Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • Hegseth calls Iran war Trump’s ‘gift to the world’

    Hegseth calls Iran war Trump’s ‘gift to the world’

    On a Friday briefing at the Pentagon, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth doubled down on a controversial demand: the international community should owe President Donald Trump gratitude for launching an unauthorized, unprovoked war against Iran — a conflict that has already upended global energy markets and put millions at risk of imminent food insecurity. The war, which was orchestrated unilaterally by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late February with no advance consultation or coordination with European allies, has already drained an estimated $60 billion from U.S. taxpayer funds, a cost Hegseth acknowledged but framed as a bold, historic contribution to global security.

    Calling the conflict a “bold and dangerous mission” and “a gift to the world courtesy of a bold and historic president,” Hegseth went on to rebuke U.S. allies for refusing to join the military campaign. He argued that alliance commitments are not a one-way street, noting that European nations rely far more heavily on unimpeded access to the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil and goods chokepoint currently disrupted by the war, than the U.S. does. “They need the Strait of Hormuz much more than we do, and might want to start doing less talking and having less fancy conferences in Europe, and get in a boat. This is much more their fight than ours,” Hegseth told reporters, adding that the U.S. does not count on European support but expects allied nations to step up.

    Far from being a boon to the global community, the conflict has already triggered cascading global disruptions that are hitting economies and vulnerable populations hard. According to a Friday report from Barron’s, the war has sparked a widespread global jet fuel shortage that has forced major airlines to slash thousands of scheduled flights. Europe has borne the brunt of the disruption: German flag carrier Lufthansa has announced it will cut 20,000 flights through October, and even major U.S. carriers including Delta have implemented service cuts to offset spiking jet fuel costs.

    The risks extend far beyond air travel, with looming threats to global food security that have alarmed senior United Nations officials. The South China Morning Post reported Wednesday that Asian nations are already mobilizing to prepare for widespread food shortages, as the war has cut off global supplies of fertilizer critical for the 2026 northern hemisphere planting season. Compounding this risk, climate scientists have already warned that the year will bring a powerful “super El Niño” event that is projected to reduce rainfall across much of South and Southeast Asia, creating a double blow to crop yields. “It is very concerning because this year is supposed to be a super El Niño, and you are getting into the planting season,” Gnanasekar Thiagarajan, founder of India-based Commtrendz Research, told the outlet. “This is going to be widespread across South and Southeast Asia. There will be dryness everywhere.”

    Jorge Moreira da Silva, executive director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), warned this week that the world faces a severe, immediate risk of a full-scale global food crisis if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to fertilizer shipments. “The planting season has already started, and in most countries in Africa it will end in May,” Moreira da Silva explained. “So, if we don’t get some solution immediately, the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens.”

    Beyond the global humanitarian and economic fallout of the conflict, the Trump administration and the Pentagon have launched an aggressive crackdown on press freedom covering the war, with Hegseth issuing a new explicit warning to reporters during Friday’s briefing. Hegseth told journalists to “think twice” before publishing stories based on leaked classified information — a standard journalistic practice that has exposed past government abuses including mass surveillance and war crimes. He described such reporting as “incredibly irresponsible and unpatriotic,” and warned that the Pentagon treats leaks “very seriously,” adding a direct rebuke to major outlets including the *New York Times*: “encourage members of the press to think twice about the lives they’re affecting when they publish things in their publications.”

    This escalation fits a broader pattern of aggression against press freedom under the current administration amid the Iran conflict. Earlier this month, President Trump publicly stated his administration would seek jail time for journalists who published leaked information about a U.S. fighter jet recently downed over Iran. Just weeks prior, the Pentagon temporarily barred press photographers from on-the-record war briefings after Hegseth’s staff expressed displeasure with unflattering photos of the defense secretary circulating in media coverage.

    The Pentagon has also attempted to implement a rule forcing journalists to pledge they will not publish or even solicit any information not explicitly authorized by the department, with violations resulting in permanent revocation of press credentials. A federal judge blocked that policy earlier this month and rebuked the Pentagon for attempting to reimpose the rule after making only insubstantial cosmetic changes. Press freedom advocates warn the policy represents a historic threat to First Amendment protections for investigative reporting. Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, wrote in a recent column for *The Intercept* that the administration’s legal arguments go far beyond revoking press access, and would criminalize core work by national security reporters.

    “The government argued that although journalists may lawfully ask questions of ‘authorized’ Pentagon personnel, ‘a journalist does solicit the commission of a criminal act, and that solicitation is not protected by the First Amendment, when he or she solicits … non-public information from individuals who are legally obligated not to disclose that information,’” Stern wrote. “The government’s argument would have turned countless Pulitzer-winning national security reporters into criminals.” He added that the Trump administration is expanding on a precedent set by the prior Biden administration, which secured a controversial plea deal with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Espionage Act charges for obtaining and publishing classified government records exposing Iraq War crimes, over repeated objections from First Amendment advocates.

  • Katya Adler: Europe’s Nato allies push back at reported US threat to Spain

    Katya Adler: Europe’s Nato allies push back at reported US threat to Spain

    When European Union leaders gathered in Cyprus this week, they arrived intending to hash out pragmatic policy priorities, most notably the bloc’s next multiyear budget. Instead, they found themselves confronting yet another simmering transatlantic crisis that has laid bare deep fractures between the United States and its European allies – a rift that experts and leaders warn threatens the very foundation of the post-WWII collective defence order.

    The catalyst for the latest standoff was a leaked internal Pentagon email, first reported by Reuters Friday, that outlined potential punitive measures against Nato allies who refused to back the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran. Most alarmingly, the document floated the idea of suspending Spain from the 32-member defensive alliance over Madrid’s public opposition to the offensive.

    Under Nato’s founding treaties, however, no mechanism exists to expel or suspend a member state. Any attempt to block Spain from occupying key civilian or military alliance roles, another potential penalty cited in the leak, would require unanimous approval from all Nato members – a step that all but guarantees rejection, given the swift, unified pushback from European leaders this week.

    Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the U.S.-Israeli strikes, struck a measured tone as he arrived at the summit, telling reporters simply: “We are fulfilling our obligations toward Nato.” Later, he dismissed the leaked email as an unauthorised document, noting Madrid conducts its diplomacy based on official U.S. government positions, not unsourced internal correspondence.

    Sanchez’s defiance has long rankled the Trump administration: he was the only Nato leader to refuse Trump’s demand that members boost defence spending to 5% of GDP, and he immediately blocked U.S. forces from accessing shared U.S.-Spanish military bases for operations against Iran, earning earlier threats of U.S. trade sanctions.

    Fellow European leaders were quick to rally to Spain’s side. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said he wanted to be “crystal clear” that Spain is and will remain a full Nato member, adding that European contributions to strengthening the alliance directly serve U.S. security interests. A senior German official echoed the sentiment, saying “Spain is a member of Nato. And I see no reason why that should change.”

    Even Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, once widely viewed as a pro-Trump ally and a potential bridge between Europe and Washington, joined the criticism, describing the rising tensions between the U.S. and Madrid as “not at all positive.” Meloni has herself fallen out of favour with Trump in recent months: she denied U.S. forces permission to use the Sigonella airbase in Sicily for Iran operations, and called Trump’s derogatory remarks about the Pope “unacceptable.” Trump responded publicly by branding Meloni herself unacceptable, ending their once-close political alliance.

    The leaked email also targeted another Nato ally, the United Kingdom, proposing a review of Washington’s position on the UK’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands – a territory also claimed by Argentina. The move comes amid lingering tension between Trump and British Prime Keir Starmer, who initially denied Trump’s request to use British military bases for February strikes on Iran. Though the UK has since allowed limited base access and participated in drone interception missions, Starmer has refused to deepen UK involvement in the conflict or back the U.S. port blockade on Iran, drawing repeated verbal attacks from Trump.

    Beyond the immediate threats against Spain and the UK, the leak has laid bare a growing crisis of confidence in the transatlantic alliance that experts say poses existential risk to Nato. Former Nato Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment Camille Grande, now head of ASD Europe, said the leak reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of how the alliance works on the part of the Trump administration.

    “The defence alliance is based on consensus; not run by the United States,” Grande explained. He compared Trump’s approach to that of a landlord seeking to evict tenants who do not pay what he deems sufficient rent, stressing that “Nato is not Trump’s building.”

    French President Emmanuel Macron went even further, accusing Trump of deliberately “hollowing out” Nato through repeated public attacks on the alliance. Trump has repeatedly called Nato a “paper tiger” and a “one-way street” that benefits Europe at U.S. expense, writing on social media recently that “We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us.”

    These public divisions have sparked deep anxiety among eastern European Nato members that have long relied on U.S. security guarantees to deter Russian expansionism. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now entering its fourth year, and the country’s war economy is growing, fueled by high global oil prices spurred by the current crisis around the Strait of Hormuz. Dutch military intelligence this week warned that once the conflict in Ukraine concludes, Moscow could be ready to launch a limited regional conflict against Nato within 12 months, aiming to divide the alliance politically through limited territorial gains and nuclear coercion.

    That threat has left eastern allies questioning whether the U.S. would honour its Article 5 commitment to defend any attacked member. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a longstanding transatlanticist, openly raised that question this week. Even Estonia, a small Baltic state that spends heavily on defence and has long been courted by Trump, was left feeling vulnerable this week after the Pentagon delayed delivery of six contracted High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to meet U.S. operational needs for the Iran war – a capability the U.S. itself called the most significant upgrade in Estonian military history.

    The Trump administration has openly framed its approach as dividing allies into a tiered system of “good guys” and “bad guys.” In a December speech, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said model allies that fully back U.S. priorities would receive special favours, while those that do not would face consequences.

    But former U.S. ambassador to Nato Julianne Smith, now president of Clarion Strategies, said punitive threats against European allies are entirely overreactive. “The President is obviously upset by Europeans that failed to fully support the US war in Iran. But punitive measures like removing force posture in Spain seem over-reactive in light of the fact that allies were never asked to assist the US and Trump has frequently denied that the US actually needed European support,” she noted. She added that new threats come as the transatlantic relationship is already reeling from Trump’s stated policy to seize Greenland from Nato member Denmark, and could deliver a devastating blow ahead of the alliance’s July summit.

    Alarmed by the growing uncertainty over Nato’s reliability under the Trump administration, some EU leaders at the Cyprus summit floated the idea of activating the bloc’s own mutual defence clause, Article 42.7, as a potential backstop should Nato’s Article 5 prove unworkable. But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the guardian of EU treaties, acknowledged the clause leaves critical details undefined: while it requires member states to come to each other’s aid, it offers no clarity on when activation is appropriate or what specific actions each member must take.

    Caught between domestic public opposition to Trump’s Iran policy and the need to maintain working security and economic ties with Washington, many European nations are moving forward with independent plans to deploy international maritime patrols and mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz once hostilities end, in a bid to ease tensions with the U.S. France has pushed to exclude the U.S. from these discussions, though the UK has reportedly pushed for U.S. involvement.

    Former Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned this week that the mounting tensions put the alliance’s long-term survival in question, saying its existence cannot be guaranteed a decade from now. Still, he argued that Nato’s survival remains a core U.S. national interest: together, the U.S. and Nato allies account for 50% of global GDP and 50% of global military capability, giving the U.S. a network of global partners that rival powers Russia and China lack.

    Stoltenberg pushed back on claims that Europe has broadly abandoned the U.S. over Iran, noting that most allies have provided quiet logistical support for operations, with only a handful of public dissenters. He also warned against Trump’s description of Nato as a paper tiger, stressing that alliances are rendered useless when they are undermined and attacked from within by their own members.

    For European leaders, the core dispute with Washington is not whether Iran poses a threat to global security, but how to address that threat. European governments broadly favour diplomatic engagement and targeted sanctions over the unilateral military offensive launched by the U.S. and Israel, which they view as an unnecessary war of choice that has destabilized global energy markets and increased the risk of a broader regional conflict.

  • Palestine Action defendants targeted Elbit’s use of ‘deadly AI’, court hears

    Palestine Action defendants targeted Elbit’s use of ‘deadly AI’, court hears

    On Friday, a high-profile trial at London’s Woolwich Crown Court heard gripping testimony from six Palestine Action activists charged with criminal damage over an August 2024 break-in at a Bristol-area Elbit Systems facility, with defendants centering their defense on the Israeli arms manufacturer’s development of AI-powered weapons deployed against Palestinian civilians.

    The six defendants — Leona Kamio, 30, Charlotte Head, 29, Jordan Devlin, 31, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Samuel Corner, 23 — all stand accused of vandalism and trespassing stemming from the early-morning incursion into Elbit’s Filton research and development factory, located just outside Bristol in western England.

    Taking the witness stand Friday, Rogers, a north London resident with diagnosed autism and ADHD, told the court she and Kamio targeted factory computer systems specifically because of Elbit’s documented work on AI tools that enable more precise targeting of civilians in conflict zones. She explained that the Filton site is not a general manufacturing facility, but a core R&D hub advancing cutting-edge weapons technology for the Israeli government, including AI-driven decision support and targeting systems. Publicly available information on Elbit’s own website confirms the state-owned Israeli firm’s development of world-leading AI-powered decision support systems, built on decades of specialized experience in military simulation and weapons technology.

