Category Archives: News to use

Useful news for all to advance knowledge of the world and how it works

Six months on, the Yanomami crisis continues amid rising violence

With the “medical emergency” declaration, the press noted at the time, Lula was able to restore health services to the Yanomami, dismantled during the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro.

But, six months on, most international press attention has ceased even as the humanitarian crisis and brutal violence continue. Interviews with people close to the situation on the ground reveal that restoring health services has not been easy, and some of the conditions that caused the crisis in the first place remain unresolved. In just weeks, Brazil’s Congress is due to decide on whether to pass a proposed law that would legalize extractive activities. Will this new law, PL490, which Indigenous leaders and supporters have been vocally resisting, complicate the government’s current efforts to help the Yanomami?

Source: Six months on, the Yanomami crisis continues amid rising violence

The G.O.P. Backed Gal Luft on Hunter Biden Claims. Now He’s Indicted. – The New York Times

Mr. Luft, prosecutors said, helped Chinese arms manufacturers sell anti-tank launchers, grenade launchers and mortar rounds to Libya (he referred to them as toys in communications obtained by the government), bombs and rockets to the United Arab Emirates and military drones to Kenya. He told an associate that the unwillingness of U.S. officials to sell weapons to Kenya provided them with an “opportunity” for profit, prosecutors said.

He also carved out a role as a middleman in transactions to broker sales of oil from Iran, in violation of U.S. sanctions, ordering a business associate to refer to the products as Brazilian petroleum, the government charged. In one instance, Mr. Luft received a letter telling him explicitly that a shipment of the oil was Iranian but that it should be “be presented as U.A.E. origin without Iranian papers,” according to the filing.

At the same time, he was using his post as co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Gaithersburg, Md., to exert political influence on behalf of Beijing, according to the Justice Department.

‘Missing witness’ who accuses Biden of China corruption charged with being China agent | Joe Biden | The Guardian

A US thinktank chief who accuses Joe Biden of China-linked corruption involving his son, Hunter Biden, and who has been presented by Republicans as a “missing” witness against the president, was charged with China-linked offenses including failing to register as a foreign agent, arms trafficking and violations of sanctions on Iran.

Gal Luft, 57 and a dual US-Israeli citizen, is co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), based in Maryland, near Washington.

He was charged on Monday in absentia, having skipped bail in Cyprus in April while awaiting extradition.

Source: ‘Missing witness’ who accuses Biden of China corruption charged with being China agent | Joe Biden | The Guardian

Twitter’s approach to free speech backed by Taliban official | Euronews

The Taliban government now uses Twitter for its main announcements and most of the ministries have official accounts, although none of them seem to have paid for the blue tick since Twitter changed its account certification system at the beginning of the year.

Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, is actively closing accounts associated with the Taliban.

Accounts with the words “Taliban”, “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” or featuring the movement’s distinctive white flag are quickly closed, according to social network observers.

Last year, Facebook closed the pages of RTA, Afghanistan’s public radio and television station, and the Bakhtar news agency, saying it was complying with US law that lists the Taliban as a “terrorist organisation”.

Source: Twitter’s approach to free speech backed by Taliban official | Euronews

Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e28: Don’t Be Dishonest

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

  Last episode was bölüm/episode 27: Sihirli Annem (My Magical Mom) s1e27: Don’t Be a Twit  ;

 

The summary comes from a fellow blogger (Birgit)’s point of view.

In this episode Suzan is one of the main characters for a change. For a long time now she has been disappointed in her marriage, her husband watching out for fairies all the time. Her usual reaction to that is aggressiveness. She is talking to Betüs about it at the café when suddenly the electricity is cut off by a rainstorm.

Betüs wants to collect her husband from the office to take a nice walk back home in the rain, but Suzan decides to stay a bit longer as she does not feel she has something or somebody to go home to. After Betüs is gone, a man comes rushing into the café to get out…

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♫ Right Here Waiting For You ♫ (Redux)

Filosofa's Word

No particular reason for playing this one tonight … I just wanted to!


Singer and songwriter Richard Marx wrote this song on the road as a love letter to his wife, actress Cynthia Rhodes.

“I wrote the song for my wife Cynthia who was in South Africa shooting for a film. We were not married then and I wanted to meet her because I had not seen her for a few months. But my visa application was rejected and when I came back I wrote this song which was more of a letter from me to her. It was the fastest song I wrote, in barely 20 minutes. And this was the time when there was no Skype and Social networking so I had to ship the track to her. The song was very personal and was not intended to go public. But my friends pursued me to record it.”

A…

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