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Germany’s Merz says US has ‘no exit strategy’ in Iran war, calls Tehran ‘skilled negotiator’

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz holds a press conference at the Chancellery to address current issues in Berlin, Germany, on April 9, 2026. [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Monday criticized the US for lacking an “exit strategy” in the Iran war, while saying the Iranians are “very skilled” negotiators, Anadolu reports.

“The problem with such conflicts is always this: You don’t just have to get in; you also have to get out. We saw that very painfully in Afghanistan, for 20 years. We saw it in Iraq,” Merz said during a discussion with high school students in the western town of Marsberg.

The US “clearly went into this war in Iran without any strategy at all,” German Press Agency DPA quoted the chancellor as saying, adding that this is why it is all the more difficult to end the conflict now.

Merz said he did not believe the US could end the war in Iran quickly “because the Iranians are obviously stronger than expected, and the Americans clearly don’t have a truly convincing strategy in the negotiations either.”

“Especially since the Iranians are obviously very skilled at negotiating — or, rather, very skilled at not negotiating,” the chancellor said. “An entire nation is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” he added.

READ: Germany calls on UN to take responsibility for settling Iran conflict

Merz also warned that the US war in Iran has deeply affected his country’s economic performance.

“It’s a rather tricky situation at the moment and it’s costing us a great deal of money. This conflict, this war against Iran, has a direct impact on our economic performance.”

Last week, Europe’s economic powerhouse slashed its growth forecast for this year and next, squarely blaming the US-Israeli war on Iran.

The conservative-led coalition of Merz now expects the economy to grow only 0.5% this year, down from a prior estimate of 1.0%. For 2027, it likewise lowered its forecast to 0.9% from 1.3%.

Earlier this month, a poll conducted by the Sunday daily Bild am Sonntag newspaper found that 70% of eligible voters are dissatisfied with Merz’s performance, while only 21% are satisfied. Seventy-three percent of those surveyed are dissatisfied with the center-right coalition of Christian Democrats and Social Democrat, while only 20% are satisfied.

READ: Top diplomats of Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia discuss efforts for ceasefire with US

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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue ReadingGermany’s Merz says US has ‘no exit strategy’ in Iran war, calls Tehran ‘skilled negotiator’

UN chief urges immediate reopening of Strait of Hormuz amid global trade crisis

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United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks in New York, United States on April 14, 2026. [Islam Doğru – Anadolu Agency]

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz amid stalled US-Iran peace talks, Anadolu reports.

“I appeal to the parties: Open the Strait. Let ships pass. No tolls. No discrimination. Let trade resume. Let the global economy breathe,” Guterres said at a high-level UN Security Council debate on maritime security.

The Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows—has faced major disruptions since early March after the US and Israel launched a joint offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. The war is currently on a halt and efforts to end it permanently are underway.

“Since early March, the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has struck at global energy security, food supplies, and trade. The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints,” Guterres said.

Safe, unimpeded passage is an economic and humanitarian “imperative,” he said, adding: “The economic shock has been immediate – and everyone is paying the price.”

READ: Germany’s Merz says US has ‘no exit strategy’ in Iran war, calls Tehran ‘skilled negotiator’

Beyond economic indicators, Guterres highlighted the human cost of the crisis. More than 20,000 seafarers remain stranded at sea, while over 2,000 commercial vessels are caught in uncertain and often dangerous conditions.

“These men and women are not parties to any conflict,” he said. “They are civilian workers keeping the world supplied.”

Guterres emphasized that international law must be upheld, including navigational rights guaranteed under the Law of the Sea. He referenced UN Security Council Resolution 2817, stressing that safe and unimpeded passage through the strait is a fundamental principle.

“The Charter’s prohibition of the threat or use of force applies fully at sea,” he said.

The UN chief urged all parties to pursue restraint and dialogue, offering his mediation to help resolve tensions. He pointed to past efforts such as the Black Sea Grain Initiative as proof that cooperation is possible even during conflict.

“The ocean must be a zone of peace and cooperation — not confrontation or coercion,” Guterres said.

READ: Top diplomats of Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia discuss efforts for ceasefire with US

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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue ReadingUN chief urges immediate reopening of Strait of Hormuz amid global trade crisis

UK-based group urges sanctions on 62 Israeli lawmakers over death penalty bill

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Palestinians stage a protest against Knesset’s approval of the law that imposes death penalty on Palestinian prisoners in Gaza, Palestine on April 01, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]

A UK-based advocacy group has urged the British government to impose sanctions on 62 Israeli lawmakers over legislation introducing the death penalty for certain offenses, Anadolu reports.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) said Monday it submitted recommendations to the Foreign Office targeting the parliamentarians over alleged responsibility for serious human rights violations.

In its submission, the group argued that lawmakers’ support for the legislation could breach international law, citing concerns over the right to life and protections against cruel or degrading treatment. It called for sanctions under existing UK frameworks, including the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018.

“The new penal law which exclusively and purposefully targets Palestinians, marks an extreme escalation in Israel’s genocidal policies against Palestinians and consolidates Israel’s apartheid judicial system, embedding racist discrimination against Palestinians into law and once again allowing Israel to violate international norms,” the group said.

The ICJP described the law as discriminatory against Palestinians and urged Britain to adopt what it called a “preventative” approach by acting before the measure is enforced.

“If the Foreign Office adopted ICJP’s sanctions recommendations, it would send a clear message,” the group said, adding that stronger action is needed beyond expressions of concern by Western governments.

Orlaith Roe, the group’s public affairs officer, said: “The UK has both the responsibility and the leverage to act.”

READ: Israeli Knesset passes law mandating death penalty for Palestinian prisoners

“In apartheid South Africa, 95% of people sentenced to death were Black. Thanks to this law, in apartheid Israel, 100% of people who will be sentenced to death will be Palestinians.

“The cost of inaction will, once again, be measured in Palestinian lives,” Roe said.

Israel’s Knesset passed the law in late March, making the death penalty the default punishment for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted of lethal attacks against Israelis.

Under the law, executions would be carried out by hanging by prison guards appointed by the Israeli Prison Service, with those involved granted anonymity and legal immunity.

The legislation also mandates transferring those sentenced to death to special detention facilities and restricting visits to authorized parties, while meetings with lawyers would be limited to video communication.

It allows courts to issue death sentences without a request from prosecutors and does not require a unanimous decision, permitting rulings by a simple majority.

The law also applies to military courts handling cases involving Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and grants the defense minister the right to present an opinion before the court.

READ: 60 former UK ambassadors warn of Israel’s West Bank annexation steps

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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue ReadingUK-based group urges sanctions on 62 Israeli lawmakers over death penalty bill

Bennett and Lapid merge parties to unseat Netanyahu

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(R to L) Israel’s caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid speaks with former prime minister Naftali Bennett during the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on September 18, 2022 [Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]

Former Israeli prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid, both advocates of settlement expansion and Greater Israel,  announced on Sunday the merger of their parties into a single electoral list, named Beyahad — Hebrew for “together” — to be led by Bennett at the 2026 election.

The move is being presented as the consolidation of an opposition “reform bloc” capable of unseating Israel’s longest serving prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a lengthy post on X, Bennett framed the merger as “the most Zionist and patriotic action we’ve ever taken” and declared: “The era of division is over. The era of repair has arrived.”

“Yair and I have different views on a range of issues—and we’re not hiding it; on the contrary, we’re proud of it”, Bennett went on to say adding: “I’m proud that two leaders with different views can fight together for the good of the people of Israel, just as our sons, our soldiers, fight shoulder to shoulder”.

Bennet included the creation of “a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 massacre to bring truth to the families” as one of his key pledges.

Speaking at a press conference Bennet said they’d push for ultra-Orthodox conscription, set limit on the term of a prime minister and maintain Jewish control of historic Palestine. A government under the new bloc would lead a “service-for-all law” and will give “not a single shekel” of state funding to those evading IDF conscription, said Bennett.

“We will set an eight-year term limit for serving as prime minister, and this will apply first and foremost to me,” Bennett continued. “We will protect the lands of our country and not give up an inch to the enemy. We will strengthen a close-knit, good and inclusive Judaism, without coercion.”

