Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)
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Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he will not quit as prime minister and "plunge the country into chaos", as Labour reels from significant election losses. The results in England, Scotland and Wales have piled pressure on Sir Keir, with some Labour MPs calling for him to set a timetable for his departure, although his cabinet allies have backed him for now. Labour has lost power in Wales, ending its 27-year rule, while the SNP remains the largest party in Scotland. Reform UK has been the big winner in England, picking up more than 1,400 seats and taking control of councils...
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Satellite imagery revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is buckling under mounting U.S. pressure. The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters. The incident is emerging as a potential sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: overwhelming Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to...
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A spokesman for Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) condemned the United States on Friday for conducting what U.S. Central Command referred to as “self-defense strikes” to protect American assets in the region, claiming that it had responded and caused “significant damage.” Central Command (CENTCOM), the wing of the American armed forces responsible for operations in the Middle East, revealed on Thursday that it had “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,” destroying the Iranian assets used in the attack. CENTCOM described a flurry of “missiles, drones, and small boats approaching American naval assets and attacking, but...
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Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent asserted in a post on X that prior to the start of the Iran war, the U.S. intelligence community agreed that the Islamic Republic was not developing a nuclear weapon. "One of the many tragedies of this war is that before the war began the U.S. Intel Community, including CIA, was in agreement that Iran wasn't developing a nuclear weapon & that Iran would target U.S. bases in the region & shut down the Strait of Hormuz if they were attacked by Israel & the U.S.," Kent wrote in a post on Thursday....
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A wave of low-cost Chinese-made vehicles is slipping into California through Mexico — and the issue is now headed to Washington. Panicked lawmakers are working to close a border loophole that allows cars that would never clear US safety or emissions standards to enter the country. In Mexican border cities like Tijuana’s Zona Río, dealerships are packed with new electric vehicles, hybrids, and SUVs, many of them Chinese-built and priced around $20,000. That undercuts the American market so drastically that even basic new cars cost far more in the US. Congress is now looking at the issue more critically, with...
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Live election results at link
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Iranian state media posted a video on Friday that appeared to show Iran’s Navy seizing an oil tanker identified as the Ocean Koi. The vessel was “exploiting the conditions in the region to harm and disrupt oil exports and the interests of the Iranian nation,” the state news agency IRNA said. The tanker, carrying Iranian oil, was escorted to Iran’s southern coast. Shipping analysts said that the tanker was Chinese-owned. On Feb. 25 the U.S. Treasury Department identified the vessel as part of a shadow fleet of ships that it said Iran used in violation of U.S. sanctions. [snip] “Given...
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LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted Friday that he will not resign after bruising elections that saw his governing Labour Party suffer big losses and the hard-right party Reform UK make major gains. The local and regional elections are widely seen as unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led Labour to power less than two years ago Voters have grown impatient for economic growth and dramatic change after 14 years of Conservative government, and many Labour lawmakers have become despairing at the government’s failure to deliver. Starmer said he took responsibility for the “very...
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TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers attempting to pull into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran. U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as...
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United Kingdom Keir Starmer Last night, Britain's Labour Party got absolutely trounced in local elections. The BBC has a live tracker with only a portion of the results in as of Friday morning Eastern time. This is what it looked like at time of publishing: The Labour Party, which currently controls Parliament, lost hundreds of seats. Despite being billed as "center-left" by the fake news, it is actually to the left of American Democrats on almost every issue. Voters in the UK just resoundingly rejected them at the polls. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, responded to the voice of the...
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio met privately with Pope Leo XIV and other Vatican officials May 7 to discuss the Middle East, the Western Hemisphere, and the need to promote peace and human dignity, according to statements from the Vatican and U.S. officials. Met with @Pontifex to underscore our shared commitment to promoting peace and human dignity. pic.twitter.com/BIZ9SfW5nY— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) May 7, 2026In a statement released after the meeting, the Vatican said the “cordial discussions” first took place between Rubio and Pope Leo before later talks involving Rubio, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and Archbishop Paul...
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President Donald Trump said Thursday that retaliatory strikes against Iranian targets were “just a love tap." The strikes came as U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces “launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats” while the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers USS Truxtun, USS Rafael Peralta and USS Mason were transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
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LONDON — Early results Friday from nationwide elections in Britain suggested a historic drubbing for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party and sweeping gains for hard-right Reform U.K., led by Trump ally Nigel Farage. Though many results were still coming in Friday morning, the overall picture will heap pressure on Starmer, an unpopular leader beset by speculation his colleagues may move against him. “The results are tough, they are very tough, and there’s no sugarcoating it,” Starmer said Friday. But he dismissed calls for him to stand down.
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And now time for some good news. The ruling Labour Party in the United Kingdom got absolutely destroyed in Thursday's local council elections. While the votes are still being tallied, they could see a net loss of over 1,500 seats. In short, it was bad for Prime Minister Keir Starmer and company. Really, really bad. Keep in mind, the first post is of declared seats (as of this writing) while the second post is a projection of where things will end up when all the votes are counted. ============================================================== GB Politics @GBPolitcs 🚨NEW: State of the Parties at 2PM: Seats...
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An eco-warrior politician has sparked outrage in Denmark after she defended guidelines limiting residents of government-run nursing homes to just 2.8 ounces of beef a week — which is less than one Big Mac. Birgitte Kehler Holst of the left-wing green Danish party The Alternative was also accused of saying old people in nursing homes should be “punished” by restricting their meat intake in comments made in a meeting of Copenhagen’s City Council on April 30. She was speaking against plans to exclude nursing home residents from guidelines in the Danish capital that restrict meals at government-run sites to just...
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WESTMINSTER, LONDON — Last week, Reform UK leader and perpetual thorn-in-the-establishment’s-side, Nigel Farage, told the press he intended to be on the streets of Havering in East London on the morning of Friday, May 8th, celebrating Reform UK’s first capital city breakthrough. Sure enough, the borough is now his, with the once-dominant Conservative Party relegated to ZERO seats in the white-van-and-mortgage belt of London.These results are being replicated up and down the nation, with over 5,000 council seats up for grabs in Thursday’s elections, and Reform UK already picking up around 1 in 3 of them. It’s a nightmare scenario...
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A “truly historic shift in British politics” has taken place where the national political question is no longer about “left or right”, Brexit pioneer Nigel Farage said as his Reform Party surged in early results in what has been called the “midterm” elections. The first Britain-wide local election results trickled in overnight — and will continue to do so through the day and into the weekend as over 5,000 local races have their votes counted — revealing in its early stages a massive swing to Reform UK. Party leader Nigel Farage hailed the party’s gains so far, and vowed “the...
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83% LOSS OF SEATS!.............
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The U.S. Court of International Trade dealt a blow to the 10 percent global import tax that President Donald Trump imposed after losing on tariffs at the Supreme Court. A specialized federal court in New York delivered a new blow to President Donald Trump’s effort to impose widespread tariffs, ruling against the levies the president imposed after the Supreme Court decision in February that eliminated most of his emergency import taxes. Subscribe for unlimited access to The Post You can cancel anytime. Subscribe Thursday’s 2-1 ruling by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade held that the...
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A U.S. trade court has ruled against President Donald Trump’s 10 percent global tariffs. The U.S. Court of International Trade ruled 2-1 that a 1970s law doesn’t allow the president to enact sweeping tariffs worldwide. The State of Oregon, a spice company called Burlap and Barrel, and a toy company named “Basic Fun Inc.” challenged the tariffs. Article 1, Section eight of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to levy duties, collect taxes, and more. Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 gives some of that power to the president. It allows the president to impose temporary surcharges...
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