The US is sending a battery of Patriot missiles to join the carrier strike group and bomber task force currently “protecting” American interests in the Middle East from Iran, still insisting the buildup is merely defensive.

The missiles and transport ship USS Arlington are being deployed to the region “in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests,” according to a Pentagon statement.

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While the Pentagon continues to insist it “does not seek conflict with Iran,” it is “postured and ready to defend US forces and interests in the region,” according to the statement.

The latest round of heavy weaponry joins the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and an Air Force bomber task force, both of which arrived in the Central Command region this week to send an “unmistakable message,” in the words of National Security Advisor John Bolton, that the US is prepared to unleash “unrelenting force” in response to any provocation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo echoed the threat on Thursday, promising a “swift and decisive” response to an attack by Iran – or its proxies.

Details about the “intelligence” used as a pretext for the military buildup have been scarce, though multiple reports suggest the tip came from Israel’s Mossad, which is far from a neutral source when it comes to Iran. A CNN report on Friday claimed “intelligence has shown” Iran is “likely” loading short-range ballistic and cruise missiles onto boats belonging to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which President Donald Trump conveniently declared a terrorist organization last month. The US military, CNN said, “believes that cruise missiles could be launched from the small Iranian boats.” 

“We have been very clear that we have no interest in escalation,” Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif told Al Jazeera earlier this week, adding that Iran would not “permit the US to threaten the Persian Gulf.” Last month, he warned Trump that the more hawkish members of his administration might conduct a false-flag attack to push the US into war with Iran. On Friday, the US Maritime Administration issued a warning that “Iran or its proxies” may target commercial and military vessels in the area, advising commercial ships to alert the US’ Fifth Fleet several days in advance before accessing the Strait of Hormuz.

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US President Donald Trump says he does not view recent short-range missile launches by Pyongyang as a violation of his trust, telling Politico that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are still on good terms.

In an extensive interview on Friday, Trump briefly gave his take on North Korea’s increased missile activity. 

In stark contrast to his saber-rattling of two years ago, Trump seemed to be pretty laid-back when speaking about Pyongyang’s recent series of short-range missile tests, the latest of which took place just a day earlier. Early Thursday morning, the DPRK test-fired two short-range projectiles from its Sino-ri launch site, which flew 260 and 170 miles.

“They’re short-range and I don’t consider that a breach of trust at all,” the president said.

Possibly leaving a loophole for himself in case of a sudden change of heart, Trump said that “at some point” he may start considering the launches inappropriate.

“But at this point no,” he said, calling the tests “very standard stuff.”

Trump sounded equally ambiguous when talking about his supposedly “excellent” relationship with Kim. He said that for the moment, the two remain on friendly terms, adding that this too might change “at some point.”

Following their summit in Hanoi in February, the thaw between the two nations appeared all but over after the talks ended with no deal and were followed by strong rhetoric from Pyongyang questioning Washington’s willingness to mend ties with the North.

North Korea accused the US of using a strong-arm approach to the negotiations, urging it to drop “its current calculation method” and vowing to increase its own defensive posture in the meantime, including resuming missile tests.

The talks in Vietnam ended abruptly after the US reportedly refused to relieve North Korea of sanctions in exchange for it halting nuclear and ballistic missiles tests, while insisting on full and irreversible denuclearization.

In the wake of the short-range missile launches by Pyongyang, the US test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile and conducted a submarine missile test. The US military insisted that the timing of the tests is in no way connected to the North Korean launches.

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A senior Iranian cleric has warned the US against displays of power, saying that one missile could destroy a fleet worth billions of dollars. His words come as America sends an aircraft carrier group as a message to Iran.

Ayatollah Yousef Tabatabai-Nejad, who represents the Isfahan Province in Iran’s Assembly of Experts, said on Friday that the US’ “billion-dollar fleet can be destroyed with one missile,” according to the Iranian ISNA news agency. He did not elaborate, though, which particular missile he had in mind.

Earlier, a deputy head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps also made it clear he sees Washington’s muscle-flexing as empty bravado. The US “will not dare to launch a military action against us,” Yadollah Javani told Tasnim News Agency.

This week the US sent the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group as well as a bomber task force to “send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime,” as US National Advisor John Bolton put it. However, the move apparently failed to impress Tehran.

Bolton indeed admitted that the US “is not seeking war with the Iranian regime.” But he also stated that any attack on the interests of the US or its allies “will be met with unrelenting force.”

These statements come amid another spiral of tension in relations between Washington and Tehran. The US aircraft carrier deployment follows a fresh round of sanctions imposed against the Iranian nuclear energy sector.

