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"It always amazes me how the US can start an unprovoked war of aggression on the other side of the planet and then claim it is “launching self-defense strikes” there."

-- Caitlin Johnstone

News and Opinion

The US Starts Wars On The Other Side Of The Planet And Then Claims “Self-Defense”

The US is bombing Iran again after an American attack helicopter was downed over the Strait of Hormuz amid renewed escalations in the conflict.

CENTCOM said the following in a statement on the airstrikes:

“U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces began launching self-defense strikes against Iran at 5 p.m. ET today at the Commander in Chief’s direction, in response to yesterday’s downing of a U.S. Army Apache helicopter. The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression.”

It always amazes me how the US can start an unprovoked war of aggression on the other side of the planet and then claim it is “launching self-defense strikes” there.

These military forces are nowhere near the United States. It’s absurd to claim “self-defense” against a country that has been defending itself in a war you started. There’s some debate about whether the helicopter was intentionally targeted by Iran and whether or not it was over international waters at the time it was struck, but honestly, who cares? It shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

When you are the aggressor, there is no such thing as “self-defense.” https://t.co/5rpVB4B2rw

— Hussein of the south (@EyesOnSouth1) June 9, 2026

These freaks really do operate from the premise that the entire planet is their property, and that any failure to respect their property rights shall therefore be viewed as an act of aggression.

I mean, just look at who’s making this statement. US “Central Command” is the unified combatant command responsible for military operations in the middle east. The US military has separate unified combatant commands for every part of the globe:

• Central Command (CENTCOM) for the middle east.

• Africa Command (AFRICOM) for Africa.

• Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) for Asia, the Pacific islands, Australia and Antarctica.

• European Command (EUCOM) for Europe.

• Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for South America.

• Northern Command (NORTHCOM) for North America.

The US only attacks in self-defense.
Bombed a country on the other side of the planet? Self-defense.
Started an unprovoked war of aggression? Self-defense.
Broke into your house and stabbed you in your sleep?
Self-defense.
If the US kills you, you needed killing.
You're welcome. https://t.co/8stE8jZSG2

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) May 26, 2026

No other country on earth does this. No other military power is segmented into areas of responsibility spanning every continent on earth. This is because normal military forces are used to defend the actual, official country they belong to, whereas the US military is used to dominate the entire planet.

And in that sense it’s actually entirely reasonable that the US “Department of Defense” changed its name to the Department of War. The US military is never used to defend the actual, official country of the United States of America; it is only ever used to prop up the globe-spanning imperial power structure it commands.

This is not normal. It is a freakish aberration without historical precedent. The world cannot know peace until the US empire is dismantled.

Aaron Maté : While Trump Is Stalling for Time…

Trump launches strikes against Iran after downing of US army helicopter

The US has launched strikes against Iran after Donald Trump blamed Tehran for downing a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz, imperilling a shaky ceasefire that was announced by the two countries in April. US Central Command said Trump had directed the military to launch strikes beginning at 10pm UK time on Tuesday in response to the downing of the Apache helicopter gunship off the coast of Oman earlier. US media, citing White House officials, have said Centcom is targeting radar and air defence facilities along the strait of Hormuz.

Trump had said in a post on his Truth Social platform that Iran was responsible for the crash, and that Washington could not allow such an event to go unanswered. A US official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said the helicopter went down after colliding with an Iranian drone but it wasn’t clear whether the collision was intentional. Official statements have said only that the incident was under investigation. Trump said earlier on social media that the helicopter had been “shot down”.

At the same time, US officials also signalled that they were not seeking a return to full-scale war with Iran. “The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” Centcom said. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi responded on social media, saying Iran “will leave no attack or threat unanswered. Leave our region if you want to be safe.”

The helicopter’s two crew members were later rescued in an unprecedented operation using an unmanned drone boat, the US military said. Trump played down the incident in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, saying that the downing of the helicopter “wasn’t a big deal” and that the “pilot is fine”.

Before Trump accused Iran of downing the US helicopter, he had expressed renewed optimism over negotiations with Iran, saying there was “a good chance” of signing a deal in “two or three days”. He did not provide any details on why there was reason for new optimism. In the two months since the US and Iran agreed to an initial ceasefire, Trump has repeatedly predicted a deal was near.

