Interesting Global News

France has been a key supporter of Israel, defending its right to self-defence for years and sells an average of €20 million worth of military equipment to the country each year.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Gkctl

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.euronews.com%2Fmy-europe%2F2024%2F09%2F30%2Fprotesters-in-paris-demand-end-to-israeli-air-strikes-on-targets-in-lebanon

South Korea has unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile targeting North Korea. It did so during an Armed Forces Day ceremony Tuesday as the president warned that North Korea's regime will collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Ei7xH

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Fsouth-korea-missile-north-nuclear-7f2f8774b8ebbe697e611b14c06c1de5

The Israeli occupation army is preparing to launch a “limited ground operation” in Lebanon, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority Reported yesterday.

The Broadcasting Authority said that “the Israeli army is making serious preparations for a limited ground operation in Lebanon.”

It added that “the political level [the government] is seriously considering implementing the limited ground operation, despite Washington exerting unprecedented pressure in the past few days to prevent such a move.”

According to media reports, Israeli officials claim that the potential ground operation will aim to establish a “security buffer zone in southern Lebanon.”

Russian officials say more than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down, sparking a wildfire and setting an apartment block alight in one of the largest barrages over Russian skies.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/6vIpB

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fapnews.com%2Farticle%2Frussia-ukraine-war-drone-attacks-voronezh-rostov-zaporizhzhia-f998200f2d4aee0ea7cbbe5725ed907a

Israel’s former prime minister, Naftali Bennett, is facing a fierce backlash and accusations of spreading “propaganda” to legitimise attacks on civilians after alleging that Lebanese households are being used to hide rocket launchers for Hezbollah.

"Many Shiites in Lebanon have a unique revenue stream. In their home, they have a special ‘Rocket Launcher Room’. They’re paid monthly rent by Hezbollah to host this launcher and be prepared to shoot rockets at Israel communities on demand,” Naftali Bennett claimed on Monday in a post on X, without providing evidence."

Many compared Bennett's post to false claims made by Israeli officials throughout their assault on the Gaza Strip.

"In Gaza - the world taught the Israeli political elite that any and all violence of theirs, however gruesome/illegal/inhumane will be forgiven, so long as they can string together any argument, however flimsy/fabricated/embarrassing. They are now applying this lesson in Lebanon,” said another X user.

Casualties rising as assault on Hezbollah leaves war-weary nation apprehensive of more pain to come

Archived version: https://archive.ph/UJtC3

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2024%2Fsep%2F30%2Flebanon-reels-from-israeli-bombardment-with-no-sign-of-respite

Most of the victims are healthcare workers in the intensive care unit, the health minister says.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240930025311/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8el1ky2nd6o

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fc8el1ky2nd6o

A heavy monsoon downpour has triggered floods and landslides in the Himalayan nation. Over a hundred people have died and search is on for dozens of missing.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3jV6W

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fnepal-floods-landslides-leave-at-least-151-dead%2Fa-70354640

Health experts ask those eligible to ‘help reduce the burden on our hospitals’ over winter by booking in for free jabs

Archived version: https://archive.ph/nPhBW

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2024%2Fsep%2F30%2Fnhs-warns-of-18000-flu-deaths-since-2022-as-it-urges-vaccination-uptake

Bibi Nazdana [have been granted divorce] after a two-year court battle to free herself from life as a child bride [which] a Taliban court has invalidated.

Nazdana is a victim of the group’s hardline interpretation on Sharia (religious law) which has seen women effectively silenced in Afghanistan’s legal system.

Nazdana’s divorce is one of tens of thousands of court rulings revoked since the Taliban took control of the country three years ago this month. It took just 10 days from them sweeping into the capital, Kabul, for the man she was promised to at seven to ask the courts to overturn the divorce ruling she had fought so hard for.

[...]

The Taliban have also systematically removed all judges – both male and female – and replaced them with people who supported their hardline views.

Women were also declared unfit to participate in the judicial system. "Women aren't qualified or able to judge because in our Sharia principles the judiciary work requires people with high intelligence," says Abdulrahim Rashid, director of foreign relations and communications at Taliban's Supreme Court.

[...]

Former Supreme Court judge Fawzia Amini - who fled the country after the Taliban returned - says there is little hope for women’s protections to improve under the law if there are no women in the courts.

"We played an important role," she says. "For example, the Elimination of Violence against Women law in 2009 was one of our achievements. We also worked on the regulation of shelters for women, orphan guardianship and the anti-human trafficking law, to name a few."

She also rubbishes the Taliban overturning previous rulings, like Nazdana's.

"If a woman divorces her husband and the court documents are available as evidence then that's final. Legal verdicts can't change because a regime changes," says Ms Amini.

The militants killed in two September strikes in Syria were affiliated with the extremist "Islamic State" group and an al-Qaeda-linked group, the United States military said.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240929163951/https://www.dw.com/en/syria-us-airstrikes-kill-37-islamist-militants/a-70355869

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fsyria-us-airstrikes-kill-37-islamist-militants%2Fa-70355869

The Turkish public has been shocked by the murder of an 8-year-old girl. But Narin's case is by no means an isolated one. Experts say the government must do more to combat the problem of violence against children.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240930044313/https://www.dw.com/en/turkey-violence-against-children-a-neglected-problem/a-70310542

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fturkey-violence-against-children-a-neglected-problem%2Fa-70310542

Pakistan's Balochistan province has been rocked by a series of attacks on Punjabi workers by separatist militants. Baloch nationalist groups accuse the central government and China of stealing the province's resources.

Archived version: https://archive.md/cn7vg

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dw.com%2Fen%2Fpakistan-gunmen-kill-7-workers-in-balochistan%2Fa-70356937

Archived version

Campaign for Uyghurs (CFU) has unveiled a leaked audit report, sent to their Washington, D.C., address, that exposes Volkswagen’s (VW) blatant attempts to whitewash its complicity in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) genocidal policies in Urumchi. The audit, conducted by Guangdong Liangma Law and overseen by Berlin-based consultancy Löning, failed to meet the most basic international social accountability standards. Volkswagen’s claims of being cleared of forced labor allegations are not just misleading–they are part of a deliberate cover-up that implicates VW in one of the world’s worst human rights atrocities.

VW’s December 2023 assertion that their audit found “no indication of forced labor” in their Urumchi factory has now been thoroughly discredited by this leaked audit report, which CFU exclusively received in August 2024.

[...]

The leaked audit shows that interviews were live-streamed to law offices in Shenzhen, directly enabling Chinese state surveillance. In addition, the report showed that only managers were asked questions related to forced labor. Volkswagen’s Urumchi plant, which operates in partnership with state-owned SAIC Motor Corporation, employs 197 staff, nearly a quarter of whom are Uyghur. However, the audit’s failure to directly question workers about forced labor practices undermines the integrity of the findings, further implicating VW in the region’s human rights abuses.

[...]

Volkswagen has yet to provide a detailed response to these allegations, citing “contractual confidentiality obligations.”

[...]

On a brutal day for the frail and aging Pope Francis, the king of Belgium, its prime minister and the rector of the Catholic university that invited him here all ripped into the institution he heads for a spectrum of sins: for covering up cases of clergy sex abuse and being far behind the times on embracing women and the LGBTQ+ community in the church.

And that was all before Francis met with the people most harmed by the Catholic Church in Belgium — the men and women who were raped and molested by priests as children. Seventeen abuse survivors spent two hours with Francis on Friday evening, telling him of their trauma, shame and pain and demanding reparations from the church.

Archived version

[...]

Over the past three decades, Jimmy Lai’s name has become synonymous with Hong Kong’s struggle for democracy: his newspaper Apple Daily, which was launched in the mid-90s, morphed from a local tabloid to what was widely considered a bold pro-democracy voice and critic of Beijing — until it was shut down by authorities in 2021.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was handed back to China in 1997. The civil liberties and freedoms enjoyed in the special administrative region were to be preserved for at least 50 years under the "one country, two systems" framework, however, Beijing has made increasing efforts to control Hong Kong’s political system and silence dissent in the less than 30 years since.

Lai has experienced China's encroachment first-hand.

He was first arrested during the Umbrella Movement of 2014 when tens of thousands of people took to the streets and staged a months-long sit-in in protest against the Chinese government's plan to restrict elections.

[...]

Jimmy Lai was arrested in August 2020 and has since been held in a maximum-security prison in Hong Kong on a number of charges under the national security law.

"They’re drawing out his trial and it’s inhumane because, at almost 77, he is being kept in a cell in solitary confinement for more than 1300 days; he doesn’t get any natural light," Sebastien [Lai, who is Jimmy Lai's son] says.

[...]

Archived version

A new report obtained by Ukraine's allies points to a Chinese company sending a range of purpose-built military drones to Russia for testing, with the ultimate destination being Ukraine.

The deal occurred last year, according to a western official, who was unable to disclose the name of the company. However, they said there was “clear evidence now that Chinese companies are supplying Russia with deadly weapons for use in Ukraine”.

“While the Chinese government might not admit it, they are going to struggle to keep their increasing support under wraps,” added the official, appearing to accuse Beijing of being involved or aware of the delivery.

They also confirmed a Reuters report from earlier in the week that Russia is believed to have established a weapons programme in China to develop and produce long-range attack drones for use in the war against Ukraine. [...]

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on Sept 27 it has conducted secret inspections into recent allegations of forced shopping, with findings confirming that such practices exist on some level among tourism packages there.

The city hired several foreign nationals to pose as tourists in seven low-priced package tours – three that were sold in China and four sold in Vietnam – to check the programmes’ quality.

Most of the packages focused more on shopping than tourism, which the city government’s agents said hindered them from enjoying Seoul’s history and culture.

To understand how it has managed to document tens of thousands of dead in Gaza to a high degree of accuracy, the processes it has used, and the philosophy behind it, Drop Site conducted an interview with Dr. Zaher al-Wahaidi, director of the information center at the Ministry of Health in Gaza who is based at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis.

The first source is e-Hospital, a computerized program, which monitors all emergency departments in government hospitals. Any casualty brought to a government hospital is registered in the emergency department through the electronic system, and the information is automatically transferred to the repository.

The second source is an Excel file provided by field hospitals that offer emergency services and handle mass casualties, like the Red Cross hospital, the Kuwaiti field hospital and so forth. These hospitals document the casualties in the Excel sheet, which they supply to us; we then process this file and upload it to our system.

A third source was introduced in January – a link provided by the Ministry of Health for reporting martyrs who had not reached ministry hospitals, remained trapped under rubble, or who could not be identified.

DSN: So the number announced by the Ministry of Health, for example, around 41,000 martyrs, could potentially be higher, but this is the figure you were able to confirm?

Dr. Zaher al-Wahaidi Correct. 41,266 martyrs [official ministry of health tally on September 16, 2024], as per the latest report. Bear in mind that the ministry releases multiple figures. The first figure of 41,266 martyrs represents the total number of martyrs who have reached the ministry's hospitals.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/5785682

Let's hope it goes through. 🙏🙏

Archived version

Vladimir Putin’s statements about the Kremlin’s updated nuclear doctrine reveal his fear that Ukraine might be allowed to use long-range missiles to strike targets inside Russia, Lithuanian Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas has said.

“We have all heard Putin’s words; I believe the key message is not what he said, but that when he talks about the new concept, he clearly signals that granting long-range strike capabilities to Ukraine is a really important issue he fears,” Kasčiūnas told a press conference on Thursday.

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius, who is visiting Lithuania on Thursday, said the West is not intimidated by Putin’s “nuclear rhetoric”.

“I can reiterate that this is Putin’s rhetoric; he speaks loudly and spreads his threats, and we should not be intimidated by that. We will do what we consider right. He can spread this through his channels, but it will not scare us,” Pistorius said.

[...]

Putin said later on Wednesday that the changes [in the political situation] would allow Russia to launch a nuclear response to a “massive air attack”.

Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had not yet received permission from the United States or the United Kingdom to use long-range missiles to strike targets on Russian territory.

[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky is urging the West to allow this, but Washington is seeking more detailed information on how Kyiv would use these weapons and how their use would fit into a broader war strategy

[...]

A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel has sailed through the Taiwan Strait for the first time, according to a source familiar with the matter, in an apparent challenge to China's growing military assertiveness in the region.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240926050908/https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/09/f2aefb85d27d-urgent-japan-defense-force-ship-sails-through-taiwan-strait-for-1st-time.html

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fenglish.kyodonews.net%2Fnews%2F2024%2F09%2Ff2aefb85d27d-urgent-japan-defense-force-ship-sails-through-taiwan-strait-for-1st-time.html

A court in Russia’s second city St. Petersburg has placed a military cadet in pretrial detention after he allegedly murdered a hearing-impaired woman whose hearing aid he mistook for espionage equipment, local news outlet 78.Ru reported on Tuesday.

Archived version: https://web.archive.org/web/20240925122516/https://novayagazeta.eu/articles/2024/09/25/hearing-impaired-russian-woman-killed-after-hearing-aid-mistaken-for-espionage-device-en-news

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fnovayagazeta.eu%2Farticles%2F2024%2F09%2F25%2Fhearing-impaired-russian-woman-killed-after-hearing-aid-mistaken-for-espionage-device-en-news

Russia is preparing to target three Ukrainian nuclear power plants, President Volodymyr Zelensky told the U.N. Security Council in New York on Sept. 24.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/7MJ3L

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fkyivindependent.com%2Frussia-preparing-to-attack-3-ukraines-nuclear-plants-zelensky-says%2F

The law, which was approved by the Senate in June, will come into force on 22 January next year.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/tNXu6

SpinScore: https://spinscore.io/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Farticles%2Fcn03we6zpk1o