Requiem for the Victims of a Suicide Enabler

"We are two people trying to survive the same loss while watching each other suffer. It terrifies me to think what would happen if we both collapse at the same time."

"We are two people clinging to each other because neither of us knows how to stand up on our own. The future we had imagined as a family disappeared."

"I saw my daughter pale, bruised and cold. That image became part of me."

"The place she went for understanding led her to greater danger [to a man who] paves a path to death..."

"How was I supposed to protect my daughter from something I didn't even know I was supposed to protect her from?"

Leonardo Bedoya Forero, Maria Lopez, parents of 18-year-old Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez 

Families of poison seller Kenneth Law's alleged U.K. victims are sharing their anger and frustration that British authorities have chosen not to charge Law for dozens of deaths there because it's unlikely he'd be extradited. CBC

 

Justice Michelle Fuerst is presiding over family member testimony of people whose death by suicide was enabled by having ordered a poison advertised online and paid for through PayPal and Shopify by Kenneth Law who became known as the suicide poison merchant. The Ontario Crown wanted this man to be charged with murder and given a life sentence. Because of an unexpected legal complication a plea arrangement was agreed to; assistance for 14 suicides was all the Crown could manage in the criminal prosecution of a man who held the belief he was being of help to suicidal people. 

 

Facing sentencing for his crimes with the prospect of a 14-year maximum sentence, the potential of additional penalties related to his 14 admitted offences could see the 60-year-old facing consecutive sentences. Some of those present in the courtroom in Newmarket, Ontario -- there as family members of the deceased Kenneth Law is charged with providing the means for them to end their lives -- walked past his prisoner's box, their eyes averted, while others looked him in the eye, as they moved past.  

"There was a before, and then there is an after when we have gained membership in a club that nobody wants to be part of."

"I still write to Ashley, message here, in the hopes there's a small corner of the universe where she has written a system that is able to receive them."

"We all feel we should have been able to prevent Ashley's death, or to intervene in a way that would have changed the course of events."

Norson Harris, father of 26-year-old Ashley Harris  

This, only the first day of a hearing that will likely last for several weeks, as people read their victim impact statements, saw the convicted man sitting immobile, eyes cast downward, looking at no one. As they spoke, people emphasized the alteration that has taken place within, since the death of their loved ones, of their health, their emotions, their finances, their values and their responses to the stresses of life; their self-agency crushed, confidence in their capacity to face a world absent those they loved hampered by their bereft emotions.

 

It would not have endeared the enabler of their loved one's death to them, to know that he was not troubled by the act of assisting vulnerable people's suicidal intentions, even as he denied murdering anyone. A journalist had surreptitiously recorded his admissions during an interview that, when reviewed by authorities, led to his arrest. He appeared pleased that he had the solution to people's death wishes by offering a service he felt people had a right to. That he profited relatively modestly from providing the means by which they would die, was a source of pride.

 

Maria Lopez, mother of the late Jeshennia Bedoya-Lopez, speaks to members of the media outside the Superior Court of Justice building, in Newmarket, Ont. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

There were in total 14 Ontario victims, whereas 79 people died with his assistance in Britain. In the United States, another number of people died, leaving it likely that well over a hundred people were aided in achieving their deaths through Kenneth Law's intervention. He is known to have sent 431 packages to the U.S., 330 to the U.K., and within Canada another 157, between 2021 to 2023. An international search to intercept those packages was undertaken.  

"My son is dead, he is gone, I am empty, hollow. If it hadn't been for your offence, perhaps Clayton [Choquette, 32] may still be here..."

"Your actions caused me to have no desire to live any longer, because Clayton is not here to share with."

"It is pointless. He was everything to me."

Cindy MacMinn 

Most of the deaths linked to this man's sale of assistive devices online were through poison dissolved in water and ingested, which went for $100, although he also sold more costly kits to enable asphyxiation by gas. He was estimated to have profited altogether in the amount of $300,000 for his little enterprise. As he sat through the proceedings impassively, the Crown began its proceedings on the basis of 74 victim impact statements, some of which were read out by their authors, others by prosecutors.

 

The father of Ashley Norton expressed the "small consolation" felt that Kenneth Law admitted responsibility, stating his own hope that the man recognizes the response he should have offered his customers would have preferentially been "that they were loved, they were not alone, and that help is available". Dozens more victim impact statements will be heard as the hearings continue to proceed in the weeks ahead.  

"There are things you do not realize you are memorizing while your child is still alive."

"[Like the sound of his] gallop [down the stairs to ask if the chicken and rice is ready]."

"Now it's one of the most precious memories of my life."
Sarjit Kaur Rana, Mother of Amrit Rana, 21  

The Superior Court of Justice building, in Newmarket, Ont., is pictured on Wednesday. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)

 

Privileged Access for Private Gain, Otherwise Known as Presidential Corruption

 

Umar Kremlev, a businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, paid for a fireworks display and rented a private island for Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s wedding this year.

Mireya Acierto via Getty Images

 

"A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else."

"Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden's foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now."

"The country should not have to accept one standard for the family of a Republican president and another for the family of a Democratic president."

"It's corruption. I don't like it." 

Utah Senator John Curtis 

Hasn't this always been done? Perhaps a little more discreetly, not to bring it to public notice. Remember former President Bill Clinton and his Clinton Foundation being found out when he had taken donations to his charity from questionable sources that it was intimated wanted to have access to his wife in her influential post in the Obama administration as Secretary of State? Were Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Algeria passing out millions just out of the goodness of their hearts, and not for access and influence? 

 

The Trump family, despite their own wealth, are impressed with the palatial digs of Middle Eastern nobility. And if one such country decides to gift Donald J. Trump with a token of his admiration and appreciation through presenting him with a sumptuously-outfitted mega-jet, it's unlikely the gift was anything but a token that could lead the way to preferential treatment. Or not. Say, the casual ability to overlook the fact that Qatar is a leading sponsor of jihad-addicted terrorist groups. 

 

 The discovery that a Russian oligarch, a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, had made friendly overtures to the son of the President of the United States, to secure an amicable relationship well-oiled by a generous, costly gift is interesting for what it can reveal of a semblance of warm feelings between Mr. Trump the president and Mr. Putin the president. The Trump family is widely recognized for having ethics-questionable business interests. And that the U.S. president  uses his office to enrich himself and his family is not really classified information. 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Umar Kremlev during an event in Moscow in September 2022. (Gavriil Grigorov/Pool/Sputnik/Reuters)

 

The situation, revealed by the news outlet PropPublica, that Donald Trump Jr. had a friendly relationship with a wealthy Russian that resulted in an opulent gift from that Russian to the American president's son, grates on the principles and sense of ethical responsibility that should sit with the White House, as far as Utah Senator John Curtis is concerned. The Republican senator wants Donald Trump Jr. to be subpoenaed over the bankrolling by Umar Kremlev of a lavish wedding ceremony enjoyed by the president's son and daughter-in-law and their guests.

 

He has approached the Senate Judiciary Committee for an investigation into the issue of presidential families using their political connections for their own financial interests. Umar Kremlev may be spoken of fondly as a good friend, by the two younger Trumps, Donald Jr. and his wife Bettina, but theirs is an acquaintanceship not long in the tooth. When U.S. President Trump reacted initially to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine by sanctioning a number of Russians close to Putin, including some oligarchs, Mr. Kremley feared he would be among them. Befriending the Trumps would obviously make that less likely.

 

Senator Curtis's request, based on the ProPublica investigation that reported hundreds of thousands were paid by Umar Kremlev toward the three-day wedding celebrations in the Bahamas -- including rental of a private island and a fireworks display that took place in May -- further distances some members of the 
Republican party from the president. That two nights of celebration was "very generously hosted" by their Russian friend was not denied by Trump Jr. and his wife.

