With absolute immunity, aggressive settlers attack school children as they try so hard to continue their education.
Deadly Israeli settler attack on school kills two in Ramallah
Two people have been killed after Israeli settlers opened fire on a school in the occupied West Bank, including a 14-year-old boy shot in the head. The attack comes amid a surge in violence by settlers and Israeli forces against Palestinians.
Students supported by Save the Children have been blocked from entering their school by an illegal barbed-wire fence, erected by Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
22 April, Ramallah – At least 55 Palestinian children have been blocked from attending school for the past ten school days because their path has been blocked by a barbed-wire fence, illegally erected by Israeli settlers.
Students, teachers and families have been protesting the blockage in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair in the occupied Palestinian territory for the last ten days through staged peaceful ‘sit‑ins’, turning the area near the fence into an informal outdoor classroom.
Some of these children were reportedly exposed to tear gas during their sit-in, according to the West Bank Education Cluster. The school children had been due back in class for the first time in more than 40 days, after schools were closed across the West Bank during the recent escalation of violence in the region. Now, because of the barbed-wire blockade, the students in Khirbet Umm Al Khair have been unable to attend school for almost two months.
Save the Children work with the community directly and through a partner, The Agricultural Development Association (PARC), in Khirbet Umm Al-Khair, through distributing of essential items and livelihood assistance such as winter kits and animal feed.
The situation for children in the West Bank has deteriorated in 2026 due to intensified military operations, expanding restrictions for Palestinians, and rising settler violence, with children reporting being harassed and attacked while en route to school.
This week two children were killed by Israeli settlers, according to the Ministry of Health – one of the children was reported to have been killed whilst in his school grounds.[1] Also this week, the Ministry of Education reported the demolition of a school for 70 students by the Israeli forces in the northern Jordan Valley. [2] [3] Data from the University of Cambridge and the UN shows that in 2025, 195,000 class-minutes were lost for children in the West Bank – the equivalent of about 4.5 months of learning time – due to targeted attacks on education by settlers and the Israeli military. [4]
Kareem* 10, a student involved in the sit-in, said:
“We were excited to go to school, but during the night settlers came and blocked the path. Now we’re trapped and can’t study. I really wanted to go to school, but it didn’t work out. The last time we studied was a month and a half ago. For Palestinian students, education is the key to liberating the country.”
Yousef*, 30, a teacher who is involved in the sit-in, said:
“Today is the tenth day in a row that we’ve been staging a sit-in at the fence, demanding that the road be opened for the children. This is a very simple and basic demand; every child has the right to education. This is what we’re demanding.
“These students were deprived of education due to the war. The night before classes resumed, the settlers knew and blocked the road. The goal isn’t simply to block the road and prevent the children from attending under the pretext that the land belongs to the settlers. No, the goal is to pressure the residents through the children, to force them to leave. We are trying to get the road back on track, and we will continue until we succeed.”
Save the Children is calling on governments to pressure the Israeli authorities to end all discriminatory policies and practices contributing to the coercive environment in the West Bank and across the occupied Palestinian territory, including ending the blockade to the school in Khirbet Umm Al‑Khair. There must be an end to state-sanctioned violence and attacks by settlers as well as ensuring those responsible are held to account and providing full reparations to affected people.
Ahmad Alhendawi, Regional Director for Save the Children in the Middle East, North Africa and Eastern Europe, said:
“What we are seeing on the ground is a worrying attack on children’s right to education. The Israeli authorities and settlers are ending any sense of safety that previously existed for the three million Palestinians currently living in West Bank. No child should be denied the right to education, too scared to walk to school or be faced with violence while travelling to school.
Students and teachers across the occupied Palestinian territory have been killed, maimed, arrested, and detained. In Gaza, we’re at risk of seeing a lost generation emerge as children are now in their third year of missing school, they need to get back to the classroom not only for their own individual development but for the future of Palestinian society.
We demand that all children throughout the occupied Palestinian territory have access to schools and places of learning, these must be safe spaces for children and educational staff. Palestinian children are entitled to the opportunity to go to school to learn and play, to grow up, and to have a future.”
