South Lebanon votes in municipal election seen as test of Hezbollah support
Despite war losses, Hezbollah is using the vote as an opportunity to show it still has political influence. Voters in southern Lebanon are casting their ballots in municipal elections seen as a test of support for Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim political and armed group. The vote on Saturday in the mostly Shia area, where Hezbollah is allied with Amal – the party led by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – marks the final phase of Lebanon’s staggered local elections. It comes after a November 2024 ceasefire between the group and Israel was supposed to end months of attacks. lsrael, however, has continued sporadic strikes as recently as on Thursday, when air raids hit multiple locations in the south. Both Hezbollah and Amal are widely expected to dominate the municipal races, having already secured control of numerous councils unopposed. Turnout was high in border villages ravaged by last year’s conflict, with residents of Kfar Kila – a town nearly levelled by Israeli attacks – voting in nearby Nabatieh. Others from surrounding areas cast ballots in Tyre. “The will of life is stronger than death and the will of construction is stronger than destruction,” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun told reporters on Saturday, as he made a tour of the country’s south. He said he voted for the first time in 40 years in his hometown of Aaichiyeh. Advertisement Among those heading to the polls were Hezbollah members still recovering from a series of Israeli attacks in September 2024, when thousands of pagers exploded nearly simultaneously, killing more than a dozen people and wounding nearly 3,000. “Southerners are proving again that they are with the choice of resistance,” Hezbollah legislator Ali Fayyad, who represents border villages, said in Nabatieh. Hezbollah still holding political influence The vote comes at a critical time for Hezbollah. While the group emerged from the conflict with reduced military capabilities and diminished political leverage, the elections offer a platform to reaffirm its influence in the region. “Lebanon has still not fully recovered from last year’s war between Hezbollah and Israel. In fact, Israel continues to target Hezbollah despite a ceasefire,” said Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr, reporting from Nabatieh. “Hezbollah, no doubt was militarily weakened during the conflict; it lost a lot of its military power but it is using these elections as an opportunity to show that it still has political influence,” Khodr added. Many feel Hezbollah failed to shield them during the war, yet fears of isolation persist, she said. “They feel vulnerable … not just towards Israel, but also in a deeply divided country and they feel that opponents of Hezbollah are also marginalising the community as a whole.” Lebanon’s new government has pledged to create a state monopoly on arms, raising pressure on Hezbollah to disarm as required under the United States-brokered truce with Israel. Advertisement Lebanon now faces the massive task of rebuilding after 14 months of war, with the World Bank estimating its reconstruction needs at more than $11bn. In October 2023, Hezbollah launched a rocket campaign on Israel in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which was being bombarded by Israel following a surprise attack led by Palestinian group Hamas. Israel responded with shelling and air attacks on Lebanon that escalated into a full-blown war before the ceasefire went into effect in late November. Adblock test (Why?)
‘Farcical’: Venezuelan opposition denounces arrest before weekend vote
A top figure in Venezuela’s opposition has been arrested on charges of “terrorism” before parliamentary elections scheduled for the weekend. On Friday, a social media account for Juan Pablo Guanipa, a close associate of Maria Corina Machado, considered the leader of the opposition coalition, announced he had been detained. State television also carried images of his arrest, as he was escorted away by armed guards. In a prewritten message online, Guanipa denounced Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for human rights abuses, including stifling political dissent and false imprisonment. “Brothers and sisters, if you are reading this, it is because I have been kidnapped by the forces of Nicolas Maduro’s regime,” Guanipa wrote. “For months, I, like many Venezuelans, have been in hiding for my safety. Unfortunately, my time in hiding has come to an end. As of today, I am part of the list of Venezuelans kidnapped by the dictatorship.” Since Venezuela held a hotly contested presidential election in July 2024, Guanipa, along with several other opposition figures, has been in hiding, for fear of being arrested. Advertisement That presidential election culminated in a disputed outcome and widespread protests. On the night of the vote, Venezuela’s election authorities declared Maduro the winner, awarding him a third successive six-year term, but it failed to publish the polling tallies to substantiate that result. Meanwhile, the opposition coalition published tallies from voting stations that it said proved its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had prevailed in a landslide. International watchdogs also criticised the election for its lack of transparency. Maduro’s government responded to the election-related protests with a police crackdown that led to nearly 2,000 arrests and 25 people killed. It also issued arrest warrants against opposition leaders, accusing them of charges ranging from conspiracy to falsifying records. Maduro has long accused political dissidents of conspiring with foreign forces to topple his government. Venezuelan state television shows Juan Pablo Guanipa’s detention on May 23 [Venezuelan government TV/Reuters handout] Gonzalez himself was among those for whom a warrant was signed. He fled to exile in Spain. Others have gone into hiding, avoiding the public eye. Until recently, a group of five opposition members had sought shelter in the Argentinian embassy in Caracas, until they were reportedly smuggled out of the country earlier this month. Opposition members and their supporters have dismissed the charges against them as spurious and further evidence of the Maduro government’s repressive tactics. Advertisement “This is pure and simple STATE TERRORISM,” Machado, the opposition leader, wrote on social media in the wake of Guanipa’s arrest. Machado and others have said that Guanipa was one of several people arrested in the lead-up to this weekend’s regional elections, which will see members of the National Assembly and state-level positions on the ballot. Several prominent members of the opposition have pledged to boycott the vote, arguing it is a means for Maduro to consolidate power. “Just hours before a farcical election with no guarantees of any kind, the regime has reactivated an operation of political repression,” Gonzalez wrote on social media, in reaction to the recent spate of arrests. He argued that the detention of Guanipa and others was a means of ensuring “nothing will go off script” during Sunday’s vote. “They harass political, social, and community leaders. They persecute those who influence public opinion. They intend to shut down all alternative information spaces and ensure a narrative monopoly,” Gonzalez wrote. “To the international community: This is not an election. It’s an authoritarian device to shield the power they’ve usurped.” Adblock test (Why?)
