Summary

Iran rejects peace push narrative: Tehran says Hormuz stays closed until the US accepts all its conditions.

Hardliners take control: Iran reshuffles top military leadership, signaling a tougher stance.

Pakistan pushes talks: Interior Minister arrives in Tehran for mediation efforts.

US enforces blockade: American forces reportedly fired on a ship trying to breach the Iran blockade.

Shipping attacks escalate in region: A Houthi attack reportedly killed three crew members, while another vessel was struck in the Gulf of Oman.

Milei’s Land Reform Hits a Wall: Argentina’s Senate Blocks Opening Rural Property to Foreign Buyers

The libertarian president wanted to tear down restrictions on foreign ownership. Political resistance forced him to pull the proposal—but the fight over private property and national sovereignty is far from over.

Javier Milei came to power promising to dismantle Argentina’s economic restrictions and restore private property and investment incentives. One of his most controversial targets has been a law restricting foreign ownership of rural land.

This past week, however, Milei was forced to retreat.

Argentina’s Senate approved the government’s broader Law of Inviolability of Private Property by a vote of 37–33, but only after lawmakers removed the provisions that would have significantly loosened restrictions on foreign ownership of rural land. The Senate also removed another controversial section involving land affected by fires. The legislation now moves to the Chamber of Deputies.

For Milei, the vote represents a setback—but not necessarily the end of his campaign to liberalize Argentina’s property market.

Milei wanted to open Argentina’s rural land market

At the center of the controversy is Argentina’s Law 26.737, enacted in 2011 under then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The law limits foreign ownership of rural land to 15% at the national, provincial and municipal levels and establishes additional restrictions involving nationality, land concentration and strategically sensitive areas.

Milei and his economic team have argued that such restrictions discourage investment and prevent Argentina from fully benefiting from foreign capital.

Federico Sturzenegger, the government’s minister responsible for deregulation, argued that eliminating the restrictions could potentially generate billions of dollars in new investment. Government officials have cited estimates of up to $15 billion in potential investment.

The argument is straightforward from a free-market perspective:

If a foreign investor can legally buy a factory, build a business or invest millions of dollars in Argentina, why should the government prohibit that same investor from purchasing rural property simply because he is not Argentine?

That is the argument Milei’s supporters have been making.

Critics see something very different

Opponents of the reform argue that rural land is not simply another asset.

Argentina’s enormous agricultural territory contains water resources, forests, minerals, farmland and strategically important areas, including land near international borders.

Critics therefore warn that unrestricted foreign ownership could allow large amounts of strategically important territory to become concentrated in the hands of foreign individuals, corporations or investment funds.

The debate has consequently become a proxy for a much larger question:

Where does private property end and national sovereignty begin?

The current fight is actually the second major attempt by Milei to dismantle the restrictions.

https://gatewayhispanic.com/2026/08/mileis-land-reform-hits-wall-argentinas-senate-blocks/

BRICS discusses interlinking payment systems and digital currencies

The RBI governor says all BRICS nations are interested in cross-border payments as they offer “a lot of scope for reducing cost”

BRICS nations are discussing linking their payment systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as they explore ways to reduce the costs and increase the speed of cross-border payments, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Sanjay Malhotra said on Tuesday.

Last week, Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said New Delhi prefers trade settlements in national currencies to a unified monetary system, or a BRICS currency, which has been touted as an alternative to the US dollar.

The Indian central bank chief said on Monday that “cross-border payments is an area of interest for all of us, including the BRICS, because we ⁠feel there is a lot of scope for reducing cost.” He added that various options are being discussed, including CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) and linkages of fast payment systems.

Citing the example of India’s Unified Payments Interface, a real-time payment system, he said, “It is instantaneous. Why do you have to wait for some hours, some days for your foreign remittances to take place?”

The RBI proposed that a plan to link the CBDCs of BRICS countries to make cross-border trade and tourism payments easier be included on the agenda of the group’s 2026 summit, Reuters reported in January, citing sources. India, which hosts the BRICS presidency this year, is hosting the summit September 12-13.

https://www.rt.com/india/644105-brics-payment-systems-cbdc/

US and Israel agree to remove nuclear material from secret Syrian site – Axios

The countries will reportedly work with Damascus and the IAEA to recover material from a site linked to a 2007 Israeli airstrike

The US and Israel have reached a deal with Damascus to remove nuclear material from a secret site in Syria, Axios reported on Monday, citing US and Israeli officials.

According to the publication, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will be given access to the area, labeled ‘Site 99’, to recover material described as remnants from Syria’s Al-Kibar reactor, which Israel bombed in 2007.

The site reportedly contains yellowcake, a concentrated uranium powder that can eventually be processed into nuclear fuel. While the material cannot be used directly to make a nuclear bomb, it could potentially be dispersed using conventional explosives, causing radiological contamination in what is commonly known as a dirty bomb.

Israel reportedly bombed the entrances to the site shortly after a coalition of US-backed rebel groups captured Damascus in December 2024, toppling Syria’s longtime president, Bashar Assad. An Israeli official told Axios that Israel had threatened to bomb the site again if the nuclear material was not removed or if there were signs that Syria was attempting to access it.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former jihadist commander who was once on the US wanted list, has sought to improve the country’s relations with the West and attract foreign aid to Syria, which has been ravaged by civil war since 2011. Last month, he revealed that he was working on a security agreement with Israel, which has occupied parts of southwestern Syria since 2024, expanding its presence beyond the Golan Heights, which it has held since 1967.

Al-Sharaa’s government has also sought to normalize relations with Russia, which militarily supported Assad. Earlier this month, Moscow and Damascus agreed to reorganize Russia’s Khmeimim Airbase and naval facility in Tartus into joint training centers. The deal allows Russia to maintain a military presence in Syria following Assad’s fall.

https://www.rt.com/news/644090-us-israel-syria-nuclear-site/

O’KEEFE INVESTIGATES DUPLICATE ABSENTEE BALLOT RETURN ENVELOPES IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN

GOES DOOR TO DOOR INTERVIEWING AFFECTED VOTERS

"That's illegal right? you couldn't… scrape one of them off?"

“They probably sent her two ballots, and she just signed them, I guess.”

"Keep them [cameras] pointed from my house… Do you want me to get the dog?"

https://x.com/JamesOKeefeIII/status/2086941841996357656

https://www.antiwar.com/

Ex-Mossad chief says ‘we toured’ Iran’s Fordo nuclear site ‘many times’

In remarks at forum in Safed, Yossi Cohen says US bombing of site in 2025 was ‘the fulfillment of all my dreams,’ suggests that 60% uranium enrichment ‘is still far from a bomb’

Former Mossad director Yossi Cohen revealed on Tuesday that Israeli operatives have toured Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility several times in the past.

“We toured the Fordo nuclear site many times in order to understand the site,” he said Tuesday at the Galilee Forum in Safed, according to Hebrew media outlets, without saying when the visits took place or who exactly toured the site.

“[The site] being bombed by the Americans was the fulfillment of all my dreams,” Cohen added.

Fordo, along with the Isfahan and Natanz facilities, was severely damaged by US strikes during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran in June 2025.

Reports have said the 440 kilograms (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium stored in the facilities was buried, but Israel reportedly believes that Iran managed to transfer some of it to the nearby Pickaxe Mountain site following that war.

Pickaxe Mountain was not hit then or in the latest war, although US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb it.

Cohen also said Tuesday “that 60% enriched uranium is still far from a bomb,” appearing to contradict experts such as David Albright, who say 60% enriched uranium can potentially be further enriched to weapons grade in a matter of weeks or even days.

No other quotes from Cohen’s remarks during the forum were released to media outlets.

Trump asserted last year that the June 2025 operation “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear capability and set back its nuclear program by decades. But the exact extent of the damage is unknown.

Prior to last year’s strikes, Iran was enriching uranium to 60 percent, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That is far higher than necessary for civilian reactor levels, and close to the 90 percent required to build a nuclear weapon.

In a report aired on Channel 12’s “Uvda” investigative program in January, Cohen said Israel first became aware of what was going on at Fordo in 2010. The Mossad began putting together a grandiose operation that — Cohen said at the time — had it been carried out, “would have been the greatest operation in the history of the country.”

The plan reportedly faced doubts owing to the enormous resources required, its dizzying complexity, the need to mesh delicately synchronized activities, the number of agents required, as well as figuring how to get them out of Iran after the attack went ahead. The Mossad favored using its own home-grown operatives rather than agents enlisted abroad, complicating the mission, which Cohen indicated would have required at least dozens of people.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/ex-mossad-chief-says-we-toured-irans-fordo-nuclear-site-many-times/

US continues withdrawing tanker aircraft from Israel’s Ben Gurion airport: Israeli media

Channel 12 says number of US aerial refueling aircraft at airport is nearing levels seen during previous ceasefire

The number of US aerial refueling aircraft stationed at Ben Gurion Airport in central Israel has declined, nearing levels seen during a previous ceasefire, Israeli Channel 12 reported Monday.

“The Americans continue to reduce the number of refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport” near Tel Aviv, the broadcaster said.

The number of tanker aircraft had “already approached” levels seen during the ceasefire, when about 20 such aircraft were stationed at the airport, it added.

The channel did not provide the number of aircraft at the height of tensions.

The report comes as reports have circulated in recent days that the US and Iran could be nearing an agreement on outstanding issues, particularly navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global energy supplies and trade.

US aircraft have been stopping at Ben Gurion for aerial refueling since the US-Israeli war on Iran began Feb. 28.

Channel 12 reported Sunday that the US Air Force “had begun withdrawing some of its refueling aircraft stationed at Ben Gurion Airport amid security developments.”

The move came after Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev pressed security officials to remove the tanker aircraft to maintain normal airport operations during peak travel days, the channel added.

According to the channel, more than 2.6 million passengers are expected to pass through the airport in August, averaging about 100,000 passengers a day, making it the busiest month since Oct. 7, 2023, as August is a popular vacation period for Israelis.

There was no immediate comment from Washington or Tel Aviv on the report.

Israel has previously debated the impact of US tanker aircraft stationed at Ben Gurion on civilian flight operations.

On July 14, Israel barred additional US aerial refueling aircraft from landing at Ben Gurion after their number reached 33. Regev said the aircraft were occupying spaces needed for civilian planes.

The US Central Command, or CENTCOM, objected to the decision the same day. Israel reversed the decision on July 15 following US protests.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/us-continues-withdrawing-tanker-aircraft-from-israel-s-ben-gurion-airport-israeli-media/4023590

didn't need to be told this

For decades, we were told to choose low-fat dairy. New research says otherwise

A new Canadian study led by University of Toronto professor Harvey Anderson adds to growing evidence that full-fat dairy can be part of a healthy diet.

In the 12-week study, 74 adults consumed different amounts of dairy under varying dietary conditions. The researchers found that eating three servings of full-fat dairy per day did not negatively affect body weight, body composition, energy metabolism, or blood lipid levels. The findings were recently published in The Journal of Nutrition.

Why Full-Fat Dairy Has Long Raised Concerns

Dairy foods contain saturated fat, which has traditionally been associated with higher cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. As a result, dietary recommendations in Canada and many other countries have typically encouraged people to choose fat-free or low-fat dairy products as a way to reduce saturated fat intake.

Anderson, a professor of nutritional sciences at U of T's Temerty Faculty of Medicine, says the evidence from human research has not always matched those concerns. Numerous human studies have found no link between eating full-fat dairy and harmful health outcomes. Some studies, including recent research led by Temerty Medicine professor Kozeta Milliku, have even reported positive or protective effects associated with dairy consumption.

Testing Three Daily Servings of Dairy

For the current study, researchers randomly assigned 74 adults with overweight or obesity to one of three dietary groups. One group followed a low-dairy, calorie-restricted diet. A second group followed an energy-neutral diet that included three servings of dairy each day. A third group ate an unrestricted diet that also included three daily servings of dairy.

All participants received guidance on following Canada's food guide, and those assigned to the dairy groups were supplied with full-fat dairy products during the study.

After 12 weeks, researchers found no meaningful differences in weight gain, body composition, or cholesterol levels between people following the low-dairy diet and those eating three servings of dairy each day. Participants consuming more dairy, however, showed improvements in blood pressure and consumed more calcium, protein, and vitamin D.

"Those that had three servings of dairy didn't have adverse levels of blood cholesterol or lipids or evidence of insulin resistance," says Anderson.

Why Dairy May Behave Differently Than Saturated Fat Alone

The apparent mismatch between the expected harms of saturated fat and the neutral or beneficial effects seen in some dairy studies may be explained by what researchers call the dairy matrix hypothesis.

This idea suggests that the physical structure of dairy foods influences how their nutrients are digested, absorbed, and ultimately affect the body. In other words, the health effects of a food may depend on how its components interact rather than simply on the amount of one nutrient it contains.

"With dairy products, it's got two proteins casein and whey that are bound together with fat and with nutrients mixed in," says Anderson.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260808234948.htm

Bill O'Reilly urges Trump to commit war crimes in Iran, framing the bombing of Tehran's civilian infrastructure as a cheat code to victory.

"We had enough with Japan, we had enough with Germany…we took care of that. And we're going to have to do the same thing with Iran!"

(Keep in mind as you listen that Trump regularly calls O'Reilly for advice.)

https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2087150360527851938