At a high-level meeting in Rome this week, it seems that Russia reiterated a grave warning to the US – Moscow will not tolerate American military intervention to topple the Venezuelan government with whom it is allied.

Meanwhile, back in Washington DC, President Donald Trump was again bragging that the military option was still on the table, in his press conference with Brazilian counterpart Jair Bolsonaro. Trump is bluffing or not yet up to speed with being apprised of Russia’s red line.

The meeting in the Italian capital between US “special envoy” on Venezuelan affairs Elliot Abrams and Russia’s deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov had an air of urgency in its arrangement. The US State Department announced the tête-à-tête only three days beforehand. The two officials also reportedly held their two-hour discussions in a Rome hotel, a venue indicating ad hoc arrangement.

After shopping at a West Philadelphia supermarket for decades, customers were emotional to find out it’s closing its doors Thursday. According to the store’s owner, the city’s so-called soda tax is to blame.

The beverage tax debate rages on after the closing of the ShopRite is West Philadelphia. The store’s owner blames the mayor’s office, and the mayor’s office responded to the criticism.

One of Britain’s most influential advertising gurus has called for internet giants to be broken up, accusing them of ‘sucking money out’ of the economy and damaging business and society.

In a withering attack, Sir John Hegarty – the man behind the famous 1980s Levi’s laundrette advert and Audi’s ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ slogan – said companies such as Google and Facebook must be regulated more strictly because they have ‘turned into monopolies’ and are not putting enough back into the economy.

A fierce struggle over automation has erupted at the Port of Los Angeles, as local union officials representing some 12,000 dockworkers demand that one of the world’s largest shipping firms abandon a plan to introduce driverless electric cargo trucks.

Shouting, whistling and jeering, more than 1,200 union members, local business owners and community activists packed a four-hour hearing Thursday before the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners. The board voted to postpone a construction permit for the automated system after an offer by Mayor Eric Garcetti to mediate the dispute.

“The decision before the board may have far-reaching impacts on the pace of automation at our port and could define how the port will compete and sustain jobs into the foreseeable future,” Garcetti wrote in a letter unveiled at the hearing.

Mr S has now been passed a leaked briefing note from inside Number 10 which suggests the government would be able to brush Parliament aside and delay Brexit by Prime Ministerial edict. It is a confidential briefing note, offering answers to questions. The document asks if Theresa May has the ability to extend the Brexit deadline unilaterally, or if she first has to seek parliament’s approval, noting that Speaker John Bercow has said that the agreement of the House is necessary for any extension. But the briefing concludes that since MPs voted for the government to seek an extension on 14 March, that now:

‘Making the request and agreeing it with the EU is a matter for the government.’

Under this interpretation, Theresa May could declare – contrary to what she has been saying for the last two years and what everyone (including the Speaker) understood to be the law – that she does not need to consult parliament if she wants to agree an extension with the EU.

Amid angry shouts of “hewa!” (wrong!) and “illegal sales”, four parcels of land surrounded by the 700-acre estate of the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, were auctioned Friday on the island of Kauai.

But in a surprise twist, the bidder backed by Zuckerberg won only three of the parcels, while a rival group prevailed on the fourth.

In a contentious transaction, attorneys bid on behalf of their clients. On one side was a group led by several members of the holdout Rapozo family; on the other was the retired Hawaiian studies professor Carlos Andrade, a relative of the Rapozos said to have the financial backing of Zuckerberg.

Authored by Wayne Madsen via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Under the directorship of torture and black site maven Gina Haspel, Donald Trump’s Central Intelligence Agency has returned to its traditional roots of conducting “black bag” operations and disrupting electrical grids through cyber-attacks.

Theresa May could be ousted from No 10 within days after her Cabinet plotted to replace her with Michael Gove as a caretaker Prime Minister.

A senior Downing Street source told The Mail on Sunday last night that even Mrs May’s Chief Whip, Julian Smith, had advised her to set out her departure plans, with Environment Secretary Mr Gove emerging as the ‘consensus choice’ to succeed her.

Mr Gove is being championed by Cabinet Brexiteers who are furious about what they see as an attempted ‘coup’ by Remain-backing David Lidington, Mrs May’s de facto deputy.

The PM is scheduled to meet Trump twice on his four-day visit, a working meeting on Monday and a dinner on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resolutely denied the repeated accusations from the Blue and White Party that he profited from the sale of German submarines to Israel and Egypt, calling it a “blood libel” in a surprise interview with Channel 12 Saturday night.

