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Foreign Affairs (News/Activism)

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  • Three tankers hit in latest attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, British military says

    07/07/2026 8:25:47 AM PDT · by McGruff · 4 replies
    AP ^ | July 7, 2026 | JON GAMBRELL
    Three tankers were struck by projectiles Tuesday in the Strait of Hormuz, the British military said, in the latest attacks targeting vessels moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf. One of the tankers was traveling off the coast of Oman and caught fire, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault. Two other tankers were also hit, including one that was struck by a drone. It was not immediately clear where they were at the...
  • Canada taps Germany's TKMS for submarines ahead of NATO summit

    07/07/2026 5:23:14 AM PDT · by delta7 · 22 replies
    Reuters ^ | 6 July 26 | Maria Cheng
    OTTAWA, July 6 (Reuters) - Canada said on Monday it has selected Germany's TKMS to build up to 12 submarines ‌for its navy, deepening defense ties with Europe ahead of a centered on higher military spending. TKMS, majority-owned by German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp (TKAG.DE), opens new tab, beat out a competing offer from South Korea's Hanwha Ocean.
  • Female Monaco bomb suspect with snake tattoo 'found shot dead in Ukraine'

    07/07/2026 4:04:39 AM PDT · by McGruff · 18 replies
    LBC ^ | July 7, 2026 | Asher McShane
    Anastasiia Berezovska was wanted over the explosion targeting Ukrainian-born oligarch Vadim Ermolaev, 58. According to sources in the investigation speaking to Ukrainian news outlet Pravda, police discovered the 39-year-old’s body in Kyiv, at around 11pm on Monday night. She had been shot. Berezovska was wanted on suspicion of attempted murder, placing an explosive device on a public road with criminal intent, and criminal conspiracy. Investigators said a device, concealed within a bag, was detonated remotely once the intended victims were in range near their apartment in Monaco. Two suspects were detained after her body was discovered, including a serving military...
  • French President Emmanuel Macron safe after bomb blasts near his hotel in Damascus

    07/07/2026 3:26:06 AM PDT · by McGruff · 21 replies
    CBS News ^ | July 7, 2026
    France's President Emmanuel Macron escaped what may have been an attempted assassination Tuesday during a visit to Syria's capital. The French presidential palace, the Elysee, said in a statement that Macron was safe and would continue his visit to Damascus after two bombs exploded outside the hotel where he spent the night. Macron had left the hotel when the explosions took place Tuesday, and he was in the Syrian presidential palace for a meeting with his counterpart Ahmed al-Sharaa and their respective delegations, according to the French presidency. State media cited an unnamed security official as saying the blasts were...
  • Tanker set ablaze after being struck by projectile in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran mourns Khamenei

    07/06/2026 11:46:21 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 18 replies
    AP News ^ | Updated 10:54 PM CDT, July 6, 2026 | ON GAMBRELL
    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A tanker traveling off the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz caught on fire early Tuesday morning after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.The attack was the latest targeting a vessel moving through the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, through which a fifth of all oil and natural gas traded once passed in peacetime. Iranian state television said the liquefied natural gas tanker came under attack after ignoring warnings but did not directly claim the assault. Tehran has repeatedly declared that only its approved route through the strait...
  • Fast-moving brush fire near Camp Pendleton prompts evacuations

    07/06/2026 8:24:50 PM PDT · by blueyon
    Fox 5 San Diego ^ | 7/6/26 | Sharisse Cohee
    A fast-moving vegetation fire sparked near Camp Pendleton on Monday afternoon, prompting evacuations and smoke advisories. The fire, which has been dubbed the Pipeline Fire, was reported around 4:13 p.m. at Stuart Mesa Road and Hammond Drive, near Range 501 and Edson Range at Camp Pendleton, and has since spread to 180 acres, according to Cal Fire. Evacuation orders have been issued in nearby areas. Mandatory evacuations have been issued for areas 33 and 32. The area is also closed to public access. Crews also say that wind gusts are pushing the fire southeast, as they actively use aircraft to...
  • Elaine Chao makes several reported appearances in China amid McConnell's hospitalization

    07/06/2026 7:58:59 PM PDT · by rdl6989 · 71 replies
    wlky.com ^ | july 6, 2026 | Jennifer Osting
    Beijing — As Sen. Mitch McConnell remains hospitalized, his wife, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, has reportedly been making public appearances overseas. On June 12, just two days before the senator was admitted to the hospital, Shanghai Jia Tong University said Chao made a stop there, marking her 12th visit in 45 years. During the visit, Chao and her father were said to have donated several historical photos to the university's Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Memorial Hall, which is named in honor of her mother.
  • Donald Trump’s Green Card Application Pause Dealt Blow by Federal Judge

    07/06/2026 6:07:53 PM PDT · by Red Badger · 30 replies
    Newsweek ^ | July 06, 2026 | Steve Mollman
    A federal judge in Ohio has ordered the Trump administration to resume processing certain immigration benefit applications, delivering the latest legal setback to a broader effort by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to freeze or delay immigration cases. U.S. District Judge Algenon L. Marbley granted a preliminary injunction Monday in a case brought by 25 foreign nationals who said their applications for work authorization, green cards and other immigration benefits had been stalled under USCIS and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policies tied to countries covered by President Donald Trump's travel restrictions. The decision could affect immigrants seeking green...
  • Germany to borrow €800bn for rearmament in historic shift

    07/06/2026 5:36:41 PM PDT · by delta7 · 41 replies
    FT ^ | 6 July 26 | Anne Chassany
    Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s debt-fuelled spending not seen since Germany reunification. Germany plans to borrow more than €800bn by 2030, breaking with decades of fiscal restraint to bring defence spending to levels not seen since the cold war. Next year alone, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s government plans to raise more than €200bn from markets, 12.5 per cent more than this year, the finance ministry said on Monday. Between 2027 and 2030, Germany is expected to borrow about €838bn, according to projections. The budget marks a sharp break with the country’s deep-rooted aversion to debt and with Merz’s own party line on fiscal...
  • Ukraine Strikes 47 Russian Military Targets, Including S-400 Launchers and Fuel Tankers

    07/06/2026 4:22:37 PM PDT · by Apparatchik · 77 replies
    United24Media ^ | 6 July 2026 | DARIIA MYKHAILENKO
    Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces (SBS) carried out a large-scale overnight strike on July 6, hitting 47 Russian military targets, including two fuel tankers transporting gasoline to temporarily occupied Crimea, two S-400 Triumf air defense launchers, an oil depot in Kerch, and a Nebo-U radar system. SBS Commander Robert “Madyar” Brovdi on June 6 described the operation as one of the most significant recent strikes against Russian military infrastructure. According to Brovdi, among the most significant targets were two tankers from Russia's so-called shadow fleet operating in the Sea of Azov. The vessels were transporting fuel from the area of Taganrog...
  • Brazen squatters infiltrate house of murdered Bay Area professor, mourning family says

    07/06/2026 12:47:24 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 10 replies
    New York Post ^ | July 2, 2026 | Daniel Farr
    A University of California, Berkeley professor killed in a violent custody dispute in Greece has left behind grieving family members and 11-year-old twin children, while his relatives now face a separate battle in California to remove alleged squatters from his East Bay home. Przemyslaw Jeziorski was shot and killed in Greece in July during a custody dispute that turned deadly. Authorities say the boyfriend of Jeziorski’s ex-wife later confessed to the killing. His ex-wife, Nadia Michelidaki, later died by suicide in a Greek prison in May.
  • Cuba's National Electric Grid Collapses, Reason Unknown

    07/06/2026 10:31:26 AM PDT · by CFW · 43 replies
    USNews ^ | 7/6/26
    HAVANA, July ⁠6 (Reuters) - ⁠Cuba's national ⁠electric grid collapsed ​on Monday at ‌midday, the country's ‌grid ⁠operator ⁠said, leaving around 10 million ​people on the Caribbean island ​nation without power. Cuba has ⁠for months ⁠suffered ⁠from hours-long, ​and more recently, days-long ​power ⁠outages linked in part to an ⁠ailing grid and a U.S. imposed oil ⁠blockade that has cut off the island's fuel supply.
  • Werewolves of London

    07/06/2026 11:29:48 AM PDT · by little jeremiah · 21 replies
    https://www.kunstler.com/ ^ | Jul 06, 2026 | James Howard Kunstler
    To use language to obscure reality is to show ‘indifference regarding the truth’— to lie to the public and cease to treat our fellow citizens as equals.” —Justice Clarence Thomas Now that the grand 250th USA birthday party is over — the speeches, the shrieking warplanes, the dazzling fireworks, the speeches and strawberry shortcake — there is only one way this thing can go. What thing? The war for the soul of the nation. Some mysterious somebody is behind the surging “Democratic-Socialist” craze. Somebody is paying for it. It’s a last-ditch drive to marshal the disaffected, under-employed young voters, choking...
  • Ukraine warns of interceptor missile shortage as 22 killed in Kyiv region