 

Donald Trump Jr.'s secret wedding benefactor    Pro Publica

 

In a spirit of all-inclusive rancor, Senator Curtis included Hunter Biden to also be subpoenaed, that Congress should rightfully apply the same standards to families of presidents, irrespective of which party they represented. Trump Jr.'s cryptocurrency ventures, international real estate dealings, defence investments and ties to prediction markets were all to be investigated, according to the letter addressed to Republican judiciary committee chair Chuck Grassley, and Dick Durbin, the committee's top Democrat. 

 

The committee was asked to study closely whether ethics and anti-corruption laws currently existing are adequate for the prevention of the presidency becoming "a vehicle for private enrichment by those closest to it". The wedding revelations, he stated unequivocally, represented an issue that "just stinks".  

 

Kremlev hosted Trump Jr. at an event in Istanbul in September 2025. International Boxing Association

 

 

You Buy Them, We Control Them

"In June 2024, the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office conduced an assessment of the interim operations plan to determine  how ready National Defence was to support the first aircraft arrival in Cold Lake in December 2028."

"The overall rating for this assessment was "RED", meaning that significant issues remained unresolved and required senior leadership action."

Auditor General Karen Hogan, Ottawa

U.S. President Donald Trump announces on March 21 the F-47, the sixth-generation high-tech air force fighter jet to succeed the F-22 Raptor. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

 

Usually when a sales transaction takes place, the "you buy it, you own it" expectation normally occurs. You paid for it, take it home with you, and as its owner it's entirely up to you what you do with it. The only interest the manufacturer has in its product thereafter is the prospect of the buyer considering acquiring more of the same. Canada is prepared to  take possession of eight of the U.S.built F-35 fighter jets it years ago committed to acquiring. Costs have escalated substantially since the original agreement.

 

And then there's the little inconvenience of a trade war having erupted between the buyer and the seller. The Trump White House administration has imposed sky-high tariffs on Canadian goods entering the United States, with the claim that Canada -- and other trade partners from Europe to the Far East have  too long hung onto American coattails, and what's more taken the U.S. and its generosity for granted, so much so that President Donald J. Trump is displeased and quite fed up with having his nation 'cheated' out of its due. So, tariffs all around, folks. Don't like it lump it -- alternatively agree to swallowing tariffs and retaining entry to the U.S. market.

 

Those constrained circumstances led to the Canadian government rethinking its original plan of acquiring 80 of the fighter jets. That it would accept the 16 now being prepared for delivery and place the remainder on hold, while it considers the feasibility of purchasing advanced jets elsewhere for a mixed force of jets, despite the warning of the American Ambassador to Canada that should that decision not go in American manufacturers' favour there would be dire consequences for scofflaw Canada.

 

Presumably worse than forcing vehicle manufacturing out of Canada, to relocate to the United States, putting thousands of Canadian auto workers out of employment. The initial purchase is proceeding. But not without hiccoughs of another kind. The U.S. makes the sale, and the U.S. mandates specifications required both pre- and post-sale.

 

Members of the Canadian Forces visit a US Air Force base in Alaska in March 2025 to get briefed on the F-35. (US Air Force photo) Photo by Airman 1st Class Carson Jeney /354TH FIGHTER WING

 

Specialized aircraft hangars must be built to U.S. specifications, along with placing specific security protectionist rules for the planes. F-35 parts remain the property of the United States while warehoused in Canada, until installation on the aircraft. All critical software upgrades are controlled by the United States. Canada's Royal Canadian Air Force is relaxed about all this, while establishing a new military occupation, Security Forces (SecFor). "The new occupation will help support the RCAF as it introduces advanced air and space systems that require higher levels of security".

 

Personnel of the new union are to begin October training in the U.S. The new unit is to receive U.S.-built P-8  surveillance aircraft and MQ-9 drones as well as the new F-35s. Reports are circulating that there have been security breaches for the F-35, in that sensitive F-35 technology has fallen into the hands of the Chinese government. The Royal Canadian Air Force generals advocate openly for Canada to purchase only the US. F-35 fighter jets. 

 

In the face of uncertainty whether the Liberal government will decide not to commit to receiving more than the expected 18 planes, the Trump administration has warned its neighbour Canada of fierce consequences that would ensue if it continued to sit on the decision to commit to the further 72 jets, preferring to swerve to purchasing Swedish Gripen fighter jets instead.

 

Quite apart from the $27 billion cost plus $5.5 billion for full operational capabilities, this is a costly proposition. Warning that Canada lacks the proper facilities to house the F-35s forced a redesign of the buildings and additional costs entailed for the Canadian taxpayer. Ongoing concerns in Canada's plans to support the arrival of the first  planes are also being expressed by the US. Canada just can't win for losing. 

 

RCAF Lt.-Gen. Jamie Speiser-Blanchet travelled to Lockheed Martin's Fort Worth, Texas, facility on Feb. 2 for a ceremony to mark a production milestone for Canada's first F-35. Photo by CANADIAN FORCES 

 

Tensions Rising in Europe as Russian Threat Increases

"There is a real risk that drones or other types of missiles may fly into the territory of one or more NATO countries on the eastern flank, even cause destruction."

"[Russia's] official narrative will be that this is an accident and that there is no reason for anyone to think about any response from NATO."

"Sustained, very frequent and intense attacks are expected on six major Ukrainian cities, including the destruction of warehouses, all types of products essential for the country's defence, and, as we have witnessed very strongly in recent weeks, the railway infrastructure." 

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk

 

"[The security situation has never been] so serious and so tense." 

"Can anyone imagine that we're told to prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers? And they'll go to fight somewhere we don't even know with whom, why or for what?"

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico 

Lithuanian soldiers secure the area where Italian fighter jets shot down a drone during NATO's Baltic Air Policing Mission near Pratkunai village, north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, September 15.  AP

 

Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Tusk spoke of the Kremlin's plans to destroy the economy and logistics of Ukraine, a conclusion supported by evidence intelligence services have gathered. Russia's plans extend to NATO's resolve, which it has focused on weakening by attacking the coalition's member states; in effect challenging them to respond. By launching 'hybrid style' drones and missile strikes against countries that are in support of Ukraine, NATO is being tested, even as the conflict launched by Vladimir Putin enters its debilitating fifth year.

 

As a key transit passage for Ukraine aid, Poland has undergone a number of suspicious incidents; multiple cyberattacks on public utilities. Critical domestic water, energy infrastructure and hospitals have been affected in Poland. The railway linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border sustained damage that had all the hallmarks of Russian sabotage. Late July  saw a Russian missile crash in eastern Poland. Other NATO nations close to Ukraine have experienced similar, albeit fewer such 'warnings' related to Mr. Putin's 'special military operation'.

 

At a time when Moscow has intensified its attacks against Ukraine, inclusive of targets adjacent the Polish border, NATO jets responded by shooting down a drone of Russian origin over Lithuania a week earlier. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made it clear that Slovakia, while taking its commitments to NATO seriously, he is prepared to do whatever he can to ensure that his country not be pulled into a conflict of uncertain value and outcome, in his opinion.

 

The fact is that Mr. Fico speaking for Slovakia does not regard Russia as posing a security threat. Advocating rapprochement with Moscow, he clearly diverges from other NATO members' concerns regarding the threat to their security posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin's territorial ambitions, pining for a return to the Soviet era with eastern Europe appendages of Greater Russia. The consequences of invoking NATO's Article 5, requiring all coalition members to act in defence of one another are unthinkable in Mr. Fico's considered opinion.

 

Military personnel from Poland, Lithuania, and France take part in training exercises during Operation Brave Boar 26 at the Orzysz Land Forces Training Center near the Suwalki Gap in Poland, on June 17.

Damian Lemanski/Bloomberg/Getty Images

 

"The path the world is on leads straight to the gates of hell. It is leading  us to World War Three", added Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis, another critic of the European mainstream, at the IISS Prague Defence Summit. On the opposite side of the equation, the "rapidly worsening" situation concerning security and energy supplies in the face of conflicts afflicting Ukraine and the Middle East, motivates French President Emmanuel Macon to meet with government, party leaders and military and security officials to address the issues.

 

The oncoming, inevitable difficult winter ahead has Kyiv's full focus, along with that of its western allies. In meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mr. Tusk spoke of the potential of co-operation through the "anti-ballistic coalition", and to fully address Ukraine's energy infrastructure, once again in Putin's crosshairs in the coming months. 

 

It is not only Eastern Europe that has become alarmed over gathering dark clouds of war. In the United Kingdom, its government has given notice that people should prepare to stockpile canned food and drinking water in preparation for the possibility of war as Britain faces the 'most dangerous' threat in decades. Hospitals in Germany are preparing for the possibility of an attack by Russia, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz warning of "decisive moments, defending the freedom and peace of our continent". Switzerland too issued calls for resilience and preparations to defend itself against an armed attack. 

  

Russian soldiers who participated in the military invasion of Ukraine march through the Victory Day parade in Moscow, May 9th. Getty Images

"[The Kremlin isn't ready for] any serious talks about a ceasefire, not to mention peace without -- de facto -- Ukraine's capitulation."

"They [the Russians] are convinced the winter will be tragically critical for Ukraine."

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk 

Judged 'Not Criminally Responsible', Yet a Community Threat

Hamilton Police

"He pulled out a knife and began stabbing her with it in the back. She was stabbed upwards of seven times and suffered a severed bicep and collapsed lung amongst other injuries."

"He resumed using cannabis during the time he was living with his parents."

"[The panel] concluded that Mr. Ghawar remained a significant threat to the safety of the public and that a detention order was necessary and appropriate. With respect to the additional privileges suggested by the hospital, the panel determined that it was appropriate to include in the disposition seven-day passes accompanied by an approved person, and seven-day passes indirectly supervised with a pre-approved itinerary."

Ontario Review Board (ORB)  

"In April 2014, Mr. Ghawar stopped taking his anti-psychotic medication, and his mental health symptoms intensified almost immediately."

"According to his family, Mr. Ghawar became very anxious and irritable, and would refuse to leave the house alone."

Hospital Report  

This is an Ontario resident who twice stabbed people multiple times in the back, and subsequently found not criminally responsible, which led to his being granted a series of day passes, despite the fact that he remains, in the professional opinion of health experts, a "significant threat to the safety of the public". 

 

Diagnosed with schizophrenia and cannabis use disorder "in remission in a controlled environment", Muneeb Ali Ghawar was found in February of 2024 to be not criminally responsible for aggravated assault while wearing a disguise. The second episode where he stabbed a woman took place in 2023, at a Hamilton cannabis store. 

 

He had entered the Sweet Releaf Cannabis shop on February 3, 2023 wearing a mask and a trapper hat pulled down over his forehead. A female clerk began the process of ringing up his cannabis purchase, and while she was thus engaged, the man moved behind her, and withdrawing a knife, stabbed her back repeatedly. Ghawar ran from the store when another employee screamed and called 911. 

 

Lighting up a marijuana joint. Photo by Adobe Stock

 

Ghawar was identified through studying the surveillance video at the cannabis operation where he had appeared on a previous occasion, unmasked. Six days following the stabbing he was arrested. He is now under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Review Board for a second time. He had been declared 'not criminally responsible' for a similar attack nine years previously, when an acquaintance was stabbed in the back and torso by him. He was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward for two years then discharged to live with his family.   

"Mr. Ghawar was compliant with his medication, met consistently with the outpatient team, and maintained stable mental health. He was granted an absolute discharge on February 11, 2019."

"There has been no evidence of mood disorders or psychotic breakthrough. He engages appropriately with co-patients and staff and is always pleasant and polite during interactions."

"His persistent use of cannabis is a  significant risk factor."

"He was using cannabis at the time of the first index offence in 2014, and at the time of the current index offence in 2023. He became extremely psychotic and committed very violent offences that could have resulted in the death of either victim."

Ontario Review Board ruling  

Mental health symptoms had afflicted the man for years. He began the use of cannabis at age 15. In 2024 he was ordered to be placed at St. Joseph's Healthcare where he was given privileges whereby he could enter the community of Hamilton under indirect supervision. He has been treated for anxiety and depression since 2012 by a psychiatrist. He also has amassed a criminal record including assault, mischief, break-and-enter, and assault with a weapon.

 

A psychological assessment in 2023 revealed that Ghawar "expressed delusional thought content, such as that the victim of the index offence was selling bad cannabis to kids in order to draw them into sex trafficking", the ORB decision noted. Ghawar admitted long-standing auditory hallucinations, and that he had stopped taking his medication prior to the offence, while smoking marijuana. 

 

Sweet Releafs Inc.

 

"He again denied using cannabis, and suggested that the positive urine result was from others smoking cannabis around him", noted the ORB decision. And this is the man his parents plan to take to Pakistan to have him married there. "This would be an arranged marriage to a woman he has not met", even while his psychiatrist "expressed concern that bringing another person into the family home would increase the stress at a time when Mr. Ghawar is struggling with cannabis use".  

 

Making a Mockery of UN Nuclear Vigilance

"Electing Iran to the committee, just days after its non-compliance was referred to the United Nations Security Council, would be beyond shameful and an embarrassment to the credibility of this body."

"[The decision represents] an affront [to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its critical screening work]." 

U.S. Ambassador Preston Wells Griffith III 

 

"[This objection by Washington is a] childish type of behaviour."

"Nuclear science, technology, expertise and industry have taken deep roots in the country and cannot be eliminated through military actions or assassinations."

"Iran will not surrender."

Behrouz Kamalvandi, deputy head, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran 

Diplomats attend the Board of Governor’s Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria on September 14, 2026. (Photo by AFP)

 

As insane as it seems to anyone conscientiously following the news in the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran which should rightfully be viewed as a pariah of a nation, dedicated to establishing itself as an  unparalleled power in the Middle East while posing a threat to the greater world order with its stealth infiltration in tandem with that of the Muslim Brotherhood in Western democratic nations with a goal to undermining the values inherent in free and civil society to attain a position of theistic control through jihad by both diplomatic and violent means, has been favoured with a seat on a board overseeing the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

 

This stunning turn of events staggers belief in the function of the United Nations, already under suspicion over its focus and support of the many facets of autocracy within its membership and its entanglement with coercive, exploitive states that persecute their own citizens. Iran is one of those most egregious of states, a theocracy that strangles internal dissent to its restrictive domination of peoples' lives. Its determination to develop nuclear weapons, allied with its technological advances in ballistic missile delivery systems and its formation of, training and financing of terrorist groups make it a dire threat to civilized society.

 

Yet, thanks to the cohesion of Muslim groups and the lobbying efforts of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation, alongside the Arab League -- a country whose minority Shiite brand of Islam with its  goal of supremacy over the majority Sunni nations neighbouring it, many of which, in the Persian Gulf, were treated to barrages of missiles and military drones in Iran's conflict with the United States -- supported Iran's candidacy for the position, against the efforts of the United States to deny it that status.

 

Key issues such as nuclear safety and security, concerning the International Atomic Energy Agency, and its spurned efforts by Iran to continue making routine checks at Iranian nuclear sites, leaving it virtually deadlocked, provided the backdrop to its general conference. On Tuesday, Tehran, with support from the very Persian Gulf neighbours which had been the recipients of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' firing of missiles and drones, helped Iran succeed in claiming a seat on the IAEA committee.

 

Intel Brief: Iran War Solution Nowhere in Sight as U.S. and Iran Remain Entrenched  AP Photo

 

In a secret ballot, 44 countries supported Iran's nomination, as opposed to 35 voting to deny Iran that seat, while 42 nations abstained from the vote. Iran is the only non-Arab (it is Aryan) Muslim state in the Middle East, surrounded by Arab nations and one tiny Jewish nation. What they have in common excluding Israel, is Islamic religious devotion, the sectarian divide aside. Yet despite the threat that Iran poses to its neighbours, having sent thousands of missiles and drones into their territory up to a month earlier, the religious ties that bind won the day for Iran.

