GAZA - Hamas says it is ready to 'deal positively' with any proposal which secures a permanent ceasefire with Israel. Hamas has said there has been no progress in talks with Israel over the war in Gaza but will "deal positively" with a proposal which includes a permanent ceasefire. Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan said the group remains ready to discuss a truce to end the conflict. In remarks made in Beirut on Saturday (June 29) reported by Al Jazeera, he said: "Once again, Hamas is ready to deal positively with any proposal that secures a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and a serious swap deal."

USA - Not long ago, people could only dream of the foods we have today. Tasty, cheap, and ready to eat. They last forever, look great, and come in endless varieties. Ultra-processed foods are a dream come true. These new foods have achieved their incredible feats thanks to innovations in processing and a long list of additives that grant them superpowers denied to the foods eaten by previous generations. Some of these additives do important work, like keep food bacteria-free or let it stay safe from spoiling without need for refrigeration. But others are “experiential” and do things like make the food bright red or give it a more satisfying texture.

USA - Two US makers of baby bottles engaged in a “campaign of reckless deceit” about the dangers of microplastics released by their products, according to two separate lawsuits that have recently been filed. The lawsuits against Philips North America and Handi-Craft Co allege that the companies marketed baby bottles as safe, despite knowing that when their products were heated they would release large quantities of harmful microplastics into the contents of the bottles. “This disregard for the safety and well-being of society’s most vulnerable members has placed the health and welfare of millions of children in jeopardy as well as duped consumers out of millions of dollars,” the lawsuits claim. The plaintiffs allege that the companies have “callously brought to life every parent’s worst nightmare: unknowingly harming their children through a product they believed was safe.”

USA - Cardinal Raymond Burke condemned President Joe Biden’s reception of Holy Communion as a “sacrilege.” Burke shared, “There has to be a deepening of faith, and that’s what’s lost for instance, that we have people like President Biden, who claims to be a devout Catholic, and yet is in favor of aborting babies even in the birth canal. Or is in favor of this whole transgender agenda, which is a complete rebellion against God’s plan for us.” He continued, “And then that he approaches to receive Holy Communion – this is not possible because he denies Christ in these very blatant public ways, and he stubbornly does this. And at the same time, approaches to receive Christ in the Holy Communion. This is a sacrilege and for his own sake and for the sake of the whole Church that can’t be permitted.”

USA - One of the major points of contention Saladino has with Americans' ultra-processed diets are the oils contained in much of our food or the oil we use to cook otherwise healthy food with. “Think about the oils you’re cooking with,” Saladino tells Rubin. “There are multiple different types of cooking oils, and I think seed oils are probably the worst.” These oils include corn, canola, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oil, which “we were sometimes told were healthy when we were children, and are often still told are healthy by the American Heart Association.” Those oils do not occur naturally; rather, they are ultra processed themselves.

IRAN - Iran has threatened Israel with an “obliterating war” in the event of the country launching a full-scale attack against Hezbollah in Lebanon, The New York Times reported Saturday. Conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terror group, has increased since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks that left roughly 1,200 people dead, with several skirmishes occurring in recent weeks. The escalating conflict has prompted Israeli officials to declare that Israel is at an inflection point, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said could result in “very intense action.” Iran’s mission to the United Nations said it would “embark on a full-scale military aggression” if Israel attacked Lebanon, where Hezbollah is largely situated, according to a post on X from Friday.

ISRAEL - Following Friday morning Hezbollah rockets barrage, the IDF targets Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, striking military sites in Zibqin, Al-Khiam, Hula, and Al-Adaysseh. The IDF completed multiple attacks targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon following a massive wave of rocket attacks and drone incursions that were launched at northern Israel Friday morning, the IDF reported on Friday night. The IDF aircraft completed a wave of attacks targeting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Among the targets attacked were a Hezbollah military site in the Zibqin area, two operational infrastructures in the Al-Khiam and Hula areas, and a military building of the organization in the Al-Adaysseh area. The IDF said this particular site had been used to launch surface-to-air missiles toward Israeli aircraft over the preceding months.

FRANCE - Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) won the first round of legislative elections on Sunday, leaving incumbent president Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance lagging in third behind the left, projections by polling groups said. The projections gave the RN 34% of the vote, compared to 29.1% for the left-wing New Popular Front alliance, and just 22% for Macron's centrist camp. Many French voters are frustrated about inflation and other economic concerns, as well as Macron's leadership, seen as arrogant and out-of-touch with their lives. The National Rally party has tapped that discontent, notably via online platforms such as TikTok.

FRANCE - The savages are rioting, looting, shooting and setting cities on fire. “Far right” blare the headlines. “Far right” is anyone who is rational, reasonable and doesn’t march in lock-step with the lunatic left. The people have had enough. The left has destroyed the continent with mass Muslim immigration, unsustainable social welfare, and submission to Islamic law. This is a last grasp for freedom and the last gasp of Western civilization. The left has started to riot.

EUROPE - Poland and the Baltic States just requested EU funding to finance what they now call the “EU Defense Line”, which is really just the latest rebranding of January’s “Baltic Defense Line” that was then renamed the “Baltic Shield” before its latest iteration. It was during this project’s second conceptual phase that it paired with Poland and set the basis for a joint “Shield” initiative. The US envisages Germany employing the “military Schengen” to accelerate the construction of “Fortress Europe”, which will enable Germany to contain Russia at the US’ behest while the US “Pivots (back) to Asia” to more muscularly contain China. This project is basically all about restoring Germany’s long-lost superpower trajectory with American support.

USA - While Biden bumbles, Xi threatens, Putin invades, and Kim fires missiles, there are more nuclear weapons pointed at the United States today than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Arms control groups and non-nuclear countries worldwide are acutely aware that the US president ultimately decides if a nuclear war will occur. The upcoming election scares them. According to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, “Humanity is on a knife’s edge. The risk of a nuclear weapon being used has reached heights not seen since the Cold War.”

USA - The day after his catastrophic debate performance that has prompted some of the leaders in his own party to call for him to step aside, Joe Biden found solace in a group that he knows he can count on for unconditional love and support — the “LGBTQI+” community. Joe Biden appeared Friday with Elton John in New York as part of gay pride month to help open the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center — a new venue in Greenwich Village commemorating the Stonewall riots of 1969. In his pride-themed speech, which he read from teleprompters, Biden repeatedly used the term “soul of America” — an echo of his speech from last year in which he controversially declared that transgender individuals “shape our nation’s soul.” Elton John followed Biden by railing against “misinformation” and “senseless scapegoating.”

VATICAN - Pope Francis asserted this week Christians, Jews and Muslims, all worship the one God and are “brothers and sisters.” “Jesus taught us to welcome one another as brothers and sisters,” the pontiff told a delegation from the Bologna Mosque in northern Italy. “And this is true first of all for us, Christians, Jews, and Muslims, who worship the One God.” Members of all three faiths refer to Abraham as “our father in faith,” he said, “albeit in different ways.”

GAZA - This may come as some surprise, but only three per cent of the residents of Rafah, in Gaza, were poorly fed in May, according to the United Nations. In Khan Yunis and the central town of Deir al Balah, that figure stood at six per cent. The biggest challenges were faced by those who had failed to evacuate from the north at the start of the campaign. There, 13 per cent were found to be hungry. The overwhelming majority of Gazans had “acceptable” quantities of food. Now consider the situation before Hamas brought catastrophe to Gaza. Despite billions of dollars of aid money pouring into the Strip, 14 per cent of the population faced hunger in 2022, according to a contemporaneous study by the World Food Programme. So it appears that provisions are better now than they were when Hamas was in charge.

ISRAEL - The Gateway Pundit reported that Joe Biden reversed a Trump policy by sending $1 billion to UNRWA since he entered office. UNRWA is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Details around the horrific Hamas terrorist attacks on October 7 continue to emerge, including reports that at least 12 UNRWA staffers took part in the mass slaughter of innocent Jews. The Times of Israel reports: "It said UNRWA, which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, let Hamas use its facilities for weapons storage, allowed tunnels and command centers to be built under its sites, and funneled cash into the terror group’s coffers by insisting on paying employees in US dollars.