Currently Online 
Leader of pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University detained for three weeks
Mahmoud Khalil has been held here now for about three weeks, and he has not been charged. Typically, that would be illegal in the United States, but when you’re in the immigration deportation system, where Khalil finds himself now, this is technically considered to be an administrative detention.
He has found himself plugged into a private prison system here in Louisiana which only runs prisons in very remote rural areas. We are thousands of kilometres from where Khalil was arrested in New York City, and his lawyer says this was partially by design in order to isolate him from his community of supporters and from his attorneys.
This centre is run by the GEO Group private prison company, which has been accused of a series of allegations by the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] and other human rights groups over poor conditions and even what they call “widespread abuse” of prisoners. We spoke to one former detainee held here two years ago who accused the facility of sexual abuse and torture.
Khalil is actually fighting two separate cases. One is to avoid deportation. He is a US permanent resident, and he’s scheduled to speak to an immigration attorney here in this detention facility in about a week. But the rejection rate of those appeals is about 90 percent.
But Khalil is also trying to fight a civil rights case against the federal government, saying that his detention here in the first place was unconstitutional, and a judge is deciding where to hear that case – whether it’s here in Louisiana, where the Trump administration wants it, or in New Jersey, closer to Khalil’s home.
And he’s not the only international activist who has been sent to Louisiana over their stance on Israel’s war on Gaza. There are at least two others as well.
Trump nominee would push UK to lift suspensions on arms to Israel
Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to London says he would ask the United Kingdom to reverse a partial suspension of arms exports to Israel, a decision taken over rights concerns.
Warren Stephens, an Arkansas-based investment banker and Trump political donor nominated for the coveted diplomatic posting, said he was “a little perplexed” by the decision of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“What I’ve read about that, with the UK halting some of their shipments to Israel, is certainly concerning,” Stephens said at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“I would do my part to encourage them to reinstate those permits and to try to get them, you know, what they need to continue the fight,” he said.
He was responding to a question from Republican Senator Rick Scott, who said Starmer’s Labour Party “treats Israel as a problem and not a solution” and called on Stephens to “try to educate” Britain on Israel.
Starmer announced in September that the UK would suspend 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel out of fear the weapons could be used in breach of humanitarian law as Israel pounded Gaza.
But some campaigners said the move did not go far enough, particularly because components for F-35 fighter jets could still be supplied to Israel.
Brits got to get back in line, full on genocidal colonialism is the solution...
Delusional
White House says Yemen strikes ‘incredibly successful’ as Houthis release footage of downed US drone
The Houthis claim to have shot the MQ-9 Reaper drone down on Monday over Marib and released footage today showing burning debris, followed by fighters combing through the wreckage.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the US strikes on the Houthis have been “incredibly successful”.
“There have now been more than 200 successful strikes,” Leavitt said. “Iran is incredibly weakened as a result. They’ve taken out Houthi leaders, critical members who have been launching strikes on naval ships and commercial vessels. This operation will not stop until the freedom of navigation in this region is restored.”
The Houthis have yet to confirm the death of any of their leaders since the US renewed its bombing campaign in March.
The US propaganda machine is trying to out do Russia's...
Israel eliminates tariffs on US goods: Prime minister’s office
The announcement comes after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had said earlier on Tuesday that Israel had launched a process to eliminate the remaining tariffs on US imports immediately.
US President Donald Trump is expected to implement blanket reciprocal tariffs on nations across the globe on Wednesday. For more on the tariffs and developments in the US, you can follow our live page here.
Israel is the 51st state, not Canada.
Essay Pro