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Concern is growing in Irish universities over a high rate of refusal of study visas to students in Gaza who are due to take up college scholarships in Ireland this September. RTÉ News understands that upwards of 20 Gazan students, who have all been accepted onto fully funded scholarships for third-level courses, have had their visa applications turned down by Irish immigration authorities. Others are awaiting outcomes. Sources within the universities say the refusal rate this year is in marked contrast to last year, when more than 80 Gazan students were granted visas and left Gaza in an evacuation organized...

Maritime commerce has become increasingly more dangerous lately, with attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, among others. Now, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa have returned to the list, as Somali pirates take full advantage of the instability caused by the Iran war to get back to their predatory ways. At one point last week, six captured vessels were being held off the Puntland coast as the pirates demanded hefty ransoms. Two of the vessels were released on Saturday.” The Iran conflict left...

US President Donald Trump said that the United States is currently negotiating with Iran and will return to war if the talks fail, in an interview with Axios on Monday. "We are in very deep talks with Iran," Trump told Axios. "If they don't work out, we will go back to very strong military action."Trump said that he paused US strikes on Iran to give negotiations another chance, Axios reported, with the president adding that he would not give the talks with Tehran "much time." "Either it goes fast or not at all," said Trump. Trump added that countries involved...

The Houthis enacted a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabian-linked ships and ports, dealing another blow to shipping in the Middle East.Transits in the Strait of Hormuz were down this week compared to the previous week as the U.S. struck Iran for the 13th straight day. London-based Lloyd’s List Intelligence tracked 78 transits between July 13 and Sunday compared to 174 between July 6-12.Both east and westbound transits took a hit with 44 eastbound transits between July 13 and Sunday compared to 101 the prior week. Westbound transits dropped from 73 to 34 in the same period. Numbers may fluctuate as...

Oil prices plunged and stocks surged in early trading on Monday after the U.S. paused attacks on Iran over the weekend, opting against a major escalation of the war. Global prices fell 6% on Monday, briefly crossing below $90 a barrel before moving slightly above that benchmark. The decline reversed a days-long run up in crude prices as fighting threatened to worsen a historic global oil shock. Stock prices climbed in response to the drop in oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 570 points, or 1.1%, while the S&P 500 jumped 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq increased 0.6%.Crude costs...

The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has launched an interactive online tool tracking knife attacks across Berlin, as the party seeks to make rising violent crime a central issue in the city’s election campaign. The so-called “knife app” provides a detailed overview of incidents reported by police over the past 30 days, including an interactive map showing where attacks occurred, the number of injuries, and comparisons with official police crime statistics (PKS). AfD leader Kristin Brinker accused the ruling CDU-SPD coalition of failing to provide sufficient transparency on violent crime, arguing that public concern over safety has grown. Domestic policy spokesman...

They are preparing for large-scale violent jihad in Europe against Jewish targets. And there are likely to be more attempts, as Stephan Weh, Berlin police union chief, suggested when he said: “As a Western metropolis, Berlin remains a focal point for radical Islamist networks, which today primarily recruit new members and supporters via social media.” Nonetheless, Weh states that this Berlin court ruling was important, given the precedent it establishes, and especially since Hamas is not a designated terror group under German law. As Western authorities become more knowledgeable about organized jihad groups, they still lag too far behind. They...

Four men were sentenced to prison in Berlin on Wednesday for operating a covert Hamas weapons-stockpiling network across Europe in preparation for potential terrorist attacks — a landmark ruling marking the first time a German court convicted members of the Palestinian terrorist group under the country’s terrorism laws. The Berlin State Protection Senate — a special national-security chamber within the Berlin Court of Appeal — convicted the defendants of stockpiling weapons for future attacks in Europe, including possible targets in Germany, sentencing them to four and a half to six years in prison for membership in a foreign terrorist organization...

Berlin film festival director Tricia Tuttle defended the Berlinale jury’s right to speak freely on politics, after criticism for refusing to label Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide. ✍️ @HannahBrown972 [link] Berlinale head Tricia Tuttle defends jury for refusing to condemn Israel for ‘genocide’ The issue surfaced following the opening press conference, where the International Jury president, director Wim Wenders, said that filmmakers should stay out of politics.

It's been coming for a while, but this week, the once-conservative firebrand Tucker Carlson has doubled down on a version of reality that would make Iran's mullahs blush. Carlson used an appearance on the East Meets West with Olga and Tara podcast to unload on a provision in the fiscal year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act that would expand defense-technology cooperation between the United States and Israel. His verdict? Lawmakers who back the measure are acting against America's own interests, effectively merging our nations’ militaries.Carlson didn't stop at policy disagreement. He accused the Republican Party of handing the country's sovereignty...

