Ukrainian forces have struck an oil facility in St. Petersburg, only hours before the start of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, an event highlighted by Russian leadership as a flagship conference on Russian world leadership.
The Kremlin declared, “The “Special Military Operation” is continuing precisely to prevent attacks like the attack on Saint Petersburg from occurring. Putin will speak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.”
Medical case manager Miriam Volpin was at work in Nevada when she received a disturbing message from a student journalist at the University of Southern California (USC).
That student, Jennifer Nehrer, was part of a team investigating allegations that bodies donated to the school for education and scientific research were being sold to the United States Armed Forces. Some may even have ended up in the hands of Israeli military surgeons.
“I just got sick to my stomach,” Volpin told Al Jazeera.
Her 101-year-old mother, Jeanette, had died in 2021. A former flight nurse who served in World War II, Jeanette had arranged to donate her body to USC.
Volpin now fears her mother’s body was among those used to train surgical teams for conflicts like Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The AJ+ documentary series Direct From caught up with Volpin and other family members who wonder whether the remains of their loved ones were used to provide training for military personnel.
Direct From also met with the student journalists who broke the story in 2025, to take their investigation further.
Their reporting revealed that USC was one of two schools in southern California that provided cadavers to the US Navy for Israeli surgical teams.
Records show that, since 2018, USC has supplied at least 89 fresh cadavers as part of agreements involving training for both the US Navy and Israeli military personnel.
Public information about the Israeli training is limited. But a 2020 medical paper written by USC and US Navy instructors offers a rare glimpse inside the process.
A federal appeals court on Monday ruled that the Pentagon illegally banned transgender troops.
In a 2-1 ruling, the DC Circuit Court Appeals sided with crazed Biden judge Ana Reyes and said the Trump Administration’s transgender troop policy violated the Constitution.
The Associated Press reported:
A Trump administration policy illegally banned transgender troops from military service, a divided panel of federal appeal court judges ruled on Monday.
The majority opinion by a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia circuit largely upholds a March 2025 ruling by U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C. Reyes concluded that President Donald Trump’s executive order to exclude transgender troops from military service likely violates their constitutional rights.
The administration appealed after Reyes issued a preliminary injunction requested by attorneys for six transgender people who are active-duty service members and two others seeking to join the military. The appeal court’s majority decided that the injunction should be narrowed to the plaintiffs currently serving in the military but not those seeking to join.
In January 2025, President Trump signed the “Restoring America’s Fighting Force” executive order and the “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive orders, which direct every element of the U.S. military to “operate free from any preference based on race or sex” and root out gender insanity and made up pronoun usage, respectively.
Last March, Judge Ana Reyes, a Biden appointee from Uruguay, issued a temporary nationwide injunction blocking Trump’s transgender military ban.
Russia is banning exports of jet fuel through November 30, 2026, as it seeks to ensure domestic supply amid intensifying Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian refining infrastructure, OilPrice.com reported.
Russia on Monday announced it is temporarily banning jet fuel exports until the end of November to keep sufficient domestic aviation fuel supplies. Supplies under intergovernmental agreements are exempted from the ban, the Russian government said today.
The decision comes after drone strikes on refineries pushed Russia’s crude-processing rate to the lowest in more than 16 years. In an effort to curb the flow of petrodollars into the Kremlin’s coffers, Ukraine has targeted a wide range of energy assets including sea ports and pipelines.
The ban is not expected to be felt on the tight international jet fuel market as Russia is a small exporter of aviation fuels. Last year, it exported an average of 30,000 barrels a day, or less than 2% of the global supplies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from analytics firm Vortexa Ltd. Daily average exports slipped to 28,000 barrels in the first four months of 2026, with Turkey being the main buyer, the data show.
But the ban on kerosene exports follows a ban on gasoline exports, in force since April 1, as Russia has seen its refining capacity and capability crippled in recent weeks by intensifying drone attacks from Ukraine.
Kyiv has targeted several major refiners and oil export terminals since the war in Iran began, aiming to cripple Russia’s ability to take advantage of the soaring international oil and fuel prices.
Last month, Ukraine targeted the 300,000-barrels per day Yaroslavl oil refinery in Russia, escalating the drone attacks on Russian refining and oil exporting assets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
“We are bringing the war back home – to Russia – and that’s only fair,” Zelenskyy said in May.
