The New Development Bank (NDB) of the BRICS group of major emerging economies is currently in talks with Saudi Arabia on admitting the kingdom as its tenth member, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The move is expected to cement ties between the Shanghai-based lender, established by BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) back in 2014, with the world’s second biggest producer of oil.

“In the Middle East, we attach great importance to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and are currently engaged in a qualified dialogue with them,” the NDB said in a statement seen by FT.

Wagner sources reported on the results of the military operations of the PMC in Ukraine:

• Destroyed the manpower of the AFU – 72 095;
• Prisoners taken – 509;
• Tanks destroyed – 309;
• IFV – 566;
• APC – 131;
• Armored vehicles – 1134;
• Cars – 2075;
• Mortars and cannons – 3155;
• ATGMs – 300;
• SP gun mounts – 124 ;
• MLRSs – 83;
• Air defense systems – 45;
• UAVs – 282;
• Warplanes – 5;
• Helicopters – 4;
• EW/radar systems – 149.

On May 3rd, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told C-Span in an interview, that there will be no objection by the U.S. Government if Ukraine’s Government attempts to or does assassinate Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin. He said: “These are decisions for Ukraine to make, how it’s going to defend itself, how it’s going to get its territory back, how it’s going to restore its territorial integrity, and its sovereignty.”

Also on May 3rd, Japan’s Nikkei Asia news service headlined “NATO to open Japan office” and reported that “NATO is planning to open a liaison office in Tokyo, Japan, the first of its kind in Asia.” The North Atlantic Treaty Organization aims now to become not only America’s anti-Russian military alliance but also America’s anti-Chinese military alliance, which will support the breakaway of China’s province of Taiwan (which since 1972 the U.S. Government has formally recognized Taiwan to be) from China, just as it refuses to support the breakaway of Crimea and three other provinces of Ukraine from Russia.

The battle for justice for Palestine is a battle of language. It is a battle not just of information, but of the context in which alleged facts are presented — that is, of narrative. Thus septuagenarian Israel employs a “national” narrative that begins in the Old Testament and enjoys our own media and governments as co-conspirators. Were instead the Western media to report the Israel-Palestinian reality, the entire Zionist project would become untenable overnight.

Increasingly, the Palestinian narrative is seen as vital to the struggle for justice. Yet it remains largely sidelined. As Exeter Professor Nadia Naser Najjab observes, there will be no justice for Palestine “as long as the international community continues to ignore the Palestinian narrative.”

Why, then, is it ignored? What is it up against? What is the (true) story of a land hijacked, its people ethnically cleansed or corralled into bantustans under an apartheid state, up against?

Unable to advance on the battlefield, the Ukrainian military is increasing attacks on the civilian population. Ukrainian forces are intensively shelling Russian border villages, as well as regions that Kiev considers Ukrainian territory, killing people whom Kiev considers Ukrainian citizens who need protection from “cruel Russians.”

Ukrainian forces are intentionally destroying civilian infrastructure, they intentionally target crowded places in the cities in an attempt to kill as many people as possible, they are regularly shelling ambulance cars which are saving lives of civilians in the dangerous areas.

On May 27, another ambulance car became the target for Ukrainian nazis. Ambulance crew arrived to a patient in the village of Aleshki located on the eastern bank in the Kherson region. Ukrainian artillery intentionally fired at the car in the residential area with precise artillery fire.

Independent Italian journalist Anrea Lucidi published a shocking video filmed by Ukrainian militants. Ukrainian Nazis hanged a priest, most likely, of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. 

Ukrainian militants traditionally filmed their war crime. Judging by the date of publication of the video, the incident likely took place on the eve of the holy Orthodox holiday Easter.

This is the result of the terrorist policy of the Kiev regime which launched a holy war against the Church. Numerous priests have already fallen victims of Kiev’s religious persecutions. A lot of them were prisoned, beaten by the Nazis and expelled from the sacred sites.

The United States and the United Kingdom are certainly starting to question the Ukrainian government's sanity after one of its official's statement calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a target, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

Earlier in the week, deputy chief of Ukrainian military intelligence Vadym Skibitsky told German daily that Putin was at the top of Kiev's list of targets.

One of the world’s biggest snack companies, Mondelez International, has been labeled an enemy of Ukraine due to its reluctance to exit Russia, Ukrainian media reported on Thursday.

The Ukrainian National Corruption Prevention Agency (NCPA) has designated the producer of Milka and Alpen Gold chocolate, Oreo and Barni biscuits, Picnic bars and Dirol chewing gum an “international sponsor of war” in an effort to “put pressure on those involved in the war.”

Headquartered in Chicago, Mondelez is among the largest foreign companies still operating in Russia. The US company is the Russian market leader in chocolate, sweets, and biscuits and is also ranked second in the chewing gum and lollipops categories.

Lindsay Graham, a remnant of the Bush era Neocon fold, has been a busy bee in the past year.  He has visited Ukraine at least three times since the war with Russia began, called for the assassination of Vladimir Putin, called for the US to directly attack Russian planes, and he's even demanded that the US put troops on the ground in Taiwan to fight the Chinese.  It just goes to show that there are certainly a number of politicians that identify as GOP Republicans that do not represent the will of most conservatives and moderates.

Graham's latest visit with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has been broadly publicized.  Andriy Yermak, the head of the president’s office, released footage of the meeting, intercut with dramatic piano music for effect:

Somebody has to explain to this dude, that the US has zero understanding of what "it stood for since the end of WW II", because this WW II was won by somebody else and those were not Americans.

Then, of course, during this meeting of two war criminals and enablers of terrorism, Lindsey went on record by stating that:

“Russians are dying. We have never spent money so well”

A Florida couple have been charged with manslaughter after a 3-year-old with severe injuries died earlier in the month, according to police.

Takesha Williams, 24, and Efrem Allen, Jr., 25, have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a young child. Allen and Williams are being held at the Polk County Jail on $100,000 bond each.

WTSP reported, "Deputies say the couple noticed during the morning of May 12 that the toddler was cold to the touch, his stomach was bloated and his pulse oximeter was malfunctioning, but waited until around 3 p.m. to call 911."

The Bartow Fire Rescue and law enforcement responded to a 911 call regarding a baby in distress, and reportedly found the 3-year-old did not have a pulse. The child was rushed to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The city of Chicago opened all 22 area beaches on Friday morning. However, one of the busiest beaches was closed only hours after opening because gunshots rang out.

Chicago's North Avenue Beach opened at 11 a.m. on Friday. Police responded to several shots fired around 1:26 p.m. in the 1600 block of North Lake Shore Drive at the North Avenue Beach.

Video shows two groups of teens angrily confronting each other before gunshots erupt. There were approximately 100 people in the area when the shooting occurred. Video shows the windows of a Chicago Park District truck shot out.

WLS-TV reported, "The nearby Latin school said in an email to parents that students were gathered for is annual Olympics Day game when the police SUV sped through the park. No kids were injured, but the incident was alarming."

The GOP-controlled Texas House voted 121-23 to adopt 20 articles of impeachment against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton Saturday afternoon.

"I am beyond grateful to have the support of millions of Texans who recognize that what we just witnessed is illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust," Paxton wrote in a tweet shortly after the vote, also appending a longer statement.

"I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just."

If I were a snobby wordsmith — ahem — I’d refer to Ms. Bertinelli as an ultracrepidarian, but then you’d have to look up the term, and I don’t want to waste your time on something so trivial. OK, fine. An ultracrepidarian is a person who embraces ultracrepidarianism, but let’s move on. [winking emoji]

Anyway, as Joe Biden and the Democrats, and Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans continue the battle over raising the debt ceiling, Bertinelli — who gained fame for her role in “One Day at a Time,” the CBS sitcom which first aired in 1975 — apparently believes it is her public duty to come forward and ‘splain the complex debt ceiling issue in “super simplistic terms.” Ready?

