Iran Executes Top Young Aerospace Scientist, Alleging CIA & Mossad Ties

 Iran has executed 29-year-old aerospace engineer Erfan Shakourzadeh on Monday on espionage charges despite his protestations that authorities tortured him into giving a false confession, according to a prison note published before his execution, as recounted in Western press reports.

Iranian judiciary's Mizan Online website announced and confirmed the execution, describing that he was hanged after being convicted for allegedly collaborating with the CIA and Israel's Mossad intelligence service.

Various human rights organizations have rejected the validity of the charges, and have decried his execution, having for weeks raised the alarm that he was on death row.

Shakourzadeh studied electrical engineering at the University of Tabriz before graduating top of his class in the master's program in Aerospace Engineering and Satellite Technology at Iran University of Science and Technology.

He was a leading young specialist in the field and worked at a scientific organization focused on satellite technology before intelligence agents from the elite IRGC arrested him in February 2025. So the case predates the current war, but is highly significant amid the US pressure campaign.

State Mizan agency went on to allege that Shakourzadeh was "a joint CIA and Mossad spy," stating that he had been recruited "as a project and due to his expertise."

CBS has said he's the latest death in a growing list of espionage cases:

He is the fifth person to be executed on espionage charges since the beginning of the war in late February.

Authorities have also since then executed 13 men charged over January protests, one more over 2022 demonstrations and 10 accused of links to banned opposition groups, according to IHR.

President Trump had weeks ago personally highlighted that eight women protesters were also set to be executed, but that he intervened with Iranian officials and threatened more military action, effectively stopping it.

However, Trump's claims have been largely debunked. It has been confirmed that at least one among the eight is real and is likely in prison, but other details concerning the group of women have not been established or else outright disproven.

But it does remain clear that Iran has been busy hunting down alleged collaborators, also after Mossad and Israeli officials have time and again openly boasted that they are working with individuals and networks on the ground inside Iran.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-executes-top-young-aerospace-scientist-alleging-cia-mossad-ties

'China should stop hoarding food and fertiliser, says former World Bank chief'

A former World Bank president has told the BBC that China should stop hoarding food and fertiliser to ease a global supply crisis caused by the Iran war.

David Malpass, who also served as Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs under US President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019, was speaking to the World Service's World Business Report on the eve of the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing.

"They have the biggest world stockpile of food stuffs and of fertiliser," he said. "They can stop building their stockpiles."

His comments come as nations around the world scramble to secure fertiliser supplies ahead of spring planting, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz severely disrupting shipments.


China has itself halted fertiliser exports since March, citing the need to protect domestic supplies.

Malpass, who ran the World Bank from 2019 to 2023, also said that Beijing's claim to be a developing nation is no longer credible.

"They present themselves as a developing country when they're the second biggest economy in the world and in many ways rich," he said.

"And yet they still have the pretence of being a developing country in the WTO and in the World Bank, and they could suspend that," Malpass added.

The BBC has contacted the Chinese embassy in Washington for comment.

On the Iran ceasefire, which Trump on Monday described as being on "massive life support", Malpass said the world should unite behind the United States and demand a resolution.


"You can't have a rogue state with plutonium, and you can't block the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

Malpass, was hopeful that China would help find a resolution to the deadlock in the Strait of Hormuz, saying that the free movement of ships was in its economic interest: "China benefits from open waterways worldwide."

"They run the shipping lines, own the containers, and make huge profit from trade with the rest of the world. So, they would be a big loser if Iran in some way had control of the Strait of Hormuz", he said.

On the economic outlook for ordinary Americans ahead of Tuesday's US inflation data for April, Malpass said prices are heading higher. "I expect some up, yes, prices will go up on many products," he said.

But he added "robust" jobs data showed the US economy was resilient.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/china-stop-hoarding-food-fertiliser-000849251.html

Spencer Pratt's L.A. Mayoral Plan To Restore Order 'In Weeks' Has Democrats In Panic Mode

 Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt, whose social media team has been running circles around far-left incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and socialist Councilmember Nithya Raman in recent weeks, appears to be gaining momentum. Whether from his strong performance at last week's mayoral debate or his viral social media ads, the former reality TV star, made famous on MTV's The Hills, has reached an inflection point as a serious challenger to the Democratic queens and kings who rule L.A. City Hall.

Pratt joined David Friedberg on the All-In podcast in an interview that premiered Sunday. Titled "Wildfires, Homelessness, Corruption & the Fight to Take It Back," the conversation outlined how Pratt would quickly work to restore law and order in violence-plagued Los Angeles in the first several weeks of office, if he were elected.

The interview comes days after Pratt defeated Mayor Bass and Councilmember Raman in a debate last Wednesday, in which a local poll by NBC Los Angeles showed that 88% of respondents said he won.

Pratt told Friedberg:

"If you start putting handcuffs on people, watch how many people leave. 100%.

"This idea that if you let everyone do drugs and do whatever they want and let the criminals make the outside an asylum with no guards... If you let them do that, they're gonna do that."

