Tehran's Escalated Rhetoric

On Tuesday, Iran escalated its official rhetoric by unveiling a massive sign in Tehran pledging to assassinate Donald Trump. 

Towering over the bustling Enghelab Square, the display read, “We will kill Trump”, and depicted the US president behind bars with his head bowed. 

A nearby installation featured Trump alongside US Vice President JD Vance, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – all portrayed with bloodied faces and tattered suits against a backdrop of worn-out American and Israeli flags.

In the busy Tajrish Square in northern Tehran, an open-air exhibition featured paintings of Trump, including one showing him with his face lying bloodied on the ground as a foot presses down on his head. 

Another depicted a bomb obscuring his face.

Nearby, a life-sized replica of a jail cell has remained on display, with an actor impersonating  Trump spending the day inside. An adjacent screen showed images of the damage caused by US strikes on Iran.

Fenerbahçe SK secured their first Champions League win of the season, defeating Liverpool 3-2 in Istanbul yesterday to end the Reds' 100% start to the competition. 

The match ignited in the 25th minute when Trey Nyoni struck a brilliant first-time volley to put Liverpool ahead. 

The advantage was short-lived, however, as the home side fought back to equalize in the 29th minute when a powerful free-kick took a massive deflection and found the back of the net. 

The sides remained deadlocked until the second half, when Alexander Isak restored Liverpool's lead in the 69th minute by skillfully squeezing a cross past the opposition goalkeeper. 

Once again, the hosts responded rapidly, capitalizing on a short corner in the 73rd minute to tap in from close range after an awkward deflection. The decisive blow arrived in the 79th minute when a looping cross from the right flank was met with a powerful header, beating Alisson to seal a dramatic victory for the home side.

Andoni Iraola should be furious with how, in both halves, his side let things slip having looked in so much control. 

And Amina Orfi of Egypt dispatched Sivasangari Subramaniam 3–0 (11–8, 11–1, 11–8) in 43 minutes during Wednesday's US Open squash quarter-finals. 😢😢😢 

It was the Malaysian's ninth defeat to the 19-year-old world champion in 12 meetings.

Ghosts of the Past: Germany is Weaponizing

German militarism is underway. 

Over the past few months, a noticeable surge in reports has highlighted Germany’s growing obsession with missiles – spanning ballistic, cruise, land-based, and sea-based systems. 🚀🚀🚀

Berlin is pulling in various international partners for this initiative, including the US, Ukraine, Türkiye, and Israel. It increasingly appears that Germany intends to funnel its entire defense focus into procurement, aiming to become Western Europe's dominant missile power. 

Berlin’s financial commitment to expanding its military programs has reached unprecedented levels. The country is rapidly ramping up defense spending to reshape its industrial landscape. 

Between 2024 and 2025, approximately 200 new defense companies emerged in Germany, with another 100 appearing since late 2025. 

A striking example of this boom is Rheinmetall, which has dramatically scaled its artillery ammunition production from a mere 70,000 units to 1.5 million shells per year. Over the next six years, the defense giant plans to invest roughly €30 billion ($34 billion) into arms and munitions manufacturing alone. 

Furthermore, Germany is aggressively seeking to procure ready-made missile systems while simultaneously establishing joint domestic production facilities. Aligned with these initiatives, Berlin is forming new ground forces explicitly designed to strike military targets deep within foreign territory – essentially creating a dedicated missile troop branch within the Bundeswehr. 

On one hand, this rapid expansion is framed as a way to enhance NATO’s strike capabilities, allowing for flexible responses over thousands of kilometers. On the other hand, developing such potent offensive capabilities can easily cultivate ambitions of military dominance and hegemony – a dangerous path Germany has historically walked before. 😎😎😎

Germany’s primary justification for this massive military buildup is, of course, the need to deter a "threat from the East". 😂😂😂

But this is history repeating itself.  

The fact that Russia has no intention of attacking NATO doesn’t seem to matter; it serves as a convenient excuse and a rallying cry to ramp up militarism. 

