World News

Israel’s war in Gaza is chipping away at so much of what we – in the United States but also internationally – had agreed upon as acceptable, from the rules governing our freedom of speech to the very laws of armed conflict. It seems no exaggeration to say that the foundation of the international order of the last 77 years is threatened by this change in the obligations governing our legal and political responsibilities to each other.

"We are witnessing a true reversal of ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere—something we’ve never seen before,” explains Antonio Turiel, ICM-CSIC researcher and co-author of the study. “While the world is debating the potential collapse of the AMOC in the North Atlantic, we’re seeing that the SMOC is not just weakening, but has reversed. This could have unprecedented global climate impacts.”

A hugely popular right-wing Croatian singer and hundreds of thousands of his fans performed a pro-Nazi World War II salute at a massive concert in Zagreb, drawing criticism.

One of Marko Perkovic’s most popular songs, played in the late Saturday concert, starts with the dreaded “For the homeland — Ready!” salute, used by Croatia’s Nazi-era puppet Ustasha regime that ran concentration camps at the time.

Perkovic, whose stage name is Thompson after a U.S.-made machine gun, had previously said both the song and the salute focus on the 1991-95 ethnic war in Croatia, in which he fought using the American firearm, after the country declared independence from the former Yugoslavia. He says his controversial song is “a witness of an era.”

TLDR

The idiocracy has won. AV is coming into force across multiple countries — many around the same time. We'll be forced to verify your age, and we already know we'll lose almost all our users in the process.

Only a few sites like ours are being targeted, so porn will remain available everywhere else. Minors won’t be safer — just redirected to social media platforms or darker, unregulated corners of the internet.

This is the result of an ongoing moral panic, carried by dishonest ideologues, opportunistic politicians, and a media class that thrives on fear and outrage.

We're witnessing censorship disguised as “protection,” incompetence dressed up as virtue, and a total collapse of rational policymaking. And everyone will pay the price.

Not a news material per se, but an opinion piece from the large player in the industry, reflecting on current law changes, media coverage, logics behind AV push et cetera. It needs not to be taken as a single source of truth, but an interesting inside from their end of the deal.

If it's not a good fit there, feel free to delete it.

I didn't put NSFW tag because it's a discussion on pornography without graphic details of any kind.

China deployed its embassies to spread doubts about the performance of French-made Rafale jets after they saw combat in India and Pakistan’s clashes in May, French military and intelligence officials have concluded, implicating Beijing in an effort to hammer the reputation and sales of France’s flagship fighter.

Findings from a French intelligence service seen by The Associated Press say defense attaches in China’s foreign embassies led a charge to undermine Rafale sales, seeking to persuade countries that have already ordered the French-made fighter — notably Indonesia — not to buy more and to encourage other potential buyers to choose Chinese-made planes.

The findings were shared with AP by a French military official on condition that the official and the intelligence service not be named.

Israel’s genocide against Palestinians is being sustained by a system of exploitative occupation and profit, a UN expert warned today in a new report to the Human Rights Council that reveals how corporate profiteering and monetary gain has enabled and legitimised Israel’s illegal presence and actions.

In short:

Russia has become the first country to formally recognise the Taliban's government in Afghanistan since it seized power in 2021.

Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry called Russia's official recognition a historic step.

The Taliban has sought international recognition while also enforcing its strict interpretation of Islamic law.

Kabul, a city of over six million people, could become the first modern city to run out of water in the next five years, a new report has warned.

Groundwater levels in the Afghan capital have dropped drastically due to over-extraction and the effects of climate change, according to a report published by nonprofit Mercy Corps.

Two Dutch intelligence agencies said on Friday that Russia is increasing its use of prohibited chemical weapons in Ukraine, including the World War I-era poison gas chloropicrin.

The Netherlands' military intelligence and the security service, together with the German intelligence service, found that the use of prohibited chemical weapons by the Russian military had become "standardized and commonplace" in Ukraine.

According to the findings, the Russian military uses chloropicrin and riot control agent CS against sheltering Ukrainian soldiers, who are then forced out into the open and shot.

For the first time in over a century, Parisians and tourists will be able to take a refreshing dip in the River Seine. The long-polluted waterway is finally opening up as a summertime swim spot following a 1.4 billion euro ($1.5 billion) cleanup project that made it suitable for Olympic competitions last year.

Three new swimming sites on the Paris riverbank will open on Saturday — one close to Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral, another near the Eiffel Tower and a third in eastern Paris.

Swimming in the Seine has been illegal since 1923, with a few exceptions, due to pollution and risks posed by river navigation. Taking a dip outside bathing areas is still banned for safety reasons.

"Many say Cape Verde is a beacon for other African countries," says long-serving Cape Verdean politician Gualberto do Rosario.

"I don't believe in such comparisons. Undoubtedly, Cape Verde scores better than many other African countries in various indices," the former prime minister (in 2000 and 2001) and chairman of the current ruling Movement for Democracy (MpD) tells DW. "But I think there is still much to do, and we should continue working to advance the country.

Development indices above average

Cape Verde has scored well on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with figures above average compared to African nations. These 17 global goals — including poverty reduction, education, and health — are worldwide targets for 2030.

But according to Do Rosario, comparisons with African mainland countries are only partly meaningful. He points to Cape Verde's history and geography: "Our islands were uninhabited and were only settled by European and African immigrants starting in the 1460s. That makes our development unique."

For him, Cape Verde's long fight against poverty and drought has shaped the islanders' will to survive and helped them progress even under difficult conditions.