OPINION | Tony Pua Likely To Be Charged Soon

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OPINION | Tony Pua Likely To Be Charged Soon


23 Jun 2026 • 4:00 PM MYT

TheRealNehruism
An award-winning Newswav creator, Bebas News columnist & ex-FMT columnist

Image credit: The Malaysian Reserve / Yadim

DAP adviser Tony Pua is reportedly expected to face charges following a Facebook post he made last month, which some parties have interpreted as challenging the Sultan of Selangor's decree.


To understand the context, let us revisit the sequence of events.


A few months ago, the Sultan of Selangor issued a decree or a "titah" calling for a ban on pig farming across the state.


In response, a DAP state assemblywoman from Seri Kembangan suggested that instead of an outright ban, Selangor could consider adopting a “closed-system” pig farming model. The proposal was met with strong criticism from certain political groups and community organisations, who viewed it as contradicting the royal directive.


Former DAP assemblyman Ronnie Liu later defended Wong and her suggestion, further intensifying public discussion around the issue.


The Sultan of Selangor subsequently expressed displeasure over remarks made by both Wong Siew Ki and Ronnie Liu, reminding all parties to better appreciate the principle of "Kesetiaan kepada Raja dan Negara" under the Rukun Negara.


In response to the Sultan of Selangor's rebuke, Tony Pua published a Facebook post arguing that from the standpoint of "Keluhuran Perlembagaan", any directive or "titah" must be understood within the framework of constitutional powers, implying that the "titah" that was issued by the Selangor Sultan, may have exceeded the legal authority of the monarchy as accorded by the constitution.


Last month, Pua was called by police over the post, after multiple police reports were lodged against him.


According to the police, the case was being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code, which concerns statements conducing to public mischief, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, which covers improper use of network facilities or services.


Yesterday morning, Tony was again called by police to give his statement.


After giving his statement, Tony has indicated that he will likely be charged in court over the said Facebook post. He based his assumption not only on the fact that he was called to give his statement for the second time, but also on the basis that while his previous statement classified him as a witness, his latest statement had classified him as a suspect.



In the face of a trial, how will Tony Pua plead ?


Well, judging from his Facebook , It seems quite likely that Tony will plead not guilty.


“I am fully prepared to defend my innocence, and more importantly, rigorously defend the spirit of the Rukun Negara and the sanctity of the Federal Constitution in a court of law,” he wrote.


If Tony is charged, I am quite curious as to how is it that he is going to be charged?


In the way that I see it, his case is pitting two parts of the Rukun Negara against each other.



Will Tony' case be about Keluhuran Perlembagaan vs. Kesetiaan Kepada Raja dan Negara?


If that be the case, then it will be the courts job to uphold the Kedaulatan Undang Undang, and I for one, think it will be quite interesting indeed to say how 3 of the 5 parts of the Rukun Negara, might engage each other, or even collide with each other, in this case.


Let us wait and see how the cookies shall crumble.

Guan Eng: “Mega pork sale event is within non-Muslim rights, lodge police report if law is broken”

Guan Eng: “Mega pork sale event is within non-Muslim rights, lodge police report if law is broken”

DAP adviser Lim Guan Eng has fired back at attempts by the rightist fraternity to ban or outlaw the annual Butterworth mega pork sale event on grounds that “it insults Islam” and “testing the patience of Muslims”.


Deeming the event staged within his Bagan parliamentary constituency as “a legitimate business event”, the former Penang chief minister described those accusations as baseless, hence “we shall never bow to extremists”.

“The event was only open to non-Muslim consumers and was held within the temple boundaries, so there was no question of provoking or irritating Muslims,” the four-term Bagan MP rebutted in a recent Mandarin-only Facebook post.

“We have made it clear that Muslims aren’t allowed to participate.”

Guan Eng further warned “these extremists against over-fanning religious sentiments to incite emotions”.

“The event has been held for four consecutive years and has never caused controversy in the past but this year it was suddenly attacked with detractors questioning whether it’s influenced by extreme political thinking, deliberately creating misunderstanding and provoking religious sentiment,” lamented the four-term Air Putih state assemblyman.

Lim Guan Eng

on Sunday

#猪肉大促销没有错
#不向极端势力低头

日前在峇眼国会选区举办的猪肉大促销活动属于合法商业活动，但是部分极端分子却将活动指控为“侮辱伊斯兰”及“试探穆斯林底线”，令人费解。此指责毫无依据，我们绝不会向极端分子低头。

...See more

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Political weapon

“If selling pork is wrong, have all pork vendors in the market broken the law? By the same logic, is distributing beef during Hari Raya Korban also wrong? I’m also curious as to which law or constitutional provision prohibits the sale of pork?”

Henceforth, Guan Eng challenged those who “thinks that the event is illegal or inappropriate to lodge a police report”.

“It’s unacceptable to try to restrict the lifestyle and consumption choices of non-Muslims just because of the pork promotion,” slammed the former finance minister.

Moreover, the event is related to the traditional culture of the Dragon Boat Festival. The Chinese have always celebrated the festival with pork-made dumplings.

That the sale of pork and the making of pork dumplings during the Dragon Boat Festival are questioned is itself tantamount to a lack of respect for Chinese culture and tradition.

We’ll continue to hold pork sales next year and will not succumb to any extremist forces.

A quick check at the comment section of the Malay language MYNEWSHUB FB page which again carried Guan Eng’s statement displayed prevailing rightist mentality as if Guan Eng is “challenging the Malays and Malay rulers who criticise pig farming (in Selangor) by staging a defence”.

Program Jualan Besar-Besaran Daging Babi Diteruskan, Aktiviti Yang Sah - Guan Eng

Oleh Mynewshub

PULAU PINANG - Penasihat DAP, Lim Guan Eng menegaskan program jualan daging babi secara besar-besaran akan diteruskan walaupun terdapat bantahan daripada golongan ekstremis.

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Not less, many detractors are also weaponising Guan Eng’s statement to stir up anti-DAP sentiment to undermine the party in the wake of the upcoming state polls.

“Look at that … Do Johorians want this to happen on the Johor soil … who is to blame for this kind of thing to happen?” fumed one commenter.

“If Johorians don’t want this to happen, make sure they and their cronies (DAP) have no place in this fortunate Johor.”

One commenter remarked that the mega pork sale event is “legal but uncivilised”.

“There are cynical and insensitive elements. No respect for Muslims. No other purpose. An ad hoc programme with the aim of showing power,” he jibed.

The bottom line is such that the rightist fraternity continues to paint the picture of the so-called pendatang (immigrant) faction being disrespectful to the sensitivity of the majority. – June 23, 2026

***

For peace, goodwill and brotherhood let us all become vegetarians, wakakaka 😂😁😇

North Korea’s Primary Tactical Missile Demonstrates Improved Precision Strike Capability in the Ukrainian Theatre

Asia-Pacific , Missile and Space

Military Watch Magazine Editorial Staff

June-23rd-2026

---

KN-23B Ballistic Missile Launch

Multiple Ukrainian sources have reported that the North Korean KN-23 tactical ballistic missile, otherwise known as the Hwasong-11A, has achieved a new improved level of accuracy with a Circular Error Probable of 1–5 meters. The missile has been used extensively in the Russian-Ukrainian War, as first confirmed in January 2024, supplementing Russia’s domestically developed Iskander-M ballistic missile system. Improvements to precision strike capabilities may be the result of both feedback from combat testing and technological advances in North Korea, with funding from exports to Russia having provided a considerable boost to the country’s defence sector. 

KN-23 Ballistic Missile Launch

The KN-23 has many significant similarities to the Iskander-M, raising the possibility that its development may have benefitted from technology transfers or other forms of Russian support. The North Korean program is considered more successful than its Russian counterpart, having produced a much wider range of variants, and having seen the missiles deployed from a much more diverse range of launch vehicles. Commenting on the KN-23’s capabilities, a U.S. Congressional Research Service report highlighted shortly after the system’s entry into service that it “exemplifies the most notable advance” for North Korea in the field of tactical weapons, with the missile observed conducting a complex “pull-up” manoeuvres intended to confuse enemy air defence systems. Regarding the missile’s lighter counterpart, the KN-24, the report noted that the lighter missile “demonstrates the guidance system and in-flight manoeuvrability to achieve precision strikes.”

Ballistic Missile Launch From Russian Iskander-M System

In October 2025 North Korea’s defence sector unveiled a successor to the KN-23, which uses a lift-generating hypersonic glide body and small control surfaces, and appears to be the system of its kind ever to integrate a hypersonic glide vehicle. Designated the Hwasong-11Ma, the new system appears to use the same transporter-erector-launcher as the KN-23 and same lower section, while the upper section with a glide vehicle appears intended to separate near the top of the boost phase. Russia has yet to unveil a comparably complex tactical missile type. While the KN-23’s ability to evade detection by South Korea’s U.S.-supplied AEGIS missile defence systems have been highlighted as cause for serious concern in Seoul and in the wider Western world, the capabilities of variants with hypersonic glide vehicles are expected to be considerably more formidable still in this regard.

