www.independent.co.uk As markets melt down, Trump touts $5m gold card for wealthy immigrants
‘For $5 million, this could be yours,’ Trump says of card available to wealthy immigrants to buy a right to live and work in the U.S.
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No more 'made-in-China' in the U.S.? It's headed that way, Chinese exporters say
And the people that dont know this will never trust you nor hear your voice.
[citation needed]
As markets melt down, Trump touts $5m gold card for wealthy immigrants (featuring his face)
His eyes are too closely together in S1.
The iPhone was the first smartphone that hot insanely popular. It launched the app store model that's now used on every mobile platform including Android. Those apps have gotten hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in India and China who are doing e-commerce and opening small businesses from their phones. That's food on the table for the working class. They can earn money while looking after their children because they're not chained to a desktop computer for internet access. People in remote areas can know instantly about natural disasters and the news, educating them and making them active citizens in a democracy.
People across the world can chat with each other for nearly free using messaging and social media apps, and won't have to send letters or pay extra fees for long-distance calls. The iPhone got more people onto what formerly only Blackberry-owning business executive had.
It's such a first world thing to belittle the impact of smartphone (an industry which the iPhone shaped tremendously), when it has so much tangible impact, especially to working people.
arstechnica.com Meta claims torrenting pirated books isn’t illegal without proof of seeding
Meta’s copyright defense may hinge on court ignorance of torrenting terminology.
www.dawn.com Trump aid cut imperils water scheme in scorching Jacobabad
Non-profit says Trump’s aid embargo has blocked $1.5m earmarked to make the scheme viable in the long-term.
In one of the world’s hottest cities, fresh and filtered water can quench the searing onslaught of climate change — but US President Donald Trump’s foreign aid freeze threatens its vital supply, an NGO says.
The sun-parched city of Jacobabad sometimes surpasses 50 degrees Celsius in increasing heatwaves causing critical health problems like dehydration and heat-stroke.
In 2012, USAID committed a $66 million grant to uplift Sindh’s municipal services, including the flagship renovation of a plant pumping and purifying water from a canal 22 kilometres away.
But Pakistani non-profit HANDS says Trump’s aid embargo has blocked $1.5m earmarked to make the scheme viable in the long-term, putting the project at risk “within a few months”.
www.theguardian.com Off air: one by one, the Taliban are removing women’s voices from Afghan radio
As one of the last female-run stations in the country is silenced, a former broadcaster gives an inside view of the crackdown on women working in the media
As one of the last female-run stations in the country is silenced, a former broadcaster gives an inside view of the crackdown on women working in the media
Germany warns of Russian disinformation targeting election
Germany's interior ministry on Friday warned of a Russian disinformation operation attempting to influence the country's federal election campaign with fake videos spreading on social media in Hamburg and Leipzig.
The ministry said there were indications that the campaign was linked to the so-called "Storm-1516," a pro-Russian influence operation previously observed in the 2024 U.S. presidential election that was investigated by U.S. authorities.
Hamas says it is investigating possible error over hostage body
Hamas said on Friday it was investigating a possible error in identifying human remains handed to Israel under a ceasefire deal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened retaliation for failing to release the body of hostage Shiri Bibas.
Hamas was due to hand over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons Kfir and Ariel on Thursday along with the remains of a fourth hostage under the ceasefire deal that has halted fighting in Gaza since last month.
Four bodies were delivered and the identities of the Bibas boys and the other hostage, Oded Lifshitz, were confirmed.
But Israeli specialists said the fourth body was that of an unidentified woman and not Bibas, who was kidnapped along with her sons and her husband, Yarden, during the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The article in fact says this:
Hamas has said all four were killed in Israeli airstrikes while Israel had previously said it had ”grave concern” for the lives of the Bibas family.
Nowhere in the headline does it say who or what killed them, so you were never misled. It is you yourself who added new meaning to the headline by asserting without basis that it suggests Hamas was responsible. And you ended up having a strong emotional reaction to that meaning you invented.
If you have read the article past the headline before engaging in ad hominem, you would've known that the writer makes clear who said what on the responsibility for the deaths.
Israel confirms four dead hostages who will be returned from Gaza include young family
apnews.com Israel confirms 4 dead hostages who will be returned from Gaza include young family
An Israeli official says the bodies of the youngest and one of the oldest captives seized by Hamas during the attack that ignited the war in Gaza are expected to be returned.
The remains of the youngest and one of the oldest captives seized by Hamas during the attack that ignited the war in the Gaza Strip are expected to be returned on Thursday, an Israeli official said Wednesday.
The handover, part of the ceasefire agreement that has paused the fighting in Gaza, will include the bodies of a mother and her two young children whose fate was uncertain and a retired journalist in his 80s, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
It was the first Israeli confirmation that the bodies of Ariel and Kfir Bibas, who were 4 years old and 9 months old when they were taken captive on Oct. 7, 2023, were being returned along with their mother Shiri. A grassroots forum representing hostage families also confirmed the names.
apnews.com Huawei's tri-foldable phone hits global markets in a show of defiance amid US curbs
Chinese tech giant Huawei has held a global launch for the industry’s first tri-foldable phone. Analysts say it marked a symbolic victory for Huawei amid U.S. technology curbs but that challenges over pricing, durability, supply and app constraints may limit its success.
Huawei on Tuesday held a global launch for the industry’s first tri-foldable phone, which analysts said marked a symbolic victory for the Chinese tech giant amid U.S. technology curbs. But challenges over pricing, longevity, supply and app constraints may limit its success.
Huawei said at a launch event in Kuala Lumpur that the Huawei Mate XT, first unveiled in China five months ago, will be priced at 3,499 euros ($3,662). Although dubbed a trifold, the phone has three mini-panels and folds only twice. The company says it’s the thinnest foldable phone at 3.6 millimeters (0.14 inches), with a 10.2-inch screen similar to an Apple iPad.
www.bbc.com Japan: Man jailed for attempted murder of former PM Fumio Kishida
The 25-year-old hurled a homemade pipe bomb at the country's leader in 2023.
A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the attempted murder of Japan's former prime minister Fumio Kishida in 2023.
Ryuji Kimura, 25, hurled a pipe bomb at Kishida as the country's leader approached a crowd for a speech during an election event in the city of Wakayama.
Although Kishida was unharmed, the explosion of the homemade device caused minor injuries to a police officer and a member of the public.
'Real life Squid Game': Kim Sae-ron's death exposes Korea's celebrity culture
www.bbc.com Kim Sae-ron's death exposes South Korea's celebrity culture
Analysts say they are not optimistic that the ruthless "cancel culture" surrounding the industry will change.
Actress Kim Sae-ron's death in an apparent suicide has renewed criticism of South Korea's entertainment industry, which churns out stars but also subjects them to immense pressure and scrutiny.
Kim - who was found dead aged 24 at her home in Seoul on Sunday - had been bombarded with negative press coverage and hate online after a drink-driving conviction in 2022. Police have not provided further details about her death.
Experts found the circumstances leading to it depressingly familiar. Other celebrities also ended up taking their lives after careers upended by cyberbullying.
As Kim was laid to rest on Wednesday, analysts say they are not optimistic her death will lead to meaningful change.
See, this falls apart when there's another instance that focuses on solarpunk. When some communities on that instance become more popular and active than the communities in your local instance, you'd want to be subscribed to the solar punk communities on that new instance too. Now, your local feed is only showing you solarpunk communities hosted on slrpnk.net but not solarpunk communities on other instances. This distinction is not meaningful because where a community is hosted can be totally detached from the content. The users you know by handle can also be very active, if not more active, on other instances talking about solarpunk than slrpnk.net.
Unique interests can be already be self-curated by subscribing to certain communities. All apps have the subscribed feed. There's no need for communities of a certain type to be on one instance.
Edit: typo
I agree there's intention to present optimism and humanism in the face of conflict, but I find the execution to be lackluster. An example that comes to mind is Pike objecting to using mines in season 2 of DIS. He raises the issue directly to Cornwell, saying it's against Federation values. Then for some reason, the discussion becomes finding out why the Enterprise was diverted away from the Klingon war and ends praising Pike being "the best of Starfleet." The entire discussion about using unethical weaponry during wartime is sidetracked and left unresolved. The mines are still there on the station, and the responsibility of Starfleet Command for not taking down those Klingon mines is not explored.
Another example is the explanation of the Burn. From interviews I've seen, the intention behind the crying Kelpien is to highlight the need to understand and sympathize with people vastly different from you even when the universe is as vast with warp travel impossible. The resolution is Burnham and Saru finding this Kelpien and help him understand his visions and thoughts, calm him down, and make warping safe again. But this Kelpien lacks characterization from the beginning. The audience doesn't know him that well, and we don't know why we should sympathize with his personal resolution. It would be much stronger if the cause of the Burn is the Emerald Syndicate, which we have established as a hostile force against the Federation. And we know they have good cause to be suspicious of the Federation from Osyraa's meeting with Vance. In the show, despite this message of reaching out to the vastly different, the Federation and the Chain never understood each other and resorted to using force. Another good candidate for the cause of the Burn is Ni'Var, which has its reasonable suspicions of the Federation at the time.
Why did the UK refuse?
We already have Prodigy, Strange New Worlds, and Lower Decks under Kurtzman that are considered "optimistic." The question is, do kids want optimism?
You just didn't read the article carefully.
"Star Trek is dying." How would you sell it to a younger audience?
In a TrekCulture interview a week ago, Rob Kazinsky, who plays Zeph in Section 31, talked about his reaction to the S13 movie.
He revealed one interesting point from behind the scenes about why the movie was made:
When I got this job, I was like, "Ugh, Section 31 movie, why are they doing a Section 31 movie? It's gonna be hated from the get-go. No ones gonna want to watch a Section 31 movie. We're doing a TV-budget movie. This isn't going to be what people want..." And I spoke to Alex [Kurtzman] and I spoke to Olatunde [Osunsanmi] and they explained to me that Star Trek is dying. And I don't know if people know that. You know, I was talking about Star Trek at my gym where I fight. You know, I'm a boxer where I fight with a lot of kids - you know, I don't fight them but train them - none of them knew what Star Trek was. Could you imagine that?
He went on to say that Star Trek had never had a base as big as Harry Potter or Star
African leaders call for direct talks with rebels to resolve Congo conflict
Summary
Leaders at an unprecedented joint summit of Eastern and Southern African blocs aimed at defusing the crisis in Eastern Congo urged all parties to hold direct talks, including with Rwanda-backed rebels whose advance has fanned fears of a wider war.
In late January, the M23 rebels captured Goma, the largest city in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - the worst escalation of fighting in more than a decade that has left thousands dead. Despite announcing a unilateral ceasefire, they have continued to march south towards the city of Bukavu.
For context
- Reuters: Democratic Republic of Congo: What's happening and why are M23 rebels fighting?
- BBC: What's the fighting in DR Congo all about?
- The Conversation: [Rebels are continuing their march in eastern Congo – what is their long-term goal? (Author raised in the
www.france24.com EU far-right parties rally in Madrid behind slogan 'Make Europe Great Again'
After last year's European Parliament elections, in which far-right parties performed strongly in several countries, a rally Saturday in Madrid was a meant as a show of force by the EU parliament's biggest…
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and France's Marine Le Pen headlined a rally in Madrid on Saturday by Europe's biggest far-right bloc, buoyed by Donald Trump's return to power and calling for "a 180-degree pivot".
Patriots for Europe has realigned extreme-right forces in the European Union. It became the European Parliament's third-largest force after Orban helped launch it last year to pull the bloc towards the far right.
"Yesterday we were the heretics. Today we are the mainstream... We are the future," proclaimed Orban, sharing the stage with other leading extreme-right nationalists including Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and former Czech premier Andrej Babis.
China to roll back clean power subsidies after boom
China's top economic planning agency said on Sunday it was taking steps to scale back subsidies for renewable energy projects after a boom in solar and wind power installations.
China broke its own records for new solar installations in 2024 with installed capacity up 45% from the previous year. China now has almost 887 GW of installed solar power, more than six times the capacity of the United States, according to data from the International Renewable Energy Agency.
www.bbc.com Thai Gaza hostages: Freed men arrive home to tears of joy in Bangkok
"I don't know how to put it into words," says one of the hostages released from Gaza last month.
Five Thai farm workers released by Hamas in Gaza last month have arrived home in Bangkok, after spending nearly 500 days in captivity.
Pongsak Thaenna, Sathian Suwannakham, Watchara Sriaoun, Bannawat Saethao and Surasak Lamnao had all been working in southern Israel when they were kidnapped during the attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Taiwan economics officials to meet with Trump's team to avoid 100% tariff on chips
focustaiwan.tw Economics officials to meet with Trump's team to avoid 100% tariff on chips - Focus Taiwan
Two senior officials from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will visit Washington and meet with U.S. President Donald Trump's team in an effort to prevent the imposition of tariffs potentially as high as 100 percent on chips from Taiwan.
Indonesia continues to miss its energy transition targets
Highlights
Missed targets:
Indonesia’s energy transition efforts are continuously being undermined by policy inconsistencies and missed targets. Despite government regulations setting a limit of coal use at 30 per cent of the total energy mix by 2025, state electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara’s (PLN) coal use target was 62 per cent during the same period.
Renewable energy, which was supposed to reach 23 per cent of Indonesia’s energy mix by 2025, only reached 13.9 per cent in December 2024, even falling short of the revised target of 17–19 per cent by 2025.
The government is pushing EVs but the energy mix is still largely coal:
Electric vehicle policies fail to address that the electricity sector is Indonesia’s second largest emissions contributor, since the country favours coal for its electricity generation. And biomass cofiring is ineffective — 2.3 million hectares of land would be required to fire 52 power plants, potentially increasing emissions by 26.5 m
Hmmm... This sounds like DEI?
It's an example of one company coercing another to enshittify for revenue. Getty also gets the blame here.
Germany got 60% of its electricity from renewables in 2024, and two thirds are planning to get home solar, meaning it is on track for its goal to be a 100% renewables nation within 10 years.
www.euronews.com How did Germany reach a record green power mix in 2024?
Reducing coal usage and making permits easier has helped renewables become “the backbone of the system” in Germany.
- Google Image Search removing the ability to go directly to the raw image after Getty complained that web users are bypassing its website and therefore not generating traffic
- Facebook removing chronological feed
- Facebook showing you pages that you never followed on your home feed without the ability to turn this off
- Microsoft trying to introduce ads to Explorer and the start menu
- Microsoft making it difficult to create a local Windows account by making the process unintuitive, leading the user to believe that a Microsoft account is needed to use Windows
- Apple dropping support for iOS web apps because it doesn't want to support browsers other than Safari
- Reddit and Twitter's ban of third-party API use that killed nearly all third-party clients
- EA producing games that require users to be always online, despite the game being single-player, presumably as a DRM measure
- Ad companies making it easy for you to give consent to data sharing and selling but really difficult for you to opt-out
Edit: More examples
I don't like the normalizing of using "woke" to describe progressives.
Is this on Wikifeet yet?
That's not correct. This is the origin report under the Biden administration from the Intelligence Community. This is the summary:
[...] the IC was able to reach broad agreement on several other key issues. We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon. Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way. Finally, the IC assesses China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged.
After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, though, the IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.
- Four IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus—a virus that probably would be more than 99 percent similar to SARS-CoV-2. These analysts give weight to China’s officials’ lack of foreknowledge, the numerous vectors for natural exposure, and other factors.
- One IC element assesses with moderate confidence that the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These analysts give weight to the inherently risky nature of work on coronaviruses.
- Analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, with some analysts favoring natural origin, others a laboratory origin, and some seeing the hypotheses as equally likely.
- Variations in analytic views largely stem from differences in how agencies weigh intelligence reporting and scientific publications and intelligence and scientific gaps.
The IC judges they will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19 unless new information allows them to determine the specific pathway for initial natural contact with an animal or to determine that a laboratory in Wuhan was handling SARS-CoV-2 or a close progenitor virus before COVID-19 emerged.
Empire: A bland comedy spacecapade stuck between two (strange new) worlds
Hollywood Reporter: Not Even Michelle Yeoh Can Save Paramount+’s Subpar Spinoff Movie
New York Times: Set the Phasers to Shun
Los Angeles Times: ‘Star Trek: Area 31’ is diverting, but it’s more pilot episode than film (weird and glaring typo in the headline)
Space.com: It isn't classic 'Trek', but the Paramount+ exclusive offers some flashy fun
The article doesn't say it's happening. This is from another source:
Mao Xiangdong, vice-president of the Shanghai Institute of Technology and a member of the standing committee of the municipal people’s congress, proposed the idea during Shanghai’s ongoing legislative sessions, according to a post by China Development News, a newspaper under the National Development and Reform Commission.
It is not clear when the post was put online but it was removed on Friday morning