Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:28:52 +0000 Sott.net tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/:signsofthetimes tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/article/505634 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:24:21 +0000

The other day Axios ran a piece that cited "findings" that a majority of people trusted their doctors and nurses. Turns out, those "findings" were completely fabricated by a company called Aaru - using AI (causing Axios to issue an editor's note and 'clarification') Aaru uses something they call "silicon sampling," where large language models (the AI) can emulate humans at a fraction of the cost and time required for traditional polling, the NY Times reports. Silicon sampling isn't polling. It is the outright fabrication of public opinion by machines - and major news outlets and research firms are now publishing those fabrications as legitimate findings. This is not an isolated slip. The technology is being embraced by some of the biggest names in media, polling, and corporate research. Gallup has partnered with the startup Simile to create thousands of AI-generated "digital twins" that stand in for real people. Ipsos is working with Stanford to pioneer synthetic data for public...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/article/505633 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:20:07 +0000

Heavy rains in the Dominican Republic killed a toddler, damaged more than 1,000 homes and caused power and water outages on Wednesday, forcing officials to suspend classes at some public and private schools. Forecasters noted that 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain fell in some areas in less than 24 hours, forcing crews to evacuate more than 5,000 people. "There is no storm drainage system that can withstand that anywhere in the world," President Luis Abinader said. A press official with the Civil Defense agency, Jayssi Capellán, told The Associated Press that a nearly 2-year-old girl died after a wall at her home collapsed in the capital of Santo Domingo. The government ordered nonessential employees to work remotely as authorities warned of flooding and possible landslides, with more than a dozen provinces under alert, including Santo Domingo, which is the hardest hit area.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/article/505393 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 11:52:04 +0000

Authorities in the capital of the southern Russian region of Dagestan declared a ​state of emergency on Saturday after heavy ‌rainfall led to widespread flooding and power cuts in the region. "Emergency services have been placed on high alert, ​efforts are under way to deal with ​the aftermath, and assistance will be provided ⁠to affected residents," the Makhachkala city administration ​said on Telegram. More than 327,000 people remain without ​power in Dagestan due to bad weather, the regional ministry of emergency situations said. "As of 12:00 (Moscow time, 0900 GMT), ​283 settlements with a population of 327,183 ​people, including 89,705 children, remain without electricity," the ministry said ‌on ⁠its website.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/article/505632 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:39:15 +0000

We received 25 reports about a fireball seen over CO, MT, NE, SD and WY on Thursday, April 9th 2026 around 02:27 UT. For this event, we received 2 videos.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-09:/article/505631 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 08:33:11 +0000

We received 7 reports about a fireball seen over CO on Wednesday, April 8th 2026 around 03:29 UT. For this event, we received one video.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505630 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:59:05 +0000

Superconductors allow electricity to flow without resistance, meaning no energy is lost as heat. Researchers in the United States have unlocked secrets of high-temperature superconductors. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have discovered how tiny changes in superhydride structure enable superconductivity at near room temperatures but extreme pressure — offering clues for designing more practical superconductors. "These experiments show what the upgraded APS can do. We can now study atomic-level structures with unprecedented detail in materials under extreme pressure," said Maddury Somayazulu, Argonne physicist.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505629 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:51:55 +0000

While more at home on the golf course than in the Persian Gulf, Donald Trump had initially presented the war against Iran as a "little excursion." Not known for his strategic patience, he wanted results fast. The original objectives were the fall of the Islamic regime and the complete destruction of its military capabilities. Now, four weeks since hostilities began, none of that has come to pass. The Iranians have taken control of the Strait of Hormuz, and their coastline — stretching 1,600 kilometers — is bristling with missiles, drones, and military speedboats. The Houthis of Yemen are threatening to close in turn the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, which locks access to the Red Sea. In Lebanon, where one million people have been displaced (one in ten inhabitants), the Israelis make no secret of their intention to militarily occupy the south of the country up to the Litani River. The price of crude oil has surpassed 100 dollars a barrel, a rise from which Vladimir Putin is the principal...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505628 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:47:55 +0000

