For today, links to five reports: from National Public Radio, the Associated Press, and C-SPAN, and to a conversation via YouTube from Times Radio; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (SYRIA, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE and HERE.  MEDIA 3-26-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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4 takeaways from PBS and NPR’s testimony on Capitol Hill. Reported by Scott Neuman and David Folkenflik | NPR  The chief executives of NPR and PBS,  Katherine Maher and Paula Kerger, defended public broadcasting on Wednesday before a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on government efficiency,  against accusations by Republican lawmakers of political bias. Click HERE to listen and read.  Click HERE and HERE for two March 26 NPR reports, and HERE and HERE  for reports from AP and C-SPAN.

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949,000 VIEWS AGO  Who is the greatest threat to world peace? Matt Chorley of Times Radio speaks with Noam Chomsky, coauthor with Edward S. Herman of Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (1988) and author of shelves of other books, about the wars in Ukraine and elsewhere, what happened to Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in Britain, and prospects for the future of humanity. Click HERE for video.

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For today, links to reports from Reuters, Middle East Eye, and Substack, and to commentary from Middle East Monitor; others are accessible by clicking on their names below. (SYRIA, MEDIA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.  GAZA 3-26-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.)— MCM

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Hamas spokesperson Qanoua killed in Israeli air strike on Gaza: Hamas media. by Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Hatem Maher | Reuters. CAIRO — Hamas spokesperson Abdel-Al-Qanoua has been killed in an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza, Hamas-affiliated media said early today — the latest figure in the group to be killed since Israel resumed its operations in the enclave. Separate  attacks killed at least seven elsewhere in the enclave. READ MORE . . . Click HERE for report from Middle East Eye.

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FROM MARCH 26  Israel prepares another invasion, by Seymour M. Hersh | Substack  Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right supporters have made it clear that the nearly two million Gazans caught in the war were never a subject of concern to the Israeli leadership as it began its round-the-clock bombing in response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack. They were just collateral damage. READ MORE . . .

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Israel should note what happened to France when it tried to subjugate Algeria by massacring its indigenous population, by Nabila Ramdani | Middle East Monitor  Childish drawings were used to “explain” the need for indigenous Arab and Berber Muslims to bow down or die during the French occupation of Algeria. Villages facing destruction were plastered with posters . . . READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters, and to a conversation from ScheerPost; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (SYRIA, MEDIA and GAZA entries for this date are HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up.  UKRAINE 3-26-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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French president says not all European allies agree on a proposed force for Ukraine, by John Leicester, Samuel Petrequin and Brian Melley | AP  PARIS — France and Britain will continue to forge ahead with plans to deploy troops in Ukraine to defend an eventual peace deal with Russia but only some other nations want to take part, French President Emmanuel Macron said today . . . READ MORE . . .

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Zelenskiy says Russia hit Ukraine’s power infrastructure, U.S. should react, by Yuliia Dysa, Max Hunder and Tom Balmforth | Reuters  KYIV — President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said today Russian artillery had damaged Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in the front-line city of Kherson, two days after the U.S. announced that each side had agreed to a truce on energy strikes. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 25  Is peace breaking out in Ukraine? Robert Scheer of ScheerPost and retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern talk about the prospects for the Ukraine war ending and peace in the region with Russia. Click HERE for video.

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First, links to seven reports: from Middle East Monitor, Middle East Eye, Tass, and National Public Radio, and to articles of analysis from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (YEMEN, SYRIA, WEST BANK, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date, so far, are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll down.  MEDIA 3-16-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Vigil in Australia mourns more than 200 journalists murdered in Gaza. From Middle East Monitor. Australia hosted a vigil mourning the murder of more than 200 journalists in Gaza, an Australian journalist, David Milner, said on X. It was hosted in front of Australia’s ABC News Agency building in Sydney. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 25  Tributes pour in for Palestinian journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour, by Rayhan Uddin| Middle East Eye  The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks on Monday — Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, in an Israeli air strike in his home north of Khan Younis in which his wife and son were also killed, and Shabbat, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, in his vehicle on Salah al-Din Street in north Gaza. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for March 24 Middle East Eye report.

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FROM MARCH 25  Two journalists in Gaza killed by Israeli airstrikes, as press freedom on a global scale at risk. From WBUR. Jodie Ginsberg, chief executive of the Committee to Protect Journalists, notes that Monday’s killings of Al Jazeera and Palestine Today reporters added to the more than 170 journalists killed since the beginning of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. Click HERE to listen and read intro.

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FROM MARCH 24  Israeli strikes in Gaza targeted key hospital and journalists, by Aya Batrawy | NPR  Today, Israeli airstrikes killed two journalists in separate attacks, including Hossam Shabat, a 23-year-old Al Jazeera correspondent. Click HERE to listen and read.

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Kiev deliberately targets journalists, law norms for protecting them — Russian diplomat. From Tass. MOSCOW — “The terrorist Kiev regime deliberately targets both reporters and those international law norms that should have protected them,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting . . . READ MORE . . .

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Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian director beaten by Israeli settlers, is now released. Reported by Kat Lonsdorf | NPR  TEL AVIV — Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian directors of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Monday, according to eyewitnesses and his attorney. He was then detained by Israeli forces but released today. Click HERE to listen and read.

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FROM MARCH 24  Sanitizing resumption of genocide as ‘pressure on Hamas,’ by Belén Fernández | FAIR  The New York Times produced an article on Friday, March 21, bearing the headline “Israel Tries to Pressure Hamas to Free More Hostages.” In the first paragraph . . .READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 21  Elite media paved way for Trump’s targeting of Columbia, by Ari Paul | FAIR  President Donald Trump’s campaign against higher education started with Columbia University, both with the withholding of $400 million in funding to force major management charges (Wall Street Journal, 3/21/25) and the arrest and threatened  deportation of grad student Mahmoud Khalil, a student leader of Columbia’s  movement against the genocide in Gaza (Al Jazeera, 3/19/25). READ MORE . . .

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For today, a link to a report from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (MEDIA, SYRIA, WEST BANK, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll down. YEMEN 3-23-26 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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U.S. airstrikes hit Yemen cancer hospital again as bombing campaign escalates. From the Cradle. U.S. warplanes on Tuesday launched 25 airstrikes on several areas of northern Yemen, Yemeni media outlets reported. They included, for a second time in a few days, the Al-Rasool al-Azam cancer hospital in Saada. READ MORE . . .

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For today, a link to reports from the Cradle and Reuters, and to commentary from Orinoco Tribune via Popular Resistance; others or at least their headlines are accessible by clicking on their names below. (MEDIA, YEMEN, WEST BANK, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.  SYRIA 3-25-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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U.S. intel report blames government forces for ‘violence, instability’ in Syria. From the Cradle. The U.S. Department of National Intelligence acknowledged in its Annual Threat Assessment of 2025 that Syrian government forces were responsible for the massacres committed against minorities on Syria’s coast earlier this month. READ MORE . . .

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‘There is no blank check’: Syrian leader told to rein in Jihadis, by Samia Nakhoul and Timour Azhari | Reuters  DAMASCUS — Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa has a lot to prove to win over Western powers. If the first few weeks of his rule are anything to go by, he may be heading in the wrong direction. The West is watching . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 22  Syria’s genocide, claiming over 10,000 lives, is not a sectarian conflict, by Fiorella Isabel | Orinoco Tribune / Popular Resistance   The Syrian genocide and assaults on Gaza and Yemen are part of a deliberate, long-standing UK-U.S.-Israeli-Western strategy to dominate the region via the erasure of the axis of Resistance. Syria’s massacres . . . READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to reports from National Public Radio; others are accessible by clicking on its initials below. (MEDIA, YEMEN, SYRIA, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.  WEST BANK 3-25-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Hamdan Ballal, a Palestinian director beaten by Israeli settlers, is now released. Reported by Kat Lonsdorf | NPR  TEL AVIV — Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian directors of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was attacked by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank on Monday, according to eyewitnesses and his attorney. He was then detained by Israeli forces but released today. Click HERE to listen and read.

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For today, links to eleven reports: from Middle East Eye, the Associated Press, Middle East Monitor, Agence France-Presse, the Cradle, Reuters, and National Public Radio; others or at least headlines are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (MEDIA, YEMEN, SYRIA, WEST BANK and UKRAINE entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up or down.  GAZA 3-25-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Gaza death toll since dawn rises to at least 12. From Middle East Eye. Israeli forces have killed at least one Palestinian in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. This raises the death toll since this morning to at least 12, including five children. READ MORE . . .

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Israeli military orders evacuation of parts of Gaza City. From AP. The Israeli military today ordered the evacuation of parts of Gaza City as it steps up its renewed offensive against Hamas after Israel broke the ceasefire last week. Israel’s bombardments and ground operations have caused vast destruction and at their height . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 25  Israeli captives in Gaza warn Israel’s bombs are endangering their lives. From Middle East Monitor. Two Israeli captives held in Gaza have warned in a video released on Monday by Al-Brigades that their lives are in danger as a result of Israel’s decision to return to bombing the enclave. They are Elkana Bohbot and Yosef-Haim Ohana.  READ MORE . . .

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96% of Gaza’s water is undrinkable, rights group warns. From Middle East Monitor. Some 96 per cent of the water in the Gaza Strip is undrinkable due to the complete collapse of infrastructure, the International Committee to Support the Rights of the Palestinian People warned Tuesday in a policy paper. READ MORE . . .

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Israel’s Netanyahu warns of increasing ‘pressure’ on Hamas if hostages not freed. From AFP. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today warned Hamas that Israel would seize territory in Gaza if the militants refused to release hostages still held in the Palestinian territory. READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for report from the Cradle.

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Hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza protest against Hamas after conflict resumes. From Reuters. CAIRO / JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Palestinians have protested in northern Gaza to demand an end to war and chanting “Hamas out,” social media posts showed, in a rare public show of opposition . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE and HERE for reports from AP and NPR.   

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FROM MARCH 25  Tributes pour in for Palestinian journalists Hossam Shabat and Mohammad Mansour, by Rayhan Uddin| Middle East Eye  The two were killed by Israel in separate attacks on Monday — Mansour, a correspondent for Palestine Today, in an Israeli air strike in his home north of Khan Younis in which his wife and sonwere also killed, and Shabbat, a correspondent for Al Jazeera Mubasher, in his vehicle on Salah al-Din Street in north Gaza. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 25  Steve Witkoff and Tucker Carlson: Key Middle East points from U.S. envoy interview, by Oscar Rickett | Middle East Eye  In a frank and wide-ranging interview with Tucker Carlson on Saturday, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff said that negotiations to end Israeli attacks on Gaza were ongoing and that if Hamas “demilitarised” then “maybe they could stay” in the Palestinian enclave and “be involved politically”. READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to six reports: from the Moscow Times, the Kyiv Independent, Tass, Reuters, the Associated Press, and National Public Radio, and to commentary from Kyiv Post; others or headlines at least are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (MEDIA, YEMEN, SYRIA, WEST BANK and GAZA entries for this date are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll up.  UKRAINE 3-25-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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Russian military accuses Ukraine of violating energy ceasefire. From the Moscow Times. Russia’s Defense Ministry today accused Ukraine of violating a 30-day pause on attacks against energy infrastructure, which Moscow claims has been in effect for more than a week. The accusations follow earlier reports . . . READ MORE . . .

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Ukraine approves Bird of Prey drone system for combat, by Tim Zadorozhnyy | The Kyiv Independent  Ukraine’s Defense Ministry announced today it has approved the domestically produced Bird of Prey unmanned aviation system for combat operations. READ MORE . . .

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Kiev deliberately targets journalists, law norms for protecting them — Russian diplomat. From Tass. MOSCOW — “The terrorist Kiev regime deliberately targets both reporters and those international law norms that should have protected them,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, commenting . . . READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 25  Russia, Ukraine agree to truce at sea and ban on energy attacks. From Reuters. WASHINGTON / MOSCOW / KYIV — The United States reached separate agreements on Tuesday with Ukraine and Russia to ensure safe navigation in the Black Sea and to implement a ban on attacks by the two countries on each other’s energy facilities. If implemented, the agreements . . . READ MORE . . .  Click HERE for a report from AP and HERE for a March 26 report from NPR.

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Is Russia running out of tanks? by Stefan Korshak | Kyiv Post  Most analysts estimate that two out of three Russian tanks, on average, have been taken out by a Ukrainian drone. These days, on Ukraine’s battlefields, there are fewer Russian tanks to hit. READ MORE . . .

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For today, links to to two reports from the Cradle; others are accessible by clicking on its name below. (WEST BANK, SYRIA, GAZA and UKRAINE entries for this date and a POETRY entry are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE, or scroll down.  LEBANON 3-23-25 entry is HERE, or scroll down.) — MCM

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FROM MARCH 24  Lebanese delegation to visit Syria for ‘border security’ talks. From the Cradle. A delegation from Lebanon is set to travel to Syria this week for talks with the new government in Damascus to discuss border security and coordination following recent clashes between Lebanese tribesmen and Syrian security forces on the border. READ MORE . . .

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FROM MARCH 24  Lebanon in ‘intense talks’ with Washington, Paris to prevent new Israeli strikes on Beirut. From the Cradle. Lebanese officials have been in “intensive contact” with the U.S. and France to prevent any Israeli bombardment of the country’s capital, Beirut, according to a Lebanese official cited by AFP on Monday. READ MORE . . .

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