"Donor-Recepient" Ties Must End: PM Modi Backs Trust-Driven Relations At G7

06/16/26 11:00 PM

PM Modi said energy, food, health, cyber and economic security have become so interconnected that building partnerships across nations is no longer optional but a necessity for global progress and prosperity.

"There Would Be No Israel Without Me": Trump Amid Netanyahu Rift Buzz

06/17/26 12:19 AM

Trump's comments came as he urged Netanyahu to be more cautious over Israel's strikes in Lebanon, which he said could affect efforts towards a peace deal with Iran.

'Chilling' detail buried in Trump's lethal strike post flagged by legal expert

06/13/26 2:08 AM

Trump's announcement of killing the leader of a Venezuelan gang carries a "chilling" detail, according to a legal expert.According to Trump, the U.S. military launched a "swift and lethal" strike against the leader of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang that was a hot topic during the 2024 presidential election. Ryan Goodman, a chaired professor at NYU and editor-in-chief of Just Security, called out the details in Trump's Truth Social post announcing the strike.Goodman was alarmed in particular by a line of Trump's post calling the gang a "foreign army." "If they're this 'army,' what's the limiting principle for stopping that use of state lethal force?" Goodman asked. "More significant and chilling is how far you have to read down this Trump post to learn the individual was not extrajudicially killed inside the U.S."Additionally, he said the Justice Department's position on the Alien Enemies Act seemed to "fall completely apart," when the president said the strike was coordinated "closely with our friends in Venezuela, with whom we are working very well."Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act against Tren de Aragua in March 2025, claiming the gang acts as an arm of the Nicolás Maduro government. The designation, his administration claimed, allowed him to deport Venezuelan migrants without ordinary due process. A declassified U.S. intelligence assessment contradicted Trump's claim that Tren de Aragua operates under Maduro's control."DOJ position - and statute - requires TdA to be acting on behalf of Venezuelan government," Goodman noted.

'Death warmed over': Trump's France appearance fuels new health concerns

06/15/26 7:05 PM

Experts were raising questions about President Donald Trump's health after photo and video footage showed the now octogenarian traveling between back-to-back events across the ocean.Trump went from Sunday night's UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House to France for the G7 Summit to discuss the next steps in the deal with Iran to stop the military conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.Political commentators reacted to the president's appearance in Évian-les-Bains, France, with French President Emmanuel Macron."The WH is trying to project Trump as the president who never stops working, going right from the UFC thing to Paris and nailing down the Iran agreement when others were sleeping. In reality, he looks and sounds totally spent. How much longer can they keep the plates spinning?" Conspiracy expert and author Mike Rothschild wrote on X."Trump does not look like a man that’s in full control of his faculties," entrepreneur and technologist Gissur Simonarson, co-founder of Cloud Sherpa, wrote on X."Trump looks like death warmed over," journalist Aaron Rupar wrote on X."Trump, now 80 years old, is looking banged up after his big night at the fights and a flight to Europe," Rupar wrote in a separate X post."The blank eyes. A portal to hell," political commentator Bill Johnson wrote on X.The WH is trying to project Trump as the president who never stops working, going right from the UFC thing to Paris and nailing down the Iran agreement when others were sleeping.In reality, he looks and sounds totally spent. How much longer can they keep the plates spinning? https://t.co/Unfvq3uzBE— Mike (not a) Rothschild (@rothschildmd) June 15, 2026

'Huge setback' threatens to 'torpedo' Trump's coveted peace deal: report

06/14/26 12:11 PM

A peace deal between Washington and Tehran – one that President Donald Trump has shown a “strange insistence” on being finalized Sunday, his 80th birthday – is at risk of collapse after a key Iranian demand was violated Sunday morning, Al Jazeera reported.Iran has demanded that Israel halt its bombardment of Lebanon as a non-negotiable condition to ending the war, a demand that Israel has largely ignored, despite Trump’s insistence that Israel halts its attacks on its northern neighbor. And on Sunday, Israel launched airstrikes on suburbs in Beirut, Lebanon’s capital and largest city, killing at least two and wounding four.The attack, warned Sami Nader of the Levant Institute for Strategic Affairs, could blow up the U.S.-Iran peace deal Trump had hoped would be finalized Sunday.“This event is quite significant and it has the potential to torpedo the deal between the US and Iran,” Nader told Al Jazeera. “The thing is now how Iran will retaliate?”Iran launched strikes against Israel for striking Lebanon as recently as last week, setting a new precedent in the war by launching attacks against Israel on behalf of another country. Whether Iran repeats last week’s attack remains to be seen, though Al Jazeera’s Almigdad Alruhaid argued that Israel’s Sunday morning strikes were, at the least, a potential “huge setback” for a brokered deal between Washington and Tehran.“This is a serious development as far as Iran is concerned. We’ve seen that the situation in Lebanon is an integral and central part of the potential peace deal,” Alruhaid wrote.“The latest broader ceasefire, on April 8, was linked to the situation in Lebanon, and Iranian officials have repeatedly said that the situation in Lebanon will not be separated from this deal. So it could be a huge setback.”