Save the Children has been responding in West Bank since 1953. We are supporting students with educational and play kits, including stationary, working with partners to help provide quality education, protection for children, early childhood development support, and employment opportunities for young people. We are working throughout the West Bank distributing essential items and livelihood assistance such as sheep milkers, solar panels, and pools for washing livestock.
Iran is responding to US sezures with its own, 22nd April 2026:
India-bound tanker among 2 seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards
Story by Reported by Subham Tiwari
• 26m
An India-bound ship was among two vessels seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard while transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, amid looming uncertainty about the US-Iran ceasefire and proposed peace talks.
In total, three container ships, including the one which was headed to India, were attacked by Iran’s security forces in the Strait.
All three containers crossed the Strait of Hormuz from the Persian Gulf, and two of them did not relay information about their location, destination and port of origin while crossing the waterway, ship-tracking data suggests.
Iran’s state media and the BBC identified the three container ships as Liberia-flagged Epaminondas, and Panama-flagged MSC Francesca and Euphoria.
Epaminondas declared India as its destination, according to AIS data available at ship-tracking service VesselFinder. Epaminondas was the first vessel to come under gunfire on Wednesday. As per the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Centre, a “gunboat” belonging to Iran’s elite paramilitary force, the IRGC, opened fire on the container ship in the Strait of Hormuz, 15 nautical miles northeast of Oman, causing heavy damage to the vessel’s bridge.
Tariff refunds are coming: Here’s who will get them first
Provided by Dow Jones Apr 20, 2026, 7:48:00 AM
By Victor Reklaitis
There could eventually be payouts to individuals due to lawsuits, but the refunds will first go almost exclusively to companies
Tariff refunds have been in the works for about two months following a Supreme Court decision.
Tariff refunds are getting closer to flowing into bank accounts, with the U.S. government slated to start processing refund claims on Monday.
The refunds have been in the works for about two months, since the Supreme Court knocked down the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tariffs in a Feb. 20 ruling.
A 6-3 majority of justices found that Trump exceeded his authority in using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 to implement most of his tariffs. The president has responded with a new 10% global tariff, and his administration said on Tuesday that by the start of July, tariffs could be back at the levels in place before the ruling, as officials apply other authorities.
But for now, should you expect to see a refund in your bank account anytime soon? If you’re a typical U.S. consumer, probably not, although some individuals could receive one, and others may eventually benefit from class-action lawsuits.
In the vast majority of cases, companies have served as “importers of record” and will get refunds after submitting their claims.
Below are key points about the big commotion over getting money back.
Why individuals shouldn’t count on tariff refunds
A new government system for handling the tariff refunds is aimed at “importers of record,” which are the entities that paid duties at the border and brought in goods.
Those entities are “overwhelmingly commercial importers and their customs brokers,” Terence Lau, dean of Syracuse University’s law school and a former trade attorney for Ford (F), said in an email to MarketWatch.
“An individual consumer who bought a more expensive blender at Target (TGT) because the retailer passed along tariff costs has no standing in this process. There’s no legal mechanism connecting a specific retail price increase to a specific tariff payment,” Lau added.
Here is an extract from Phillips P. Obrien on his Substack, April 22, 2026
However, something pretty horrible is unfolding in front of us. The US government is being used as a tool to corruptly enrich certain people, to a tune of billions of $’s. And that means US service personnel and Iranian civilians (the people who are suffering the most in this war) are being sacrificed so that others who have enriched themselves through their loss can enrich themselves further.
……………..
Also, the blockade/negotiations dance continues with the same basic problem that we have seen since early March. Trump wants out, desperately needs a “deal” that he can say is better than the JCPOA, but the Iranian government is under less pressure to give him that. As such, escalation remains on the table. Finally, the oil markets are rather optimistic, worth noting.
The Most Corrupt War In US History
On April 17, a $760 million bet on falling oil prices was placed minutes before Iran’s foreign minister publicly announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be open to commercial vessels. The announcement triggered an immediate market reaction, with crude oil prices falling as much as 11 percent within minutes. The trader who put the massive bet made a huge financial windfall in just moments.
