to project Trump as the president who never stops working, going right from the UFC thing to Paris and nailing down the Iran agreement when others were sleeping.In reality, he looks and sounds totally spent. How much longer can they keep the plates spinning? https://t.co/Unfvq3uzBE— Mike (not a) Rothschild (@rothschildmd) June 15, 2026

'Huge setback' threatens to 'torpedo' Trump's coveted peace deal: report

06/14/26 12:11 PM

A peace deal between Washington and Tehran – one that President Donald Trump has shown a “strange insistence” on being finalized Sunday, his 80th birthday – is at risk of collapse after a key Iranian demand was violated Sunday morning, Al Jazeera reported.Iran has demanded that Israel halt its bombardment of Lebanon as a non-negotiable condition to ending the war, a demand that Israel has largely ignored, despite Trump’s insistence that Israel halts its attacks on its northern neighbor. And on Sunday, Israel launched airstrikes on suburbs in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital and largest city, killing at least two and wounding four.The attack, warned Sami Nader of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, could blow up the U.S.-Iran peace deal Trump had hoped would be finalized Sunday.“This event is quite significant and it has the potential to torpedo the deal between the US and Iran,” Nader told Al Jazeera. “The thing is now how Iran will retaliate?”Iran launched strikes against Israel for striking Lebanon as recently as last week, setting a new precedent in the war by launching attacks against Israel on behalf of another country. Whether Iran repeats last week’s attack remains to be seen, though Al Jazeera’s Almigdad Alruhaid argued that Israel’s Sunday morning strikes were, at the least, a potential “huge setback” for a brokered deal between Washington and Tehran.“This is a serious development as far as Iran is concerned. We’ve seen that the situation in Lebanon is an integral and central part of the potential peace deal,” Alruhaid wrote.“The latest broader ceasefire, on April 8, was linked to the situation in Lebanon, and Iranian officials have repeatedly said that the situation in Lebanon will not be separated from this deal. So it could be a huge setback.”

'I fear she's no longer alive': Woman missing 11 years surfaces in Epstein files

06/12/26 10:31 PM

A young woman missing for nearly 11 years has resurfaced in Jeffrey Epstein's files, her name pitched to the convicted sex offender by an alleged recruiter now under investigation in France for human trafficking.A Der Spiegel and ZDF investigation published Friday identifies the woman only as Michele — her last name withheld at her family's request — who was 22 when she walked out of her mother's home in September 2015 and never came back. Her parents only learned her name was in the Epstein documents when reporters told them."I fear she's no longer alive," her mother Annett said. "That something was done to her."The man who apparently put Michele's name in front of Epstein was Daniel Siad, a Swedish modeling scout whose name appears nearly 2,000 times in the documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice. In one email, Siad described himself as a "fisherman" who catches women for Epstein across France, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe."You will love her," Siad wrote to Epstein, according to Der Spiegel — his second apparent attempt to broker an introduction, describing Michele in an earlier message as "the girl you missed from Germany."Michele's father, Vlado, says he once confronted his daughter after overhearing a call with Siad. "Michele said she worked for him as an escort," he recalled. An ex-boyfriend told the outlet he believed "her drug addiction was exploited."Siad is under investigation in France, where five complaints have been filed against him, including for human trafficking. Separately, two women — a former Swedish model and a German woman — have accused him of rape. Siad denies knowing them and says he has "never in his life" raped anyone. He denies all wrongdoing. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said around 20 suspected victims have come forward in the broader French Epstein probe, about 10 of them new.German prosecutors are expected to decide soon whether to open a formal criminal investigation into Michele's disappearance — a move that came only after Der Spiegel and ZDF published their findings. As recently as March, German police said they saw "no concrete indication of a crime," despite apparently being aware her name appeared in the files of a convicted sex offender.Her family is still waiting. "We just want to find her," her father said, "no matter what her situation."A second cell phone belonging to Michele has been sitting with German police for more than 10 years. Authorities told Der Spiegel a forensic analysis had not been possible for technical reasons — and that they now plan to try again.

'If Israel Cannot Handle Hezbollah, Syria Will Do The Job': Trump

06/16/26 5:35 PM

"If Israel can't do the job (against Hezbollah) without killing everyone else, than he (Sharaa) will do the job. Syria will do the job," Trump said.

'Let the oil flow!' Trump announces new 'deal' with Iran

06/14/26 10:11 PM

President Donald Trump announced that his administration had reached a "deal" with the Iranian regime that would "reopen" the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global waterway that has been shut down since the early days of the war against Iran. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"The deal was announced less than one hour before Trump's "UFC Freedom 250" event at the White House was scheduled to start. The New York Times described the deal as a "cease-fire," which Trump has previously said means "when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.""Iran has not yet officially confirmed the cease-fire agreement, but struck a triumphant tone on the state broadcaster, IRIB. 'The United States was forced to accept an end to the war,' it declared," the NYT reported.

'Utter humiliation' awaits Trump as details of latest Iran deal leak: expert

06/12/26 11:09 AM

Should a desperate Donald Trump sign off on the latest deal with Iran that led him to call off a major attack late Thursday, he would suffer a “major humiliation” based on leaked details.That is according to Insider editor Michael Weiss, who appeared on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Friday morning and claimed that the president has come to the realization that he was duped into the whole endeavor.Pointing out that the president has announced an imminent deal is at hand countless times, co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “Why do we keep hearing the same thing over and over and over again when the Iranians have rejected this deal time and again, and hardliners in America have rejected this deal?”Weiss replied, “I mean, I just want to read you — Iran's Mehr News Agency put out their version of this deal. Now, again, underscore we ... don't know if this is going to be the memorandum of understanding. But in their version of the deal they get $300 billion in reconstruction money, $24 billion in a cash infusion, half of which will come before the negotiations begin.”“Remember, this isn't a deal, this is an agreement to keep talking and an extension of a cease-fire. There's nothing new in here,” he elaborated. “Again, the Iranian version that talks about the missile program or financing or arming terrorist proxies like Lebanese Hezbollah.”“I mean, this would be an utter humiliation. I could see why Trump would want JD Vance to go to a signing ceremony instead of Donald Trump,” he laughed.He continued, “If this is any pale shade of what this thing is going to look like — look, I think he knows he's being had. He knows he's been abased by a regime that shouldn't exist by his lights, right? We were going in to do regime change. The Israelis certainly thought we were going to do regime change. We were going to arm the Kurds. We were going to install Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust-denying former president, as our preferred satrap."All of these plans came to dust, and he just wants out of it. I think [MS NOW’s] Jonathan [Lemire] is right: he's got buyer's remorse. He thinks he's been sold a bill of goods. He probably has been. And he just wants this thing over and done with. He's already looking at Cuba.” - YouTube youtu.be