Moody’s Ratings has stripped the United States government of its top credit rating, citing successive governments’ failure to stop a rising tide of debt, a surprise move that could complicate President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut taxes and send ripples through global markets.

On Friday, Moody’s lowered the rating from a gold-standard Aaa to Aa1. “Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” it said as it changed its outlook on the US to “stable” from “negative”.

get ready for mass austerity

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a large-scale prisoner exchange but failed to reach a breakthrough during their first direct peace talks since 2022, held in Istanbul without either Vladimir Putin or Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Sitting down under pressure from the US president, Donald Trump, Ukraine had pushed for a 30-day ceasefire before the talks. Moscow rejected this, appearing to stick to its maximalist demands, including sweeping restrictions on Ukrainian sovereignty.

https://archive.ph/6tPCl

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30209888

Jeremy Scahill
May 16, 2025

A senior Hamas official told Drop Site that the group received a direct commitment from Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, that two days after the release of U.S. citizen and Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, the Trump administration would compel Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory. Witkoff, according to the official, also promised that Trump would make a public call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and for negotiations aimed at achieving a “permanent ceasefire.”

“It was a deal,” said Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’s political bureau who has previously engaged in direct talks with U.S. officials. He said the pledge was made by “Witkoff, himself.” In an interview with Drop Site, Naim said the agreement was: “If we release [Alexander], Trump will speak out thanking Hamas for its gesture, obliging Israel on the second day to open the borders and allow aid to come into Gaza, and [Trump would] call for an immediate ceasefire and to go for negotiations to end the war.”

“He did nothing of this,” Naim added. “They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.”

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

A former shadow immigration minister and Black Labour MP has strongly criticised UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's immigration rhetoric, warning it could incite civil unrest and repeat the injustices of the Windrush scandal.

Earlier this week, Starmer caused consternation among several MPs when he said the UK risked becoming "an island of strangers" during a speech unveiling major immigration reforms in a newly published White Paper.

The rhetoric was likened by some to the language used by Enoch Powell in his controversial 1968 "Rivers of Blood" speech, in which he warned of a future where white people "found themselves made strangers in their own country".

Israel says it has launched strikes on the Yemeni ports of Hodeidah and as-Salif in response to the Houthi firing missiles towards Israel, days after the Yemeni group agreed a truce with the United States.

The Israeli military said it carried out strikes on “terrorist infrastructure” on Friday, saying on X that the two ports had been used by the Houthi rebel group to “transfer weapons”

Al Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated outlet, also reported Israeli strikes on the two ports. The extent of any damage was not clear, and there no immediate reports of casualties.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut, reporting from Jordan’s capital Amman, said that since Israel broke a ceasefire agreement with Hamas back in March – killing almost 3,000 since then, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry – the Houthis had launched “at least 34 different projectiles” towards Israel.

https://archive.ph/GYyfi

The IDF has admitted to bombing a hospital in order to assassinate a prominent Palestinian journalist in Gaza, explicitly stating that they assassinated him for engaging in journalistic activities.

The official Israel Defense Forces account made the following post on Twitter (emphasis added):

Don’t let Aslih’s press vest fool you: Hassan Abdel Fattah Mohammed Aslih, a terrorist from the Hamas Khan Yunis brigade, was eliminated along with other terrorists in the ‘Nasser’ hospital in Khan Yunis. Aslih participated in the brutal October 7 massacre under the guise of a journalist and owner of a news network. During the massacre, he documented acts of murder, looting, and arson, posting the footage online. Journalist? More like terrorist.”

Documenting newsworthy acts and posting the footage online is also known as journalism. It’s the thing that journalism is.

Since Donald Trump's inauguration, OAN personalities have pushed bizarre and inflammatory foreign policy commentary, including referring to Canada as “our vassal state,” calling Greenland ”the new Africa,” and pushing for a revival of “manifest destiny.” They’ve also run cover for Trump over his planned acceptance of a luxury jet from Qatar.

https://archive.ph/iiQLJ

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/30176680

Julia Conley
May 15, 2025

"Melanie O'Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, told NRC that #Israel's deliberate blockade on "food, water, shelter, and sanitation" convinced her the #Netanyahu government was carrying out a #genocide, while Segal pointed to "openly genocidal statements" by #Israeli leaders.

"But for all it is about the sum of what would apply separately as 'ordinary' war crimes," NRC reported. "The picture as a whole makes it a genocide. That is how the term is meant, says [British professor Martin] Shaw: 'holistic.'""