That should come as no surprise In September 2022, when the Ukrainians destroyed Nord Stream, they were allegedly planning a double attack, with the other target being the TurkStream Secret service documents allegedly prove that the Ukrainians planned to blow up the Turkish and Blue Stream pipelines years ago, permanently cutting Europe off from cheap Russian gas, reports Magyar Nemzet, citing a report out of Ellenpont. However, Serbia's intelligence chief is denying that Ukrainians were the perpetrators, instead claiming that they had reports of a possible attack planned by a certain migrant gang group of radical muslims but had not considered it legitimate intel. However, this same chief also does not rule out that Ukraine was the contractor behind the scheme. The Serbian section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline was set on fire in a sabotage operation on Sunday. Since this pipeline supplies Hungary with gas, blowing up the pipeline would have put the country's gas supply at...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505627 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:32:39 +0000

The AP, AFP, and others have cited Iranian state media to say that US-Israeli strikes have "completely destroyed" a synagogue in Tehran, as attacks have intensified overnight and into Tuesday. "According to preliminary information, the Rafi-Nia Synagogue ... was completely destroyed in this morning's attacks," the Shargh newspaper reported. Mehr news agency describes the synagogue was destroyed when an adjacent residential building in central Tehran was bombed in an aerial attacks. Footage from the scene showed Hebrew-language books scattered on the ground and amid the rubble. Rescue efforts searching for bystanders ensued in the area. There have been no initial reports of casualties. Israeli media, specifically the Jerusalem Post, has actually confirmed the destruction, noting that both Iran's Jewish parliament representative as well as the synagogue's Persian Jewish rabbi have condemned the attack in visits to the scene:

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505626 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 21:10:02 +0000

And the end of civilisation What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book because there would be no one who wanted to read one. — Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death The age of print It was one of the most important revolutions in modern history — and yet no blood was spilled, no bombs were thrown and no monarch was beheaded. Perhaps no great social transformation has ever been carried out so quietly. This one took place in armchairs, in libraries, in coffee houses and in clubs. What happened was this: in the middle of the eighteenth century huge numbers of ordinary people began to read. For the first couple of centuries after the invention of the printing press, reading remained largely an elite pursuit. But by the beginning of the 1700s, the expansion of education and an explosion of cheap books began to diffuse reading rapidly down through the middle classes and even into the lower ranks of society....

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505625 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:25:27 +0000

China's call for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and its proposal for a multilateral peace initiative signal more than a diplomatic intervention. They reflect Beijing's gradual emergence as a geopolitical actor seeking to shape conflict management in a context of declining hegemonic coordination and increasing fragmentation of the international order. Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent statement calling for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon — and warning against the risk of the region "becoming another Gaza" — should not be read merely as rhetorical positioning. Rather, it signals a calibrated step in Beijing's gradual insertion into Middle Eastern diplomacy, reflecting both normative framing and strategic intent, as I will try to explain below. At the normative level, China's emphasis on sovereignty and territorial integrity is consistent with its long-standing foreign policy doctrine. By framing the situation as a violation of Lebanon's...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505624 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:25:04 +0000

The shadow infrastructure of oil flows in Eurasia reveals hidden mechanisms where economics, politics, and intelligence intersect more deeply than is commonly acknowledged. Much of the oil from the Caspian Basin, the Caucasus, and Northern Iraq and Iran finds its way to global markets through Georgia and Turkey. That is the known reality. But as former U.S. officials have noted, the real story lies in the "known unknowns" and the "unknown unknowns" — the shadow networks, shady deals, and covert routes that shape the region's energy trade. Nonetheless, amid escalating rhetoric and renewed arm-twisting campaigns, the topic of oil is again front and center. With Donald Trump signaling a tougher approach, he thought he could impose a Venezuela-style blockade against Iran, not to mention starting the war, pretty much on his mood at the time and advice from some clown advisors. The stakes are rising, and few are willing to stand in his corner, provide ships to back him up, or close ranks...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505623 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:24:35 +0000

The Iran war is exposing the fragility of U.S. financial dominance as the Strait of Hormuz turns into a geopolitical pressure point. Disruptions to oil flows are accelerating challenges to the petrodollar system and dollar supremacy. What looks like strategic leverage may ultimately prove a costly Pyrrhic victory. The debate of a shifting world order, or simply put, 'the end of Western dominance,' has been in the pipeline for the last decade or two. The emergence of multiple power centers, in particular the PRC's peaceful rise, has created an alternative governance model whereby the international community can potentially now bypass the US monopoly. Various China-led international organisations, such as BRICS or the SCO, are providing alternative pathways to the Global South for mutual development and growth. However, the US has always maintained a dominant position in the international arena due to the dollar hegemony.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505622 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:23:35 +0000

It's difficult to find much of anything we might call "good" coming out of the current US-Israel war against Iran. Yet, one positive development has been the fact that Israel's deceitful practice of pretending it has no nuclear weapons program is now untenable. The renewal of the discussion around Israel's nuclear arms program was prompted in part by Iranian missile strikes in the area of Dimona, a city in southern Israel known to house Israel's nuclear research facilities. In a March 22 report on the strikes by the Jerusalem Post, the ongoing denials by the Israeli state are noted: "In the 1960s, then prime minister Levi Eshkol vowed that Israel will not be the first state to introduce nuclear weapons into the region. The sentiment has been repeated by Israeli officials since." Yet, the article goes on to note: "It is generally accepted that the facility [near Dimona] produced plutonium for the alleged nuclear arsenal. Modern assessments, such as a 2025 report from the Stockholm...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505621 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:22:39 +0000

The Kremlin has warned that the ongoing US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran has engulfed the entire Persian Gulf and West Asia, setting the region "on fire" with dangerous and far-reaching consequences. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the aggression is rapidly escalating both in geography and economic impact. "In fact, the entire region is on fire. These are all very dangerous and negative consequences of the aggression that was unleashed against Iran. The geography of this conflict has expanded, and now we are all aware of the consequences that we have, including very, very negative consequences for the global economy. We note that the level of tension in the region is growing and continues to grow." The remarks come as US President Donald Trump recently threatened on social media to strike Iranian civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, as early as Tuesday.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505620 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:57:41 +0000

"There will be an additional 93 prosecutors in every district across the country devoted to the mission of combating fraud with the National Fraud Enforcement Division," he told reporters. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday announced the creation of a National Fraud Enforcement Division at the Department of Justice, marking a significant step in the Trump administration's efforts to crack down on misuse of public funds.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505619 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:38:09 +0000

For most of human history, courtship was bounded. A young man in 1955 did not survey every available woman within 500 miles before asking someone to dinner. He met her through friends, through church, through the slow friction of shared community life. That friction was not an obstacle to good matches. It was the mechanism through which realistic, durable partnerships were formed. It forced self-assessment. It embedded romantic decisions inside networks of social accountability. It surfaced character over time rather than photographs in an instant. That entire architecture has been demolished, and the damage is now registering in the demographic record in ways that should alarm anyone who cares about the long-term health of this country. We have spent years worrying about algorithms shaping political discourse and teenage mental health. We have convened Senate hearings about TikTok. What we have not done, with anything approaching equivalent seriousness, is examine the algorithms...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505618 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 18:31:04 +0000

This was always about Civilization. "A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again." History will register it with a gaze as pitiless as the Sun. An astonishing barbarian imprimatur, courtesy of the President of the United States, via a social media post. In a nutshell, this was a trashy "civilization" that gave the world the Big Mac threatening to wipe out an ancient civilization that gave the world algebra; influenced art, science, governance in unparalleled ways; produced stars from Cyrus the Great to Avicenna, from Omar Khayyam to poet supreme Jalaladdin Rumi; developed serial, sublime gardens, carpets, architectural wonders and philosophical and ethical frameworks. Crucially, there was not a single peep about this Barbaria outburst from the political leadership of the entire "civilized" collective West, not even feigning outrage, once again proving their absolute, irreversible moral and political bankruptcy. Iranians answered Barbaria in kind. Over 14...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505617 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:33:06 +0000

When are these people going to learn to just leave the kids alone? A Tennessee library board has voted 8-3 to remove its top librarian, Luanne James, after she refused to carry out an order to relocate hundreds of LGBT-themed books, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and feminist propaganda books from the children's section of six Rutherford County branch libraries. James was initially ordered to relocate books containing far-left ideology from the juvenile/children's sections to the adult sections of libraries. The board cited concerns that the books promoted "gender confusion," contained LGBT themes/characters, sexual themes, feminist topics, DEI, social justice and related content.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505616 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:04:05 +0000