The US has also spared no efforts in mounting pressure on Tehran following its own withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal a year ago. In April, the US lifted exemptions granted to the buyers of Iranian oil and designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. Iran responded by adding the US Central Command (CENTCOM) to its own terrorist list.

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Two French soldiers were killed during a rescue operation to free four tourists kidnapped in the Sahel region of Africa, the Elysee Palace has confirmed. The operation took place on Thursday night into the early hours of Friday.

The two soldiers have been named as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello, both members of France’s special forces.

Two French hostages, captured in Benin on May 1, as well as a US citizen and South Korean national were successfully freed in the operation.

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In a statement, French President Emmanuel Macron congratulated the armed forces for successfully freeing the hostages and thanked the families of the deceased servicemen for their sacrifice. Macron also thanked the Beninese and Burkinabé authorities for their “perfect cooperation” and reaffirmed France’s commitment to fighting terrorism in the Sahel region.

There are no confirmed reports of casualties among the kidnappers.

France’s Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly confirmed the deaths in an online statement and offered her condolences to the families of the dead soldiers.

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Donald Trump has hit China with billions of dollars in new tariffs because there’s been no breakthrough in talks on a trade deal. Is there anyone who doesn’t think this is just negotiating?

China has vowed to retaliate, because it’s negotiating as well, you might call it ‘The Art of the Deal”. However much the two biggest economies in the world posture and threaten, the likelihood is they’ll cobble something together because there’s a lot of money to be made.

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This week, ICYMI looks at the situation and makes its prediction.

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Fierce clashes broke out on the streets of Bogota, Colombia between student protesters armed with Molotov cocktails and police in armored vehicles deploying water cannon.

Violence erupted outside The National Pedagogic University as anti-government protests over education and state pension cuts proposed by President Iván Duque continue.

Police fired water cannon and launched tear gas to disperse the protesters who pelted the riot squad with stones and Molotov cocktails.

According to Colombian media, there were no arrests in connection with the violence which took place Thursday.

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After five months of research, a whistleblower says Facebook allows terrorist sympathizers to thrive not only by failing to remove their accounts, but also by auto-creating celebratory videos and pages for terrorist groups.

The National Whistleblower Center in Washington (NWC) has published a 48-page comprehensive study into how Facebook neglects to curb, and even boosts, Al-Qaeda affiliated militants’ outreach, arguing that Facebook’s lack of action facilitates the recruitment of terrorists.

The study, conducted by an unnamed whistleblower from August through December 2018, showed that out of 3,228 accounts belonging to ‘friends’ of self-identified terrorists, only 30 percent were removed by the platform.

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These “friends” hail from around the world. Those who were singled out for the survey are based in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Among them, “many openly identified as terrorists themselves and shared extremist content,” the executive summary of the report states.

The social media giant, which recently prided itself on taking down 99 percent of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) related content before it is reported by users, actually creates such content itself with its auto-generating tools, according to the report.

For example, it refers to an auto-generated page Facebook “set up” for Al-Shabaab militant group, complete with an ISIS logo. Somalia-based Al-Shabaab has long been associated with Al-Qaeda. In 2015, a splinter group of its fighters pledged allegiance to IS.

The page came about because some users listed their membership in the terrorist group as their job occupation, prompting Facebook’s AI to create a “local business” page.

Another popular feature embedded in the Facebook algorithm allows for glorification of terrorism and extremism, the report says, referring to “celebration” and “memories” videos. It turns out that the seemingly innocuous feature makes no distinction between a user sharing a video with, say, birthday celebrations, and violence-filled extremist content. One such chilling “celebration” video featuring puddles of blood racked up over 2,000 likes, the report notes.

The “frame” feature that allows users to pledge allegiance to a favorite sports team or express support for a country, has been abused by terrorist sympathizes to pledge allegiance to extremist groups – and Facebook is apparently OK with it, since before a frame can be used publicly it must be approved by a Facebook moderator, the study points out.

The whistleblower was able to establish that at least a portion of users who self-identify as terrorists on their account pages, actually are terrorists. Out of 63 profiles of those who liked Al-Qaeda affiliate Tahrir Al Sham’s (formerly Al-Nusra) auto-generated “business page” on Facebook, 31 were confirmed to be actual terrorists active in Syria’s Idlib province by a local NGO.

The NWC says it has filed a petition with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for it to “sanction Facebook for its dishonesty about terror and hate content on its website.”

Facebook has come under fire for what some believe was a slow and half-hearted response to the recent mosque attack in New Zealand, which saw an attacker livestreaming the massacre of 50 Muslims. Although the video was taken down, copies spread throughout social media.

Responding to allegations that it aids terrorist supporters, Facebook told AP that it has been investing heavily into stamping out terrorist content and is “detecting and removing terrorism content at a far higher success rate than even two years ago.”

“We don’t claim to find everything and we remain vigilant in our efforts against terrorist groups around the world,” the company said.

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A ship that was set to carry arms to Saudi Arabia has apparently left France without them, a day after a protest at port. Activists rallied to stop the delivery, saying the weapons could be used to slaughter civilians in Yemen.

The Bahri-Yanbu, a cargo ship that was meant to deliver the latest shipment of French weapons to the Gulf kingdom arrived in the port Le Havre on Thursday. Protesters gathered there to denounce their government’s refusal to stop arms trade with Saudi Arabia after reports revealed that French weapons have been used by Riyadh in its four-year-long military campaign in neighboring Yemen.

“Why do we continue to feed countries that have a disrespectful international behavior and why do we continue to fuel the war? The question should be put to the President of the Republic,” said National Assembly member Jean-Yves Lecoq, who took part in the protest.

On Friday, the ship left the French coast and set sail to Spain without loading arms at Le Havre, Reuters reported citing local officials and ship tracking data. This apparently gives at least a temporary win for the protesters.

Earlier French Defense Minister Florence Parly said the shipment did not pose a threat to people in Yemen and was purely defensive. “As far as the French government is aware, we have no proof that the victims in Yemen are the result of the use of French weapons,” Parly said in an interview with BFM. She wouldn’t detail which weapons the ship is to carry to the Saudis.

The French government has been criticized by rights activists for continued arms trade with the Saudis despite a report by the investigative news site Disclose last month. The site leaked a classified military memo, which said French tanks and artillery were used in the war against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Disclose said the upcoming shipment included eight truck-mounted Caesar howitzers, but AFP news agency cited a government source as denying this claim.

Saudi Arabia led a coalition of Arab nations supported by the US and the UK to intervene in Yemen in March 2015, after the Houthi ousted a Riyadh-allied president from the country. The Saudis say the rebels are backed by their archenemy Iran and have to be defeated to curb Tehran’s regional influence.

The war led to what the UN calls the largest humanitarian disaster in the world today, with coalition airstrikes and blockades being a major contributing factor. Yemeni civilians are suffering from shortages of food, medicine and fuel and the devastation of infrastructure. They are also regularly killed or injured by coalition airstrikes, which the Saudis insist to be unintended collateral damage.

Three people were taken to hospital after being injured when an Air Canada plane they were traveling on collided with a fuel truck at Toronto Pearsons Airport.

The aircraft made contact with the Menzies fuel truck on the runway as it was taxiing to the gate at about 1:30am local time Friday, the Toronto Star reports. The plane had been heading to Sudbury, but returned to Pearson due to bad weather.

Passengers and crew were evacuated from the aircraft and moved to the terminal, while airport emergency services responded to the collision. A number of people were treated by paramedics and three people were taken to hospital after sustaining “minor injuries,” the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) said.

Both the aircraft and fuel vehicle have been removed from the area and the airport is operating as normal, spokesperson for the GTAA Ryan White said.

The aircraft reportedly suffered damage to its nose.

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The US and Palestine clashed at a UN Security Council meeting when Palestinian minister Riad Malki called the US peace plan a “surrender,” and US envoy Jason Greenblatt slammed the council for “anti-Israel bias.”

Greenblatt attacked the council for its alleged bias at the Thursday meeting, criticizing it for not focusing on Hamas and Islamic Jihad rockets instead of “rehashing tired talking points.” 

Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riad Malki slammed the US’ so-called ‘deal of the century’ for Israel and Palestine, as “not a peace plan, but rather conditions for surrender.” He said that President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital “in blatant violation of international law” showed it was “not possible to have faith” in the US plan.

“Every decision the US administration has taken since has simply confirmed its disregard for Palestinian lives, for Palestinian rights,” Malki added, before later accusing the US of totally adopting the Israeli position.

Greenblatt and Jared Kushner’s peace plan will be revealed next month. An alleged draft of the plan, reportedly leaked by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs sources to Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom, suggests Palestinians will be given a demilitarized ‘New Palestine,’ state while the illegal Israeli settlements will remain in place and be annexed by Israel.

The Security Council meeting was called to discuss Israeli settlements, which UNSC Resolution 2334 condemns as a “flagrant violation” of international law. Greenblatt said it was “surprising and unfair” that Israel had not been invited to speak at the session and that the “obsessive” focus on settlements was a “farce.”

Key issues in the peace process are the settlements and the contested city of Jerusalem, which Israel wants as its capital, while the Palestinians want East Jerusalem as theirs. The alleged leaked draft says the city will be a shared capital, but run by an Israeli municipality, as it is now.

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