Federal prosecutor says woman is suspected of dealing weapons to Africa on behalf of Iranian government
A California woman was arrested at Los Angeles international airport after allegedly trafficking weapons on behalf of the Iranian government to contacts in Africa, including Sudan.
Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills was detained on Saturday night by federal agents, according to the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.
Continue reading...Trump says cargo ship tried to get past US naval blockade near strait of Hormuz ‘and it did not go well for them’
The US military took custody of an Iranian-flagged container ship that attempted to get past an American blockade near the strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump announced on Sunday.
In a social media post, Trump said that an “Iranian-flagged cargo ship named TOUSKA” tried to get past the US naval blockade, “and it did not go well for them”.
Continue reading...Reported response comes hours after Trump announced delegation to Islamabad, having earlier threatened to raze Iran’s infrastructure
Tehran is not currently planning to take part in new talks with the US, Iran state media reported on Sunday evening, hours after Donald Trump said he was dispatching negotiators to Islamabad.
“There are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-US talks,” state broadcaster IRIB said, citing Iranian sources.
Continue reading...Exclusive: deputy PM says UK will not join Iran conflict despite Trump’s sometimes ‘incomprehensible’ social-media barbs
Donald Trump’s insults towards Keir Starmer are “small and petty” and designed to put pressure on the prime minister to change his position on Iran, David Lammy has said, as he insisted the UK would not get dragged into the conflict.
The deputy prime minister argued the US president should be able to “disagree agreeably” with allies rather than publishing attacks on social media, and that US actions had “made things worse, not better” as far as global instability was concerned.
Continue reading...US president’s unreliable style sows diplomatic confusion but leaves Tehran clear on strategic value of strait of Hormuz
Donald Trump’s decision to send US officials to Islamabad for further talks on Monday with Iran just 24 hours after Iran once again closed the strait of Hormuz will signal to Tehran that the strategic waterway remains a bargaining asset beyond parallel.
It will also confirm in Iran’s eyes that the US president’s chaotic approach to diplomacy doubles the need for Tehran to act calmly and strategically – two competencies it believes he totally lacks.
Continue reading...Actor who worked with the great French auteurs in the 1970s and 80s and starred in Spielberg’s Catch Me if You Can died of Lewy body dementia, says family
The French film star Nathalie Baye, who starred in Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can, has died at the age of 77, her family said on Saturday.
Baye, a stalwart of French cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983. She died on Friday evening at her home in Paris from Lewy body dementia, her family told AFP.
Continue reading...Pugilistic presence has laid waste to civil rights decision – her take-no-prisoners approach has alarmed legal experts but earned president’s plaudits
When Donald Trump abruptly fired Pam Bondi earlier this month, he made it clear that an unmistakable priority for the justice department would be using the nation’s top law enforcement agency to seek retribution against his political rivals.
For months, Trump pressured Bondi to move ahead with prosecutions against James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff and other rivals, even publicly venting his frustration with Bondi in October. The justice department eventually did secure indictments against Comey and James, but the cases later collapsed. Trump fired Bondi on 2 April, reportedly because he was angered by the department’s lack of progress in prosecuting enemies. Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general, has since said Trump has the “right” to direct investigations at the justice department.
Continue reading...Jeremy Hansen praised for speaking French in space after Air Canada chief’s linguistic snub exposed tensions and drew rebuke from PM
Few people foresaw humanity’s quest for the moon as accurately as the 19th-century French author Jules Verne, whose two works –From the Earth to the Moon and Around the Moon – anticipated many of the features of modern lunar exploration.
But Verne’s language had never been spoken in deep space until the Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen uttered four words during Nasa’s recent Artemis II mission.
Continue reading...Police say poison detected in jar of HiPP carrots and potatoes as maker says items may have been tampered with
Rat poison has been found in a jar of HiPP baby food, police in Austria have said, after a recall of the product from more than 1,000 Spar supermarkets in the country over safety fears.
Police in Burgenland said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190g (7oz) jars of carrots and potatoes baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison.
Continue reading...Rumen Radev – an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia - looked set to top the polls in the country’s eighth election in five years
Bulgarian ex-president Rumen Radev – an EU critic who has called for renewing ties with Russia – on Sunday hailed a “victory of hope” after his formation topped the eighth parliamentary elections in five years.
Projections from polling agencies put his Progressive Bulgaria (PB) grouping at 44%, which would give him an absolute majority of at least 129 seats in the 240-seat parliament.
