Mali Starts Taxes on Mobile-Phone Use to Fund Terrorist Fight
Mali has introduced taxes on mobile voice calls and mobile-money withdrawals to support its fight against an Islamic insurgency that's threatening to take over part of the country.
Customer recharge for calls will incur a tax of 10% while withdrawals from mobile-money wallet will be hit with a 1% levy, Minister of Economy and Finance Alousseni Sanou told reporters in the capital, Bamako. The new taxes together with other revenue measures are expected to raise roughly 140 billion CFA francs ($220 million) to finance security and energy, Sanou said.
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Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Why many Israelis support attacking Iran
To understand why, it is helpful to consider the timing of the Israeli attack. Since 1979, Iran has gradually positioned itself as Israel's main enemy. The revolutionary Islamic regime has viewed Israel as a foreign implant in the region and its leaders have openly called for Israel's destruction. (It is difficult to think of another instance in which one sovereign state calls for the destruction of another, highlighted by the fact that the two don't even share a border.) Israel, for its part, has responded with a series of sabotage operations and targeted killings against Iranian security and nuclear figures over the years. Advertisement Over the past decade, Iran has accelerated plans to encircle Israel with a 'ring of fire,' believing that arming paramilitary forces like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis with missiles, rockets, and drones would lead to Israel's annihilation. And though the leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, launched his murderous plan on Oct. 7 without the full participation from Hezbollah and Iran that he had hoped for, most Israelis directly link Iran — which funded, armed, and trained Hamas — to the attack. That attack is what touched off the bloody conflict that has now lasted 20 months. Advertisement Iran's nuclear program, which has included attempts at developing military nuclear capabilities over the years, is seen by the Israeli public and its leaders as the epitome of these efforts to destroy Israel. and believed that Israel needed to be able to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In other words, almost no one in Israel believes that nuclear weapons in the hands of the current regime are anything other than a major danger. So why did Israel wait until now? Over the years, the possibility of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities has come up from time to time, Advertisement For its part, the United States did not demonstrate a willingness to join in, and even now, it seems happy to allow Israel to act on its own — at least as long as Iran doesn't directly target American interests. In addition, over the years, Iran has built deterrent capabilities against Israel, consisting mainly of its enormous missile arsenal and, even more so, the one it placed on Israel's northern border in the hands of Hezbollah. Various Israeli governments have repeatedly decided that the cost was not worth the benefit of independent action. So what changed? Four key factors have contributed to Israel's decision to attack last week. The first was the loss of Iran's deterrent power. Israel's surprisingly successful attacks against Hezbollah in October 2024 removed most of the missile threat from the north and, more importantly, broke the spirit of the group — which was built by Iran in large measure to deter Israel from attacking its nuclear program. This demoralization was illustrated by Second, the United States has changed. President Trump, who withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018 and ordered the Advertisement Third, Iran's nuclear program was getting closer to the nuclear threshold. When the nuclear deal was in full force, Iran was kept a year away from the ability to enrich uranium to military grade. But by the time of the Israeli attack, Finally, there is the change brought about by the war itself. Hamas's attack on Oct. 7 and the events that followed created enormous fear of one kind in Israeli leadership circles while breaking down the barrier of another kind of fear. The fear of taking comprehensive, reality-altering action that characterized pre-war Israel, has been replaced by fear of any enemy building up its strength under the cover of short-term quiet. Many in Israel, in both security and political circles, have become convinced that Israel must act with maximum aggression toward enemies that challenge its existence. This is partly why Israel continues to hold territory in Syria and Lebanon, and why many Israelis believed that now was a window of opportunity that had to be exploited to act against Iran. The direct confrontation between the two countries that began after Israel's Advertisement Although it is too early to know how this phase of the direct war between Iran and Israel will end, Netanyahu could well emerge with the upper hand. He almost certainly believes this will benefit him politically after two years in which he struggled to restore his status. And yet, despite the deep cynicism many Israelis feel toward their prime minister, it is difficult to find prominent voices expressing opposition to the current operation against Iran. But if they are looking for a way to distinguish themselves from the prime minister, Netanyahu's political rivals now have room to act. The key must be to ask how to exploit the achievement created by the June 13 attack. Unlike Netanyahu and his allies, they must make it clear that weakening Iran should be used to promote political accords in our war-torn region — arrangements that should include the Palestinians.