I daresay, Germany is preparing for war!

World's Most Dangerous Rogue States

The United States and Israel are the world's most dangerous, rogue actors, functioning as the preeminent engine of global instability, and acting as the primary existential threat to world peace through calculated, widespread aggression. 

It is a well-known fact that the US has been at war 222 out of 239 years since 1776. And, since Israel's founding in 1948, the country has been in a state of near-perpetual conflict. 

Today, Donald Trump (far left) and Benjamin Netanyahu (left), both war criminals, represent the new axis of evil.

The war against Iran is their latest handiwork. It began on February 28 and the two didn't just target the Islamic Republic; they murdered the prospect of peace by launching joint, pre-emptive strikes against the country while diplomatic talks were still taking place. A calculated, unlawful act by the US and Israel.

Presently, the grueling war has petered into the current stalemate that brings a temporary lull to the battlefield, yet the rhetorical warfare remains fiercely active. 

On Tuesday, during Trump's address at the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, he openly mused whether he should completely "annihilate" Iran and drive the nation into hell with "no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations". 

By using the UN podium to openly contemplate wiping out a fellow member state, Trump brought an indecent irony to his delivery at the United Nations – an organisation founded to save future generations from war. 😡😡😡

The Self-Devouring Furnace: Gaza's Unending Cycle of Death

According to the most recent data from the Gaza Ministry of Health, the cumulative death toll in the Gaza Strip has risen to 73,795 individuals since Hamas' surprise attack in October 2023. 

Demographically, independent assessments and ministry records indicate that children and women constitute the vast majority of the overall fatalities, but they do not include precise demographic counts. 

In comprehensive analyses tracking verified identities, the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) analysis found that close to 70% of the fatalities in residential areas were women and children. In their verified datasets, children accounted for roughly 44% of the victims, while women accounted for 26%. 

Moreover, according to UN figures, roughly 82% of Gaza’s buildings have been damaged, with two thirds of them destroyed.

Beyond these structural losses, researchers estimate over 116,000 cumulative injuries, creating a massive surgical and reconstructive backlog that will take years to address under a decimated healthcare infrastructure. 

And, even with a de jure ceasefire in place since last October, 1,369 Gazans have been systematically killed. 

In fact, Gaza’s Hamas government have accused Israel of violating the truce more than 4,000 times since then. 

Ultimately, these ongoing casualties expose the illusion of diplomatic reprieves; the mechanism of violence has become self-sustaining, leaving civilians trapped in a seemingly infinite loop of bloodshed and destruction where a ceasefire is meaningless and the body count climbs without end.

WHEN WILL THE KILLINGS STOP? 😭😭😭😭

10,215 Big Macs A Year? The Insane Wealth Gap Dividing the West

Americans are so much richer than most Europeans – and the proof is at McDonald’s. 

The average American worker can buy 10,215 Big Macs a year after taxes, according to a new report released on August 25, 2026. [It was published as a specialized feature article titled "How many Big Macs does your salary buy?" under The Economist's McWages index section]. 

That’s more than twice as many as French and German workers – and 50% more than Brits. 

All the data comes from the “Big Mac Index” – the longstanding, if slightly oddball, economic indicator created by The Economist. 

The new analysis evaluates how much real work is required to afford the same standard product – which is available at 44,000 McDonald’s locations worldwide. 

Big Macs are priced according to local ingredient and operating costs. A Big Mac in the US averages $6.22, while it’s $7.30 in France and Germany, and just $3.12 in Japan, according to a separate price tracker. 

Dividing the cost of a Big Mac by average wages offers an easy-to-understand way to compare the wealth between the working people of different nations. 

In America, it takes just 23 minutes of work to afford a Big Mac – or six burgers per hour. 

American workers have the highest burger-buying power in the world, according to The Economist's McWages Index. An average US worker earns about $60,000 after taxes annually, which equals the value of 10,215 Big Macs, putting the United States at the top of the global ranking. 

That figure is almost twice the roughly 5,000 Big Macs that a worker in France can afford annually, and more than double the roughly 4,000 that can be afforded by German workers. 

