Israel steps up ‘brutal bombardment’ in southern Lebanon – RT correspondent

Nearly 90 people have been killed since Friday despite a US-brokered ceasefire, according to Lebanese officials

Israel has intensified its “brutal bombardment” of southern Lebanon, expanding evacuation orders to more villages, RT correspondent Steve Sweeney has reported from Beirut. Israeli airstrikes have killed at least 87 people in the neighboring country since Friday, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

Local authorities said 39 people were killed on Saturday alone after strikes hit 22 towns and villages in southern Lebanon. On Monday, Israel issued evacuation orders for several more villages, bringing the total to 84 since a US-brokered ceasefire took effect in mid-April.

Fighting has continued despite the truce, with both sides accusing each other of violations. Israel says its operations target alleged Hezbollah positions and infrastructure, while the Lebanon-based group says it will continue to resist Israeli military action.

More than 2,800 people, including over 100 health workers, have been killed since March 2, when Israel launched its latest military operation against Hezbollah, according to Lebanese authorities.

RT’s Sweeney reported that ambulance workers Ali Rida al-Basuli and Sharif Ahmad Krika were killed in separate strikes on their vehicles on Sunday.

In the southern Lebanese town of Saksakia, an Israeli strike killed eight members of the same family spanning three generations, including a mother, her children, and a six-month-old baby girl, according to local authorities. Lebanese media also reported that a 12-year-old girl was killed in a drone strike while trying to flee after her father had been killed.

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam told Al-Arabiya on Sunday that 86 villages in southern Lebanon remain under Israeli occupation, adding that the border city of Bint Jbeil had become “a copy of Gaza.”

Further US-mediated talks between Israeli and Lebanese officials are expected in Washington later this week.

https://www.rt.com/news/639882-israel-lebanon-bombardment-rt/

Gabbard orders probe into US-funded foreign biolabs

Russia has long raised concerns about Pentagon-backed biological laboratories in Ukraine and elsewhere, suggesting they are involved in military research

The US has launched a probe into more than 120 American-funded biological labs abroad, including in Ukraine, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the New York Post on Monday.

Russia has consistently raised concerns about Pentagon-backed biological labs worldwide, particularly near its borders and in Ukraine, alleging that they are involved in bioweapons research.

Gabbard said that the move aims to halt risky virus experiments and follows President Donald Trump’s order restricting federal funding for “gain-of-function” research – studies that examine how viruses replicate and interact with human cells to increase their transmissibility.

“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the catastrophic global impact research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have,” Gabbard said. “Yet despite these obvious dangers, politicians, so-called health professionals, like Dr. Fauci, and entities within the [former President Joe] Biden administration’s national security team lied to the American people about the existence of these US-funded and supported biolabs and threatened those who attempted to expose the truth.”

She was referring to former White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci, whom critics accuse of downplaying the theory that COVID-19 originated from a leak in a Chinese lab that had received US funding.

Gabbard said that her team will “identify where these labs are, what pathogens they contain and what ‘research’ is being conducted” to end “dangerous gain-of-function research.” Officials from her office confirmed that the labs are in over 30 countries, including Ukraine, which allegedly hosts in excess of 40, with several funded through Pentagon programs.

The Pentagon, and other US agencies, previously backed labs worldwide via the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). While the Biden administration denied running “chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine,” then-Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland acknowledged in 2022 that “biological research facilities” exist there. Washington has since confirmed supporting biological research facilities in Ukraine and elsewhere, but maintained that the work was aimed at preventing disease outbreaks and developing vaccines, not for military purposes. Russia and China, however, have repeatedly warned that the work may have a military dimension.

Moscow has long accused Ukraine of hosting Western-backed biolabs tied to weapons research, citing documents it alleges were obtained from Kiev. Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Russia’s late top WMD official, stated in 2023 that the US was conducting dual-use research “including the creation of biological weapons components” near Russian borders. He was killed in 2024, in an attack believed to have been ordered by Kiev. In March 2025, Vladimir Tarabrin, who is Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), said that the US still operated biolabs in Ukraine.

https://www.rt.com/news/639886-gabbard-probe-us-funded-biolabs/

"Like Band-Aid On An Arterial Bleed": Ranchers Warn Trump's Proposed Beef Tariff Cut Offers Only Temporary Relief

Summary:

Cattle ranchers respond with first-takes on proposed policies from White House

Tuesday: Trump team is "fine-tuning" an executive order aimed at reducing ‌domestic beef prices

Monday: Tyson Sinks, Walmart Falls After Trump Moves To Temporarily Lower Beef Import Tariffs

Ranchers Respond

Following Monday afternoon's WSJ report that the White House will temporarily cut beef import tariffs, we spoke with three ranchers across America's beef-producing corridor, centered on the Great and Southern Plains, to gauge industry sentiment.

