Following his trip to Qatar, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amirabdollahian, headed to the Sultanate of Oman. On Tuesday evening, the Iranian minister and his group landed in Muscat after participating in a number of high-profile meetings in Qatar earlier in the day.
In a tweet that he made on his Twitter account, Amirabdollahian defined the cultivation of positive ties with Iran’s surrounding countries as a crucial component of a well-rounded Iranian foreign policy.
He went on to say that Iran’s regional neighbors have enormous economic, commercial, and political potential.
The senior Iranian diplomat stated that the objective of his travel to Oman was to promote the ties between the two countries and to continue the pursuit of the previous bilateral agreements that were signed by the officials of both nations.
New Mexico Democrat Martin Heinrich, Oregon Democrat Ron Wyden, and Wyoming Republican Cynthia Lummis sponsored the bill.
The proposal also attempts to criminalize and civilly punish foreign company employees who access U.S. data abroad.
“It is simply too easy for anyone to buy large volumes of information about Americans – a concern I’ve been highlighting for some time,” Heinrich stated in a news release.
“Whether our adversaries or our government buy this personal data, we need guardrails. I’ll hold Avril Haines to her promise to study and execute the report’s recommendations.
This law is a wonderful start to preserve Americans’ privacy and national security.
Tuesday’s bipartisan bill protects data from foreign governments.
The Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Surveillance Act of 2023 amends the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 to safeguard American data from foreign governments.
These revisions include asking the Commerce Secretary and other agencies to designate personal data theft categories that might impair national security if exported and a list of nations where data can be shared with or without limits.
“The adequacy and enforcement of the country’s privacy and export control laws, the circumstances under which the foreign government can compel, coerce, or pay a person in that country to disclose personal data, and whether that foreign government has conducted hostile foreign intelligence operations against the United States” will determine whether these countries are high risk or low risk, according to a bill news release.
The bill regulates all personal data exports by data brokers and firms to restricted foreign governments and applies export control penalties to senior executives who knew or should have known if their employees “were directed to illegally export Americans’ personal data,” according to the news release.
Ohio Republican Rep. Warren Davidson and California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo presented the measure in the House.
Iran’s UN ambassador said Unilateral Coercive Measures (UCMs) hamper international terrorist cooperation. Saeed Iravani told the third UN High-Level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of Member States in New York that counterterrorism requires comprehensive strategies that take into account cultural, political, social, economic, security, and intelligence dimensions.
His speech:
God, the Merciful, Compassionate.
Mr. Chair,
Please accept my thanks for your session leadership and presentation.
Mr. Chair, esteemed colleagues.
Twenty years before 9/11, the MKO terrorist gang killed almost 17,000 innocent Iranians, including women and children. As we approach June 28, this terrorist group assassinated the Iranian Head of Judiciary and dozens of high-ranking officials, including parliamentarians, twenty years ago.
Two months later, they killed the then-president and prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. MKO caused unimaginable devastation, but several Western nations ignored and harbored them.
In assessing the terrorist environment and trends, we should consider how double standards encourage terrorism and increase the possibility of recurrence. We further reiterate that fighting terrorism involves non-politicized, non-discriminatory, non-selective actions.
Dear coworkers,
The Islamic Republic of Iran has shown its sincere commitment to battling terrorism by aiding States afflicted by terrorism in defeating and decreasing terrorist groups in the area, especially DAESH, which committed heinous terrorist deeds. General Qassem Soleimani helped defeat a terrorist outfit that would have spread terrorism outside the area. He was killed in a Baghdad airport terrorist assault while on an official mission.
Despite its demise, DAESH still poses a threat. DAESH’s recruiting of mercenaries, together with Afghanistan’s instability and foreign troops’ illegal presence, has contributed to its comeback. We must redouble our efforts to prevent this terrorist outfit from operating freely.
Mr. Chair,
Counterterrorism tactics must consider cultural, political, social, economic, security, and intelligence factors. We must remember that Unilateral Coercive Measures hamper international cooperation in battling terrorism. Thus, “economic terrorism” must halt.
Yesterday, Slovak President Zuzana Caputova informed media she would not run again in 2024 because she would not have the strength.
In 2019, Caputova was directly elected president and will serve until mid-June 2024. She was new to top politics.
Public opinion polls show that Slovakia’s most popular politician, Caputova, is declining.
Before making this decision, I estimated my strength for the following six years. “After very honest consideration, today I know that those forces would not be enough for another term,” Caputova remarked one day before her 50th birthday.
She also considered her family’s wishes.
She and her family received death threats in May after lawmakers verbally abused her.
Slovakia’s first female president is Caputova. She is pro-European, pro-Ukraine, and pro-law.
As president, she has avoided direct confrontations with her adversaries and has often said that decency is not weakness.
“Please do not take my decision not to run as proof that one cannot succeed with decency. “Decency can win elections, hold office, and make you the most trusted politician,” Caputova added.
She stated Slovakia does not depend on one person, that smart, sensitive, and energetic individuals have ran in previous elections and should participate in the next presidential election. She did not say if she will continue in politics following her presidency.
She ran for the extra-parliamentary Progressive Slovakia movement, which is polling second in the country according to the latest Ipsos electoral model, in 2019.
Slovakia’s top political parties are focused on the 30 September early elections rather than announcing presidential candidates. Former foreign minister Jan Kubis may run for president, the press reports.
After the Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party left the ruling coalition last autumn, former foreign minister Ivan Korcok declared he would not run for president if Caputova was a candidate.
She has been verbally attacked by ex-PM Robert Fico’s Smer-SD, which leads polls ahead of September’s election, and by Igor Matovic, another former PM and leader of parliament’s largest party, Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO).
On June 4, OPEC+ reached an uneasy compromise in Vienna after seven hours of tough negotiations. As crude oil prices fell due to macroeconomic issues, supply instability, and demand uncertainty, this was the first in-person production policy conference in almost three years.
The 23-member oil producer alliance, which includes Russia and Saudi Arabia, decided to maintain its output target for this year. However, Saudi Arabia agreed to a voluntary one-month output decrease of 1 million barrels per day (mbpd) starting July. Importantly, it didn’t say when.
“Adjust the level of crude oil production to 40.46 mbpd starting January 1 2024 until December 31 2024,” the cartel said. To maintain demand, it cut oil output by 2 mbpd. In April, seven member nations, lead by Saudi Arabia, offered 1.15 mbpd of voluntary cutbacks, while Russia pledged 500,000 bpd in March.
After a March 2020 dispute ended their oil relationship and sparked a price war, Moscow and Riyadh have resumed cooperation under a new OPEC+ accord. Since, they’ve united.
Explain market price declines.
Conflicting remarks from member countries swayed market sentiment before the June 4 summit. “I keep advising [oil market speculators] that they will be ouching. April hurt. On May 23, Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman cautioned the market, “I’m not a poker player, but I would just tell them, watch out.”
Calling the bluff followed. Was it a bluff, rethink, or pact? Intriguingly, oil prices have not increased despite market tightening. Why?
Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence organization in Oslo, predicts a 2.4 mbpd oil market shortfall through December. Jorge Leon, its senior vice president, says stronger-than-expected supply, trailing demand, and non-fundamental reasons are keeping oil prices low despite the market shortage.
OPEC+ members strayed from April production curbs in May, according to oil production statistics. Instead of the planned 1.15 mbpd decline, the group of seven nations produced 900,000 bpd. Russia dropped production by 400,000 bpd, less than its target of 500,000.
On Tuesday morning, opposition leader Yair Lapid told 103FM that Israel’s opposition never sought to halt judicial reform deliberations at the President’s Residence.
“Netanyahu is giving in to [Justice Minister Yariv] Levin and [law committee chairman Simcha] Rothman in order to maintain his failing government,” Lapid stated.
Lapid stated the opposition never cancelled negotiations.
“We told them ‘pick a [opposition] representative for the [Judicial Selection] Committee, and we will continue the talks,'” he stated.
Lapid said that “their commitment to the president was freezing all legislation as long as we were negotiating at the President’s Residence,” making conversations pointless.
Lapid alleged the coalition broke its deal with the opposition.
“There was an agreement – we go vote in a [Judicial Selection] Committee and go back to negotiating,” he said. “They didn’t choose a committee because they got into one of their ridiculous disagreements.”
Netanyahu unilaterally reforms justice
On Sunday, Netanyahu indicated that the coalition will unilaterally pass judicial reform legislation, and later that evening, he convened the coalition leaders to discuss how to proceed without discussions.
The coalition started with the reasonability provision that would allow Shas leader Aryeh Deri to be a minister despite the High Court of Justice dismissing him. Wednesday’s bill committee vote should forward the measure to Knesset voting.
“They want to run over the court and fire the attorney general for the crime of being appointed by the previous government,” Lapid said of the plan to “return a convicted criminal to the government.”
