The Turkish arrest warrant accuses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of 'crimes against humanity, genocide, aggravated deprivation of liberty,' and 'torture,' linked to Israel's treatment of activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla.

Imagine all that effort put into catching someone smashing a stupid camera, it could've been used on a pedophile or something.

You've been warned, they're high on the lookout for Flock vandals now.

Washington (United States) (AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Friday allowed construction of a massive White House ballroom to continue for now, giving President Donald Trump a temporary victory for one of his pet renovation projects.

Chief Justice John Roberts temporarily lifted a lower court ruling that had demanded a halt to the building of the controversial ballroom by midnight on Friday.

Roberts's one-sentence order means that work on the ballroom, which has been challenged by historical preservation groups, may proceed while litigation plays out in the lower courts.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, said he was "grateful" for the Supreme Court decision.

"The Military/Ballroom Complex being built on the hallowed grounds of the White House, which is so vital for National Security, will be the greatest of its kind!" he said. "Construction is under budget and ahead of schedule."

The Trump administration asked the conservative-dominated Supreme Court last week to allow it to finish building the ballroom and an underground bunker at the White House, saying the project was essential for national security.

Trump ordered the demolition of the entire historic East Wing of the White House last year -- without input from Congress -- to make way for his long-desired ballroom, but the project was quickly challenged in court.

A district court ordered a halt to work on the aboveground ballroom while allowing construction of the underground military bunker to proceed, but that order had been stayed while on appeal.

The appellate court recently upheld the lower court's order, agreeing that such a sweeping White House overhaul required the explicit consent of Congress, but gave the administration time to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Trump initially touted the construction of the ballroom as being necessary to host galas and state dinners, but has since repeatedly emphasized the addition of a sophisticated underground military bunker and other security features.

...

Australia is tilting perilously towards a police state with yet another government overreach – the ASIO Amendment Bill 2. The major parties ganged up, stifled debate. No committee, no community consultation. They ‘guillotined’ it through Parliament. 

Now the spy agency has powers to arrest citizens without a warrant, on the say of a politician, detain and question them. And you can’t tell anybody, or else face jail. #auspol #asio

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/74339540

Imagine all that effort put into catching someone smashing a stupid camera, it could've been used on a pedophile or something.

You've been warned, they're high on the lookout for Flock vandals now.

Still under fire for attacking the Roadless Area Conservation Rule this week, President Donald Trump's administration provoked a fresh wave of criticism on Friday by targeting another policy meant to protect public lands.

The US Forest Service announced Friday that it was moving forward with a proposed revision to the Travel Management Rule that "simplifies the regulatory requirements to enhance quicker local decision-making and increase access, including for motorized vehicles, e-bikes, and other mobility devices."

While leaders at the Forest Service and its parent agency, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), framed the pending changes as progress, Defenders of Wildlife called out the administration for trying to "gut" the rule managing off-road vehicles.

"The USDA's announcement to gut the Travel Management Rule and the roadless rule in the same week is a one-two punch that together deals a tremendous blow to wildlife," said Vera Smith, who directs the advocacy group's national forests and public lands program, in a statement.

"The Travel Management Rule states simply that motorized vehicles must stay on routes and areas designated locally for that use," Smith said. "The Forest Service issued the rule over 20 years ago to curb damage from unmanaged recreation, reduce user conflict, and protect public safety. Rescinding it now is irresponsible and reckless."

Hilary Eisen, federal policy director at the organization Wild Montana, was similarly critical, explaining that "the Travel Management Rule is why dirt bikers and snowmobilers can share national forest lands with hikers and backcountry skiers without conflict. It's why our national forests provide habitat to support thriving wildlife populations. It is built on local decision-making, with a designation process that ensures that no user group gets steamrolled and all our national forest values are protected."

"Just two days after doubling down on repealing the roadless rule, this announcement makes the administration's plan obvious: Gut the rules that require the Forest Service to carefully manage our natural resources and listen to the public, then open the gates to industry and extraction," Eisen warned.

"Forest Service leadership has already shown during the roadless rescission how much it values public input, science, and expert management: not at all," she added. "Agency leadership has lost the public's trust, and should expect the public to hold them accountable."

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins confirmed Tuesday that the administration was working to fully rescind the 2001 roadless rule that blocked road building and commercial logging on about 30% of all national forest land. She attempted to frame it as a move to prevent wildfires, but conservation groups contested her claims.

Josh Hicks, director of conservation campaigns at the Wilderness Society, declared that "opening our backcountry forests to more roads and development, and therefore more ignitions, is... not a wildfire solution, and never will be."

Criticism of that pending rollback had continued throughout the week, with the Wilderness Society's senior director of native lands partnerships, Starlyn Miller, calling out the administration's "failure to engage in meaningful government-to-government consultation with tribal nations," which she said "undermines tribal sovereignty and federal trust responsibilities."

"This failure disregards tribes' deep cultural, historical, and ongoing connections to these roadless lands and the clean water and wildlife they sustain," said Miller, a Little Shell Chippewa citizen who is of Menominee and Mohican descendant. "We stand with tribal nations and Indigenous communities in defending their freedom to shape and manage forests that are vital to their cultures, identities, and future generations."

National Congress of American Indians executive director Larry Wright Jr. also spoke out on Friday, saying that "tribal nations possess an inherent and legally recognized relationship with these lands, which remain the foundation of our cultural identities. Attempting to fast-track the removal of the roadless rule circumvents the mandatory government-to-government consultation process required by federal law."

Wright, who is from the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska, added that "upholding the federal trust responsibility means honoring our treaty rights and ensuring that the protection of sacred sites is recognized as an uncompromisable legal obligation, not an afterthought."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Why did Constantinople get the works?

Three intelligence veterans say the agency’s dismantling of LGBTQ+ programs threatens national security and reverses decades of hard-won progress.

Iran called the fresh threats of economic and diplomatic warfare issued by President Donald Trump “economic terrorism” and an indication of the “anti-human, lawless and hegemonic nature of” the US government.

The statement, issued by Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday, August 20, claimed that the US economic sanctions “target the fundamental human rights of every Iranian citizen, constitute ‘economic terrorism’ and ‘crimes against humanity’ and those who order and implement these sanctions deserve to be tried and punished for such heinous crimes.”

Trump, in a social media post on Wednesday, had announced an “economic d-day” against Iran, claiming to launch the “most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.”

The measures, which came after the US failed to put military pressure on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, shut after the US-Israeli military aggression against the country called for “economic warfare and isolation” against it.

Read more: Strait of Hormuz will remain shut, says Iran, as US threatens intensified economic warfare

Trump asked all allies in the region and countries across the world to “stand with the US to isolate, and defeat the Iran threat.”

“Any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face tremendous economic consequences,” Trump said in his post.

Later on Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent commanded all countries to cut “all remaining ties with Tehran” or face their own “economic oblivion.”

Though Trump claimed the objective behind his “economic measures” was to make Iran give up its nuclear program, it is widely considered that the real objective behind the present escalation was to force Iran to give up its control over the Strait of Hormuz.

Later on Thursday, the US re-designated Lebanese resistance force Hezbollah as an “Iranian proxy” and imposed fresh sanctions against some of its leadership and other individuals.

Attempts to hide military defeat

The Iranian Foreign Ministry statement noted that this campaign of economic warfare was deployed by the US after it failed to achieve any of its objectives during its military aggression against Iran in the last year and a half.

It claimed these sanctions and economic embargoes announced by the US will merely add to the long list of its crimes against the Iranian people over the last 73 years, since the CIA-sponsored coup against Mohammad Mossadegh on August 19, 1953.

Calling the act a failed policy, the Iranian Foreign Ministry claimed that they will fail again and will not have the slightest effect on the determination of the Iranians to safeguard their country’s independence, dignity, and national sovereignty.

Iran has been subjected to various kinds of unilateral and international sanctions for decades over its nuclear program. Trump, during his first term, had unilaterally withdrawn from the UN backed nuclear deal and re-imposed sanctions against Iran, calling it a “maximum pressure campaign.”

These sanctions, still in effect after eight years, despite their massive impact on Iran’s economy, have failed to achieve its stated political goal of forcing Iran to give up nuclear enrichment.

On Thursday, Iran asked the UN and other countries to stand up to Washington’s “pathological addiction” to use military aggression and unilateral sanctions as it has placed “global peace and security under an objective threat” and caused a tremendous loss of credibility for international laws and institutions.

Economic terrorism

Treasury Secretary Bessent had hinted about the economic warfare against Iran last week, after claiming the US has complete control over the Strait of Hormuz and the flow of oil through it has almost reached pre-war levels.

However, independent observers had questioned his claims citing ship traffic data. The oil prices have since been rising, reaching above $90 BPD for the first time in a month, revealing the dwindling international supplies and putting Bessent’s claims under fresh scrutiny.

Observers have claimed that the US has already started pressuring its allies in the region to impose an economic blockade on Iran after the UAE became the first country to do so on Tuesday.

Since Tuesday, various other countries in the region, such as Egypt and Qatar, both close US allies, have given statements asking Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Reacting to the US threats of economic warfare, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that the sanctions were “bound to fail.”

14 years ago: “Most crippling sanctions in history.” Failed.

8 years ago: “Maximum pressure.” Failed.

5 months ago: “Unconditional surrender.” Failed.

Today: “Most crushing economic operation ever.” Bound to fail.

We have seen this movie before. Same bull. Different bullies. pic.twitter.com/CNMSopprV5

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) August 21, 2026

The Iranian foreign minister also called it an attempt to divert the US public’s attention away from Trump’s economic failures on the domestic front and cited reports of an unprecedented rise in the national debt and interest costs.

Araghchi asked the Trump administration to learn from its military failures in Iran and warned that “doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat-and enmity of Iranians.” He also claimed that “economic terrorism” against Iran will also threaten the global economy.

From BT News via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/9351458

There are way better books out there

Prince Harry and six other well-known figures were ordered on Friday to make the payment to the publisher of the 'Daily Mail' within a week after they lost their privacy case against the British tabloid.

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