Despite its defeats on the battlefield, the U.S. opted to test our determination.

Our Powerful Armed Forces will leave no attack or threat unanswered.

Leave our region if you want to be safe.

History of the Persian Gulf has many chapters on dire fates of intruding outsiders. pic.twitter.com/O17GGtklxA

— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) June 9, 2026

Fears of Escalation After Trump Says US Must ‘Respond’ to Iran Downing Apache Helicopter

President Donald Trump said the US military would “respond” after Iran reportedly took down an Army Apache helicopter on Tuesday, raising fears of yet more escalation amid collapsing ceasefire talks.

“I have just been informed by our Great Military that last night the Iranians shot down one of our highly sophisticated Apache Helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “There were two pilots involved, both are safe and uninjured. Nevertheless, the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.”

The Iranian state-owned outlet PressTV acknowledged that the aircraft had gone down, describing it as coming amid “Iran’s decisive retaliation against Washington’s incessant violations of a ceasefire with the Islamic Republic,” though it did not clarify whether it had been shot down or had gone down for a different reason.

US Central Command said on Tuesday morning that “the cause of the incident is under investigation.”

It is the first known instance in which an Apache, one of the most powerful aircraft in the US arsenal, was downed since the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February. Two US officials told CNN that it was brought down by an Iranian drone.

The US has deployed Apache and other aircraft as part of its effort to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has blocked most maritime traffic in retaliation for the US launching the war, dramatically spiking global oil and gas prices. The US has also enacted its own naval blockade of Iranian ports.

The downing of the aircraft comes amid Israel’s escalating attacks on Lebanon, which Iran has described as a red line for ceasefire negotiations.

After trading fire over the weekend, Israel and Iran agreed to pause their attacks against one another after Trump begged them to “stop shooting.” But Iran warned that if Israel continues its devastating attacks on Lebanon, in violation of a recent ceasefire, it would continue firing.

On Tuesday, Israel issued yet another forced evacuation order for all the residents of Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth largest city before pummeling it with strikes, killing at least eight people and injuring another 32, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Israel claimed last week that militants from the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah were hiding out there, but according to Reuters, it did so “without providing evidence.”

Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which was forced to suspend its operations in the city and nearby areas due to the attacks, denounced Israel’s “forced displacement practices,” which have left more than 1 million residents of Lebanon displaced from their homes.

Israel has issued a massive forced displacement order targeting the ancient southern city of Tyre and more than ten surrounding towns, neighborhoods, and Palestinian refugee camps.

Under the threat of imminent bombardment, hundreds of thousands of residents—explicitly including… pic.twitter.com/Wd3NvK3c91

— The Cradle (@TheCradleMedia) June 9, 2026

The National Iranian American Council warned of further escalation on Tuesday after the downing of the American helicopter, saying it jeopardized the prospects for peace.

“Military escalation amid the ceasefire became normalized via Israel’s military operations in Lebanon and the US imposition of a blockade,” the group said in a statement posted to social media on Tuesday. “Now, the tempo of stresses to the ceasefire is increasing at an alarming rate.”

“We are thankful that the helicopter pilots survived last night’s military exchange that unfolded in the Strait of Hormuz, yet worry deeply that US retaliatory strikes will trigger another destabilizing military exchange that has no winners,” the group continued. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind. We must choose peace or be condemned to more disastrous war.”

Did CNN just out Azerbaijan as Israel's secret military partner?

Years ago, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev described Baku’s relationship with Israel as an iceberg, with 90% hidden below the surface. Last week, CNN attempted to pull the hidden portion into full view. Notably, the report relied on four anonymous sources with apparent knowledge of highly sensitive Israeli military and intelligence activities in the greater Middle East. While CNN did not identify them, the nature of the information disclosed strongly suggests that the sources were either American, Israeli, or closely connected to the security establishments of one or both countries.

