'The World Sees You, Netanyahu': Israel's Iran Strikes Seen as 'War of Distraction' Amid Gaza Genocide

"This 'war' is an unprovoked, unilateral attack, a criminal act of aggression, and it is meant to distract the world from acting with regard to Israel's genocide," said one Israeli critic.


A protester holds a placard saying, "Arrest Netanyahu" during a peaceful solidarity rally to condemn Israel for attacking Iran and Gaza on June 20, 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(Photo: Faris Hadziq/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Julia Conley
Jun 21, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

As Israel warned of a "prolonged campaign" against Iran and launched a new round of airstrikes on a nuclear facility and missile sites Saturday, a number of critics accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of waging a "war of distraction" as his military continues its slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

Iran's Health Ministry said Saturday that more than 400 Iranians—the majority of them civilians—have been killed as Israel has struck dozens of targets in recent days, provoking retaliatory missile strikes from Iran. At least 3,056 people have been wounded in Iran. In Israel, officials said at least 24 people had been killed.

The deaths of civilians were made "even more horrible," said Israeli academic Ori Goldberg, by the fact that Israel began its attacks as "a diversion"—claiming the strikes were necessary to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons even as the Middle Eastern country was negotiating with the U.S. regarding its nuclear program, which it has repeatedly said it uses for peaceful civilian purposes.

"This 'war' is an unprovoked, unilateral attack, a criminal act of aggression, and it is meant to distract the world from acting with regard to Israel's genocide," said Goldberg. "That is how desperate Israel is."

Israel claimed it killed three top commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday—deaths that were not immediately confirmed by Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump delayed announcing a decision earlier this week regarding whether the U.S. military would become directly involved in Israel's assault on Iran, but on Saturday flight tracking data showed that U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers were headed across the Pacific from the U.S.—days after more warplanes were shown to be flying towards Europe.

The B-2 planes "could be equipped to carry the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs that Mr. Trump is considering deploying against Iran's underground nuclear facilities in Fordo," The New York Times reported Saturday. The Fordo facilities are some of Iran's largest and have not yet been targeted.

Meanwhile, at least 11 more Palestinians were killed in the latest Israeli attacks at aid sites set up by a U.S.- and Israel-backed foundation in Gaza. They were among a total of 26 Palestinians who were killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Saturday, Al Jazeerareported.

Israel has continued to block humanitarian aid from entering Gaza except at distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is staffed by U.S. security contractors. Gaza's Health Ministry said more than 400 Palestinians have been killed by Israel at GHF sites since they opened in late May; more than 55,000 people have been killed by Israeli forces since the IDF began bombarding Gaza in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said this week that the "vast majority" of people who it's treated at its field hospital since the GHF sites began operating have been wounded while trying to access aid.

The BBC reported Saturday that "in almost all incidents," eyewitnesses have said the IDF opened fire; in some cases there have also been reports of "local armed gunmen" shooting at crowds of Palestinians.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Netanyahu may incorrectly "think no one will notice what he's doing in Gaza while he bombs Iran."

On Thursday, journalist Samira Mohyeddin noted that Israel also bombed the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, killing at least 13 people in makeshift tents.

"While Israel continues to try and avert the world's eyes towards its war of distraction on Iran, its genocide pushes on with ferocity in Gaza," said Mohyeddin.

Israeli academic Shaiel Ben-Ephraim pointed out that Netanyahu has previously sparked "new conflicts to shift the conversation"—attacking the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria.

"Each flare-up acts as a smokescreen, pulling eyes away from the suffering and devastation happening under his command," said Ben-Ephraim. "Now, Iran is his latest and most effective diversion. This isn't accidental. It's a calculated move to fracture international attention and ease the pressure on him."

"Netanyahu doesn't just need to be voted out; he should be brought to The Hague to face justice for the death and destruction he's unleashed."

Op-Ed: U.S. strikes Iran — WW3 is likely to be extremely ugly and very dumb


ByPaul Wallis
June 22, 2025

DIGITAL J0URNAL


US President Donald Trump addresses the nation on strikes on Iran with Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth behind him - Copyright POOL/AFP CARLOS BARRIA

The much publicized and remarkably lacking in detail US airstrikes on Iran are likely to lead to a very long, drawn-out global mess. Taken on face value, the US must have delivered a final knockout blow to nefarious Iranian nuclear ambitions.

That’s quite unlikely.

