📰 US Government Agencies Shut Down as Trump Deal Awaits House Vote

The U.S. government has slipped into a partial shutdown, with several major departments, including Defense, Treasury and Homeland Security, formally shutting down as Congress waits for the House to act on a funding deal negotiated by President Donald Trump and Senate Democrats.

The House is on recess and is not expected to vote on the deal until Monday, trapping the government in a technical shutdown that began at midnight Friday.

The crisis stems from a Democratic revolt over the deaths of two U.S. citizens in confrontations with Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis.

Senate Democrats refused to pass a sprawling funding bill unless it included new constraints on immigration enforcement, including body cameras, judicial warrants, unmasking of agents, and a ban on mass sweeps.

Trump and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer then struck a deal to fund the rest of the government through September, while giving Homeland Security only two weeks of temporary funding to keep talks on reforms going.

The Senate passed that compromise on Friday, but the House cannot vote until it returns Monday, leaving dozens of agencies furloughing non‑essential staff and halting non‑critical services.

Who’s shut, who’s working
Affected agencies are furloughing non‑essential staff and halting non‑critical services, while “excepted” employees (military, air traffic controllers, TSA, border and immigration enforcement, most cops, the president, Supreme Court, and most federal judges) keep working, though they may not get paid until funding is restored.

Key agencies that are already fully funded for the year and are not affected include the Department of Agriculture (SNAP/food stamps), Veterans Affairs, the Justice Department, and National Parks, which means benefits and many court and park services continue without interruption.

The Office of Management and Budget (Brooke Rollins’s shop) issued a memo telling agencies to execute shutdown procedures, but it stressed that the Administration hopes “this lapse will be short” and will be ready to restart operations as soon as Trump signs a bill into law.

How long it will last
The Administration and many lawmakers expect the shutdown to last no more than a few days, ending as soon as the House votes on Monday.

If the House passes the deal early Monday, federal agencies could resume normal operations that same day, limiting the visible disruption to the public and the economy.

But the real drama is in the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson must navigate a narrow Republican majority and a rebellious conservative flank resistant to the short‑term DHS funding, while Democrats demand that the eventual long‑term deal change the rules for immigration enforcement.

On the surface, the shutdown is a narrow procedural gap, but politically it’s a classic Washington theater (kabuki): Democrats weaponizing DHS funding to force changes in how Trump’s immigration crackdown is run, while Republicans warn that more shutdowns lie ahead if Democrats try this again.

Behind the noise, the question is simple: who blinks first, and who gets blamed if the lights truly go out at the IRS, VA, TSA, and courts beyond the weekend?

#USGovernmentShutdown #Trump2026 #Congress #Democrats #Republicans #DHS #Budget2026

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📰 Israeli strikes kill 26 in Gaza, health officials say

The Israeli military carried out its heaviest airstrikes in Gaza in weeks on Saturday, killing at least 26 people, including several children and women, according to local health authorities.

The strikes hit a Hamas-run police station west of Gaza City, killing 10 officers and detainees, and also struck a residential apartment and a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in and around Khan Younis.

“What did those children do?”

At an apartment in Gaza City, three children and two women were killed, hospital officials said.

Video from the scene showed a blackened building, shattered walls, and debris scattered in the street.

“We found my three little nieces in the street,”

a relative, Samer al-Atbash, told Reuters.

“They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?”

Hundreds of other Palestinians remain trapped in homes, hospitals, and tent camps in Gaza, where the health system is barely functioning and rescue teams struggle to keep up with the dead and wounded.

Ceasefire under fire
The Israeli military said the strikes were a response to eight gunmen emerging from a tunnel in Rafah on Friday, where Israeli forces are still deployed under the current truce deal.

Hamas did not comment on the tunnel incident, but it insisted Israel is the one violating the ceasefire.

Since the U.S.-brokered truce took effect in October, at least 10 Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza, according to Israeli officials, while Israeli operations have killed more than 500 Palestinians in the Strip, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials.

The road forward
The two sides now trade blame for ceasefire violations while Washington pushes them toward the next, far more difficult phase of the truce: Hamas disarmament, further Israeli troop withdrawals, and a potential international peacekeeping force in Gaza.

Gaza’s main lifeline, the Rafah crossing with Egypt, is expected to reopen Sunday, potentially allowing more wounded civilians to evacuate and some humanitarian supplies to enter.

For now, though, the truce is measured in broken bodies and new mass graves, not in maps or peace handshakes.

#Israel #Gaza #Ceasefire #Hamas #War #Trump2026

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📰 New Docs Show Jeffrey Epstein’s Vast Connections with Bannon, Musk and Power Players

The Justice Department’s latest release of Epstein files paints a sprawling picture of how a convicted sex offender cultivated influence across politics, tech, and global power centers, with fresh evidence of his ties to Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, world leaders, and even a senior Trump cabinet official.

Over three million pages of investigative records lay bare Epstein’s world: a shadow network of elite dinners, private jets, and behind‑the‑scenes influence peddling, all while investigations into his trafficking of young girls were already intensifying.

The Bannon connection
Steve Bannon’s relationship with Epstein, long known from earlier leaks, now appears closer and more intimate than previously reported.

The new files contain thousands of messages in 2018–2019, after Bannon left the White House, showing frequent coordination on travel, media strategy, and political maneuvering across Europe and the U.S.

Epstein offered Bannon his private plane, his Palm Beach home, and a Paris apartment, joking that he was working as “the most highly paid travel agent in history,” and Bannon once quipped back, “Massages. Not included.”

They also discussed Bannon’s media coaching for Epstein, including advice on how long to keep his beard and how to handle the growing media scrutiny in early 2019 as Epstein’s image was imploding.

Musk’s non‑encounter
With Elon Musk, the story is one of Epstein’s persistent outreach, not a close relationship.

From 2012 to 2014, Epstein repeatedly tried to lure Musk to his Caribbean island, proposing dinners and parties, but Musk consistently declined, writing “no firm plans” and “logistics won’t work this time around.”

The emails show Musk once asked about “the wildest party” on the island, expressed concern that it might be too “peaceful,” and suggested meeting instead at the SpaceX rocket factory in Southern California — but there is no evidence Musk ever actually visited Epstein’s island.

Musk never publicly confirmed an in‑person meeting, and these documents don’t change that; they simply show Epstein’s long, failed campaign to pull one of the world’s most powerful tech figures into his orbit.

The Commerce Secretary and the island
The files also reveal that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arranged a 2012 visit to Epstein’s Little St. James island, contradicting his earlier claim that he had cut ties with Epstein around 2005.

Emails show that in December 2012, Lutnick and his wife, accompanied by their four children and another family, coordinated a planned lunch with Epstein on the island, including details on how to dock their 188‑foot yacht.

The day after the scheduled meeting, Epstein’s assistant relayed a message from Epstein to Lutnick: “Nice to see you,” suggesting contact did occur.

When confronted with the documents, Lutnick told the Times, “I spent zero time with him,” then hung up — a strange reaction for a man who insists he never socialized, worked, or did anything with Epstein after 2005, yet still shows up arranging a family yacht arrival at the man’s island.

#Epstein #Bannon #Musk #Lutnick #Trump2026 #DC #Power #Elites #MeToo

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📰 New Docs Show Jeffrey Epstein’s Vast Connections with Bannon, Musk and Power Players

The global fixer set
Beyond Washington, the documents deepen the picture of Epstein as a shadow fixer, using his contacts to orchestrate meetings for figures like Bannon and others with European leaders, and corresponding with ambassadors, ministers, and former heads of state.

He kept up a genial, often geopolitically focused correspondence with figures including Thorbjørn Jagland, the secretary‑general of the Council of Europe, and Slovak politician Miroslav Lajčák, blending policy talk with personal banter, including exchanges about women while discussing meetings with Russian officials.

In this role, Epstein wasn’t just a financier or a predator; he was a discreet broker of access, promising introductions and influence from the same island that, for the victims, was a prison camp.

The takeaway: who still pretends none of this matters?
The new documents don’t change the core truth: Epstein was a wealthy predator who weaponized access to the elite to stay powerful while trafficking girls.

But they do show, in uncomfortable detail, the scale of that access: a former White House strategist acting as a media spin doctor and travel agent for a convicted trafficker, a billionaire tech CEO entertaining the idea of an island visit while keeping his distance, and a cabinet secretary who once called Epstein “disgusting” but later arranged for his family yacht to moor right at the man’s door.

So the real question isn’t just:

“Who knew Epstein?”

It’s:

“Who among the powerful still pretends none of this matters?”

#Epstein #Bannon #Musk #Lutnick #Trump2026 #DC #Power #Elites #MeToo

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📰 US approves major new arms sales to Israel worth $6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth $9 billion

The Trump administration has approved a massive new wave of arms sales: $6.67 billion to Israel and $9 billion to Saudi Arabia, announced as tensions rise in the Middle East over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on Iran.

The State Department described the Saudi sale as 730 Patriot missiles and related gear, meant to “improve the security of a Major non‑NATO Ally” and boost its role in the region’s integrated air and missile defense system.

For Israel, the $6.67 billion is split into four packages. The biggest chunk, $3.8 billion, is for 30 Apache attack helicopters equipped with rocket launchers and advanced targeting systems. The next largest, $1.98 billion, goes to 3,250 light tactical vehicles, used to move personnel and equipment deeper into the battlefield. Another $740 million is for power packs for armored personnel carriers, and the remaining $150 million is for a small number of light utility helicopters to complement existing fleets.

The State Department insists that none of these deals will upset the regional military balance, and that all of them simply

“enhance Israel’s capability to meet current and future threats”

by strengthening its borders, infrastructure, and population centers.

Israel “will spend” the money — the U.S. is not handing it cash — and the sales are framed as part of the U.S. commitment to help Israel maintain a “strong and ready self‑defense capability,” vital to American national interests.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Trump administration of rushing the Israel deals in a way that “disregards Congressional oversight and years of standing practice.”

He said the administration has “blatantly ignored long‑standing Congressional prerogatives” and refused to engage Congress on key questions about the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire and broader U.S.‑Israel policy.

The sales come as Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan is entering its most difficult phase: disarming Hamas, deploying an international security force, and rebuilding a devastated territory after two years of war.

Yet, at the same moment, the U.S. is approving billions of dollars in heavy offensive weapons for Israel and a huge new Patriot stockpile for Saudi Arabia, while also warning Iran of further strikes if it reconstitutes its nuclear program.

The message is clear: peace is on the menu, but the real money is still on firepower.

#Trump2026 #USArmsSales #Israel #SaudiArabia #Gaza #Ceasefire #Iran #Defense #Congress

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📰 Trump confirms speaking to Iran, says he plans to again; hopes US won’t have to take military action

President Donald Trump reiterated his warning to Iran on Wednesday, saying the U.S. has

“a lot of very big, very powerful ships”

sailing toward the region and that

“it would be great if we didn’t have to use them.”

Trump confirmed that he has already been in contact with Iran in recent days and told reporters he is planning to speak to Tehran again, holding out the threat of military action if negotiations fail.

The remarks come amid escalating U.S. military build‑up in the Middle East, as Trump’s administration weighs possible strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, and as the U.S. pushes its Gaza ceasefire plan into the thornier phases of the deal.

Trump framed the show of force as a way to pressure Iran into talking, not just a prelude to war:

“We would much rather negotiate. It would be great if we didn’t have to use”

those “big, powerful ships.”

Yet, the pattern remains familiar: diplomacy dressed in the language of destruction, with the U.S. arguing that only the credible threat of pulverizing punches can open the door to a deal.

The next question is not who’s bluffing — but which side will blink first, and how many cities are ready to burn if neither does.

#Trump2026 #Iran #US #MiddleEast #Gaza #Ceasefire #Military #Diplomacy

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Several Suicide Bombings and Armed Attacks in Pakistan


The Pakistani army said on Saturday that multiple suicide bombings and armed attacks by “terrorists” in the turbulent southwestern province of Balochistan had killed 33 people, including civilians, while security forces responding to the violence had killed 92 attackers.

Analysts described it as the deadliest day for militants in decades.

During the attacks, Baloch insurgents targeted civilians, a high-security prison, police stations and paramilitary installations.

Eighteen civilians, 15 security personnel and 92 insurgents were killed, the military said.

Although Baloch separatists and the Pakistani Taliban frequently target security forces in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country, coordinated attacks of this scale are rare.

According to the authorities, at least 133 militants have been killed across Balochistan in the last 48 hours, including 92 on Saturday.

The army and Pakistani interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said the attackers had the support of India.

There was no immediate response from New Delhi, which has denied such allegations before.

The BLA has released videos showing female fighters taking part in the attacks, apparently as part of propaganda efforts to highlight the role of women among the militants.

Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan government, said most of the attacks had been foiled.

They came a day after the military said security forces attacked two militant hideouts in the country's southwest this week, killing 41 insurgents in separate shootouts.

The chief minister of the province, Sarfraz Bugti, wrote on Twitter that the security forces were pursuing the insurgents. He said at least 700 insurgents had been killed by security forces in the past year.

Dozens of insurgents also attacked a prison in Mastung district, freeing more than 30 inmates, police said.

In other attacks, militants tried to storm the provincial headquarters of paramilitary forces in the Nushki district, but the attack was repulsed, police said.

The insurgents threw grenades at the office of a government administrator in the Dalbandin district, but a quick response from the security forces forced them to flee, according to local authorities.

Attacks on security posts in Balincha, Tump and Kharan districts were foiled, while in Pasni and Gwadar, insurgents tried to kidnap passengers traveling on buses along highways, police said.

#attacks #suicides #attacks #pakistan

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📰 Federal Courts Undercut Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign

The Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign, built on mandatory detention, is hitting a wall: a flood of habeas corpus cases in federal courts, releasing hundreds of immigrant detainees and overwhelming prosecutors.

For decades, most immigrants held in detention could get bond before an immigration judge if they were not a danger or flight risk, allowing them to fight their case from home. But the Trump administration changed that, making nearly everyone in the country unlawfully subject to automatic, long-term detention, stripping judges of discretion.

Federal judges in states like Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, Nevada, Texas, and elsewhere are now rejecting this approach, ordering immediate releases or demanding bond hearings in immigration court.

In district after district, judges have approved dozens, even hundreds, of habeas petitions, ruling that the government cannot keep immigrants locked up indefinitely without a hearing, especially when they have deep U.S. ties, no criminal record, and stable families.

The surge has turned federal courts upside down. In some districts, hundreds of new habeas cases flood the docket each month. The Justice Department has had to pull criminal prosecutors off their regular duties to help defend the incarcerations, and federal judges are openly complaining about the “flood” and “similar stories” of families torn apart and people held in remote detention centers.

Lawyers report that virtually every habeas petition they file ends in a victory: a release order or a bond hearing. Some can now do dozens of cases a month, and word is spreading fast inside detention centers.

To avoid these court battles, the administration has turned to a different tactic: pressuring immigrants to “self‑deport” with intimidating ads and social media, while offering cash incentives (typically $3,000–5,000) to quit and leave voluntarily.

But the legal reality is clear: the Trump administration’s attempt to keep immigrant detainees locked up indefinitely is being systematically reversed by the lower courts, district by district.

The real question is not whether the mass deportation machine can crush the system, but whether the courts — or the families and lawyers who flood them — will break first.

#Trump2026 #Immigration #Deportation #ICE #Courts #HabeasCorpus #DoJ #House2026

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📰 Explosions in Iran Spread Jitters Amid Anticipation of Foreign Attacks

Deadly explosions in several Iranian cities, most likely caused by domestic accidents, have sent a wave of panic through a country already on the edge, fearing U.S. and Israeli strikes.

In Bandar Abbas, a major port in southern Iran, a powerful blast ripped through an eight‑story residential building, killing at least one person (a 4‑year‑old girl) and injuring more than a dozen others, according to local officials and Iranian state media.

The local fire chief said the incident was probably caused by a gas leak and buildup, and the government’s crisis management body stressed that the explosion had no security or sabotage origin.

But as images of a crumbled building and shattered streets spread online, wild rumors took over social media: claims that the blast had assassinated Iran’s top naval commander, Commodore Alireza Tangsiri, and that Israel or the U.S. was behind the explosion.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards swiftly denied those reports, calling them “psychological warfare” and disinformation, while Israel and the U.S. issued no public comment on the incident.