'I fear she's no longer alive': Woman missing 11 years surfaces in Epstein files

06/12/26 10:31 PM

A young woman missing for nearly 11 years has resurfaced in Jeffrey Epstein's files, her name pitched to the convicted sex offender by an alleged recruiter now under investigation in France for human trafficking.A Der Spiegel and ZDF investigation published Friday identifies the woman only as Michele — her last name withheld at her family's request — who was 22 when she walked out of her mother's home in September 2015 and never came back. Her parents only learned her name was in the Epstein documents when reporters told them."I fear she's no longer alive," her mother Annett said. "That something was done to her."The man who apparently put Michele's name in front of Epstein was Daniel Siad, a Swedish modeling scout whose name appears nearly 2,000 times in the documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice. In one email, Siad described himself as a "fisherman" who catches women for Epstein across France, Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe."You will love her," Siad wrote to Epstein, according to Der Spiegel — his second apparent attempt to broker an introduction, describing Michele in an earlier message as "the girl you missed from Germany."Michele's father, Vlado, says he once confronted his daughter after overhearing a call with Siad. "Michele said she worked for him as an escort," he recalled. An ex-boyfriend told the outlet he believed "her drug addiction was exploited."Siad is under investigation in France, where five complaints have been filed against him, including for human trafficking. Separately, two women — a former Swedish model and a German woman — have accused him of rape. Siad denies knowing them and says he has "never in his life" raped anyone. He denies all wrongdoing. Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said around 20 suspected victims have come forward in the broader French Epstein probe, about 10 of them new.German prosecutors are expected to decide soon whether to open a formal criminal investigation into Michele's disappearance — a move that came only after Der Spiegel and ZDF published their findings. As recently as March, German police said they saw "no concrete indication of a crime," despite apparently being aware her name appeared in the files of a convicted sex offender.Her family is still waiting. "We just want to find her," her father said, "no matter what her situation."A second cell phone belonging to Michele has been sitting with German police for more than 10 years. Authorities told Der Spiegel a forensic analysis had not been possible for technical reasons — and that they now plan to try again.

'Let the oil flow!' Trump announces new 'deal' with Iran

06/14/26 10:11 PM

President Donald Trump announced that his administration had reached a "deal" with the Iranian regime that would "reopen" the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global waterway that has been shut down since the early days of the war against Iran. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Congratulations to all! I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade. Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!"The deal was announced less than one hour before Trump's "UFC Freedom 250" event at the White House was scheduled to start. The New York Times described the deal as a "cease-fire," which Trump has previously said means "when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.""Iran has not yet officially confirmed the cease-fire agreement, but struck a triumphant tone on the state broadcaster, IRIB. 'The United States was forced to accept an end to the war,' it declared," the NYT reported.

'Pure cinema': Internet reacts as wobbly Trump leans on foreign leader at G7

06/16/26 8:13 PM

President Donald Trump needed a helping hand from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to climb a single step at the G7 family photo.The moment unfolded Tuesday at the 52nd G7 Summit in Évian-les-Bains, France — and the White House's own Rapid Response account posted the clip, describing Trump gathering "with world leaders prior to the start of a cultural showcase and concert."The Daily Beast reported Monday that the 80-year-old president had gingerly descended Air Force One steps upon arriving in France.Trump told military generals in September he walks stairs "very slowly" — "just try not to fall because it doesn't work out well."At a Navy anniversary address in October, he went further: "I have to be careful because one day I'm gonna probably fall.""[Trump] clutches Modi for support as he tries to climb a single small step," political video journalist Aaron Rupar posted on X, alongside a wire photo by Getty photographer Evelyn Hockstein.The Indian press corps took note. WION diplomatic editor Sidhant Sibal noted that Modi "gives a helping hand to US President Trump."NDTV Senior Executive Editor Aditya Raj Kaul called it a "great metaphor of the times we live in.""Pure cinema," Firstpost journalist Shubhangi Sharma wrote.The two men then stepped off the platform together, holding hands, Hindustan Times America correspondent Shashank Mattoo noted.