In super simplistic terms, the debt ceiling is like your credit card bill coming at the end of the month. And the Republicans, who helped run up that bill (tax breaks for billionaires i.e. no revenue) now want to NOT pay the nations [sic] credit card bill AND blame Democrats for it.

Oh, my. Where does one begin?

“Racial justice.” This one is going to make your teeth hurt. And if you’re a business owner with employees, it might make your blood boil. Either way, if this is “racial justice,” this country will ultimately be screwed.

A newly-hired trainer at a high-end gym on New York City’s Upper East Side showed up late for work 47 times in just 10 months before she was fired for chronic lateness. The trainer then sued her now-former employer— which resulted in a judgment ordering the gym franchise to pay her $11.25 million in damages.

In this episode of Race-Hustling MSNBC and Its Race-Hustling Guests…

I was talking with political cartoonist Michael Ramirez several weeks ago about the target-rich environment we share in our respective conservative endeavors. Ramirez framed it this way: “I have the best gag writers in the business working for me — free!” I replied, “I’m stealing that!” as we both laughed at the insanity.

Anyway, somewhere near the top of my gag writers list is the entire MSNBC clown car and some of the left-wing network’s favorite lunatic guests. In this episode, ever-whiny host Nicolle Wallace gleefully trotted out twice-failed Georgia Democrat gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and the race-hustler extraordinaire, himself, Reverend Al Sharpton, to demand Republicans condemn a concocted story that doesn’t exist.

Let’s begin, shall we? Check out the chyron in the feature image, above.

“Florida School Bans Access to Amanda Gorman Poem.” That is an unadulterated complete crock of crap. The teenager’s poem, which she read at Joe Biden’s inauguration, has not been banned. Period.

The news is that they intend to lift the debt ceiling and apply new caps on spending.

McCarthy said there would be “historic reductions in spending…no new taxes, no new government programs.”

He said they still had more work to do to finish the writing of it, but that it was an agreement “worthy of the American people.”

The Hill noted that some of the things they had been tussling over were “spending levels, new work requirements for social benefit programs. and permitting reforms to expedite approval of energy infrastructure projects — two Republican demands that were opposed by most Democrats.”

Now, it still remains to be seen if they will have the votes and it is something that Republicans will buy into.

Kamala Harris on Saturday delivered a commencement address at West Point because Joe Biden is too feeble to be outside for hours with the cadets.

Metro Atlanta Lululemon employees claim they were fired for calling the police on looters ransacking the store.

Marlin High School, near Waco, Texas, was forced to postpone its graduation ceremony after 85% of the senior class failed to earn their diplomas. Only 5 students out of the class of 33 met the requirements for commencement.

Parents in Chicago are outraged over the lax rules surrounding health records and vaccine status for illegal students flooding area schools.

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a landmark $5.7 billion settlement with Walgreens, one of the largest pharmacy chains in the United States, for its role in the nationwide opioid epidemic.

James Webb Telescope's New Discovery is 'Shattering' Our Understanding of Big Bang. The universe that originated from the big bang, according to the cosmic inflation theory, is behaving more mysteriously than ever before. We now have identified galaxies in the early universe that are leaving scientists dumbfounded. And that is all thanks to the James Webb Space telescope, which, with its infrared detecting prowess, is changing the game. Top theoretical physicist Michio Kaku explaining the conundrum that we found ourselves in at the moment. And not just him, even the famous astrophysicist and science communicator, Neil deGrasse Tyson, is stunned.

Let’s give the Ukrainian Government of Volodomyr Zelensky credit for one thing — they are world class liars. Yesterday I wrote about the attempted attack on the Russian ship, the Ivan Khurs, by three maritime drones and simply acknowledged that there was a video that claimed to show one of the drones hitting a ship. It was implied that the ship was the Ivan Khurs but there was no identifying information to corroborate the claim. Today we know the truth. Ukraine lied. The Ivan Khurs pulled into port in the Black Sea on its own power with no visible damage.

The United States made little progress and is still rock bottom of the ranking, along with Slovakia...