    In his afternoon testimony, Devlin — a product designer from Ballymena, Northern Ireland — echoed Rogers’ framing, calling Elbit’s AI tools the most lethal component of the company’s weapons arsenal. He argued that disrupting the early development stage of these systems would prevent countless future civilian deaths. “If you can disable these AI systems while they are still being refined, you are directly saving lives,” Devlin told the jury. Rogers added that the group’s core goal entering the facility was to disable Elbit’s “killer drones” and save as many civilian lives as possible, telling the court: “I remember destroying weapons used to kill children.”

    Rogers told the court she had reviewed public footage of Elbit’s Thor BTOL quadcopter drone, a model the company produces that has been openly deployed in the Gaza Strip, where it is used to drop grenades on civilian populations. Rajwani, Rogers’ co-defendant, confirmed Friday that she specifically targeted Elbit’s quadcopter drones during the incursion, saying: “This is a weapon I knew would kill or injure children. My specific intention was to dismantle drones and other weaponry, and I damaged computer systems along with drone components.”

    The trial this week has shown jurors raw on-site footage of the incursion, capturing violent confrontations between the activists, on-site security guards and responding police officers. During the clashes, multiple defendants suffered injuries after being hit with a sledgehammer, struck by police tasers, and sprayed with Pava, a potent synthetic pepper spray authorized for UK law enforcement use. Jurors have also heard details of encounters between defendants and security: footage shown Friday captured on-site guard Angelo Volante shouting at Rajwani and Head to “get on the floor.” Rajwani, a Tanzanian-born British student who works four part-time jobs, told the court the encounter left lasting psychological trauma: “Volante is one of the scariest people I have ever encountered. I still have nightmares about his shouting.”

    After her initial arrest for the break-in, Rajwani told the court she was subsequently re-arrested on terrorism offenses. As a visibly Muslim woman of color who grew up in the UK, she described overwhelming fear following the second arrest: “I grew up hearing what terrorism charges mean for people like me. I associate that label with torture and unfair trials. I was terrified I would never get out of custody.” Rajwani added that she brought a GoPro camera to the factory to both document Elbit’s weapons development and live broadcast the action to global audiences.

    Rogers, who shared autism and ADHD diagnoses with Corner, told the court she joined Palestine Action after embracing the group’s model of direct action — creating change directly rather than lobbying government officials for reform. Her defense attorney Audrey Cherryl Mogan presented a 2023 Palestine Action document prepared to train activists for the risk of imprisonment, which reads: “Becoming a prisoner for taking action against Israel’s arms trade is proof of causing significant costs to the arms industry and its protector, the imperial British state. In a neutered, pacified society that tolerates a business model built on the genocide of Palestinian people, taking action is not only crucial, but a rare act of meaningful solidarity.” Rogers confirmed she shared this core belief, though she told the court she never wanted to be imprisoned, and has already been unable to resume her university studies while detained. She also criticized the UK’s prison system as a profit-driven enterprise.

    In closing testimony Friday, Devlin shared his personal background growing up Catholic in the majority-Protestant town of Ballymena, noting that a British soldier saved his grandfather’s life after he was nearly beaten to death by loyalist paramilitaries. The court was also told that Devlin, a working product designer, created a statue that won singer Sam Fender the 2023 Mercury Prize. Devlin told the jury he has seen senseless violence up close throughout his life, saying: “I grew up surrounded by violence, and it has always seemed senseless to me that humans inflict this harm on each other. There is no reason to accept extreme violence as inevitable, when we can stop it at its source.” He added that Palestine Action’s core goal is to force Elbit to cease all operations in the UK: “It is an absolutely horrific company, and I cannot understand why it is still allowed to operate here.”

    On Thursday, Corner testified about his confrontation with Sergeant Kate Evans, who was struck twice during the incursion. Corner told the jury he had already been incapacitated by Pava spray, and mistook Evans for an aggressive security guard attacking a fellow activist. The trial is ongoing.

  • King’s ‘high stakes’ visit with Trump will be toughest test yet of his reign

    King’s ‘high stakes’ visit with Trump will be toughest test yet of his reign

    Next week, King Charles III and Queen Camilla will embark on a historic state visit to the United States, a trip that insiders and analysts universally describe as a high-risk, high-reward endeavor unfolding against the most strained Anglo-American diplomatic backdrop in a century. Far from a perfunctory ceremonial stop marked by photo opportunities and celebrity receptions, the four-day tour carries genuine geopolitical and personal jeopardy, shaped by overlapping global conflicts, domestic political friction, lingering royal scandal, and the monarch’s ongoing health challenges.