'Utter humiliation' awaits Trump as details of latest Iran deal leak: expert

06/12/26 11:09 AM

Should a desperate Donald Trump sign off on the latest deal with Iran that led him to call off a major attack late Thursday, he would suffer a “major humiliation” based on leaked details.That is according to Insider editor Michael Weiss, who appeared on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” on Friday morning and claimed that the president has come to the realization that he was duped into the whole endeavor.Pointing out that the president has announced an imminent deal is at hand countless times, co-host Joe Scarborough asked, “Why do we keep hearing the same thing over and over and over again when the Iranians have rejected this deal time and again, and hardliners in America have rejected this deal?”Weiss replied, “I mean, I just want to read you — Iran's Mehr News Agency put out their version of this deal. Now, again, underscore we ... don't know if this is going to be the memorandum of understanding. But in their version of the deal they get $300 billion in reconstruction money, $24 billion in a cash infusion, half of which will come before the negotiations begin.”“Remember, this isn't a deal, this is an agreement to keep talking and an extension of a cease-fire. There's nothing new in here,” he elaborated. “Again, the Iranian version that talks about the missile program or financing or arming terrorist proxies like Lebanese Hezbollah.”“I mean, this would be an utter humiliation. I could see why Trump would want JD Vance to go to a signing ceremony instead of Donald Trump,” he laughed.He continued, “If this is any pale shade of what this thing is going to look like — look, I think he knows he's being had. He knows he's been abased by a regime that shouldn't exist by his lights, right? We were going in to do regime change. The Israelis certainly thought we were going to do regime change. We were going to arm the Kurds. We were going to install Ahmadinejad, a Holocaust-denying former president, as our preferred satrap."All of these plans came to dust, and he just wants out of it. I think [MS NOW’s] Jonathan [Lemire] is right: he's got buyer's remorse. He thinks he's been sold a bill of goods. He probably has been. And he just wants this thing over and done with. He's already looking at Cuba.” - YouTube youtu.be

'Wrap your head around that': Internet skewers $300B reconstruction fund in Iran deal

06/15/26 3:35 PM

The internet was stunned on Monday after Vice President JD Vance confirmed that Iranians could gain access to a $300 billion reconstruction fund, one of the terms in the Iran agreement.In an interview with CBS, Vance described that component of the agreement and argued that Tehran hard-liners would emphasize the benefits of the deal and not what the country will have to give up to secure it."That's the sort of thing they could have access to, funded by the Gulf Coast coalition, so long as they honor their end of the obligation," Vance said, adding that Iran would have to make concessions regarding the country's nuclear program, including oversight of it.Social media commentators and political experts were quick to question the agreement."Can we talk about the scale of problems that are going to arise from spending 300 billion? This is 500%-600% larger than the entire annual budget of the Iranian govt. It is one year of Iranian GDP *of the ENTIRE COUNTRY.* This is insane," Karl Rohe, Statistics Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison, wrote on X."Kinda makes Obama's giving back $1.7 billion of Iran's own money seem insignificant," Scott Greenfield, Criminal defense lawyer and blogger at Simple Justice, wrote on X."We are going to pay Iran $300 billion to rebuild from the war we started. Wrap your head around that when they claim that Trump is a master negotiator," Fred Wellman, a U.S. Army veteran and Lincoln Project communications strategist, wrote on X. "Oh, look. Trump’s deal is explained as providing no money for Iran…unless they stick with the deal. Which means, of course: IRAN IS GETTING MONEY under the deal. Yet, Trump said 2 months ago it’d already been agreed Iran would receive no money 'in any way, shape, or form,'" Joel Lawson, political strategist and former chair of Gender Action, wrote on X.We are going to pay Iran $300 billion to rebuild from the war we started. Wrap your head around that when they claim that Trump is a master negotiator. https://t.co/smHwEohk2z— Fred Wellman (@FPWellman) June 15, 2026