Netanyahu arrived at the studio “to stop the wave of lies [Blue and White leaders Benny] Gantz, [Yair] Lapid, [Moshe] Bogie Ya’alon and [Gabi] Ashkenazi are spreading.”

In 2018, export of electronic components from Israel to China increased by 80%, according to new data published earlier this month by Israeli government agency the Israeli Export Institute. The report shows that $2.6 billion worth of electronic components were shipped from Israel to China over the past year, most manufactured by only a few companies, among them chipmaker Intel. According to the report, Intel exports most of its Israel-manufactured components to China, where it has several testing and assembly facilities.

Druze Residents of the Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams, at the foot of Mt. Hermon, staged a protest march against the US recognition of the Golan as Israeli territory.

On Thursday, US President Donald Trump announced he would recognize Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights. For 52 years, no US leader has gone against United Nations resolutions regarding Israel’s occupation to be illegal. A peace activist told Sputnik Friday it was a cynical political ploy by Washington.

The declaration shocked both friends and enemies alike, as despite the close US-Israeli friendship, Washington has never challenged the United Nations' resolutions denouncing Israeli occupation of the region, which sits north of the Sea of Galilee and was taken from Syria by force in 1967. Thursday, it became the first country to recognize Israel's claim.

I think for many it is an anticlimax, absolutely. There's so much invested here. Two plus years, millions of dollars, political capital on both sides, and you've got people who have lost their livelihoods. A lot of the people that were brought in, their names exposed, their reputations were damaged. We've got the six people that have been charged [for] things that happened ten years ago; some are financially ruined now; some will spend time in jail for lying to Congress or lying to the FBI over minor financial things that may have gone unnoticed without this.

You look at the other side too, and we've got damage to international relations, not just with Russia, where what has occurred is just outrageous, but also Europe. I mean we forced Europe to follow through on sanctions that there's no evidence for. They've lost business as a result of that, so I'm sure the Europeans will be quite interested in seeing more and learning more about what's coming out of this as well.

You can stop teaching history but you can never erase it.
• Church Committee
• Rockefeller Commission
.....THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN TO A PRESIDENT AGAIN!

Authored by Caitlin Johnstone via Medium.com,

Well the worst Putin Puppet of all time is at it again, this time tweeting that the US must recognize the Golan Heights as part of Israel despite the fact that the Israeli occupation of that Syrian land is illegal under international law.

“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!”, Trump’s tweetreads.

Russian parliament member Oleg Morozov made a statement in response to Trump’s proclamation, saying that “Russia will never agree to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the Golan. Trump is damaging the international community and the Arab world”.

The United States clinched a strategic port deal with Oman on Sunday which US officials say will allow the US military better access the Gulf region and reduce the need to send ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime choke point off Iran.

The US embassy in Oman said in a statement that the agreement governed US access to facilities and ports in Duqm as well as in Salalah and “reaffirms the commitment of both countries to promoting mutual security goals.”

The accord is viewed through an economic prism by Oman, which wants to develop Duqm while preserving its Switzerland-like neutral role in Middle Eastern politics and diplomacy.

But it comes as the United States grows increasingly concerned about Iran’s expanding missile programs, which have improved in recent years despite sanctions and diplomatic pressure by the United States.

In a bizarre interview, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has suggested that US President Donald Trump was sent by God to save Israel from Iran.

During his visit to Israel on Thursday, Pompeo gave an exclusive interview to the Christian Broadcasting Network, described as “part policy, part politics, and part spiritual”.

Asked whether or not President Trump was a modern day equivalent to biblical figure Queen Esther, who persuaded the King of Persia not to murder the Jews, Pompeo said that he was “confident” the Lord was at work.

Palestinian resistance group Hamas sees UN resolution condemning Israel’s human rights violations in occupied Gaza Strip as a “step in the right path”.

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday passed a draft resolution to strengthen the UN presence in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory.

“Hamas welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution that condemns the Israeli occupation for its crimes against the peaceful protesters at the Great Return March east of Gaza,” the group said in a statement.

The resistance group “deems this resolution as a step in the right path towards supporting the Palestinian rights and criminalizing the Israeli occupation at international forums.”

Hamas also stated that the UN rights body’s move “requires effective and practical steps on the ground to hold the Israeli Occupation accountable for its crimes and violations and to mobilise more support for the Palestinian people and their just cause.”

Israeli fighter jets carried out two airstrikes in the Gaza Strip early Sunday following the launch of incendiary balloons from the Palestinian territory, according to the military.