    The visit arrives at a moment of extraordinary volatility across global politics. A fragile ceasefire currently holds in the Middle East following violent escalation around Iran, creating a tense international backdrop for diplomatic engagement. On the US side, the trip’s host, President Donald Trump, brings a well-documented record of unpredictability that has kept officials on both sides of the Atlantic on high alert. Recent controversies, including a widely criticized AI-generated image that appeared to depict Trump as a religious figure – a awkward situation for Charles, who serves as Supreme Governor of the Church of England – have added extra layers of sensitivity to the meeting.

    While Trump has long expressed open admiration for the British monarchy, his public criticism of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and his dismissive description of UK aircraft carriers as “toys” compared to American warships, has put the King – who holds the constitutional role of Head of the Armed Forces – in a delicate position. Transatlantic and NATO relations between the US and UK have sunk to a perilously low point in the months since Trump’s 2025 visit to Windsor Castle, with open disputes over the UK’s stance on the Iran conflict and Trump’s public downplaying of British military contributions in Afghanistan. Former Obama administration State Department advisor Max Bergmann warns that even with a carefully scripted itinerary designed to avoid unscripted interactions, there is no guarantee Trump will curb his usual off-the-cuff commentary during the visit.

    “The Trump show doesn’t get turned off because the King is in town,” Bergmann cautioned.

    Personal challenges compound the diplomatic pressure facing the 77-year-old monarch, who has lived with cancer for more than two years and will tackle a packed schedule of events across Washington D.C., New York City, and a Virginia national park. Most notably, lingering fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein scandal and Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s long-standing ties to the convicted sex offender has already drawn demands from survivors’ advocates for a meeting with the King. Prince Andrew has consistently denied all allegations of wrongdoing connected to the case, and reached an out-of-court settlement with accuser Virginia Giuffre in 2022 without admitting liability or issuing an apology. Still, Giuffre’s family says they plan to lobby the King during his visit, asking for just 10 minutes of his time to receive a symbolic gesture of acknowledgement and support for ongoing investigations.

    “It’s an olive branch that we’re looking for,” said Amanda Roberts, Giuffre’s sister-in-law. “Acknowledgement, shaking the hand and looking us in the face and saying, ‘I will continue on my promise to honour a fair trial. I will support the investigations. And I’m sorry that all these survivors have waited so long for justice.’”

    Despite these stacked challenges, the trip also opens a rare window of opportunity to reset strained transatlantic ties. Analysts note that Charles, a longstanding advocate for liberal democratic values and the rules-based international order, has a unique personal connection with Trump that no UK elected official can match. Trump has repeatedly praised the King, calling him “a brave man, and a great man” in a recent BBC interview, and previous private interactions between the two saw Charles successfully persuade Trump to take a harder line on supporting Ukraine. Biographer Andrew Lownie, a leading royal commentator, argues that even with their stark ideological differences – Charles is a committed multilateralist, while Trump has embraced an America First agenda – the King’s decades of diplomatic experience let him find common ground.

    The centerpiece of the visit will be Charles’ address to a joint session of the US Congress, only the second time a British monarch has spoken to the full legislature, following his mother Queen Elizabeth II’s landmark 1991 speech. That 1991 address, which opened with a lighthearted joke about the Queen’s 1976 “talking hat” microphone mishap, made a forceful case for consensus politics and multilateral cooperation – a message that analysts say carries extra resonance today amid rising populism and global conflict. Charles’ speech is expected to balance flattery of the US president with quiet advocacy for core UK priorities: strengthened NATO unity, continued support for Ukraine, and progress on a bilateral US-UK trade agreement, leavened with gentle historical nods to the long-standing shared ties between the two nations.

    Royal insiders describe the trip as a “delicate balancing act,” acknowledging the current frictions but emphasizing that the visit is as much about celebrating the long history of the special relationship as it is about addressing current divides. The timing also aligns with the 250th anniversary of US independence, a symbolic marker that royal officials hope will highlight how far the transatlantic partnership has evolved since the Revolutionary War.

    While some analysts, like Bergmann, warn that the deep rift in current political relations makes this an inherently fraught endeavor, others see the visit as an unexpectedly timely opportunity for the UK. Harvard Kennedy School director Shannon Felton Spence, who organized a 2015 US visit for Charles when he was Prince of Wales, notes that the British monarchy remains the UK’s most effective soft power asset in the United States, particularly with a president who openly admires the institution.

    “This couldn’t have come at a better moment for the UK,” Spence said. “They’re playing exactly the right card, at a time when they didn’t even realize they’d be needing to play it.”