This was no accident it was almost certainly corruption. Indeed it was just the latest of series of obviously corrupt trades, using inside information that could only have come from the top of the US Government, to make illegal benefits on major market shifts that the “investor” knew were only minutes away. It fits a pattern of trade which has caused hundreds of millions of $’s (at least) of gains for those with the inside information—and losses for many honest investors.
And earlier, who else do you think benefited from massive UAE, Saudi and Qatari investment? Well that would be the President’s son in law, Jared Kushner, who is slated to be one of the two leading negotiators with the Iranians—if the next round of talks take place (see below). In this case we seem to be talking about at least $4 billion being handed over to Kushner to invest through his Affinity Partners investment fund. Again some details are:
Six months after Kushner left his role as a senior White House adviser in 2021, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) committed $2 billion to Affinity Partners.
When you boil it down, the policies of the USA do not seem to be being developed or run by those who care about the USA at all, but instead policies seem to be vehicles to openly (and secretly) enrich those with close Trump ties
Blatant corruption, thanks to the blessing of the rigged Supreme Court:
February 2, 2026
How Trump Became the Biggest Crook in the History of Democracy
The penny-ante bribes of his first term have given way to billions in graft.
After SCOTUS presidential immunity ruling, Trump wields it broadly in push for powerThe broader impact of the Supreme Court’s 2024 ruling on presidential immunity is coming i…Show more
Nearly two years after the Supreme Court’s monumental 2024 decision granting President Donald Trump sweeping immunity from prosecution, the ruling’s broader impact on American government is beginning to come into focus as Trump and his lawyers repeatedly invoke the case in an effort to get the justices to endorse expansive presidential power.
“That’s not a coincidence, it’s a strategy,” said James Sample, a constitutional scholar at Hofstra Law and ABC News legal contributor. “They’re not just invoking a precedent, they’re building an architecture.”
An ABC News review of the unprecedented 29 Trump emergency applications to the Supreme Court in his second term found that nearly a third directly cited Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion in the immunity case, Trump v. U.S.
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts attends President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber of the Capitol, Feb. 24, 2026.Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images
Trump attorneys reference portions of the court’s immunity decision at least 21 times to argue for “unrestricted” presidential power to fire executive branch employees; unreviewable control over “matters related to terrorism, trade and immigration;” and absolute authority as commander-in-chief to deploy troops to aid domestic law enforcement.
The Constitution “creates an ‘energetic, independent executive,’ not a subservient executive,” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote the court, quoting Roberts, in a September request to allow Trump to remove Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
“These aren’t random citations,” Sample said. “The White House Counsel’s Office has read that opinion very carefully, and they are using it methodically.”
The court is still crafting a decision in the Cook case but has generally embraced the administration’s broad view of presidential authority to remove federal employees and supervise agencies.
Since January 2025, however, the justices have not referenced Trump v. U.S. to justify any of its decisions in favor of the Trump administration, leading some court analysts to question why the conservative majority has avoided explicitly invoking its own precedent.
“We just don’t know yet what this case means, and it will be up to a future Supreme Court to define it,” said Sarah Isgur, SCOTUSblog editor and ABC News legal contributor.
Mark Zuckerberg’s entourage wore Meta’s smart glasses in court, which led to a judge warning that anyone recording proceedings could face contempt. This incident raised concerns about privacy and the implications of using recording devices in sensitive environments like courtrooms. Business Insider Gizmodo
Now, it seems, US Department of Homeland Security has a Smart Glasses Project for linking the viewer to National facial recognition databases.
Ken Klippenstein
Read distraction-free on Substack
Discover more from Ken Klippenstein
No-nonsense reporting on the U.S. national security state and politics.
And Jeff Bezos and selling facial recognition software:
Amazon Staff Demand Jeff Bezos Stop Selling Face-Scanning Tech to Police | Newsweek
By Jason Murdock
Amazon workers called on the firm’s CEO Jeff Bezos to stop selling powerful face recognition tech to U.S. law enforcement and cease providing infrastructure to government-linked software giant Palantir, and said they “refuse to contribute to tools that violate human rights.”
