Iran Issues Airspace Warning
Iran has issued a notice to pilots and aviation authorities to avoid its airspace as the government threatens to strike Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing sources.
The notification follows US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s warning on Sunday to the Group of Seven foreign ministers that Tehran could attack Israel within 24 to 48 hours, according to two diplomats briefed on the call. Blinken didn’t say what form an attack could take.
According to the report, the notification from Tehran about its airspace, which happened at 7:45 a.m. CET, is typically used by aviation authorities to provide essential real-time information to pilots that wasn’t known in advance.
It is essentially a stay-away message to commercial and civilian aviation without any indication of what may follow, the WSJ wrote.
Israel is currently bracing for an attack by Iran, which Iranian officials have vowed to launch in retaliation for Israel’s alleged assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.
West Jerusalem has neither confirmed nor denied involvement but said it is prepared to defend against and respond to any retaliatory strike. Washington has said it would help defend the Jewish state.
READ MORE: Israel mulling ‘preemptive strike’ on Iran – media
US officials have reportedly been working with their international partners to try to contain growing tensions in the Middle East.
According to a diplomat briefed by the WSJ on Sunday’s G7 call, Blinken told his counterparts that if Iran’s retaliation against Israel is of a similar scale to April’s attack, it could close off any future engagement between Iran and the US.
In April, Iran fired hundreds of missiles and drones at Israel in response to the Israeli bombing of its consulate in Syria. The barrage was mostly countered by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense systems, but a number of missiles reached their targets, dealing what Israel said was minimal damage to military installations.
On Monday, Israeli media reported that West Jerusalem could launch a “preemptive strike” on Iran if it receives intelligence that Tehran is certain to stage a revenge attack.
‘Kamala Crash’: Trump Blames Global Stock Market Slide On Biden-Harris
Stock markets went into a meltdown on Monday amid fears that the US could be heading for a recession and pushing investors into panic-selling mode. the US has seen an unexpected rise in the unemployment […]
The post ‘Kamala Crash’: Trump Blames Global Stock Market Slide On Biden-Harris appeared first on The People’s Voice.
Federal Judge Declares Google a Monopolist, Setting the Stage for Major Industry Shakeup
On Monday, a pivotal ruling from a federal judge declared that Google had breached antitrust regulations in its quest to dominate the online search and advertising sectors. Judge Amit Mehta’s decision noted that Google had perpetuated its monopoly through specific strategies that violated section 2 of the Sherman Act.
We obtained a copy of the ruling for you here.
The lawsuit, which commenced in 2020, later expanded to include multiple states and territories, encapsulating the gravity and scale of the legal scrutiny Google faces. Early in the trial, government attorney Kenneth Dintzer articulated that the proceedings would significantly influence the future of internet governance.
The trial’s largely private proceedings sparked criticism from transparency advocates, who accused Google of trying to minimize public oversight and media exposure. Google had successfully argued that opening up the trial fully would risk exposing sensitive trade secrets.
In his detailed ruling, Judge Mehta highlighted that the evidence and testimonies reviewed throughout the trial led to the unequivocal conclusion that Google was engaging in monopolistic practices. “After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” he stated.
The case, marking one of the most significant antitrust judgments in recent decades, was the result of a major legal challenge initiated by the Justice Department. It reflects a broader governmental and international effort to regulate the expansive power of major tech entities.
The proceedings began in September of the previous year and featured a notable break, allowing Judge Mehta time to deliberate before concluding in early May.
Throughout the trial, federal prosecutors presented their case that Google maintained its search engine supremacy unlawfully, leveraging hefty financial agreements with companies like Apple and Samsung. This enabled Google to set itself as the default search engine across numerous devices, an advantage that Judge Mehta found to be unfairly limiting competition.
The financial scope of these agreements was substantial, with Google disbursing over $26 billion in 2021 to secure default status on various devices, a practice that the court criticized for lacking legitimate justification.
While the ruling stops short of detailing the potential penalties Google may face, it raises significant questions about the future operational landscape for Google’s search engine business. An appeal from Google is anticipated.
Defending its practices, Google asserted that its search services were superior to competitors like Microsoft’s Bing, arguing that its default engine agreements did not infringe antitrust laws.
Furthermore, Google’s legal team urged for a broader interpretation of the search market, suggesting that Google is one among many platforms that facilitate online searches, including tech giants like TikTok and Amazon.
Another significant aspect of the trial was the scrutiny of Google’s internal communication practices. The tech giant was criticized for not preserving chat records, which the government claimed could contain evidence detrimental to Google’s defense. Although Judge Mehta expressed disappointment over Google’s document retention practices, he opted not to sanction the company for these actions.
Looking ahead, Google is set to contend with another Justice Department lawsuit focused on its advertising techniques and alleged monopolistic behaviors in ad technology later this year.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is Encouraging Residents to Report Neighbors for ‘Misinformation’
Michigan’s Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson has launched a campaign to root out supposed “election misinformation” – by urging the state’s residents to report each other.
As if more chaotic divisiveness was needed ahead of the November vote, the idea here, in one of the swing states, seems to be to get people to keep an eye on their neighbors, and if what they see and hear is interpreted as “misinformation” – report it, complete with a photo, “if possible.”
A document from Benson’s office provides a Michigan government email as the address for such reports, while the call to this type of action can be found on the official page about “voter education resources.”
The Michigan Bureau of Elections has published a document that aims to address a host of threats to “a healthy democracy” – foreign, domestic, partisan, “or simply malicious.”
Their actions – and that would be “misinformation” about the election process, voter rights, “or even an issue on the ballot” – are presented as a serious threat to election security.
Other than reporting anything they consider to be misinformation about voting and elections in the state, residents are encouraged to seek sources of information and media outlets that offer “true” stories.
Voters are treated as not entirely capable of critical thinking regarding their news, so to help with this, the Bureau recommends itself as a “trusted, verified, non-partisan” place where information can be checked as true or untrue.
Here come the “fact-checkers.” These are the places people in Michigan are recommended to go to in order to seek “truth about elections”: the state’s own government’s “SOSFactCheck” page, but also left-leaning Snopes, FactCheck, and PolitiFact.
The Bureau, however, says they are in the business of debunking misinformation, conspiracy theories, hoaxes, and verifying the “accuracy of political speech” – whatever that may include – as well as of ads, debates, interviews, statements, press releases.
Speaking of “non-partisan” activities, the Democrat secretary of state just recently introduced a program called “Democracy Ambassador,” which promises those who join will receive information about “non-partisan facts and resources” which they should then spread in their communities.
“Squash misinformation before it spreads,” is one of the messages.
But that’s not all from Jocelyn Benson. Yet another recent document from her office focused on “misinformation and AI.” Here, residents are warned about “partisans, grifters, and other opportunists here at home” out to “hack the minds of American citizens.”
US Forces Complete Exit from African State Niger
The US Army has finished withdrawing from its last base in Niger, the Pentagon and the West African nation’s authorities announced on Monday, marking the end of Washington’s counterterrorism mission in a country plagued by jihadist insurgencies.
A joint statement from the US Department of Defense and the Nigerien Ministry of National Defense said American forces and equipment had been pulled out of Air Base 201 in Agadez.
“This effort began on May 19 following the mutual establishment of withdrawal conditions, and coordination will continue between US and Nigerien armed forces over the coming weeks to ensure the full withdrawal is complete as planned,” the two sides said.
The withdrawal comes nearly five months after Niger’s new leadership, which came to power after a coup in July 2023, terminated a defense agreement with Washington. The decade-old agreement had permitted some 1,000 American military personnel to operate in the landlocked state.
Niamey cited the alleged failure of US forces to combat militants, as well as American officials’ attempts to dictate who the African nation’s allies should be, as reasons for its decision in March. The military government has also severed ties with its former colonial ruler, France, forcing all French soldiers to leave the country late last year.
READ MORE: US military completing withdrawal from African base
Last month, US servicemen left Air Base 101, the first of two American military camps in Niger, located near the international airport in the capital, Niamey. Russian instructors have reportedly been deployed to the base to replace their American counterparts in training Niger’s military.
READ MORE: US out: How NATO’s disastrous Libya invasion still echoes in West Africa today
Previously, the Pentagon and the Nigerien defense ministry had agreedto a complete disengagement by mid-September. However, in their joint statement on Monday, both sides said the “turnover was finished ahead of schedule and without complications” as a result of “effective cooperation and communication between the US and Nigerien armed forces.”
Tommy Robinson: UK Govt Is Paying Provocateurs To Trigger Riots
Tommy Robinson has claimed that the Britsh government is paying provoateurs to trigger riots across the country. Appearing on the The Alex Jones Show on Monday, Robinson, who has been accused of stoking the riots, […]
The post Tommy Robinson: UK Govt Is Paying Provocateurs To Trigger Riots appeared first on The People’s Voice.