    Beyond the immediate political outcome, historians point to the long-term impact of royal state visits, from Queen Elizabeth II’s famous ride with Ronald Reagan in 1982 to Princess Diana’s iconic dance with John Travolta at the White House in 1985, moments that shaped public perception of the transatlantic relationship for decades. For King Charles, this trip will test whether his decades of preparation for the throne will let him navigate an unprecedented set of challenges to pull the special relationship back from its current low.

  • Meeting with the King would ‘demonstrate human dignity’, says Epstein survivor

    Meeting with the King would ‘demonstrate human dignity’, says Epstein survivor

    A request for a meeting between survivors of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and senior British royals, including King Charles III, has been turned down by Buckingham Palace ahead of the upcoming state visit to the United States. One of Epstein’s survivors has publicly stated that a meeting with the King would have stood as a powerful demonstration of respect for human dignity, highlighting the symbolic weight that such an encounter would have carried for victims of sexual exploitation.

    The confirmation of the royal household’s refusal came from an anonymous source within Buckingham Palace, who confirmed that no audience between the King and the survivor group is scheduled to take place during the trip. This decision has drawn attention to the ongoing conversations around accountability for powerful figures connected to Epstein’s network, as well as the expectations that many survivors hold for global leaders to acknowledge their trauma.

    Epstein, a wealthy financier, died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, leaving dozens of survivors still seeking acknowledgment and justice. Many of his victims have spent years pushing for conversations with prominent public figures who once associated with Epstein, in hopes of raising broader awareness about sexual violence and the failures of systems that enabled his crimes for decades. The rejected request for a meeting during the British monarch’s high-profile US visit places renewed focus on how institutional bodies engage with survivors of high-profile abuse cases.

  • Activists break into Leicester factory owned by Israeli firm Elbit Systems

    Activists break into Leicester factory owned by Israeli firm Elbit Systems

    In a dramatic act of pro-Palestinian civil disobedience, a group of campaigners from the activist collective “People Against Genocide” has carried out a targeted occupation of an Israeli arms manufacturer’s facility in Leicester, United Kingdom. The action, which unfolded on the morning of April 24, 2026, targeted a site operated by UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems UK — the British branch of Israel’s largest defense contractor.

    According to on-the-ground reporting from independent media outlet The Aftershock, the group bypassed high-security perimeter defenses first: activists climbed over reinforced razor-wire fencing using ladders to access the factory grounds before moving to secure the building’s roof. Once on the roof, the team drilled access holes and abseiled down into the facility’s interior, breaking through a ceiling to enter the production floor.

    Circulated social media footage confirms the breach, showing activists entering the restricted clean room space that local reports confirm is used to manufacture components for Israeli military drones. The Aftershock’s reporting notes that the introduction of external contaminants to the tightly controlled clean room environment could render the entire production space inoperable for as long as several months, a major disruption to the site’s output.

    One participating activist spoke publicly about the motivation behind the action, emphasizing widespread anger over the British government’s ongoing diplomatic and logistical support for Israeli military operations in Gaza. “We are sick and tired of our government’s collaboration in this genocide that Israel is committing on the Palestinian people,” the activist said. “We know that genocide has no place in this world – so that’s why we’re here to shut Elbit down.”

    Elbit Systems holds an outsize role in Israel’s military infrastructure: the company supplies roughly 85 percent of all drones and land-based military equipment used by the Israeli Defense Forces, and has been identified as a key weapons supplier for Israel’s 2023–present military campaign in Gaza. Headquartered globally, the firm employs approximately 20,000 workers and posts annual revenues of around $2 billion, and has been a repeated target of pro-Palestinian direct action across the United Kingdom for years due to its deep military ties to Israel.

    A 2025 report from Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Palestine, underscored the company’s financial stake in the ongoing conflict, noting that “for Israeli companies such as Elbit Systems… the ongoing genocide has been a profitable venture.” Beyond its work supplying Israel, Elbit’s UK subsidiary currently holds a £57 million contract with the British Ministry of Defense to run Project Vulcan, a simulation-based training program for UK tank crews, a contract secured in 2023.

    This most recent action is part of a long-running campaign targeting Elbit’s British operations. In 2025, the UK government officially designated Palestine Action, another prominent direct action group that has repeatedly targeted Elbit subsidiary headquarters across the country, as a terrorist organization. Despite the ban, activism against Elbit’s UK presence has continued, driven by growing public opposition to British complicity in the Gaza crisis.

  • US to allow firing squads, gas, and electrocution for federal executions

    US to allow firing squads, gas, and electrocution for federal executions

    The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued a landmark policy shift ordering federal prison authorities to expand the approved methods of capital punishment, adding firing squads, gas asphyxiation and electrocution to the existing protocol of lethal injection. The new policy was formally outlined in a 48-page internal memo published to the public this Friday, framing the expansion as a measure to strengthen the federal death penalty system.

