Rubio: Cuba got weapons from Russia, China

 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Havana of receiving military help from Moscow and Beijing, among other actions Washington perceives as anti-American.

"Cuba not only has weapons they've acquired from Russia and China over the years, but they also host Russian and Chinese intelligence presence in their country," the US top diplomat claimed to reporters. He accused the Caribbean state of being one of the leading sponsors of terrorism, noting how "Cuba has always posed a national security threat to the US."

His comments come as tensions between the two countries rise even higher following criminal charges brought against Cuba's former President Raul Castro in the US. Rubio himself is the son of Cuban immigrants who immigrated to Florida in 1956.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Rubio:-Cuba-got-weapons-from-Russia-China/66340920

'Kremlin: Xi gave 'very detailed' Trump visit info to Putin'

 Chinese President Xi Jinping shared "very, very detailed" information with Russian President Vladimir Putin about US President Donald Trump's recent visit to China, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Asked whether Xi had briefed Putin on Trump's May 13–15 state visit to China, Peskov said: "Of course, it was a very, very detailed conversation, including on that topic."

In addition, Peskov confirmed that Putin had also shared with Xi Russia's idea of taking Iranian enriched uranium into custody, but declined to disclose Xi's reaction. "That is exactly why such a conversation took place behind closed doors," he said.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Kremlin:-Xi-gave-'very-detailed'-Trump-visit-info-to-Putin/66340974

Trump: We'll probably destroy Iran uranium

 United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Washington would likely destroy Iran's highly enriched uranium.

"We will get it [highly enriched uranium]. We don't need it. We don't want it. We will probably destroy it after we get it, but we will not let them have it," Trump said at a press conference.

The remarks come after reports suggested Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had ordered enriched uranium to remain inside the country, claims later denied by an Iranian official cited by Al Jazeera.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Trump:-We'll-probably-destroy-Iran-uranium/66341328

HHS warns of children’s screen time use, citing impact on sleep, mental health

 The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) warned about children’s screen time in an advisory released Wednesday, citing impacts on sleep and mental health.

The “Surgeon General’s Warning on the Harms of Screen Use” states that “harmful screen use among children and adolescents has become a public health concern; growing up surrounded by screens of all types—televisions, computers, tablets, smartphones—is now the norm.”

“Exposure often begins before a child’s first birthday and increases as children age. By adolescence, children may spend more time on screens than sleeping or attending school,” the report continues.

Amid the rise of technology like smartphones and social media, there have been growing conversations about the tech’s impact on children’s mental health and safety, and how to manage its use.

Last month, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) passed a resolution to restrict screen time in all classrooms. The school board claimed the move made the district “a national leader in setting thoughtful, research-based limits on student screen use and classroom technology tools.”

The board passed the resolution 6-0 to restrict screen time limits for each grade level, get rid of technology for those in first grade and under, and bar student-led use of YouTube and other streaming platforms.

“A concern at all stages of life, and a particularly important one around children’s screen exposure, is its potential to disrupt healthy sleep, which is fundamental to learning, mood, behavior, physical health, and overall development,” the report states.

“Blue light wavelength at night may contribute to sleep disruption, while effects of other wavelengths, such as low-frequency wavelength, have been hypothesized and may warrant further study,” the report continues.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/children-screen-time-mental-health-sleep-effects-hhs/

Why Turkey Is Out There: Liquidated Almost All Its US Treasuries To Defend Crashing Lira

 Two months ago, at the end of March, we reported that Turkey was aggressively dumping its gold reserves in a panic scramble to obtain dollar funding, which Erdogan's regime was using to keep the Turkish lira from crashing, and to also pay for energy imports which had suddenly soared in price as a result of the Iran war.

The violent selling by Turkey (and other emerging markets) was behind the brutal plunge in gold prices, which tumbled by more than $1000 from near all-time highs at the start of the war to the low 4000s by the time Turkey had done selling much of its gold. 