Today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will sign off on €50 million in funding for a variety of North-South initiatives, including a significant investment to expand cross-border education at Ulster University’s Derry campus. The Department of Further & Higher Education will provide approximately €45 million (£38.4 million) for the construction of a new teaching and student services facility on the Derry campus.
New lecture and seminar rooms, computer laboratories, and student services will be included. The expansion will also free up space in other buildings for educational purposes.
It will foster cross-border education in the region and support teaching and research between Ulster University and Atlantic Technological University-Donegal.
Ulster University proposes a 6,500-student Derry campus with the new building.
The development also fulfills the Irish government’s commitment to invest in the Derry campus under the New Decade, New Approach agreement.
As part of Dublin’s Shared Island initiative, a new Youth Forum will be established later this year, bringing together up to 80 young people from across the border to discuss their vision and values for a shared future on the island.
Included in the funding for other initiatives is a new therapeutic and respite center for children with illness and their families from the entire island of Ireland.
This year, there will also be investments in two new bio-economy demonstrator facilities for the island’s agriculture and marine sectors, as well as funding to complete the Narrow Water Bridge project’s bidding process.
In an unprecedented move following Stormont budget cutbacks, Irish Health Minister Stephen Donnelly granted financing for 250 student nursing and midwifery positions in Northern Ireland earlier this month.
The €10 million investment will result in 200 undergraduate positions for students from the Republic and 50 undergraduate positions for students from Northern Ireland.
According to Pirate Party spokeswoman Veronika Smidova, Czech Justice Minister Pavel Blazek (ODS) threatens public trust in justice and rule of law and the government’s policy goals.
The resolution addressed Blazek’s apparent conflict of interest in the Brno municipal apartments corruption probe and his recent contentious actions disclosed by anti-corruption organizations.
514 party members voted online on alternative actions, and 369 supported the resolution.
Jakub Skyva, ODS spokesperson, said the Brno district branch meeting yesterday unanimously supported Blazek as minister.
Blazek said that less than one-third of Pirate voters disapproved of him online. He emphasized his Brno ODS party branch’s support.
Pirate Party leader Ivan Bartos will discuss the vote with Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS).
Fiala informed CTK he had only media information on the Pirate Forum voting results. The Brno regional assembly, which I attended this evening, unanimously supported Pavel Blazek, he stated.
“Out of 1,177 Pirate Party members, 369 have sent me electronic messages of no confidence, less than a third,” Blazek tweeted. “Tonight, 129 Brno ODS congress delegates, representing 898 members, supported me in office.
They dwell in Brno, unlike the nationally voting Pirates. They made their decision based on true understanding of the situation and after hearing my viewpoint.
In a press release, Bartos said the government Pirates had shared their concerns with Blazek.
“It was agreed that letters from MPs via a minister to state prosecutors would never be repeated,” he claimed.
He stated public misgivings about the Brno case remained. He claimed the Pirates were validating how political observers saw Blazek.
“I am ready to help resolve the situation within our Pirates capacity,” stated Bartos. As a parliamentary group, we have supported this. However, the Prime Minister and ODS oversee the ministry and its staff and assure its operation. I’d want to mention the Pirates’ meeting with Fiala and have been contacted by major anti-corruption groups.”
At the Pirate Party forum, MEP Marketa Gregorova initiated a membership-wide vote. She criticized Blazek over the media cases, saying the Pirates should stand up as an anti-corruption party.
On Friday, Blazek claimed Gregorova declined an open debate. “About him without him,” he tweeted.
Fiala (ODS) recently indicated there was no reason to worry about government coalition conflicts and that Blazek was not abusing power.
Every week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican governors of Florida and Texas escalate their cross-country rivalry.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott are sending aircraft and buses full of Latin American migrants to California towns.
Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta have warned criminal prosecution for virtual kidnappings.
“I know one was on the basis of all the interviews and all the facts that are now in evidence,” Newsom told NBC’s “Today” after an aircraft carried immigrants to Sacramento. “Now we must prove it.
They’re human pawns for a politician. “That’s sad and pathetic,” Newsom added. California is the fourth- or fifth-largest economy on Earth. Mean business. Ron DeSantis should know that.”
Bonta tweeted, “State-sanctioned kidnapping is immoral.”
DeSantis and Abbott argue that those brought to California consented and show the Biden administration’s inaction on border security.
Abbott tweeted that Biden’s unrestricted borders had swamped Texas border towns. Texas transports migrants to sanctuary cities like LA to help border communities. We will persist until Biden secures the border.”
Predictably the encounter sparked further hatred.