    According to the DOJ’s official justification, broadening the range of execution methods will advance three core goals: deterring the most heinous violent offenses, delivering lawful justice to crime victims, and providing long-awaited closure for victims’ surviving families. This policy reversal comes on the heels of major shifts in federal capital punishment over the last two presidential terms. The prior Biden administration had imposed a moratorium on nearly all federal executions, and before leaving office in January 2025, President Joe Biden granted clemency to 37 out of 40 inmates held on federal death row.

    In contrast, President Donald Trump — a longtime outspoken proponent of capital punishment — made resuming federal executions one of his first priorities upon returning to the Oval Office in January 2025. On his first day back in office, he signed an executive order mandating that the DOJ pursue death sentences for all severe crimes that warrant the punishment, as well as for cases where an undocumented immigrant kills a law enforcement officer. This mirrors actions from Trump’s first term, when he lifted a 17-year federal moratorium on executions and oversaw the execution of 13 death row inmates before leaving office in 2021.

    The DOJ memo retains its backing of lethal injection as a viable execution method, describing the sedative pentobarbital as the “gold standard” for lethal injection protocols. Pentobarbital has served as the default drug for federal executions since 1993, but it has faced growing headwinds in recent years: death penalty opponents have repeatedly labeled it a cruel, inhumane method of execution, and consistent drug shortages have created widespread logistical challenges for carrying out court-ordered executions. In an accompanying report, the DOJ explained that expanding the list of approved methods eliminates the risk of delayed or canceled executions due to drug unavailability, ensuring the department can always carry out legally authorized death sentences regardless of supply chain barriers.

    Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche doubled down on the policy in an official statement, criticizing the prior Biden administration for failing its core duty to protect the American public. Blanche argued that the previous administration abdicated its responsibility by refusing to pursue the death penalty for the nation’s most dangerous offenders, including convicted terrorists, child murderers, and officers who kill law enforcement personnel.

    The policy change has drawn sharp condemnation from congressional Democrats, who have long opposed the expansion of capital punishment. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin called the move “cruel, immoral, and discriminatory” in a public statement posted to the social platform X, adding that expanding the federal death penalty will stand as a permanent “stain on our history.”

    While federal capital punishment policy has shifted with changes in presidential administration, a number of U.S. states have already adopted alternative execution methods in response to the same drug supply issues that prompted the DOJ’s policy change. Data from the Death Penalty Information Center shows that five U.S. states currently permit the use of firing squads for executions. In 2024, Alabama made history as the first U.S. state to carry out an execution using nitrogen hypoxia, and four additional states have since approved the method for future use.

  • US soldier pinched for profiting off Maduro abduction bets

    US soldier pinched for profiting off Maduro abduction bets

    In a stunning revelation of institutional corruption that has rocked the second Trump administration, the U.S. Department of Justice unveiled multiple criminal charges Thursday against an active-duty Army special operations soldier accused of illicitly profiting more than $400,000 by using top-secret insider information to bet on the timing of a U.S. military operation to abduct Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro earlier this year.

    Master Sergeant Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a soldier directly involved in the planning and execution of the covert January mission targeting Maduro, faces five counts: unlawful use of confidential government data for personal profit, theft of nonpublic official information, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and an illegal monetary transaction, federal prosecutors confirmed in the official statement.

    Court documents detail that Van Dyke placed 13 separate wagers totaling approximately $33,000 on Polymarket, a popular online prediction marketplace. All of his bets backed the “yes” outcome for questions asking whether U.S. forces would carry out an incursion into Venezuela and remove Maduro from power before the end of January. The classified knowledge he held about the operation’s timeline allowed him to net more than $400,000 in illicit gains from the wagers, according to prosecutors.

    When questioned by reporters Thursday, former and current U.S. President Donald Trump claimed he had no prior knowledge of the charges against Van Dyke. Drawing a parallel to disgraced baseball icon Pete Rose, who was permanently banned from Major League Baseball for gambling on his own team’s games, Trump downplayed the severity of the offense depending on its direction. “Was he betting that they would get [Maduro] or they wouldn’t get him? That’s like Pete Rose betting on his own team. Now, if he bet against his team, that would be no good,” Trump told reporters. The comment lines up with Trump’s past support for Rose: in February 2025, Trump announced on Truth Social that he planned to issue a full pardon to Rose, arguing the baseball legend had only done wrong by betting on his own team to win.