 

Iran, in fact, boosted by its Islamic bedfellows, has been appointed to a number of UN-body groups, one dedicated to the protection of  women's rights among them in a wildly inappropriate match. Earlier Iran had been appointed by its fellow Middle Eastern neighbours to the organizing body of the conference itself. In the meanwhile, a country that refuses entry to the very body it now sits on a board for, making the entire exercise one of bemusing sanctimony, leaves the International Atomic Energy Agency unable to fulfill its mandate.

 

The work of the IAEA has been roadblocked in the single country in the world whose secretive, illegal, and dangerous nuclear work poses a direct threat to humanity. Iran wants to possess nuclear weaponry, as a theocracy that believes in the return of the Hidden Mahdi, whose reappearance will mean the end of humanity, when only the faithful in Islam will rise to Paradise, while all others descend to a place of eternal agony as punishment for denying Islam. Their logic is to create conditions of civilizational dysfunction so severe it will hasten the reappearance of a religious symbol of total world destruction. 

 

This shows Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, on April, 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)

 

Life-Preserving Food Aid Delivery By Drone in Isolated Nepalese Villages

"We’ve been operating back ‌and forth early in the ⁠morning. So yes, it’s quite hectic, because we ⁠need to have this thing right now."

"Nepal has this geography, this ‌terrain where drones would be really ​faster, quicker and cheaper."

Milan Pandey, Airlift ​Technology, drone operating company

 

"We have seen disasters, we have seen earthquakes, we have seen disasters caused by floods, we have seen war situations, conflicts."

"We have had access challenges in many of these situations [but the challenges in Nepal were extreme]."

"This is a very unique access challenge where, in some places, the only way to reach people is by helicopters." 

"It's a very, very expensive operation."

"When the first drone went up in the air with the food attached to it, I knew that it was a game-changer... It's an innovation in delivering food assistance."

"What we are learning in Nepal with the use of these cargo drones will change the way WFP reaches people in need."  

United Nations World Food Programme Nepal Country's Director Riaz Lodhi  

Using drones to provide aid in Nepal is a game changer.  Prabin Ranashat / AFP via Gety Images

 

 Following Nepal's devastating floods, the UN World Food Programme faced the most challenging of its responses to such devastation as was caused when a Himalayan glacier collapsed on August 26, causing a catastrophic flood at the China-Nepal border. The ensuing floodwaters destroyed roads, bridges and hydropower dams. The tentative figure of 1,446 dead and over 6,500 people missing across both countries is a testament to the severity of the situation.

 

According to Riaz Lodhi, head of the World Food Programme in Nepal, the tsunami-like flood and its aftermath produced a situation that distinguished itself as being among the "top three most challenging disasters" ever faced by his agency. Rescue teams faced arduous journeys to reach  the isolated regions where the worst impact of the flood was situated. As a result of the altered landscape, efforts to reach the afflicted saw journeys that took two hours normally, became ordeals lasting a full day.

A drone carrying relief supplies to a flood-affected area takes off in Trishuli, Nepal's Nuwakot district, on September 4, 2026. Credit: PRABIN RANABHAT / AFP via Getty Images

 

Even so, there are many communities close to the epicentre of the flooding event that remain cut off, even yet. The World Food Programme decided to deploy cargo drones in delivering food to isolated communities. In 2015 during a previous deadly earthquake, the delivery of life-sustaining materials relied on the use of mules, yaks and porters hauling food on their backs. These missions could take two to three days before those in need were reached.

 

The drones are capable of carrying between 30 and 100 kilograms, given operating conditions. "People in need, they didn't have to wait for days", stated Mr. Lodhi. "The food was reaching there immediately", making the difference between death and survival under challenging conditions. 

 

Technicians prepare a drone before it carries relief supplies to a flood-affected area in Trishuli in Nepal on 4 September 2026 (AFP/Getty)