The government “will only rely on the Zionist parties,” Bennett added. “The Arab parties are not Zionist and therefore we will not rely on them.”

Despite the attempt to present the merger as a liberal or reformist alternative to Netanyahu, neither Bennett nor Lapid supports ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian territory.

Read: Lapid is not serious about a Palestinian state

Bennett’s own language at the launch underlined this position. His pledge that the new bloc would “not give up an inch” reflects the core logic of the Greater Israel project: permanent Jewish-Israeli control over historic Palestine, continued settlement expansion and the exclusion of Palestinian political rights.

Lapid, though often described internationally as a centrist, has also opposed measures that would dismantle Israel’s occupation or reverse the settlement project and supports the Greater Israel Project.

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Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel's genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism "without qualification". Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue ReadingBennett and Lapid merge parties to unseat Netanyahu

‘A Constitutional Emergency’: Psychiatric Experts Say Congress Must Confront Mentally Unstable Trump

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Original article by republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Protesters in opposition to the US war on Iran gather outside of Lafayette Park across from the White House on April 7, 2026. (Photo by Andrew Leyden/Getty Images)

“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it.”

A group of four psychiatrists warned congressional leaders on Monday that US President Donald Trump has recently exhibited “every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis,” presenting a “constitutional emergency” that demands immediate action from lawmakers and members of the administration.

In a letter to the top Republican and Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress, the psychiatrists and Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs—who helped organize the letter—pointed to Trump’s recent genocidal threats to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” and bomb the country “back to the stone ages” as examples of rhetoric that has “crossed a threshold.”

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“President Trump exhibits what forensic mental health experts have, across dozens of independent assessments, identified as the ‘Dark Triad’ of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy,” the letter states. “Rather than constituting a clinical diagnosis, this trait-based assessment is grounded in behavioral observation and is particularly useful for assessing the level of danger an individual poses in a political leadership position. We do not offer this as a clinical verdict. We offer it as the considered judgment of a substantial body of professional opinion, based on well-researched evidence that is consistent, accumulating, and impossible to dismiss.”

The psychiatrists who signed the letter are James Gilligan, clinical professor of psychiatry at New York University; Prudence Gourguechon, former president of the American Psychoanalytic Association and former vice president of the World Mental Health Coalition; Bandy Lee, president of the World Mental Health Coalition and former professor at Yale School of Medicine; and James Merikangas, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at George Washington University.

The experts’ letter came amid growing calls from congressional Democrats for Trump’s removal from office, whether through the impeachment process or the pathways offered by the 25th Amendment.

The psychiatrists stop short of demanding Trump’s immediate removal. Rather, they urge Congress to reestablish its constitutional authority over war in response to the president’s unauthorized assault on Iran; convene “urgent consultations” with top administration officials to prevent Trump from escalating “toward catastrophe”; and “formally initiate consultation” with Vice President JD Vance and Cabinet members “regarding the president’s fitness for office under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.”

“We recognize the gravity of what we are asking. We ask it because the gravity of the situation demands it,” the letter states. “A president who publicly threatens to destroy a foreign civilization, who launches a bombing campaign and then imposes a naval blockade without congressional authorization, and who shows every behavioral sign of a personality in acute crisis is not merely a political problem. He is a constitutional emergency. The mechanisms for addressing such an emergency exist. They were placed in the Constitution and its amendments for moments precisely like this one.”

The letter was released days after Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to White House physician Sean Barbabella requesting an “immediate and comprehensive cognitive and neurological evaluation of President Donald Trump, along with full public disclosure of the findings,” in response to his “increasingly volatile, incoherent, and alarming public statements,” specifically regarding the war on Iran.

“This is plainly out of the realm of normal politics,” Raskin wrote. “When the president of the United States threatens to extinguish a civilization on social media, rants about combat missions with children at the Easter Egg Roll, and drops profane tirades on Easter morning, we have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern.”

Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ...
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …

Continue Reading‘A Constitutional Emergency’: Psychiatric Experts Say Congress Must Confront Mentally Unstable Trump