Even if you assume the US knocked out fortified Iranian nuclear facilities 90 metres underground, The result doesn’t look good for the short or long term. This is just the beginning.

Trump had previously given various ultimatums to Iran on a two week timeframe.

He demanded “surrender” and barely even got a response. He threatened the Iranian president, who simply appointed a successor. In the absence of any real achievement, he launched airstrikes.

Trump’s penchant for creating conflict wherever he goes is seriously misplaced here. It won’t and can’t work.

The situation has been misread badly on multiple levels:

If this is an attempt to tap American patriotism to counter disastrous polls, it’s likely to have a short shelf life. Trump will now be held directly responsible for whatever does or doesn’t happen. Lack of results will be seen as a defeat.

Support from Western allies is likely to be muted and definitely minimal. Most Western countries were calling for de-escalation.

Given Trump’s constant ill-informed and incredibly crass denigration of US allies, it’s likely that not much cooperation will be forthcoming.

Strategically and in military terms, the situation is worse:

Iran is a large international player with multiple friends and allies who can deliver meaningful support. Chinese cargo planes were seen arriving in Iran last week, creating a mystery about what they were doing, or even if they exist.

Russia is directly linked to Iran by defense agreements and some wholesome rhetoric. Neither country needs to be directly involved. This is a proxy war they can’t lose, and the US can’t win.

Iran has far more global strike capacity than Al Qaeda did in 2001 or ISIS in the 2010s. America is not even theoretically invulnerable to low-tech attacks.

Any degree of US military involvement will require long-term allocation of resources. That will be expensive, and the military objectives aren’t at all clear. The fatal expression “Boots on the ground” would be the best indicator of “no ideas” in any military scenario.

Most of America’s worst and most utterly futile military situations have related to unconventional warfare. To fight America, Iran has no option but to use unconventional means. Their flying fossils are no real threat to US systems. The default response must be guerrilla warfare on a global scale. That could go on for decades.

If this is “World War 3 by other means”, it’ll be hideous. At the very least, you can expect another couple of decades of murderous strikes on anyone and anything like the post-9/11 world. Middle Eastern wars tend to just get worse. Nothing will actually be achieved. The Middle East will continue to be a hellhole. The Palestinians will never have a state, and Israel will never have peace.

It’s not just the US getting drawn into the endless Middle East madness. The world will be drawn in, directly or otherwise.

In the name of Trump?

The hell you say.

_________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

Ex-members of secret US abortion rights group fear return to dark era

Agence France-Presse
June 22, 2025 


Abortion rights activists rally after the US Supreme Court struck down the right to abortion, in Miami, Florida, on June 24, 2022 (AFP)

They were once part of an underground network that helped an estimated 11,000 women get abortions before the US Supreme Court established a constitutional right to the procedure in 1973.

More than 50 years on, former members of the "Jane Collective" are watching in disbelief as America slides back toward the era they risked everything to end.

"I was crushed," recalls Abby Pariser, speaking to AFP ahead of the third anniversary on June 24 of the landmark Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade and erased the federal right to terminate a pregnancy.

"I was infuriated that they could do this to women," adds the 80-year-old Pariser at her home in Huntington, a suburb of New York City, wearing a T-shirt declaring "Bold Women. Change History."

Like many of the now-retired women, Pariser devoted her life to defending reproductive rights at a time when abortion was widely illegal in the United States.

The story began in Chicago in the late 1960s.

Students, mothers, and young professionals -- "ordinary women," as they describe themselves -- came together, helping others access clandestine abortions.

They risked prison as they negotiated prices with doctors willing to perform the procedures -- and some even learned to do them themselves.

"It was just unbelievable that this would occur in this time and era, that we would go back to something this devastating," says a fellow ex-Jane, Sakinah Ahad Shannon, her voice breaking with emotion.

The seismic reversal -- and the release of the HBO documentary "The Janes" -- brought renewed attention to their story. Several former members have since spoken out, recounting the hardships women faced before the Roe ruling.

- Mobsters and back-alley surgeries -

At the time, access to contraception was severely limited, and the very notion of abortion was steeped in taboo, recalls Laura Kaplan, a former Jane and author of a book on the subject, who now lives in the iconic New York village of Woodstock.

Out of public view, women resorted to desperate measures to end unwanted pregnancies -- from ingesting poison to seeking help from underground abortionists.

The illicit trade was dominated by corrupt doctors and Mafia intermediaries, who charged exorbitant fees. Abortions typically cost around $500, Kaplan remembers.

"You could rent a decent one-bedroom apartment in Chicago for $150 a month at the time," she says. "Just to give you a sense of how expensive abortions were."


Beyond the financial burden, women were often subjected to sexual assault, humiliation, or medical malpractice. Some did not survive.

"There were wards in every major city's public hospitals for women suffering the effects of illegal abortions -- whether self-induced or performed by someone else -- and they were dying," Kaplan adds.

The Jane network emerged in response to this grim reality, aligned with the broader women's liberation movement of the time.


They adopted pseudonyms, opened a phone hotline, and raised funds to help women who could not afford the procedure.

Some later trained to perform dilation and curettage procedures themselves.

- Hope -

"Women paid $10, $50 -- whatever they had in their pockets," says Kaplan.

But in the spring of 1972, seven members of the collective, including Pariser, were arrested during a police raid.

"It was scary," she recalls, describing a night in jail and the disbelief of officers who had stumbled upon an all-female clandestine network.

Still, the others pressed on.

"We knew what we were doing was committing multiple felonies every day we worked," Kaplan adds with a smile. "We were well aware of that."

Had Roe not been decided, they could all have spent their lives behind bars -- a prospect that, today, no longer feels remote.

Since the federal right to abortion was overturned, more than 20 states have banned or sharply curtailed access to the procedure, forcing women to travel across state lines or resort -- once again -- to illegal means.

Such restrictions have already led to multiple preventable deaths from delayed miscarriage care, according to reporting by ProPublica.

Access could shrink further with the return to power of President Donald Trump, who takes credit for reshaping the Supreme Court during his first term and paving the way for its reversal on abortion.

Observers are closely watching for moves to restrict access to abortion pills, which now account for the majority of terminations.

"I think we were very naive," reflects Pariser, believing the battles of their youth had secured lasting progress.

"The people who were shooting doctors and killing them in clinics or churches on Sunday -- these are maniacs. These are terrible people."

Just this month, a gunman suspected of killing a Minnesota lawmaker was reportedly found with a hit list targeting abortion providers, activists and politicians who support access to abortion.

Even so, the Janes believe today's generation of women are better informed, with higher reproductive health literacy and broad access to online resources.

"Just like we said no 50 years ago, they're saying no today -- and that's what gives me hope," says Ahad Shannon.

'They quit after a few hours': Farmers admit they can't find American workers

Tom Boggioni
June 21, 2025 
RAW STORY

Dennis Schoenhals stands as a combine harvester is used on wheat in a field at his farm in Kremlin, Oklahoma, U.S., June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Nick Oxford

In interviews with the Washington Post, multiple farmers expressed their dismay with the loss of farm workers under Donald Trump's harsh immigration policies and his administration's waffling on subsidies.

In a deep dive focusing on one farmer who voted for Trump, 36-year-old J.J. Ficke of Kirk, Colorado, the Washington Post is reporting that he along with other farmers are facing possible ruination now that the round-up of immigrants have begun in earnest and promised helpis uncertain.

"The federal government had promised JJ a $200,000 grant, spread across two years, to cover the cost of a seasonal farmhand from Latin America. In a place where local, legal help was nearly impossible to keep<' the Post is reporting before adding, "But then Trump, in the earliest days of his second term, threatened to break tens of thousands of those deals, suspending billions in agricultural funding and decimating the staffs that managed it. Swept up in the freeze was JJ and the $50 million grant program he’d signed up for along with 140 other farmers across the country."

Now those farmers, many of whom supported the president, are being left to scramble for workers of which there are few to chose from and worried about the future.

Noting, "JJ had joined 81 percent of Yuma County’s voters in supporting Trump, whom he considered the better of two bad options," the report added, "JJ’s grant was frozen in late January as top administrators considered whether to cancel it. Over the next two months, more than 20 farmers requested $4 million owed to them, according to documents reviewed by The Post. None were paid."

That, in turn, has other farmers in the same boat and lamenting they can't depend on American citizens for manpower,

“I’ve employed Americans, and they quit after a few days,” lamented Wisconsin Tracy Vinz, “They quit after a few hours.”

Georgia produce farmer Mitch Lawson claimed he "lost nearly two dozen American employees before he qualified for $200,000," with Lawson stating, "I’ve had a couple who didn’t even last a whole day."

The report goes on to note that the inability to get workers is not the only thing plaguing the Ficke farm.

"One night, in their kitchen, Kassidee [Ficke] prepared a meat loaf as she considered the relentless uncertainty their family navigated. How would the couple, who had no health insurance, pay for their daughter’s care if the administration and Congress gutted Medicaid?" the Post is reporting. "JJ never stopped accounting for the farming costs that would not quit climbing and the eastern Colorado drought that would not end. And now came the tariffs that could spike the price of equipment and the attacks on subsidies that protect commodity farmers when markets collapse."

You can read more here.

Too many finance questions miscalculated by ChatGPT: Time for caution?


ByDr. Tim Sandle
June 20, 2025

DIGITAL JOURNAL


The EU this year approved the world's first comprehensive rules to govern AI systems like ChatGPT - Copyright AFP/File SAUL LOEB

The firm Indusface has issued some warnings in relation to data sharing with AI. Here, it was found that ChatGPT fails 35% of finance questions, raising concerns over the use of the tool as a financial advisor.

This coincides with related findings that over a third of U.S. adults who use the tool find themselves “dependent” on it for answers, revealing an over-reliance on AI for work-related matters.

Indusface has sought to investigate what personal and professional data people might be oversharing with LLMs, and where the boundaries should be drawn.

ChatGPT No-Gos: Never Share This Data

Work files, such as reports and presentations

One of the most common categories of information shared with AI is work-related files and documents. Over 80% of professionals in Fortune 500 enterprises use AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to assist with tasks such as refining emails, reports, and presentations.

However, 11% of the data that employees paste into ChatGPT is strictly confidential, such as internal business strategies. It is therefore recommended to remove sensitive data from files such as business reports and presentations ahead of inputting the file into ChatGPT, as LLMs hold onto this information indefinitely and might share your information with other users if prompted.

Passwords and access credentials

From a young age, we are taught not to share our passwords with others, and that’s why we rely on notepads, phones, or even our memories to remember the password we have chosen. 24% of Americans store their passwords on a note on their device, whilst 18% save them in an internet browser. As LLMs regularly perform both roles, it’s important to remember that they are not designed with confidentiality in mind, but rather the purpose to learn from what users input, the questions they ask, and the information they provide.

Personal details, such as your name and address

Although this ‘data’ might seem invaluable day-to-day, sharing personal details such as your name, address, and recognizable photos makes you vulnerable to fraud. It is critical to avoid feeding LLMs information that might allow fraudsters to either

1) impersonate you, or

2) create deepfakes, which depict people saying or doing something they never said or did.

If either situation were to happen, it could damage both personal and professional reputations. If the above information is shared about a colleague without their knowledge and fraud or deepfakes were to happen, it would create severe distrust and lead to legal action against the company.

This is why AI literacy and education is critical for business operations in the age of technology.

Financial information

LLMs like ChatGPT can be a useful tool to explain financial topics or even conduct some level of financial analysis, but should never be used as a tool for a business’s financial decisions. LLMs are lacking in numerical literacy as they are primarily a word-processing tool, so inputting financial figures into ChatGPT is likely to output mistakes and potentially harmful business strategies.

It is best practice to use LLMs as an aid in your understanding of finance, rather than a tool to calculate solutions or make important financial decisions.

Company codebases and intellectual property (IP)

Developers and employees increasingly turn to AI for coding assistance; however, sharing company codebases can pose a major security risk, as it is a business’s core intellectual property. If proprietary source codes are pasted into AI platforms, they may be stored, processed, or even used to train future AI models, potentially exposing trade secrets to external entities.

Justice at stake as generative AI enters the courtroom


By AFP
June 19, 2025


Generative artificial intelligence has been used in the US legal system by judges performing research, lawyers filing appeals and parties involved in cases who wanted help expressing themselves in court - Copyright POOL/AFP Jefferson Siegel

Thomas URBAIN

Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is making its way into courts despite early stumbles, raising questions about how it will influence the legal system and justice itself.

Judges use the technology for research, lawyers utilize it for appeals and parties involved in cases have relied on GenAI to help express themselves in court.

“It’s probably used more than people expect,” said Daniel Linna, a professor at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, about GenAI in the US legal system.

“Judges don’t necessarily raise their hand and talk about this to a whole room of judges, but I have people who come to me afterward and say they are experimenting with it.”

In one prominent instance, GenAI enabled murder victim Chris Pelkey to address an Arizona courtroom — in the form of a video avatar — at the sentencing of the man convicted of shooting him dead in 2021 during a clash between motorists.

“I believe in forgiveness,” said a digital proxy of Pelkey created by his sister, Stacey Wales.

The judge voiced appreciation for the avatar, saying it seemed authentic.