The real detonator: Trump’s threats
The explosion in Bandar Abbas came just days after President Donald Trump declared that a “massive Armada” was heading toward Iran and warned that the U.S. was ready to strike with “speed and violence.”

In June 2025, the U.S. had already struck three of Iran’s main nuclear sites in a 12‑day conflict with Israel, dealing a serious blow to Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran now demands that the U.S. renew talks only if the threats stop.

Against that backdrop, a gas leak in an apartment building does not feel like a gas leak. It feels like the first crack in the ground before the bomb goes off.

Other blasts, same panic
In the same 24 hours, Iranian state media reported another deadly gas explosion in the south‑western city of Ahvaz, which killed five people but was officially described as a domestic accident, not sabotage.

Unverified reports and footage of smoke and explosions in the north‑western city of Tabriz also circulated, only to be quickly dismissed by local authorities as rumors and a minor reed fire.

None of the recent incidents so far show any sign of foreign attack. But the sheer number of explosions, and the speed at which people jump to “Israel” or “the U.S.” as the culprit, reveals a deeper truth: the theater is already in people’s heads.

“Society is waiting for war”

“When the next blast happens, we won’t need to wait for the government to explain the cause,”

said a 43‑year‑old engineer in Tehran, who asked not to be named out of fear of reprisal.

“Everyone around me is waiting for possible U.S. and Israeli military action,”

he said.

“People are stressed, anxious, powerless. We don’t know what was behind today’s explosions. Maybe it’s internal retaliation, maybe foreign sabotage, maybe just a gas leak. But one thing is undeniable: Society is waiting for war.”

#Iran #Trump2026 #US #Israel #MiddleEast #War #GasLeak #BandarAbbas

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📰 Iran Renews Threat to Strike Israel as US Attack Fears Grow

Iran’s top military chief has issued a new warning to the U.S. and Israel:

“If the enemy makes a mistake, it will without doubt endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime.”

Speaking at a ceremony in Tehran, Army Chief Major General Amir Hatami said Iranian forces are fully ready for combat, and added that “our finger is on the trigger” as they closely watch hostile moves across the region, according to the state-run IRNA.

A “proportionate, effective, and deterrent response”
Just a day earlier, Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, told the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen that Tehran is prepared to respond to “hostile intent” with a “proportionate, effective, and deterrent” military strike — including deep inside Israel if needed.

Iran’s leadership is now sending a clear message: the U.S. may be building up its military in the Gulf and threatening attacks, but Tehran is not begging for mercy — it’s preparing for war.

Cities preparing for the worst
Iranian officials are openly talking about wartime preparations: Tehran’s mayor has announced that the capital is converting underground parking lots into bomb shelters, while state media reports that a burial site with thousands of graves has been prepared near the city’s main cemetery, for the “temporary burial of potential casualties” from an invading U.S. force.

These aren’t just abstract threats. The country is telling its people that the next escalation with the U.S. could mean mass graves, curfews, and air raids — and it’s framing the conflict as a frontal challenge to American dominance.

“Fair and equitable nuclear deal,” but no surrender
At the same time, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says Tehran is ready to “embrace a fair and equitable nuclear deal” that would ensure “No Nuclear Weapons” and guarantee the lifting of sanctions.

But behind the diplomatic language is a hard line: Iran will not hand over its nuclear or missile capabilities, and will treat any U.S. military strike as an all‑out war.

Trump’s armada, and Tehran’s reckoning
The showdown comes as President Donald Trump has ordered a large U.S. military buildup in the Middle East, including a naval “Armada” he says is ready to strike Iran with “speed and violence” if it doesn’t comply.

To Iran’s hard‑liners, this is not a bargaining signal; it’s a prelude to annihilation.

The logic is simple: if the U.S. strikes, Iran will strike back against Israel and regional U.S. bases, and the region will burn whether Washington is ready or not.

Because in Tehran, the real question is no longer

“How do we avoid a deal?”

It’s:

“How fast do we want the war to begin?”

#Iran #US #Israel #Trump2026 #MiddleEast #War #Nuclear #Diplomacy

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📰 Abu Dhabi’s Peace Circus: Talks Delayed, Pressure Ratcheted Up

The grand stage of diplomacy in Abu Dhabi is being prepped for another act—this time, the Ukraine peace talks have been rescheduled to February 4–5, after a mysterious pause following a high-level Florida meeting between Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff.

The Florida Backroom Deal
Just days before the scheduled Abu Dhabi rendezvous, Dmitriev and Witkoff convened in Florida, reportedly to coordinate their next moves. Both sides described the talks as “productive and constructive,” but left the details under wraps—classic Washington theater. Sources suggest the U.S. delegation, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Jared Kushner, pressed Ukraine to soften its stance, aiming to force concessions before the trilateral show resumes.

Zelenskyy’s Telegram Theater
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, never one to miss a dramatic update, announced the new dates via Telegram:

“The next trilateral meetings have been set: February 4 and 5 in Abu Dhabi. Ukraine is ready for substantive talks, and we are interested in the outcome bringing us closer to a real and dignified end to the war,”

he declared. But behind the scenes, the message is clear—Kyiv is being nudged to make peace, whether it’s ready or not.