    The unsealing of Van Dyke’s indictment has amplified long-simmering concerns that officials and insiders throughout the Trump administration are widely exploiting nonpublic government information for personal financial gain. Independent watchdogs and governance experts have repeatedly labeled this second Trump term the most openly corrupt administration in U.S. history.

    “The culture of insider trading and corruption starts at the top and is permeating everywhere and everything. This is what people hate about our government now,” said Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat from Illinois, echoing widespread criticism of the administration’s ethical standards. Many critics also point out the stark double standard in the case: while the low-ranking soldier who profited from the bet has been arrested, no senior officials who authorized the widely condemned illegal incursion into Venezuela have faced any accountability to date.

    “I hear someone was arrested in connection with the patently illegal invasion of Venezuela. Can’t wait to see who is going to be held accountable for this lawless use of military force,” wrote Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, highlighting the gap in accountability for the operation itself.

    The Van Dyke case is not an isolated incident: suspicious, well-timed bets connected to high-stakes U.S. military actions, from the Maduro abduction to the recent U.S. military strike on Iran, have raised alarms that systemic insider trading is widespread among Trump administration officials and associates with access to nonpublic information. Just last month, the Financial Times reported that a broker working for U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attempted to place a multi-million-dollar investment in weapons stocks in the weeks leading up to the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran.

    “The Iran War has become a corruption racket for the people close to President Trump,” said Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat. Murphy is the lead sponsor of new legislation that would ban private wagering on government actions, terrorist events, military conflicts, assassinations, and other events where a participant has advance confidential knowledge or control over the outcome.

  • Benjamin Netanyahu reveals he was treated for early-stage cancer

    Benjamin Netanyahu reveals he was treated for early-stage cancer

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he successfully completed treatment for early-stage prostate cancer, and says his health is now fully stable and in excellent condition. The 76-year-old leader shared the update in a post on the social platform X, explaining why he kept the diagnosis private for months. In his statement, Netanyahu said he chose to delay the public announcement to prevent the Iranian government from exploiting his health situation for political propaganda against Israel.

    Netanyahu walked through the timeline of his medical journey in the post, noting that 18 months prior, he underwent a successful surgical procedure to treat an enlarged benign prostate, and had since attended regular scheduled medical check-ups as a precaution. During one of these routine monitoring appointments, clinicians detected a small lesion measuring less than one centimeter in his prostate. Further pathology testing confirmed the growth was a malignant tumor, but caught at a very early stage with no indication of spread or metastasis to other parts of the body.

    “I have overcome this illness,” Netanyahu emphasized, adding that his approach to health threats has always been to address any confirmed danger immediately once he is aware of it. The disclosure comes amid months of persistent public speculation about Netanyahu’s health, which ignited after the outbreak of cross-border military conflict between Israel, backed by the U.S., and Iran that began on February 28. Almost immediately after hostilities started, unsubstantiated rumors spread across social media claiming the Israeli prime minister had passed away. Even when official videos were released online to counter the false claims, speculation did not fully die down. It was not until Netanyahu made a public in-person appearance before reporters on March 19 that the persistent death rumors were definitively put to rest.

  • UK PM vows legislation to ban Iran Guards: report

    UK PM vows legislation to ban Iran Guards: report

    British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to table new legislation within coming weeks to formally proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a recent report from Agence France-Presse. The commitment was delivered during an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, carried out during Starmer’s visit to a London synagogue that survived an attempted arson attack just seven days prior to his trip.

    This policy pledge follows a similar move by the European Union, which voted in January to officially label the IRGC a terrorist organization in response to the group’s brutal crackdown on large-scale anti-government protests inside Iran. When questioned about the timeline for the proscription, Starmer confirmed that targeted legislative action is required to crack down on hostile foreign actors operating within UK borders, and his government intends to move forward with the bill as rapidly as possible.

    “We go into a new session (of parliament) in a few weeks’ time and we’ll bring that legislation forward,” Starmer added.

    Tensions have been running high across Jewish communities in northwest London in recent weeks, with local residents remaining on high alert after a string of arson attacks targeting synagogues and Jewish community infrastructure. The wave of incidents began shortly after U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets launched on February 28. Starmer has publicly stated he is growing increasingly concerned about foreign states conducting malicious activities through proxies on British soil.

    First established after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the IRGC functions as the ideological wing of Iran’s military, tasked with protecting the country’s clerical ruling system. Beyond its security and military mandate, the organization also holds direct or controlling ownership of businesses across nearly every major strategic sector of the Iranian economy, giving it extensive influence over the nation’s domestic and international affairs.