Then earlier this week, we got another confirmation of Turkey's wild liquidation spree when the latest central bank data showed that Turkey’s foreign reserves had their biggest monthly decline on record in March, as the Iran war triggered global selloffs in emerging market assets and strained the lira.

According to balance-of-payments data, Turkey's official reserves cratered by $43.4 billion in March. Part of the decline reflected state intervention to offset portfolio outflows. The current-account deficit, meanwhile, widened to $9.7 billion in March from $7.3 billion in February as a result of soaring commodity prices.

A major energy importer, Turkey has been hit hard by higher oil and gas prices caused by the effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz and the resulting disruptions to world supplies of crude and refined products. Meanwhile, global banks have started changing their formerly favorable outlook on the lira, citing the exploding current-account deficit. Should inflation pressures persist, Turkey will have no choice but to pursue another accelerated devaluation of the Turkish lira. 

“As international institutions continue to raise their average oil price forecasts for 2026, disruptions in supply chains and ongoing regional tensions — and their potential negative impact on transportation and tourism revenues — keep upward risks alive in year-end projections” for Turkey, said Istanbul-based economist Haluk Burumcekci.

Turkish central bank Governor Fatih Karahan said last week that the ratio between the current-account deficit and gross domestic product would be “below historical averages” this year while acknowledging the upside risks.

Yet as we said in March, while selling gold is a step of clear desperation for Turkey which had put in much efforts in recent years to build up a substantial gold stock, it is understandable for a regime that suddenly finds itself in a dollar funding crisis, the bigger question is did Turkey do the same with its holdings of Treasuries which are far more liquid and thus far less likely to move the market even when facing a sizable liquidation. 

The answer, we learned today, is a resounding yes.

According to Bloomberg calculations based on US Treasury data, Turkey sold almost all of its US Treasuries in March as it stepped up efforts to support its currency during the first month of the Iran war. The amount of Treasuries held by Turkey crashed to just $1.8 billion by the end of March, down from $16 billion the previous month, the data showed. The figure includes securities held by the central bank and other Turkish entities, including corporates.

The decline coincided with a selloff in Turkish markets after the Middle East conflict erupted, sending oil prices sharply higher. The central bank moved immediately to prevent a crash in the lira by tightening funding conditions and selling off foreign exchange and gold assets. Its interventions also included swapping gold from reserves, although now that it has also dumped the bulk of its last ditch dollar reserves, those swaps will almost certainly end up forcing Turkey to hand over whatever gold was pledged. 

Turkey’s Treasury holdings were as high as $21 billion in February 2025 after the country spent a year rebuilding reserves. They had peaked about a decade ago at $80 billion, before steadily declining as relations with the US soured over a range of political and geopolitical disputes, and as Turkey consistently sold reserves to maintain a smooth devaluation of the lira. 

Despite the interventions, the lira has remained under pressure as the war drags on. Last week, the central bank raised its year-end inflation target to 24% from 16%, after data showed annual inflation accelerated to 32.4%. Turkish bonds have also suffered steep losses, with 10-year yields hitting record highs of 35.75%.

And now that Turkey has no more gold or Treasurys with which to defend the currency, expect a sharp and painful death in the currency which has gone from less than 10 against the dollar five years ago to a record 45.6 today..

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/turkey-liquidated-almost-all-its-us-treasuries-march-defend-crashing-lira

US Targets Hamas Support Networks

 by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is sanctioning four individuals associated with a pro-Hamas flotilla that is trying to access Gaza in support of the terrorist group, the department said in a May 19 statement.

The flotilla is organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which has been classified as a specially designated global terrorist by the United States.

"The PCPA was established with funding from Hamas's International Relations Bureau and Hamas directs its activity through the placement of Hamas officials throughout the organization, including its executive body, the General Secretariat," the Treasury said.

"So-called humanitarian flotillas that are organized by or supporting designated parties represent a significant compliance risk for financial institutions. Sanctioned terrorist groups continue to maintain significant influence over maritime flotillas to Gaza."