Continue reading...Elisabeth Zetland, a senior researcher at MyHeritage, found that the actual Luigi had immigrated to US from Italy
Gaming enthusiasts have known for years that Nintendo named its mustachioed, superhero plumber after the company’s landlord, Washington state businessman Mario Arnold Segale.
But it has only just been determined that Nintendo may have unknowingly named Super Mario’s fictional brother after Segale’s real-life father: Luigi, whose biography evokes that of millions of 20th-century US immigrants from Italy.
Continue reading...US president’s desperation for war to end has seen him trying to speed through a process he does not fully control
A set of mismanaged and premature media announcements by Donald Trump and Tehran has led to the collapse of progress towards a peace settlement between Iran and the US.
The recent missteps ended with Iran saying it would reinstate a complete block on the movement of commercial shipping through the strait of Hormuz and that it would not allow any of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to be exported out of the country.
Continue reading...IRGC reportedly fires on tanker as it tries to pass through strait during brief window when shipping lane had reopened
Iranian officials say they have reversed the reopening of the strait of Hormuz and reimposed restrictions on the vital shipping lane after the US said it would not end its blockade of Iranian ports.
A UK maritime agency reported that Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships had fired at a tanker as it attempted to pass through the strait on Saturday. Reuters reported an Indian-flagged vessel carrying crude oil had also been attacked while in the waterway.
Continue reading...Disgraced financier’s links to politicians and civil servants as far back as 30 years ago to be examined
The Epstein files have shaken Norway’s faith in democracy, the head of the Norwegian parliament’s oversight committee has said, as a sprawling investigation into the connections between its foreign office and the late sex offender gets under way.
An independent commission to look into information brought to light by the Jeffrey Epstein documents released by the US Department of Justice was launched on Wednesday after the Norwegian parliament voted unanimously last month for it to be set up.
Continue reading...Silvia Salis, the leftwing mayor of Genoa and former Olympian, is described as ‘a breath of fresh air’ and potential unifier
It has been a turbulent month in Italian politics.
A failed referendum on a judicial overhaul pierced prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s aura of invincibility, triggering government resignations and leaving her scrambling to restore credibility. At the same time, her once special relationship with Donald Trump has frayed after the US president publicly scolded her this week for criticising his broadside against Pope Leo and for not supporting the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Continue reading...Need something brilliant to read this weekend? Here are six of our favourite pieces from the last seven days
Continue reading...As Orbán is rejected, there is cautious optimism new leader can restore ties – but issues such as EU accession loom large
Like many Ukrainians, Oleh Kupchak was delighted when Péter Magyar won Hungary’s election last weekend, ending Viktor Orbán’s 16-year grip on power. “We were euphoric. Everyone was following the results closely. There were toasts,” said Kupchak, who has visited Budapest several times. “We didn’t love Orbán,” he added.
Ukraine celebrated Orbán’s landslide defeat in a series of jokes and memes. Several likened him to the Star Wars character Jabba the Hut, and shared an image of Orbán fleeing from a drone. Others portrayed him sitting on a bench in Russia, alongside Ukraine’s pro-Kremlin former president Viktor Yanukovych, and his exiled Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
Continue reading...Iran’s parliamentary speaker says strait could close again if US blockade continues, but Trump says it will remain in place until ‘transaction’ with Tehran is complete
Iran’s foreign minister has said that the strait of Hormuz is now fully open to commercial vessels, reinforcing hopes for an eventual end to the war in the Middle East and sending oil prices tumbling despite analysts’ warnings that there will be no immediate widespread resumption of passage through the vital waterway.
In a barrage of social media posts, Donald Trump claimed on Friday that Iran had agreed never to close the strategic waterway again, hailing “A GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!”
Continue reading...Spirit Airlines reportedly seeks emergency US government funding as war against Iran keeps aviation fuel costs high
Air Canada has announced a temporary suspension of flights from Toronto and Montreal to New York’s John F Kennedy airport, citing rising fuel prices.
The move comes amid growing concerns that airlines worldwide may scale back services as aviation fuel costs climb in the wake of the US and Israel’s ongoing war with Iran, which entered a fragile ceasefire earlier in April. Although Iran announced on Friday that the strait of Hormuz had reopened, helping ease oil prices, fuel costs remain significantly elevated after weeks of disruption.
Continue reading...Opposition accuses Narendra Modi government of using quotas as cover for redrawing electoral map
The Indian government has failed to pass a bill to increase female representation in parliament after being accused of using the plan as a guise to redraw the country’s electoral map.
It was the first time in 12 years in power that a constitutional amendment proposed by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government was not passed by parliament.
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