In a statement, the army said the attacks targeted two Hamas posts in the seaside enclave.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, the Israeli warplanes struck positions in Al-Awda refugee camp, east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

No injuries were reported.

These airstrikes followed two other airstrikes earlier today, on eastern parts of the Bureyc refugee camp, which injured three Palestinians.

In a 23-8 vote, the UN Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a report on Israel’s treatment protests along the Gaza Strip, which determined that the government’s actions amounted to war crimes against civilians in Gaza.

The report itself was published in late February, and found that Israel intentionally shot both children and journalists in the Gaza Strip during those protests. They noted that 154 out of 183 people killed at the time had been unarmed.

Israeli officials insisted at the time the report came out that the killings amounted to the “right of self-defense and the obligation to defend its citizens and borders.” Israeli officials now say the only supporters of the resolution are dictatorships and “hypocrites.”

Other UNHRC resolutions, also opposed as “absurd” by Israel, included an endorsement of the right of Palestinian self-determination, and criticism of Israeli abuses in the occupied territories, and one on the illegality of Israeli settlements.

President Trump’s recognition of the 1981 Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights has been cheered by Israel’s government, which sees it as a big political win. Everywhere else, however, the reactions are just condemnations of the illegality or the ill-considered implications of the move.

Russia and France were both very clear that the US move amounts to a violation of international law, since Golan is sitll recognized internationally as part of Syria. Britain confirmed that Golan is occupied, and only said that they have no intention of following the US lead. EU officials also say the union-wide stance will not change.

The Druze minority that lives in occupied Golan was critical of the move, saying that even with Israel, and now the US, considering the Golan Heights to be part of Israel, would still be considered to have “Syrian” blood under Israeli law.

Serious concerns have arisen over how New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has handled the recent Christchurch mosques massacre. And they don’t just involve her calls for stricter gun control and decision to ban all semi-automatic rifles.

In the wake of the attacks, the prime minister promised to keep the murderer “nameless,” and the internet promptly obliged by flushing the perpetrator’s identity down the memory hole. New Zealanders’ access to online material about him was blocked. In what has become standing operating procedure after mass attacks, social media accounts connected to the perpetrator disappeared. Internet service providers in New Zealand blocked access to sites like 4chan, 8chan, LiveLeak, and the file-sharing site Mega if the sites did not take down material related to the shooting.

Special counsel Robert Mueller has concluded his investigation and will not file any more indictments in connection with his inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign, NBC News reported on Friday, citing a senior U.S. law enforcement official. There are no sealed indictments.

It is possible that leads uncovered during the special counsel’s inquiry and handed off could lead to charges brought by state prosecutors or other parts of the Department of Justice. But Mueller has no more indictments waiting under seal, and he will not recommend any further indictments, multiple outlets reported.

“In too much of policing today, officer safety has become the highest priority. It trumps the rights and safety of suspects. It trumps the rights and safety of bystanders. It’s so important, in fact, that an officer’s subjective fear of a minor wound from a dog bite is enough to justify using potentially lethal force, in this case at the expense of a 4-year-old girl. And this isn’t the first time. In January, an Iowa cop shot and killed a woman by mistake while trying to kill her dog. Other cops have shot other kids, other bystanders, their partners, their supervisors and even themselves while firing their guns at a dog. That mind-set is then, of course, all the more problematic when it comes to using force against people.”—Journalist Radley Balko

The US Treasury Department announced a new round of anti-Iran sanctions on Friday, hitting 14 individuals and 17 companies, all of them who have some link to Iran’s Organization for Defense Innovation and Research (SPND).

It is unclear if these targets are generally accused of having done anything illegal, in and of themselves, though officials claimed some of the companies were “front companies” who might be used to avoid sanctions.

The individual scientists being targeted are another matter, as some of them are being “former nuclear weapons scientists,” and the sanctions are intended to harm their ability to work on any such activity in the future, if they were ever so inclined.

This month marks the 20th anniversary of Operation Allied Force, NATO’s 78-day air war against Yugoslavia. It was a war waged as much against Serbian civilians – hundreds of whom perished – as it was against Slobodan Miloševi?’s forces, and it was a campaign of breathtaking hypocrisy and selective outrage. More than anything, it was a war that by President Bill Clinton’s own admission was fought for the sake of NATO’s credibility.

The U.S. posted its biggest monthly budget deficit on record last month, amid a 20 percent drop in corporate tax revenue and a boost in spending so far this fiscal year.