New York Post
8 hours ago
- New York Post
Iran was behind two assassination attempts on President Trump, Israeli PM Netanyahu claims in bombshell interview
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Iran Sunday of orchestrating the two failed assassination attempts on President Trump during his third presidential campaign last year. Netanyahu characterized Trump as the greatest threat to Iran and its ambitions for acquiring a nuclear weapon — claiming that's why the rogue regime tried to murder him, in a shocking moment during an interview with Brett Baier of Fox News. 4 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a bombshell claim that Iran was behind President Trump's assassination attempts. Fox News Advertisement 'These people who chant, 'Death to America,' tried to assassinate President Trump twice,' Netanyahu said as he was making his case to the American people for launching attacks on Iran amid the Islamic republic and Israel's deadly exchange of missiles over the weekend. 'Do you want these people to have nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them to your cities?' Netanyahu asked. 'Of course not. So we're defending ourselves, but we're also defending the world.' Baier seemed taken aback by Netanyahu's comments and asked the prime minister to expand on the incendiary accusation. Advertisement 'You just said Iran tried to assassinate President Trump twice,' the Fox News anchor said. 'Do you have intel that the assassination attempts on President Trump were directly from Iran?' 'Through proxies, yes,' Netanyahu replied. 'Through their intel, yes. They want to kill him.' 4 In a speech in September, Trump suggested that Iran was behind his assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign KENNY HOLSTON/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock American security agencies have never tied the two assassination attempts to the rogue regime, but in a speech in September, Trump suggested Iran was behind them. Advertisement Iranian leadership has steadfastly denied any involvement. Netanyahu then joked about how Trump wasn't the only one they targeted – but stressed that he was the regime's number one adversary. 'Look, they also tried to kill me, but I'm his junior partner. They understand that President Trump is a great threat to Iran's plans to weaponize nuclear weapons and use them,' he said. 4 The Iranian regime is a longtime adversary of the US. AP Advertisement In November, the feds accused an unnamed agent from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard of recruiting Farhad Shakeri, 51, to 'focus on surveilling, and, ultimately, assassinating' Trump, adding that money was not an issue. Trump survived assassination attempts twice in the summer of 2024 while campaigning for president. 4 Israel launched a strike against Iran last week in an attempt to stop its nuclear ambitions. REUTERS On September 15, authorities arrested Ryan Routh, who was armed with a semi-automatic rifle, at the Trump International Golf Club. Just a month before, at a campaign event in Butler, Pa, Trump narrowly avoided death when a gunman's bullet whizzed by his head, clipping his ear. 'The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this, he called it a miracle,' Trump told the Post last July. 'I'm not supposed to be here, I'm supposed to be dead.' Thomas Matthew Crooks, an engineering student who took the shot and missed, was killed by a Secret Service sniper. Routh tied himself to Crooks in a bizarre four-page letter from jail in which he condemned America's 'two-party system.'
New York Post
14 hours ago
- New York Post
Trump warns America ‘could get involved' directly in Israel-Iran conflict
President Trump warned Sunday that the US could get directly involved in the Israel-Iran conflict if things continue to escalate. While Trump predicted that Iran and Israel will 'make a deal' to end the deadly violence that has seen the Jewish state and Islamic republic exchange countless missiles since Friday, the president said the US may find itself involved if a truce doesn't happen. 'We're not involved in it. It's possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,' Trump told ABC News. 3 President Trump said Sunday that the US could get directly involved in the war between Israel and Iran. via REUTERS Advertisement 3 Iran continues to launch waves of retaliatory attacks on Tel Aviv after Israel's preemptive attack on it Friday. ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Trump suggested that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, could serve as a mediator between Israel and Iran, both of which the Kremlin has maintained relations. 'He is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it. We talked about this more than his situation,' Trump said, referring to Putin's ongoing war in Ukraine. 'This is something I believe is going to get resolved.' Advertisement Despite Trump's denial that the US is already involved in the Mideast conflict, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters in Tehran on Sunday that it is clear Israel has been coordinating its attacks with the 'agreement and support of the United States. 'We have received messages from the US through various channels over the past two days stating that the US had no involvement and will have no involvement in this attack,' he said. 'As I said, we don't believe the US's claim.' 3 Smoke billows over Tehran during a wave of Israeli airstrikes Sunday. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement As the attacks between Israel and Iran escalate, the US State Department said it has authorized the 'voluntary departure of family members and some non-emergency U.S. government employees' from Israel. 'US citizens who wish to depart should not delay in taking advantage of commercial transportation options,' the State Department said in a memo, adding that the embassy's shelter-in-place order remains in effect until further notice. With Post wires
