World News

Social media platform Twitter/X became accessible to many users in Brazil on Wednesday as an update to its communications network circumvented a block order by the country’s supreme court.

The X update used cloud services offered by third parties, allowing some Brazilian users to take a route outside of the country to reach X, even without a virtual private network, according to Abrint, the Brazilian Association of Internet and Telecommunications Providers.

The number of Brazilians accessing X is unknown, according to Abrint. X did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

“I believe the change was probably intentional. Why would X use a third-party service that ends up being slower than its own?” said Basilio Perez, a board member at Abrint.

Another source with more info: https://nationalpost.com/news/iranian-ambassador-to-lebanon-lost-eye-pager-blast-hezbollah

Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon lost one eye and suffered serious injury to the other when a pager he was carrying exploded on Tuesday

Germany has put a hold on new exports of weapons of war to Israel while it deals with legal challenges, according to a Reuters analysis of data and a source close to the Economy Ministry.

Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($363.5 million), including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase from 2022, according to data from the Economy Ministry, which approves export licences.

The Labour government has repeatedly stated its desire to strengthen ties with Europe, but diplomats have been saying for some weeks that they need to see this translated into specifics before they embark on a reset. They have also said there is no “à la carte” option.

As EU leaders question how much has changed in the UK despite the new government, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has outlined a plan to bring the two sides closer after a series of reports that the EU doubted Keir Starmer’s commitment to a reset.

“Emotions around the UK’s departure from the EU are far from healed, and this scarring is damaging the prospects of both,” the plan’s author, David Henig, a former civil servant and trade policy expert, said.

The worst drought on record has lowered the water level of the rivers in the Amazon basin to historic lows, in some cases drying up riverbeds that were previously navigable waterways.

The Solimoes, one of the main tributaries of the mighty Amazon River whose waters originate in the Peruvian Andes, has fallen to its lowest level on record in Tabatinga, the Brazilian town on the border with Colombia.

Downriver in Tefé, a branch of the Solimoes has dried up completely, as seen by Reuters reporters who flew over the river on Tuesday.

The nearby Lake Tefé, where more than 200 freshwater dolphins died in last year's drought, has also dried up, depriving the endangered pink mammals of a favorite habitat.

The European Union on Wednesday began the process of clawing back hundreds of millions of euros in funds meant to go Hungary after its ant-migrant government refused to pay a huge fine for breaking the bloc’s asylum rules.

In June, the EU’s top court ordered Hungary to pay 200 million euros ($223 million) for persistently depriving migrants of their right to apply for asylum. The court imposed an additional fine of 1 million euros for every day it failed to comply.

The European Court of Justice described Hungary’s actions as “an unprecedented and extremely serious infringement of EU law.” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán slammed its ruling as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

"Made in Italy: shame in Italy," a handful of migrant labourers who had travelled from Italy's famed leatherware region Tuscany chanted last week in Geneva outside the flagship store of luxury accessory maker Montblanc, holding placards with the slogan.

Standing about three kilometers from where Montblanc's $76 billion parent Richemont was meeting shareholders, the workers - flanked by more than a dozen Italian and Swiss union officials - accused the pen and watches maker of dropping its supplier Z Production last year because of rising costs.

The Chinese-owned contractor, based in Tuscany, had improved its working conditions in October 2022 after years of irregular contracts and long shifts, workers and union officials told Reuters.

"Montblanc ended the contract because we wanted to work eight hours a day, five days a week as legal workers," said 23-year-old Zain Ali, from Pakistan. He worked for Z Production for two and a half years, applying metal Montblanc logos to leather accessories: "They just wanted slaves."

Israel’s army chief says Israel has drawn up plans for additional action against Hezbollah and is ready to strike.

“We have many capabilities that we have not yet activated,” Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said after approving new operational plans at Israel’s Northern Command on Wednesday.

“Every time we work at a certain stage, the next two stages are ready to go forward strongly,” he says. “At each stage, the price for Hezbollah needs to be high.”

The sound of many of them exploding

The explosions in Toropets, in the Tver region, were so intense that they were picked up by NASA satellites and earthquake monitors.

A Ukrainian drone attack on a Russian missile facility early Wednesday threw up towering fireballs visible from space and thundering detonations that triggered earthquake monitors.

Even by the standards of this incendiary conflict, video showing the blasts north of Moscow made for remarkable footage.

Officials on both sides said it was the result of a large Ukrainian drone attack on Toropets, a town in the Tver region around 230 miles from the Russian capital. Russian state media has previously reported that the military was building an arsenal for storing missiles and other explosives there.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2969062

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Chen Wenqing, head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, recently visited Lhasa, Kardze, and Chamdo, meeting with local officials to emphasize the need for heightened surveillance and control. His tour, which took place from September 10th to 13th, focused on maintaining stability and combating what the Chinese government terms “separatists”.

[...]

The official emphasized the need for legal suppression against those deemed threats to China’s stability and called for stricter management of religious activities stating, “We must resolutely crack down on separatist and sabotage activities in accordance with the law, resolutely manage religious affairs in accordance with the law, resolutely protect normal religious activities in accordance with the law.”

[...]

Concurrent with Chen’s visit, other high-ranking officials have made similar trips to the region. Zhang Jun, president of the Supreme People’s Court, advocated for “tough punishments to maintain pressure on violent terrorism, ethnic separatism and other serious criminal crimes” during his visit to courts in Tibet.

These heightened security measures have raised concerns among human rights advocates, who note that China’s broad definition of separatism often includes individuals merely critical of its policies toward Tibetans.

• Government data released ahead of Japan’s “Respect for the Aged Day” showed that the country’s population aged 65 and over had risen to an all-time high of 36.25 million.
• According to Robert Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities, the data fuels concerns about demographic shifts and a labor crunch in the country.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/42608995

The explosion was the second in a week in Cologne's city center. Police said it was still too early to say if there was a connection. Sniffer dogs were on the site as officers investigated.

The 30-year-old was attacked some 500 kilometers off the coast of Gran Canaria. She lost a leg in the attack and suffered a heart attack before a Spanish rescue helicopter could get her to hospital.

The identified people include 169 babies born after the Hamas attacks of 7 October that began the war, and a man born in 1922 who had survived more than a century of war and upheaval. More than 100 pages are filled with the names of victims under 10 years old, and the first adult names do not appear until page 215.

10-year-old Fatima Jaafar Abdullah was killed in pager explosions in Lebanon.

Israel murders another kid again.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2956996

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At a less well-reported meeting in Beijing late last year, organised by the China-Africa Business Council, officials pushed for the rapid expansion of Chinese private security firms [in countries of the Global South]. ‘Outbound Chinese investors face security challenges and a complex environment,’ said an official statement.

[...]

Officials are concerned about the fate of programmes under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which started as a global infrastructure programme, but has evolved into an umbrella for just about everything China does overseas to further its influence. Projects have stalled or collapsed under a mountain of unsustainable debt and growing resentment at the outsize role of Chinese firms and labour. In Pakistan, for instance, Gwadar Port, built by China as key part of a $62 billion (£47 billion) China-Pakistan economic corridor has been under virtual siege by Baloch separatists, who have targeted Chinese engineers. Chinese-owned mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo have also been targeted.

A BRI working group recently highlighted the need to ‘hammer out the safety protection in a detailed way,’ according to the state-owned Xinhua news agency.

[...]

China now has overseas economic investments and assets worth well over a trillion dollars by most estimates. It has set up around 47,000 overseas firms across 190 countries or regions, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

[...]

Beijing now seems to have concluded that they are dangerously exposed, particularly at a time of growing economic stress and geopolitical tensions and require a local security apparatus to match.

[...]

The Solomon Islands provide a template for China. Last year, they signed a deal on police cooperation with Beijing as part of an upgrade of their relations to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’. The Chinese telecoms company Huawei is building a cellular network on the Islands, and a Chinese state company plans to redevelop the port in the capital, Honiara.

[...]

China had less success with Thailand, where the government scrapped plans for joint patrols with Chinese police in popular tourist spots following criticism that it compromised Thai national sovereignty, and a rebuke from the country’s police chief. There was also anger on social media. ‘Thailand will become a complete surveillance state’, was one typical response, though among other autocrats more welcoming of Chinese, that seems to be precisely the point.

Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation.

The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment.

The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

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