Israel’s national security minister spurns call for truce: ‘All of Lebanon must burn.’ Iran closes Strait of Hormuz

Israel’s national security minister spurns call for truce: ‘All of Lebanon must burn.’ Iran closes Strait of Hormuz

The Hill reports: A far-right member of Israel’s governing coalition on Friday said that “all of Lebanon must burn,” as fighting broke out between Israel and the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah despite a ceasefire imposed by the U.S. and Iran. Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister and head of the far-right Jewish Power party, posted on the social platform X that Israel must respond with overwhelming force to the death of Israeli soldiers killed in fighting overnight. President Trump has publicly…

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Ehud Olmert: Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the West Bank

Ehud Olmert: Israel is engaged in ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity in the West Bank

Israel’s former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, writes: The fight against Jewish terrorism in the West Bank must advance to the next stage and be waged with greater determination. The daily terrorism that is managed, directed, encouraged and supported by the Israeli government can no longer be tolerated. What is happening across the West Bank today is not the work of “70 kids … from broken homes,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once tried to claim, disingenuously. Nor are these the…

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Israel’s former defence minister compares settler ideology to Nazism

Israel’s former defence minister compares settler ideology to Nazism

Middle East Eye reports: Israel’s former defence minister has compared settler ideology to Nazism, and accused authorities of failing to investigate Israelis responsible for killing Palestinian civilians in the occupied West Bank. In a wide-ranging interview with the Israeli news site Ynet on Sunday, Moshe Ya’alon said that factions within the religious Zionist movement, which is closely aligned with Israeli settlers, hold a “Jewish supremacy ideology”. “What is Jewish supremacy? Eighty years after the Holocaust, it’s Mein Kampf in reverse….

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DOJ officials refuse to follow judge’s demand to swear on oath that anti-weaponization fund is dead

DOJ officials refuse to follow judge’s demand to swear on oath that anti-weaponization fund is dead

The Hill reports: The Justice Department (DOJ) on Friday snubbed a federal judge’s demand to swear that a nearly $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead, arguing the request raises “serious separation of powers concerns.” Judge Leonie Brinkema indefinitely blocked the fund last Friday and issued a seven-day deadline for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward to declare under penalty of perjury that it would not move forward “to avoid any further…

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Economic anxiety of Americans is rising up the income ladder

Economic anxiety of Americans is rising up the income ladder

The Wall Street Journal reports: America’s economic anxiety is rising up the income ladder. A new Wall Street Journal poll finds that even those who consider themselves among the wealthiest classes in America carry high levels of concern about their current finances, the years ahead and the prospects for their children. More than 40% of Americans who call themselves upper class or upper-middle class say they haven’t saved enough money to retire comfortably. Only about 40% say their financial security…

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UK develops low-cost long-range missiles without U.S. parts or navigation for Ukraine

UK develops low-cost long-range missiles without U.S. parts or navigation for Ukraine

Kyiv Post reports: The UK is developing a new, low-cost, long-range weapon system for deployment in Ukraine that will function without US components or data, Bloomberg reported. According to the UK Ministry of Defence, the initiative, known as “Project Brakestop,” was launched in late 2024 and is operating on an accelerated timeline to provide support for Kyiv. Defense companies MBDA, MGI Engineering, and Rotron Aerospace are currently developing three competing weapon systems. Testing is scheduled to take place in the…

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How your brain creates ‘aha’ moments and why they stick

How your brain creates ‘aha’ moments and why they stick

Nora Bradford writes: Here are three words: pine, crab, sauce. There’s a fourth word that combines with each of the others to create another common word. What is it? When the answer finally comes to you, it’ll likely feel instantaneous. You might even say “Aha!” This kind of sudden realization is known as insight, and a research team recently uncovered how the brain produces it, which suggests why insightful ideas tend to stick in our memory. Maxi Becker, a cognitive…

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Trump has underestimated the power of patriotic sentiment in countries besides the U.S.

Trump has underestimated the power of patriotic sentiment in countries besides the U.S.

Alexander Burns writes: When Donald Trump won a new term in the White House, Danielle Smith joined the parade of foreign leaders visiting Mar-a-Lago to honor the president-elect. The populist premier of Alberta, Smith enjoyed lively relationships across the American right, even hosting Tucker Carlson in Western Canada in 2024. Yet when I asked Smith last fall, at a policy summit in Toronto, how she’d feel about Trump potentially intervening in Alberta’s fragile politics, her MAGA stripes vanished. “I don’t…

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The era of free and open global commerce, underwritten by American power, has ended

The era of free and open global commerce, underwritten by American power, has ended

Edward Fishman writes: The United States and Iran have a deal: For 60 days, Tehran will allow ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz without charging tolls; in return, Washington will lift its naval blockade, waive sanctions on Iranian oil and help Iran get access to its frozen assets. Negotiations on the future of Iran’s nuclear program are also set to begin. Even if the deal holds, Iran is poised to emerge from the war battered militarily and economically…

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U.S. intelligence warns Israel is likely to undermine Iran peace deal, officials say

U.S. intelligence warns Israel is likely to undermine Iran peace deal, officials say

The Washington Post reports: U.S. intelligence agencies have warned the Trump administration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to take steps that will undermine President Donald Trump’s effort to reach a lasting peace deal with Iran, as the Israeli premier faces intense political pressure to continue waging his country’s war in Lebanon, current and former U.S. officials said. Israel appears intent on maintaining military operations against Iran’s proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon, an aim that would flout a core…

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Italian foreign minister cancels trip to U.S. over Trump’s offensive comments about PM Meloni

Italian foreign minister cancels trip to U.S. over Trump’s offensive comments about PM Meloni

CNN reports: US President Donald Trump’s comments to an Italian media outlet about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have sparked a fresh diplomatic incident. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States, where he was slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to Trump’s reported remarks. Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.” It is the latest dip in the…

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Andy Burnham, ‘King of the North,’ moves a step closer to replacing Keir Starmer as Britain’s PM

Andy Burnham, ‘King of the North,’ moves a step closer to replacing Keir Starmer as Britain’s PM

  John Harris writes: The day before the voters of Makerfield chose their new MP, I stood with my camera-wielding colleague John Domokos on the main road through the post-industrial town of Hindley. Every two or three minutes, a van or small truck drew level with us, and there it was again: a honked horn, and a full-throated shout of “Reform!” But on our side of the street was an augury of the news to come: the house of a…

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Prediction market philosophers got what they wanted. They’re not happy about it

Prediction market philosophers got what they wanted. They’re not happy about it

Brian Kahn writes: On June 11, Kalshi released a buzzy ad featuring noted New York Knicks fan Timothée Chalamet. It was a zeitgeist-capturing moment for prediction markets, akin to the 2022 Super Bowl, when seemingly every commercial featured a celebrity shilling crypto. Yet when I brought Chalamet’s spot up with attendees at Manifest, a recent festival for prediction markets, I was mostly met with blank stares. These conference goers—a mix of academics, startup founders, job seekers, and players in the…

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Speedy, spiraling electrical waves may be key to brain’s information flow

Speedy, spiraling electrical waves may be key to brain’s information flow

Science reports: Like a stadium full of sports fans doing the wave, neurons coordinate their electrical signals in rhythmic patterns that sweep across the cortex, the brain’s outermost layer. Recent studies in humans and animals have shown these patterns, called traveling waves, can take on complex shapes, among them a rotating spiral that has been observed during deep sleep, memory retrieval, and other brain processes. A new study has now captured the fast-spinning waves spanning whole brains, offering clues to…

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