The attack on the Yaroslavl oil refinery, co-owned by Gazprom Neft, was the fourth on the facility in one month, as Ukraine looks to diminish Russia’s refining and export capabilities amid soaring international oil and fuel prices.
Since international crude oil prices surged following the war in the Middle East, Russia has boosted its oil revenues as not only prices have jumped, but Russian oil was made desirable in India again, thanks to U.S. waivers for sales of Russia’s crude already loaded on tankers.
France announced Monday another weekend interdiction of a Russian “shadow fleet” vessel in international waters near its coast. The French Navy boarded and detained a sanctioned oil tanker, President Emmanuel Macron announced Monday, in an operation which had the assistance from the UK Royal Navy and other allies.
This marks the fourth time since September that French commandoes have intercepted a boarded a sanctioned Russian vessel in regional waters.
The vessel, identified as the Tagor, originated from Murmansk, Russia, and was taken by French authorities while it traversed around 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of the tip of Brittany.
“It is unacceptable for ships to circumvent international sanctions, violate the law of the sea and fund the war that Russia has been waging against Ukraine for more than 4 years,” Macron wrote in a post on X.
The apparent legal justification France’s navy has relied on for such actions is the practice of “flag-hopping” – which involves a crew repeatedly changing displayed flags, along with often invalid registrations to thwart international tracking monitors.
At the time of boarding, via soldiers rappelling from helicopter, the ship was falsely flying a Cameroonian flag while reportedly en route to the coastal African city of Limbe, Cameroon.
Macron confirmed further on X: “This operation took place in the Atlantic Ocean, on the high seas, with the support of several partners, including the United Kingdom, in strict compliance with the law of the sea.”
The Kremlin again condemned such ‘unlawful’ seizures in international waters, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying, “We consider these acts as illegal, they border on international piracy … Russia is taking measures to ensure the safety of its cargo.”
The vessel’s captain is a Russian citizen, according to an embassy disclosure from Paris. According to more:
Guillaume Le Rasle, a spokesperson for the prefecture, said the tanker was under EU and US sanctions. “It is a vessel that was known and tracked,” he told AFP.
“The decision to divert it was taken Sunday evening. The objective of the diversion is to verify the validity of its flag,” Le Rasle said, adding that the tanker, which has frequently changed flags, was “almost empty” at the time of boarding.
President Donald Trump is once again demonstrating that he is the only world leader capable of preventing a wider Middle East war while simultaneously protecting America’s interests and maintaining peace through strength.
On Monday, President Trump announced that he personally intervened to stop a major Israeli operation targeting Beirut, Lebanon, stating that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to reverse course after a direct conversation between the two leaders.
Trump announced on Truth Social:
“I had a conversation with Bibi Netanyahu today, asking him not to go into a major raid of Beirut, Lebanon. He turned his Troops around. Thank you Bibi! I also had a conversation with Representatives of the Leaders of Hezbollah, and they agreed to stop shooting at Israel, and its soldiers. Likewise, Israel agreed to stop shooting at them. Let’s see how long that lasts — Hopefully it will be for ETERNITY!”
The president’s remarks came amid rapidly escalating tensions along Israel’s northern border after renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah threatened to derail ongoing diplomatic efforts in the region. Reuters, CBS News, and other outlets reported that Trump publicly claimed Israel had turned back troops heading toward Beirut following his conversation with Netanyahu.
But while Trump publicly celebrated a temporary de-escalation, Netanyahu made clear that Israel’s military posture has not fundamentally changed.
In a statement posted on X, Netanyahu said:
“Tonight, I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. This stance of ours remains unchanged. In parallel, the IDF will continue to operate as planned in southern Lebanon.”
The U.S. Department of Commerce has issued new guidance to prevent Chinese companies from obtaining advanced U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) chips, such as Nvidia’s most sophisticated Blackwell processors, through overseas subsidiaries.
The May 31 guidance clarifies that export licenses are required for entities headquartered in China or Macau, regardless of where their affiliates are located.
The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said that licensing requirements for advanced computing items destined for China- or Macau-headquartered entities were first established in November 2023 and remain in effect.
The agency said the requirement applies even when those entities are located outside China or Macau.
The clarification follows confusion over a May 2025 announcement by the BIS that it would not enforce certain parts of the Biden-era AI diffusion rule.
The rule was designed to restrict sales of advanced AI chips to strategic rivals while allowing broader access for U.S. allies.
The BIS said the policy change did not remove existing licensing requirements for exports involving Chinese or Macau-based customers, meaning companies must still obtain licenses unless an exemption applies.
The guidance also states that legitimate data center operators can continue to use, maintain, store, or replace advanced AI chips and equipment they already own.
The clarification does not require companies to shut down or remove existing systems.
Nvidia’s sales of advanced AI chips to China remain subject to U.S. export controls.
The Trump administration created a framework in 2025 allowing certain chips, including the H200, to be sold to approved Chinese customers under Commerce Department oversight.
Trump said in a Dec. 8, 2025, post on Truth Social that sales would be permitted subject to a 25 percent fee benefiting the U.S. government and limited to approved Chinese customers.
His repeated pleas are not having the desired effect.
Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky must miss the ‘good old days’ when he got money and military equipment out of feeble Joe Biden’s administration in phenomenal quantities.
‘Vova’ refuses to acknowledge the new reality and still attempts to publicly embarrass Donald J. Trump and his team into resuming help for his war effort.
He pretends not to understand how little regard Trump has for him, as we have reported more than once before.
A quick look back shows that Trump has called Zelensky ‘a Dictator without elections’ since his presidential mandate ended back in 2024.
Trump also called him a ‘modestly successful comedian’ who was ‘the greatest salesman on Earth’ and ‘P.T. Barnum’, for conning feeble Joe Biden into giving him hundreds of billions.
He called him ‘disrespectful’ for his antics in the Oval Office.
The US president said ‘Vova’ has ‘done a terrible job’, with a country that is ‘shattered’, where ‘millions have unnecessarily died’.
Trump has panned him for ‘refusing to hold elections’, and ‘not being ready for peace’, despite the fact that he ‘has no cards’ (in the negotiations with Russia).
So, despite Ukraine having a good number of advocates in the US government and a large number among the Dems in opposition, Trump has basically shut the door on him.
But Zelensky is still trying, and publicly pleading and demanding, even though his latest effort was met with silence from the Trump administration.
He came out on US television to say that Kiev is ‘in urgent need of anti-ballistic missiles’ from the US to defend itself from an increasing number of attacks from Russia.
Russia is striking Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities tonight with a massive missile and drone barrage. The development comes as Russia vowed to up the tempo of the war, in an attempt to bring the conflict to a close, and respond to Ukrainian long-range attacks on Russian cities and infrastructure, and specifically the targeting of a school dorm in Luhansk where scores of students were killed.
Below, citizens of the Ukrainian capital can be seen crowded into underground subway stations to avoid the explosive attacks above the surface.
A new poll by Overton Insights shows the breadth and depth of opposition to a military draft – and how far members of Congress lag behind popular anti-draft (and anti-war) sentiment.
All categories of Americans who were polled would oppose a draft: Republicans, Democrats, and independents; women and men; people of draft age and people too old to be drafted; and people of all races.
The wording of the poll reflected the confused nature of most recent reporting about U.S. planning and preparation for a draft. There was no mention of the impending shift from self-registration to automatic registration of young men for a future draft.
Respondents to the poll were asked, “If President Trump implemented a military draft, would you support or oppose it?”, which implies (incorrectly) that the President could activate a draft without authorization from Congress.
But the focus of the question on whether respondents would approve of an action by President Trump makes it even more noteworthy that a preponderance of Republicans – presumably supporters of the President – would oppose an attempt by Trump to activate a draft. 41% of Republicans would oppose a Trump draft, compared to 33% who would support it. Among Republicans as among all other groups, most opponents of a draft hold their views “strongly”, while most supporters would only “somewhat” support a draft.
Members of Congress have long been afraid that speaking out against trying to maintain “readiness” for a draft, even if draft registration has been a failure and trying to activate a draft would be a fiasco, would hurt them at the polls.
The takeaway from this latest opinion poll is that members and candidates for Congress regardless of party have much more to gain than to lose by taking a clear, strong stand against any draft.
You must be logged in to post a comment.