World News

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3765597

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[...]

While censorship on economic issues is hardly new, the level of repression has taken a darker turn of late, sending chills through anyone in the country who analyzes the economy as part of their profession.

The most extreme example is the reported disappearance of Zhu Hengpeng, one of China’s most prominent and well-connected economists. Zhu is a director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), a leading think tank that reports directly to the cabinet.

[...]

He is believed to have been forcibly disappeared in April after he made disparaging remarks about the economy in a private chat group on the Chinese social media platform WeChat. The specifics of what Zhu said are unclear, but some reports indicate that he had “improperly discussed central policies” and made a reference to the “mortality” of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping.

[...]

While economic information is perceived as being less politically sensitive than discussions about democracy or human rights in China, [...] research shows that over the past decade, the CCP has repeatedly ratcheted up restrictions whenever the economy appears to be in trouble. This year, the crackdown has increasingly focused on content that addresses income inequality, youth employment, and poverty – in other words, deep-rooted problems that affect large swaths of the population and could undermine a key pillar of the CCP’s political legitimacy.

[...]

Chinese citizens are also prohibited from expressing their feelings about the economy. In February, WeChat removed a popular article that reported on survey findings from the Guangzhou-based Canton Public Opinion Research Center, which revealed a prevailing sense of pessimism about the country’s economic well-being. Around the same time, the CCP’s flagship mouthpiece People’s Daily published an article titled “The Whole Country Is Filled with Optimism,” attempting to project positivity online. Netizens immediately flooded the social media platform Weibo with posts ridiculing the article. Within hours, the hashtag being used to discuss the piece was removed from public view.

[...] information on the economy is a daily concern for almost everyone in China. Tight censorship on this topic can breed mass distrust in approved sources and compel more netizens to circumvent the CCP’s draconian internet censorship, despite the possibility of punishment, in search of more objective news and analysis on China’s economic situation. In other words, censorship on the economy could ultimately backfire on censorship in general, exposing the regime to an even greater crisis of legitimacy.

“U.S. troops being deployed to Israel in this matter is seismic,” Malekafzali added. “The U.S. military is now inextricably involved in this war, directly, without any illusions of barriers. Netanyahu is as close as he has ever been to his ultimate wish: making the U.S. fight Iran on Israel’s behalf.”

Israel’s cabinet met Thursday to discuss a potential response to Iran’s October 1 missile barrage. One unnamed Israeli source told The Times of Israel that “no big decisions” were made at the cabinet meeting. Speaking to reporters earlier this month, Biden said that U.S. and Israeli officials were “discussing” the possibility of an attack on Iranian oil infrastructure.

Iran has warned of a “crushing” response to any Israeli attack.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/30943218

India said Monday it is recalling its ambassador and other diplomats from Canada, hours after it rejected a Canadian notification that the ambassador was a “person of interest” in the assassination of a Sikh activist last year.

The public hearing of the 2018 incident aims to explain the death of British woman Dawn Sturgess to her family members and could reveal confidential information.

A public inquiry will begin on Monday in Salisbury into the death of a British woman who was unwittingly exposed to Novichok nerve agent.

The 2018 incident plunged relations between the UK and Russia to new lows at the time.

The public hearing aims to provide the victim's family with answers on how her death came about. It is also likely to reveal some confidential evidence from the government and the security services.

During the 1950s, the Catholic Church in Belgium separated thousands of newborns from their unwed mothers and put them up for adoption, often without the mothers' consent. The women were shamed into surrendering their babies by their families and a powerful church. Last month, Pope Francis apologized for those forced adoptions.

But Belgians weren't the only victims. From 1950 to 1970, the Vatican sent 3,500 Italian children to America on something called an orphan visa. The trouble was most were not orphans. Like their Belgian counterparts, they too were the children of unwed mothers. Many mothers later went searching for their children, only to discover they had been sent across an ocean. Today, thousands of American adoptees are still struggling to piece together their lost lives.

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is examining a plan to seal off humanitarian aid to northern Gaza in an attempt to starve out ~~Hamas militants~~, a plan that, if implemented, could trap without food or water hundreds of thousands of Palestinians unwilling or unable to leave their homes.

Those who remain would be considered combatants — meaning military regulations would allow troops to kill them — and denied food, water, medicine and fuel.

The plan calls for Israel to maintain control over the north for an indefinite period to attempt to create a new administration without Hamas, splitting the Gaza Strip in two.

Human rights groups say the plan would likely starve civilians and that it flies in the face of international law, which prohibits using food as a weapon and forcible transfers. Accusations that Israel is intentionally limiting food to Gaza are central to the genocide case brought against it at the International Court of Justice, charges Israel denies.

Some excerpts:

An initial probe into the attack indicated that two drones launched by Hezbollah entered Israeli airspace from the sea, the Times of Israel learned.

Both were tracked by Israeli radars, and one was shot down off the coast north of Haifa. Sirens sounded in the western Galilee area.

IAF planes and helicopters pursued the second drone, but it dropped off the radar and Israeli forces lost track of it, likely because it flew very close to the ground. No siren sounded because the assumption was that it had crashed or been intercepted once it disappeared.

Times of Israel used as a source because other coverage so far is on “live” pages which are difficult to link to.

Alt title: 3 Old White Men Discover Colonialsm Bad

Housing has been an unsolvable conundrum for successive governments in Spain, which remains scarred by a 2008 property market crash that accompanied the global recession.

The price of a square metre for rent has soared by 82 percent over the past 10 years, according to online property platform Idealista.

That increase comfortably outstripped average wages, which only creeped up by 17 percent in the same time, according to Spain's national statistics institute, making finding a home mission impossible for low-income households.

"Finding a place to rent has now become a minefield, especially for the young"

"There is hardly any supply, and when there is, the prices are sky high."

But since the Covid-19 pandemic, the crisis has become "unsustainable", 24-year-old Juan Lozano told AFP.

The 26 poorest nations in the world are more heavily in debt than any time in the last 18 years, according to a new report. Climate change and conflict are major drivers of poverty in the affected countries.

The World Bank published a new study late on Sunday highlighting 26 countries that "are in deeper debt than at any other time since 2006."

The list includes Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, and North Korea. Most of the other nations are in sub-Saharan Africa, and include Ethiopia and Chad.

With an annual per capita income of less than $1,145 (€1,050) a year, the World Bank said these countries "are poorer today on average than they were on the eve of COVID-19,even though the rest of the world has largely recovered."

Hungary’s latest attempt to disrupt Ukraine aid isn’t about money — it would penalize the EU. It’s about making friends with Donald Trump.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is preparing to serve up a major policy gift for his best friend across the Atlantic, former United States President Donald Trump.

He’s concocted a way to let Trump, if he successfully makes it to the White House for a second term come November, wriggle out of a $50 billion loan the U.S., the European Union and leaders of the G7 offered to Ukraine to back its fight for survival against Russia. That would let Trump off the hook, allowing him to tell Republican voters that, if elected, he won’t give Ukraine another cent.

Hungary says it won’t consent to a change in rules that would allow Washington to play a major role in the loan until after the U.S. election.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/3677707

https://archive.is/j0Rlm

According to senior defense officials, the Israeli government is not seeking to revive hostage talks and the political leadership is pushing for the gradual annexation of large parts of the Gaza Strip. In closed-room discussions, these officials say the chances of reaching a hostage deal appear slim right now. One of the reasons cited is that since negotiations were suspended, there has been no discussion among international players involved in the talks.

In addition, they say, Israel's political leaders have not held any discussions with the various security branches about the condition of the hostages. Army commanders in the field who spoke with Haaretz say the recent decision to launch operations in northern Gaza was taken without any in-depth discussion. They said it appeared that the operations were aimed principally at pressuring local residents, who were again told to evacuate the area for the coast as winter is approaching.

It is possible that the operation is laying the groundwork for a decision by the government to put into effect the so-called surrender or starve plan of Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland. That plan calls for all the residents of northern Gaza to be evacuated to humanitarian zones in the south, with those choosing to remain deemed Hamas operatives and legitimate military targets. While Gazans in the south are getting humanitarian assistance, those who remain in the north will face hunger.

Defense officials who were asked to respond to the Eiland plan pointed out that it violated international law and that the chances of the United States and the international community supporting it were virtually zero. They said it would further undermine the legitimacy of Israel's entire Gaza offensive.

South Korea says it has detected preparations by North Korea to blow up its sections of inter-Korean roads. Tensions have been soaring between the two countries in recent weeks.

South Korean officials said on Monday that they had gathered intelligence indicating that the North was preparing to demolish its half of roads that connect the two countries.

"They have installed screens on the road and are working behind those screens, preparing to blow up the roads," Lee Sung Joon, a spokesperson for South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

He said the operation could take place as soon as Monday.

The move follows weeks of soaring tensions on the Korean peninsula. North Korea has accused South Korea of using drones to drop propaganda leaflets over its territory three times, and threatened to respond with force if it happens again.

A court in Berlin has sentenced a former member of East Germany's notorious secret police to 10 years imprisonment for murder.

The Berlin Regional Court on Monday sentenced a former East German secret police employee to ten years in prison for a murder at a border crossing in 1974.

The ruling was the first-ever conviction against a former employee of the Stasi, communist East Germany's secret police, for actions carried out while in service.

The court found ex-Stasi officer Martin N., 80, guilty of murder for killing Pole Czeslaw Kukuczka at close range as he sought to escape to the West through Berlin's Friedrichstrasse border point.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3756164

Research has shown time and again that news consumption on print has plummeted in the last decade. Both print circulation and advertising revenue are shrinking for most publications. Many publishers have moved to digital-only offerings or are printing fewer days a week.

But two titles in North America that have shunned the pivot to digital, as it is shown by Dave Bidini from Canada’s West End Phoenix, a monthly publication in a Toronto neighbourhood, and Dan Jacobson from U.S.’ TriCity News, a weekly newspaper published in New Jersey.

“Slow print for fast times” is the slogan of the West End Phoenix, a monthly local newspaper for Toronto’s West End neighbourhood. Its founder and editor, Dave Bidini, launched the paper eight years ago. “I discovered that all of the community newspapers in the West End had disappeared, so I felt it was important to try to save the print media in our neighbourhoods,” he says.

This sentiment is shared by Dan Jacobson, publisher and founder of TriCity News, a weekly newspaper published in New Jersey. The paper describes itself as “an alternative newspaper focusing on the arts, culture and politics in eastern Monmouth County.”

According to Jacobson, the paper serves the creative spirit of the community, filling a niche that is underserved by other outlets. The first edition of the paper was published in 1999 and they have stood the test of time and technology.

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian former detainees say troops have regularly forced captured Gazans to carry out life-threatening tasks, including inside Hamas tunnels.

An investigation by The New York Times found that Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents, throughout the war in Gaza, have regularly forced captured Palestinians . . . to conduct life-threatening reconnaissance missions to avoid putting Israeli soldiers at risk on the battlefield.

While the extent and scale of such operations are unknown, the practice, illegal under both Israeli and international law, has been used by at least 11 squads in five cities in Gaza, often with the involvement of officers from Israeli intelligence agencies.

Palestinian detainees have been coerced to explore places in Gaza where the Israeli military believes that Hamas militants have prepared an ambush or a booby trap. The practice has gradually become more widespread since the start of the war last October.

Detainees have been forced to scout and film inside tunnel networks where soldiers believed fighters were still hiding. They have entered buildings rigged with mines to find hidden explosives. They have been told to pick up or move objects like generators and water tanks that Israeli soldiers feared concealed tunnel entrances or booby traps.

MBFC
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cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/3750687

For years, posts related to events during World War Two have proliferated on the Chinese internet, with the Japanese invasion during the war remaining a sensitive topic for nationalists on both sides. In China, Japan’s wartime atrocities have long been a sore point as Beijing maintains that Tokyo has never fully apologised.

The online posts are part of a wider phenomenon, which encompasses both xenophobia and attacks on Chinese nationals for being unpatriotic. One argument by analysts is that this digital nationalism has gone mostly unchecked by the Chinese government, with online patriotism fanning flames of anti-foreigner sentiment as well as accusations against Chinese figures.

Some are asking if this has gone too far. [...]They see echoes of the violent, state-sponsored campaign against so-called enemies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that traumatised the country in the 1960 and 1970s. Hundreds of thousands died in purges often led by youth militias known as the Red Guards. Families and neighbours turned on each other.

In a recent essay, author and university professor Zhang Sheng noted that “in the past people summoned the Red Guards, now people summon the ‘little pinks’” – a popular nickname for the virtual army of online nationalists.

[...]

It is not just foreigners facing the ire of cyber-nationalists. In recent months, Chinese public figures and companies have also been castigated for being insufficiently patriotic.

Beverage giant Nongfu Spring is considered a Chinese business success story, with its mineral water bottles a ubiquitous sight across the country’s convenience stores and restaurant tables. But in March, nationalists accused the company of using Japanese elements in its product design. One of its logos was said to resemble a Shinto temple, while the iconic mineral water bottle’s red cap was deemed to be a reference to the Japanese flag.

It resulted in a brief but intense online campaign: some called for a boycott, while videos of people angrily stamping on Nongfu Spring bottles and chucking their drinks down the toilet were all over social media.

Similarly, the author and Nobel Literature Prize laureate Mo Yan was accused of “beautifying” Japanese soldiers and being unpatriotic in his works by a nationalist blogger, who controversially sued the writer for insulting China.

[...]

Even state media has accused online nationalists of “making patriotism a business”. One commentary by CCP mouthpiece People’s Daily said those who “stir up public opinion and add fuel to the flames in order to… gain traffic and make personal gains, should be severely punished”.

But the ruling party has had a hand in stoking the fire, some say.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/30914372

“Investigators told me that this was the worst case that they’ve dealt with, a very, very horrible case involving animal cruelty,” said Constable Stephen Spencer.