news

Argentina today:

Guy who is sad that kissinger did not live long enough to see destruction of Israel. That guy is me.

An IDF spokesman: "During the fighting in Shegaia, the IDF force accidentally identified a number of hostages - the force fired at them and they were killed."

one of the ones shot was a Bedouin worker (not IDF)

Good news, the Germans will be gone from Mali pretty soon:

The Federal Ministry of Defense is sticking to its goal of completing the withdrawal of the Bundeswehr from Mali in West Africa by mid-December.
“We are on schedule,” assured a ministry spokesman in Berlin on Monday. According to him, there are currently around 280 soldiers on site: 160 in Gao, Mali, and 120 at the Niamey air transport base in neighboring Niger.

I have a dark suspicion with Ukraine..

so one of the Maine Corruptions that the Army does is not reportign the death of a soldier and then pocketing his wages .. this means , the more dead soldiers , the more wage you can Pocket...

New communiqué today from the exact same French frigate (Languedoc) as last time (here for the text, in French); saying a drone attack from Yemen targeted a Norwegian oil tanker, the Strinda, and the frigate intervened to protect it "successfully".

The tanker was nevertheless hit and a fire occurred on board, apparently. Ansar Allah also confirmed they hit it, saying it was carrying crude oil to Israel.

Is this just saber rattling?

Gallant warns Hezbollah: Israel can do in Beirut what it is doing in Gaza. The defense minister told reservists that Israel can "copy and paste" what it is doing to Hamas in Gaza onto Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Nitter

archive.today • Gallant warns Hezbollah: Israel can do in Beirut what it's doing in Gaza - The Jerusalem Post

Could the historic case of a trans sex worker end Malawi’s anti-LGBTIQ law?

Imprisoned in December 2021, Gonani, a 29-year-old Malawian trans woman, is currently serving an eight-year sentence at Chichiri men’s prison in Blantyre City for two counts of “false pretence” – for presenting as a woman – and one count of “unnatural offence” – both crimes under the country’s colonial era penal law.

In February 2022, with the help of Nyasa rainbow Alliance (NRA), a Malawian LGBTIQ organisation, Gonani filed an appeal in the High Court to challenge the constitutionality of Section 153 of this law pertaining to “unnatural offences”, a British colonial legal term for sodomy or homosexual sex.

...

This is the first time the “unnatural offence” law – Malawi’s only anti-homosexuality legislation – has been legally challenged on its constitutionality, making Gonani’s case a significant one in the fight for LGBTIQ rights.

Unlike other countries such as Ghana, Uganda and Kenya, there haven’t been efforts by the Malawian parliament to introduce new anti-gay laws, though a group of Malawian MPs did visit the Ugandan parliament in July where they praised its Anti-Homosexuality law passed this year.

Speaking to openDemocracy, Ousman Kennedy, a lawyer with NRA, said the organisation’s support for Gonani’s case was driven by the belief that: “[A] law that criminalises same sex relations between two consenting adults in private serves no useful purpose other than fueling the harassment and discrimination of LGBTI persons in Malawi.”

George Hopkins Kachimanga, executive director of the LGBTIQ-focused Social Justice Foundation, told openDemocracy homosexuality being criminalised in Malawi has made queer advocacy difficult.

The CNN correspondent is reporting from Sderot and for some reason he decided to stream from a place outside where there's faint music in the background. It's very hard to hear. I assume it's (very) loud live music from a distance. I can't even make out the vocals enough to know what language it's in but it sounds like smooth jazz. It gives the situation a dystopia vibe.

Emphasis mine.

Urgent Campaign Records Eyewitness Accounts of Antisemitic Terror Attacks in Israel | USC Shoah Foundation

"Both initiatives — recording interviews with survivors of the October 7 attacks and the ongoing collection of Holocaust testimony — seek to fulfill our promise to survivors: that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind. We must remain united and steadfast in these efforts."

— Steven Spielberg

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Steven Spielberg surely hasn't said anything righteous or even substantial about what's happening in Gaza.

A photojournalist took the photo in Gaza.

Israel drops leaflets in southern Lebanon

The Israeli army has warned residents of southern Lebanon not to help Hezbollah.

“Early Friday morning, a drone dropped leaflets over the village that landed between the houses,” a resident of Kfarshuba told AFP on the condition of anonymity due to safety concerns.

Another resident said leaflets were dropped twice after the wind blew many from the initial batch away.

“To the residents of south Lebanon, we inform you that the terrorist Hezbollah is infiltrating into your homes and your lands,” read a copy of a leaflet seen by the news agency.

“You must stop this terrorism for your own security,” the text added, warning the population that assisting Hezbollah would expose them “to danger”.

Since October 7, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in nearly daily cross-border exchanges of fire.

Your Friday Briefing

The EU has agreed to open membership talks with Ukraine, bypassing objections from Hungary. This doesn't mean that Ukraine will join any time soon - if Ukraine even exists at all in the coming years - just that the formal process towards that "eventuality" is beginning. This comes after a statement from Zelensky that Putin would have a "satisfied smile" if this didn't go through.

In addition, the EU has agreed on the 12th sanctions package, involving a ban on Russian non-industrial diamond imports and from third countries, starting next year, as well as an attempt to tighten the oil price cap and the ability of Russia to obtain dual-use goods from EU companies.

80% of Kazakhstan's infrastructure is ageing and in an advanced state of deterioration, with only a small percentage being upgraded, which is causing more and more technical problems - including a recent incident two days ago where a gas pipeline was damaged by cold, leaving many homes without gas heating.

China has mediated a ceasefire in northern Myanmar between the junta and an alliance of rebels, which has caused hundreds of thousands of refugees to flee. The rebel alliance still maintains its commitment to defeating the junta.

Guyana and Venezuela have agreed to avoid any escalation of conflict amid a recent heightening of tensions over the Esequbio area.

Haaretz Reporting 13 Israeli soldiers killed, mistakenly identified as Khamas.

Every time somebody at the White House uses the word "concerned" - they should get a heavy electric shock.

White House 'concerned' by reports Israel military is using white phosphorus

The White House says it is “concerned” over new reports that Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus in a bombing attack in Lebanon that injured civilians and burned down houses.

John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, has just been briefing reporters aboard Air Force One, and was asked about the allegations. Israel has previously denied it uses white phosphorus, which critics say put civilians at risk of serious and long-term injury, and is banned from use in civilian areas.

Kirby said the Biden administration would be raising the issue with Israel’s government:

We’ve seen the reports, we’re certainly concerned about that. We’ll be asking questions and trying to learn a little bit more. It’s important to remind that white phosphorus does have a legitimate military utility in terms of illumination and reducing smoke to conceal movements. And obviously any time that we provide items like white phosphorus to another military, it is with full expectation that it’ll be used for legitimate purposes and in keeping with the law of armed conflict.

a bottle was thrown at Milei during a parade. unfortunately it just missed

according to nakedcapitalism new economy minister of the libertarian devil is the one who fucked argentine in the first place.

Also be named argentine, never have any argent, smdh

Impossible to prevent spread of disease, Gaza doctor warns

Adnan El-Bursh - BBC Arabic correspondent in Rafah

Disease is continuing to spread across the Gaza Strip, especially in overcrowded shelters. I sat down with Dr Marwan al-Hams, the director of the Martyr Mohammed Yusuf al-Najjar Hospital, in the southern city of Rafah. The hospital has 63 beds, and is caring for 145 patients, some of whom lay on the hospital floor as we spoke. Rafah is now home to around one million displaced Palestinians, on top of the pre-war population of 300,000.

“The medical situation across Gaza but especially in Rafah is catastrophic,” Dr al-Hams tells me. He says hospitals are receiving patients with severe diarrhoea, fatigue and high temperature. There are also high rates of bacterial infections and skin diseases. Medicine to treat such conditions is hard to find. Food poisoning is another concern, linked to the lack of fresh drinking water and spread of water contaminated with sewage around displacement camps.

“People are resorting to eating old bread. They wash it, dry it in in front of a fire or over a heater and then eat it.”

- BBC

I wanna go back to the "Al Shifa proof" for a second. Even though all of it never really seemed to even sway Libs (even major lib places like CNN/BBC/NYT) never concluded it was a "command center".

I still find it weird that some of their proof was Hamas uniforms and some people believed them, when it seems that Hamas doesn't wear uniforms in Gaza. They only wear them for stuff like parades, the hostage exchanges and stuff like Oct 7.

"Extremely serious"? Are they trying to be funny?

US official to address reducing harm to civilians during visit to Israel. | CNN

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will conduct “extremely serious conversations” with Israeli officials during his visit this week, the White House said, as the US looks to press Israel to conduct a more “surgical” campaign against Hamas. Sullivan is expected to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu along with the Israeli war cabinet during the trip, which begins Thursday. He also plans to meet Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

The visit comes as the White House struggles to square President Joe Biden’s comments about Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza with the administration’s insistence that Israel’s “intent” is to limit civilian casualties. Sullivan also held talks in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

[Continues]

It's a summary so there's lots of stuff plus a hospital map.

Egypt should straight up close the canal for European ships until euros sanction Israel.

Death and Destruction in Gaza - John Mearsheimer

[..]As I watch this catastrophe for the Palestinians unfold, I am left with one simple question for Israel’s leaders, their American defenders, and the Biden administration: have you no decency?

Your Saturday Briefing

The Eurozone remains in recession, with the composite PMI falling from 47.6 to 47 despite expectations that it would rise slightly, marking 7 consecutive month below 50, or stagnation. In the UK, the services PMI rising might stop them from technically being in a recession, but it's not looking much better for them overall either.

As Pakistan continues to deport 1.7 million Afghanis back to Afghanistan - most of who were living in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces - their absence is causing labor shortages in agriculture and mining. The lack of migrant remittances heading from Pakistan to Afghanistan will also hurt Afghanistan, which is already among the poorest countries on the planet following the US's mission to bring freedom and democracy there.

Putin has stated that the coming decade will see a massive expansion of infrastructure, especially in railroads, linking Russia to south and east Asia.

China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has stated that the Middle East should no longer be a geopolitical arena of great powers, after a meeting with Iran and Saudi Arabia, which is kind of a hilarious statement to make with US aircraft carriers circling it like sharks.

The ruling emir of Kuwait, Sheikh-Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, has died at the age of 86. He took power in 2020 after the old emir died, and will be succeeded by Sheik Meshal Al Ahmad Al Jaber, who is 83 years old.

China is experiencing a cold snap, leading to yellow alerts for cold temperatures. It is predicted that in northern regions, daily low or average temperatures would approach or break records. Authorities are setting up relief supplies, and roads, railways, and schools are being closed, especially after a railway accident in Beijing after a train was unable to brake in time due to icy rails and collided with another train, injuring 515 people.

Somalia has received $4.5 billion in debt relief from the IMF and World Bank due to their implementation of a poverty reduction strategy and sound macroeconomic management. Citizens seem generally pleased.

The German Defense Minister, Pistorius, told the German troops that have been kicked out of Mali that they fulfilled their mission and their achievements were not in vain, which I suppose is technically true, if the objective of the mission was to not stop rebel groups and keep the country in a state of chaos to maintain extractive industries.

Eight million Chadians will vote in a referendum for a new constitution tomorrow; the yes side seems certain to win as the government has been waging a campaign for it. The referendum is the final step towards elections promised by the military government.

Two unidentified men had sex in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill in a Senate hearing room. Dudes rock.

Argentina's Presidential Spokesman has confirmed that the country is going through hyperflation, with inflation rising at 1% per day, or nearly 4000% per year. The government has simultaneously ordered protests to be made effectively illegal, promising harsh resistance in the face of any blockades.