Pratt then laid out his plan for the first few weeks if he is elected mayor:

"But when I'm mayor, my plan is: First three weeks, signs up across the city. 'No more nakedness, no more drug use, no more robbing, no more dog abuse.' Very prominently on every sign, in every part of the city.

"And we're going to warn everybody: 'Hey, you've got three more weeks of this. Clock's ticking.' Just keep telling everyone so people are aware. They're like, 'Oh wow, there is a new mayor in town.' They may start leaving.

"And then, when the three weeks are up, or maybe we'll even do two weeks, maybe people want it faster, once we start enforcing the law, boom, the streets will be back.

"You know who I'm also going to bring in? The CDC is concerned because there are medieval diseases in these encampments. They're not swabbing the streets. People are just living in feces, drug use, and dogs burning bodies. We need these streets cleaned."

Pratt's rise in the polls is based largely on common-sense policies to enforce law and order, which have alarmed the Democratic Party. Bass had to cancel an appearance this week after her poor performance in last week's debate.

Democrats' only counter to Pratt last week at the debate was to call him a "MAGA Republican." If that is their rebuttal to a basic law-and-order agenda, it speaks volumes about how little they have left to offer voters watching Los Angeles spiral over the last ten years. 

Polymarket odds show Pratt rising after last week's debate, while Raman's odds declined. Bass remains the frontrunner.

Will Spencer Pratt win the 2026 Los Angeles mayoral election?
Yes 29% · No 71%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

Pratt's rise also comes after years of left-wing control over the metro area, which has allowed homelessness, open-air drug use, violent crime, corruption, and social dysfunction to spiral out of control.

Pratt accuses Bass of being a communist and possibly linked to a Cuban spy operation. Rubio also received the memo.

We laid out to readers late last year:

• Is There A "Cuba Connection" Behind The Radicalization Of America's Nonprofit Left

Democrats are absolutely terrified about Pratt's rise.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/no-more-nakedness-spencer-pratts-la-mayoral-plan-restore-order-weeks-has-democrats-panic

Jeffries Calls On Half-Dozen Democratic States To Start 'Aggressive' Redistricting

  by Chase Smith via The Epoch Times,

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on Friday named six Democratic states he wants to join New York in pursuing mid-decade redistricting ahead of the 2028 election—a longer-term play as both parties have raced to redraw maps before the November 2026 midterms.

“It’s going to be incredibly important that states like New York, New Jersey, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, Maryland and Illinois are aggressive in moving forward to ensure that there’s a fair national map, particularly in light of what the Supreme Court’s attack on the Voting Rights Act has unleashed,” Jeffries said in an interview with CNN published on May 8.

Congressional maps are slated to be redrawn after the next census in 2030.

The comments came the same day that the Virginia Supreme Court voided an April referendum that would have allowed state Democrats to redraw Virginia’s congressional map ahead of the November midterms. Democrats had said the new Virginia map could result in their having 10 congressional seats to only one for Republicans. Virginia now has six Democratic members of Congress and five Republicans.

 

Jeffries called the Virginia ruling “unprecedented” and “undemocratic” in a statement released by his office on Friday.

“Over three million Virginia citizens cast their votes in a free and fair election, yet the State Supreme Court has chosen to invalidate their voice, disenfranchise them and violate their due process rights,” Jeffries said in the statement.

He added, “We are exploring all options to overturn this shocking decision. No matter what it takes, House Democrats will win in November so we can help rescue this nation from the extremism being unleashed by Donald Trump and Republicans.”

Despite the setback, Jeffries told CNN that Democrats could still flip “at least two” GOP-held seats in Virginia under the existing congressional map.

“If the current map holds in Virginia, we will at minimum flip two seats. And we’re exploring other options given how unpopular the policies of the Republican party have been,” Jeffries told CNN.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court on April 29 ruled in Louisiana v. Callais that Louisiana’s congressional map was unconstitutional because race was the predominant factor in drawing the lines, a decision that limits redistricting based on race. Democrats and voting rights advocates say the decision guts the Voting Rights Act and gives Republican-led states grounds to revisit majority-minority districts.

Republicans hailed the ruling. Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton said on May 6 that the Supreme Court had “opined that redistricting, like the judicial system, should be color-blind.” He noted that the court had also indicated that “states can redistrict based off partisan politics” as the state began redrawing its districts.

Republican-led states have moved quickly.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on May 7 signed a new congressional map that splits Memphis into three districts and will probably eliminate the state’s only Democratic-held congressional seat. The Tennessee General Assembly first passed a measure repealing a state law that had previously prohibited mid-decade redistricting.

Republicans have also moved this year to redraw congressional maps in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Missouri, and Florida. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 4 signed a new map that could add up to four Republican-leaning seats to that state’s congressional delegation.

Democrats have countered with their own mid-decade redraws in California and the now-voided Virginia attempt. On May 4, Jeffries launched what he calls the New York Democracy Project, an effort to recruit New York into the mid-decade redistricting fight.

Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), dispatched to Albany by Jeffries, pressed New York Democratic leaders to advance a constitutional amendment enabling mid-decade redistricting before the legislature adjourns the first week of June. A New York constitutional change would require passage by two consecutive legislative sessions before going to voters for ratification.

Jeffries on Monday told House Democrats in a Dear Colleague letter that he will host a caucus-wide briefing on Thursday with Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the ranking Democrat on the House Administration Committee, to discuss what he called “the largest voter protection effort in modern American history.”

National Republican Redistricting Trust Executive Director Adam Kincaid told The Epoch Times this past week that the broader push amounted to “Hochul and Jeffries’s annual attempt to illegally gerrymander New York and roll back the state’s twice-voter-approved redistricting commission.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/jeffries-calls-half-dozen-democratic-states-start-aggressive-redistricting

Trump nominates Cameron Hamilton as FEMA head

 United States President Donald Trump nominated Cameron Hamilton to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), a role he already held briefly from January to May 2025 before being fired.

Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL, would be the principal adviser to the president and to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on emergency management. If the nomination is accepted, he would serve as the first permanent FEMA administrator in Trump's second term.

Hamilton previously expressed that he does not believe FEMA should be closed, as Trump considered last year after calling it a "disaster."

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Trump-nominates-Cameron-Hamilton-as-FEMA-head/66268087

Trump calls for moving South Carolina House primaries

 United States President Donald Trump pressed South Carolina lawmakers to delay the state's congressional primaries until August.

He said the move would give Republicans more time to address redistricting and urged them to follow Tennessee's example from last week.

Trump said he is "watching closely" and called on the GOP to use "every legal and constitutional authority" to counter Democrats, whom he accused of manipulating maps and census counts.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Trump-calls-for-moving-South-Carolina-House-primaries/66268226

Third world migrant crisis in the US is actually worse than it is in Europe

 by Olivia Murray

Listen, I’ll be the first one to admit that I’ve been hyperfocused on the migration problem consuming Europe, writing on it fairly frequently. 

When you see what Western gems like Paris, London, Berlin, Brussels, and Edinburgh have become, it’s easy. The crime rates are surging, from vandalism to rape and murder, infamous and unforgettable images make it into our news feeds—like the African migrant cooking his breakfast on a Western war memorial or the freaky East African-looking guy grinning from his taxpayer-paid flat balcony after going on a stabbing spree—and Arab delinquents are caught destroying historic walls that have been standing for centuries.

And while we do have our own examples of the migration problem in the U.S., like Laken Riley’s murder and the Somali fraud scandal, they’re relatively rare, or framed in the media as being small scale occurrences—tempting us to think it’s worse in Europe than here. But I think we’re being extremely naive, living in “the white,” fat, dumb, and (relatively) happy.

I first realized that things are actually more dire here than they are in Europe when I went to the U.K. a couple of months back. In the small towns, things still felt and looked distinctly English, Irish, and Scottish (respectively). Small towns in the U.S., even in places like Alabama where I live? Athens, where my kids go to school, is full of Haitians, I’ve seen gaggles of Islamic women covered from head-to-toe in their burkas in Moulton where I go to buy local farm goods, and I refuse to go to Walmart anymore after being jostled down the aisles by diminutive Central Americans one too many times, with not an English-speaking customer to be found. (I was the only American in a sea of foreigners, literally, in my own home country.)

When I visited Blackpool? Only white English people. I didn’t see a single migrant.

When I visited Inverness, Dún Laoghaire, Wrea Green, Dingwall, and Fort Augustus? All Anglos, with a few Asians working the sushi restaurant at which we dined. Again, not a single African or Arab third-worlder.

The big cities? When I went to Dublin, I saw a whopping two Muslims, women with hijabs, participating in the St. Paddy’s Day celebrations, speaking English, and decently Westernized. Not ideal, but at least they know the language, having probably been born there. (I wrote on my trip to Ireland for the AT newsletter, so here’s a quick AT subscription plug for access to exclusive essays that won’t appear on the site.)

Okay, that’s all anecdotal you might say, and fair enough—but let’s look at some numbers.

14.1% of the EU’s population in 2024 reportedly consisted of foreign-born individuals. In Germany, where the numbers are notoriously bad, the overall migrant population is around 20%.

The U.S.? We have a population of roughly 342 million—and around 100 million are foreigners who need to be deported/repatriated:

That’s a whopping 30% of our population being non-Americans, whether they have “legal” status or not.

Consider that the 10-12 million number was what they said…back in the 1970s:

Also consider that since Hart-Celler, which eliminated the prioritization of immigrants from Western nations to instead permit all the net negative individuals from the darkest corners of the globe, some 60 million “immigrants” have flooded into the U.S.—then they reproduced like rabbits. Europe, just by virtue of being small and with limited room for growth, has less migrants. The U.S., with tons of space and a massive economy, is bearing the brunt.

While we’re all distracted with the European problem, our nation sinks and drowns.

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/third_world_migrant_crisis_in_the_us_is_actually_worse_than_it_is_in_europe.html