news

Shot: https://www.thepinknews.com/2025/07/16/labour-conference-passport-gender-checks/

Kerr Stürmer has decreed that the national labourite conference will mandate that participants report the gender on their passports, which is both useless and performatively evil in equal measure.

Chaser: https://skwawkbox.org/2025/07/16/starmer-on-track-to-lose-his-seat-to-the-corbyn-party-that-doesnt-even-exist-yet/

Corbyn's still-hypothetical party that has already been mired in a power struggle behind the scenes... is polling highest for Starmer's own seat.

Of course we're 4 years off the next GE and the party hasnt even registered itself yet (and these polls don't even know who would run for the seat!!) so don't take this at any deeper than "lol lmao get fucked kerr stürmer"

The Rot Behind The Rainbow: One In Five Danes Holds Homophobic Beliefs, New Study Reveals

Denmark presents itself as a gleaming bastion of LGBTQ tolerance, its rainbow flags fluttering proudly against crisp Nordic skies, a model of enlightenment for supposedly less civilized nations to emulate. Yet, a landmark study from the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) and Aalborg University reveals that beneath this polished veneer, homophobia remains stubbornly entrenched, festering in the shadows of its progressive self-image.

This world-first representative national mapping of homophobic attitudes, involving 31,808 Danes aged 15 to 89, delivers a sobering verdict: 22% of this ostensibly liberal populace deems sex between same-sex partners morally wrong. The prejudice wears a distinctly masculine face, 29% of men hold this view, compared to just 14% of women. Age deepens the stain dramatically: a remarkable 58% of men over 75 cling to such beliefs. While fading somewhat among the young, it persists stubbornly; 16% of men aged 15 to 24 still profess homophobic views.

Chinese Experiments in Socialist Modernisation

Volume 3 of Wenhua Zongheng, Issue no. 1 / June, 2025

This issue of Wenhua Zongheng (文化纵横) explores socialist experiments, China’s unique industrial development, and debates over agrarian transformation amidst ideological struggles.

not really news per say, but maybe of interest for the newsmega head? i wish we had weekly theory megas so we could bully each other into doing some more reading. it would probably be good for the site culture

Venezuela and Colombia sign agreement to create an economic and peace zone. The Executive Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, assured that both countries seek to consolidate an agreement that allows the creation of a binational peace zone with emphasis on strategic sectors between both nations.

• Telesur English

https://www.techpowerup.com/338937/nvidia-officially-resumes-h20-gpu-shipments-to-china

So, my Gut reaction to Israeli air strikes on Damascus is it’s just a flex of “Look how many capitals we can hit” adding to Beirut, Sanaa, Tehran. As a way to exert pressure on Egypt and Jordan to participate in ethnic cleansing by accepting Palestinian refugees.

Apparently Hersh thinks Zelensky is cooked.

https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-end-for-zelensky Is anyone still subscribed and can get the full article?

US attacks on Iran damaged only one of three nuclear sites targeted: Report

Nvidia chips likely have a vulnerability that can cause bit flips and severely degrade the efficiency of neutral nets - arstechnica https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/07/nvidia-chips-become-the-first-gpus-to-fall-to-rowhammer-bit-flip-attacks/

For mitigation, Nvidia recommend enabling error correction (ECC) which decreases performance by 10%

Does this mean things are going well? Bolsonaro’s other son — this one a sitting senator, not the congressman conspiring against his country in the US — suggested Trump back off the 50% threat and instead target individual Brazilians for sanction. He has since deleted the tweet

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Russia responds to Trump's ceasefire ultimatum: Moscow does not accept threats.

Trump has been diagnosed with Chronic venous insufficiency

Idk what that means though but I hope he suffers

Syrian State TV coverage suddenly ends. Syrian local sources deny that the clashes have spread inside As-Suweyda and clarify that they are confined to the outskirts of the city. Reports of Israeli airstrikes in Homs. Reports that Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa and his family have left Damascus – Al-Mayadeen

Al Mayadeen has claimed that an assassination operation targeted 3 major figures in the Syrian Transitional Administration, including Defense Minister Marhaf Abu Qasra.

The TV station was stormed by a rogue Syrian military unit – Al Mayadeen

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In a joint letter, the governments of Chile, Brazil, Spain, Colombia and Uruguay defend the democratic regime and call on society to react against American authoritarianism and Latin American and European fascism.

“I am certain that no kind of intimidation or threat, from anyone, will compromise the most important mission of national powers and institutions, which is to act permanently in defense and preservation of the Democratic Rule of Law,” wrote Brazilian President, Lula da Silva.

"They are a people who know how to defend their sovereignty. Even Brazilian businessmen have decided to support Lula and that's how it should be, all together," wrote Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

"Fascism needs to be fought because it's not an ideology, it's a crime against humanity." wrote Chilean President, Gabriel Boric.

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Israeli Air Force F-16 seen popping flares while carrying out airstikes against HTS forces in Syria

Does HTS not have someone with some sort of man portable air defence system, like a stinger or igla missile, to aim at the very visible Israeli aircraft? Are they just going to let themselves be bombed by Israel? The Israelis are just straight up flying over them, well within visual range.

tfw you miss bond posting/collapse of dollar imminent time-window and now yields are lower than 5% again. mr trump, fire jpow pls

Ignoring the failed US attacks, China grew by 5.2% in the second quarter, above the estimates of Reuters and the Wind consultancy. Industrial production rose 6.8% and retail sales rose 4.8%. The National Bureau of Statistics pointed out that the stimuli adopted since 2024 are having an effect.

The country should reach the 5% growth target by 2025, even with the tariffs imposed by US leader Trump. Exports grew by 5.8% in June, with a 17% rise to Southeast Asia and a 16.1% drop to the US. Domestic consumption now accounts for more than half of Chinese growth.

• Telegram

Canada's NDP intends to nominate UN Special Rapporteur for the Nobel Peace Prize

In a direct reference to President Donald Trump, Lula was emphatic: "We don't accept anyone, from any country outside Brazil, meddling in our internal problems. This is the first time in the history of this country that we have three four-star generals in jail. And they're not in jail for nothing. They're in prison because they tried to stage a coup. And they're going to be tried, not because Lula wants them to be. They're going to be tried on the basis of the case file."

The president compared the Brazilian situation to the attempted coup in the United States in 2021: “If Trump had tried here in Brazil what he did on Capitol Hill, he could also be arrested.” Lula continued in a confrontational tone. "It's not a gringo who's going to order this president of the Republic. I know who I have to respect in this country. That person's name has only four letters: his name is the Brazilian people."

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Three LA sheriff's pigs killed in office involved explosion

apnews.com/article/facility-sheriff-los-angeles-dead-explosion-da7ad1fdc444bbb7d8c14f33b44333e6

https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/federal-court-hands-down-decision-in-australian-climate-case/av8f97gqv

No duty of care: Torres Strait Islander Uncles lose their climate case against the Australian Government

Federal Court judge Michael Wigney has found that while Torres Strait Islanders are at the forefront of climate change, the plaintiffs did not prove their case of Commonwealth negligence.

New York State will now offer universal free school meals to its pupils from September this year. The measure is part of the new state budget, signed into law by Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, and guarantees two meals. New York State will now offer universal free school meals to its students from September this year.

The measure is part of the new state budget, signed into law by Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, and guarantees two meals. As well as fighting hunger, the governor is betting on better school performance. “No student should go to school hungry,” said Hochul. New York now joins eight other states with universal free school meals, such as California and Massachusetts.

Before that the children and teenagers were given a magnetic card, like a prepaid debit card, which was filled by their families. If a student didn't have any money on the card, the card would go negative. At the end of the school year, the family was charged by the state.

These individual debts became known as meal debts. If the family doesn't pay the bill, the debt migrates to the school district, which has to “plug the hole” with resources from the general fund, money that could pay for teachers or teaching materials.

The State School Board estimates that, when all 700 districts in NY are added together, meal debts amount to 25 million dollars a year. All to avoid giving children free food.

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the Ezra Klein episode on Epstein that just came out is so fucking painful. Why does it take 45 minutes for them to say "Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself...probably."

There have been clashes between HTS government forces and allied Bedouin militias, and Druze militias, in Suwayda and the surroundings, over the past day. Over 90 have been killed and the IOF claims to have struck HTS regime tanks.

https://apnews.com/article/syria-clashes-druze-bedouins-sweida-be7e45ae4adc631b758d2bebfb06e0a1

Chinese premier announces construction of Yarlung Zangbo hydropower project

NYINGCHI, Xizang, July 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced Saturday the start of the construction of a hydropower project in the lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River.

Li, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, made the announcement while attending a groundbreaking ceremony in Nyingchi City, southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

The groundbreaking ceremony took place at the dam site of Nyingchi's Mainling hydropower station. Representatives from various organizations, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Power Construction Corporation of China, spoke at the ceremony.

The ceremony was also attended by members of an expert advisory committee for the construction of the hydropower project, as well as representatives of local residents.

The project will consist of five cascade hydropower stations, with a total investment estimated at around 1.2 trillion yuan (about 167.8 billion U.S. dollars).

The project will primarily deliver electricity for external consumption while also addressing local demand in Xizang.

A ceremony has recently been held in Beijing to inaugurate the China Yajiang Group Co., Ltd. for the smooth construction and operation of the hydropower project. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing, also a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, attended the inauguration ceremony. ■

Lula's disapproval and approval ratings have tied for the first time since November 2024. According to Bloomberg, the rise in approval is directly linked to Lula's actions against Trump and the right-wing parties, two entities that have been blackmailing the federal government in recent weeks.

• Disapprove: 50.3% (-1.5)

• Approve: 49.7% (+2.4)

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• Tweet with the Polls in Portuguese

@FuckyWucky@hexbear.net

So, as I understood, Turkey and the gulf states were OK with the Julani comprador state if it meant stability in the region and kicking Iran out.

I can't imagine they are too happy at the destabilization taking place in Syria. Will they spring into action?

New patterns are being observed in Russian large scale air raids on Ukraine. Over the last two attacks, Russia has been fully loading it's Tu-95MSM bombers with Kh-101 cruise missiles, a first in the war. A single Tu-95MSM can carry 8 Kh-101 cruise missiles at a time, all on external pylons/hardpoints, it can't carry the Kh-101 internally (only the Kh-55 and it's conventionally armed variants can be carried internally). In the first attack about a week or two ago, Russia fired 26 cruise missiles from 4 Tu-95MSM bombers, and two days ago they fired 15 missiles from 2 Tu-95 MSM bombers, according to monitoring channels for the number of bombers, and the Ukrainian Air Force for the amount of missiles fired. So close to, or just over the maximum payload. Either a miscount by the Ukrainian Air Force (monitoring the movements of strategic bombers is a lot more difficult now, and Ukraine has always been shoddy with interception rates, intercepting 25/26 missiles obviously did not happen), or Russia fired an inert Kh-55 as a decoy, or some remaining Kh-555 stock (no longer in production). Either way, the trend is clear.

That brings the question, why only now? In my opinion, it's because of three reasons: the loss of multiple Tu-95 MSM specification bombers to Ukrainian attacks (Operation Spiderweb), the drag penalty, and aerial refueling being a scarce resource in the Russian Air Force.

Fully loading an aircraft with external weapons stores comes at a large penalty to aircraft performance and range due to the increased aerodynamic drag, which reduces top speed and cruise speed, increases fuel consumption, may require more maintenance due to increased stress on components, etc. Russia, before the start of the Ukraine war, only had 19 Il-78 aerial refueling aircraft in service, and bombers may require multiple aircraft to refuel during a mission if fully loaded, these are large planes. So it made more strategic sense for the Russian Air Force to fly out more bombers from airbases like Olenya, with partial weapons loads, and avoid the the use of aerial refueling.

However, with the loss of multiple Tu-95 MSM bombers to the Ukrainian attack, this strategy is no longer optimal. So now Russia fully loads the bombers up with Kh-101 cruise missiles, and if they're flying from further out than Olenya (one of the airbases where Russia lost bombers), they utilise aerial refueling so that they can have the required amount of fuel to get to the launch lines and return to base. The latest mission was the first to utilise aerial refueling according to monitoring channels. Kh-101 cruise missile attacks are also increasingly supplemented by ground launched Kalibr cruise missiles, from the Iskander K system, to supplement the numbers.

▶️ Israeli PM Netanyahu announces plans to occupy southern Syria, from the Golan Heights to the Druze Mountain near Damascus.

@PressTV (Iran) telegram w/video of Bibi doing peace through strength BS.

Russian forces liberated another ten settlements this week (seven in the Donetsk People's Republic, two in Zaporozhye oblast, and one in Kharkov oblast): https://sputnikglobe.com/20250718/russias-weekly-military-gains-precision-strikes-and-ten-liberated-settlements-1122455709.html

Some combat footage of one of these settlements (Voskresenka, in the DPR) being liberated: https://s5.cdnstatic.space/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/voskresenka.mp4?_=4