Vienna, May 2.– Lawlessness swept over the streets of Paris on Saturday, with left-wing protesters smashing windows and lobbing stones and fireworks at riot police. The cops have responded in kind, charging and clubbing the rioters.

May Day protesters took over the streets of multiple French cities, with the worst of the early clashes happening in the city of Lyon. By mid-afternoon, however, Paris was the epicenter of unrest, as ‘black bloc’ anarchists marching alongside the traditional trade unionists and workers’ groups started smashing banks and shops in the capital.

New York, May.2 (DP.net).– In recent days, the London-based news channel “Iran International” obtained audio of a private conversation Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had with an economist serving the Iranian government. A few days later, on Sunday, April 25th, The New York Times revealed the details of that conversation proving a previous conversation between the Iranian Foreign Minister and former Secretary of State John Kerry. 

The audio revealed that Zarif acknowledged that Kerry had confided him with information that Israel attacked Iranian assets in Syria “at least 200 times.”

Excerpts taken from Politico.com summarize the encounter as follows:

“According to the audio, Zarif added that he was surprised that Kerry would reveal that sensitive information to him ... Kerry — the former secretary of state, Massachusetts senator and Democratic presidential nominee — serves as Biden’s climate envoy on the NSC and was a chief negotiator of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal ... His remarks to an Iranian academic were leaked by a London-based media outlet ... Kerry denied Zarif’s account in a tweet later Monday, writing: “I can tell you that this story and these allegations are unequivocally false. This never happened — either when I was Secretary of State or since.” 

Such revelation by Politico.com is noteworthy because this is a traditionally moderate web site founded on a commitment to reporting the facts and only the facts, but leaning more and more since 2018 in favor of the radical socialist ideology. They also print a newspaper with a circulation of approximately 40,000, distributed for free in Washington, D.C. and Manhattan.

• Expert warns about military maeuvers against the island.
• Alongside military actions, the regime has sharpened its rhetoric toward the island.

← Two 8-inch self-propelled artillery guns are fired during the 35th "Han Kuang" military drill in southern Taiwan's Pingtung county (photo).

Taipei, Taiwan, Apr. 12.— The Chinese communist regime is accelerating its plans to invade Taiwan, an expert warns, as Beijing ratchets up military maneuvers against the island.

Twenty Chinese military aircraft—including four nuclear-capable H-6K bombers, 10 J-16 fighter jets, two Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft, and a KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft—entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on March 26, according to Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense. It was the largest incursion ever reported by the ministry.

US State Department raises concerns over presence of Chinese vessels near Philippines and entry of Beijing’s jets into Taiwan’s air defence zone.

The United States has warned China against what the Philippines and Taiwan see as increasingly aggressive moves, reminding Beijing of Washington’s obligations to its partners, as the two rival powers step up their naval activities in the South China Sea.

Photo: Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning in the Southwestern Pacific near Taiwan.

“An armed attack against the Philippines’ armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the Pacific, including in the South China Sea, will trigger our obligations under the US-Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday.

“We share the concerns of our Philippine allies regarding the continued reported massing of PRC maritime militia near the Whitsun Reef,” Price said, referring to the People’s Republic of China.

More than 200 Chinese boats were first spotted on March 7 at Whitsun Reef, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) west of Palawan Island and within the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Since the first reported sighting, the vessels have scattered across a wider area of the South China Sea within Manila’s EEZ as defined by the International Court of Arbitration at The Hague.

Read more: Al Jazeera