The message from all three, including Elkins Cattle Company, Beck Ranch, and KC Cattle Company, premier ranchers featured in the ZeroHedge Store, was broadly the same: the proposed policy may briefly ease pressure on ground beef prices at the supermarket, but it does little to address the deeper structural crisis facing the nation's cattle herd and could further weaken domestic producers.

With U.S. herds already near historic lows and ranchers still battered by elevated costs for diesel, labor, fertilizer, equipment, and transportation, a flood of cheap imported beef risks pushing cattle prices lower without reducing producers' operating expenses.

In other words, Trump's potential move to ease beef prices at the store appears aimed at boosting affordability ahead of the midterms. What needs to happen is for the administration to push pro-growth policies that rebuild America's cattle supply over the medium to long term.

By Tuesday morning, Reuters reports that the Trump team is "fine-tuning" an executive order aimed at reducing ‌domestic beef prices.

"The president is committed to lowering beef and other grocery costs for everyday Americans, and the administration is accordingly fine-tuning potential executive actions to alleviate temporary shortages in the domestic beef market," the White House told the outlet in an emailed statement.

Here's the first take from Tim Elkins of Elkins Cattle Company (of Texas):

Here is how I see it:

Tariff-rate quota is basically a penalty threshold that gets removed. This in turn, allows imported beef to enter at lower tarrifs. US cattle herds are at record lows BUT we have slowly been rebuilding. By removing this barrier this is going to drive cattle prices down.

While that’s GOOD for consumers, it’s VERY bad for us cattle ranchers. Our input costs are still sky high. Think: Transport (diesel costs), tractor parts, labor, fertilizer etc. These costs DONT come down for us with this. It just makes us compete with lower cost, lower quality imported beef.

With supply rising due to this, it will lower consumer costs, but it doesn’t change our input costs. We already have been subsiding a lot of the costs because the consumer will simply not pay the prices, meaning lower profit margins to us.

To the point of barely surviving the way it is today with cattle prices are RECORD HIGHS. The main brunt of this will be felt amongst Cow-Calf operators (who grow herds) and stocker operations (feeders).

https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/tyson-sinks-walmart-falls-after-trump-moves-temporarily-lower-beef-import-tariffs

As Hantavirus Cases Rise, US Officials Say Risk To Public "Very, Very Low"

A total of 11 hantavirus cases have been confirmed as of Tuesday morning, with global health officials warning that the number could rise.

The risk to the public from an illness called the hantavirus is low, a U.S. official said on May 11.

“Let me be crystal clear: the risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low,” Dr. Brian Christine, assistant secretary for health and head of the U.S. Public Health Service, told reporters during a briefing in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said in a May 8 health alert to doctors and health departments that doctors should be aware that imported hantavirus cases were possible but that “the risk of broad spread to the United States is considered extremely unlikely at this time.”

As Zachary Stieber reports for The Epoch Times, multiple people on board the M.V. Hondius, which departed from Argentina on April 1 and traveled to remote locations, including Antarctica, contracted a variant of the hantavirus called the Andes variant.

Three have died.

Christine said on Monday that “the Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic.”

An American cruise ship passenger who tested positive on one test and negative on another was transported early Monday to the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, officials said. That individual is doing well and has no symptoms, Dr. Angela Hewlett, director of the unit, said at the briefing. That person will be tested again at some point.

Fifteen other Americans, including a British American, who were on the Hondius were admitted around the same time into a separate area called the quarantine unit. They have not displayed symptoms. They may be tested, based on conversations between physicians and those individuals, officials said.

Two additional Americans who were aboard the ship were transported to a biocontainment unit at Emory University in Atlanta. One of those Americans has shown symptoms of hantavirus; the other is that person’s partner.

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/hantavirus-cases-rise-us-officials-say-risk-public-very-very-low

The Department of Justice has just filed criminal charges against the Singapore shipping company behind the deadly Baltimore Key Bridge collapse.

"Today, the United States unsealed an indictment charging 3 defendants, Synergy Marine Private Limited, Synergy Maritime Private Limited, and Karthik Nair Radhakrishnan with crimes related to the disaster, including conspiracy, violations of the Ports and Waterways Safety Act, misconduct or neglect of ship officers resulting in death, and obstruction, among others."

https://x.com/i/status/2054202371362693283

Parents Sue OpenAI After Son Fatally Overdosed Following ChatGPT Drug Advice.

A lawsuit against OpenAI alleges that ChatGPT recommended a dangerous and ultimately fatal cocktail of drugs to a Texas teenager.

A Texas couple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT provided their son with unsafe advice about drug use, leading to his fatal overdose in 2025. The family alleges that ChatGPT recommended a combination of kratom and Xanax, which proved lethal for their 19-year-old son, Sam Nelson.

The lawsuit claims the teen repeatedly used ChatGPT for guidance on various substances and that the chatbot gradually shifted from refusing harmful requests to offering specific recommendations on drug intake and recovery. His parents, Leila Turner-Scott and Angus Scott, argue that the AI platform dispensed dangerous advice that it was unqualified to provide and failed to maintain adequate safety protections. The suit, filed in a California state court, seeks to hold OpenAI responsible for wrongful death and negligence, alleging their son would still be alive if stronger safeguards had been in place. OpenAI has not publicly responded in detail to the lawsuit, but it has previously stated that ChatGPT is designed to discourage harmful behavior and direct users to professional help. The case adds to a growing number of lawsuits accusing AI chatbots of contributing to dangerous or violent conduct, such as mass shootings and mental health crises, including recorded suicides.

“The chatbot is capable of stopping a conversation when it’s told to or when it’s programmed to… And they took away the programming that did that.” – Leila Turner-Scott, the victim’s mother.

The case highlights growing concerns over the potential for AI platforms to provide unverified medical advice, raising questions about liability and the need for stricter safeguards. It also underscores broader debates about the role of AI and whether teenagers, the mentally ill, and other vulnerable people should have unsupervised access to it.

https://thenationalpulse.com/2026/05/12/parents-sue-openai-after-son-fatally-overdosed-following-chatgpt-drug-advice/

END OF ANONYMITY: FCC Forces Americans to Show Government ID to Get ANY Phone Number

New Rules Require Government ID, Physical Address, and Real Name for All Phone Service — Prepaid Burner Phones Effectively Banned in Massive Surveillance Dragnet

The era of the anonymous phone number is coming to a rapid end.

The Federal Communications Commission has unanimously approved a sweeping new proposal.

The mandate requires telecom providers to rigorously verify the identities of all customers before activating service.

Americans would be forced to provide a government-issued ID, a physical address, and their legal name.

The stated goal of the new regime is to stop illegal robocalls.

There’s just one problem:

The result is a massive surveillance dragnet covering one of the last semi-anonymous communication tools available to the public.

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr framed the aggressive new rules around negligent telecom companies.

“As we have continued to investigate the problem of illegal robocalls over the last year, it has become clear that some originating providers are not doing enough to vet their customers,” Carr stated.

While the language targets telecom companies, the surveillance directly targets everyday Americans.

The new framework borrows heavily from banking’s strict anti-money-laundering rules.

The FCC is now asking whether carriers should be forced to retain customer identity documentation for at least four years.

Furthermore, the agency is exploring whether telecom providers should cross-reference customers against law enforcement watchlists.

The real privacy threat lies in the proposal’s section on prepaid service.

Currently, individuals can pay cash for a prepaid phone without showing identification.

Journalists rely on prepaid phones to protect confidential sources.

Whistleblowers and activists depend on this anonymity to separate their phone activity from their legal identity.

Now, conservative voters are demanding answers about the government's escalating control over basic communication.

https://www.nationalfile.com/article/end-of-anonymity-fcc-forces-americans-to-show-government-id-to-get-any-phone-number

https://www.antiwar.com/

Medical Martial Law: Three New Yorkers Forced into 42-Day CDC Quarantine Over Hantavirus.

Unlike the “self-monitoring” advised for earlier passengers, the CDC has mandated a 42-day forced quarantine. This timeframe is based on the maximum incubation period for the Andes strain of hantavirus, which is known for rare but deadly human-to-human transmission.

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Monday that three New Yorkers were aboard the cruise ship where multiple cases of hantavirus were confirmed. It's unclear if they tested positive, according to Hochul.

Seventeen Americans in total, including those three New Yorkers, are headed to Nebraska for testing, U.S. health officials said. It is unclear what part of New York the New Yorkers are from or whether they will quarantine in Nebraska.

“There are three individuals who call New York home. We don’t know whether those individuals will be returning to New York. I believe that there is a 42-day monitoring period,” Hochul said.

The governor added that she is not worried about a pandemic.

“It’s transmitted very differently than the coronavirus. And so, there’s no panic, no concern. But I just need to be proactive. That’s all,” she said.

https://x.com/i/status/2053880980365033736

Israel has tried to drag US into war on Iran for decades, says former Qatari PM

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim tells Al Jazeera that Netanyahu is violently reshaping the region, and that Gulf can't rely indefinitely on US

A former Qatari prime minister has said that the war on Iran is part of decades-long Israeli efforts to violently reshape the region, and that a unified “Gulf Nato” must be urgently established.

Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al Thani, who is also the former Qatari foreign minister, made the comments in a wide-ranging interview on Al Jazeera’s Al Muqabala programme.

“We are witnessing a major restructuring of the region,” Sheikh Hamad said.

He said that hardline Israelis, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, had been trying to get the US to go to war with Iran over its nuclear programme since the 1990s under President Bill Clinton’s administration.

The veteran diplomat said that previous US governments had been hesitant for a full scale war, including Donald Trump’s first administration.

He said that Netanyahu had finally succeeded in selling Washington an “illusion”.

“He convinced the US administration that the war would be short and swift, and that the Iranian regime would fall within weeks,” he said, and made reference to the US’s capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Greater Israel

“America’s true power has always been in its ability to avoid using force, not in deploying it,” Sheikh Hamad added.

He said that Netanyahu was the biggest beneficiary of the war on Iran, and added that the leader was using it to reshape the region and to market a vision for a “Greater Israel” with expanded borders.

Since the US and Israel launched its war on 28 February, Iran has responded by attacking every country in the Gulf including Qatar. The strikes have targeted US military bases, as well as energy and civilian infrastructure.

Sheikh Hamad condemned Iran’s attacks on energy, industrial and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf, and added that Gulf states had explicitly opposed the conflict.

He said that despite anger over Iran’s strikes, Iran’s geographic proximity meant that coexistence was necessary and that dialogue was needed between the Gulf and Tehran.

The influential former leader said that Gulf disunity was a bigger threat than Iran, Israel or foreign bases in the region.

To address this, he said that a “Gulf Nato” needed to be created, made of strategically aligned Gulf states with Saudi Arabia as the backbone.

He said that while US bases in the region had provided deterrence for decades, Washington pivoting its focus to Asia and China meant that the Gulf could not rely indefinitely on the US security umbrella.

Instead, he noted, Gulf states needed to develop strategic partnerships with powers such as Turkey, Pakistan and Egypt.

Elsewhere, Sheikh Hamad condemned Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, and said that intelligence showed that Israel was plotting to depopulate the enclave by encouraging Palestinians to leave.

He said that discussions around the disarmament of Hamas must come with a political horizon for an independent Palestinian state.

Sheikh Hamad praised Saudi Arabia for not normalising relations with Israel unless such a roadmap occurred - a position he said had disrupted Netanyahu’s calculations.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-has-tried-drag-us-war-iran-decades-says-former-qatari-pm

Infants vaccinated at 2 months are 68% MORE LIKELY TO DIE in the following month than unvaccinated infants, according to Louisiana Department of Health death records.

Girls are hit hardest — facing a staggering 112% HIGHER ODDS OF DEATH in the month following vaccination.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2054147131414659250

🚨🚨BREAKING: The Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex is going to MELT DOWN HARD…

Children’s Health Defense just EXPOSED THE SCAM…Ivermectin is CRUSHING cancer like chemotherapy NEVER could.

Nearly 200 patients.

Multiple cancer types.

84% POSITIVE OUTCOME.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2054121604867674390

Doctor: "Your LDL is still high. I'm adding a second statin."

Patient: "I'm already on one. My legs ache."

Doctor: "That's a known side effect. I'll add CoQ10."

Patient: "And I'm tired all the time."

Doctor: "Fatigue is common. I'll add modafinil."

Patient: "My memory is foggy."

Doctor: "Cognitive effects can occur. Donepezil should help."

Patient: "I have a cough now."

Doctor: "That'll be the ACE inhibitor I prescribed last visit. We'll swap it for an ARB."

Patient: "I'm not sleeping."

Doctor: "Zopiclone."

Patient: "Heard that's addictive."

Doctor: "We'll taper you with mirtazapine when the time comes."

Patient: "My blood sugar has gone up."

Doctor: "Statins can do that. Metformin."

Patient: "I get diarrhoea on metformin."

Doctor: "Loperamide."

Patient: "I've gained weight."

Doctor: "Ozempic."

Patient: "I feel nauseous."

Doctor: "Ondansetron."

Patient: "I don't want to be on twelve medications."

Doctor: "Anxiety is common at this stage. I'll add sertraline."

Patient: "What if I just stopped the statin?"

Doctor: "Absolutely not."

https://x.com/SamaHoole/status/2054127722461348002

Former CDC Director Robert Redfield confirms BY OATH that they were hiding the side effects of the Covid-19 vaccines.

https://twitter.com/i/status/2054025188896133291

Open-AI Chief Sam Altman to testify in Elon Musk trial

The trial may determine the future of OpenAI and its leadership, after the company raised hundreds of billions of dollars from large technology companies and investors to build its computing power.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman is expected to take the witness stand on Tuesday to defend his company against Elon Musk's lawsuit accusing him of betraying the ChatGPT maker's founding mission to serve the public good.

The trial may determine the future of OpenAI and its leadership, after the company raised hundreds of billions of dollars from large technology companies and investors to build its computing power ahead of a potential $1 trillion initial public offering.

It also marks a clash among tech giants, with Musk, the world's richest person, portraying himself as a defender of ordinary people from the perils of AI and Silicon Valley titans who care more about money.

In his lawsuit, Musk accused Altman and OpenAI of persuading him into giving $38 million, only to see the nonprofit abandon its mission to benefit humanity and instead become a for-profit corporation. Musk accused Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, who is also a defendant, of trying to "steal a charity."

OpenAI has tried to show that Musk knew about the for-profit plan but wanted control of the company, and is suing now because he regrets missing out on potential riches.

Musk is seeking about $150 billion in damages

Musk is seeking about $150 billion in damages from OpenAI and Microsoft MSFT.O, a major investor, to be paid to an OpenAI nonprofit. He also wants the removal of Altman and Brockman from their roles.

Bret Taylor, chairman of OpenAI, testified on Tuesday that OpenAI received a formal takeover offer from a consortium led by Musk’s rival company xAI in February 2025, six months after Musk sued.

“I was surprised,” Taylor said. “This proposal was to acquire this non-profit by a group of for-profit investors, which felt contradictory to the spirit of the lawsuit."

Testimony in the trial before US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Oakland, California, federal court may conclude this week. Jurors could begin deliberating whether the defendants are liable by May 18. Rogers would determine any remedies.

The faceoff has transfixed many in Silicon Valley and beyond, with testimony at times focusing on the clashing personalities and leadership styles of Musk and Altman.

Former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever testified on Monday that he spent about a year gathering evidence for OpenAI directors that Altman had displayed a "consistent pattern of lying."

Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella, whose company is a major OpenAI investor, testified on Monday that the investment was a "calculated risk."

Others who have testified include Brockman, former OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati, and Shivon Zilis, a former OpenAI board member who is also the mother of four of Musk's children.

Musk testified early, saying: "If you have someone who is not trustworthy in charge of AI, I think that’s a very big danger for the whole world."

He also said OpenAI was his idea before executives looted it, and that while he knew there were discussions about making OpenAI a for-profit enterprise, Altman assured him it would remain a nonprofit.

https://www.jpost.com/international/article-895948

In 1982, an NBC affiliate station in Washington, D.C., produced a documentary called “DPT: Vaccine Roulette.”

It got such a huge reaction, the station re-aired it twice. The big NBC promoted it. It even won an Emmy.

All because it asked one vital question: Is the DPT vaccine more dangerous than the disease itself?

44 years later, a film like this would never win an Emmy, never be funded by mainstream television, nor receive positive media coverage. You can’t even watch the film on YouTube anymore.

The question we have to ask is: why?

Did the evidence change… or something else? 🧵

https://x.com/i/status/2053900460885717470

@WikiLeaksQ

🚨 IT’S OFFICIAL: Epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher Says IVERMECTIN and FENBENDAZOL Are Showing Documented Stage IV Cancer Remissions — Big Pharma Cannot Ignore This Anymore | VIDEO

🚨 A global medical firestorm is erupting after epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher highlighted

https://x.com/i/status/2053896059055722849