Lemdro.id

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/8651983

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Federal officials have ramped up their monitoring of Tehran’s threats against members of the Iranian diaspora in Canada, a senior public safety executive said Tuesday at a conference in Ottawa.

“We’re keeping a very close eye on their actions,” Sebastien Aubertin-Giguere, the national counter-foreign interference coordinator and an associate assistant deputy minister at Public Safety Canada, said at the Ottawa Civic Space Summit.

“Especially the Iranians have a history of, whenever they feel challenged and whenever the diaspora gets active, they have a history of fighting back. And they have also, unfortunately, a history of lethal activities.”

He made the remarks during a panel discussion at a conference held by Co-operation Canada, which represents dozens of Canadian non-profits working in international assistance.

Aubertin-Giguere said technology and rising geopolitical competition have made it cheaper and more advantageous for authoritarian states to reach out “beyond their borders to harass and try to silence the people they disagree with,” including in Canada.

“We’re seeing an uptick. At the same time, Canada’s demography is changing and it means that in many ways, Canada becomes a battleground for the political fights of the home country. So it creates sort of the conditions for transnational repression,” he said.

...

Meanwhile, for many members of the Iranian diaspora in Canada, it’s not the oil embargo at the Strait of Hormuz or the diplomacy in Islamabad that is top of mind. They simply want to stay in touch with their families back in Iran.

Eight weeks into the war and far away from flying missiles, the Iranian diaspora in Canada struggles with focusing on their everyday lives as concerns grow about their families in their native land ...The internet blackout imposed by the Tehran government since February 2 has significantly affected the Iranian diaspora ...

Mozdeh Rouz, a Montreal resident, has noticed hair loss due to the extreme stress she has faced from recent uncertainty. She has been able to contact her family, although infrequently – about twice a month for only a few minutes at a time.

“It’s not a normal life … It’s full of stress, full of bad feelings,” she said ..

hope i'm doing it right ;-)

cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/femcelmemes/p/390197/don-t-use-ai-use-me-3

Don't use ai, use me :3

Since alt text is being dumb

A pink monochrome image with Sailor Jupiter with the caption "Don't ask ChatGPT, I can give you disinformation and I'm beautiful and have great taste in manga!"

Image by @usagiboots

Japan’s Minister of Defense Shinjirō Koizumi posed with a cardboard drone on Monday during a meeting with drone manufacturer AirKamuy. The AirKamuy 150 is a cheap pre-fab cardboard drone meant to die on the battlefield and it comes shipped in a flatpack like an IKEA shelf.

Context behind this question:

So I watched some Chinese Youtubers recently (apparantly they crossed the firewall and there is a "trend" of this recently? not sure...) and watching some footage, which then triggered some old memories, again...

So when I was a kid in Guangzhou City, it was like 2008 and I had issues with home (fight with older brother) so I remember "running away" (not actually running away just impulse decision lol, I was 6 years old, what was I gonna do? no survival skills lmao) from home for a few hours... and I wandered like a very long distance away from home so when I came back several hours later, I noticed the police were only searching nearby my house, they might not have found me if I didn't get scared and decide to come back myself.

So fast forward to now, with all these cameras everywhere...

Hypothetically, if I was a kid again and I did that same "running away" thing, how long would it take for the police to find me? Like one hour? 10 minutes?

Like I can imagine them just stopping me within 5 minutes and be like: (in Mandarin) "Hey kid where to do think you're going? Stop being a disobedient child and go back home" 💀

Okay maybe this is a stupid question, lol (still kinda traumatized from that day, so this is sort of cartharisis for me)

Bahrain’s decision to strip dozens of its nationals of citizenship after accusing them of sympathising with Iran during the ongoing Middle East war will leave Shia Muslims with Iranian heritage at risk, a human rights group has warned. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry announced on social media this week the 69 people whose citizenship have been revoked included accused individuals and their family members – an act that critics termed as “collective punishment”. They affected people are all of non-Bahraini origin. The announcement came as the Gulf kingdom continues to navigate the fallout from the regional war triggered after Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran in February, and Tehran retaliated across the region. The ministry said: "The Bahraini nationality has been revoked from ​those individuals for glorifying or sympathising with the hostile Iranian acts, ⁠or engaging in contacts with external parties.” Under Bahraini law, a person can be stripped of citizenship if they are deemed to have caused “harm to ​the interests of the Kingdom or acting in a manner that contradicts ​the duty of loyalty to it."

Duration - 2:02
[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

Renee is a surgeon from Philadelphia who speaks out against the U.S. government’s economic war on Cuba. After visiting the island, she says the healthcare system is under severe strain: shortages of medicine and basic supplies, limited resources and constant blackouts that disrupt patient care.

According to Renee, these restrictions are harming ordinary people and making medical treatment increasingly difficult. “People are not being saved. People are being harmed,” she says. “If we really supported human rights in the United States, Cuba wouldn’t be in this situation.”

U.S. Voices Against the Blockade is a series featuring U.S. activists who oppose U.S. sanctions on Cuba. Watch Episode 1 to hear Renee’s voice and stay tuned to hear other people from the United States speaking out against U.S. sanctions.

“If it's true that it is the Cuban government that is causing the problems, then lift the blockade, let the oil in and let's see what happens,” she says.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm2518379

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/51301861

A new law will ban retailers from using shoppers' personal data to hike grocery prices—but consumer advocates warn it contains loopholes that companies could exploit.

The Belgian government signed on Thursday a Letter of Intent to acquire Electrabel's (ENGIE) entire nuclear operations in the country. Such a move would reverse the phase-out of nuclear energy legislation adopted in the early 2000s amid safety concerns. Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever stated that the country is aiming to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and gain greater autonomy in managing its own energy supplies.