Iran’s ex-president Ahmadinejad, disqualified Larijani sign up for election
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and others see an opportunity, but it remains unclear who will be qualified to run by the Guardian Council. Tehran, Iran – Iran’s ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other divisive figures – such as moderate Ali Larijani and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili – have signed up to contest new elections after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month. Ahmadinejad, who was president from 2005 to 2013, registered along with dozens of others at the interior ministry on Sunday, a day before the sign-up period ends. The politician, who had been largely sidelined following his controversial terms in office, said he’s only heeding “a call from people from across the country” to run again, and he’s confident he can resolve Iran’s domestic and international issues. “Don’t ask political questions,” he said with a grin when asked by reporters about his reaction if he were to be disqualified from running by the Guardian Council – the constitutional body that vets all candidates. Despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging him to stay away in 2017, he signed up and was barred from running, but chose to not register for the 2021 election. Ahmadinejad says improving the economy and combating corruption are among his highest priorities [Majid Asgaripour/West Asia News Agency via Reuters] Ahmadinejad’s presidency was marked by economic malaise defined by massive inflation and currency devaluation, along with explosive tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme – which saw multilateral sanctions imposed on the country. His 2009 re-election sparked the Green Movement of protests across the country amid claims of vote tampering, which were refuted by authorities as they mounted a crackdown. Who else wants to be in the race? The dozens who signed up to run for president also include senior security official and former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, former three-time parliament speaker Ali Larijani, Tehran’s Mayor Alireza Zakani, and former central bank chief Abdolnasser Hemmati. Jalili is now the Iranian supreme leader’s representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and used to be security chief from 2007 to 2013 at the height of the tensions surrounding the nuclear file. He has run for president unsuccessfully three times before. Larijani, a conservative figure belonging to a powerful family, is perhaps the only relatively moderate candidate with any chance of garnering a considerable number of votes – that is if he is greenlit by the Guardian Council after being disqualified in 2021. Despite the disqualification last time, Larijani was the first major figure to announce his candidacy, signing up in Tehran on Friday with his campaign releasing a dramatic video containing cinematic shots of him in the process. After the latest presidential and parliamentary elections produced the lowest turnouts in the near 45-year history of the Republic of Iran, turnout is expected to prove a challenging issue during this vote as well. The research centre of the Iranian parliament announced on Sunday that 53.4 percent of people – responding to a survey it conducted – said they would vote in the June 28 presidential election, with 28.9 percent still on the fence. This is just above the 48 percent that saw Raisi become president, and much higher than the 42 percent turnout announced for the parliamentary election in March. The Guardian Council is scheduled to begin vetting the candidates from Tuesday for six days, after which the list of approved candidates will be announced on June 11. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine can now use Western arms to strike inside Russia
Kyiv, Ukraine – Denys, a serviceman in Kyiv on leave from Ukraine’s eastern front, is indignant about how long it takes for each round of Western arms supplies to reach the country. “There’s always a ‘no’ first: No tanks. No missiles. No fighter jets,” he told Al Jazeera, referring to multiple times that Western allies have either refused to provide certain types of weapons to Ukraine or have strictly regulated their use. Denys withheld his last name and the location of his military unit in accordance with wartime regulations. “And each ‘no’ costs lives. Not just ours. We’re big boys, we’ve seen life a bit, but those of children, the little children burned alive or blown to pieces …” the 27-year-old said, close to yelling, as he stood between a blossoming linden tree and an ice-cream kiosk in central Kyiv. “And then there’s a ‘maybe, maybe,’ and it goes on for months, and then there’s a ‘yes,’ but it’s always too late.” Eventually, Western nations did agree to supply tanks, missiles and fighter jets – but after agonisingly long deliberations that cost lives, he said. The latest “yes” from the United States and nearly a dozen Western nations that follows Russia’s recent advance and the relentless bombing of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, grants their permission to use the advanced weaponry they have supplied – or will supply soon – to strike inside Russia. Washington and its allies have been afraid of antagonising Russia, whose President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly suggested that the use of nuclear weapons is on the table in the event that Ukraine or the West cross yet another “red line” such as the shelling of Crimea and Putin’s pet project, a bridge that links it to mainland Russia. But Ukraine has already crossed many military and political Rubicons, including the expulsion of Russian troops from occupied areas and drone strikes on airfields, military bases, ports and oil depots deep in Russia. These acts have left Moscow fuming, but not enough to use nuclear weapons. The latest Western “yes”, which came on Thursday and followed months of pleas from Kyiv, is more of a “yes, but”. The White House said that Kyiv can start using US-supplied weapons for “limited strikes” within Russia – but only in areas adjacent to the northeastern Kharkiv region that sits along the Russian border. Russian forces seized the region and its eponymous administrative capital in early 2022, but were pushed out months later following a manoeuvre masterminded by Ukraine’s current top general, Oleksandr Syrskii. Moscow resumed its attempts to take over Kharkiv in early May, seizing several border villages next to the western Russian region of Belgorod. The existing artillery in the area allowed troops to advance on Ukrainian targets and then retreat back to Russian soil, where they knew they would be safe from Ukrainian defence forces. The White House’s latest “yes, but” applies to air defence systems, artillery and guided rockets. There is still a ban on long-range missile strikes. Other Western weapons that can now be used to hit Russia include 24 Dutch F-16 fighter jets armed with long-range missiles, and Soviet-era jets supplied by Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and Northern Macedonia – countries that also granted their permissions in recent days. Ukrainian pilots will soon complete their months-long training to fly F-16s and may fly their first sorties within weeks. Until now, their missions would have had to be limited to Ukrainian airspace. Not anymore. The jets – along with a handful of Ukraine’s own Soviet aircraft – will be free to launch French-made air-launched cruise missiles known as Systeme de Croisiere Autonome a Longue Portee (SCALP) EG missiles. The United Kingdom has not yet given permission to use the SCALP’s nearly identical twin missile, Storm Shadow – but has previously authorised the use of its attack drones on Russian soil. Turkey has also allowed Ukraine to use its Bayraktar drones there. A SCALP-EG/Storm Shadow, which is a low observable, long-range air-launched cruise missile, on display at the International Paris Air Show 2023 [Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images] The US, the UK, Germany and Norway have already supplied Ukraine with ground-based launchers for HIMARS and ATACMS missiles that initially proved effective in strikes on annexed Crimea and occupied Ukrainian regions. But Russia has in recent weeks begun using advanced electronic jamming systems to render these satellite-guided missiles – along with GPS-guided Excalibur artillery shells – ineffective. “They [Russians] advanced a lot,” said Lieutenant General Ihor Romanenko, the former deputy head of Ukraine’s General Staff of Armed Forces. “We’re taking it seriously. We have to create our own means of suppressing their electronic jamming and create our own jamming systems,” he told Al Jazeera. But the Western permission will hardly be a game-changer. “No tables will be turned. In the coming months, we’re talking about containing Russia,” Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera. The permission follows Western attempts to “find compromises with Russia,” he said. “This is slowly changing because Russia shows its real face – an empire that tries to conduct policies according to 19th-century patterns.” The decision follows “constant, barbaric bombing” of Kharkiv and other border towns and Russia’s plans to start an offensive in northern Ukraine, at the forested conjunction of Kharkiv and Sumy regions, said Nikolay Mitrokhin, a researcher at Germany’s University of Bremen. The offensive against Kharkiv may begin within weeks after the deployment of tens of thousands of newly conscripted and trained Russian servicemen. “Ukrainian forces don’t have enough resources to cover the border, and will have to strike from the forests pretty far from the border,” Mitrokhin told Al Jazeera. Ukraine faces a dire shortage of new servicemen. For months, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government postponed mobilisation, fearing a public outcry, and didn’t let seasoned, battle-weary veterans demobilise. The troop shortage coincided with a depletion of weapons and ammunition after months-long delays of Western supplies. In recent weeks, teams of conscription and police officers have been detaining thousands of men in public places,
Speaker Johnson vows to ‘fight back… with everything in our arsenal’ after Trump verdict
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., vowed to retaliate for the guilty verdict against former President Trump on Sunday, saying House Republicans would use “everything in our arsenal.” Johnson made the comments during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday” with host Shannon Bream. The speaker emphasized the oversight powers that the House has, and said they plan to leverage them against corrupt prosecutors. He clarified, however, that Republicans must remain within the “rule of law.” “We are the rule of law party. Chaos is not a conservative value. We have to fight back, and we will with everything in our arsenal. But we will do that within the confines of the rule of law,” Johnson said. “We believe in our institutions. We are conservatives, and we are trying to conserve the greatest country in the history of the world. And its institutions are an important part of that. Our system of justice is an important part of that,” he added. TRUMP ‘UNLEASHED’ NOW THAT HIS CRIMINAL TRIAL IS OVER Trump was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in a Manhattan courtroom last week, leading to outrage from conservatives. Bream highlighted claims from some conservatives that the proper response is to open prosecutions against Democratic politicians. BIDEN URGES RESPECT FOR LEGAL SYSTEM AFTER TRUMP CONVICTION WHILE PUBLICLY FLOUTING SCOTUS RULINGS Johnson emphasized that Republicans should stay within the rule of law, however, and he pointed to efforts by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Jordan has summoned Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and the lead prosecutors in Trump’s case to testify before the committee on June 13. Trump is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11. TRUMP TURNS CONVICTION INTO CASH, SPOTLIGHTS RECORD FUNDRAISING IN WAKE OF GUILTY VERDICT The former president has used his conviction to galvanize voters who argue his prosecution was purely political. He still has three additional indictments to defend himself against. Trump’s campaign has raised tens of millions of dollars in the days since his Thursday conviction. His campaign estimates they will bring in some $150 million over the course of the week.
Trump supporters flip American flag upside down in protest of perceived weaponization of legal system
Supporters of former President Trump across the country flipped the American flag upside down after a New York jury’s guilty verdict as a sign of protest to the perceived weaponization of the U.S. legal system. At least one person was seen waving an upside down U.S. flag outside Trump Tower on Thursday, where Trump returned from the Manhattan courthouse after a jury handed down guilty verdicts on all 34 felony counts in the trial where the former president was accused of falsifying business records to hide payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to influence the 2016 election. Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, and Donald Trump Jr., his eldest son, have been sharing images of inverted flags online, as did longtime Trump ally Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. Minutes after the guilty verdict was announced, Greene posted the inverted American flag on X, where the post had garnered 10.4 million views by Sunday morning. Country music singer Jason Aldean also posted an inverted flag on his Instagram account, Reuters reported. TRUMP SPEAKS TO FOX NEWS AFTER HIS GUILTY CONVICTION: ‘THESE ARE BAD PEOPLE’ “Scary times in our country right now, man,” Aldean wrote. “If there was ever a time to speak up, ITS NOW! Make no mistake. We are in trouble.” Don Tapia, a former U.S. ambassador to Jamaica under the Trump administration and a Republican donor, flew an inverted flag outside his Arizona home, Reuters reported. He told Reuters he received phone calls of support and that motorists honked in agreement as they drove by, though he planned to switch the flag back on Sunday. Reuters reported that the Miami chapter of the Proud Boys posted an inverted flag on Telegram, as did a similar group called Patriot Voice, which wrote: “In dire distress.” HOW TRUMP GUILTY VERDICTS MAY IMPACT THE 2024 REMATCH WITH BIDEN Presidential historian Timothy Naftali told Reuters that the upside down flag was first used in the 1700s by sailors to signal distress and has a long history of being used in protest by Americans on both sides of the political spectrum. Naftali, a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, said it was used in the mid-1800s by those who opposed slavery and was carried in the 1960s by protesters of the Vietnam War. The inverted flag was also flown in 2020 by some protesting the death of George Floyd and in 2022 after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The upside-down American flag also sparked controversy after the New York Times reported in mid-May it was flown outside the Alexandria, Virginia, home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. An upside-down flag was carried by Jan. 6 rioters, and some outlets have associated the signal with the “Stop the Steal” movement. Pundits and podcast hosts with hundreds of thousands of followers, as well as regular Americans, rallied around the inverted flag in the hours after Trump was convicted in his New York hush money trial on Thursday. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, also posted an image on its X account of an upside-down American flag flying next to a flag with its logo. Heritage is the group behind the GOP’s Project 2025 playbook, a blueprint for ways to reshape the federal government in the event of a Republican presidential win in 2024. Other posts on social media referred to the verdict as a declaration of “war” or a sign of a coming “civil war,” The Associated Press reported. The words “RIP America” trended on X immediately after the verdict. Other widely shared posts referred to the end or collapse of America, often alluding to the fall of Rome. Elon Musk, the owner of X, referenced the civil war that preceded the collapse of the Roman empire in a post on the social media platform. Former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy also invoked the fall of the Roman Empire in a video statement he released on X. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Official US Navy Special Forces page draws backlash for ringing in Pride month: ‘Navy SEALs have gone woke’
The official Facebook page for the U.S. Navy SEALs and Naval Special Warfare Command was mocked this weekend for marking the start of “pride month.” Backlash to the post surged when it was highlighted on the popular “Libs of TikTok” page on X, formerly known as Twitter. The post had no caption and included a photo with rainbow designs that read, “NSW. Dignity. Service. Respect. Equality. Pride.” Libs of TikTok shared the post to X on Saturday, writing, “The Navy SEALs have gone woke. Our elite special forces. This is terrifying.” The special warfare account took steps to limit the accounts that can comment on their post, suggesting administrators knew it would be controversial. NBC MARKS PRIDE MONTH WITH DOCUMENTARY ON ‘QUEER’ ANIMALS The comment section was nevertheless full of criticism. “This is a slap in the face of every special warfare operator that has put their lives on the line for our nation,” one person wrote. NBC MARKS PRIDE MONTH WITH DOCUMENTARY ON ‘QUEER’ ANIMALS “Man this woke s— is like a cancer and needs to be handled and dealt with as a threat to national security. Gone way too far,” another person said. Not every comment was critical, however, with some users saying the post was positive. “Fantastic!! Thanks for recognizing our strength is in our differences!” one person wrote. Social media accounts for the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Space Force made no mention of Pride month on Saturday. The incident comes after the Department of Defense (DoD) appeared to mix up Pride Month and PTSD Awareness Month in a social media post on Saturday. In an X post published on Saturday afternoon, the Pentagon explained that June marks PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) Awareness Month. The commemorative month was first recognized by the U.S. government in June 2014, a year before June also officially became Pride Month. NATIONAL PARK SERVICE REVERSES BAN ON EMPLOYEES WEARING UNIFORMS AT PRIDE EVENTS FOLLOWING LGBTQ BACKLASH “June is PTSD Awareness Month and the DoD is committed to supporting service members and veterans affected by PTSD,” the post read. “If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available,” the DoD added. “You are not alone.” But the picture attached to the post read “Celebrate Pride Month 2024” with a Progress Pride Flag graphic. The tweet was later deleted and replaced with a PTSD Awareness Month graphic. Fox News’ Andrea Vacchiano contributed to this report
Weather update: IMD predicts rainfall in several states, severe heatwave in these states; check forecast for next week
IMD also forecasted thunderstorms followed by light to moderate showers, lightning and gusty winds for Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, West Bengal, Sikkim and Tripura until June 8.
Toll tax hike: NHAI increases charges from Monday, to be rised by…
From June 3, toll taxes will be hiked at nearly 1,100 toll plazas across India.
Trump joins TikTok, the app he once tried to ban as president
Former President Trump has joined TikTok, the embattled Chinese-owned social media platform that he once tried to ban during his years in the White House. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s first post on TikTok was a launch video on Saturday night on a verified account – @realDonaldTrump – showing him waving to fans at an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fight in Newark, New Jersey, that he attended a couple of hours earlier. “The president is now on TikTok,” UFC CEO and Trump friend Dana White said as he introduced the former president in the video. “It’s my honor,” Trump responded in the video. The song “American Bad A–” by Kid Rock can be heard in the background. TRUMP ‘UNLEASHED’ NOW THAT HIS CRIMINAL TRIAL IS OVER The move appears to be an effort to connect with younger voters who frequent the app, as Trump faces off with President Biden in the 2024 election rematch. The main super PAC supporting Trump, MAGA Inc., joined TikTok a couple of weeks ago. The site has roughly 170 million users in the U.S. TRUMP TURNS CONVICTIONS INTO CASH IN WAKE OF HIS CRIMINAL TRIAL VERDICT The app appears to be friendly ground for the former president, with roughly twice as many pro-Trump posts compared to pro-Biden posts on the site, according to recent reports from the New York Times and Puck, which cited internal analysis from TikTok. Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign joined TikTok in February, but the president signed a law in April forcing TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app within a year or face a ban in the U.S. Trump, in 2020 during his last year as president, tried to ban the app in the U.S. market over national security concerns. His executive order was eventually blocked in federal court. Trump changed his mind this year, and came out in opposition to Biden’s potential ban on TikTok. Some former top Trump advisers – including former senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and David Urban – have been speaking out in favor of TikTok on Capitol Hill. Regardless, many Republicans continue to criticize the popular app and urge its Chinese-based parent company to divest. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: From Kangana Ranaut to Shashi Tharoor, know who is ahead on key seats in Exit Poll
The results are scheduled to be announced on June 4. Meanwhile, most of the Exit Polls have predicted a clear majority for the BJP
Catholic bishop delves into problems of liberalism, ‘society of little tyrants,’ with politics professor
Catholic Bishop Robert Barron described problems of the modern understanding of freedom as a “society of little tyrants” last week in an interview with Patrick Deneen, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. Barron and Deneen, during an interview that aired Friday on the Word on Fire’s “Bishop Barron Presents,” contrasted a view of freedom that seeks to eliminate any constraints on individuals versus what they described as the ancient, Platonic and more Christian understanding of liberty. “We’ve all become our own little tyrant,” Barron said. “Now, there’s not one tyrant. We’re all a tyrant because, hey, look, it’s my will, it’s my desire. And as long as I don’t harm you, I’ve got the freedom to do whatever I want. And then you’ve got a society of little tyrants who have no sense of cohesion or of a real common good.” Philosophers of ancient Greece and the Christian tradition, Barron said, show that “the purpose of government really is to make us good, and it has something to do with virtue. And that freedom is not, as you’re saying, simply doing what I want. … It’s actually a kind of disciplining of your desire to make the achievement of virtue possible.” VATICAN DOCUMENT ON MODERN ISSUES SHOWS ‘HOW STUPID IT IS’ TO SEE CHURCH AS ‘LEFT’ OR ‘RIGHT’: BISHOP BARRON Deneen is the author of “Why Liberalism Failed,” which former President Obama praised in 2018. While Obama disagreed with many of the books conclusions, he said it offered “cogent insights into the loss of meaning and community that many in the West feel.” The book makes the case that liberalism failed because it succeeded, that the understanding of liberty as freedom from obstacles has led to a breakdown of society at every level, including the family and social institutions. At another point in the interview, Deneen decried the breakdown of contact between elite Americans, those who hold more political and economic power than most of the country, and ordinary citizens. “I think the contemporary elites coming out of institutions like mine mix very little with ordinary people,” Deneen said. THE MOST POPULAR CATHOLIC OUTSIDE THE VATICAN: BISHOP BARRON That disconnect involves, in part, the political divide, condemned by populists as elites versus “deplorables,” but “there’s also a kind of non-prejudiced form, which is just not having any contact,” Deneen said. It involves “going from upper middle class to upper class suburbs to the best schools to Notre Dame to living with your graduate friends in Brooklyn and then going to live in wealthy suburbs and retiring in Florida,” never mixing with “ordinary people.” The solution to the divide and the concentration of economic and political power in the hands of a few people could at some point require structural change, Deneen said. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Deneen argued in his 2023 book, “Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future,” that America is headed for a fundamental transformation. His book advocated for a “peaceful but vigorous overthrow of a corrupt and corrupting liberal ruling class and the creation of a postliberal order in which existing political forms can remain in place, as long as a fundamentally different ethos informs those institutions and the personnel who populate key offices and positions.”