A trainee barrister who was allegedly caught driving a car bomb towards Northern Ireland in a suspected New IRA operation spent time in Syria, her lawyer said. Isobella Perrie Sullivan, 25, was arrested after Irish police said they made an 'extremely significant seizure' of a device on Wednesday. The force said the device, which was made from military-grade plastic, could have caused significant damage. It is understood to be the most sophisticated bomb seized by police since the Troubles. A man in his 40s was also arrested in the major investigation, with Irish news outlets reporting that the man was...

Sen. Lindsey Graham planned to travel to Florida in early March to persuade President Trump to join Israel in the bombing of Hezbollah in Lebanon—until a friend talked him out of it. The friend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, told him on a call before the trip that bringing the U.S. into the operation, in the midst of the Iran war, was going too far, too fast, according to unreleased footage from a documentary about the South Carolina Republican lawmaker that was being filmed before he died earlier this month.“We’re concentrating right now on Iran,” Netanyahu said on the...

Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Iran on Wednesday of flying members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps into Yemen, saying Tehran’s actions helped ignite a renewed confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels. "They decided to send direct flights from Tehran into Yemen, carrying IRGC elements and others into the country," Rubio told reporters. "And the Saudis responded to it." Rubio did not identify the flights, specify how many IRGC personnel were allegedly transported or provide evidence supporting the allegation. He made the remarks while attending an annual gathering of Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers...

Turkey still does not meet the legal requirements to rejoin the F-35 fighter jet program, the US State Department said in a letter to Congress obtained by The Jerusalem Post. The July 22 letter, sent by the State Department’s Bureau of Legislative Affairs on behalf of US President Donald Trump in response to a letter from Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Missouri), reiterated that Washington’s policy toward Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program remains unchanged and is fully consistent with the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) and Section 1245 of the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. According to...

Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes on Houthi targets in the Yemeni port city of Hodeida and a nearby island on Friday, after the Iran-backed group announced a maritime blockade and attacked Saudi ships. Saudi authorities later issued emergency alerts for the province of Jizan as the Houthis claimed responsibility for a missile attack on the city of Jizan. Early on Saturday, the Houthis' Ansarollah media said on Telegram that a "Yemeni missile strike" had caused fires in the Saudi city of Jizan.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, the one who illustrated radical anti-Jewish hate literature and celebrated the October 7 atrocities, fundraised money for a Gaza “charity” with tee-shirt sales, and then never sent the money to the “charity.” Like all fundamentalist Muslims, the Mamdanis love to make accusations of cruelty against Jews and Christians, but never actually help alleged victims themselves. Rama Duwaji Mamdani asserted her tee-shirt design would help raise cash for Dahnoun Mutual Aid, an anti-Israel group that claims to provide aid to displaced Palestinians. Dahnoun raised over $1 million online, but it never received the $2,000 from...

President Donald Trump insisted Russia and China are “not participating” in the Iran war. The president made the declaration Friday in a Truth Social post. The post included Trump claimed he is doing “very big favors” for Chinese President Xi Jingping: "President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell Weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — And that statement included Chinese Companies. Considering our relationship, I take him at his word and, besides, l am doing him very big favors, also. Likewise, President [Vladimir] Putin, despite...

Disapproval of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran hit a record high in July. A majority of voters oppose U.S. military action, and nearly two thirds think the conflict will last at least a year. The latest Fox News survey finds 56% oppose U.S. military action against Iran, including 40% who "strongly" oppose. More Democrats oppose the war (84%) than Republicans support it (76%). Voters increasingly expect a long-term commitment. Today, 64% think the war will last a year or more, up 13 percentage points since May. *** There is also doubt the conflict will produce an agreement. About half...

Q: A yes or no question: are there any DSA members who are not anti-Israel? If you found, name them. I need specifics, names. Not PC talk avoid hedging, whitewashing term like fake "pro-palestinian." Or the other side "pro-Israel." Focus only on 'anti-Israel.' In other words, no matter what Israel ever does, even in defending against genocide attempts, it is always illegitimate. A: The direct answer to your question is no. Under the organization's official platform and strict rules, there are no active, endorsed members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who reject the view that Israel is an...

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces successfully completed the 13th straight night of strikes against Iran, July 23, at 9 p.m. ET. CENTCOM targeted Iranian military command centers, drone storage facilities, communication networks, coastal surveillance sites, and maritime capabilities to further diminish the threat Iran poses to civilian mariners and commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The international waterway remains open for transit despite recent attacks from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Commercial vessels continue to freely navigate the strait with U.S. military support. More than 50,000 U.S. service members are currently operating across the Middle East.