Veronica Pedrosa

Journalism | Communication

[Veronica Pedrosa @Vpedrosa]

If you’ve ever wondered why the #Philippines is the way it is, you might want to check out this biography of #ImeldaMarcos, wife of the former President and dictator and mother of the current President. Written by my mother in 1987, I am publishing it as a @AmazonKindle ebook with a new introduction to address the resurgence of the Marcos clan. It is already available for pre-order and will drop on Sunday - when mass protests against #corruption will be taking place in #Manila and the nation marks the 53rd anniversary of the declaration of martial law.

Imelda’s story tracks the tumultuous history of the Philippines in the 20th century and lays the foundations for what happened in the decades since she and her husband’s conjugal dictatorship was kicked out.

[Mohammed El-Kurd @m7mdkurd]

NEW: The Board of Directors at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will formally change its definition of who qualifies as a journalist, to broadly exclude slain Palestinian and Lebanese journalists who worked for government-funded media outlets. Israeli, American, and Ukrainian journalists who work for state-funded outlets or are embedded with the military will remain recognized as journalists, of course.

The move was catalyzed to appease the right-wing Zionist rag The Free Beacon, which has repeatedly accused Palestinian and Lebanese journalists of being undercover militants or used their political opinions or affiliations as justification for their killing by the IOF.

This is a racist scandal of massive proportions for everyone involved, and it makes a mockery of the purported mission of the organization. It is absolutely abhorrent that the organization’s resources are wasted on this cowardly witch-hunt, at a moment in history that is the deadliest for journalists, especially in Palestine and Lebanon.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

Let me tell you what just got reported, because you will not believe it until you see it laid out.

The Trump administration cut a billion-dollar tungsten deal with Kazakhstan. Tungsten is the metal we need for missile warheads, fighter jets, and computer chips. Trump himself got on the phone to close it. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick worked it from the inside, sending letters, leaning on the Kazakh president, lining up as much as $1.6 billion in federal financing.

Within weeks of those negotiations, investors tied to a firm partly owned by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump took a 20% stake in an entity connected to the very same Kazakhstan project their father was negotiating. Around that same time, Cantor Fitzgerald, the firm run by Lutnick’s own sons, raised $210 million for a partner in the deal and pocketed the fees.

The fathers set the policy. The sons cashed in.

Six days after the Trump sons and their partners moved their money, Lutnick signed the final deal.

The reporting found one or both families have financial ties to at least 14 companies working with the government on critical mining deals.

The total federal funding flowing toward those companies tops $8.9 billion.

This is your tax money.

It is supposed to secure our supply chains and protect our troops, not pad the portfolios of the President’s children and the Commerce Secretary’s children.

This is the most corrupt administration in American history. It is not close.

We must keep digging, and keep asking the questions they do not want asked. Republicans in Congress are unwilling to lift a finger. Mike Johnson is running a protection racket.

Either we will end the corruption, or the corruption will be the end of us.

https://t.co/yFOl7zvOhC

[Nicholas Kristof @NickKristof]

Elon, I can give you many, many names of people who have died because of your aid cuts.:
*Yamah Freeman was a 23-year-old woman who died in childbirth because you stopped paying for the diesel for ambulances in her part of Liberia. I talked to her parents and sister in their village.
*Gbessey Kiadu, age 1, died of malaria because of your cuts in Liberia. I talked to his mom in her village.
*Ibrahim Koroma, an infant, died of AIDS in Sierra Leone after you interrupted HIV supplies. I talked to health workers who cared for him.
*Achol Deng was an 8-year-old girl with HIV in South Sudan who died when you cut funding for the health care worker who provided her medicines. I talked to him.
I could go on and on. In almost every village you go to in South Sudan, Uganda, Liberia, Sierra Leone or other countries I reported in, you find people dying because of aid cuts. I challenge you: Come with me on a reporting trip, and we'll talk to these moms and dads, and you'll see the dying children themselves. I think if you see the kids whose lives are at stake, maybe you'll change your mind.

[Al Haj Murad Ebrahim @alhajmurad_e]

Statement on the Passing of MILF Central Committee Secretary Haron “Muhammad Ameen” Abas

28 June 2026 | 12 Muharram 1448 AH

[Christopher Sabatini @ChrisSabatini]

“The buildings they built were not able to resist a disaster of this magnitude,” Rodriguez said. “Their construction was just as unsustainable as a lot of what they did.” https://t.co/odJSSswDvX

[The Hormuz Letter @HormuzLetter]

BREAKING: Iranian state media says it has now "no choice but to obtain the atomic bomb" to remove "the military option for the occupation and partitioning of Iran" from the table, arguing Iran must "absolutely reach nuclear deterrence" before current negotiations can be conducted "from a correct position," per Fars.

Iran adds the acquisition is not only driven by negotiation leverage but also by Trump's two recent nuclear threats against Iran, including his April warning that "a whole civilization will die tonight" and his May threat of "one big glow coming out of Iran."

This is also among the most direct nuclear weapons advocacy published on Iranian state media to date.

[Fifty Shades of Whey @davenewworld_2]

3 judges with the International Criminal Court filed a lawsuit in a US federal court against Trump and his administration, challenging the sanctions against them and calling it a "financial death penalty."

The judges bringing the lawsuit are:
- Kimberly Prost (Canada)
- Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda)
- Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou (Benin)

Trump placed sanctions on the judges over their judicial decisions regarding investigations into war crimes by Israel and the US.

The judges argue that the sanctions are extrajudicial measures meant to punish and coerce them. They say the restrictions cut them off from banking, online platforms, travel booking, and sometimes health insurance.

This should be much bigger news.

[Acyn @Acyn]

Mamdani: We want to make it clear that our city does not simply oppose the actions of ICE, but that we are not going to be complicit with those actions either. And that means making sure that every single city agency is in compliance with our sanctuary city policies.

Now, if you don’t know what a sanctuary city policy is, I’ll describe it this way: it means that we do not allow ICE agents into our schools, our hospitals, our city property unless they can provide a judicial warrant signed by a judge. It means that we don’t assist ICE with their civil immigration enforcement. It means that we make clear that we are proud of our heritage as an immigrant city.

[Mike Levin @MikeLevin]

JD Vance works for the most corrupt president in American history. So of course he wants you to believe Watergate was nothing.

Vance joked that if Watergate happened today it would be a “12 hour news story.” Let’s remember what Nixon actually did.

Operatives tied to his reelection campaign broke into the Democratic National Committee headquarters to plant listening devices. Then Nixon personally orchestrated the cover up. The “smoking gun” tape caught him ordering the CIA to shut down the FBI’s investigation.

That is obstruction of justice, in his own voice, on tape.

The House Judiciary Committee identified 36 separate instances of obstruction. It approved three articles of impeachment, with Republicans joining Democrats.

Nixon weaponized the IRS and FBI against his political enemies, authorized burglaries of private citizens, and fired the special prosecutor investigating him in what is called the Saturday Night Massacre. When the Supreme Court ordered him to release the tapes, the vote was unanimous. Even his most loyal defenders walked away once they heard his own words.

Vance is telling us a president can break the law, lie about it, and turn federal agencies into weapons, and we should all just go along with it.

There is a reason he wants the bar that low. When you serve an administration this corrupt, the only way to look clean is to convince the public that crimes no longer count.

He’s wrong. They did then, and they do now.

History will not be kind to JD Vance.

[Edward Wong @ewong]

Reporters asked Rubio why Michael Boulos was there. "Oh, he was there to see his brother who lives here," Rubio said. "He was just there to see me and catch up." When asked whether Boulos, who has no government position, was involved in policy talks, Rubio said, "No, no, no."

[Aaron Rupar @atrupar]

JD Vance: "I think Nixon's historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, and deservedly so. I joked that if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12 hours news story. The idea that it took down a presidency is crazy."

[John Hudson @John_Hudson]

extraordinary detail on the Trump-Bibi relationship by @maggieNYT and @jonathanvswan in their new book. "Epic" might be an understatement:

[The Irrawaddy (Eng) @IrrawaddyNews]

The Myanmar regime conducted a total of 440 aerial bombardments in 168 sorties targeting Mindat, southern Chin, over a period of more than two months, the Chin Human Rights Organization said. (Photo: Bomb damage, Mindat, June 12 / Hkl-Mindat) #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

The UK could have stopped a genocidal massacre in Sudan’s El Fasher but failed to act over concerns it would anger the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a top war crimes expert has told Parliament.

Human rights investigator Nathaniel Raymond said he provided the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) with intelligence for more than two years warning that the fall of El Fasher would unleash “one of the single largest mass casualty events of the 21st century”.

With his warnings ignored, more than 60,000 people were killed when the UAE-backed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) stormed the Northern Darfur state capital last October. The UN has since said the massacre showed “hallmarks of genocide”.

Addressing parliament’s International Development Committee on Tuesday, Raymond said his team from the Yale School of Public Health believed the UK was its “best hope” for stopping the siege. But his team’s warnings were ignored despite two dozen private meetings with the office of then-foreign secretary David Lammy.

He told MPs that Lammy’s officials prioritised the government’s “economic, security, and diplomatic relationships with the UAE” above “the genocidal slaughter of tens of thousands of civilians living in El Fasher and its surrounding communities”.

As the sole penholder for Sudan at the United Nations Security Council, the UK is responsible for driving international response to the conflict.

“They told me that the UK was facing significant private pressure behind the scenes from the UAE limiting its ability to affect the situation,” Raymond told MPs.

“Direct sanctions against UAE officials, at minimum, could have been used to interdict the clandestine UAE pipeline of advanced weaponry flowing to the RSF,” he added.

A UN report published Tuesday found that the RSF is responsible for 87% of verified incidents of rape and sexual slavery in Sudan, including el-Fasher, since the outbreak of violence in 2023.

“The tragedy of El Fasher shows that advanced technology and analysis can provide leaders essential decision support information, but satellite data and computing power cannot by itself generate either political will or moral courage,” said Raymond.

[Alex Crawford @AlexCrawfordSky]

Simply don’t understand those willing to deny the evidence of multiple doctors from a variety of different countries; independent investigators all with long and established careers, journalists, survivors and witnesses, a pile of visual evidence as well as their own eyes - and still attempt to discredit those who report this. - whether they’re survivors, medics, academics or journalists…

[Council on Foreign Relations @CFR_org]

“When Mark Carney said, ‘The middle powers should get together’—it’s a fantasy. They did that, it’s called Europe,” says Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorganChase. “The GDP of Europe has gone from 90% of America to 70%. And in our view, it will probably continue to erode over time because [of] high taxes.

🔗 Watch the full conversation: https://t.co/uDTOcHyxli

[DFA Philippines 🇵🇭 @DFAPHL]

READ #DFAAdvisory: Filipinos Now Eligible for Visa-On-Arrival for Travel to UAE

Read full advisory 👉 https://t.co/qicHIXSo3A
#DFAForgingAhead

[Nassim Nicholas Taleb @nntaleb]

One dead Israeli is a tragedy. One hundred thousand dead Levantines is a statistic.

[Dawn Clancy @dawnmclancy]

"I have three questions today for Israeli people through this press conference. I want to speak to them directly," said Sidoti.

🔴What kind of people are your soldiers who would allow a 14 year old child to bleed to death over a 45 minute period?

🔴What kind of people are your military leaders that would inculcate a culture that soldiers feel free to do this, acting with total impunity?

🔴What kind of people are your leaders? When they give orders, they make statements that encourage this kind of conduct, not merely permit it, but encourage it?

[Financial Times @FT]

Some of the city’s best-known leaders were defeated as Democrat voters shifted their allegiance to a new generation of progressive, leftwing politicians. https://t.co/64zo8DiU7m