Far-right Israelis storm Al-Aqsa, UNRWA compounds amid Jerusalem Day march
Some Israelis chant, ‘Death to Arabs’ and ‘May your village burn,’ as they march through Jerusalem’s Old City. Right-wing Israelis in Jerusalem have stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and a United Nations facility for Palestinian refugees as an annual march took place marking Israel’s conquest of the eastern part of the city. Some Israelis chanted, “Death to Arabs” and “May your village burn,” as they marched through the alleyways of Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday, going through the Muslim quarter to mark “Jerusalem Day”, which commemorates the Israeli occupation and annexation of East Jerusalem after the 1967 war. Thousands of heavily armed police and border police were dispatched in advance because settlers regularly assault, attack and harass Palestinians and shops in the Muslim quarter. The settlers live in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem in settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law. Groups of young people, some carrying Israeli flags, were seen on Monday confronting Palestinian shopkeepers, passers-by and schoolchildren as well as Israeli rights activists and police, at times spitting on people, lobbing insults and trying to force their way into houses. Advertisement Police detained at least two youths, according to AFP journalists at the scene. A small group of those rallying, including an Israeli member of parliament, stormed a compound in East Jerusalem belonging to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. Israel has banned the agency from working in occupied Palestinian territory and in Israel, impacting the life-saving work that it has been carrying out for more than 70 years in areas that include the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip. UNRWA West Bank coordinator Roland Friedrich said about a dozen Israeli protesters, including Yulia Malinovsky, one of the legislators behind an Israeli law that banned UNRWA, entered the compound, climbing its main gate in view of Israeli police. Last year’s procession, held during the first year of Israel’s assault on Gaza, saw ultranationalist Israelis attack a Palestinian journalist in the Old City and call for violence against Palestinians. And four years ago, the march contributed to the outbreak of an 11-day war in Gaza. Earlier on Monday, Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and other politicians were among more than 2,000 Israelis who stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and surrounding areas. Ben-Gvir released a video on his X account from the site – Islam’s third holiest – saying he “prayed for victory in the war, for the return of all our hostages, and for the success of the newly-appointed head of the Shin Bet – Major General David Zini”. Advertisement Negev and Galilee Minister Yitzhak Vaserlauf and Knesset member Yitzhak Kreuzer were among those accompanying the ultranationalist minister. Backed by armed police, Ben-Gvir has carried out similar provocative moves in the compound before, often at sensitive junctures in Israel’s war on Gaza, to advocate for increased military pressure and to block all humanitarian aid entering Gaza. The Jerusalem Waqf – the Islamic authority that oversees the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif (the Noble Sanctuary) – decried the storming of the compound by Ben-Gvir and other members of the Israeli Knesset and called for a halt to all “provocative activities” in the area. Under the management of the Jordan-appointed Waqf, only Muslims are allowed to pray at the compound. Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said the march is aimed at asserting Israeli dominance over the city. “Videos show Israeli citizens inside the Old City of Jerusalem attacking Palestinian shops and throwing objects at them,” Ibrahim said, reporting from Doha, Qatar as Al Jazeera has been banned from reporting in Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. “This is again a reminder that no one has immunity.” Adblock test (Why?)
Thousands of people celebrate toddler’s cancer recovery in Istanbul
NewsFeed After a long fight against leukaemia, three-year-old Ali Asaf Demir is now cancer-free. Thousands of people in Istanbul heeded his father’s call on social media to gather to release balloons in celebration of his return to health. Published On 26 May 202526 May 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
French farmers protest in Paris for law loosening environmental regulations
Farmers demonstrate against changes to legislation that would ease restrictions on pesticide and water use in farming. French farmers have disrupted highway traffic around Paris and rallied in front of parliament to protest against amendments filed by opposition lawmakers to a bill that would loosen environmental regulations on farming. Members of France’s leading farming union, the FNSEA, parked about 10 tractors outside the National Assembly on Monday to put pressure on MPs, who began debating the legislation in the afternoon. The legislation, tabled by far-right MP Laurent Duplomb, proposes simplifying approvals for breeding facilities, loosening restrictions around water use to promote irrigation reservoirs and reauthorising a banned neonicotinoid pesticide used in sugar beet cultivation that environmentalists say is harmful to bees. The proposed law is part of a wider trend in numerous European Union states to unwind environmental legislation as farmers grapple with rising costs and households struggle with the cost-of-living crisis. More than 150 farmers from the Ile-de-France, Grand Est and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur regions gathered peacefully in front of the National Assembly, drinking coffee and eating croissants, after blocking the main roads around the capital. Advertisement “This bill to lift the constraints on the farming profession is very important to us,” FNSEA Secretary-General Herve Lapie told the AFP news agency. “What we are asking for is simply to be able to work in a European environment: a single market, a single set of rules. We’ve been fighting for this for 20 years. For once, there’s a bill along these lines. … We don’t have the patience to wait any longer.” The FNSEA and its allies say the neonicotinoid pesticide acetamiprid, which has been prohibited in France since 2018 due to environmental and health concerns, should be authorised in France like it is across the EU because it is less toxic to wildlife than other neonicotinoids and stops crops from being ravaged by pests. Environmental campaigners and some unions representing small-scale and organic farmers say the bill benefits the large-scale agriculture industry at the expense of independent operators. President Emmanuel Macron’s opponents on the political left have proposed multiple amendments that the protesting farmers said threatened the bill. “We’re asking the lawmakers, our lawmakers, to be serious and vote for it as it stands,” Julien Thierry, a grain farmer from the Yvelines department outside Paris, told The Associated Press news agency, criticising politicians from the Greens and left-wing France Unbowed (LFI). Ecologists party MP Delphine Batho said the text of the bill is “Trump-inspired” while LFI MP Aurelie Trouve wrote in an article for the French daily Le Monde that it signified “a political capitulation, one that marks an ecological junction”. Advertisement FNSEA chief Arnaud Rousseau said protests would continue until Wednesday with farmers from the Centre-Val de Loire and Hauts-de-France regions expected to join their colleagues. Protests are also expected in Brussels next week, targeting the EU’s environmental regulations and green policies. Farmers across France and Europe won concessions last year after railing against cheap foreign competition and what they say are unnecessary regulations. Adblock test (Why?)
POCSO case: Delhi court accepts closure report against ex-WFI chief Brij Bhushan Singh
The 550-page report filed by the police before the Patiala House Courts had said that no corroborative evidence was found in the allegations levelled by the minor wrestler.
PM Modi issues stern warning to Pakistan at Bhuj rally, says, ‘Zindagi jiyo, roti khao, warna…’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday issued a stern warning to Pakistan, saying his “bullet” was ready to fire. He made the statement during a public rally in Bhuj in his homestate Gujarat as the PM completed 11 years in office and launched a range of major projects.
Trump accuses Harvard of being ‘very slow’ to turn over foreign student info
President Donald Trump has accused Harvard University of being “very slow” to turn over information on foreign students. “We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday. “Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason!” Trump wrote. “The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!) – But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!” JUDGE TEMPORARILY PAUSES TRUMP MOVE TO CANCEL HARVARD STUDENT VISA POLICY AFTER LAWSUIT In a separate post, Trump added Monday, “I am considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land.” “What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!” he wrote. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard for comment. Judge Allison D. Burroughs – who was appointed by former President Barack Obama – granted Harvard University a temporary restraining order on Friday, preventing the government from revoking the Ivy League school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. The program permits the university to host international students with F-1 or J-1 visas to study in the U.S. In a letter Thursday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem informed Harvard’s leadership that the university had lost its “privilege” of enrolling foreign students as a result of the institution’s “refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security with pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist ‘diversity, equity and inclusion’ policies.” “This action should not surprise you and is the unfortunate result of Harvard’s failure to comply with simple reporting requirements,” Noem wrote. Noem said she requested records pertaining to “nonimmigrant students” enrolled at Harvard, “including information regarding misconduct and other offenses that would render foreign students inadmissible or removable,” on April 16. Harvard’s counsel responded twice, but both responses were insufficient, according to the letter. TRUMP SAYS HARVARD’S FOREIGN STUDENTS ARE FROM COUNTRIES PAYING ‘NOTHING’ FOR THEIR EDUCATION “Consequences must follow to send a clear signal to Harvard and all universities that want to enjoy the privilege of enrolling foreign students, that the Trump administration will enforce the law and root out the evils of anti-Americanism and antisemitism in society and campuses,” Noem wrote. The requested records include any and all audio or video footage in Harvard’s possession regarding threats to other students or university personnel, “deprivation of rights” of other classmates or university personnel, and “dangerous or violent activity, whether on or off campus” by a nonimmigrant student enrolled at Harvard in the last five years. Noem is also asking for any and all disciplinary records and audio or video footage of any protest activity involving nonimmigrant students. The letter gave Harvard another 72 hours to comply and send the requested information in order to regain its certification, but instead, Harvard filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts early Friday. In its court filing, Harvard said the revocation impacts more than 7,000 visa holders – more than a quarter of its student body – and “is a blatant violation of the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act.” “It is the latest act by the government in clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights to reject the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students,” the lawsuit says. Burroughs set another hearing on the matter for Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. in Boston federal court.
Former NY Democratic Rep Charlie Rangel dead at 94
Former Rep. Charles Rangel, who served in Congress for more than four decades, has died at the age of 94. The New York Democrat served from 1971 until 2017. This is a breaking news story. Check back here for updates.
GOP lawmaker blasts ‘dumb’ Trump comment on Zelenskyy despite ‘perfect’ criticism of Putin
A House Republican sharply criticized comments President Donald Trump made regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, flatly calling some of them “dumb.” In a Truth Social post, Trump first called out Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the foreign leader “has gone absolutely CRAZY!” and is “needlessly killing” — but then the president pivoted to slam Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, declaring, “Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.” In a statement to Fox News, Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., opined, “The first half of this message is perfect, the rest is dumb. Trump is attacking President Zelensky while Putin bombs Ukrainian cities and it is misguided. Moral ambiguity while one nation invades another is hurting Trump’s credibility. Putin is making a mockery of Trump, and Trump keeps attacking Zelensky.” TRUMP SAYS HE’S ‘NOT HAPPY’ WITH PUTIN AFTER MASSIVE UKRAINE STRIKE Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment but did not receive a response by publication time. Bacon, an outspoken supporter of Ukraine, has asserted that the U.S. and “Allies must arm Ukraine to the teeth,” slap Russia with maximum sanctions and seize Russian assets. RUSSIA, UKRAINE SWAP HUNDREDS OF PRISONERS HOURS AFTER MOSCOW LAUNCHES MASSIVE AERIAL ASSAULT “It is a time for honesty. Peace talks are having zero effect on Putin. His goal is to dominate Ukraine & he won’t stop until he realizes he cannot win. The U.S. & Allies must arm Ukraine to the teeth, sanction Russia to the max, & confiscate the $300B in overseas Russian assets,” Bacon posted Sunday morning. Zelenskyy discussed Russian attacks in a Monday post on X. REPUBLICAN USES GEORGE WASHINGTON, AMERICAN REVOLUTION TO REJECT NOTION UKRAINE SHOULD SURRENDER TO RUSSIA CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Our air defense forces and rescuers were working all night. The Russian army launched the largest number of drones against our cities and communities since the beginning of the full-scale war — 355 attack UAVs, mostly ‘Shaheds.’ There were also 9 cruise missiles. Sadly, there are injured people and damage to civilian infrastructure,” Zelenskyy noted in the Monday post. “Like any criminal, Russia can only be constrained by force. Only through strength — the strength of the United States, of Europe, of all nations that value life — can these attacks be stopped and real peace achieved,” he declared. Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report
Military veterans of US’ ‘toxic soup’ Uzbekistan base fighting for proper care 20 years after its shutter
At the former Soviet base-turned-CIA black site and U.S. military base in Uzbekistan, researchers knew early on danger lingered not just from the enemy but from the ground itself. Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, known as K2, was a launchpad for U.S. operations into Afghanistan after 9/11. But for thousands of American troops who served there, it may have been a death sentence. Matthew “Nick” Nicholls, an Army environmental technician and preventive medicine specialist, was part of an early team that assessed the environmental hazards at K2. “It is probably the most toxic soup of chemicals that any service member has ever been exposed to,” Nicholls told Fox News Digital. Yellowcake uranium oozed from the ground. Jet fuel and volatile chemicals from decaying Soviet rocket bunkers polluted the soil and air. Dangerous fumes hung over the base like the fog of forgotten war. Nicholls and his team warned commanders, providing recommendations like laying down gravel to suppress toxic dust and restrictions on how long personnel could work in high-risk zones. Some precautions were taken, others weren’t. “People that I am friends with are actively dying from cancer right now,” Nicholls said. “These are weird ontologies that are striking down people who are very young, people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, in the prime of their life.” K2 veterans have reported a disturbing trend of rare and aggressive cancers, reproductive organ diseases, osteoarthritis and sudden, unexplained deaths. VICTIM SPEAKS OUT AFTER NAVY DENIES FUEL-CONTAMINATED WATER CAUSED INJURIES: ‘AFFECTED IN NEARLY EVERY WAY’ “These are not the cancers that young people normally get,” Nicholls said. “Their stories are not really able to be told. That’s the tragedy of it.” “These people went there right after 9/11 to avenge the deaths of those who were murdered,” Nicholls said. “Yet we had this launching pad in Uzbekistan that was left in such derelict condition by the Soviets.” Between 2001 and 2005, more than 15,000 U.S. service members passed through K2. Thousands more served as contractors. Many now find themselves struggling to get adequate medical care or recognition from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The VA recognizes such veterans “may have encountered several hazardous exposures,” and the Department of Defense conducted an initial study to look at cancer outcomes. But that study was based only on a few cases of each type of cancer and should not be viewed as “definitive evidence of an association with service at K-2,” the VA says. But a spokesperson for Rep. Mark Green said he does not believe these studies were enough, that they did not take the full extent of contamination into account and did not appropriately inform occupants of the base of their exposure risk or account for the full range of diseases that can result from toxic exposures. “That is why Rep. Green’s NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) amendment calls for a new, fully rigorous epidemiological study to cover these blind spots,” the spokesperson said. “There are too many unknowns to call it a case closed.” Fox News Digital has reached out to the VA for comment. Green, R-Tenn., and Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., introduced a provision in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Pentagon to complete a study on K2 exposure within 180 days. Four years later, that study remains unfinished. “This is unjust,” Green told Fox News Digital. “There were repeated warnings that service members were being exposed to toxins, and yet their health and safety were ignored by Pentagon leadership of that day.” In a letter first obtained by Fox News Digital that went out late Friday, Green is pressing the Pentagon to complete the long-overdue study, a step he argues is essential to ensure K2 veterans receive the care they deserve. “Because this study has yet to be completed (as far as Congress is aware), many K2 veterans are still waiting to receive much needed care,” he wrote. “This is unjust. There were repeated warnings at Camp Stronghold Freedom that servicemembers (sic) were being exposed to toxins, and yet their health and safety were ignored by the Pentagon leadership of that day.” The Pentagon told Fox News Digital it would respond to Green privately. ‘LIKE A CAR CRASH’: NAVY FIGHTER PILOT DESCRIBES BRAIN INJURY PHENOMENON NOW AT CENTER OF CONGRESSIONAL PROBE In 2024, the VA moved to expand access to disability for K2 veterans and lower the burden of proof for the veterans to link their illnesses to their service. But advocates say it wasn’t enough. “The VA is dragging its feet,” Green said. “I think it really purely comes down to cost. I get that the VA wants to be judicious, but my God, the numbers here are so convincing. This is long past due.” Green has also introduced new legislation requiring the VA to formally recognize links between K2 toxic exposure and diseases like cancer, ensuring affected veterans qualify for care and benefits. Toxins at K2 included petrochemicals, volatile organic compounds, depleted uranium, burn pits and tetrachlorethylene, all chemicals associated with long-term health risks. But K2 veterans are not specifically named in the PACT Act, which expanded coverage for other toxic exposures like Agent Orange and burn pits. Green, a physician and Army veteran, sees disturbing echoes of past delays. “Bureaucrats come and go, and bureaucrats have their own agendas,” he said. “I want to make sure that it’s written in stone and that these guys are not forgotten.”
Tej Pratap’s estranged wife Aishwarya Rai says, Where was Lalu Yadav when I was…?, details here
Aishwarya Rai and Tej Pratap Yadav tied the knot in a grand ceremony in May 2018, but their marriage fell apart within months. Aishwarya had previously accused Tej Pratap and his family of domestic violence and mental harassment, leading to a legal battle that continues to this day.