Launch of KN-23 From Early Production Batches

Among the variants of the KN-23 developed, the KN-23B represents a larger variant with an extended range a much enlarged 2,500 kilogram warhead. It was first test fired on March 25, 2021, and due to its larger size used a ten-wheel transporter erector launcher where the original KN-23 used an eight-wheel launcher. The missile’s longer range and larger warhead are thought to have made it highly prized in the Ukrainian theatre. In part as a result of the sharp contraction both of Russia’s defence sector and of its ground forces in the aftermath of the Soviet Union’s disintegration, Russian forces have become heavily reliant on procuring defence equipment from North Korea. The results of an investigation by Reuters published in April 2025, for example, highlighted that many Russian artillery units had come to rely almost entirely on ammunition supplied by North Korea, with at least six Russian artillery units sourcing between 50 and 100 percent of their munitions from the country. 

Is PH trying to lose Selangor? – Terence Fernandez

Selangor is Pakatan Harapan's flagship state, yet today many supporters are beginning to ask whether the government still remembers why it was elected in the first place. - Scoop file pic, June 23, 2026


Is PH trying to lose Selangor? – Terence Fernandez


With a series of hairbrain and controversial policies and rules the PKR-DAP-Amanah coalition seems to be going out of its way to return to the Opposition bench



Terence Fernandez
Updated 6 seconds ago
23 June, 2026
8:30 PM MYT



What exactly is Selangor PH trying to do?

That is no longer a rhetorical question.

Because no rational political strategist looking at Johor, Negeri Sembilan and the possibility of a general election would advise a government to repeatedly antagonise non-Muslim voters.

Yet that is precisely what the Selangor government appears determined to do.

First, pig farming.

Then repressive guidelines for non-Muslim places of worship – which had since been loosened following public push back.

Then it is halal and non-halal waste segregation. (Which now they say is meant more for businesses)

One controversy may be accidental.
Two may be poor judgment.
Three becomes a pattern.

And patterns demand explanation.

Unless, of course, the objective is exactly what it appears to be: sacrificing non-Muslim support in a desperate attempt to shore up Malay-Muslim votes.

If so, it may well be the most reckless political gamble undertaken by Pakatan Harapan (PH) since its formation.

But where on earth are the DAP exco members?

There are four of them sitting around the Selangor executive council table.

Did they object to these policies?
Did they fight against them?
Did they lose the argument?
Or did they simply remain silent?

The DAP once built political careers attacking MCA for exactly this kind of back boneless conduct.

Where are the voices of elected representatives who once claimed they would never compromise on principles?

Are the ministers and exco members who now seem unable—or unwilling—to explain why non-Muslims should continue placing their trust in them?

Even PAS, which rules four states, has not imposed on non-Muslims in such a manner.

At least MCA never pretended to be anything else.

DAP spent decades promising it would be different.

The question many voters are beginning to ask is whether they were simply sold a more sophisticated version of the same product.

The Johor state election is scheduled to be held on July 11, while the Negeri Sembilan state election is scheduled for August 1. – Scoop pic file, June 23, 2026


Johor and Negeri Sembilan may provide the answer.
And if enough voters decide they have had enough, Selangor PH may discover that the road to losing Putrajaya begins not in Kedah, Kelantan or Terengganu—but in its own backyard.

Every time the government has an opportunity to reassure non-Muslims that their concerns matter, it instead chooses to create another controversy.

And then acts surprised when people react, then fall over themselves trying to explain then “review” the guidelines.

So the question is simple.

Why?

Because even an amateur politician can anticipate the reaction.

Because politically, none of this makes any sense.

Johor is heading into a crucial state election.

Negeri Sembilan is facing its own political uncertainties.

There is growing speculation of an early general election should the political stars align.

If PH believes it can out-Islamise parties whose entire existence revolves around Malay-Muslim politics, it is embarking on a contest it cannot win. – Scoop file pic, June 23, 2026

Yet instead of consolidating support among its traditional voter base, Selangor PH appears determined to test the limits of their patience.

For decades, non-Muslims were told that voting for Pakatan Harapan would ensure fairness, moderation and balance.

Even so, when PAS was part of Pakatan Rakyat which wrested Selangor and three other states.