“I knew it would be powerful,” Wales told AFP, “that that it would humanize Chris in the eyes of the judge.”

The AI testimony, a first of its kind, ended the sentencing hearing at which Wales and other members of the slain man’s family spoke about the impact of the loss.

Since the hearing, examples of GenAI being used in US legal cases have multiplied.

“It is a helpful tool and it is time-saving, as long as the accuracy is confirmed,” said attorney Stephen Schwartz, who practices in the northeastern state of Maine.

“Overall, it’s a positive development in jurisprudence.”

Schwartz described using ChatGPT as well as GenAI legal assistants, such as LexisNexis Protege and CoCounsel from Thomson Reuters, for researching case law and other tasks.

“You can’t completely rely on it,” Schwartz cautioned, recommending that cases proffered by GenAI be read to ensure accuracy.

“We are all aware of a horror story where AI comes up with mixed-up case things.”

The technology has been the culprit behind false legal citations, far-fetched case precedents, and flat-out fabrications.

In early May, a federal judge in Los Angeles imposed $31,100 in fines and damages on two law firms for an error-riddled petition drafted with the help of GenAI, blasting it as a “collective debacle.”

The tech is also being relied on by some who skip lawyers and represent themselves in court, often causing legal errors.

Image: — © AFP

And as GenAI makes it easier and cheaper to draft legal complaints, courts already overburdened by caseloads could see them climb higher, said Shay Cleary of the National Center for State Courts.

“Courts need to be prepared to handle that,” Cleary said.

– Transformation –

Law professor Linna sees the potential for GenAI to be part of the solution though, giving more people the ability to seek justice in courts made more efficient.

“We have a huge number of people who don’t have access to legal services,” Linna said.

“These tools can be transformative; of course we need to be thoughtful about how we integrate them.”

Federal judges in the US capitol have written decisions noting their use of ChatGPT in laying out their opinions.

“Judges need to be technologically up-to-date and trained in AI,” Linna said.

GenAI assistants already have the potential to influence the outcome of cases the same way a human law clerk might, reasoned the professor.

Facts or case law pointed out by GenAI might sway a judge’s decision, and could be different than what a legal clerk would have come up with.

But if GenAI lives up to its potential and excels at finding the best information for judges to consider, that could make for well-grounded rulings less likely to be overturned on appeal, according to Linna.

How Trumponomics has shaken global markets


By AFP
June 19, 2025

Donald Trump has introduced tariffs on imports to the US, throwing global trade into turmoil - Copyright AFP Nicolas TUCAT
Florian CAZERES with Nina ISENI in Washington

US President Donald Trump has taken just a few months since his election to upend global financial markets with his economic policies.

Many investors are pulling money out of the United States, the mighty dollar has lost its lustre and Wall Street is being outpaced by European stock markets.

Here is a look at the financial roller-coaster ride.



US stocks under pressure



After years of global dominance, US stocks are feeling the heat — and Europe is the main beneficiary.

Wall Street’s S&amp;P 500 index has gained just two percent since the start of the year, compared with 16 percent for Frankfurt’s main index.

Growth at the exchanges in London (eight percent) and Paris (three percent) is also outstripping Wall Street.

Kevin Thozet from the investment firm Carmignac pinned the blame firmly on Trump.

The president’s flip-flopping on tariffs had created a “high level of uncertainty” about their potential impact on growth, Thozet told AFP.



Dollar slides



The dollar has lost 10 percent of its value against the euro in the past six months, “its worst performance in 30 years”, according to Robert Farago, an analyst at the British investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown.

Trump’s tariffs are the main culprit but the global reserve currency is also suffering from concerns about the size of the US debt — exacerbated by a budget proposal from the president that many analysts say will be hugely expensive.

While some have suggested the Chinese yuan could become a dollar alternative, ECB chief Christine Lagarde has touted the euro, discussing in May its potentially greater “international role”.

But any currency attempting to topple the dollar faces plenty of challenges.

“The yuan is not convertible, and the euro is too fragmented,” said Jean Lemierre, chairman of the board of directors of BNP Paribas.



Debt worries



American debt is a cornerstone of the financial system, as the rest of the world lends to the United States in search of a safe investment.

But Jamie Dimon, head of JPMorgan Chase, said in early June that the level of US debt was a “real problem” and that bond markets were facing a “tough time”.

In a sign of the loss of confidence, interest rates on 30-year US Treasury bonds surpassed the symbolic five percent mark at the end of May.

“I’ve always told clients they need US debt if they want an asset that remains intact even in a disaster, but I think that’s no longer the case,” said Alexandre Hezez, a strategist at Banque Richelieu.

Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at US-based Interactive Brokers, told AFP the fact the dollar was falling while rates were rising was “a sign there’s money moving out of the US”.



Winners: gold, crypto



Investors have long regarded gold as the ultimate safe harbour in a crisis, and the clamour for the metal has seen its value jump by almost 30 percent since the start of the year.

Major central banks have also had a hand in pushing up the price, as they look to gold as a more sure bet than dollars to hold in their reserves.

Meanwhile, Trump has leant heavily into cryptocurrencies with investments of his own and official measures to bring the assets into the mainstream.

Bitcoin passed $100,000 for the first time just after the US election, increasing almost 60 percent in a year.



Oil uncertainties



Trump made it a priority to bring down oil prices so that US inflation would come down.

Crude oil fell below $60 per barrel in April, its lowest price since 2021.

But that was because investors spooked by Trump’s tariffs were anticipating weaker demand worldwide if economies slowed.

The military escalation between Israel and Iran has seen prices climb again to around $75 a barrel.

Restoration rejuvenates iconic Gaudi house in Barcelona


By AFP
June 19, 2025


Visitors admire the newly restored rear facade of Casa Batllo on June 19, 2025 - Copyright AFP Inti OCON

Barcelona’s UNESCO-listed Casa Batllo, a modernist architectural masterpiece by Sagrada Familia designer Antoni Gaudi, unveiled a multimillion-euro restoration Thursday that brings its rear facade and courtyard back to life.

Previous refurbishments, changes of owner and the turbulent period marked by Spain’s 1936-1939 civil war had taken their toll on the unique building completed in 1906.

A team of architects, historians and artisans spent more than a year repairing the bright mosaics and restoring the original cream-coloured hue to the blackened curvy balcony bars.

The result is “the most similar to 1906 that we have been able to achieve with today’s technology”, Xavier Villanueva, the chief architect and official in charge of the works, told AFP.

In the courtyard, the pergola replicates a parabola shape and more than 85,000 pieces make up the paving, “hand made one by one, as it was originally”, Villanueva said.

The painstaking task meant the team “carried out a lot of analyses in several university laboratories, many prospections, we have lots of documentary information”, he said.

The restoration cost 3.5 million euros ($4 million), according to Casa Batllo, which is in a fashionable neighbourhood of Barcelona frequented by the city’s bourgeoisie and wealthy industrialists in the early 20th century.

A UNESCO-listed site since 2005, Casa Batllo welcomed 1.9 million visitors last year, making it one of the most popular attractions in a city known as a global tourism magnet.

NATO scrambles to overcome Spain block on summit spending deal


By AFP
June 20, 2025


Sanchez's resistance has sparked fury from other NATO members - Copyright AFP Fadel SENNA

NATO struggled Friday to overcome a block from Spain on a new defence spending deal that US President Donald Trump has demanded for a summit next week.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Thursday threw a last-minute hand grenade into preparations for the gathering in The Hague by coming out strongly against the agreement.

In a blistering letter to NATO chief Mark Rutte, Sanchez said that committing to a headline figure of five percent of GDP “would not only be unreasonable, but also counterproductive”.

The outburst from Madrid’s centre-left leader has sparked fury from other NATO members who fear it could derail the carefully crafted compromise designed to keep Trump happy at the summit.

Ambassadors held a round of negotiations at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday, but broke up without a deal being reached.

Several diplomats said talks could drag on through the weekend in an effort to reach a breakthrough or the start of the summit on Tuesday.

“There is no clarity yet,” one diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing deliberations.

In a bid to satisfy Trump’s demand to spend five percent of GDP on defence, NATO chief Rutte has corralled allies towards a diplomatic trade-off.

That would see them agree to coughing up 3.5 percent on core military needs, and 1.5 percent on a looser category of “defence-related” expenditures such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.

As a string of reluctant European capitals fell into line, officials believed they were comfortably on track to reach the deal for the Hague summit.

Washington’s allies fear that Trump — who has previously threatened not to protect countries he thinks don’t spend enough — could blow a hole in NATO if he doesn’t get what he wants.

Spain has been one of the lowest spending NATO countries on defence in relative terms.

The country is only set to hit the alliance’s current target of two percent this year after a 10 billion euro ($11.5 billion) injection.

Sanchez is facing a difficult balancing act of aligning with NATO allies and cajoling his junior coalition partner, the far-left alliance Sumar, which is hostile to increasing military spending.

 SPACE/COSMOS

An Unexpected Mineral In A Ryugu Grain

Scanning electron micrograph of the number 15 grain of sample plate C0105-042 from Ryugu, in which djerfisherite was discovered. (Hiroshima University/Masaaki Miyahara)

 June 22, 2025

By Eurasia Review

The pristine samples from asteroid Ryugu returned by the Hayabusa2 mission on December 6, 2020, have been vital to improving our understanding of primitive asteroids and the formation of the Solar System. The C-type asteroid Ryugu is composed of rocks similar to meteorites called CI chondrites, which contain relatively high amounts of carbon, and have undergone extensive aqueous alteration in their past.

A research team at Hiroshima University discovered the presence of the mineral djerfisherite, a potassium-containing iron-nickel sulfide, in a Ryugu grain. The presence of this mineral is wholly unexpected, as djerfisherite does not form under the conditions Ryugu is believed to have been exposed to over its existence. The findings were published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

“Djerfisherite is a mineral that typically forms in very reduced environments, like those found in enstatite chondrites, and has never been reported in CI chondrites or other Ryugu grains,” says first and corresponding author Masaaki Miyahara, associate professor at the Graduate School of Advanced Science and Engineering, Hiroshima University. “Its occurrence is like finding a tropical seed in Arctic ice—indicating either an unexpected local environment or long-distance transport in the early solar system.”

Miyahara’s team had been carrying out experiments to understand the effects of terrestrial weathering on Ryugu grains. While observing the grains by field-emission transmission electron microscopy (FE-TEM) for effects of weathering, they found djerfisherite in the number 15 grain of sample plate C0105-042.

“The discovery of djerfisherite in a Ryugu grain suggests that materials with very different formation histories may have mixed early in the solar system’s evolution, or that Ryugu experienced localized, chemically heterogeneous conditions not previously recognized. This finding challenges the notion that Ryugu is compositionally uniform and opens new questions about the complexity of primitive asteroids,” Miyahara elaborates.

Ryugu is a part of a larger parent body that formed between 1.8 to 2.9 million years after the beginning of the Solar System. This parent body is thought to have originated in the outer region of the solar system, where water and carbon dioxide existed in the form of ice. Inside the parent body, heat generated by the decay of radioactive elements caused the ice to melt around 3 million years after its formation. The temperature during this process is estimated to have remained below approximately 50℃.

In contrast, the parent bodies of enstatite chondrites, which are known to contain djerfisherite, are believed to have formed in the inner region of the solar system. Thermodynamic calculations indicate that djerfisherite in enstatite chondrites formed directly from high-temperature gas. In addition, hydrothermal synthesis experiments have shown that djerfisherite can also form through reactions between potassium-bearing fluids and Fe-Ni sulfides at temperatures above 350 ℃.

This led the team to propose two hypotheses for its presence in the Ryugu grain: either it arrived from another source during the formation of Ryugu’s parent body; or, it was formed intrinsically when the temperature of Ryugu was raised to above 350  ℃.

Preliminary evidence indicates that the intrinsic formation hypothesis is more likely to be true. The next steps will be to conduct isotopic studies of this and other Ryugu grains, to determine their origins. “Ultimately, our goal is to reconstruct the early mixing processes and thermal histories that shaped small bodies like Ryugu, thereby improving our understanding of planetary formation and material transport in the early solar system,” Miyahara concludes.

Macron says Europe must become ‘space power’ again


By AFP
June 20, 2025


The European space industry is struggling to remain competitive in the face of Elon Musk's SpaceX - Copyright AFP Fadel SENNA

President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that Europe must again become a global space power, warning that France risked being squeezed out of the global low-orbit satellite constellation market.

Macron spoke at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget outside the French capital a day after France more than doubled its stake in satellite operator Eutelsat, the EU rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink.

Macron called for more investment as the European space industry struggles to remain competitive in the face of US and Chinese rivals.

“SpaceX has disrupted the market, Amazon is also getting involved. China is not far behind, and I think we all need to be very clear-headed,” Macron said.

Europe must become “a space power once again, with France at its heart”, he said.

He warned that Europeans were “on the verge of being completely” squeezed out of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation market.

Orbiting just a few hundred kilometres above the Earth, low Earth orbit satellite networks can play a crucial role in various fields including telecommunications, emergency response, space exploration, and defence.

Growing geopolitical tensions have forced countries to focus on the independence of their satellite infrastructure.

Macron said France and its partners should not be reliant on non-European constellations in low orbit, calling it “madness”.

He called non-European players to team up with France.

“This must be the solution for our major strategic partners in the Gulf, India, Canada and Brazil,” he said.

“We really need to succeed in increasing our collective investment effort,” Macron added, noting the importance of private investors and public-private collaboration.

He also said France planned to organise a space summit in early 2026 to “mobilise our public and private partners across the globe.”

As part of the overall deal with other investors worth 1.35 billion euros ($1.5 billion), the French state is set to become Eutelsat’s largest shareholder.

The European satellite operator is vying to be seen as an alternative to Starlink, as companies in Europe and elsewhere look askance at Musk’s manoeuvrings and seek to secure sovereign solutions.

Boasting more than 600 satellites since merging with British firm OneWeb in 2023, Eutelsat is the world’s second-largest operator of low Earth orbit satellites, behind Starlink.

GREENWASHING

World Bank and IMF climate snub ‘worrying’: COP29 presidency

By AFP
June 20, 2025


Developing nations will need substantial outside investment to transition to renewable energy and build climate resiliance - Copyright AFP Frederic J. BROWN

Kelly MACNAMARA

The hosts of the most recent UN climate talks are worried international lenders are retreating from their commitments to help boost funding for developing countries’ response to global warming.

This anxiety has grown as the Trump administration has slashed foreign aid and discouraged US-based development lenders like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund from focussing on climate finance.

Developing nations, excluding China, will need an estimated $1.3 trillion a year by 2035 in financial assistance to transition to renewable energy and climate-proof their economies from increasing weather extremes.

But nowhere near this amount has been committed.

At last year’s UN COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, rich nations agreed to increase climate finance to $300 billion a year by 2035, an amount decried as woefully inadequate.

Azerbaijan and Brazil, which is hosting this year’s COP30 conference, have launched an initiative to plug the shortfall that includes expectations of “significant” contributions from international lenders.

But so far only two — the African Development Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank — have responded to a call to engage the initiative with ideas, said COP29 president Mukhtar Babayev.

“We call on their shareholders to urgently help us to address these concerns,” he told climate negotiators at a high-level summit in the German city of Bonn this week.

“We fear that a complex and volatile global environment is distracting” many of those expected to play a big role in bridging the climate finance gap, he added.

His team travelled to Washington in April for the IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings hoping to find the same enthusiasm for climate lending they had encountered a year earlier.

But instead they found institutions “very much reluctant now to talk about climate at all”, said Azerbaijan’s top climate negotiator Yalchin Rafiyev.

This was a “worrisome trend”, he said, given expectations these lenders would extend the finance needed in the absence of other sources.

“They’re very much needed,” he said.

The United States, the World Bank’s biggest shareholder, has sent a different message.

On the sidelines of the April spring meetings, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the bank to focus on “dependable technologies” rather than “distortionary climate finance targets.”

This could mean investing in gas and other fossil fuel-based energy production, he said.



– Money matters –



Under the Paris Agreement, wealthy developed countries — those most responsible for global warming to date — are obligated to pay climate finance to poorer nations.

But other countries, most notably China, do make their own voluntary contributions.

Finance is a source of long-running tensions at UN climate negotiations.

Donors have consistently failed to deliver on past finance pledges, and committed well below what experts agree developing nations need to prepare for the climate crisis.

The issue flared again this week in Bonn, with nations at odds over whether to debate financial commitments from rich countries during the formal meetings.

European nations have also pared back their foreign aid spending in recent months, raising fears that budgets for climate finance could also face a haircut.

At COP29, multilateral development banks (MDBs) led by the World Bank Group estimated they could provide $120 billion annually in climate financing to low and middle income countries, and mobilise another $65 billion from the private sector by 2030.

Their estimate for high income countries was $50 billion, with another $65 billion mobilised from the private sector.

Rob Moore, of policy think tank E3G, said these lenders are the largest providers of international public finance to developing countries.

“Whilst they are facing difficult political headwinds in some quarters, they would be doing both themselves and their clients a disservice by disengaging on climate change,” he said.

The World Bank in particular has done “a huge amount of work” to align its lending with global climate goals.

“If they choose to step back this would be at their own detriment, and other banks like the regionally based MDBs would likely play a bigger role in shaping the economy of the future,” he said.

The World Bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment.