A campaign of ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Bedouins in the occupied West Bank is being driven not by rogue extremists, but by the Israeli state, according to a major new report.
Amnesty International published the new 150-page report on Wednesday.
It found that Israeli authorities were committing the crime against humanity of forcible transfer, through a “state-driven campaign of ethnic cleansing targeting Palestinian Bedouin and herding communities in Area C of the occupied West Bank”.
Area C makes up around 60 percent of the total area of the West Bank, and is under military and civil control of Israeli authorities - in contravention of international law.
According to Amnesty’s report, the Israeli government has expanded gun licences and the number of armed settlers in the area, increased funding for illegal settlements, and accelerated the construction of settlements and the legalisation of outposts.
Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinian Bedouins, major new report finds
Israel 'emptying' Al-Aqsa facilities to undermine Waqf, watchdog warns
Israel has emptied four facilities within the Al-Aqsa Mosque complex that served as offices for the Islamic Waqf, in what a monitoring group has described as an escalating campaign against the Jordanian-backed body.
The Al-Quds International Institution, a Palestinian organisation that monitors developments in Jerusalem, said on Tuesday that Israeli authorities have used "manufactured security pretexts" to target the facilities.
According to the group, Israeli forces raided the sites in recent months, broke their locks and prevented the installation of replacements.
The facilities were then left open, while anyone attempting to enter them was expelled because they had been used for "activities that threaten security".
The four sites are the Dome of Imam al-Ghazali, located above the Bab al-Rahma prayer hall along the eastern wall of the complex; Dar al-Hadith al-Sharif in the northeastern section of Al-Aqsa; Qubbat Sulayman, an open-air domed shrine opposite King Faisal Gate; and Qubbat Musa, located near Bab al-Silsila (Chain Gate).
Ukraine Approves Record Defense Budget Increase
Ukraine is increasing defense and security spending by UAH 1.56 trillion ($34.6 billion), bringing total 2026 security and defense expenditures to a record UAH 4.4 trillion ($97.6 billion), Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
Svyrydenko thanked members of parliament for supporting amendments to the 2026 state budget, saying the decision would allow Kyiv to allocate additional resources to finance the Defense Forces and protect civilians.
Following the amendments, total security and defense expenditures will amount to UAH 4.4 trillion ($97.6 billion). Of this, UAH 2.3 trillion ($51 billion) will be allocated for the purchase of weapons and military equipment, while more than UAH 1.45 trillion ($32.2 billion) will go toward financial support for military personnel.
Inflation tops 4% for the first time in 3 years on spike in gasoline prices
Soaring gasoline prices, triggered by the U.S. war with Iran, have pushed inflation to its highest level in more than three years.
A report from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed consumer prices in May were up 4.2% from a year ago. That's the biggest annual increase since April of 2023. By contrast, the Labor Department says average wages have risen only 3.4% over the last year, so workers' real spending power has declined.
Prices rose 0.5% between April and May, with higher energy costs accounting for more than 60% of that monthly increase. Gas prices have jumped by well over a dollar a gallon since the war began, strangling shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz — a critical pathway for much of the world's oil supply.
Higher fuel costs also pushed up airfares in May. Airline tickets cost about 27% more than they did a year ago.
Trump is stripping Americans of their citizenship at a shocking rate
I still remember my citizenship ceremony from 2011. There was a festive spirit among the dozens of us who were about to become the newest Americans, a kind of joy offset only by the anxiety of having to turn in our green cards first. For years, I jealously guarded that little card, which was not only not green but also something I was repeatedly told by authorities to carry with me at all times. They had to pry it from my fingers that day.
At my ceremony, which I wrote about at the time, a representative from the New York City commission on human rights explained to her captive American audience what civil rights protections we had, and the judge who swore us in as citizens encouraged us to exercise our vote, serve on juries, run for office and speak out for our rights. We were each given a pocket constitution. The whole thing was a celebration of democratic values. I entered downtown Brooklyn that day as a resident alien. I left as a newly minted American citizen, equal in the eyes of the law to every other American citizen.
Oh, how quaint that time seems now. Immigrants without all the proper documents are not the only ones the Trump administration has its sights on. Naturalized immigrants are at a greater risk than at any time in recent memory of losing their hard-won citizenship, as the whole idea of citizenship gets put through Trump’s anti-immigration wringer. The Trump administration has been aggressively rattling the saber of denaturalization, a political tactic that incidentally is explored in Project 2025.
Former Louisiana mayor sentenced to 90 days over rape of 16-year-old boy
Misty Roberts, a former mayor in Louisiana, has been sentenced to 90 days for raping a 16-year-old boy.
On Tuesday, 44-year-old Roberts was sentenced following her conviction earlier this year of two felonies including carnal knowledge of a juvenile – or statutory rape – and indecent behavior with a juvenile.
Roberts, who was facing up to 17 years in prison, sexually assaulted the underage victim at her home in July 2024. They were drinking alcohol at a pool party. Roberts was mayor of DeRidder, Louisiana, at the time, a position she had held since 2018.
As part of her sentencing, Roberts must register as a sex offender and pay $5,000 in fines, and will have to undergo regular drug screenings, in addition to psychotropic and psychological therapy following her release, KPLC reported. The outlet added that Roberts also received two five-year suspended sentences, to be served concurrently unless she violates parole.
Man Charged By Trump Admin After Removing Tear Gas From Crowd Found Not Guilty
A California philosophy lecturer accused of assaulting federal agents after removing a tear gas canister agents had thrown into a crowd of people protesting an immigration raid was found not guilty by a jury on Thursday.
Jonathan Caravello, 38, faced up to 20 years in prison if he was convicted of the charge. The verdict is the latest blow to the Trump administration, which has thrown baseless assault charges at people who protest its mass deportation operations — but has repeatedly failed to secure convictions.
By the government’s own admission, no federal agent was hit or harmed by the canister, which flew over the heads of agents and landed far behind them. Prosecutors argued instead that Caravello threatened and intended to harm agents, although they failed to identify a specific individual who was supposedly at risk of being harmed. Caravello’s attorney presented evidence that U.S. Border Patrol agents deployed tear gas indiscriminately at peaceful protesters and observers without reason or warning, and that Caravello was acting in self-defense when he threw the canister away from the crowd.
Somali ref Omar Artan gets hero's welcome after entry blocked for World Cup
Hundreds of supporters, government officials and members of Somalia’s football community assembled at Aden Adde International Airport at 8:30 a.m. local time to welcome Artan home. As the plane arrived Wednesday, June 10, fans waved national flags, chanted Artan’s name and crowded around him, draping a Somali flag over his shoulders.
"I promise you, God willing, that I will attend the next one," Artan told the cheering crowd as they waved Somali flags in support, according to the Associated Press. "I want the Somali public to take comfort in this and remain confident. Our journey does not end here."
How a regional defence pact could deal the final blow to Israel's violent expansionism
The brief exchange of fire between Iran and Israel was a truer statement of the balance of power that now exists between these two countries than the many spurious claims by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about having “smashed”, “destroyed” or “obliterated” the armed forces of the Islamic Republic.
In firing up to 30 missiles towards Israel in retaliation against its renewed bombing of Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Iran broke the model that Israel had imposed on the two other ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza: namely that you cease, and we keep on firing.
Furthermore, it showed that it would target northern Israel to protect a third country, Lebanon, which is also something of a first.
In announcing that it would halt fire, Iran’s military command said that if Israel resumed its attacks anywhere, including southern Lebanon, “much more severe and crushing measures than before will follow”.
It has taken time for the Islamic Republic to respond to Israel’s campaigns on Gaza, Lebanon and itself as one war - which is what it is - but at last, it is being forced to do so.
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