The budget gap widened to $234 billion in February, compared with a fiscal gap of $215.2 billion a year earlier. That gap surpassed the previous monthly record of $231.7 billion set seven years ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

February’s shortfall helped push the deficit for the first five months of the government’s fiscal year to $544.2 billion, up almost 40 percent from the same period the previous year, the Treasury Department said in its monthly budget report Friday. The release was delayed a week by the government shutdown earlier this year.

Antiwar activists gathered on March 19, 2019, outside 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan for a rally on the 16th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. The rally was followed by a march on several military recruiting offices along Chambers Street and to Borough of Manhattan Community College to oppose the United States's endless cycle of war and militarism.

Chelsea Manning is asking a federal appeals court to reverse a recent contempt ruling that resulted in the convicted WikiLeaks source’s reimprisonment, according to filings unsealed Friday.

Attorneys for Manning told the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in a newly unsealed filing that they plan to challenge a lower court’s decision that found the former soldier in contempt for refusing to cooperate with federal prosecutors investigating WikiLeaks.

Manning’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal under seal on Tuesday, and the case docket was made public on Friday after being authorized by federal prosecutors.

With Brussels and Washington helplessly looking on, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Italian Prime Minister signed a historic memorandum of understanding Saturday morning in Rome that made Italy the first founding EU member, and the first G-7 nation, to officially sign on to Beijing's "One Belt, One Road" economic development initiative - one of President Xi Jinping's signature ventures which many have called China's shadow project to re-colonize the world's poorer nations.

Along with the MoU, the two leaders signed development deals covering everything from port management, to science and technology, to e-commerce to soccer that were reportedly worth up to $20 billion.

Though OBOR (or BRI) has promised to strengthen trade links between the West and East, it has been derided in Washington and Europe as "debt trap diplomacy" and a neocolonial project by Vice President Mike Pence, and others.

European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday the EU was holding its line on the Golan Heights despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s move to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the territory seized in war.

“The EU’s position is well known and has not changed,” Tusk told a news conference when asked to comment on Trump’s comments. The European Union does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the area.

France sought to make clear on Friday that it does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and that President Trump’s intention to do so would violate international law.

“The Golan is a territory occupied by Israel since 1967. France does not recognize the Israeli annexation of 1981,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a daily briefing, according to Reuters.

“The recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, occupied territory, would be contrary to international law, in particular the obligation for states not to recognize an illegal situation.”

A major decision that Boeing made almost a decade ago has resulted in the greatest threat to the aerospace giant's reputation and the bottom line at the company after two major plane crashes in just under six months.

Back in 2011, American Airlines, who was an exclusive Boeing customer for more than 10 years, was getting ready to defect from the company in favor of purchasing hundreds of new jets from Airbus, according to The New York Times. Airbus had been stealing market share from Boeing for several years, and losing American Airlines would have been a crushing blow, costing billions of dollars in lost sales and thousands of jobs.

Another dam operated by the Brazilian mining giant Vale is in imminent danger of collapse and has been assessed at the highest level of threat. The warning comes two months after a deadly dam burst that killed over 200 people.

On Friday, the tailings dam attracted the highest, ‘third level’ of threat, according to the Brazilian municipality of Barao de Cocais, located in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais. The dam was examined by independent experts, who said that the structure might collapse at any moment, the dam operator, mining giant Vale, revealed.

It is difficult for Serbian military veterans who took part in the conflict with NATO back in 1999 to accept that Serbia is currently cooperating with the US-led military alliance, Serbian Col. Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic told Sputnik in an interview, adding that Belgrade’s cooperation with NATO was a "political decision."

The planned changes would require, in part, that tech giants such as Facebook and YouTube take responsibility for copyright materials users upload to their platforms. Though the measure is claimed to be aimed at protecting copyright holders, many note that it can easily be used to restrict freedom of speech.

“No one is more upset that #ISIS is defeated in #Syria than Israel. They were hoping for an ISIS victory.” – Mimi al-Laham

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were invited to attend this year’s Petersburg Dialogue forum due on July 18-20 in Germany’s Petersberg, a municipality near Bonn, the General-Anzeiger Bonn newspaper reported, citing own sources.

According to the paper, the attendance of the two leaders may serve as a starting point for a new period of Russian-German relations, because Putin and Merkel did not attend the forum’s sessions since Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014.

General-Anzeiger Bonn said that in line with diplomatic procedures, an invitation to state leaders is sent only when the probability of a positive answer is high.