The letter circulated inside Amazon after it emerged that several tech companies had sold software tools to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the federal agency at the center of a controversial family separation practice this week. It followed a May ACLU report exposing how Amazon face-scanning tech called “AWS Rekognition” had been sold to police and government agencies.
The staffers noted Palantir, the big data analytics company founded by Trump-supporting Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel, takes full advantage of Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud technology to help “power its detention and deportation programs.” In 2014, Palantir was awarded an ICE contact worth $41 million to build an intelligence program that could allegedly aid deportations.
Over the weekend, Palantir released a 22-point summary of Karp’s 320-page book, “The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West,” that the billionaire tech CEO co-wrote and published in early 2025.
“Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief,” the company wrote on X.
The ideas reflect Karp’s long-held worldviews, including the view that the tech industry has been insufficiently supportive of US national security. Karp, who holds a Ph.D. in neoclassical social theory from Goethe University in Germany, has delighted in his view that AI will devalue humanities degrees and place greater emphasis on traditional trades work.
The summary points range widely in subject matter, from proclamations about the tech scene (“Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime”) to the relationship between the tech sector and the military (“If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software”), and even religion (“The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted”).
Revealed: Peter Mandelson’s Russian Connections and Palantir Lobbying Links
The disgraced peer was appointed by Keir Starmer’s Government despite warnings about his role on the board of a Russian defence conglomerate linked to Moscow’s early-warning missile systems
eir Starmer approved the appointment of the disgraced peer Lord Mandelson to be the UK’s ambassador to the US, despite officials highlighting his financial links to a Russian defence technology company that produces radar and satellite communications for the country’s land-based missile early-warning system, new documents reveal
Mandelson’s appointment was “rushed” through, the documents reveal, despite a due diligence report by the Cabinet Office’s Proprietary and Ethics Team (PET) highlighting that he had served on the board of the Russian conglomerate Sistema.
The Russia connection was not the only warning put to senior figures in Number 10. The documents also raise questions about why Mandelson retained his shares in his lobbying outfit Global Counsel during his short term as Ambassador, despite officials insisting that he should divest them.
According to the PET report, Downing Street were warned that “the retained role and interest in Global Counsel would have to cease” if Mandelson was appointed as ambassador.
However, despite resigning as Director, the peer apparently retained significant shareholdings in Global Counsel at the same time as the company organised a meeting between the Prime Minister Keir Starmer and their client, Peter Thiel’s controversial data giant Palantir, in February 2025. Mandelson did not fully divest his shares until after resigning from the role.
The same due diligence pack, dated 11 December 2024, had flagged Lord Mandelson’s continuing shareholdings in technology companies and his paid roles across finance and investment, raising fresh questions about whether No 10 knowingly accepted a web of conflicts of interest at the heart of the UK’s most commercially and strategically sensitive diplomatic post.
Olly Robbins: Foreign Office under ‘constant pressure’ from No10 to sign off Peter Mandelson appointment
Sacked foreign office boss Robbins accused Downing Street of a ‘dismissive approach’ to vetting and creating an ‘atmosphere of pressure’ to install disgraced peer in Washington as quickly as possible
LONDON — Senior members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team attempted on more than one occasion to intervene in Keir Starmer’s decision in 2024 to remove Karen Pierce as ambassador and replace her with Peter Mandelson, according to a former Trump official and a serving U.K. official.
Trump’s aides told Starmer’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and his then-Chief of Staff Morgan McSweeney that they wanted Pierce to remain in post during a meeting in Palm Beach in early December 2024, the officials told POLITICO.
Later the same month, people working on the transition placed a call to Powell and told him they were unhappy at the treatment of Pierce and that they did not like that Mandelson had been picked, according to the same former Trump official.
Trump’s aides were particularly exercised that Mandelson could be made ambassador after he had madedisparaging public remarks about the president in the past, according to both officials.
The details aboutthe interaction between the two leaders’ teams have not previously been reported and underscore the disquiet within the president’s inner circle about one of Starmer’s first major foreign policy decisions on becoming prime minister — and a juncture at which his key aides could have urged Starmer to think again.
Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, was among those wary of Mandelson, according to the former U.S. official already cited and a second official still serving in the administration, with one saying she saw him as “arrogant” and rude to staff.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “This is an inaccurate representation of this meeting and what was said.” Wiles had no comment.
Downing Street declined to comment.
Mandelson was sacked as Britain’s ambassador to Washington last September over his past friendship with the late convicted sex offender Epstein, but further revelations from documents released in the U.S. prompted a police investigation into his conduct, leading to his arrest in February.
The E-3 Sentry AWACS (airborne warning and control system) was more than a Boeing 707 converted into a flying radar station and command post. AWACS has become a meme, and its dome-shaped rotating antenna was the symbol of an eye in the sky that kept ceaseless vigil from 30,000 feet high.
Now, though, the AWACS may be going the way of the dodo, as the US military appears ready to discard big, expensive aerial early warning (AEW) aircraft in favor of a mixture of cheaper Cold War-era radar planes and cutting-edge space sensors. For the US military, this may just be a change in doctrine. For NATO, which has relied for years on the AWACS and planned to buy the now-cancelled E-7 Wedgetail, this could lead to a scramble to find a European-built replacement.
AEW aircraft have become the nerve centers for advanced air forces. The concept of flying radar stations dates back to the end of World War II, such as the US Navy’s Project Cadillac. An aerial platform offers longer range than ground-based radars, can detect low-flying aircraft, and enjoys the mobility to bring radar coverage to where it is needed.
By the 1960s, US Air Force EC-121 and carrier-based US Navy E-2 Hawkeyes (still in service today) were proving invaluable in the Vietnam War. Today, several nations have developed AEW aircraft, mostly derived from airliners, military cargo planes, or business-class jets. These include Russia’s A-50, China’s KJ-2000, Israel’s Oron and Sweden’s GlobalEye. Other nations — including Australia, India, Korea and Turkey — have rigged up their own AEW aircraft by mix-and-matching various aircraft with radars such as Israel’s Phalcon.
But the E-3 has special significance for NATO, both as an aircraft and a symbol of alliance unity. NATO currently operates 14 E-3s manned by multinational crews flying out of Geilenkirchen, Germany. In addition, France also has four E-3s, while Britain only recently retired its planes. It’s hard to imagine either
the US or NATO conducting any significant air campaign without these aircraft playing a key role as airborne sensors and command posts.
The E-3’s retirement was inevitable: the airframe and electronics are aging, maintenance is difficult, and spare parts are expensive and difficult to procure. It was also logical to assume that the E-3’s successor would be broadly similar to the original. AWACS 2.0 arrived in the form of the E-7, another converted Boeing 737 airliner, with a Multi-role Electronically Scanned Array (MESA) radar that electronically aims multiple beams rather than the rotating antenna. Comparing the E-3 to an E-7 feels like comparing a 1970s TV set to a modern LED computer monitor.
In the Middle East one E3 was destroyed by an Iranian attack:
Images circulating online appear to show the destruction of a U.S. Air Force E-3G Sentry airborne early warning and control aircraft following a reported Iranian missile and drone attack on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
The aircraft, identified in open source reporting as belonging to the 552nd Air Control Wing, appears to have suffered severe damage concentrated around the rear fuselage, where the E-3’s radar dome and associated surveillance systems are housed. That section contains critical components of the aircraft’s AN/APY-2 radar, central to its airborne command and control role.
Full List of 10 US Nuclear Scientists Who Have Mysteriously Vanished or Died Since 2023 as White House Launches Probe
These disappearances from key security institutions and similar vanishings on foot suggest a disturbing pattern that cannot be ignored
By Jim Manzon Published 16 April 2026, 11:26 AM BST
The 10 Scientists Who Vanished or Died from 2023-2026: (Top L-R) Steven Garcia, William McCasland, Anthony Chavez, Melissa Casias, Monica Reza, (Bottom L-R) Nuno Loureiro, Carl Grillmair, Michael Hicks, Frank Maiwald, Jason Thomas.
The White House has confirmed it will look into a disturbing pattern of deaths and disappearances involving at least 10 American scientists linked to nuclear weapons, advanced space research, and classified government programmes since 2023.
🧠 Accidents? Really? How Many Coincidences Does It Take to Raise a National Alarm?
India, the land of zero, also seems to have a dangerously high number of “zero-witness” accidents when it comes to its top-tier scientists. Over 74 scientists—yes, seventy-four—from DRDO, ISRO, and BARC have allegedly died in unexplained circumstances over the past two decades. Car crashes. Drowning in bathtubs. Slipping off balconies. Hanging under mysterious mental health labels. Do you smell smoke? Because there’s definitely a fire somewhere. 🔥
How did Abdul Qadeer Khan contribute to Pakistan’s nuclear program?
Why was his work important for Pakistan?
Abdul Qadeer Khan (born April 1, 1936, Bhopal, India—died October 10, 2021, Islamabad, Pakistan) was a Pakistani engineer, a key figure in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program who was also involved for decades in a black market of nuclear technology and know-how whereby uranium-enrichment centrifuges, nuclear warhead designs, missiles, and expertise were sold or traded to Iran, North Korea, Libya, and possibly other countries.
In 1947, during Khan’s childhood, India achieved independence from Britain, and Muslim areas in the east and west were partitioned to form the state of Pakistan. Khan immigrated to West Pakistan in 1952, and in 1960 he graduated from the University of Karachi with a degree in metallurgy. Over the next decade he pursued graduate studies abroad, first in West Berlin and then in Delft, Netherlands, where in 1967 he received a master’s degree in metallurgy. In 1972 he earned a doctorate in metallurgical engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. Meanwhile, in 1964 he married Hendrina Reterink, a British national who had been born to Dutch expatriate parents in South Africa and raised in what was then Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) before moving to the Netherlands.
In the spring of 1972 Khan was hired by Physical Dynamics Research Laboratory, a subcontractor of the Dutch partner of URENCO. URENCO, a consortium of British, German, and Dutch companies, was established in 1971 to research and develop uranium enrichment through the use of ultracentrifuges, which are centrifuges that operate at extremely high speeds. Khan was granted a low-level security clearance, but, through lax oversight, he gained access to a full range of information on ultracentrifuge technology and visited the Dutch plant at Almelo many times. One of his jobs was to translate German documents on advanced centrifuges into Dutch.
Khan was heavily influenced by events back home, notably Pakistan’s humiliating defeat in a brief war with India in 1971, the subsequent loss of East Pakistan through the creation of a new independent country, Bangladesh, and India’s test of a nuclear explosive device in May 1974. On September 17, 1974, Khan wrote to Pakistan’s prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, offering his assistance in preparing an atomic bomb. In the letter he offered the opinion that the uranium route to the bomb, using centrifuges for enrichment, was better than the plutonium path (already under way in Pakistan), which relied on nuclear reactors and reprocessing.
Bhutto met Khan in December 1974 and encouraged him to do everything he could to help Pakistan attain the bomb. Over the next year Khan stole drawings of centrifuges and assembled a list of mainly European suppliers where parts could be procured. On December 15, 1975, he left the Netherlands for Pakistan, accompanied by his wife and two daughters and carrying his blueprint copies and suppliers list.
Khan initially worked with the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), but differences arose with its head, Munir Ahmad Khan. In mid-1976, at Bhutto’s direction, Khan founded the Engineering Research Laboratory, or ERL, for the purpose of developing a uranium-enrichment capability. (In May 1981 the laboratory was renamed the Khan Research Laboratory, or KRL.) Khan’s base of operations was in Kahuta, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Islamabad; there Khan developed prototype centrifuges based on German designs and used his suppliers list to import essential components from Swiss, Dutch, British, and German companies, among others.
In the early 1980s Pakistan acquired from China the blueprints of a nuclear weapon that used a uranium implosion design that the Chinese had successfully tested in 1966. It is generally believed that the Chinese tested a derivative design for the Pakistanis on May 26, 1990. Khan, having satisfied Pakistan’s needs for its own uranium weapon, began in the mid-1980s to create front companies in Dubayy, Malaysia, and elsewhere, and through these entities he covertly sold or traded centrifuges, components, designs, and expertise in an extensive black-market network. The customers included Iran, which went on to build a uranium-enrichment complex based on the Pakistani model. Khan visited North Korea at least 13 times and is suspected of having transferred enrichment technology to that country. (His laboratory also developed Pakistan’s Ghauri ballistic missile with help from the North Koreans.) Libya, supplied by Khan, embarked upon a nuclear weapons program until it was interrupted by the United States in 2003.
On January 31, 2004, Khan was arrested for transferring nuclear technology to other countries. On February 4 he read a statement on Pakistani television taking full responsibility for his operations and absolving the military and government of any involvement—a claim that many nuclear experts found difficult to believe. The next day he was pardoned by Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, but he was held under house arrest until 2009. Khan’s critics, particularly in the West, expressed dismay at such lenient treatment of a man whom one observer called “the greatest nuclear proliferator of all time.” For many Pakistanis, however, Khan remains a symbol of pride, a hero whose contribution strengthened Pakistan’s national security against India.
Israel’s nuclear bomb was developed by a team of scientists led by David Ben-Gurion, Shimon Peres, and Ernst David Bergmann, with significant assistance from France. The project began in the late 1950s at the Dimona facility, where they secretly produced weapons-grade plutonium. Wikipedia Majalla
This was when Charles de Gaulle was President of France, 1959 to 1969.
Countries which possess their own nuclear weapon:
Search Assist
As of 2026, nine countries are known or believed to possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea. Russia and the United States hold the majority of the world’s nuclear stockpile, with over 90% of the total.
Franklin D. Roosevelt established a significant relationship with Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, during a historic meeting with King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud aboard the USS Quincy on February 14, 1945. This meeting laid the groundwork for long-term U.S.-Saudi relations, primarily focused on securing access to Saudi oil reserves. Sky HISTORY TV Channel Brookings
Since the build up of US troops to assure protection and create a safe place to trade (in US petrodollars) the Gulf States have become a hub of prosperity and had a bright, safe future to attract talent from around the world. Since the Israeli – US illegal war on Iran, the US presence on GCC territory has become a magnet for comprehensive and catastrophic attacks from asymmetric warfare the US had not expected.
It began (January 13, 2026) with the realisation by the Trump administration, that Americans would be in danger in Iran:
Trump orders Americans to evacuate Iran immediately as military chaos looms
The State Department has issued an urgent directive for all American citizens to leave Iran immediately, citing escalating protests and potential violence, as Trump threatens military action
The US Embassy in Iran has issued an urgent warning for all American citizens to leave the country immediately, as escalating protests threaten to turn violent, potentially resulting in arrests and injuries.
NPR has learned that hundreds of sailors were evacuated back to the United States from their base in Bahrain after the base was attacked by Iranian missiles and drones. In addition to the base in Bahrain, NPR has learned that there have been evacuations at other U.S. military bases in the region, though the exact details are unknown at this point.
Bahrain is the home of the Navy’s 5th Fleet, making it a central hub for providing maritime security in the Middle East region, including protecting commercial shipping. The country is an island in the Persian Gulf that sits roughly 124 nautical miles away from the coast of Iran, which makes Bahrain well within range of Iranian drone and missile strikes.
Around 8,000 people were stationed at the base in Bahrain before the U.S. attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
On the opening day of the war, the base, known as Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain, was struck multiple times. Posts on social media showed a ballistic missile and Iraniandrones slamming into the base. Satellite imagery from the company Planet shows that at least seven buildings in and around the base were struck between Feb. 28 and March 6.
And the consequences of this disastrous illegal war has put the global economy into a spiral from which it will be hard to recover:
Economic shock from Iran war risks driving up global debt levels, says IMF
Conflict is pushing up price of energy and food, fuelling higher borrowing costs and hitting growth, report says
The Iran war risks triggering a rise in global debt levels, forcing governments to choose between cushioning a cost of living shock and maintaining sound public finances, the International Monetary Fund has warned.
Against a volatile backdrop of the Middle East conflict, the Washington-based fund said the war could add to the already strained position of government finances throughout the world.
