The Israeli Air Force has struck at least 25 more targets in Gaza strip in retaliation to the cross-border fire and shelling by Hamas which targeted Israeli border communities throughout the day.

"IDF forces attacked 25 terrorist targets of the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip," Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday evening. The list of targets included alleged facilities manufacturing rocket launchers, rocket engines and advanced naval weapons, the IDF said. In addition, the Israeli forces targeted military compounds and training camps.

Israeli actions came in response to an increased wave of attacks blamed on Hamas, "which bears responsibility for all events in the Gaza Strip," the IDF said. The military noted that they will continue to decisively respond with a "wide range of tools" against Hamas actions that threaten Israeli citizens.

Washington is concerned about the Syrian government's "expansion" inside... Syria. The United States has threatened "firm and appropriate measures" against Syrian government forces, if they take back a part of their own territory

Reuters:

""As a guarantor of this de-escalation area with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad regime violations," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement late on Friday.

A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported on Wednesday that Syrian government forces fresh from their victory this week against an Islamic State pocket in south Damascus were moving into the southern province of Deraa.

Syrian state-run media have reported that government aircraft have dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas in Deraa urging fighters to disarm.

The U.S. warning comes weeks after a similar attack on a de-escalation zone in northeastern Syria held by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. U.S. ground and air forces repelled the more than four-hour attack, killing perhaps as many as 300 pro-Assad militia members, many of them Russian mercenaries.

Backed by Russian warplanes, ground forces from Iran and allied militia, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, have helped Assad drive rebels from Syria's biggest cities, putting him in an unassailable military position."

MPs have recommend new checks that would see the Cabinet Secretary alert Parliament in order to prevent a prime minister "recklessly" taking the country to war, a new report reveals.

Carried out by the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee (PACAC), the investigation took place in response to a key finding of the Iraq Inquiry - also known as the Chilcot Report - which found there was a distinct lack of Cabinet discussion in the run-up to the Iraq War.

The new report recommends that the Cabinet Secretary, the UK's most senior civil servant, must be given more power to act if a prime minister decides to take action without properly consulting the cabinet.

At present, the only option available to the Cabinet Secretary, in a situation where a prime minister ignores their advice, is to resign.

The suggested measures would allow for the Cabinet Secretary to ask the PM for a written ministerial direction to ignore the normal decision-making process, the Secretary would then be able to decide whether to make the situation known to Parliament or not.

In looking for a definition of "deep state", one comes up with this:

A body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy."

This is a wonderful and deeply conspiratorial definition that has, in the past, made for excellent fiction writing.

When one looks at President Trump's situation, though, it appears as though this is a case of Life Imitating Art.

Donald Trump has been the most beleaguered candidate and president in recent history. During the Republican primary season he was a great surprise as he won each debate easily, to the consternation of the other more "respected" establishment candidates.

In a speech delivered Tuesday in Paris, billionaire investor George Soros warned that the world could be on the brink of another devastating financial crisis, as debt crises reemerge in Europe and a strengthening dollar pressures both the US's emerging- and developed-market rivals.

And Europe, with Italy dragging worries about the possible dissolution of the euro back to the forefront, won't be far behind. Political pressures like the dissolution of its transatlantic alliance with the US will eventually translate into economic harm. Presently, Europe is facing three pressing problems: The refugee crisis, the austerity policy that has hindered Europe's economic development, and territorial disintegration - not only Brexit, but the threat that countries like Italy might follow suit...

"Brexit is an immensely damaging process harmful to both sides," the billionaire exclaimed.

But in the near-term, the US's decision to pull out of the Iran deal is straining Europe's alliance with its most important Western partner just as the strengthening dollar is constricting financial conditions around the world.

Until recently, it could have been argued that austerity is working: the European economy is slowly improving, and Europe must simply persevere. But, looking ahead, Europe now faces the collapse of the Iran nuclear deal and the destruction of the transatlantic alliance, which is bound to have a negative effect on its economy and cause other dislocations.

The strength of the dollar is already precipitating a flight from emerging-market currencies.We may be heading for another major financial crisis. The economic stimulus of a Marshall Plan for Africa and other parts of the developing world should kick in just at the right time. That is what has led me to put forward an out-of-the-box proposal for financing it.

After a NY judge ordered Iran on April 30 to pay billions of dollars in compensation to 9/11 victims, accusing it of assisting the terrorists who conducted the attacks, the Iranian parliament has started to prepare a counter-claim against the US for orchestrating the 2017 Tehran attacks.

A group of 81 people from around the world who believe that Iran was falsely accused by a NY judge of aiding the terrorists that perpetrated the 9/11 attacks, have sent an official letter to the ministries of justice and foreign affairs of the Islamic Republic, urging them to appeal the court's decision. According to the letter, the case against Iran was "extremely weak" and based on assumptions that the 19 alleged hijackers "precipitated a series of miracles including gross violations of the laws of physics."

Update: Following what must have been a full court press by the top brass in Brussels on EU budget commissioner, Guenther Oettinger, to retract his statement that "the markets will lead Italians not to vote much longer for the populists", which as we reported earlier infuriated Italians because it revealed the true nature of "democracy" in Europe, Oettinger found himself with no way out but to apologize for a comment that would have assured a negative outcome in the upcoming Italian Euro referendum:

Unlike ABC and Roseanne, he doubt the EU will cancel the "Oettinger Show" as yet another unelected bureaucrat is allowed to slide after exposing the truth about what democracy really means to Europe: keep voting until you get the outcome we want.

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When it comes to Italy, unlike most other insolvent European nations which at least have an passing ideological affinity toward the EU and the common currency project, the Italian population has been growing increasingly disenchanted and belligerent over the years toward the EU, and as shown in the BofA chart below, Italians score the lowest when answering if "EU membership has benefited the country" or if "the EU contributes to economic growth in the country."

The United States delegation staged a walkout in protest at Syria's presidency of the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday.

The US delegation left their seats as Hussam Edin Aala, the Syrian ambassador to the UN, opened the latest round of the conference.

Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to UNOG Hussam Edin Aala on Tuesday began chairing the conference. However, United States has objected to Syria chairing the conference and reiterated its accusations that Damascus has allegedly used chemical weapons against its civilian population.

US Ambassador to UNOG Robert Wood called Damascus' chairmanship a "travesty." The United Kingdom supported the US protest against Syria assuming the chairmanship.

Even before the first Republican primary, a London-to-Langley spy ring had begun to form against Donald Trump. British spies sent to CIA director John Brennan in late 2015 alleged intelligence on contacts between Trumpworld and the Russians, according to the Guardian.

Here's the crucial paragraph in the story:

GCHQ first became aware in late 2015 of suspicious "interactions" between figures connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents, a source close to UK intelligence said. This intelligence was passed to the US as part of a routine exchange of information, they added.

Notice it doesn't say the "Trump campaign" but "figures connected to Trump." One of those figures was Michael Flynn, who didn't join the campaign until February 2016. But Brennan and British intelligence had already started spying on him, drawing upon sham intelligence from Stefan Halper, a long-in-the-tooth CIA asset teaching at Cambridge University whom Brennan and Jim Comey would later send to infiltrate the Trump campaign's ranks.

On May 27th, Colombian citizens cast their ballots to elect their next president, with the result producing no majority winner and thus sparking a run-off vote. As is the case during political campaigns these days, numerous political strategies and narratives have been pushed by the media and are proliferating on social networks. Prior to the second round, which takes place on June 17th, I wanted to share a few observations.
One theme in particular has been rather prominent. For years now, comparing Colombia to Venezuela, and scaring the population into thinking "well, we don't want to end up with a Chavez or a Maduro" has been a popular political sales pitch.

Given the campaign promises and political origins of some of the candidates, the possibility of taking the country towards a socialist system - which would be a first for Colombia - might in other circumstances be a credible scenario. However, there are subtle (and not so subtle) details that make such a radical change in the the country's ultra-Yankee outlook quite impossible.