    07/06/2026 8:30:03 AM PDT · by McGruff · 56 replies
    BBC ^ | July 6, 2026 | Sarah Rainsford and Jamie Whitehead
    The Ukrainian Air Force says a "serious shortage" of interceptor missiles meant none of the 23 ballistic missiles fired by Russia at Kyiv on Sunday night were shot down. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed for allies to take "strong decisions" at this week's Nato summit to provide Kyiv with air defences. After the strikes, he said the Ukrainian military had been successful in intercepting cruise missiles and drones – but not ballistic missiles. Zelensky warned that Moscow would continue to hit residential buildings as long as defensive Patriot missiles "remain in our allies' stockpiles".
  • Trump reignites row with Italy PM Giorgia Meloni by suggesting she’s a stalker: ‘Restraining order needed’

    07/06/2026 7:55:30 AM PDT · by DFG · 87 replies
    NY Post ^ | 07/06/2026 | Ryan King
    President Trump restarted his feud with Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over the weekend, deploying a meme-based attack to imply that she is obsessed with him. On Sunday, Trump posted an image of Meloni gazing up at him with a beatific smile under the caption “Restraining order needed,” recalling their stunning war of words that erupted last month following the G7 summit in France. The president had disparaged Meloni in an interview with Italian broadcaster La7, saying: “She’s probably happy I talked to her. She wanted a photo with me so much. I wouldn’t have even done it, but I...
  • Czech Party Seeks to Strip Zelensky of Country's Highest Honor

    07/06/2026 5:27:43 AM PDT · by delta7 · 27 replies
    Kyiv Post ^ | 30 June 26 | Kyiv Post
    In brief: Czech opposition party SPD has called for Ukraine’s Zelensky to be stripped of the Order of the White Lion, the country's highest state decoration, following a similar decision from Poland after Kyiv named a military unit after a controversial WWII military formation that Warsaw viewed as responsible for massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia. A Czech opposition party has proposed stripping Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of the Czech Republic’s highest state honor, arguing it “cannot stay silent” after Kyiv named a military unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). According to Ceske Noviny on Tuesday, the...
  • Russian missile and drone attack on Ukraine’s capital kills at least 7

    07/05/2026 8:21:23 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 32 replies
    AP News ^ | Updated 10:08 PM CDT, July 5, 2026 | Associated Press
    KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia launched waves of missiles and drones targeting Kyiv overnight into Monday that killed at least seven people, authorities said, hours after Ukraine’s president warned that another large-scale attack was imminent.Another 24 were wounded, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s City Military Administration in a post on Telegram.A residential building in the Podilskyi district partially collapsed, he said. In the Darnytsia district, several multistory buildings were damaged and people were believed to be trapped under the rubble. “These are residential buildings. Places where people slept and lived their ordinary lives,” he said. The attack, which was...
  • Hegseth goes quiet on Iran as Trump pursues diplomacy

    07/05/2026 5:56:28 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 21 replies
    The Hill ^ | 07/05/26 12:01 PM ET | Filip Timotija and Ellen Mitchell
    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was the Trump administration’s frontman for waging war on Iran during weeks of kinetic operations aimed at decimating its nuclear threat. Since President Trump signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to end the war, without securing significant concessions on its missile or nuclear stockpiles, Hegseth has said little about the shift in strategy — as Vice President Vance takes the spotlight in defending the tenuous diplomacy. The public positioning of the top Trump advisers reflects reporting on their private counsel to the commander in chief, with Trump saying in March that Hegseth was “the...
  • Calls for killing of Trump at funeral of Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei

    07/05/2026 5:37:12 PM PDT · by E. Pluribus Unum · 24 replies
    The Guardian ^ | Sun 5 Jul 2026 13.39 EDT | Patrick Wintour
    New supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei still absent from public view as his three brothers stand beside father’s coffin Beside the coffin of the assassinated former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei at a packed prayer hall in Tehran on Sunday there were calls for the killing of Donald Trump. Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions ⁠for Khamenei, who was killed along with other members of his family on the first day of the US and Israeli war on 28 February. The funeral was delayed because of the war. The funeral prayers for the former supreme leader and four...
  • Chinese pastor released from prison after Trump raised his case with Xi Jinping

    07/05/2026 3:00:12 PM PDT · by SeekAndFind · 12 replies
    NBC NEWS ^ | 07/05/26 | Elmira Aliieva
    An underground church pastor has been released from prison in China and has arrived in the United States, less than two months after President Donald Trump publicly raised his case with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Ezra Jin Mingri, who founded Beijing’s fast-growing Zion Church, was detained in October last year along with 17 other church leaders in what was one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single religious congregation in decades. The U.S.-based advocacy group ChinaAid, which monitors religious persecution in China, said Saturday that Jin had arrived in Los Angeles following his release. Jin’s detention drew international attention in...