In its half-yearly fiscal monitor, the IMF said global debt levels were on track to increase because the war was pushing up the price of energy and food, fuelling higher government borrowing costs, and hitting economic growth.
After a rise in gross government debt levels to almost 94% of GDP last year, it warned this figure was on track to reach 100% by 2029, a level previously reached only in the aftermath of the second world war.
“The outbreak of war in the Middle East has added a new source of fiscal pressure to an already strained global landscape,” it said in the report.
“The conflict has material global reach, disrupting energy supplies, tightening financial conditions, and forcing governments to choose between shielding their populations from price spikes and preserving fiscal space.”
Global energy prices have surged since the first US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran on 28 February, risking a renewed inflation shock that has fuelled a sell-off in global debt markets – driving up borrowing costs for governments worldwide.
The IMF said on Tuesday that a further escalation of the conflict could trigger a global recession that would affect the UK more than any other G7 nation.
As finance ministers from around the world gather in Washington for the fund’s spring meetings, including the UK chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the IMF said any energy support schemes to shield the impact for households and businesses should be targeted and temporary.
Highlighting the risk to public finances worldwide after a succession of economic shocks had driven global debt levels higher in the past two decades, it said: “Support should be targeted and temporary, focusing on those most exposed and least able to absorb price increases.”
It also warned countries with precarious public finances against using further borrowing to cushion the blow. “A better approach is to reallocate spending within the same limits and prioritise crisis-related spending (which could be more politically feasible).
How big oil is cashing in on Iran war – The Latest
“The alternative is to lock in higher debt and higher interest costs, which will eventually force tougher choices – or worse, destabilise government debt markets and worsen conditions today.”
Warning that governments adding to borrowing could risk losing confidence in financial markets, the fund highlighted the fallout in the UK from Liz Truss’s 2022 mini budget.
“Episodes of market repricing in Japan, the US, and parts of Europe reflect heightened sensitivity to fiscal slippages and weak medium-term frameworks,” the IMF said.
“Although none have matched the scale of the United Kingdom’s 2022 episode, the message is clear: higher debt, fiscal uncertainty, and delayed consolidation now translate more rapidly into higher borrowing costs.
Qatar hosts one fourth of US military in GCC, and Wajee Lion suggests they will likely not be hosting them for much longer.
Source: See Wajee Lion, a human rights activist, Substack.
He has also written about the Kafala system in the Middle East which often results in abuses of human rights, it being a form of modern day slavery.
Those trapped in the Kafala system are unable to be rescued by their families. Some have already been killed or injured in drone attacks:
The kafala system is a sponsorship system in the Middle East that ties the residency and employment status of migrant workers to a specific employer, giving the employer significant control over the worker’s ability to change jobs or leave the country. This system has been criticized for facilitating exploitation and abuse of migrant workers. Wikipedia walkfree.org
The title of this blog is the first line of the UK footballer fans chant when the visiting top team favoured to win – is losing.
Saudi Arabia’s $925bn (£682bn) sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which invests a chunk of the kingdom’s oil riches, on Wednesday confirmed that it was now time to stop spending big and start spending smarter.
Speculation quickly began to circulate that the PIF would call time on its $5bn loss-making investment in the rebel LIV Golf league, a flagship of Saudi Arabia’s high-flying sports diplomacy.
“LIV is a test case,” says Daniel Brett, of the research firm Global SWF. “It fits in quite neatly with the broader PIF story, which is: more discipline, more scrutiny and tougher choices.”
Mohammed bin Salman faces a much tougher road to emulate and surpass Dubai as the region’s magnet for investors Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images
The PIF’s shift to thrift will ripple through global markets, where the fund has bought into everything from hotels and airports to banks, tech companies and football teams
LIV Golf just the start. Saudis abandon sportswashing after huge losses
Giles Turner
Apr 17, 2026
London | Saudi Arabia’s potential reversal on its costly golfing venture is part of a wider pullback on sports investing as it looks to prioritise returns rather than cultural influence.
LIV Golf, the upstart league that challenged the supremacy of the PGA Tour, has cost the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) more than $US5 billion ($7
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