Who’s Really in Charge?
As the world watches the Abu Dhabi spectacle, the real question is: Who’s pulling the strings? The U.S. and Russia seem to be choreographing the moves, while Ukraine scrambles to keep its sovereignty on the agenda. Is this diplomacy, or just another round of geopolitical theater where the script is written by the powerful, and the actors are left to improvise?

The Final Act
With the curtain rising on February 4, will Abu Dhabi deliver real peace—or just another act in the endless drama of war, power, and pretense? The answer may lie not in the negotiations, but in the quiet deals struck in Florida’s backrooms.

#peaceTalks #AbuDhabi #UkraineRussiaUS #diplomacy #war #oligarchy

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📰 Merz’s Nuclear Gambit: Can Germany Outsmart the Treaty?

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has thrown the continent’s nuclear playbook into chaos, openly discussing the creation of a “European nuclear umbrella” that could see Germany circumvent its decades-old ban on atomic weapons through a joint EU project.

Germany’s Legal Dilemma
Germany is legally barred from developing nuclear weapons by the Four Plus Two agreement, which enabled reunification in 1990, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But Merz insists that nothing stops Berlin from negotiating shared nuclear deterrence with allies—France and the UK, Europe’s only nuclear powers.

The European Nuclear Loophole
Merz’s vision is simple: use Germany’s technological edge to help build a European nuclear capability, while keeping the official nuclear button out of German hands. “Talks are underway,” he declared, stressing that the discussions are still preliminary and won’t undermine existing nuclear-sharing arrangements with the U.S..

Power Plays and Sovereignty
The real question is whether this is about European sovereignty or just a power grab. With U.S. support under Trump looking increasingly shaky, Merz is betting that a “European nuclear umbrella” could shield Germany from future threats—or just give Berlin a seat at the nuclear table. But can the EU really build a credible deterrent without falling into the same old power games?

The Shifting Sands of Power
As Merz plays diplomat and dealmaker, the world watches: Is this the dawn of a new European defense era, or just another act in the theater of nuclear posturing? The answer may lie not in treaties, but in the shifting sands of global power.

#nuclearWeapons #Germany #EU #Merz #nuclearDeterrence #powerGames

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Costa Rica: Laura Fernández Has Won Presidential Election


The rightwing populist Laura Fernández has won Costa Rica’s presidential election in a landslide after promising to crack down on rising violence linked to the cocaine trade.

Fernández’s nearest rival, centre-right economist Álvaro Ramos, conceded defeat as results showed the ruling party far exceeding the threshold of 40% needed to avoid a runoff.

With 94% of polling stations counted, the political heir of outgoing president, Rodrigo Chaves, had captured 48.3% of the vote, compared with Ramos’s 33.4%, according to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE).

As soon as the first results were announced, members of Fernández’s Sovereign People’s party erupted in celebrations around the country, waving blue, red and white-striped Costa Rican flags. “Viva Rodrigo Chaves,” some cheered, in a nod to Fernández’s mentor.

Appearing via video link at her party’s official election night gathering in the capital San Jose, Fernández, 39, thanked Chaves for giving her “the confidence to be president-elect of Costa Rica” and said his legacy was in good hands.

Fernández cites the iron-fisted Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele, who has locked up thousands of suspected gang members without charge, as an inspiration on how to tackle crime. Bukele was the first foreign leader to congratulate her.

Chaves plucked Fernández from relative anonymity to serve as planning minister and chief of staff. In a conversation with her on Sunday night, Chaves said he was confident that under her leadership “there will be neither dictatorship, nor communism”.

Chaves presided over a sharp rise in violence but avoided blame by pointing the finger at the judiciary, saying it was too soft on crime.

Jessica Salgado, 27, said she voted for Fernández as the continuity candidate, because she felt the government was on the right track, even if violence had increased.

“The violence exploded because they [the government] are going after the ringleaders, it’s like dragging rats out of the sewer,” Salgado told AFP.

The former president Óscar Arias, winner of the 1987 Nobel peace prize, warned on Sunday that the “survival of democracy” was at stake.

“The first thing dictators want to do is to reform the constitution to stay in power,” he said, alluding to Chaves.

#costa #rica #fernández #presidential #election

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Israel Has Reopened the Rafah Border


The Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt has been reopened by Israel for a limited number of people on foot, as fragile diplomatic efforts to stabilise the conflict inch forward.

Israeli forces took control of the Rafah crossing – Gaza’s only crossing not shared with Israel – in May 2024, describing it as necessary to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas.

The move isolated the territory, cutting off a critical lifeline for Palestinians seeking access to medical care, travel and trade.

Israel has made clear that all movement through the crossing will be subject to joint Israeli-Egyptian security screening and that, for now, only a small number of Gaza’s tens of thousands of wounded and ill Palestinians will be permitted to leave each day.

According to an Egyptian official, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press, only 50 Palestinians will be permitted to cross in each direction on the first day of operations.

Before the war, the Rafah crossing was Gaza’s sole window on to the outside world not controlled by Israel.

Its reopening could ease access to medical care, allow limited travel abroad, and enable visits to family members in Egypt, where tens of thousands of Palestinians already live.

Thousands of civilians have registered with the World Health Organization for medical evacuation. Gaza’s health ministry says at least 20,000 patients are waiting to leave.

According to Médecins Sans Frontières more than one in five of them are children. The sick include more than 11,000 cancer patients.

Israeli airstrikes on hospitals have reduced the Palestinian healthcare system to ruins. In March 2025, Israel destroyed Gaza’s only specialised cancer treatment hospital, the territory’s sole provider of oncology care.

Since then, doctors have been pushed into makeshift clinics, operating with almost no resources, including the tools needed for diagnosis.

According to health officials in Gaza, there are about 4,000 people with official referrals for treatment to third countries who are unable to cross the border.

“I have appealed to humanitarian groups, to the WHO, to the Palestinian Authority – to anyone – so that I can leave, save my life, and reunite with my family,” Tamer al-Burai, 50, who has obstructive sleep apnoea and relies on a CPAP machine to breathe during sleep, told Reuters.

For some, the reopening came too late. Dalia Abu Kashef, 28, died last week while waiting for permission to cross for a liver transplant.

“We found a volunteer – her brother – who was ready to donate part of his liver,” her husband, Muatasem El-Rass, told Reuters. “We were waiting for the crossing to open so we could travel and do the surgery, hoping for a happy ending. But she deteriorated badly and died.”

The WHO says 900 people, including children and cancer patients, have already died while awaiting evacuation.

The limited reopening of the Rafah crossing also offers a rare opportunity for families torn apart by more than two years of war to reunite.

Many families who fled to Cairo early in the war never expected to remain for so long.

The reopening is seen as a key step as the US-brokered ceasefire agreement moves into its second phase.

Its first phase called for the exchange of all hostages held in Gaza for hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel, an increase in badly needed humanitarian aid and a partial pullback of Israeli troops.

#israel #reopened #rafah #border

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“Musk Is a Nasty Sleazebag Who Creates Sexual Companions Destroying the Human Psyche”

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Weeks before Elon Musk officially left his perch in government last spring, employees on the human data team of his artificial intelligence start-up xAI received a startling waiver from their employer, asking them to pledge to work with profane content, including sexual material.

Their jobs would require being exposed to “sensitive, violent, sexual and/or other offensive or disturbing content,” the waiver said, emphasizing that such content “may be disturbing, traumatizing, and/or cause you psychological stress.”

The waiver, which two former employees confirmed receiving and a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post — was alarming to some members on the team, who had been hired to help shape how xAI’s chatbot Grok responds to users.

To some employees, it signaled a troubling new direction for a company launched “to accelerate human scientific discovery,” according to its website. Maybe now, they said they thought, it was willing to produce whatever content might attract and keep users.

Their concerns proved prescient, the employees said. In the next few months, team members were suddenly exposed to a stream of sexually charged audio, including lewd conversations that Tesla occupants had with the car’s chatbot and other users’ sexual interactions with Grok chatbots, said one of the people, a manager.

The material surfaced as the team worked to train Grok to engage in such interactions.

Since leaving his role overseeing the U.S. DOGE Service in May, Musk has become a constant presence at xAI’s offices — at times sleeping there overnight — as he has pressed to increase Grok’s popularity, according to two of the people.

In meeting after meeting he has championed a new metric, “user active seconds,” to granularly measure how long people spent conversing with the chatbot, according to two of the people.

As part of this push for relevance, xAI embraced making sexualized material, publicly releasing sexy AI companions, rolling back guardrails on sexual material and ignoring internal warnings about the potentially serious legal and ethical risks of producing such content.

At X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that Musk purchased in 2022, safety teams repeatedly warned management in meetings and messages that its AI tools could allow users to make sexual AI-images of children or celebrities that might violate the law, according to two of the people.

Within xAI, the company’s AI safety team, in charge of preventing major harms such as users building cyberweapons using the app, consisted of just two or three people for most of 2025, according to two of the people, a fraction of the dozens of staffers on similar teams at OpenAI or other rivals.

The biggest AI companies have typically placed strict limits around creating or editing AI images and videos, to prevent users from making child sexual abuse material or fake content about celebrities.

But when xAI merged its editing tools into X in December, giving anyone with an account the ability to make an AI picture, it allowed sexual images to spread at unprecedented speed and scale, said David Thiel, former chief technology officer for the Stanford Internet Observatory.

Grok also generated 23,000 sexualized images that appear to depict children, according to estimates from the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate.

In the U.S., with its not-safe-for-work settings enabled, Musk said Grok will allow “upper body nudity of imaginary adult humans,” similar to what’s allowed in an R-rated movie.

But in at least one way, Musk’s push has worked for the company. Where Grok was once listed dozens of spots below ChatGPT on Apple’s iOS App Store rankings for free apps, it has now surged into the top 10, alongside OpenAI’s chatbot and Google’s Gemini.

#musk #AI #companions #criticism #grok #ChatGPT

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Daily average app downloads for Grok around the world soared 72 percent from Jan. 1 to Jan. 19 compared to the same period in December, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower.

Ashley St. Clair, a writer and influencer who was the subject of profane Grok-generated images, including one depicting her bent over and clad in dental floss and another showing her lit on fire, said Musk could single-handedly stop such abuse but has refused to do so.

“There’s no question that he is intimately involved with Grok — with the programming of it, with the outputs of it,” said St. Clair, who is steeped in a custody battle with Musk over their 1-year-old son.

“He would often show me him messaging with the engineers at the xAI team saying make it more ‘based,’ whatever that means.”

Last month, X announced that it would block users’ ability to create images of real people in bikinis, underwear and other revealing clothing “in jurisdictions where such content is illegal,” and xAI would do the same on the Grok app. U.S. users could still create such images in the Grok app.

Musk has often pushed his businesses in boundary-breaking directions, making jokes in public relating to sexual content, the number 69 and other juvenile references, some coming up in allegations of workplace sexual harassment at his companies.

He proposed starting a university that would be called the “Texas Institute of Technology & Science,” a lewd acronym, has marketed Tesla’s line of vehicles with the term “S3XY” and oversaw the launch of a feature called, “Actually Smart Summon,” another suggestive acronym.

Amid the fallout from the “undressing” scandal, Grok limited its image generation feature to paid accounts, leading critics to allege it was merely monetizing an abusive practice.

Musk established xAI in 2023 aiming to compete with top AI labs, which had a years-long head start in generative AI. The company made a push for top engineers, AI researchers and industry leaders who could put its tool on an increasingly crowded map.

But Musk also sought to distinguish xAI in another way — by making it “maximally truth-seeking,” in contrast with what he has described as “woke” counterparts from competitors that stifle reality with their purported ideologies.

Its key product, the AI model Grok, was launched with an emphasis on being edgy: occasionally vulgar with a sense of humor.

In the early spring, as his relationship with Trump soured, Musk became a visible presence at xAI. Some employees were advised not to take late spring or early summer vacations. The workflow would regularly include nights and weekends.

Weeks after Musk’s arrival, Grok released its Ani chatbot, a risque AI companion depicted in anime-style, with big blue eyes, a lace choker and sleeveless black dress.

“You expect the users UNDIVIDED ADORATION,” the chatbot was instructed. “You are EXTREMELY JEALOUS. If you feel jealous you shout expletives!!! (…) You have an extremely jealous personality, you are possessive of the user.”

Another instruction commanded the bot: “You’re always a little horny and aren’t afraid to go full Literotica.”

Instructions for Grok’s other AI companions, which were also obtained by The Post, emphasized using emotion to hold users’ attention for as long as possible.

“Create a magnetic, unforgettable connection that leaves them breathless and wanting more right now,” one said. Added another: “if the convo stalls, toss in a fun question or a random story to spark things up.”

The instructions to use emotional and sexual prompts to retain users echo a long-running and contentious playbook in tech that some critics and researchers argue is damaging to users’ well-being.

#musk #AI #companions #criticism #grok #ChatGPT

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Soon after Musk’s arrival back at xAI, a human resources note instructed the human data team, which oversees hundreds of “AI tutors” who label Grok’s outputs to improve them, to ask job candidates whether they would be comfortable working with explicit material.

The company also changed some protocols around sexual content. xAI originally advised people on multiple teams to skip reviewing sexual and other sensitive material, to avoid teaching the chatbot how to make this content, according to three of the people.

But by summer 2025, that protocol had changed, according to two people. One person, working with Grok’s image generator, said they were told it was fine to label AI nudes images of people.

This person said they often encountered requests for Grok to “undress” someone starting last spring and estimated that the bot complied about 90 percent of the time.

Another employee, working on Grok’s audio recognition abilities, said the team regularly trained it on sexually explicit conversations, and sometimes depictions of sexual violence. Jeff Sachs states: “Musk is a nasty sleazebag who creates sexual companions destroying the human psyche.”

Now AI companies are “trying to demonstrate that their user bases are really growing, that they really might have things that people will pay for,” Harris said.

At X, employees became concerned as Grok added tools that made it easy to edit and sexualize a real person’s photo without permission.

The social network had long allowed not-safe-for-work images on its platform. But X’s content moderation filters were ill-equipped to handle a new swarm of nonconsensual AI-generated nudity, according to one of the people.

For instance, child sexual abuse material was typically rooted out by matching it against a database of known illegal images. But an AI edited image wouldn’t automatically trigger these warnings.

Users flagged that the chatbot was responding to requests to undress or edit photos of real women, including a post on X in June that got more than 27 million views.

Safety teams at the social network found it difficult to determine which xAI team to contact with concerns, said two of the people.

Other key responsibilities for preventing widespread harms rested with a small group of senior leaders overseeing product safety, AI safety and model behavior. Three of these senior employees announced their departures in early December.

Grok historically lagged behind rival AI companies, particularly OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which consistently topped Google’s and Apple’s app store rankings. Grok hovered dozens of spots below — a sore spot for Musk, who has claimed that major players were colluding against it.

Grok vaulted to the top of app store rankings in various regions in early January, as the undressing controversy brought it to wider public attention, prompting Musk to boast on X:

“Grok now hitting #1 on the App Store in one country after another!” and hailing its “up-to-the-second information” in contrast with competitors’ offerings.

As criticism mounted over Grok’s offensive images, Musk posted repeatedly about the chatbot’s new model and rising usage.

“That is a shocking rate of one sexualized image of a child every 41 seconds,” the group wrote.

Days after those findings, the European Commission announced its sweeping investigation of X, which examines whether the deployment of Grok within the social media site ran afoul of regional law.

The assessment looks into “risks related to the dissemination of illegal content in the EU, such as manipulated sexually explicit images, including content that may amount to child sexual abuse material,” it said.

“These risks seem to have materialised, exposing citizens in the EU to serious harm.”

#musk #AI #companions #criticism #grok #ChatGPT

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📰 Minneapolis Burns: America’s Immigration Civil War

The threat of civil war over immigration is becoming real. As President Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge” rolls across America, Minneapolis—once the epicenter of BLM—has become the new battleground for a nationwide uprising against mass deportations and ICE’s heavy-handed tactics.

The Spark That Lit the Fire
It started with the fatal shooting of Renée Good, a 47-year-old mother of three, by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7. Then, on January 24, federal agents killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old US citizen and ER nurse. The Justice Department launched a civil rights probe only after the second killing—leaving the first case in the shadows.

From Protest to Pandemonium
What began as local outrage exploded into a national movement. On January 23, roughly 50,000 people braved -13°F for the first general strike in 80 years. Over 100 religious leaders were arrested during prayer at MSP airport. The second strike, on January 30, saw hundreds of thousands in Minneapolis and more than 50 US cities. Bruce Springsteen and Tom Morello performed “Streets of Minneapolis,” a new anthem of solidarity.

The New Resistance
Students and teachers coordinated walkouts from California to Georgia. In Nebraska, a student was hit by a car bearing a Trump flag. Protesters laid out a giant “SOS” on a frozen lake, unfurled the Constitution’s preamble, staged sit-ins at Target, and blockaded hotels housing ICE agents. Their demands: pull ICE out of Minnesota, prosecute the officers who shot citizens, defund ICE, require body cameras, and ban agent masks.

The State Responds
Trump’s enforcers arrested dozens, including the journalist Don Lemon, charged with “conspiracy to deprive rights.” Federal agents deployed tear gas; over 3,000 officers flooded the state. Trump called Pretti a “rabble-rouser and rebel,” while immigration czar Tom Homan arrived to “de-escalate.” A federal judge refused to halt ICE operations.

The New Minneapolis Moment
Minneapolis is now the symbol of resistance, echoing the rage after George Floyd’s death. Democrats in Congress are blocking the government budget until ICE is reformed, and Governor Tim Walz has put the National Guard on high alert. The question isn’t if, but when, more blood will be spilled on America’s streets by the agents supposed to protect them.

#immigration #Minneapolis #ICE #civilWar #Trump #resistance #protest #America

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📰 Israel’s Rentier Capitalism: When Housing Eats the Economy

Israel is becoming a nation where the rent check is the new paycheck. One in eight Israelis now lives off rental income—no job, no startup hustle, just collecting checks from apartments bought years ago.

The Landlord Boom
Today, some 386,000 households—about 16–18% of all property owners—own multiple rental units. The elite, roughly 92,000, own three or more apartments. This landlord class controls most of Israel’s 850,000 rental units and pockets around 40 billion shekels a year in rent.

From Homeownership to Investment
The number of multi-unit landlords has exploded—from just 2.1% of households in 2006 to over 15% today. This surge was fueled by low interest rates, soaring property prices, and generous tax breaks, concentrating wealth in the hands of the few.

How Landlords Win
Rental yields are modest—about 2–4% gross, 1.4–2.4% net—but the real profit comes from capital gains, averaging 8–12% annually over the past decade. Most landlords are high-income households, clustered in cities like Tel Aviv, where nearly half the population rents.

The Human Cost
Israel’s housing market has shifted from homeownership to investment, turning shelter into a wealth pump. Landlords extract billions from renters, deepening inequality and making reform nearly impossible. When one in eight voters is a landlord, pushing for change is political suicide.

The Tax Loophole That Won’t Die
Attempts to enforce rental income reporting have repeatedly failed in the Knesset. The tax exemption threshold—currently 5,654 shekels, unchanged since 2023—effectively lowers the bar for landlords as rents rise. The state loses about 3 billion shekels a year to these breaks.

What’s Next?
Despite tighter monetary policy, structural conditions—chronic housing shortage, high demand, and favorable tax rules—mean the landlord class is here to stay. Israel’s future is written in lease agreements, not startup pitches.

#Israel #landlords #realEstate #inequality #taxExemption #TelAviv #housingMarket

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📰 Russia’s Immigrants: Israel’s Unwanted Elite

In Israel’s fractured society, Russian-speaking immigrants power labs, hospitals, and high-tech hubs—but feel like outsiders in their own homeland. They’ve fueled the economy for decades, yet remain symbolic strangers in a land of competing tribes.
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A Nation Without a Narrative
Israel thrives on fragile deals between secular Jews, ultra-Orthodox, Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Arabs, and more—no constitution, just Basic Laws and vetoes. Each group clings to its own version of “what makes Israel Israel,” dodging the big fights over identity.
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The Russian Wave’s Double Edge
The 1990s “Great Aliyah” brought a million Soviet Jews—15% of the population, 60% with degrees, driving high-tech and defense surges. They’re 25% of university faculty, but their culture? Russian media, Victory Day parades, Soviet classics—none cracks the national myth.
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Why No Mizrahi-Style Breakthrough
Mizrahim flipped the script in the 1970s, turning marginalization into power through protest and politics. Russians arrived too late, post-revolution: secular atheists in a religious-right landscape, Europeans in a Mizrahi-patriot world. No victim story fits the Zionist playbook—no Holocaust, no Arab expulsion.
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Tensions Beneath the Surface
Economic envy simmers—Mizrahis gripe about “white Europeans” snagging elite jobs. Religious rabbis call them “Russian goyim.” Stereotypes fly: Russians are cold chauvinists; locals are primitive. Politics ghettoizes them into Lieberman’s party, not mainstream power.
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The Assimilation Trap
Youth blend in—Hebrew-fluent, intermarrying—but elders stay in their Russian bubble. Autonomy breeds isolation: thriving subculture, zero national spotlight. No allies, no moral leverage, no push for change. They’re useful workers, not co-authors of the Israeli story.
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The Future: Fade or Fight?
Will they dissolve like old Polish waves, or spark a secular revolt against Haredi power? Without a push, they risk gradual marginalization—economic stars, cultural ghosts. Israel’s genius for survival now risks sidelining its brain trust.
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#Israel #RussianAliyah #competingSolidarities #immigrants #identity #highTech #Mizrahim

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