Meteor fireball seen flying across the skies over Sweden and Finland on July 1

A bright fireball, speculated to be a meteorite, was spotted through the skies above the Åland Islands and Sweden's archipelago. The sight was caught on video and shared across on social media. Many viewers were left in awe after seeing the bright streak across the sky.

Los Angeles is broke - City declares fiscal emergency

The city of Los Angeles declared a state of fiscal emergency amid a $1 billion deficit. The council approved of the emergency declaration unanimously in a 14-0 vote. This comes after Mayor Karen Bass approved a $14 billion budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. The city is a prime example of what happens when socialist policies are allowed to run rampant at the expense of the people. Bass approved of raising the budget from $12.9 billion in FY2024-25 to $14 billion in 2025-26 despite the looming $1 billion deficit. Unsurprisingly, overspending is the main culprit for the deficit, and yet, lawmakers have every intention of spending more. Over 600 public sector workers will be let go as a result of fiscal mismanagement, and although small government is usually applaudable, the city plans to fire 248 LAPD employees, 44 sanitation workers, and 41 firefighters. LA is experiencing a significant uptick in crime, but plans to defund the police to appease the mobs. California...

Is Berlin planning a strike on Moscow? Merz wrote the justification - just ask Iran

Kant is spinning in his grave, while Friedrich Merz is devising maxims from hell. Forget the fog of war. Even in war, and sometimes especially in war, some things are exceedingly clear. Regarding the so-called 'Hamas-Israel War', for instance, it is obvious that in reality it is not a war at all but a genocide, namely the Gaza Genocide, carried out by Israel against the Palestinians whose unbroken resistance will be the stuff of legends, and of history too. Likewise, in the case of Israel's current assault on Iran - really, of course, a combined US-Israeli attack from the get-go - there is no room for doubt that it is criminal and a "blatant act of aggression," as multiple experts in international law agree. That's because in essence, Israel is not acting with a UN mandate - which it would not have received - or in self-defense. The legal basis for this compelling assessment is not complex and there is no room for good-faith debate: Israel's attack violates Article 2 (4) of the...

Stay Sane

"Betting against Donald Trump is usually a bad idea." — Insurrection Barbie on "X" What apparently riles the credentialed political Left — the "gay/race communists" in the apt new phrase — more than anything, is that most of the country has opted to not be insane. This follows a decade-long attempt to drive the country insane, of course, to believe in things that are patently untrue and absurd, and to utilize falsehood and absurdity to garishly destroy the nation. So, it fits that Donald Trump, the uber-realist of political game-playing, pushes what remains of the Democratic Party into a rapture of impotent rage. They've got nothing left but the empty acting-out of lunatics in an asylum of their own making. The wrathful grass-widows choking on their chardonnay in Martha's Vineyard, the furious nose-rings steaming under their keffiyehs in the summer heat, the "Transtifas" storming police lines with their ridiculous umbrellas, the doddering Boomer-hippies reenacting the festive...

1,500 Israeli soldiers will attend Jewish summer camps in North America this year — we must oppose this normalization of genocide

This summer, 1,500 Israeli soldiers will attend Jewish summer camps across North America. They will act as ambassadors for Israel as it carries out ethnic cleansing across Palestine. The Jewish community must reject this normalization of genocide. It's June, which means a similar scene is playing out at tens of thousands of Jewish houses across the continent. Duffel bags dug up from basements. Toiletries laid out on carpeted floors, emergency trips to the drug store for one final item. Last-minute clothing decisions. Bags of carefully curated candy. Tearful midnight goodbyes to school friends. For so many of us Jewish North Americans, the summers of our younger years mean one thing: sleepover camp. Unfortunately, it's not just Jewish kids, teenagers, and twenty-somethings getting ready to go to one of the hundreds of Jewish camps in North America. At a not insubstantial number of these camps, Israeli soldiers will also soon be in attendance, sleeping in cabins, giving guitar...

'She is the only person in the world compatible with herself' — scientists discover new blood type unique to just one person

After years of study, scientists have discovered a new blood type in a woman from Guadeloupe. They're now searching for more people with the characteristic. Scientists have discovered a new blood group that has so far only been identified in one woman, from the French overseas region of Guadeloupe. The 68-year-old is the only known person in the world to have this blood group, which has been named "Gwada negative," after a local name for her home islands. The researchers behind the discovery announced their work in a presentation at the International Society of Blood Transfusion's Congress in Milan, which concluded June 4. The research team first met the woman in 2011, when she was living in Paris and undergoing routine tests before a surgery. But the tests couldn't reveal her blood type or any matches for it. Analysis at the time wasn't advanced enough to detect the cause, and the case lay cold for eight years.

Russian warship openly escorts 'shadow fleet' tankers through English Channel for first time

Russia has conducted its first documented naval escort of sanctioned tankers through the English Channel, signaling a shift in its approach to maritime sanctions enforcement. On June 16, AIS tracking data confirmed that the Russian Navy's Steregushchiy-class corvette Boikiy accompanied two shadow fleet tankers, the Selva and the Sierra, both under Western sanctions, as they transited toward Russian ports. According to Army Recognition on June 23, the Selva, also known as Nostos or Naxos, was initially flagged under Panama but was later verified as operating under the flag of Palau. The Sierra, listed as Suvorovsky Prospekt, is sanctioned by both the UK and EU.

How United is the United States of America?

How many "Americas" are there? It has become obvious over the decades, and particularly in Trumpian America, that ordinary people living in the United States are never represented by the people who find a way to acquire positions of political power — largely because said power is contingent upon the network of money. It isn't by accident that millionaires and billionaires always end up looking after Washington. The reality of America is grim. It's a country riven by a deep economic divide, characterized by significant disparities in wealth and income that have persisted and grown over decades. Wealth in the U.S. is extremely concentrated at the top. The richest 10 percent of families own about 69 percent of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 50 percent hold only around 6 percent, and just 3 percent if excluding future Social Security income. Income inequality has risen steadily since 1980, with the top 1 percent seeing their incomes grow by over 500 percent in recent decades,...

How long shall we tolerate the crimes of our politicians?

There is growing evidence that traditional narratives leveraging historical guilt — such as invoking the Holocaust and Jewish persecution and victimhood — are losing traction among Western publics, especially younger generations and those outside elite political circles. The "Shoah guilt complex" (Holocaust-related guilt) has for decades underpinned much of Europe's and North America's diplomatic and public support for Israel, shielding it from criticism and reinforcing its victim narrative. However, the on-going genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, carried out by Israel, is widely condemned for its savagery and heartlessness. This has led to increasing public dissent and activism in the West, with many citizens calling for accountability, ceasefires, and justice for Palestinians. Further, the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, is charged with carrying war crimes — but politicians continue to treat as if he is pure as the driven snow — all the while the ordinary people of...

Death toll rises to over 50 after Pakistan hit by flash floods and heavy rains (UPDATE)

Heavy rain and flash flooding across Pakistan have killed 32 people since the start of the monsoon season earlier this week, according to the disaster management officials. Flash floods and roof collapses over the past 36 hours have claimed the lives of 19 people, eight of them children, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial disaster management authority said in a statement on Saturday. Of the total deaths, 13 were reported in the Swat Valley. At least 13 people have been killed in the eastern province of Punjab since Wednesday, the area's disaster management authority said. Eight of the deaths were children, who died when walls and roofs collapsed during heavy rain.

Record summer rainfall in central China leads to flooding and evacuations - month's worth of rain (14 inches) in just 12 hours on June 29

A record summer downpour in China's central province of Hubei dumped more than a month's worth of rain in just 12 hours on the city of Xianfeng, prompting authorities on Tuesday to move 18,000 people to safety, shut schools, and suspend bus services. Gushing brown torrents washed away cars in the city of 300,000 deluged on Monday night, local media videos showed online, as more than 14 inches of rain fell in one area. State media said more than 18,000 were shifted to safety, while water and power supplies were disrupted, prompting the closure of schools and suspension of bus services. Reuters

What means 'winning'?

At one level, Iran plainly 'won'. Trump had wanted to be regaled with a reality-TV style, splendid 'Victory'. Sunday's attack on the three nuclear sites indeed was loudly proclaimed by Trump and Hegseth as such - having 'obliterated' Iran's nuclear enrichment programme, they claimed. 'Destroyed it completely', they insist. Only ... it didn't: The strike caused superficial surface damage, perhaps. And seemingly was co-ordinated in advance with Iran via intermediaries to be a 'once and done' affair. This is a habitual Trump pattern (advance co-ordination). It was the mode in Syria, Yemen and even with Trump's assassination of Qasem Soleimani - all intended to give Trump a quick media 'victory'. The so-called 'ceasefire' that rapidly followed the U.S. strikes - albeit not without some hiccoughs - was a hastily assembled 'cessation of hostilities' (and no ceasefire - as no terms were agreed). It was a 'stop-gap'. What this means is that the negotiating impasse between Iran and Witkoff...

Berlin moves to ban autos from inside the city. Widespread chaos looms

Just 12 car trips person per year would be allowed! The Berlin Constitutional Court has declared the "Berlin car-free" referendum admissible, paving the way for a possible drastic reduction in car traffic. Hat-tip: Blackout News The court found that the aim of promoting health and climate protection is a legitimate legislative objective and that the draft does not violate fundamental rights. There is no constitutional right to individual road use. The initiative aims for a car-free Berlin center in which private car trips would be limited to just twelve per person per year. Exceptions would be for police, emergency services and people with mobility impairments. Delivery traffic and special cases such as services would be able to be approved digitally. The proponents argue that the aim is not to replace combustion engines with electric cars, but to reduce the total number of vehicles around the city center. "We have won, right down the line: the future of Berlin belongs to safety,...

Meteor fireball streaks across the sky of 2 states in Brazil on June 29

Clima ao Vivo cameras recorded a meteor that occurred during the night of this Sunday, streaking across the sky of 6 cities in the states of SP and MG.

Graduate student solves classic mathematics problem about the limits of addition

A new proof illuminates the hidden patterns that emerge when addition becomes impossible. The simplest ideas in mathematics can also be the most perplexing. Take addition. It's a straightforward operation: One of the first mathematical truths we learn is that 1 plus 1 equals 2. But mathematicians still have many unanswered questions about the kinds of patterns that addition can give rise to. "This is one of the most basic things you can do," said Benjamin Bedert, a graduate student at the University of Oxford. "Somehow, it's still very mysterious in a lot of ways." In probing this mystery, mathematicians also hope to understand the limits of addition's power. Since the early 20th century, they've been studying the nature of "sum-free" sets — sets of numbers in which no two numbers in the set will add to a third. For instance, add any two odd numbers and you'll get an even number. The set of odd numbers is therefore sum-free.

Iran's top military commander questions Israel's ceasefire commitment

Iran's top military commander on Sunday questioned Israel's commitment to a recently agreed ceasefire following 12 days of fighting, warning that Tehran was prepared to respond forcefully to any renewed aggression, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Abdolrahim Mousavi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, made the remarks during a phone call with Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, as the two discussed the conflict involving Iran, Israel, and the United States.

WaPo journalist Thomas Pham LeGro charged with possession of child pornography

Award-winning journalist Thomas Pham LeGro has been charged with possession of child pornography after a raid of his Washington DC home. LeGro, 48, a video journalist with the Washington Post, appeared in court Friday after agents allegedly found 11 videos 'depicting child sexual abuse material' on a laptop in his home. According to the US Attorney's Office in DC, agents seized a number of devices from LeGro's home on Thursday, including a laptop. It is alleged fractured pieces of a hard drive from another device were also found in the home.

Rare earths should be a 'bond,' not a 'stumbling block,' in China-EU relations

The issue of rare earths has recently drawn widespread attention in discussions about China-EU relations. The European side has complained that a decline in rare earth exports from China is affecting European businesses "very, very badly," and has indicated that the matter will be a key topic during the upcoming China-EU leaders' meeting. During the G7 Summit in Canada a few days ago, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even brandished a rare earth magnet, accusing China of "weaponizing" rare earths and calling on "like-minded partners" to join forces to counter the so-called "China shock."

Gen Z women are booking convents, embracing vows of silence instead of beach houses this summer

Move over, shared beach houses and Aperol spritzes. This summer, a growing number of Gen Z women are checking into Catholic convents and monasteries instead — on purpose. In an unexpected pivot from rooftop parties and dating app exhaustion, young women are opting for peace and quiet. Literal quiet. The latest trend, dubbed "vow of silence summer," has people voluntarily giving up speaking for days at a time, communicating only by writing or gestures while living alongside nuns. And demand is high. "I booked a vow of silence at a Catholic monastery late last year, and the booking process is really straightforward — you just email the nuns," said TikToker @mc667868 in a video that's now been viewed over 700,000 times. "When I went to book again for this summer, they were fully booked for the next three months."

Beijing launches first China-Europe freight train to cross Caspian Sea

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- A China-Europe freight train departed from Beijing on Monday, marking the launch of the capital's first cross-Caspian Sea multimodal freight service.