Switzerland and Australia are in second and third place, respectively, with New Zealand fourth and Israel fifth. 

But Americans also work longer hours than many of their European counterparts – and one country has the advantage on Big Macs-per-hour. 

Switzerland comes out on top – with Swiss earning the equivalent of seven Big Macs an hour. Australia, with five burgers for every hour worked, comes third. 

The index also tracks wealth growth and decline – because it expresses both wages and the cost of a basic food item. 

Germans are not lovin’ it – becoming much poorer in the past two years, as wages have stagnated and prices soared. 

However, other countries, such as Latvia, are significantly richer in Big Mac terms than they were two years ago, with the average worker now able to afford an additional burger for every two hours’ work.

Iranian Mourners Demand Vengeance

Iranians demanded vengeance during the funeral procession for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday. 

As demonstrators set fire to US and UK flags, women in black chadors held aloft red placards with the English words "KILL TRUMP" in black letters. 

Others raised placards with the faces of Trump, Vice President JD Vance, War Secretary Pete Hegseth or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, each depicted in the crosshairs of a gunsight, with the words "There will be blood". 

The 88-member Assembly of Experts issued a 10-point statement in which they said killing “the wicked prime minister of the Zionist regime” and “the criminal American president” was a religious duty that must be carried out “under any circumstances”.

DEATH TO AMERICA!

Babies Are Special Targets of Israeli killings

The attacks by Israel on Gaza show a targeted annihilation of newborns and infants that should be punished, the head of a UN panel that probed the excesses determined. 

The violence unleashed by Israeli forces was “unjustified and disproportionate… in considerable terms”, Justice S Muralidhar, the chair of the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, said in an exclusive interview on Tuesday when he presented his findings.

The Gaza war began after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 07, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent military operation devastated much of Gaza, killing over 73,000 Palestinians and injuring more than 173,000, according to the local health authorities. 

Citing a pattern of targeted attacks on children, Muralidhar (left) pointed out: “When you shoot a 10-day-old baby breastfeeding on his mother... through his head, you can by no means label such a baby as an enemy of the State of Israel and justify these kinds of attacks”. 

He drew attention to the fact that Israeli quadcopters with thermal imaging cameras can clearly distinguish a child from an adult. 

That children were being singled out for callous murder is clear from the number of “instances of babies with gunshot wounds to their head and neck to cause maximum damage”. Babies were aimed at with “tiny cube-shaped pellets” that “spread like a cluster of ammunition and destroy all the internal organs”.  

“So it became very clear… that babies were special targets”, Muralidhar, who once served as chief justice at the high court in India's state of Odisha, disclosed. 

The pattern clearly emerged from the totality of the evidence, including forensic and medical records.

Israel carried out airstrikes on the most densely populated areas, knowing that children would constitute a sizable proportion of the population, he noted, stating: “The demolition of the hospitals is [done] with patients still... in the hospital”. 

Muralidhar revealed that “one of the elements of genocide is to prevent childbirths”, claiming that for Israeli forces, “mothers who are pregnant are targets, and they are denied any nutritious intake, so the mothers are malnourished”. 

Not only hospitals but orphanages too and the report cited over 58,000 parentless children in just two years. 

Muralidhar lamented the failure of all UN member states to prevail upon Israel to comply with the three Gaza orders of the International Court of Justice, to address the prevention of genocide and the protection of civilians in Gaza as per the ⁠Genocide Convention. 

Well, that's the UN for you, all talk and no action! 😡😡😡

Lebanon, Syria, Gaza: The Forever Occupation

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reiterated on Wednesday his country will keep its troops in occupied areas of Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza indefinitely. 

“Our policy for defending the borders of the State of Israel... is clear”, Katz said, as quoted by the Jerusalem Post. “The IDF will not withdraw and will remain in the security zones in Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza for an unlimited period of time”. 

Katz also renewed an earlier warning to Iran, saying it would be struck with “full force” if it retaliated over Israel’s military campaign in Lebanon. 

