World

The decision by the world's largest sovereign fund follows a trend of European financial entities divesting from Israel's firms over its actions in Gaza and the West Bank

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates posted a statement on X condemning what it called “terrorist settler militias” and saying settlers had been emboldened by the “glaring and unjustifiable failure” of the global community to stop the spiralling Israeli violence.

Cuba’s national electrical grid collapsed early Wednesday after its largest power plant, Antonio Guiteras, shut down.

Donald Trump’s advisers are proposing plans to end the Ukraine war that involve territorial concessions to Russia and ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine.

U.S. officials revealed a major Chinese hacking campaign targeting American mobile networks, stealing data on over 1 million users, including communications of high-profile individuals such as Biden administration officials and government leaders.

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier faces a no-confidence vote on Wednesday, just three months after his appointment by President Emmanuel Macron.

Over 300 people have been arrested in Georgia since mass protests erupted six nights ago, with allegations of violent attacks by police.

The Philippines and China accused each other of aggressive actions in a confrontation near the contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.

The streets of Seoul teemed with protesters and police throughout the day as labour unions called a general strike and the opposition demanded Yoon step down and face charges of insurrection. Outside the National Assembly, where just hours earlier lawmakers voted to block Yoon's martial law declaration, the crowd was united in their wrath against the conservative former prosecutor.

The assailant entered the Golden Temple in northwestern Amritsar city as a visitor and attempted to shoot Sukhbir Singh Badal, the president of a Sikh political party. Badal's security tackled the gunman after he took his weapon from his waist and the sole shot he fired off missed its target, instead hitting a marble pillar.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/48972064

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/23197885

Thousands of children were forcibly taken from their families in Belgian colonies because they were mixed-race.

"People were frothing from their mouths, the 81-year-old recalls. "Some had defecated, some were choking in their own vomit." His response to the deadly fumes was as brave as it was foolhardy. He tied a handkerchief over his nose and used a pushcart to ferry his neighbours to hospital.

Labour MP Sarah Champion’s comments come after an investigation found that tomato puree sold in four leading UK supermarkets appeared to contain tomatoes produced using harsh and coercive forced labour in Xinjiang.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea, brushing off rival claims from other countries -- including the Philippines -- and an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis. Vessels from the two sides have clashed frequently in the past year, resulting in injuries and damages.

the SDF-controlled village of Al-Shahabat came under violent bombardment by rocket launchers and artillery troops of Iranian-backed militias, which resulted in the injury of several civilians.

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Yoon backs off in showdown with lawmakers

South Korea's main opposition party has called for President Yoon Suk Yeol to resign or face impeachment after his six-hour martial law declaration, deemed unconstitutional.

A 27-inch asteroid, C0WEPC5, entered Earth's atmosphere over Siberia on Tuesday, creating a harmless but visible fireball.

Ukraine is pushing for NATO membership, proposing that only areas free from Russian occupation join initially. President Zelenskyy argues this could deter further Russian aggression and facilitate peace talks.

Coca-Cola has been accused of quietly abandoning a pledge to achieve a 25% reusable packaging target by 2030 in what campaigners call a “masterclass in greenwashing”.

Around him, shirtless men, their bodies smeared with dirt and glistening with sweat, worked tirelessly under the blazing sun, near Ghana's capital Accra. Some shovelled sand into makeshift washing troughs. Others operated excavators roaring through the degraded landscape, a stark reminder of the environmental cost of the country's boom in illegal mining.

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The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), with about 8,000 available fighters, has fought the Myanmar military for over a decade for autonomy for the Kokang ethnic minority in northern Shan state. Last year, it and two other allied rebel groups launched an offensive against the military and seized swathes of Shan state, including ruby mines and a lucrative trade highway to China.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said early Wednesday that he would soon lift the military rule he imposed overnight, after the parliament voted to reject his martial law declaration.

Additional Korean source.

France's minority government is on the brink of collapse after Prime Minister Michel Barnier used special powers to force through his budget without a vote in parliament.

TOKYO (AP) — Troops surround South Korea’s parliament overnight after the president declares martial law. He accuses pro-North Korean forces of plotting to overthrow one of the world’s most vibrant democracies. Lawmakers voice outrage, and hastily vote to end the declaration in an early-morning session.

Report by committee of experts also calls for doctors to ask about screen time during checkups

Two main Palestinian factions agree during talks in Cairo that politically independent technocrats will run territory

The European Commission says numbers have soared and the animals are now causing damage to livestock.

Iran's parliament has approved a new law introducing severe penalties for not wearing a hijab in public. This move comes despite repeated criticisms of such restrictions by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Five separate institutions across Afghanistan have confirmed that the Taliban had instructed them to close until further notice, with videos shared online showing students crying at the news.

Yoon Suk Yeol says in late-night address that opposition parties have taken parliamentary process hostage

The White House is trying to disburse last $7bn in aid approved by Congress before Trump begins second term

A prominent Israeli settler offered me $165 per day to demolish homes in Beit Lahia

The Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to reckon with formaldehyde have been repeatedly thwarted by the companies that rely on it. If the past is any guide, even modest steps toward reform are all but guaranteed to hit a dead end under Trump.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — After a ballot recount, a top Romanian court on Monday validated the first round of a presidential race in which a far-right outsider emerged as the frontrunner, plunging the country into turmoil amid allegations of electoral violations and Russian meddling.

Unanimously.

Maboula Soumahoro is a renowned French scholar and public intellectual. The holder of a PhD earned through studies both in France and at Columbia University in the US, she is an associate professor at the University of Tours, a specialist on the African diaspora, and one of France’s foremost academics when it comes to race relations.

Finnish police said Tuesday that “there is no reason to suspect any criminal activity” in connection with damage to two data cables running across the land border between Sweden and Finland, saying the damage was created by excavation work.

The Russian Kilo-class submarine was sighted just 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost territory just east of Taiwan, the Japanese Joint Staff said in a statement.

Threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to impose tariffs have created a split between Canada and Mexico, after Canadian officials said problems with the two countries’ borders shouldn’t be compared.

Deal allows scholars to read paywalled articles for free and will cover open-access fees

Criminals turn college campuses into recruitment hubs, recruiting chemistry students in Mexico with big paydays.

A U.S.-backed Yale report alleges that Russia used presidential aircraft and state funds to deport 314 Ukrainian children from occupied territories, stripping them of their Ukrainian identity and placing many with Russian families.

Summary (updated)

While declaring the martial law, President Yoon accused opposition of anti-state activities.

“Coke’s latest move is a masterclass in greenwashing, ditching previously announced reuse targets, and choosing to flood the planet with more plastic they can’t even collect and recycle effectively. This only reinforces the company’s reputation as the world’s top plastic polluter,” said Von Hernandez, the global coordinator of the campaign group Break Free from Plastic. “If they can’t even keep their low-bar commitments, how can they claim to be serious about addressing the global plastic crisis?”

A senior White House official urged Kyiv on Thursday to lower conscription age to 18 to replenish the losses of manpower in Donbas, where Russian forces have spurred their advance on several strategic, heavily fortified strongholds.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In a town that has been through it all and is clawing its way back, a man named Omidullah is looking to hit paydirt.

A fiber optic cable connecting Sweden and Finland was damaged on land, affecting 6,000 private customers and 100 businesses.

Vietnam’s High People’s Court upheld the death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, convicted of embezzlement and bribery in a record $12 billion fraud case.

Relentless Israeli bombardments have devastated Lebanon for over a year, killing more than 4,000 people. These attacks also inflict lasting damage on nature and farmland.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared that Britain will not choose between the U.S. and the EU, pledging to strengthen ties with both as Donald Trump prepares to assume the U.S. presidency.

Forces loyal to Bashar al-Assad in ‘violent confrontations’ with armed groups in Hama, according to reports

Drew Sullivan is unknown to the broad public, but the head of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project is one of the most influential journalists in the world.

German media giant Axel Springer is facing regulatory complaint by Palestinians about its business in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

New Delhi and the surrounding metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people and is blanketed by a thick and acrid haze each winter. The public health crisis has grown steadily worse over the years and weeks-long school closures across the capital, aimed at shielding vulnerable children from the harmful skies, are now an annual occurrence.

A 520-page report from the Republican-controlled House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic looked at the federal and state-level response, as well as the pandemic's origins and vaccination efforts.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/48892635

A recommendation inviting member states to crack down on second-hand smoke -- and vapour -- will be on the table as health ministers from the bloc's 27 nations meet in Brussels. It is likely to be approved, according to diplomatic sources, despite political divisions on the issue -- on display last week when the European Parliament voted against a similar text.

Prosecutors have asked for life in prison for Filippo Turetta, 22, for killing Giulia Cecchettin in November last year, just days before she was due to graduate from the University of Padua. Cecchettin, also 22, was stabbed at least 75 times in a shocking murder that prompted protests over violence against women across Italy.

It is the first time chief executive Tadashi Yanai has directly addressed the contentious issue. China is a crucial market for Uniqlo not just for customers but also as a major manufacturing hub.

Property developer Truong My Lan, 68, was convicted earlier this year of embezzling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) -- which prosecutors said she controlled -- and condemned to die for fraud totalling $27 billion. In her official handwritten appeal of more than five pages seen by AFP, Lan said the death sentence was "too severe and harsh", asking the court to consider a more "lenient and humane approach".

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Oosterwold, a Dutch suburb east of Amsterdam, requires residents to dedicate 50% of their property to food production, making it a unique urban planning experiment.

archive.ph: https://archive.ph/2P6uu

The women were taken as children from their families in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and placed in orphanages. The court rejected a prior ruling that too much time had passed to prosecute the case, stating that such crimes are not subject to statutes of limitations.

Global arms trade surged to $632 billion in 2023, driven by wars in Ukraine and Gaza, and rising tensions in East Asia, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

Once presenting itself as one of the world's most welcoming countries to refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online ad campaign cautioning asylum-seekers that making a claim is hard.

A 64-year-old woman took her own life on September 23 inside the space-age looking Sarco capsule at a Swiss woodland retreat, outside a village near the German border. Several people were arrested at the scene, with all but one being quickly released. The public prosecutor in the northern canton of Schaffhausen did not name the remaining suspect in custody. However, The Last Resort, an assisted dying organisation, had recently said the association's co-president Florian Willet -- the only other person present at the death -- was the man still being held.

The ceasefire, which came into force on Wednesday, seeks to end a war that has killed thousands in Lebanon and sparked mass displacements in both Lebanon and Israel. While the ceasefire had largely brought fighting to a halt, Israel has launched strikes against targets it says were violating the truce.

Belgium’s Court of Appeals has ruled that the state must pay reparations to five women forcibly taken from their mothers in the Democratic Republic of Congo during colonial rule, declaring the separations crimes against humanity.

Lebanon's Hezbollah on Monday claimed an attack on an Israeli position, the first since a ceasefire came into effect on Wednesday, which Israel had violated at least 52 times. Hezbollah said in a statement it had launched two projectiles towards the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms.