Strategy session: Trump’s team huddles on midterm messaging with spotlight on economy
It’s all about the economy. That was the message from top members of President Donald Trump’s political team, as they huddled in a closed-door strategy session with Trump administration Cabinet members and their top aides on how best to sell the president’s agenda to voters in this year’s midterm elections. The meeting, which was confirmed to Fox News by sources familiar with the gathering, was hosted by White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and deputy chief of staff James Blair, who is steering Trump’s political strategy. According to sources, the message during a slide presentation by chief pollster and strategist Tony Fabrizio was that the economy will be the top issue on the minds of voters, and that the White House needs to spotlight its efforts on easing affordability. TRUMP HITS THE ROAD TO SELL ECONOMIC WINS, AS REPUBLICANS BRACE FOR HIGH-STAKES MIDTERM SHOWDOWN The meeting was held as the GOP works to defend their control of the Senate and their razor-thin House majority in November’s midterms. Republicans are facing traditional political headwinds in the midterms, when the party in power usually loses House and Senate seats. Republicans are also dealing with the president’s continued underwater approval ratings, and a slew of surveys, including the latest Fox News polling, that indicates Americans are pessimistic about the economy and say things have not improved in the year since Trump returned to the White House. CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING Meanwhile, Democrats have scored a series of ballot box victories and overperformances in off-year elections and special elections during Trump’s second administration, thanks to their laser focus on affordability amid persistent inflation. Trump wasn’t at the meeting, according to sources. But he’s expected to spotlight the economy and his administration’s achievements when he holds a political event Thursday in battleground Georgia, which is holding key elections for the Senate and governor this year. IMMIGRATION ONCE FUELED TRUMP’S 2024 WIN — NOW SAGGING APPROVAL TESTS GOP GRIP ON CONGRESS And the president will have an even bigger spotlight next week, when he delivers the annual State of the Union address. Vice President JD Vance offered a taste of the messaging in an interview Tuesday on Fox News’ “The Story.” Pointing to former President Joe Biden‘s administration, Vance argued, “We’re still digging out of the hole the Democrats put us in. And I think the question we’re going to put to the American people is, do you want to give the government back over to the people who, frankly, burned down the house and made most Americans much less wealthy and much less safe? Or do you want to double down on the president’s leadership?” The Tuesday evening meeting took place at the Capitol Hill Club, a private venue popular among political insiders that’s located next to the Republican National Committee’s headquarters, a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Besides messaging, sources say the meeting also focused on polling and the 2026 electoral map, with top Trump political aides walking those attending the gathering through new data on key midterm battlegrounds. And they also emphasized the importance of Cabinet officials hitting the trail as key surrogates to sell the president’s agenda.
House GOP moves to cement Trump energy agenda by taking sledgehammer to Biden-era regulations
FIRST ON FOX: A newly proposed bill by House Republicans would cement President Donald Trump’s energy agenda by taking a sledgehammer to a vast array of his Democratic predecessor’s regulations. Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Texas, is introducing legislation that would give all future energy-related regulations a five-year sunset window, while requiring many existing rules to be amended with a one-year expiry pending a review process. It comes after Trump levied a similar executive order that would target energy red tape imposed by former President Joe Biden during his first year in office. But if Goldman’s bill becomes law, it would significantly hamstring the ability of future Democratic administrations to impose new long-term energy policies like Biden’s, many of which Republicans have panned as burdensome and unnecessary. TRUMP ADMIN TO REPEAL OBAMA-ERA GREENHOUSE GAS FINDING IN LARGE-SCALE DEREGULATION He argued to Fox News Digital that those regulations were compounding the rising costs Americans have seen in their daily lives. “It is going through and looking at every single cost, basically from start to finish, of energy costs, and how it affects every single American taxpayer,” Goldman said of his legislation. “All anyone has to do is look at where they were a year and a half ago with costs of certain things. It was all based on regulations passed by the Biden administration, and that’s exactly what we hope to cut and codify.” The Texas Republican pointed out that increased energy costs, including prices at the gas pump, bled into other facets of Americans’ daily lives. “My dad and I owned a wine and food store and, yeah, when gas prices went up, the guy who drove the 18-wheeler full of cheese from Chicago, Illinois, charged us an extra $2,000 for that delivery because his gas prices were up tremendously. And so we couldn’t afford to eat that cost, so the cheese prices went up,” he said as an example. “Everything that every single American taxpayer touches — whether they know it or not, when energy prices are high, their cost of living is in turn going to be high.” TRUMP ADMIN’S ENERGY AGENDA HAILED FOR CRUCIAL ‘WINS’ AS GREEN ACTIVISTS LASH OUT His legislation would primarily target regulations issued under major energy and land laws overseen by the Departments of Energy and Interior. The House has already voted to roll back a number of Biden-era regulatory policies so far this term and with bipartisan support. Last month, 11 Democrats voted with Republicans to overturn Biden administration regulations on showerhead pressure. Both the House and Senate passed resolutions early last year to overturn Biden-era regulations targeting water heaters, with six Democrats joining Republicans in the House on that measure. Rising energy costs have been targeted by both parties as they make competing arguments ahead of the November 2026 midterms. But Goldman is arguing that Democrats have less of a footing to talk about affordability with select goods like gas seeing a decrease in prices this year. “We pushed back, and we made people realize, ‘No, wait a minute. Let’s talk about affordability. Let’s talk about where the cost of things were just over a year and two months ago, before Donald Trump came into office and before Republicans could push through good legislation that President Trump signed,” Goldman said. “I kind of find it quite interesting that all of a sudden the buzzword affordability isn’t much talked about anymore.” Co-sponsors of Goldman’s bill include Republican Study Committee Chairman August Pfluger, R-Texas, and Reps. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, Randy Weber, R-Texas, Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., and Barry Moore, R-Ala. A Senate counterpart was introduced by Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho.
Mysterious 2020 explosion in China had hallmarks of nuclear test, US official alleges
A senior U.S. official offered new details Tuesday night about an alleged nuclear bomb test conducted by China in June 2020. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Yeaw spoke at a Hudson Institute event in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, and said evidence of the explosion came from a seismic station in Kazakhstan. The station detected a magnitude 2.75 explosion located at China’s Lop Nur test grounds on June 22, 2020. “I’ve looked at additional data since then. There is very little possibility I would say that it is anything but an explosion, a singular explosion,” Yeaw said, adding that data was not consistent with mining detonations. “It’s also entirely not consistent with an earthquake,” he added. “It is… what you would expect with a nuclear explosive test.” DEMOCRATS FIGHT TO BLOCK TRUMP’S ‘RECKLESS AND UNNECESSARY’ CALL TO RESTART NUCLEAR TESTING China’s embassy in Washington has rejected the Trump administration’s claim, telling NBC News that the report is “political manipulation,” and the U.S. is “evading its own nuclear disarmament responsibilities.” “China urges the U.S. to reaffirm the five nuclear-weapon states’ commitment on refraining from nuclear tests, uphold the global consensus against nuclear tests, and take concrete steps to safeguard the international nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation regime,” spokesperson Liu Pengyu told the outlet. U.S. officials warned that Beijing may be preparing tests in the “hundreds of tons” range — a scale that underscores China’s accelerating nuclear modernization and complicates efforts to draw Beijing into arms control talks. WORLD ENTERS UNCHARTED ERA AS US-RUSSIA NUCLEAR TREATY EXPIRES, OPENING DOOR TO FASTEST ARMS RACE IN DECADES Thomas DiNanno, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, said recently that the United States has evidence China conducted an explosive nuclear test at its Lop Nur site. “I can reveal that the U.S. government is aware that China has conducted nuclear explosive tests, including preparing for tests with designated yields in the hundreds of tons,” DiNanno said during remarks at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. He added, “China conducted one such yield-producing nuclear test on June 22 of 2020.” DiNanno also accused Beijing of using “decoupling” — detonating devices in ways that dampen seismic signals — to “hide its activities from the world.” China’s foreign ministry has denied the allegations, accusing Washington of politicizing nuclear issues and reiterating that Beijing maintains a voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing. The accusation has sharpened questions about verification, deterrence and whether the U.S. stockpile stewardship program — which relies on advanced simulations rather than live detonations — remains sufficient in an era of renewed great-power nuclear competition.
Immigration judge blocks deportation of Columbia anti-Israel agitator
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked President Donald Trump‘s administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a pro-Palestinian protest leader who led anti-Israel demonstrations at Columbia University. Judge Nina Froes terminated the case after saying federal authorities made a procedural error and failed to certify a document they attempted to submit as evidence. “I am grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law and holding the line against the government’s attempts to trample on due process,” Mahdawi said in a statement. “This decision is an important step towards upholding what fear tried to destroy: the right to speak for peace and justice.” Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin condemned the ruling on Tuesday, saying the Trump administration remains committed to removing Mahdawi’s visa. TRUMP ADMIN CRACKS DOWN ANTISEMITISM AS DOJ OFFICIAL EXPOSES ‘VIOLENT RHETORIC’ OF RADICAL PROTESTERS “No activist judge, not this one or any other, is going to stop us from doing that,” she said. Froes’ ruling relates to a document submitted as evidence by federal attorneys. The document referenced Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying noncitizens can be expelled from the country if their presence may undermine U.S. foreign policy interests. Froes wrote in her ruling that government attorneys submitted a photocopy of the document to the court, but they failed to certify it as required under federal law. FEDERAL JUDGE SIDES WITH ANTI-ISRAEL RINGLEADER MAHMOUD KHALIL, HALTS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S DEPORTATION BID Mahdawi, 34, was detained in April 2025 during a citizenship appointment in Vermont and spent more than two weeks in custody. He was later released on bail after filing a habeas corpus petition. A federal judge ordered that he not be deported or removed from the state and was released under an order issued by U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford in Burlington. According to the 2025 court filing, Mahdawi co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack. He founded the group with Mahmoud Khalil. MORE THAN A DOZEN ANTI-ICE AGITATORS HAULED AWAY BY NYPD NEAR COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Mahdawi’s deportation case also stems in part from allegations dating back to 2015, when he was interviewed by the FBI after reportedly making antisemitic remarks at a Vermont gun store and a firearms museum. According to court documents previously cited by Fox News Digital, the store owner said Mahdawi expressed interest in purchasing firearms, including a sniper rifle and an automatic weapon. The owner said Mahdawi claimed he had experience building modified 9mm submachine guns “to kill Jews while he was in Palestine.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Sanders-endorsed Senate candidate knocked for alleged flip-flop to ‘have it both ways’ on key issue
A Democratic Senate candidate endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is being slammed for allegedly flip-flopping on one of his primary campaign issues. Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive candidate who previously ran an unsuccessful bid for Michigan governor, has made “Medicare-for-all” a hallmark of his Senate campaign. However, as the Michigan Senate primary race heats up, El-Sayed’s Democratic opponent, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, is accusing him of backing down from a full “Medicare-for-all” stance and of “rewriting definitions to have it both ways.” MEET THE NEW ‘SQUAD’: THE NEXT GENERATION OF TRUMP-ERA PROGRESSIVE CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATES Roxie Richner, an El-Sayed campaign spokesperson, responded by telling Fox News Digital, “Dr. El-Sayed is and has always been for ‘Medicare-for-all’ — guaranteed public health insurance for every American. Cradle to grave. No premiums, deductibles, or co-pays.” “Dr. El-Sayed would be the first Democratic doctor elected to the U.S. Senate since 1969, and he looks forward to passing ‘Medicare-for-all’ into law,” added Richner. El-Sayed’s campaign website page on “A Healthier America” cites a book he co-authored in 2021 in which he wrote that limiting private alternatives to “Medicare-for-all” would be important to ensuring providers accepted the insurance. The book advocates for “Medicare-for-all” as a type of “monopsony” in healthcare, in which there is only a single buyer of medical services, the government. “By insuring all Americans, M4A becomes a monopsony in healthcare. This is different from a monopoly, where there’s only one seller of a good; in a monopsony there’s only one buyer of a good. That gives the single buyer considerable negotiating leverage, which Medicare could use to rein in the cost of drugs, hospital stays, and physician services,” the book reads. In a November post on X, El-Sayed explained that this monopsony “would instantaneously create a disciplining feature against rising prices,” because it “takes out the profit motive on the payer end of the transaction.” The book further states that “because alternatives to M4A [Medicare-for-all] would be limited, participation of providers would be virtually guaranteed.” “Instead of spending time and money dealing with the arcane requirements of hundreds of different health plans […] providers could use one streamlined system that would free up resources to focus on clinical care,” the books reads. The latest version of the federal “Medicare-for-all” Act, introduced in the Senate by Sanders, includes language that would effectively ban most comprehensive private insurance plans and relegate private insurers to providing limited supplemental care. The legislation would make it unlawful for “a private health insurer to sell health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits provided under this Act; or (2) an employer to provide benefits for an employee, former employee, or the dependents of an employee or former employee that duplicate the benefits provided under this Act.” MICHIGAN FAMILY SAYS COUNTY SEIZED HOME OVER TAX BILL THEY DIDN’T OWE — CASE NOW HEADS TO THE SUPREME COURT El-Sayed testified before the Senate in support of the “Medicare-for-all” Act in 2022, calling it “the clearest pathway to universal, durable healthcare insurance, bar none” and saying that “cradle to grave coverage would do away with the premiums, co pays, deductibles that leave even privately insured Americans rationing their healthcare today.” The year before, in an interview with NerdWallet, El-Sayed said that under a “Medicare-for-all” plan, the government would be “buying you out” of your private insurance plan but would allow “a few insurance companies that offered a sort of concierge-level service for folks who wanted to pay for that.” In a 2024 episode of the “America Dissected” podcast, El-Sayed emphasized that “we don’t really need private health insurance in this country.” He said that “private health insurance is a system by which you have a middleman in our healthcare system making a tremendous amount of money that is leading to a number of the biggest problems in American healthcare whether that’s the fact that our costs continue to spiral upward, whether that’s the fact that nearly ten million people in our country don’t get health insurance at all, or it’s the fact that we are consistently in this country, unable to guarantee, even people who are insurance access to the health care they need.” In October, El-Sayed knocked McMorrow for advocating for allowing a public option under universal healthcare, writing on X, “a public option can’t deliver healthcare to every Michigander. Medicare for All can.” Politico, in December, reported El-Sayed slamming McMorrow’s call for universal healthcare with a public option as “incoherent.” “Now a public option is exactly that; it’s just an option. There is no reason why it would actually address any of the foundational problems in our system. It wouldn’t bring down the rising costs. It wouldn’t guarantee people healthcare, and we don’t really know how much it would cost,” he said. Yet, while speaking on the Brian Tyler Cohen podcast in January, El-Sayed suggested that under “Medicare-for-all,” “if you like your insurance from your employer or from your union, that can still be there for you.” PROGRESSIVES NOTCH ANOTHER WIN OVER DEMOCRATIC MODERATES AS SANDERS-AOC ALLY NEARS CONGRESS Days later, speaking on radio channel WDET, he again said, “‘Medicare-for-all’ is government health insurance guaranteed for everyone, regardless of what circumstances you’re in. If you like your insurance through your employer or through your union, I hope that’ll be there for you. But if you lose your job, if your factory shuts down, you shouldn’t be destitute without the healthcare that you need and deserve.” He also said, “If you have a public option, what happens is, the private health insurance system will try to dump all of the most expensive patients onto that public option, vastly increasing the cost of that public option and making it unsustainable.” El-Sayed’s campaign website states that he “believes in expanding Medicare to cover every single American from cradle to grave while sustaining the option for workers to keep supplemental private insurance their unions or employers may provide.” Amid criticism from McMorrow, El-Sayed doubled down on his “Medicare-for-all” messaging in a January fundraising message, in
Vance, Harris, Obama issue tributes to Rev Jesse Jackson
Vice President JD Vance, former Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama were among the prominent political figures who issued statements following the death of Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. The civil rights leader and two-time Democratic presidential candidate was 84. Vance indicated that one of his family members voted for Jackson in the 1988 Democratic presidential primary and for Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary. “I have a close family member who voted in two presidential primaries in her entire life. Donald Trump in 2016 and Jesse Jackson in 1988,” Vance wrote in a post on X. “RIP Jesse Jackson.” TRUMP REMEMBERS JESSE JACKSON AS ‘GOOD MAN,’ ‘FORCE OF NATURE’ Former Vice President Kamala Harris recalled getting positive reactions from others when she had a “Jesse Jackson for President” bumper sticker on her car when she was a law student. “As a young law student, I would drive back and forth from Oakland, where I lived, to San Francisco, where I went to school. I had a bumper sticker in the back window of my car that read: ‘Jesse Jackson for President.’ As I would drive across the Bay Bridge, you would not believe how people from every walk of life would give me a thumbs up or honk of support. They were small interactions, but they exemplified Reverend Jackson’s life work — lifting up the dignity of working people, building community and coalitions, and strengthening our democracy and nation,” she noted in a post on X. REV JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER AND RAINBOW PUSH FOUNDER, DIES AT 84 “I was proud to partner with and learn from him on this work throughout my career, and I am so grateful for the time we spent together this January. Reverend Jackson was a selfless leader, mentor, and friend to me and so many others,” she wrote. Former President Barack Obama noted in a statement that he and former first lady Michelle Obama “were deeply saddened to hear about the passing of a true giant, the Reverend Jesse Jackson.” REV JESSE JACKSON RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER TREATMENT FOR RARE BRAIN DISORDER CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Michelle got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager. And in his two historic runs for president, he laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land,” Obama noted. “Michelle and I will always be grateful for Jesse’s lifetime of service, and the friendship our families share.”
Over 80 film workers slam Berlin festival’s silence on Israel’s Gaza war
Listen to this article Listen to this article | 4 mins info Dozens of actors and directors, including Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton, have condemned the Berlin International Film Festival for its “anti-Palestinian racism” and urged organisers to clearly state their opposition to “Israel’s genocide” in Gaza. In an open letter published in Variety on Tuesday, the 81 film workers also denounced comments by this year’s president of the awards jury, Wim Winders who – when asked about Gaza – said, “We should stay out of politics”. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list They noted that the festival’s stance stands in direct contrast to its policy on Russia’s war on Ukraine and on the situation in Iran. All of the signatories are alumni of the festival, which is also known as the Berlinale, and include actors Cherien Dabis and Brian Cox, as well as directors Adam McKay, Mike Leigh, Lukas Dhont, Nan Goldin, and Avi Mograbi. In their letter, the film workers expressed dismay at the Berlinale’s “involvement in censoring artists who oppose Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza” and the German government’s key role in enabling the atrocities. They said the festival has been policing filmmakers, and listed several examples from last year’s Berlinale. “Last year, filmmakers who spoke out for Palestinian life and liberty from the Berlinale stage reported being aggressively reprimanded by senior festival programmers. One filmmaker was reported to have been investigated by police, and Berlinale leadership falsely implied that the filmmaker’s moving speech – rooted in international law and solidarity – was ‘discriminatory’,’ they wrote. Advertisement “We stand with our colleagues in rejecting this institutional repression and anti-Palestinian racism,” they added. The film workers said they “fervently disagree” with Wenders’s statement that filmmaking is the “opposite of politics”, saying, “You cannot separate one from the other.” Their letter comes days after Indian author Arundhati Roy said she was withdrawing from this year’s festival after what she called “unconscionable statements” by jury members, including Wenders. This year’s festival runs from February 12 to 22. The film workers noted that the Berlinale’s actions come at a time when the world is learning “horrifying new details about the 2,842 Palestinians ‘evaporated’ by Israeli forces” in Gaza through thermobaric weapons made by the United States. An Al Jazeera investigation, published last week, documented how these weapons – which are capable of generating temperatures exceeding 3,500 degrees Celsius (6,332 degrees Fahrenheit) – leave behind no remains other than blood or small fragments of flesh. Germany, too, has been one of the biggest exporters of weapons to Israel despite the evidence of Israel’s atrocities. It has also introduced repressive measures to discourage people from speaking out in solidarity with Palestinians, including in the arts. In their letter, the Berlinale alumni noted that the international film world is increasingly taking a stance against Israel’s genocidal actions. Last year, major international film festivals – including the world’s largest documentary festival in Amsterdam – endorsed a cultural boycott of Israel, while more than 5,000 film workers have pledged to refuse work with Israeli film companies and institutions. Yet, the film works said, the Berlinale “has so far not even met the demands of its community to issue a statement that affirms the Palestinian right to life, dignity, and freedom”. This is the least it can and should do, they said. “Just as the festival has made clear statements in the past about atrocities carried out against people in Iran and Ukraine, we call on the Berlinale to fulfil its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability,” they added. Adblock test (Why?)
Iran’s Araghchi hails ‘good progress’ in nuclear talks with US
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has said that “good progress” has been made in indirect nuclear talks with the United States, as Washington warned that military action remains an option if diplomacy fails. The talks, mediated by Oman in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday, were aimed at averting the possibility of US military intervention to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, weeks after a deadly Iranian crackdown on antigovernment protests. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Ultimately, we were able to reach broad agreement on a set of guiding principles, based on which we will move forward and begin working on the text of a potential agreement,” Araghchi told state television after Tuesday’s talks. “Good progress” has been made, compared with the previous round in Oman earlier this month, he said, adding, “We now have a clear path ahead, which I think is positive.” Araghchi said that once both sides had come up with draft texts for an agreement, “the drafts would be exchanged and a date for a third round [of talks] would be set”. In Washington, DC, Vance also appeared to indicate that the US preferred diplomacy, but painted a more mixed picture. “In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards,” Vance said in a Fox News interview. “But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through,” Vance told The Story with Martha MacCallum programme. “We’re going to keep on working it. But of course, the president reserves the ability to say when he thinks that diplomacy has reached its natural end,” Vance said. Stumbling blocks Iran has for years sought relief from sweeping sanctions imposed by the US, including a Washington-imposed ban on other countries buying its oil. Advertisement Tehran has said it wants the talks to focus on its uranium enrichment programme, insisting that any deal must deliver tangible economic benefit to Iran while maintaining its sovereignty and national security. Washington has demanded that Iran forgo uranium enrichment on its soil, and has sought to expand the scope of talks to non-nuclear issues, such as Tehran’s missile stockpile. Iran has said it will not accept zero uranium enrichment and that its missile capabilities are off the table. The talks come amid high tensions in the Gulf, with the US deploying two aircraft carriers to the region. The first – the USS Abraham Lincoln, with nearly 80 aircraft – was positioned about 700km (435 miles) from the Iranian coast as of Sunday, satellite images showed. Its location puts at least a dozen US F‑35s and F‑18 fighter jets within striking distance. A second carrier was dispatched over the weekend. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned on Tuesday that the country had the ability to sink a US warship. “A warship is certainly a dangerous weapon, but even more dangerous is the weapon capable of sinking it,” he said. Iran has also sought to display its military might, with its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) beginning a series of war games on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz to prepare for “potential security and military threats”. Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the waterway, a vital oil export route from Gulf Arab states, in retaliation for any attack. The move would choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher. Tehran has also threatened to strike US military bases in the region in the event of an attack, prompting concerns of a wider war. A previous attempt at diplomacy collapsed last year when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran in June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb three nuclear sites at Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. Ali Vaez, the Crisis Group’s Iran project director, told Al Jazeera he believed there is a lot of space for agreement on the nuclear front, “simply because Iran’s nuclear programme has been degraded on the ground, and so, some of the cost of the compromise has already sunk in”. “It should be easier for the Iranians to accept zero enrichment for a period of time, because they have not spun a single centrifuge since the 12-day war back in June,” he said. “But when it gets to non-nuclear questions, like regional activities or their missile programme, I think, at best, the Iranians will be willing to do superficial concessions, not the kind of grand bargain capitulation that the US expect,” he said. Advertisement Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, meanwhile, reiterated in an interview published on Tuesday that Tehran was “absolutely not seeking nuclear weapons”. “If anyone wants to verify this, we are open to such verification to take place,” he said. “However, we do not accept that we should be prevented from using nuclear science and knowledge to address our illnesses and to advance our industry and agriculture,” he added. Adblock test (Why?)
Over 80 UN member states condemn Israel’s de-facto annexation of West Bank
UN warns that Israel’s plan will lead to widespread dispossession of Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 4 mins info More than 80 United Nations member states have condemned Israel’s plan to expand control over the occupied West Bank and claim large tracts of Palestinian territory as Israeli “state property”. “We strongly condemn unilateral Israeli decisions and measures aimed at expanding Israel’s unlawful presence in the West Bank,” Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said on Tuesday, speaking on behalf of the coalition of 85 member states and several international organisations. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Such decisions are contrary to Israel’s obligations under international law and must be immediately reversed. We underline in this regard our strong opposition to any form of annexation,” Mansour said. “We reiterate our rejection of all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem,” he said. “Such measures violate international law, undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region, run counter to the Comprehensive Plan and jeopardise the prospect of reaching a peace agreement ending the conflict”, he added. The Comprehensive Plan is a November agreement between Israel and Hamas to end Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which includes a halt to Israel’s illegal settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. Signatories to the joint statement on Tuesday include Australia, Canada, China, France, Pakistan, Russia, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye , the United Arab Emirates, the European Union, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. The joint statement follows Israel’s decision to implement land registration in Section C of the West Bank for the first time since 1967, when Israel began its occupation of Palestinian territory. Advertisement Section C makes up about 60 percent of the West Bank’s territory, according to the illegal settlement monitoring organisation Peace Now. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, earlier this week, warned that Israel’s land registration plan could lead to the “dispossession of Palestinians of their property and risks expanding Israeli control over land in the area”. Guterres warned that the process could be both “destabilising” and unlawful, citing a landmark 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that stated Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza is unlawful and must end. Israel’s “abuse of its status as the occupying power” renders its “presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful”, the ICJ said in its ruling. “Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the court added. According to the ICJ, approximately 465,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied West Bank, spread across some 300 settlements and outposts, which are illegal under international law. Separately on Tuesday, a 13-year-old Palestinian child was killed, and two other children were seriously injured, in the occupied West Bank’s central Jordan Valley area by ammunition discarded by the Israeli military, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. The injured children, aged 12 and 14, are receiving treatment in hospital, Wafa said. Adblock test (Why?)
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta launches India’s first AI-driven comprehensive education model
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Tuesday inaugurated the CM Shri School at Sarojini Nagar. The foundation stones for 75 CM Shri School projects across the Capital were also laid.