Today they are being told that pig farms must go.
That obtaining approval for non-Muslim houses of worship remains a bureaucratic obstacle course.
That rubbish must now apparently be viewed through a religious lens.

The explanations are almost irrelevant.

Because politics is ultimately about the message being received.

And that message is crystal clear.

The sensitivities of one community appear to matter far more than the concerns of everyone else.

Take the pig farming issue. The state government insists this is about environmental management.

Fine.

Then regulate and manage sensitivities. Not wait for the issue to fester until the Palace has to intervene.

Now the solution appears to be the complete eradication of an industry that serves a substantial section of the population.

Imagine if a state government decided that cattle farming should be phased out and all beef imported instead.

But because the industry involved is pig farming, many politicians seem to believe there is little political cost.

Then there is the issue of non-Muslim places of worship.

This is not merely about planning guidelines.

It is about confidence. It is about whether non-Muslims feel they are equal stakeholders

Every new restriction, every new hurdle, every new guideline sends a signal.

And increasingly that signal is that non-Muslims must constantly justify their presence.

The latest halal and non-halal waste controversy only reinforces the growing belief that the government is obsessed with demonstrating its Islamic credentials.

One cannot help but wonder whether Selangor PH has become trapped in a competition to prove who can be more accommodating to conservative Malay-Muslim sentiment.

If that is the strategy, then someone should remind them of a simple political fact.

Voters generally prefer the original over the imitation.

If PH believes it can out-Islamise parties whose entire existence revolves around Malay-Muslim politics, it is embarking on a contest it cannot win.

What it will succeed in doing is alienating the very voters who brought it to power.

And that is where the situation becomes truly bizarre.

A series of controversial decisions has raised questions over whether the PKR–DAP–Amanah coalition is inadvertently paving the way back to the Opposition benches. – Bernama pic, June 23, 2026

Because who exactly is advising the Selangor government?

Who looked at the electoral map and concluded that the best way forward was to antagonise Chinese and Indian voters while hoping to gain support from voters who have never trusted PH in the first place?

Or is it that they have concluded that non-Muslims have nowhere else to go.

That they will grumble, complain and eventually vote PH anyway because the alternatives are worse.

That is not a strategy.

That is contempt.

And contempt for voters has destroyed more governments than opposition parties ever could.

The tragedy for PH is that it does not need to lose non-Muslim votes to suffer politically.

It merely needs those voters to stop caring.

To stay home.

To decide that there is little difference between today’s PH and the governments PH once condemned.

That is how political decline begins.

Not with dramatic defeats.

But with disappointment and cynicism.

Selangor is PH’s flagship state.

The jewel in its crown.

The model it constantly points to as proof of competent governance in a multiracial multifaith state.

Yet today many supporters are beginning to ask whether the government still remembers why it was elected in the first place.

Because from where they are sitting, it increasingly looks as though Selangor PH especially is trying very hard to lose the people who carried it to power. – June 23, 2026

Terence Fernandez is Group Editor in Chief of Big Boom Media which publishes Scoop

***

From Ronnie Liu's feedback, it seems AMANAH could be the culprit, even unto egging HRH to present his no-pig-in-Selangor fatwa.

UN commission of inquiry says Israel committing genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting children

UN commission of inquiry says Israel committing genocide in Gaza by deliberately targeting children

5 hours ago
David Gritten and
Stephanie Hegarty

EPA
About 30% of those killed in the Gaza war have been children, according to the UN commission of inquiry


A UN commission of inquiry says Israel has deliberately targeted Palestinian children, resulting in genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Gaza Strip, as well as war crimes in the occupied West Bank.

A new report alleges that Israeli authorities and security forces have "deliberately carried out acts inflicting death and severe bodily and mental harm on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children", and that the killings continued even after last October's ceasefire in Gaza.

The commission says it has reasonable grounds to conclude that those acts "form part of a deliberate strategy to destroy the future of the Palestinians in Gaza by targeting their children".

Israel's foreign ministry said it "utterly rejects" the commission's report, calling it a "libellous sham" and "a propaganda piece as outrageous as its previous ones".

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.

At least 73,035 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, including more than 21,280 children, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures are seen as reliable by the UN.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel was established by the UN Human Rights Council in 2021 to investigate alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

Its three-member expert panel does not officially speak for the UN.

Last September, the commission accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. A report said there were reasonable grounds to conclude that four of the five acts of genocide defined under the 1948 Genocide Convention had been carried out by Israeli authorities and security forces. Israel strongly rejected that report, calling it distorted and false.

The commission has previously concluded that Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups committed war crimes and other grave violations of international law on 7 October 2023, and that Israeli security forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

Last October, Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire as part of US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war.

Since then, both sides have accused each other of violating the truce repeatedly. Gaza's health ministry says more than 1,020 Palestinians have been killed, among them 265 children. The Israeli military says four soldiers have also been killed.

On Tuesday, the commission of inquiry said in a statement released together with the report that "the intense scale and systematic nature" of Israeli military operations in Gaza had continued, resulting in "unprecedented death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children".

"Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, children continue to be killed and seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to Palestinian children under international law," said Srinivasan Muralidhar, an Indian jurist who chairs the commission.

"The protection, care and survival of Palestinian children are inseparable from the Palestinian people's right to self-determination," he added. "By targeting children, Israel is attacking the very capacity of the Palestinian people to exist and to determine their future."

The commission's new report says Israel has targeted Palestinian children in Gaza directly by shooting at their vital organs using precision weapons, such as quadcopter drones and snipers, and by using high-impact weapons in strikes on residential buildings, schools, and displacement camps crowded with children.

Israel is also legally responsible for failing to protect Palestinian children from being targeted by Israeli soldiers and settlers in the West Bank, it adds.

The report also says that children in Gaza and the West Bank, especially adolescent boys, have been "arrested, tortured, and ill-treated in Israeli prisons and detention facilities", and that it has documented "incidents of sexual and gender-based violence targeting Palestinian children, often during arrests or in detention".

Israeli attacks on neonatal and paediatric hospitals in Gaza have meanwhile "systematically dismantled children's access to life-sustaining care, undermining their survival as a protected group", according to the report.

It also accuses Israel of using starvation as a method of war, and warns that restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza have "produced acute and chronic malnutrition among children in Gaza, removing the basic conditions necessary for their survival".

And it alleges that through attacks on schools, mass displacement and enforced closures, Israeli authorities have "systematically disrupted children's ability to learn, thereby sabotaging the intellectual and social foundations of Palestinian society itself".

The Israeli foreign ministry condemned the report, saying the commission was a "fundamentally flawed mechanism whose very purpose is to single out and vilify Israel rather than seek the truth".

"It completely erases Israeli children who were brutally murdered, kidnapped, and targeted by Hamas, while ignoring Hamas' cynical use of Palestinian children as human shields and pawns of war," it added. It accused the commission of lacking "any credible verification mechanism for its claims".

Israel's leaders have consistently rejected allegations of genocide, and say its military's operations in Gaza have been conducted in self-defence, to defeat Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, and to secure the release of Israeli hostages.

They have also insisted that Israeli forces have operated in accordance with international law and take all feasible measures to mitigate harm to civilians.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is currently hearing a case brought by South Africa that accuses Israeli forces of genocide, but it could take years to reach a conclusion. Israel has called the case "wholly unfounded" and based on "biased and false claims".

 

Israeli fire kills two in Lebanon as Hezbollah slams truce ‘violation’

Lebanese armed group Hezbollah denounced the ‘treacherous attack’, saying it was a ‘blatant’ violation of the truce.

By Al Jazeera Staff

Published On 23 Jun 202623 Jun 2026

Israeli troops have opened fire in southern Lebanon, killing two people and wounding two, according to the Lebanese state news agency, following two days of relative calm in the country amid a fragile truce.

Two men were killed when Israeli soldiers “opened fire with their machine-guns in their direction while they were standing near an excavator that was unblocking a road” in a town near the city of Nabatieh, Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) reported on Tuesday.

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They are the first reported ‌deaths from Israeli fire in Lebanon in three days, threatening a United States-brokered “ceasefire” that has largely held since Sunday.

The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah denounced the “treacherous attack”, saying it was a “blatant” violation of the truce. It did not say whether it would respond.

The Israeli military said it “struck armed terrorists who posed an immediate threat” to soldiers in the Ali al-Taher ridge area of the south, within an area of south Lebanon where Israeli forces have declared a “security zone”.

Earlier, Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council, warned that the Lebanese group will respond to any violation of the ceasefire by Israel, according to Iran’s Press TV.

Qamati said Hezbollah’s retaliation will come “in kind”, adding that there will not be a “return to the pre-war situation” when Israeli forces launched near-daily attacks on Lebanon even as the group’s fighters held their fire.

“Hezbollah remains fully alert with its finger on the trigger, ready to confront any violation by the Israeli regime,” he was quoted as saying.

Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed at least 4,106 people since March 2. At least 1.2 million people have also been forced from their homes.

Israel’s death toll from its latest conflict with Hezbollah includes at least 32 soldiers and four Israeli civilians.On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Israel Katz and Chief of the General Staff Eyal Zamir issued a joint statement saying the Israeli military will continue to “act with determination in order to neutralize threats against our soldiers and our citizens”.

The military would continue to demolish infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah, and would also continue to “maintain the security zone in southern Lebanon”, it said.

The statement came after Netanyahu issued a video statement insisting that the Israeli military will “have full freedom of action” in Lebanon.

“My stance is firm on our remaining in the security zone in southern Lebanon for as long as is required,” he said.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman has said the US is obligated to force Israel to halt its attacks on southern Lebanon.

“We have all witnessed the continued attacks by the Zionist entity on Lebanon,” Esmaeil Baghaei said.

“The obligation to put an end to the war in Lebanon is part and parcel of the previous and current arrangements. The US commitment is clear and there is no justification whatsoever for the Zionist entity to continue to assault Lebanon,” he added.

Baghaei said the Israel-Hezbollah war is a “very complicated issue”, but added “final arrangements” will be reached “over the coming days”.

Meanwhile, a new round of US-mediated negotiations between Israel and Lebanon has started at the State Department in Washington, DC, with talks expected to last until Thursday.

“The developments of the past few days have proven the correctness of our choice to go to negotiation, for it is the only path relied upon at the level of the entire world to achieve national goals and restore all rights,” Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun said in a statement on X.

Aoun expressed hope that the latest round of negotiations would be “decisive” in achieving Lebanon’s objectives.

“Today we say that we will accept nothing less than the end of the Israeli occupation in southern Lebanon and the collapse of foreign mandates together,” he said.

Lebanon is represented by Ambassador Nada Moawad, while the Israeli delegation is headed by Ambassador Yechiel Leiter. US officials are also participating in the talks.

Lebanon is seeking Israel’s withdrawal from the south of the country, where the Israeli military has established a so-called “buffer zone” that encompasses about 6 percent of Lebanese territory.

Israel says it is seeking the “disarmament” of Hezbollah. Hezbollah says the talks should be limited to “mutual security” and that its weapons must be kept off the table.

Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said that “Israel is very clear about not wanting to link the US-Iran track with what happens in Lebanon, and despite its best efforts Israel has failed in that regard.”

“Right now, there is some hope in the Israeli government that the talks with Lebanon in Washington, DC, this week could offer a manoeuvre out of that coupling,” she added.

Kenya minister says US-run Ebola facility plans halted after court order

Kenya stops constructing US-run Ebola site amid public outcry; $13.5m US funding is criticised as masking health risks.

By Al Jazeera Staff and AFP

Published On 23 Jun 202623 Jun 2026

Kenya has ordered a halt to preparations for a United States-run Ebola quarantine facility, the health minister has told a court after being held in contempt for ignoring a previous stop-work order.

The announcement on Tuesday comes amid strong opposition to the plan in Kenya. Deadly protests have taken place since the government confirmed plans to build the facility for potential US citizens evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), which is grappling with a major Ebola outbreak.

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The quarantine facility was being constructed at Laikipia airbase, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the capital, Nairobi, with some 50 isolation beds. It was expected to be managed by US medical staff.

“I have directed the immediate and complete cessation of any intended construction, site preparation, or related activities concerning the Laikipia airbase facility pending the hearing and determination of the substantive petition or until further orders of this court,” Health Minister Aden Duale said.

The minister spoke in court a day after he was held in contempt for failing to respond to multiple orders in late May and early June to halt activities.

Rights groups had petitioned the court, saying the facility was being developed secretly and without consultation. Kenyan doctors and medical professionals have been especially outspoken about the proposed Nanyuki site, arguing it would threaten the country’s already fragile health system.

Three people have been killed in unrest near the facility in Laikipia.

Civilians and healthcare workers have expressed anger over the prospect of importing the virus and criticised the Kenyan government’s acceptance of a $13.5m Ebola preparedness contribution from the US as whitewashing the deal. So far, the country has not recorded a case of Ebola.

The Ebola outbreak was confirmed in DR Congo in May. It has led to 1,048 confirmed cases and at least 267 deaths as of June 22, according to the Health Ministry. At least 75 healthcare workers in DRC have contracted the virus, with 17 deaths recorded.

Uganda – which neighbours Kenya – has reported 20 confirmed cases, including two deaths.

***

Unscrupulous Wanks farming out dangerous labs to poorer nations