The four individuals sanctioned by the Treasury include a Spanish member of the PCPA's General Secretariat, who is a central figure of the flotilla; the acting secretary general and president of the PCPA, who is from Jordan; a Belgium-based European coordinator for the Samidoun organization; and a Samidoun coordinator from Spain.

Samidoun is a front organization for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which the State Department has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Both the PCPA and Samidoun act on behalf of sanctioned Palestinian terrorist organizations, the Treasury said.

In addition, OFAC sanctioned several members of Muslim Brotherhood networks who are aligned with Hamas.

All property and interests in property of the sanctioned individuals that are in the United States or in control of U.S. persons are effectively blocked and must be reported to OFAC. The sanctions prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in any transactions involving the property or interests in property of those who are sanctioned.

"The pro-terror flotilla attempting to reach Gaza is a ludicrous attempt to undermine President Trump's successful progress toward lasting peace in the region," Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said. "Treasury will continue to sever Hamas' global financial support networks, no matter where in the world they are."

State Department spokesperson Thomas Pigott said in a May 19 statement that OFAC has targeted three enablers - the flotilla organizers, Muslim Brotherhood members, and Samidoun members - who he said are used by Hamas to sustain its position in Gaza, engage in terrorist violence, and finance its operations.

OFAC's action exposes how Hamas exploits purported civil society organizations, diaspora groups, and religious institutions "to advance its malign agenda while claiming humanitarian objectives," according to the spokesperson.

"Under President Trump, the United States remains committed to supporting efforts to achieve lasting peace in the Middle East," he added. "We will continue to use all available tools to counter those who support terrorism and obstruct the path to a peaceful resolution of the conflict."

Hamas-UN Ties

Meanwhile, U.S. lawmakers are aiming to eliminate a U.N. agency accused of employing Hamas terrorists, according to a May 19 statement from the office of Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). The agency being targeted is the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

In February 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning funding for UNRWA. According to the order, the agency has reportedly been infiltrated by members of foreign terrorist organizations, with employees from the organization being directly involved in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.

UNRWA has dismissed these allegations. In a September 2025 fact sheet, the agency said that claims of some members of its staff in Gaza having links with Hamas or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad are false and that it has "not received any information, let alone any evidence, from the Israeli Authorities or any other Member State" about such accusations.

In a May 18 letter to Trump, Cotton and 24 colleagues asked that the administration take "decisive action to fully dismantle UNRWA and eliminate it from the UN budget."

"Any aid organization in Gaza or otherwise must be demonstrably free of ties to terrorism and committed to transparency, accountability, and peace," they said in the letter. "We must ensure this failed system doesn't continue reinforcing the conditions that have fueled terrorism for generations. The time to act is now."

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-targets-hamas-support-networks

Reality bites another of Mamdani’s signature fits of genius: Low pre-K demand

 

Oops: Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s theories are running into yet another awkward reality — families don’t seem to want all the new pre-K slots he’s offering, despite City Hall’s sales efforts.

He got Gov. Kathy Hochul to shower $73 million in new state cash on his pilot 2-K program, but total pre-K applications only rose 0.3% (172 applications) this year, with 3-K ones dropping by 590, or 1.4%.

Part of the drop is a decline in pre-K-age kids, as ever more young families flee Gotham for areas with better schools and lower living costs.

Overall, only half of families eligible for a free 3-K slot applied both last year and this, so the city’s outreach campaign to boost enrollment had zero impact.

Mamdani has plenty of excuses for this, including (again) blaming his predecessor, but plainly many parents just don’t want what he’s offering, even when it’s free.

And of course it costs the taxpayers roughly twice what private programs charge.

Spending more to offer an inferior product or service is the classic hallmark of socialist “largesse,” a rule that even social media magic can’t change.

https://nypost.com/2026/05/21/opinion/reality-bites-yet-another-of-mamdanis-signature-fits-of-genius/