Call your representative and tell them to support H.Res. 934 | A resolution introduced in the House last month calls for the US to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who faces up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the US and convicted for journalism that exposed US war crimes. ● The bill, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, are protected under the First Amendment and that the federal government should drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”

Tehran has not officially attributed blame for the attack, which targeted a commemoration for Gen. Soleimani in the city of Kerman | Iran has vowed a “harsh response” to the bombing in the southeastern Iranian city of Kerman that killed at least 103 people, including women and children, but has not formally attributed blame for the attack. ●&nbspThe bombing targeted a memorial commemorating the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, who was targeted by a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, 2020. Iranian officials have said two separate bombs were placed in bags on the side of a road leading to a cemetery where a large crowd of people was heading. [...] Israel is a suspect in the bombing since it has a history of conducting sabotage attacks, assassinations, and drone attacks inside Iran and recently killed a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander in Syria, as well as a senior Hamas official in Beirut. Israel also appears to be attempting to provoke a regional war that would draw in the US.

■ Israel's History in Quotes (10/10/10)
■ The Expression of Hatred for Gentiles (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)
■ APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)(84 pages) Press Release (.pdf)

In response to Arouri's killing, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in the West Bank, condemning the act and chanting slogans seeking revenge. | In a dramatic turn of events, Israel conducted a drone strike in Beirut, assassinating Hamas deputy leader Saleh Arouri. The strike, which took place on Tuesday, has ignited fears of the Gaza conflict spreading beyond the Palestinian enclave. ● Arouri, 57, was the first senior Hamas political leader to be assassinated since Israel launched a comprehensive air and ground offensive against the group nearly three months ago. The conflict began with a surprise attack by Hamas into Israeli settlements on October 7, resulting in a devastating war. ● Lebanon’s Hezbollah, a key ally of Hamas, has been engaged in near-daily clashes with Israel across Lebanon’s southern border since the Gaza war started. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah issued a stern warning to Israel against further assassinations on Lebanese soil, promising a “severe reaction.”

■ Hezbollah source says local chief among 4 killed in south Lebanon (Hürriyet Daily News)
■ Israel spreads war on Gaza to Beirut with killing of Hamas leader (Daily Sabah)
■ Israel launches deadly Gaza strikes as Mideast tensions rise (Hürriyet Daily News)

More than 50 people were reported missing Thursday as Japanese rescuers battled to reach hundreds still cut off from help three days after a devastating earthquake left at least 78 dead. | As the frantic search for survivors continues, more than a dozen communities remained isolated by landslides and blocked roads in central Japan, where the 7.5-magnitude quake struck on Monday. The powerful main tremor, followed by hundreds of aftershocks, injured at least 330 people, local authorities said. ● Authorities also published a list on Thursday of 51 people whose whereabouts could not be confirmed. ● Further scenes of destruction were seen by AFP in the coastal town of Anamizu, including cars crushed under crumbling concrete and whole facades torn off three-storey structures. ● Thousands of soldiers, firefighters and police officers from across Japan combed through the rubble of collapsed wooden houses and toppled commercial buildings for signs of life.

■ Death toll climbs to 78 in Japan earthquake, 51 still missing (Yeni Şafak)

Augusto Zimmermann | Military conflicts are not the result of random chance. Deliberate planning is involved. If massive depopulation is the end goal, then continued support for Ukraine is the way to go. | It is instructive to look at what happened to Ukraine in 2014, around the coup supported by the US government and its Western allies. With the victory of Viktor Yanukovich in the presidential elections of 2010, the Rada (Ukrainian parliament) voted to drop NATO membership aspirations from the national security strategy. Perhaps precisely because of this, Yanukovich was unconstitutionally ousted. [...] “With regards to Ukraine,” wrote John Mearsheimer of Chicago University, an accomplished American political scientist and international relations scholar: 💬 “It’s very important to understand that, up until 2014, we did not envision NATO expansion and E.U. expansion as a policy that was aimed at containing Russia. Nobody seriously thought that Russia was a threat before February 22, 2014. What happened is that this major crisis broke out, and we had to assign blame, and of course we were never going to blame ourselves. We were going to blame the Russians so we invented this story that Russia was bent on aggression in Eastern Europe.”