According to these sources Israel secretly deployed elite military and intelligence units — including special operations forces, Mossad personnel, and heliborne rescue teams — to multiple locations in southern Azerbaijan during the recent war with Iran. From positions just 60 miles from Tabriz, a major Iranian city in the north, Israeli commandos allegedly conducted drone operations, installed listening devices, and even helped prepare the ground for the assassination of an IRGC intelligence chief. CNN put this all in the context of other covert sites used by Israel in Iraq, the UAE, and Somaliland during the war, pointing to a ring of forward positions around Iran.

Predictably, Baku reacted to the CNN report with fury. The Azerbaijani foreign ministry called the report “entirely baseless” and a violation of journalistic ethics, insisting that “Azerbaijan has never allowed, and will never allow, its territory to be used for such purposes.” Baku demanded that CNN retract what it called “unfounded allegations.”

Whether or not CNN’s reporting proves fully accurate, the allegations fit a strategic relationship that has long been the subject of regional scrutiny. Israel provides Azerbaijan with advanced weapons (according to the Stockholm-based SIPRI, up to 70% of its arms imports) and buys its oil (around 40% of Israel’s consumption). Israel gets a foothold on Iran’s borders, and Azerbaijan gets the support of the powerful pro-Israel lobby in Washington. The late Quincy Institute fellow Mark Perry reported in a detailed essay in Foreign Policy as early as 2012 that Azerbaijan was “Israel’s secret staging ground” against Iran. But why are the details being leaked now? While no official claims have been made, one possibility could be that the U.S. and Israel want to ensure Azerbaijan won’t rescind its cooperation. If so, by publicizing the alleged bases, Washington and Tel Aviv are burning Baku’s plausible deniability with Tehran.

This dovetails with a pattern. After the active phase of the war, reports emerged of a secret visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the UAE. Emirati officials vehemently denied them, while their Israeli counterparts openly boasted about the trip. The leak may have been at least partially linked to Israeli domestic political considerations — Netanyahu needs to burnish his credentials as a statesman to see off a tough challenge from his main rival Naftali Bennett in elections later this year. But its effect was to further tie Abu Dhabi to Israel’s regional posture toward Iran. The same logic may apply here: tie Azerbaijan’s hands. If Iran lashes out at either UAE or Azerbaijan, or both, the logic presumably goes, they’d have to turn to Israel for protection, thus solidifying their security dependence on Tel Aviv.

JD Vance claims US ‘very close’ to peace deal with Iran

The US-Israel war on Iran could conclude in a week or a few months, Vice-president JD Vance said in an interview, hours before US forces launched retaliatory strikes against Iran, in response to the downing of the Apache helicopter near the strait of Hormuz a day earlier. In a new interview with CBS, taped early Tuesday and set to air later this week, Vance claimed the US was “very close to achieving” a peace deal with Iran, adding that it could “absolutely” come before the midterm elections.

“Right now, I feel that we are in a position to get a deal that is good for the United States economically and that really does deal with the Iranian nuclear program,” Vance said, offering the latest vague assessment from the Trump administration on the future of its controversial war. “Not just now, not just while Donald Trump is president, but for the long term, to where my kids can say when they’re adults: ‘Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon,’” Vance continued. “That’s the goal of the policy. And I think we’re very close to achieving that goal. But we [have] still got some wood to chop. We’re going to keep doing it.”

Shortly after 5pm ET on Tuesday, the US Central Command (Centcom) announced that US forces had begun launching “self-defense strikes” on Iran in response to the downing of the Apache helicopter near the strait of Hormuz. “The mission is a proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression,” Centcom said in a social media post.

Iran has acknowledged over the last few weeks that although discussions with the US are continuing, no final agreement has been reached. The discussions have been further complicated by Israel’s recent strikes across Beirut, in turn triggering retaliatory strikes from Iran which regards Israel’s attacks as a violation of the already fragile ceasefire.

In a statement earlier this week, Iran’s parliamentary speaker and top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf condemned the attacks, adding that US bases and assets across the region had become “legitimate targets” following the strikes. “They are neither committed to a ceasefire nor believe in dialogue, and through the naval blockade and violation of agreements regarding Lebanon they showed that they only understand the language of power,” Ghalibaf said.

Ben Gvir Says Israel Should Kidnap Women and Children in Lebanon

Israeli media reported on Tuesday that Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir suggested at a security cabinet meeting that the Israeli military should kidnap women and children in Lebanon as a way to put pressure on Hezbollah.

“Let’s start thinking outside the box about Hezbollah,” Ben Gvir said, according to The Jerusalem Post. “Also, conquering territory and killing many terrorists, but also arresting their women and youth and taking them to terrorist prisons. That’s what hurts them the most.”

Ben Gvir’s mention of “terrorist prisons” refers to the Israeli prisons for Palestinians captured in Gaza and the West Bank, which are infamous for torture
, including methods such as food deprivation, something Ben Gvir has previously bragged about
, and widespread sexual abuse. Ben Gvir, leader of the Jewish Power party, has previously advocated for the killing of women and children.

Exodus From Lebanon’s Tyre as Israel Orders Locals Out of Christian Quarter

For the first time since they invaded Lebanon in March, the Israeli military issued an explicit evacuation warning for the Christian quarter of the ancient city of Tyre, claiming there were Hezbollah secretly hiding amongst the Christians.

What followed was an attempt by the remaining Christian population to flee northward, an effort that would’ve been a lot easier if Israel hadn’t destroyed the bridge over the Litani River that is directly north of the city over a month ago. The locals are trying to reach Sidon and in some cases Beirut.

Meanwhile, attacks on Tyre continued apace, killing at least 9 and wounded dozens of others. At least 15 strikes were reported against Tyre on Tuesday morning alone, with no signs that the attacks are slowing, and no signs that any of the people hit in the airstrikes are actually anything to do with Hezbollah.

Trump claims US fuel prices ‘not very high’ as costs surge amid Iran war

Donald Trump has claimed US fuel prices are “not very high, relatively speaking” as his administration grapples with affordability concerns after the surge in costs sparked by his war on Iran. The national average gas price stood at about $4.16 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA – $0.37 lower than a month ago, but still about $1 more expensive than the same time last year.

The US president has faced sustained frustration over the sharp rise in fuel costs since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February. While he has repeatedly sought to downplay the increase in prices, it comes as voters prepare to cast their votes in November’s crucial US midterm elections.

Addressing reporters on Tuesday morning, Trump said the administration was releasing “a lot of oil coming out of the Hormuz strait”, one of the most crucial passageways for global trade through which about 20% of the world’s oil passes. The strait has been all but closed since the start of the war. The president spoke from New York after attending Game 3 of the NBA finals, where he was loudly booed when shown on Madison Square Garden’s jumbotrons.

The sharp uptick in energy prices largely drove inflation to 3.8% last month, the highest increase the country had recorded since 2023. Americans have started to feel the effects of high energy costs on many other aspects of everyday life, such as the price of groceries and air travel. Moody’s Analytics has estimated that the war and its resulting high energy prices have cost American households about $100bn.

As Mike Johnson Floats Social Security Cuts, Trustees Report Shows Harm of Trump Policies

Social Security’s trustees said in their annual report released Tuesday that the New Deal program will be unable to pay out full benefits by the end of 2032—a quarter earlier than projected last year—in the absence of congressional action, a finding that advocates said underscores the destructive impact of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda and the need to make the rich finally pay their fair share into the system.

“This is the first Social Security trustees report that begins to take Donald Trump’s second term policies into account: A tax bill that largely benefited the wealthy, economy-wrecking tariffs, a needless war with Iran, and hostility to immigrants,” said Nancy Altman, the president of Social Security Works. “All of these have reduced the amount of money going into Social Security, weakening the system’s finances.”

The trustees report was released a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared in a radio show appearance that “entitlement programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and things like Social Security” need to be “adjusted and fixed,” which critics say is euphemistic language for benefit cuts, given past GOP proposals such as raising the retirement age.

Johnson said the GOP intends to release a new Social Security plan “next year,” without providing any details.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), House Democrats’ campaign arm, immediately pressed Johnson, suggesting he’s delaying Republican plans for Social Security and Medicare until after the 2026 midterms to avoid consequences at the ballot box.

“MAGA Mike Johnson won’t show the American people his secret plan to eliminate Social Security because he knows Republican policies are wildly unpopular and will be resoundingly rejected by the American people in November,” said Justin Chermol, a DCCC spokesperson.

The new trustees report projects that Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance will be able to pay out full benefits “until the fourth quarter of 2032, one quarter earlier than projected last year.”

“At that time, the fund’s reserves will become depleted and continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 78% of total scheduled benefits,” the trustees said.

Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM), stressed that the new projection “does not mean that Social Security is going ‘bankrupt’ or ‘broke.’”

“Nor does the trustees report mean that benefits must be cut to maintain the program’s fiscal health,” said Richtman. “It would be grossly unfair to ask beneficiaries on fixed incomes to bear the cost of strengthening Social Security. While conservatives favor benefit cuts (such as raising the retirement age, means testing, or reduced COLAs), we advocate for revenue-side solutions where the wealthy pay their fair share.”

Specifically, NCPSSM and other progressive advocacy groups and lawmakers have called for raising the Social Security’s payroll tax cap, which currently exempts annual income above $184,500 from the program’s dedicated payroll levy.

Richtman said that lifting the payroll tax cap and “subjecting some of high earners’ investment income to Social Security taxes” would keep the program solvent “well beyond the 2030s.” He noted that Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation to shore up Social Security’s finances by taxing the rich, but the bills have gone nowhere in the Republican-controlled Congress.

In a joint statement issued in response to the trustees report, Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Richard Neal (D-Mass.), and Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) said that “instead of joining Democrats to protect and enhance” Medicare and Social Security, “Donald Trump and Republicans are busy sabotaging them.”

“After DOGE took a wrecking ball to the Social Security Administration under false pretenses, all Americans got were slashed customer service and their most personal data put at risk—without a penny saved,” the Democrats said. “Combined with their sole legislative achievement pricing millions out of coverage and putting Medicare on the chopping block, there is no greater threat to Americans’ wellbeing than Republican governance.”

Hard-right groups have expanded their influence across US government, report finds

A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) finds hard-right groups have increasingly expanded their influence across the US government, which is pursuing a federal fraud case into the civil rights organization. Tuesday’s report – which identified 1,263 hate and anti-government groups in operation throughout 2025 – comes less than two months after it was indicted by the government it says the hard right has infiltrated.

According to the SPLC’s annual Year in Hate and Extremism report, Donald Trump’s administration has “radically transformed government policy in favor of far-right interests and individuals” since the start of his second presidency in early 2025. In addition to the administration’s “full, complete and unconditional” presidential pardons of approximately 1,500 people involved in the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021, the report cited the administration’s shifting the focus of federal law enforcement from combating violent crime to conducting immigration raids against marginalized communities.

The report said 23% of all FBI agents have been reassigned to immigration enforcement, leading to the stripping of personnel from other areas including white-collar crime, counter-terrorism, organized crime and cybercrime. “The Trump administration’s shift away from traditional law enforcement priorities, staffing and funding, along with its embrace of dangerously aggressive and reckless immigration enforcement tactics, has made US citizens less safe and more likely to be victimized,” the report asserted.

House Republicans approve $70bn bill for Trump’s immigration crackdown

House Republicans on Tuesday approved a $70bn bill funding through the duration of his term the agencies leading Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, ending a months-long standoff with Democrats that at one point forced the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to shutter.

The Secure America Act passed in a 214-212 vote that was largely along party lines, with Kevin Kiley, an independent who aligns with the Republicans, joining all Democrats in voting no. The Senate approved the measure last week, which allocates $38bn to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), $26bn to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and $5bn more to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through September 2029. The legislation now awaits Trump’s signature.

“With today’s vote, House and Senate Republicans have officially ended the third Democrat government shutdown of this Congress,” Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said following the measure’s passage.

The bill ends a blockade of funding for the agencies, which Democrats announced in January after federal agents killed two US citizens in Minneapolis amid an intensive campaign billed as rooting out undocumented immigrants. Their boycott – and fruitless effort to negotiate reforms to federal immigration enforcement operations – halted passage of a measure that authorized spending by the entirety of DHS, forcing it to shut down for 75 days from mid-February.

Platner BLOWOUT WIN, SLAMS Warmongers In Victory Speech

Heh, now we'll see if Platner can beat the corporate-owned Democrats, the Israel lobby and their media whores to become a Senator.

Graham Platner shrugs off scandals to win Maine Democratic Senate primary

Graham Platner, a Marine veteran, oyster farmer and progressive activist, has scaled a mountain of personal controversies to win the Democratic nomination for the US Senate in Maine. Victory on Tuesday caps a remarkable rise for a candidate who has never held elected office and whose campaign was shadowed by negative headlines that might have ended a more conventional political career.

Instead, in a result that would have seemed improbable only a year ago, Platner emerged battered but unbroken, convincing Democratic voters that his flaws are forgivable or unimportant in a year dominated by economic anxiety and anger at Donald Trump.

The result sets up one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 midterm elections. Platner will face the senator Susan Collins, a Republican running for a sixth six-year term, in November. The race is seen as a must-win for Democrats to take control of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority.

Platner’s primary-night watch party was held in a YMCA gym in Blue Hill, about 30 miles from his home town of Sullivan. A blue banner with a US flag, Maine state flag and the slogan “Graham Platner for US Senate” was erected behind a stage against a blue curtain backdrop. Guests were invited to hold signs that included “Families for Graham”, “Farmers and Fishers for Graham” and “Labor for Graham”.

Although Collins has repeatedly survived Democratic challenges, strategists believe a favourable national environment and growing dissatisfaction with Republicans could make this her most difficult re-election campaign in years.

I want to say with all my heart, and everything I have, thank you. To the twenty-five thousand ordinary people who donated to this campaign. The hundreds of volunteers sacrificed their time, sweat, and sunscreen to inspire their neighbors to participate in a system that has not… pic.twitter.com/aFPJq0NYFj

— Randy Villegas (@Villegas_CA22) June 9, 2026

Seattle enacts year-long ban on new AI datacenters

Seattle has passed a year-long moratorium on the construction of new datacenters. The city council voted unanimously in favor of the temporary ban on Tuesday. A major tech hub whose metro area is home to Amazon and Microsoft, Seattle is the largest US city to have passed such a moratorium as the backlash against AI infrastructure grows across the country.

Lawmakers have framed the pause as an opportunity to draft regulations specifically targeting the electricity-hungry datacenters being built nationwide to serve the AI sector, and to protect local residents from environmental risks and rising electricity bills. According to Seattle mayor Katie Wilson, the moratorium will also let city officials determine whether datacenters are a “good use of urban land”, and potentially impose new stipulations on their approval, such as requiring developers to invest in local transit and housing initiatives in exchange for construction permits.

After the Seattle Times reported in April that five proposed datacenters could consume up to a third of the city’s current demand for electricity, lawmakers quickly moved to impose a moratorium.

An amendment to the moratorium that passed unanimously last week allows existing datacenters in Seattle to apply for expansions requiring up to 20 megawatts of additional power during the year-long pause. Activists are concerned that the provision may lead to a spike in datacenters’ demand for power while the moratorium is in place, and may undermine the premise of the pause. Lawmakers justified the amendment as a way to differentiate between the datacenters that already exist in Seattle and serve a civic purpose, like those powering health facilities and emergency-call systems, from large-scale centers designed to serve the AI sector.

World’s largest banks pledged $906bn to fossil fuel companies in ‘unfathomable’ increase in 2025

The world’s largest banks committed $906bn in financing to the fossil fuel industry last year, an “unfathomable” increase in investment locking in years more of coal, oil and gas production as the world continues to overheat, a new report has found. The surge in new fossil fuel lending, up $64bn or nearly 8% on 2024, shows that the world’s largest 65 banks are making decisions incompatible with international agreements to restrain rising global temperatures, according to the coalition of environmental groups behind the new analysis.

JPMorgan Chase is again the world’s leading financier of fossil fuels, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report, after pushing $58bn to the sector last year – up 13% from 2024. Bank of America committed the second largest amount to fossil fuels last year, followed by Japanese banks MUFG and Mizuho Financial. Citigroup, another US bank, rounds out the top five, with Barclays, at number eight, the highest placed British bank.

“Last year was the first year where we were hoping to see a continuous decrease in historical numbers, but we actually saw that increase and then that continues this year,” said Caleb Schwartz, a policy analyst at Rainforest Action Network, one of the groups behind the report. “So it’s a troubling trend.”

In 2015, countries agreed in the Paris climate deal to strive to avert a breaching of 1.5C in global heating above preindustrial times, beyond which the world will suffer ever more ruinous heatwaves, floods, droughts and other climate-fueled disasters. Avoiding such a threshold would require the near elimination of planet-heating emissions from fossil fuel production. Since the Paris agreement, however, the world’s largest banks have funnelled $8.7tn to the fossil fuel industry to dig and drill for more coal, oil and gas.

Scientists now predict that the 1.5C limit will be breached imminently, with a recent string of record hot years set to be further surpassed this decade. In the wake of the US and Israel’s attack on Iran, which has escalated the global cost of oil and gas, several of the world’s largest fossil fuel companies have reported surging profits this year. “The fossil fuel incumbents are not going out with a whimper,” said Niko Lusiani, a climate and energy expert who edited this year’s report. “They are doubling down to expand an increasingly fragile, unreliable, risky energy system.”

‘Woefully unprepared’: extreme heat will double US hospitalizations by 2040

People in the US are poised to endure another summer of unusually ferocious heat and there will be little respite in the years ahead, with a new study finding that the coming 15 years could see a doubling in hospitalizations due to heat-related illnesses. The number of annual heat-related emergency department visits or hospitalizations across the US are set to rise from about 109,000 cases a year to as many as 237,000 cases by 2040, the new research has estimated.

This, in turn, will almost double annual healthcare costs for heat-related conditions to more than $1bn, the new paper, published in the American Geophysical Union journal GeoHealth, found. Severe heat kills more people in the US each year than all other extreme weather events combined, with deaths surging by more than 50% over the past two decades.

Illnesses and deaths are most likely among poorer people who are unable to afford to run air conditioning, work outside for prolonged hours, live in houses badly designed for high temperatures or have exacerbating health conditions. “There is this staggering cost to society we are going to see over the next 15 years,” said Vivek Shandas, a professor at Portland State University and study co-author. “It’s not that we will see this plateau of heat-related illnesses and we will get acclimated to it – there is going to be this sustained increase.

Shandas and his co-author, Stephan Brown of CAPA Strategies, found that the impact of hospitalizations will not fall evenly, with the California and Las Vegas areas set to experience the greatest total number of heat-related health problems. Areas not used to extreme heat, such as the north-east and Ohio valley, are expected to suffer the most severe health consequences from each major heat event. Problems are most likely to be felt by elderly people and those with existing health conditions, but economic and government policy factors will also play a role. Donald Trump’s administration has slashed programs aimed at helping cities deal with extreme heat, while his presidency has also overseen soaring energy costs for Americans.

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some of which defied fair-use abstraction.

Did Iran Establish a New Equation in the Middle East Through Its Attacks on Israel?

Iran War: Israel Again Bombs Lebanon, Defying Trump and Killing “Deal”; Middle East Straits as Foundations for New Security Architecture; Alon Mizrahi’s Zionism Delenda Est; Debate Over Oil Cliff Timing

Arabs Bought $2.9bn in Arms From Genocidal Israel

Hedges Report: Epstein, the Russian Mob & Maxwell

Surveillance drones deployment on US’s Great Lakes raises data collection fears

AI: Make Them Stupid, Then Sell Them Brains

How To Create A Custom News Feed Free From Algorithm Manipulation

Screwworm Parasite ‘No Longer Contained in Texas’ as Trump USDA Doubles Down on Efforts to Blame Biden

Think Musk the billionaire was bad? Brace yourself for Musk the trillionaire

RIP:

James Blood Ulmer, adventurous US guitarist and vocalist, dies aged 86

A Little Night Music

Mance Lipscomb ~ Goin' Down Slow

Mance Lipscomb - Alcohol Blues

Mance Lipscomb - Keep On Trucking

Mance Lipscomb - Ain't It Hard

Mance Lipscomb – Baby Please Don't Go

Mance Lipscomb - Angel Child

Mance Lipscomb - Cocaine Done Kill My Baby

Mance Lipscomb - Sugar Babe

Mance Lipscomb - Texas Blues

Mance Lipscomb - Key To The Highway