The US State Department announced today, as it threatened earlier this month, a new round of sanctions against Iran, claiming it was the result of “nuclear escalations.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran announced expansions that had “no credible peaceful purpose.”

Iran has increased uranium enrichment up to 60%, which still falls far short of the 90-95% generally recognized as weapons-grade.

despite reports from the US Director of National Intelligence that Iran is not seeking nuclear weapons at all.

https://archive.ph/mjwc7

This shit is so crazy. A bit of an old news but I don't know if people outside of India caught wind of this.

The National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body under India’s Ministry of Education that is responsible for holding the nationwide examinations, is at the centre of these controversies over the integrity of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), a national exam for medical aspirants held last month.

There are two NEET exams, one for undergrad and one for postgrad. The former was held but the results have been scrapped. The latter has been postponed. The postponement was announced the night before the exam.

The scale of foul play is something that I have not been able to wrap my head around mostly because I have not read the news articles about this recently. There were reports of some participants getting marks that were mathematically impossible and shit like that.

"Autonomous bodies" have become an extension of the ruling party. For example, BJP uses the Election Commision to arrest opposition leaders and freeze the funds of opposition parties. I wouldn't be surprised if the NTA was chock full of deadbeat BJP lackeys. Truly a terrible time to be an Indian right now.

“The country is facing an attempted coup d’etat. Here we are, firm in Casa Grande, to confront any coup attempt. We need the Bolivian people to organise,” Arce said in a video, surrounded by ministers in the palace.

The scenes have brought alarm to the Andean nation, where former left-wing President Morales, from the same party as Arce, was removed from office in events many described as a coup in 2019.

“We express the strongest condemnation of the attempted coup d’etat in Bolivia,” Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said.

Edit: The coup attempt apparently failed and the article has been updated

La Paz, June 26 (RHC)-- The president of Bolivia, Luis Arce Catacora, denounced this Wednesday irregular mobilizations of Bolivian military units.

Through social network X, the head of state stated: "We denounce irregular mobilizations of some units of the Bolivian Army. Democracy must be respected!"

Bolivia was the scene of a coup d'état in November 2019. It was organized by the United States and the local right with the complicity of the Organization of American States (OAS).

In an interview broadcast by the Turkish news channel, Haberturk, on Monday, Turkiye’s Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, revealed that Ankara has received intelligence reports further indicating that Greek Cyprus is assisting Israel and its Western allies by serving as a base for their operations.

“We constantly see in intelligence that the Greek Cypriot Administration of Southern Cyprus is a base for certain countries in operations targeting Gaza,” Fidan said. “When we brought this to the agenda, our European counterparts suddenly declared it a logistics base.”

The Foreign Minister said that labelling Cyprus a “logistics hub” was only an attempt to veil military operations, and insisted that its military purpose will neither benefit the southern side of the island nor Greece. “The regional actors need to see this. There is serious militarisation there,” Fidan stressed. “It needs to be prevented.”

Protesters in the French Pacific territory burned police vehicles and blocked roads overnight on Sunday after activist Christian Tein and six others were taken to France

Last week, Orano said it had been excluded from the Imouraren mine in northern Niger, in a move that has highlighted tensions between France and Niger's military rulers.

The junta-led government had not reacted before releasing a statement on Monday saying the Imouraren mine had returned "to the public domain of the state".

US President Joe Biden designated Kenya as a "major non-NATO ally" on Monday, making it the first sub-Saharan African nation to receive the designation.

The move comes as Washington seeks to push back against growing Russian and Chinese influence in the region.

Biden then pointed to Nairobi's assistance with the US's national security priorities, including efforts to defeat the Daesh/ISIS terror group as well as al-Shabab in East Africa, what Biden described as "mutual support" for Ukraine and ongoing efforts to deploy a Kenyan security force in the instability-wracked Caribbean island nation of Haiti.

JUST ONE MORE PACKAGE BRO

I SWEAR BRO JUST ONE MORE, I SWEAR

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/98778

JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE

Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.

This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations. This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.

After more than five years in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.

WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles,and for the people's right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.

Julian's freedom is our freedom.

[More details to follow]