The warning echoed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent pledge that Israel’s pursuit of “total victory” over Iran and its allied groups “never ends”. 

Tehran has made an end to Israeli military operations in Lebanon one of its key conditions in the ongoing peace talks with the US. 

If you must know, in recent months, the IDF have pushed deeper into southern Lebanon, establishing what Israeli officials describe as a security buffer zone. According to media reports, by June, Israeli forces controlled roughly 2,000 square kilometers of Lebanese territory – nearly one-fifth of the country.

Let me repeat here that Iran's decision to sign the MOU and pursue (indirect) "negotiations" is WRONG! 😡😡😡

Iran Wins, USA Loses

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran was separately signed on June 17, 2026. 

The primary signatories of the framework agreement are Donald Trump (President of the United States) and Masoud Pezeshkian (President of Iran). Additionally, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the document as the top mediator. 

FYI, early electronic signatures on the draft had been coordinated through US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. 

And I've read the said document. Not once, not twice, but thrice. Trump's so-called Iran "peace" deal doesn't include any of the big wins he promised. 😀😀😀

There's no two-ways to read the MOU other than the fact that Trump surrendered to Iran, as per the following terms: 

1. US to withdraw all military forces 
2. US to recognise Iranian sovereignty 
3. US together with regional partners commit to provide $300 billion in reconstruction funds 
4. US to unfreeze all Iranian overseas assets (in stages) 
5. US will allow Iranian oil to flow freely and remove sanctions. 

And what did Iran offer in return? 

1. Iran will allow free flow of shipping in the Straits of Hormuz. Err... it was free flow before the war. 
2. Iran commits to not build nuclear weapons. Err... it looks like the same commitment it made before the war. 

Everything else is subject to discussion and determination over the next 60 days. 

Massive accolades to MAGA Trump! What a humongous achievement! The world loves him very much! 😜😜😜

The above aside, Trump quipped on the same day that he will take credit if the deal goes well, but that he will blame his vice president if the preliminary deal falls apart (as per The Hill, published Thursday). 

“We’re going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement”, Trump said at a press conference Wednesday. “I don’t want them to. I want them to honor the agreement”. 

Personally, I don't believe the "peace" will last!

And in a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump had ruled out any direct US funding for the scheme. 

“There is no 300 Billion Dollar payment to Iran by the US. That’s Fake News!” he wrote. "All there is for the US is success, lower oil prices, and victory". 

Vance, meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, echoed the same sentiment, saying that the plan will not be “paid for by American taxpayers”. 

“Not a cent of American money goes to Iran”, he reiterated.

I want to be clear here! I'm not under any illusion that the US has any intention to fulfill its obligations. 

In fact, I'm just waiting for the bombs and missiles to resume their strikes. And it doesn't matter who attacks who first. I don't care whether it's the US or Iran. Or even Israel.

Let the fighting restart!

Humanoid Robots To Have Personal ID Numbers

China is introducing a national ID system for humanoid robots to track their activities, monitor safety risks and standardize the country’s fast-growing robotics industry. 

The system, called the Humanoid Full Lifecycle Management Service Platform, was launched last week for AI-powered, human-shaped bipedal robots, allowing authorities and manufacturers to monitor robots throughout their operational lifespan as China accelerates the commercial rollout of humanoid robots across industries, according to state broadcaster CCTV. 

Yu Xiuming, deputy head of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, said the initiative aims to improve safety oversight and governance in the humanoid robot sector while supporting wider deployment. 

Each robot will receive a unique ID code containing four sections: a two-digit national code for tracking cross-border shipments and sales, a four-digit manufacturer code, a six-digit product model code and a 17-digit serial number identifying individual units, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

Some humanoid robots in Hubei province, central China, are expected to become the country’s first machines to receive official identity card numbers. Liu Chuanhou, chief operating officer of the Hubei Humanoid Robotics Innovation Center in Wuhan, said the system is designed to do more than store registration data. The platform can track maintenance records, application scenarios and operational performance throughout a robot’s lifecycle. Real-time information, including battery condition, joint wear and operational accuracy, can also be monitored through the management system, Liu told China Daily. 

Liu Jieni, business director at robotics firm Maxnova in Hubei, said several flagship humanoid robots had already completed unified coding and registration under the new system. The robots are mainly used in industrial manufacturing, commercial services and demonstration training, she said, adding that the company joined the initiative to align with broader industry standardization efforts. 

China currently leads the global humanoid robot industry, according to a March report by Beijing CCID Publishing and Media and China Electronics News. Global humanoid robot shipments reached around 17,000 units in 2025, with a market value of 2.88 billion yuan ($424 million), the report said.

Liu explained that many Chinese robotics companies still operate with incompatible technical standards and limited coordination on product traceability, safety supervision and data sharing. He said the ID system could help establish unified standards and support large-scale development of humanoid robots. 

He is right! As humanoid robots become more integrated into workplaces and daily life, concerns over operational safety, data security and ethical compliance are bound to increase.

Israel is the most criminal regime in the world! That is an indisputable fact! 

But more than that, Israel is an evil, genocidal, terrorist state.

And it's music to my ears when I read that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei declared on Tuesday that Israel, described as a "cancerous tumor" and an "unstable Zionist regime", is approaching the "final stages" of its cursed existence! 

In fact, his father, the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had previously predicted that Israel would not survive beyond 2040.

I sure hope so. I pray that Iran can deliver the final blow to Israel. And only then will there be everlasting peace in the Middle East.

Of course, the above can only happen if war restarts. 

At this point, nobody can really tell because the two countries are locked in a frozen conflict, trapped by a ceasefire that is merely a long pause and certainly not going anywhere. 

Israel Threatens To Bomb Iran Into The Stone Age

Israel is waiting for a go-ahead from the US to resume the campaign against Iran and bomb the Islamic Republic back to “the Stone Age”, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated on Thursday. 

The message came after US President Donald Trump extended the ceasefire with Tehran indefinitely on Tuesday to allow time for a potential deal, while keeping American naval blockade of Iranian ports in place. 

The “Stone Age” rhetoric was first used by Trump on April 01, roughly five weeks into the fighting. At the time, he warned that US forces would “hit [Iran] extremely hard” and could “bring them back to the Stone Ages” within “two to three weeks” if Tehran refused US demands, including reopening the Strait of Hormuz and agreeing to a deal imposing stricter limits on its nuclear activities. 

Tehran predictably rejected the demands, refusing to stop nuclear enrichment, which it says it needs for civilian purposes, including energy production and medical applications.

Please, let the fighting resume. I would love to see the US of A and Israel wasted! 

Oh, how I wish!

Liverpool strengthened their grip on next season's Champions League spot with a 3-1 victory over Crystal Palace yesterday. 

Alexander Isak smartly controlled Alexis Mac Allister’s wayward effort on goal and swivelled on the ball to volley it into the net in the 35th minute. That was swiftly followed by another from Andy Robertson, finishing well into the bottom corner after a lightning break five minutes later. 

The Eagles pulled one back in the 72nd minute but Florian Wirtz sealed the victory deep into stoppage time (90+6') with a composed finish inside the box.

 

Victory moved the Reds up to fourth place in the Premier League table with four games left to play.

In the meantime, in Glasgow, Celtic defeated Falkirk 3-1 to go level on points with Scottish Premiership leaders Hearts. 

Daizen Maeda opened the scoring in the 30th minute after pressing his rivals' defence. And just before half-time, utilizing his high-tempo pressing, he dispossessed a Falkirk player and played the ball through to Kieran Tierney to rocket a powerful strike into the top corner. 

The Bairns hauled themselves back into contention when they shot home in the 70th minute. But Maeda's second, Celtic's third, was instinctive striker play as he dropped off his marker to swing around in the box and convert a driven Sebastian Tounekti cross in the 83rd minute to settle the outcome.

The table standings after the Scottish champions' triumph on Saturday: