🚨 Violence begets violence: IDF troops beaten, choked, rammed by Jewish settlers in West Bank

At least six settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank have been arrested after a confrontation with Israeli troops which left several soldiers injured.

The IDF said in a statement that the settler attacks, which took place from late Friday into Saturday, followed troops’ deployment to the Palestinian town of Kafr Malik.

Settlers beat, threw rocks at and choked troops, insulted them, slashed tires of a police car and tried to ram soldiers with another vehicle, according to the military.

“Upon the arrival of the forces, dozens of Israeli civilians hurled stones toward them and physically and verbally assaulted the soldiers, including the battalion commander,” the IDF said.

Kafr Malik was declared a closed military zone earlier this week after a rampage by up to 200 settlers which left 3 Palestinians dead and seven more injured in a string of home and car torchings and rock-throwing attacks which - get this – even the IDF described as “acts of terror conducted by criminals.”

Security forces were deployed to “disperse the friction,” but according to the town’s mayor, shot and killed Palestinians instead of the attackers. Five settlers were detained, but released hours afterward. An IDF officer was injured by a rock.

Settler violence against the IDF is rare. Instead, the UN has recorded over 1,800 attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank by settlers and security forces since late 2023, averaging four a day. Nearly 950 people, including over 200 children, have been killed to date, with 6,700 others wounded and thousands displaced.

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🚨 Haifa port’s IMEC dreams blasted to pieces by Iranian missiles

The key Israeli Mediterranean port city has reportedly lost its luster as a major node in the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, a massive, cross-regional initiative designed to foster broad economic integration between Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

A recent assessment by UK-based global maritime risk management firm Ambrey characterized Haifa as a ‘high-risk port’ for merchant shipping.

Last week, Iran’s missile strikes may have dealt the port city’s IMEC ambitions a “final blow” that they are unlikely to recover from, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency said in an analysis.

Iran’s massive missile strikes targeted an array of military, technological and economic infrastructure in the course of its 12-day war with Israel, including the Haifa port and naval base, its main refinery, and a power plant serving the port.

Haifa accounts for well over 1/3 of Israel’s total maritime cargo traffic, handling 30M+ metric tons of goods per year. After the Houthi campaign in solidarity with Gaza drove the Red Sea port of Eilat to bankruptcy, Haifa’s importance as Israel’s maritime window to the outside world grew further.

Israel’s adversaries have long accused the country of playing dirty to try to increase Haifa’s attractiveness for Asia-Europe maritime trade, even alleging that Israel may have had something to do with the 2020 port blast in Beirut – a key rival regionally.

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💉 Ukraine’s wounded soldiers deliberately HOOKED ON OPIOIDS with gov’t blessing?

A synthetic opioid that is being handed out to wounded Ukrainian soldiers is turning them into addicts, claims activist Oksana Korchynskaya.

The drug Nalbuphine is being widely distributed under shady circumstances, and Deputy Health Minister Yevgeny Gonchar is allegedly neck-deep in the scheme.

Korchynskaya claims Gonchar pushed for the drug’s use in frontline zones via paper prenoscriptions — effectively making it available on demand near combat areas. Elsewhere in the country, it’s supposedly prenoscription-only via electronic systems.

“This is basically unregulated opioid distribution. Soldiers are coming home addicted, going through withdrawal like it’s heroin,” she fumes.

Key allegations:

🔸 Over 2.8 million packs of the drug were sold last year, but only ~5,000 prenoscriptions were officially logged.

🔸 Just 794 prenoscriptions were properly closed — meaning over 99.9% of sales happened outside the system.

🔸 Civilian hospitals are allegedly using the drug too, to cut costs.

Side effects soldiers reported:

🔸 Intense withdrawal symptoms: insomnia, muscle pain, panic attacks

🔸 Described by some as “heroin-level” withdrawal

Korchynskaya slammed Gonchar’s “off the charts” cynicism.

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🗣 ‘Utterly insane and destructive’ — Musk criticizes Senate draft of Trump-backed spending bill

Elon Musk has sharply criticized the latest Senate draft of what President Donald Trump has called his “Big, Beautiful Bill,” warning that it would severely harm the US economy.

💬 “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk wrote on X.

Earlier this month, he referred to the bill as “a disgusting abomination.”

The legislation, promoted by Trump and some Republican lawmakers, aims to restructure federal spending and reduce the national deficit. However, analysts at Goldman Sachs recently warned that the bill may have limited effect on the growing US debt burden. According to their report, the bill’s proposed spending cuts are unlikely to offset ballooning borrowing costs or stabilize the debt-to-GDP ratio, which is now nearing post–World War II levels.

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🇳🇴❌🇷🇺 Norway restricting Russian activity on Svalbard – Russian ambassador

Norwegian authorities are tightening control over the Svalbard archipelago (also known as Spitsbergen), making it harder for Russia to carry out scientific and economic work there, Russian Ambassador to Oslo Nikolay Korchunov told Sputnik.

He noted that Svalbard is a special economic zone under the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which grants Russia and other signatories equal rights to operate there. However, Norway’s recent actions—including joining EU sanctions—have created barriers for Russian researchers and businesses.

💬 “These steps contradict the treaty and put Russian operators in a discriminatory position,” Korchunov said.

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🗣 Witkoff to discuss nuclear deal with Iran in coming days – reports

US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff is expected to hold talks with Iranian authorities in the coming days on a potential agreement regarding Tehran’s nuclear program, NBC News reported.

Some arms control experts cited by the outlet warned that Iran possesses the technical capabilities to revive its weapons program — including enriched uranium, centrifuges, and access to underground facilities such as tunnels.

For that reason, US and Israeli intelligence services will keep a close eye on Iran, the report said.

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📊Anti-Russia sanctions push average EU gas prices up 150%

The price of gas for the European Union has increased 2.5-fold since the introduction of large-scale sanctions against Russia — in just four years.

From 2021 to 2025, it has increased twice as much as in the previous 20 years, according to Sputnik's calculations based on Eurostat data.

🟠Thus, in April 2021, the average price of a thousand cubic meters of gas for the EU was 206 euros, and it rose to 523.5 euros in April of this year.

🟠Over the previous four years, the increase in the price of this type of fuel in the EU was only 1.7%: in April 2017, a thousand cubic meters could be purchased for only 202.5 euros. Twenty years ago, in mid-spring 2000, a thousand cubic meters cost the EU 123.9 euros.

Reason? The EU's reorientation towards LNG amid sanctions against Russia.

🟠In 2021, LNG accounted for only a third of all purchases by the union, but in 2025 it was already just slightly less than half.

🟠The price of importing this type of fuel over the past four years has increased to 645.5 euros from 257 euros.

🟠The price of pipeline gas is still lower than liquefied gas — 417 euros. In 2021 the EU bought a thousand cubic meters of pipeline gas for only 178.7 euros.

Bottom line: EU spending on gas in April 2025 increased to 8.05 billion euros from 3.5 billion four years earlier, despite the fact that import volumes decreased by 8.5% to 15.4 billion cubic meters.

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