DRC’s ex-president Kabila slams justice system after losing immunity
Kabila, accused of ‘treason’ and ‘war crimes’, denies government accusations of links to M23 rebel group. Joseph Kabila, former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has attacked the country’s justice system after the Senate voted to lift his immunity, paving the way for him to be prosecuted for alleged treason and war crimes. Kabila gave a livestreamed speech from an undisclosed location on Friday, a day after losing his immunity over alleged links to the M23 rebel group, saying that the justice system was “an instrument of oppression for a dictatorship desperately trying to survive”. The 53-year-old, who denies supporting the Rwanda-backed rebels who have seized two major cities in the country’s conflict-battered east, has been in self-imposed exile since 2023. The former president, who has repeatedly said he was returning from exile to help find a solution to the crisis, accused Kinshasa of taking “arbitrary decisions with disconcerting levity”. Congo’s Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to grant the government’s request to lift the lifetime immunity Kabila – leader of the country from 2001 to 2019 – had enjoyed because of his honorific title as “senator for life”. Advertisement Justice Minister Constant Mutamba said Kabila’s alleged crimes included “treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in an insurrectional movement” in the country’s east. On Friday, Kabila said the DRC’s sovereignty and territorial integrity were non-negotiable. “As a soldier, I swore to defend my country to the supreme sacrifice … I remain more faithful than ever to this oath,” he said. Kabila’s return to the DRC could complicate the bid to end the rebellion in the east, which contains vast supplies of critical minerals that United States President Donald Trump’s administration is eager to access. Washington is pushing for a peace agreement to be signed between the DRC and Rwanda this summer, accompanied by minerals deals aimed at bringing billions of dollars of Western investment to the region, according to Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior adviser for Africa, cited by news agency Reuters. Adblock test (Why?)
US Steel shares soar on Trump’s apparent blessing for deal with Nippon
Investors interpreted Trump’s comments to mean Nippon Steel had received his approval for its takeover of US Steel. United States President Donald Trump has expressed support for Nippon Steel’s $14.9bn bid for US Steel, saying their “planned partnership” would create jobs and help the US economy. Shares of US Steel soared 21 percent on Friday after Trump’s comments as investors interpreted the president’s post on Truth Social to mean Nippon Steel had received his approval for its long-planned takeover, the last major hurdle for the deal. “This will be a planned partnership between United States Steel and Nippon Steel, which will create at least 70,000 jobs, and add $14 Billion Dollars to the US Economy,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday. This week, the Reuters news agency reported that Nippon Steel has said if the merger is approved, it would invest $14bn into US Steel’s operations, including up to $4bn in a new steel mill. Trump added that the bulk of that investment would occur in the next 14 months and said he would hold a rally at US Steel in Pittsburgh next Friday. Nippon Steel said it applauded Trump’s decision to approve the “partnership”. The White House did not immediately reply to questions about the announcement. Advertisement US Steel share price kept rising after hours and reached $54, just shy of Nippon Steel’s $55-per-share offer price made in late 2023. While no details were released, investors expressed confidence that terms will be similar to those agreed in 2023. Investors said that eventually US Steel will no longer be publicly traded and they will receive a cash payout for their shares. Politically controversial The deal has been one of the most highly anticipated on Wall Street after it morphed into the political arena with fears that foreign ownership would mean job losses in Pennsylvania, where US Steel is based. It factored into last year’s election that saw Trump return to the White House. Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick, who also called the deal a “partnership”, on Friday said it was a “huge victory for America and the US Steel Corporation”, that will protect more than 11,000 Pennsylvania jobs and support the creation of at least 14,000 more. The last pieces of the deal came together surprisingly fast. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), which reviews deals for national security risks, told the White House this week that the security risks can be addressed, Reuters reported, moving the final decision to Trump’s desk. Following an earlier CFIUS-led review, former President Joe Biden blocked the deal in January on national security grounds. The companies sued, arguing they did not receive a fair review process. The Biden White House rejected that view. The companies argued Biden opposed the deal when he was running for re-election to win support from the United Steelworkers union in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. The Biden administration had defended the review as essential to protecting security, infrastructure and supply chains. Advertisement Trump also initially opposed the deal, arguing the company must be owned and operated in the US. The United Steelworkers were against the deal as recently as Thursday when they urged Trump to block the deal despite the $14bn investment pledge from Trump. For investors, including prominent hedge funds, the news spells relief after more than a year of waiting for a resolution. “There were huge high-fives all around today,” one recent investor said, adding, “We understood Donald Trump’s psyche and we played it to our advantage here.” Investors said Trump appears to have won ground after the pledge for new investments was increased. “This deal ensures that steelmaking will live on in Pittsburgh for generations,” another investor said. Adblock test (Why?)
Is AI reshaping the creative landscape?
Today on The Stream: We paint a picture of how AI is reshaping the creative landscape. Is it still art if it wasn’t made by a human? And if art is truly about creative expression, who gets to decide what counts? From text-to-image generators to AI-composed art, these technologies are being embraced, critiqued, and sometimes feared. We hear from creators and critics grappling with the rapidly changing landscape. Presenter: Stefanie Dekker Guests:Molly Crabapple – Artist and writerHassan Ragab – Designer and artistSofia Crespo – Visual artist Adblock test (Why?)
DR Congo strips ex-President Kabila of immunity
Former leader accused of ‘treason, war crimes, [and] crimes against humanity’ for his support of M23 rebels in east. The Senate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has voted overwhelmingly in favour of lifting the immunity of ex-President Joseph Kabila. In a secret ballot on Thursday night, the parliament voted by 88 votes to five to make Kabila liable for prosecution. The former head of state has been accused of treason for alleged links to the M23 armed group, which has taken control of swaths of territory in eastern DRC with the backing of Rwanda. Authorities said earlier this month that Kinshasa had amassed clear evidence implicating him in “treason, war crimes, crimes against humanity and participation in an insurrectionary movement”. Kabila, who denies any ties to the rebel group, stepped down after almost 20 years in power in 2018, yielding to protests. However, he enjoyed immunity from prosecution thanks to an honorific title as senator for life. Earlier this month, the attorney general of the Congolese army demanded that honour be lifted. “The Senate authorises the prosecution and lifting of Joseph Kabila’s immunity,” Senate speaker Jean-Michel Sama Lukonde said after the vote. Advertisement Complications Kabila has not commented on his immunity being lifted. Last year he denied allegations from his successor President Felix Tshisekedi that he was supporting the rebels and “preparing an insurrection” in eastern DRC. Tshisekedi has in the meantime suspended Kabila’s People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD) and security forces have raided several of the former leader’s properties. PPRD Deputy Secretary-General Ferdinand Kambere told the AFP news agency that Kabila’s prosecution is pure “theatre” to distract the Congolese people from debates on the conflict and corruption in the country. The former president has been outside the Central African country since late 2023, mostly in South Africa. However, he has threatened to return to help the country resolve the continuing fighting in eastern areas, as well as making increasingly vocal criticism of Tshisekedi. A return to the country by Kabila could complicate the bid to end the rebellion. Reports in April that he was in the east have not been confirmed. Despite DRC’s army and M23 agreeing to work towards a truce earlier this month, fighting continues in the eastern province of South Kivu. The long-running tensions in eastern DRC flared into conflict in January when M23 captured the city of Goma, followed by the seizure of Bukavu in February. The group is seeking control of the vast mineral wealth in the eastern areas and has ambitions to take power in Kinshasa. Amid the ongoing fighting, the army and armed groups announced peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, in early May. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Borders and ballots: Why Essequibo is controversial in Venezuela’s election
However, the case has been slowly winding its way through the international court since 2018. And the Maduro government views the UN body as a tool of foreign interference, particularly for his rivals in the US. Maduro’s supporters point to the fact that, in 2015, the US oil giant ExxonMobil discovered vast offshore fields near Essequibo. The company has continued to explore the contested waters in search of more oil and gas deposits. For Rivas, the 2015 discovery “rang alarm bells”, leading him to fear further US incursions into the disputed territory. “It’s absolutely terrible because, behind this, there’s an aspiration to control mineral wealth, oil, sources of fossil energy and even the water wealth that exists in all of that territory,” Rivas told Al Jazeera. To him, sovereignty over Essequibo is paramount, and the Venezuelan flag is a symbolic reminder of its importance. Since 1863, the yellow, blue and red banner has featured stars to represent the seven provinces that fought for independence from Spain. But in 2006, a new star joined the flag — one to symbolise Essequibo. Oliver Rivas, in green with his arm in a sling, is a candidate to represent Essequibo in Venezuela’s elections [Courtesy of Oliver Rivas] Experts, however, say Venezuela faces the possibility of backlash for using tools like the regional elections to assert control over Essequibo. Sadio Garavini di Turno, a Venezuelan political analyst, used to serve as the country’s ambassador to Guyana from 1980 to 1984. He considers Maduro’s actions as not only “frivolous” but irresponsible, given the ongoing proceedings before the International Court of Justice. “We’re in a bad light with the court and the magistrates,” the ex-diplomat said. He also questions Maduro’s sabre-rattling in the region. While Venezuela’s military dwarfs that of Guyana, the former British colony has powerful allies, including the UK and the US. Any full-fledged military takeover, Garavini di Turno argued, “would be a huge stupidity”. “If they take forceful action, they would have the international community, starting with the United States, against them,” he said of Maduro and his allies. “It would give the community, particularly the United States, an excuse to intervene.” Already, in March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Venezuela it would face “consequences for aggressive actions”. The impact of the upcoming vote on Essequibo is so far unclear. Fernandez, the political analyst, said even details about who can even vote have been hazy. “It’s deliberately opaque,” Fernandez said. “Opacity is going to be the norm in the upcoming electoral processes.” Adblock test (Why?)
Suspect charged with murder in shooting of two Israeli embassy workers
Federal prosecutors have filed charges against a man suspected of fatally shooting two Israeli embassy staff workers in the United States capital of Washington, DC. In a federal court on Thursday, Elias Rodriguez was accused of two counts of first-degree murder, as well as charges of murdering foreign officials, causing death with a firearm and discharging a firearm in a crime of violence. In a news conference afterwards, interim US Attorney Jeanine Pirro warned that those charges were only the beginning — and that her prosecutors were combing through evidence for other crimes. “This is a horrific crime, and these crimes are not going to be tolerated by me and by this office,” Pirro said. “We’re going to continue to investigate this as a hate crime and a crime of terrorism, and we will add additional charges as the evidence warrants.” Rodriguez is accused of shooting Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, an American, both employees of the Israeli embassy in Washington, DC. Advertisement The attack took place around 9:08pm US Eastern time on Wednesday evening (01:08 GMT Thursday), as the two employees were leaving an event hosted by the pro-Israel American Jewish Committee at the Capital Jewish Museum. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Israeli embassy staff have said that the young couple were set to be engaged in the coming days. “A young couple — at the beginning of their life’s journey, about to be engaged, in another country — had their bodies removed in the cold of the night, in a foreign city, in a body bag. We are not going to tolerate that anymore,” said Pirro, appearing to allude primarily to Lischinsky’s foreign roots. “This is the kind of case that picks at old sores and old scars, because these kinds of cases remind us of what has happened in the past that we can never and must never forget.” She pointed out that the Wednesday night attack took place at a museum that includes one of Washington’s oldest synagogues in the centre of the city. Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela Smith said that the suspect chanted, “Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” after the shooting. Rodriguez, who hailed from Chicago, appears to have identified himself to police and was arrested shortly after the shooting. An affidavit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation notes that Rodriguez told police, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.” The shooting, which has been widely condemned, comes as Israel faces growing global anger over its war on Gaza, where a blockade has left millions of Palestinians without food or basic supplies. Advertisement Experts at human rights organisations and the United Nations have compared the war, which has killed at least 53,000 people, to ethnic cleansing and genocide. Since the war began on October 7, 2023, Jewish, Muslim and Arab communities have all reported upticks in harassment and racism. In the aftermath of Wednesday’s shooting, officials spoke out against anti-Semitism, and the administration of President Donald Trump promised to pursue every legal avenue against the suspect. “The Department of Justice will be prosecuting the perpetrator responsible for this to the fullest extent of the law,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday. “Hatred has no place in the United States of America under President Donald Trump.” She went on to compare antiwar protests at US universities, which have been largely peaceful, to “ anti-Semitic illegal behaviour”. Protest leaders, however, have largely disavowed anti-Jewish hate. In the wake of the shooting, one US Congress member told Fox News that the “Palestinian cause” was “evil”. Republican Representative Randy Fine continued by suggesting the Gaza war should end like World War II did, with the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. “We nuked the Japanese twice in order to get unconditional surrender,” he said. “That needs to be the same here. There is something deeply, deeply wrong with this culture, and it needs to be defeated.” Separately, the Israeli government denounced the shooting as an attack against its state. Advertisement “We are witness to the terrible cost of the antisemitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)
Florida court orders ex-Mexican security chief to pay millions to Mexico
Genaro Garcia Luna, formerly a high-ranking government official, is serving a 38-year sentence for accepting bribes. A Florida court has ordered Mexico’s former head of public security to pay more than $748m to his home country for his alleged involvement in government corruption. Thursday’s ruling brought to a close a civil case first filed in September 2021 by the Mexican government. The case centred on Genaro Garcia Luna, who served as Mexico’s security chief from 2006 to 2012. Garcia Luna is currently serving more than 38 years in a United States prison for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes from the Sinaloa cartel. The Mexican government alleges that Garcia Luna also stole millions in taxpayer funds, and it has pledged to seek restitution, namely by filing a legal complaint in Miami, Florida, where it says some of the illegal activity took place. On Thursday, Judge Lisa Walsh in Miami-Dade County not only required Garcia Luna to pay millions, but she also ordered his wife, Linda Cristina Pereyra, to pay $1.7bn. Altogether, the total neared $2.4bn. In its initial 2021 complaint, the Mexican government – led at the time by former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador – accused Garcia Luna, his wife and their co-defendants of having “concealed funds stolen from the government” and smuggling the money to places like Barbados and the US. Advertisement “Under the direction of the Defendant GARCIA LUNA, the funds unlawfully taken from the government of MEXICO were used to build a money-laundering empire,” the complaint wrote. It alleged those funds were used to finance “lavish lifestyles” for Garcia Luna and his co-conspirators, including real estate holdings, bank accounts and vintage cars, among them Mustangs from the 1960s and ’70s. A demonstrator holds a sign that reads in Spanish, ‘Garcia Luna is guilty’, in New York on February 21, 2023 [John Minchillo/AP Photo] Separately, Garcia Luna faced criminal charges for corruption, with US authorities accusing him of pocketing millions while in office for working on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel. Through his work with Mexico’s federal police and as its security chief, US prosecutors say Garcia Luna accessed information that he later used to tip off the Sinaloa cartel, letting them know about investigations and the movements of rival criminal groups. Garcia Luna was also accused of helping the cartel move its shipments of cocaine to destinations like the US, sometimes using Mexico’s federal police as bodyguards – and even allowing cartel members to wear official uniforms. In exchange, prosecutors say the cartel left money for him in hiding places, one of which was a French restaurant across the street from the US embassy in Mexico City. Some bundles of cash – offered in $100 bills – totalled up to $10,000. After leaving office in 2012, Garcia Luna moved to the US. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His defence lawyers have described him as a successful businessman living in Florida. Advertisement But in February 2023, a federal jury in Brooklyn, New York, convicted Garcia Luna on drug-related charges, including international cocaine conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine. The following year, in October, he was sentenced to decades in prison. The Mexican government, however, alleged in its civil lawsuit that Garcia Luna also led a “government-contracting scheme” that included bid-tampering and striking dubious deals as a form of money laundering. Those contracts included deals for surveillance and communications equipment. The Associated Press news agency reported that one such contract was falsified, and others were inflated. Garcia Luna is the highest-level Mexican government official to be convicted in the US. Adblock test (Why?)
Will Donald Trump’s Golden Dome protect America?
US president says system will shield country from missile threats, including from space. US President Donald Trump announces his latest defence plan: The Golden Dome. Estimated at a cost of $175bn, it is designed to shoot down advanced missiles headed towards the United States. Using both ground and space to detect incoming projectiles, it will far surpass a similar system used in Israel known as the Iron Dome. But critics say it could prove ineffective and upset the balance of world power. So, might the scheme lead to the militarisation of space and threaten the global order? And could there be other motives behind Trump’s announcement? Presenter: Elizabeth Puranam Guests: Michael O’Hanlon, Senior fellow and director of research in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution Youngshik Bong, Research fellow at the Yonsei University Institute for North Korean Studies Marina Miron, Post-doctoral researcher at the war studies department at King’s College London Adblock test (Why?)