Mount Semeru, located in Indonesia's East Java province, erupted again on Tuesday (April 7), spewing a massive hot cloud into the sky, according to the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, reported Xinhua. The volcano remains under a Level III alert, the second-highest in the country's four-tier warning system. The eruption at 5.30 pm local time produced an ash column reaching approximately 2,000 metres above the crater, with a thick gray plume drifting north-east and east. Seismographs recorded the event as lasting more than seven minutes. No casualties or immediate damage were reported, but authorities warned that the accumulation of volcanic material on the slopes could trigger debris flows, or lahars, if heavy rainfall occurs. This follows a restless Monday during which the volcano recorded several separate eruptions. Bernama-Xinhua

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505415 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:47:20 +0000

Severe flooding, a landslide and thunderstorms in parts of Afghanistan have left 17 people dead and 26 injured over the last 24 hours, authorities said Sunday, the latest casualties from extreme weather in the country this season. The number of casualties could increase as crews from the country's National Disaster Management Authority survey the affected areas, the authority's spokesman Yousuf Hammad said in a statement. Thirteen of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, mostly in the western, central and northwestern parts of the country, were affected. The severe weather also left 147 homes either completely or partially destroyed, wiped out 80 kilometers of roads and destroyed agricultural land and irrigation canals, Hammad said. Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505615 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:46:06 +0000

A Chinese-Uzbek archaeological team has discovered a remarkable 3,000-year-old city along the Silk Road that is rich with artifacts, providing new insights into urban development during the early Iron Age in Central Asia. Originally discovered in 1969, the expansive Bandikhan II site, covering 107,639 square feet, is located in the Bandikhan oasis. The Surxondaryo region in southern Uzbekistan is known as an archaeological treasure trove, containing multiple ancient settlement mounds. It was only recently, in 2023, that a team began excavations at Bandikhan II, which served as a crucial hub on the legendary Silk Road. During the excavation, archaeologists uncovered remnants of an eastern wall, numerous structures, and interconnected rooms, along with a wealth of artifacts. These findings enabled researchers to identify the city as belonging to the Yaz culture, further enhancing our understanding of their role within ancient Bactria, according to TV Brics.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505614 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 14:39:39 +0000

The Des Moines Police Department is urging residents to practice animal safety after an infant died and another was seriously injured in recent dog attacks. First responders were dispatched to an apartment in the 3600 block of Kennedy Drive early on Friday, April 3, after the cardiac arrest of an infant was reported. A dog in the residence had reportedly injured the child, who was not showing signs of life, according to a news release. Once on scene, authorities discovered the child had died. Two dogs, a shepherd-mix and a terrier/bulldog, were seized from the apartment. As of now, no charges have been filed, but DMPD is investigating the situation.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505613 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:49:03 +0000

We have completed the largest real-world human analysis to date evaluating ivermectin and mebendazole in cancer patients — and the results represent one of the most compelling clinical signals ever documented for repurposed anti-parasitic therapies in oncology. The manuscript is now available as a preprint on the Zenodo research repository, operated by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, while undergoing peer review at leading oncology journals: "Real-World Clinical Outcomes of Ivermectin and Mebendazole in Cancer Patients: Results from a Prospective Observational Cohort." In this real-world prospective clinical program evaluation, a diverse population of cancer patients (n=197) were prescribed compounded ivermectin-mebendazole, with each capsule containing 25 mg ivermectin and 250 mg mebendazole. At approximately six months post-treatment initiation, we observed an 84.4% Clinical Benefit Ratio (CBR), with nearly half of cancer patients (48.4%) reporting either no...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505612 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 11:33:43 +0000

DOD Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg is referenced in 20 documents in the Epstein files, while the company he founded, Cerberus, appears in 360 files Hundreds of documents in the newly released Epstein files shed light on connections between the sex offender and Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm formerly led by Department of Defense Deputy Secretary Steve Feinberg. Feinberg, a billionaire who cofounded the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, is referenced by name in at least 20 documents in the Epstein files, while his company Cerberus appears in 360 files - including in emailed communications with Epstein himself. The emails raise questions regarding Feinberg's company's ties to the disgraced financier and sex criminal. Feinberg has already come under fire over business practices at Cerberus. He stepped down from his role as CEO in 2025 in order to accept the second-highest ranking position in the Pentagon. "Your private equity record is rife with...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505611 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 10:05:07 +0000

We received 260 reports about a fireball seen over CT, DE, MD, NJ, NY and PA on Tuesday, April 7th 2026 around 18:34 UT. For this event, we received 7 videos and 9 photos.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505610 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:52:26 +0000

We received 5 reports about a fireball seen over Île-de-France, Centre-Val de Loire, Normandie, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Pays de la Loire on Tuesday, April 7th 2026 around 22:02 UT. For this event, we received one video.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505609 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 09:48:13 +0000

We received 9 reports about a fireball seen over OR and WA on Tuesday, April 7th 2026 around 05:34 UT. For this event, we received one video and one photo.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505608 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:53:17 +0000

"Every century has its Abou Dharr. Islam is waiting for its own." (Ali Shariati, Islam and the Social Question, 1972) "The wretched of the earth no longer wait. They act." (Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, 1961) "The human being is not a product of his environment but a project in the making." (Malek Bennabi, The Problem of Ideas in the Muslim World, 1970) Author's Note: This article is published in three parts. Part I [this article] traces the life, thought, and intellectual legacy of Ali Shariati. Part II explores Shariati's intellectual dialogue with Frantz Fanon and the decolonization of consciousness, his revolutionary distinction between Alavid (Red) and Safavid (Black) Shiism, his debt to Malek Bennabi's concept of colonizability, the figure of Abou Dharr as the archetype of Islamic social justice, and the forces that closed in on him until his mysterious death in Southampton in 1977. Part III draws the bridge between Shariati's unfinished revolution and the world...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-08:/article/505607 Wed, 08 Apr 2026 00:42:45 +0000

Physical crude hit just under $150 a barrel today. A record - been done before in the history of oil markets. But the real story isn't the number. It's what happened in the twenty minutes before the close. This is what the oil market looked like today... a market that has completely lost its mind. Trump posts "a whole civilization will die tonight" at 7:45am and oil spikes to war highs. Vance says the war is basically over and military objectives completed at 8:15am and oil dips. Iran suspends all diplomatic communications at 9am so oil screams back to highs. An hour later the New York Times confirms Iran has stopped negotiations entirely — oil spikes, stocks dump hard. Eleven minutes later Tehran Times says talks are actually not closed and oil reverses. China and Russia veto the UN Security Council motion on Hormuz at noon and oil drops again. Then Iran and the US and Israel all simultaneously accelerate strikes and oil rises. Then for no obvious reason whatsoever oil plunges and...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505606 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 22:02:06 +0000

Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) escalated her rift with President Donald Trump by calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked against him as voters in Georgia's 14th Congressional District headed to the polls in the special election to replace her following her January resignation. Trump warned on Truth Social Tuesday morning that Iran's "whole civilization will die tonight" unless "something revolutionarily wonderful" occurs following what he described as "Complete and Total Regime Change." He wrote that "47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end," and said the world would find out Tuesday night during what he called "one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World." Greene responded on X, "25TH AMENDMENT!!! Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness."

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505605 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:47:01 +0000

All German men aged between 17 and 45 now need approval from the Bundeswehr - i.e., the German army - for longer stays abroad. Under the new Military Service Act, this applies to trips abroad lasting more than three months, the Defence Ministry has announced. The daily Frankfurter Rundschau was the first to report on the change. The rule is part of what is known as the Military Service Modernisation Act, which came into force on 1 January 2026. The law is intended to ensure that the Bundeswehr is fit for the future in terms of personnel and organization. Plans include, among other things, a more attractive form of voluntary military service, broader registration of young men and new legal instruments to enable faster action if needed. What the new law says Specifically, this concerns paragraph 3 of the Conscription Act, which governs the scope and duration of compulsory military service in Germany. Paragraph 1 states: "Compulsory military service is fulfilled by military service or...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505604 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:39:27 +0000

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched the 98th wave of the decisive Operation True Promise 4, targeting command, operational and logistics centers, as well as military-industrial infrastructure used by the United States and Israel in the region. In a statement released on Monday, the IRGC's Public Relations Department said during the first phase of the combined operations, IRGC naval forces precisely targeted the Israeli-owned container ship SDN7 with a cruise missile. Meanwhile, the statement said, Iranian ballistic missiles struck northern and southern areas of Tel Aviv, strategic sites in Haifa, chemical companies and factories in Beersheba, and a gathering point of Israeli forces in Petah Tikva. The elite Iranian military force also said the American amphibious helicopter carrier LHA7, transporting more than 5,000 sailors and marines, came under Iran's attack and was forced to retreat deeper into the southern Indian Ocean.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505603 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:38:40 +0000

Donald Trump's naked threats to target Iran's civilian infrastructure are the culmination of a strand of neoconservative thought that has defined U.S. war-making over three decades, from the Iraq war to Obama's drone campaigns to the Gaza genocide. On Sunday morning, as Christians across Iran and the world marked Easter, Donald Trump posted a profanity-laced ultimatum on Truth Social: "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran," he wrote. "Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH!" The post was the latest in a week of escalating threats — to bomb Iran "back to the Stone Ages," to destroy its power plants, bridges, and "possibly all desalinization plants" after a ten-day deadline issued on March 26 expires at 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Over a hundred international law experts have already warned that targeting civilian infrastructure constitutes a war crime under the Geneva Convention. Trump,...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505602 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:33:57 +0000

Planet Labs says it will "indefinitely withhold" satellite visuals of Iran and the wider Middle East war zone after a request from the US government and the Trump administration. In an email to customers, the firm said it is shifting to a "managed distribution" model, releasing imagery only case-by-case for "urgent, mission-critical requirements," or when release is deemed "in the public interest." Planet also said it will withhold imagery dating back to March 9, and it expects the policy to remain in effect until the conflict ends. On March 6, Planet Labs announced a mandatory 96-hour delay on new imagery collected over the Gulf states, arguing that near-real-time pictures could be exploited to "endanger allied, NATO, and civilian personnel." That measure later expanded into a 14-day delay, described by Planet as an extension of the earlier hold. By March 30, Al Jazeera's Digital Investigations unit was reporting that independent verification had become harder as commercial...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505601 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:32:31 +0000

Benjamin Anthony's speech at New York's influential Park Avenue Synagogue, where he argued that U.S. Jews need to support ethnic cleansing in Gaza, illustrates how the American Jewish community has embraced Israeli racism and brutality. The American press does its best not to cover savage Israeli views of Palestinians, but a leading New York synagogue gave an honored platform to those views ten days ago. It hosted an Israeli advocate with connections in its government who argued for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, and said American Jews need to support that operation. Benjamin Anthony said that all "Palestinian Arabs" in Gaza pose such a threat to Israel that the international community should use "muscular diplomacy" with Egypt so as force the population out of Gaza into an "enclave" in the Sinai peninsula.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505600 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:25:21 +0000

The four astronauts of NASA's Artemis II mission have ventured farther from Earth than any humans before them. The Orion spacecraft, carrying three NASA astronauts and a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, performed its long-awaited lunar flyby, coming within roughly 4,070 miles (6,550 km) of the lunar surface and entering the Moon's gravitational sphere of influence. In a planned and highly anticipated phase of the journey, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with the crew at around 6:43pm ET for approximately 40 minutes. The communication blackout occurred as the Moon's body blocked radio and laser signals between the Earth-based Deep Space Network and the Orion spacecraft. While out of contact, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, focused on their scientific objectives, photographing and observing the lunar far side - including the 600-mile-wide Orientale basin.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505599 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 18:07:12 +0000

Information obtained by Press TV regarding the recent operation by the US-Israeli coalition in the central Isfahan province reveals a major strategic defeat for the enemy. US President Donald Trump's frantic threats in the past few days to target Iran's civilian infrastructure, including power plants and bridges, are a direct consequence of the heavy defeat suffered by the US forces in the Isfahan operation. The failed raid was carried out after the enemy conducted extensive aerial reconnaissance operations in the days leading up to the attack, according to the exclusive information. During those initial infiltration and reconnaissance missions, the US and possibly the Zionist regime lost a significant number of aircraft, including at least one A-10 Thunderbolt II and two Black Hawk helicopters. The information obtained by Press TV reveals that "zero hour" for the failed Isfahan operation was set during a secret meeting at the White House under the direct supervision of the US...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505598 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 17:03:54 +0000

President Trump on Sunday warned Tehran to "Open the Strait" and make a deal by the end of Tuesday, or the U.S. military would "blow everything up" and "take over the oil." Meanwhile, Iran rejected Trump's ultimatum to reopen the Hormuz chokepoint, saying it would only reopen the critical waterway once damage from the war is compensated. There was some good news overnight after Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported that 15 vessels had passed through the Hormuz chokepoint over the last 24 hours. Still, that remains only a tiny fraction of pre-conflict tanker traffic. Separately, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy warned that the waterway will "never return to its previous condition," particularly for the U.S. and Israeli-linked vessels, and added that it is completing preparations to enforce a new security order across the Persian Gulf.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505597 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 16:52:18 +0000

Why do the news anchor ladies of CNN, Erin Burnett, Kate Bolduan, always look so depressed on the air? They never smile. Their faces always register something between grave concern and hysteria. Is it the network's cratered ratings? The pending hostile takeover by Paramount / Skydance (led by conservative David Ellison)? Too much botox, zombifying the small facial muscles? Or is it self-loathing from being compelled to slant everything they report on in the direction of a lie? There does seem to be some hidden hand in Narrative Central issuing prescribed story-lines to the networks, and that hand seems to be tinged with malice for anything and anyone seeking to rescue our country from chaos, penury, psychosis, and jihad. It looks like the hidden hand wants the country to go down in flames, and will resort to any means necessary to get it done. The template for that is so-called "color revolution," which is a hyper-accelerated version of "Red Rudi" Dutschke's "march through the...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505596 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 15:06:04 +0000

Claims that an Iran-backed group is carrying out attacks in European cities raise questions about why they're not targeting countries directly involved in the US-Israeli war, and why they appear to communicate like Israelis. Strangely, suspects arrested in the attacks have been released on bail. A specter is haunting Europe - the specter of Ashab al-Yamin. Officially known as "Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI)," or the "Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right," the group mysteriously appeared in early March, and, according to mainstream media, it's taking the continent by storm. But a closer look at the supposedly Iran-backed terror organization suggests that it does not exist in any concrete form, and may be a confection of Israeli intelligence. Though the nebulous HAYI claimed credit for torching ambulances belonging to a Jewish community organization in London on March 23, two suspects in the attack have been released on bail, and are not charged with any...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505595 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 10:56:55 +0000

Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has dismissed the US president's threat to bomb civilian infrastructure unless the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened. US President Donald Trump's war with Iran is making life worse for ordinary Americans, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has said in response to ultimatums over the Strait of Hormuz. In an expletive-laden post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump warned that Iran would be "living in hell" unless the vital waterway is reopened to shipping by Tuesday, 8 PM Eastern Time (midnight GMT). He also repeated his threat to bomb Iranian power plants and bridges. Responding on X, Qalibaf urged Trump to end what he described as a "dangerous game." "Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu's commands," Qalibaf wrote, referring to the Israeli prime minister. "Make no mistake: You won't gain anything through war...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505594 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 09:34:29 +0000

In a tragic incident reported from Jammu and Kashmir, at least 61 sheep and goats of a Bakerwal family were killed after lightning struck a large herd of livestock in Bani area of Kathua district on Saturday evening. The incident took place in Assu village of Bani where the family, originally hailing from Thaa village, was temporarily staying en route to upper reaches amid heavy rains in the region. The lightining strike at around 6 PM on Saturday left 28 goats and 3 sheep of the affected owner Raqeeb Ahmad, son of Abdul Gani, dead as per officials. The second owner Gafoor Ahmad, son of Raqeeb Ahmad also lost 29 goats and one sheep in the natural disaster. The affected family has appealed to the government and district administration to provide immediate financial assistance so that they can repair the damage.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505593 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:46:52 +0000

Artemis II were giddy (their words!) on the evening of April 6th when they witnessed explosions on the lunar surface. Meteoroids were hitting the Moon. "We saw at least five," reported mission commander Reid Wiseman. The meteors appeared in middle of a solar eclipse. About an hour after the crew made their closest approach to the farside of the Moon, the sun disappeared behind the lunar disk, giving the astronauts a chance to view the first solar eclipse ever seen by humans from behind the Moon.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-07:/article/505592 Tue, 07 Apr 2026 07:27:25 +0000

Many aspects of the US-Israeli aggression look like attempts to fulfil biblical prophecies. The current conflict between Iran and Israel isn't a classic war driven by strict geopolitical interests. Certainly, the rivalry between the two countries is very well known and everybody focuses on the Strait of Hormuz and the dramatic economic consequences of its disruption. Of course, a lot of people rightly observed the timing: this sudden turn of events has been perfect to bury the Epstein scandal under Palestinian, Lebanese, and Iranian (and even Israeli) rubble. But aren't these considerations purely temporary? The conflict initiated by Israel (and into which it drew the US, as Joe Kent explained when he gave his resignation as director of US counterterrorism) can be seen as a completely irrational religious and eschatological adventure driven by Hebraic mythology. Let's try to take a look at three of its main pillars.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-06:/article/505591 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:35:41 +0000

A Yogi Berra Kind of Weekend There is something special about "home openers." The baseball season can drag on, but the home opener is such a great reminder that summer is on the way and that the possibility of winning it all remains in your reach. Maybe that is why I have Yogi Berra on my mind. Or maybe, and far more likely, it is because a lot of recent discussions seem to lend themselves well to Yogi-isms. It is easy to start a conversation with a mindset of "we are pulling out soon, with a weak deal," and wind up ending at "we are all-in" for a final victory. And vice versa. It ain't over 'til it's over. When you come to a fork in the road, take it. I didn't really say everything I said. The future ain't what it used to be To name a few. On Wednesday we published our take on the likely and possible paths we would be on after the Presidential Address. After the address, all we could say was - all the paths are still in play. If that isn't in the realm of Yogi Berra, nothing is.

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-06:/article/505590 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 22:01:13 +0000

An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy. Hunting for the universe's earliest stars Led by the University of Chicago's Alexander Ji — a former Carnegie Observatories postdoctoral fellow — and including Carnegie astrophysicist Juna Kollmeier — who leads SDSS, now in its fifth generation — the research team identified a star from just the second generation of celestial objects in the cosmos, which formed just a few billion years after the universe began. "These pristine stars are windows into the dawn of stars and galaxies in the universe," Ji explained. Several of his and Kollmeier's co-authors on the paper are undergraduate students from UChicago, whom Ji brought to Las Campanas on an observing trip for spring break last...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-06:/article/505589 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:51:50 +0000

Mississippi's act takes effect on July 1, while Florida's measure follows on Jan 1, 2027 Florida and Mississippi voters will soon face new citizenship verification rules after governors signed the measures into law Wednesday, triggering at least two lawsuits in the Sunshine State. The measures, signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, are aimed at upholding election integrity as similar legislation by President Donald Trump remains stalled in Congress. Mississippi's measure is expected to take effect on July 1, with Florida's law following on Jan. 1, 2027. Under both laws, voters will be required to provide citizenship documents — such as birth certificates, passports or naturalization certificates — if local officials challenge their eligibility after cross-referencing databases for voter registration applications. If individuals fail to provide the required proof of citizenship after being flagged, both states are required to remove them from their...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-06:/article/505588 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 20:04:03 +0000

Brussels' assault on industry and small-to-medium businesses is a child of German ideology. This applies not only to the absurd climate battle; German statism also reveals itself in the proposed spying system of EU-wide chat surveillance. The open-border policies, executed in the style of a hippie state, can be attributed equally and without hesitation to Germany's political record of this century. Three dramatic political miscalculations, three intellectual detonations, leading to devastating societal consequences. All made in Germany, but certainly not made for Germany. Berlin's climate crusade and hippie ideology have inflicted severe economic and societal damage on the European Union, sparking a social movement that points to deep internal cultural and social conflicts. The next generation will struggle to preserve its identity in Europe and assert itself politically. That this identity is not even articulated on a national German level guarantees the exclusion of the AfD under...

tag:en.sott.net,2026-04-06:/article/505587 Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:35:32 +0000

As long as attacks and demands continue unabated, reasonable voices for peace will never be heard More than a month into the war with Iran, Washington is confronting the strategic nightmare it tried to avoid. What began as a campaign that many in the US and Israel appear to have imagined as short, punishing, and politically manageable has instead become prolonged, expensive, globally destabilizing, and increasingly difficult to define as success. The battlefield logic is now inseparable from the political logic, and on both fronts the pressure is mounting on Donald Trump's administration. Reuters reports that the conflict, launched on February 28, has disrupted global energy flows, driven oil sharply higher, pushed US gasoline prices above four dollars a gallon, and dragged US President Donald Trump's approval rating down to 36%, the lowest level since his return to office. How to sell a war A domestic audience can be persuaded to see a short war as an act of decisive leadership,...