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Iranian Drama ‘A Bit of Light’ Sells Wide Ahead of Venice Premiere (Exclusive)
International sales company Salaud Morisset has secured a wave of territorial deals for Iranian director Ali Asgari’s new drama A Bit of Light ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The rapid uptake reflects strong distributor confidence in Asgari’s growing reputation and the film’s timely subject matter, which deals with…
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Fake US thinktank set up and funded by Israel sought to game AI for propaganda
A pro-Israel messaging website posing as a thinktank called the “Hanover Institute for Public Policy” has published over half a million words in nine days, apparently designed to prime AI chatbots to reproduce pro-Israel framing on contested issues such as Gaza and alleged war crimes. The New York firm Piro Inc has registered the site…
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On scraps of land and under constant threat, Gaza farmers struggle to survive
In Gaza, farmers are cultivating every scrap of undamaged land to stave off starvation, despite severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses destroyed. The work is deadly: Saqer Abu Rabee’s son Yousef, a leading figure in an agricultural collective, was killed by a drone strike while working his…
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Andy Burnham tries to cool Labour Palestine revolt with plan to sanction Israeli settlements
Andy Burnham is expected to announce “robust” sanctions targeting Israeli settlements in the West Bank within weeks, in an effort to head off a growing revolt within the Labour Party. The move comes after Israel published a tender for the controversial E1 settlement scheme, which Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband warned could endanger a two-state solution…
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Trump’s Economic D-Day can hammer Iran, but will Tehran ever surrender?
This Fox News opinion piece argues that the Trump administration’s new “Economic D-Day” campaign against Iran — a sweeping sanctions and naval blockade effort dubbed Operation Economic Outcast — is inflicting serious economic damage on Tehran but offers no guarantee it will force the regime to capitulate. The author, drawing on historical parallels with WWII…
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Has Mojtaba Khamenei DIED? Months after he was named as Iran’s new leader, rumours swirl in Tehran where there is still no sign of him and even his ministers have not met him
Rumours are swirling in Tehran that Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, named Iran’s supreme leader in March following the death of his father Ali Khamenei in a joint US-Israeli strike, may be gravely ill or dead, as he has not appeared in public or been seen even by his own government ministers in the five months since…
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Canada’s retaliation tests the limit of American power under Trump
Trade talks between the United States and Canada collapsed abruptly at the weekend, prompting a fresh round of tit-for-tat tariffs between the two neighbours, whose annual bilateral trade exceeds $872bn (£640bn). The breakdown followed leaked private remarks by US Vice-President JD Vance, who reportedly mocked Prime Minister Mark Carney’s attempts to “out-tough” Donald Trump as…
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Far-right Israeli lawmaker damages Palestinian memorial with sledgehammer
A far-right Israeli MP, Zvi Sukkot, used a sledgehammer to badly damage a Palestinian memorial in the West Bank village of Madama while under military escort, prompting widespread condemnation from Palestinians and figures across the Israeli political spectrum. The monument commemorated Palestinians killed in the 1968 battle of Karameh and during the first and second…
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Gatwick profits slide as Iran war cuts passenger demand
Gatwick Airport’s owner reported an 18% fall in first-half pre-tax profits to £136.5million, as the war between Israel and Iran deterred travellers to destinations perceived to be linked to the Middle East conflict. Passenger numbers fell 4.7% to 19.1million in the six months to June 30, with routes to Cyprus, Turkey, Greece and Northern Africa…
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Beijing threatens Trump over Iran sanctions and says it will strike back at US if China suffers
China has warned it will retaliate against the United States after Washington announced sweeping new sanctions targeting countries and entities that continue trading with Iran, including firms based in Hong Kong and mainland China. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled the measures on Monday, describing them as the toughest sanctions in history and warning that…