At a bill-signing ceremony last week, DeSantis, a presidential candidate, said Newsom “has a real serious fixation on the state of Florida” after Newsom again blasted him on Fox News. His behavior is strange. Stop waffling, I’d say. Will you confront Joe Biden?”
“Are you going to join in or sit on the sidelines and chirp?” DeSantis continued. “Why don’t you throw your hat into the ring?”
A federal judge’s ruling found that one Newsom gesture is costing Californians more than $500,000, while Florida and Texas taxpayers are funding the aircraft and buses that bring migrants to California.
After Texas passed a law allowing private lawsuits against anybody who terminated a fetus with a detectable heartbeat and making it nearly hard to defend such an action, Newsom convinced the California Legislature to approve a copycat provision impacting prohibited weapons makers.
Newsom said it was a gimmick to show the Texas law’s ridiculousness, not a policy statement.
The California statute was declared unconstitutional by federal Judge Roger Benitez because it would have obliged defendants to pay litigation fees even if they won. The Texas law has withstood legal challenges.
“I want to thank Judge Benitez,” said Newsom, who has previously criticized Benitez for gun rights judgments. We’ve always called Texas’ anti-abortion law absurd. Judge Benitez just ruled it unconstitutional.”
After challenging the California legislation, Benitez granted the gun rights groups over $557,000 in legal costs, which they can use to oppose additional California gun laws.
The mayor’s lawyer told The Media Line that the Turkish government is using criminal proceedings to prevent Istanbul’s opposition mayor from becoming president or party leader.
After being condemned to more than two years last year, Ekrem Imamoglu, who delivered the opposition its biggest triumph in decades by winning the 2019 Istanbul mayoral contest, faces up to seven years in jail on fresh accusations.
The major opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) member Ekrem Imamoglu, who led Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district, is accused of fraud over government tenders.
The government aims to prevent Imamoglu from leading the biggest opposition party or becoming president, according to his lawyer, Gokhan Gunaydin.
“The plan is to try to ban his political road,” Gunaydin said in court Wednesday, representing Imamoglu against the additional allegations.
The Media Line received no response from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s communications office.
Gunaydin claimed Imamoglu was not involved in the bids that led to the allegations.
If found guilty or if his earlier conviction is maintained, Imamoglu may have to resign owing to a “political ban” that prevents him from being elected.
Gunaydin said there would be multiple appeals before such a ban was implemented and that CHP supporters and those who found the process unjust would “struggle” against it.
“The last Istanbul election proved this,” he remarked.
After Imamoglu narrowly defeated Erdogan’s supporter in the mayoral contest, the electoral board canceled the results and ordered another vote, which he won in a landslide.
Imamoglu was sentenced to almost two years for “insulting” electoral authorities last year, but he appealed.
Imamoglu denies all accusations.
Turkey tensions
The administration denies politicizing the judiciary, but critics say it does.
After winning elections that were anticipated to be his biggest challenge, with numerous surveys showing the opposition candidate tied or ahead of him, analysts fear Erdogan would crack down on dissent.
A co-founder of Erdogan’s former finance minister’s opposition party was sentenced to five years in jail on Thursday for sharing secret information.
The accusations precede local elections for mayors nationwide.
Ankara-based foreign policy analyst Aydin Sezer said Erdogan’s first priority would be regaining Istanbul and Ankara, which the opposition took for the first time in decades in the 2019 municipal elections.
Erdogan is apparently contemplating names that may win votes from all parts of society for these two cities. “However, he is aware that the negative impact of new economic policies on the population will play a large role in the elections,” Sezer told The Media Line.
Turkey’s suffering economy, with inflation reaching 40% last month, is one of the primary reasons Erdogan’s party lost cities in the recent local elections and was pushed into a second round for the May presidential election to keep power.
The Turkish president began his political career as Istanbul’s mayor and grew up in a working-class area.
His worst political loss since coming to power was the city mayoral election loss.
The CHP is entangled in internal party politics, with defeated presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu facing calls to resign and Imamoglu seeking a full party overhaul.
RANE Middle East expert Ryan Bohl told The Media Line that Erdogan wants to prevent opposition candidates from winning municipal elections because they might challenge him in the next presidential election.
“I think he’ll try to disrupt the opposition, try to prevent them from coming back from their defeat this year,” Bohl added.
He said that if the opposition won the municipal elections in Istanbul and Ankara again, it would give them optimism for the 2028 presidential race, but if they failed, it would depress their chances following their May loss.
If they lose those seats, opposition morale will plummet and they may dissolve. he stated.
“If they win, the CHP can stave that off, rally the troops, and try to prepare the counter attack for 2028.”
