Global News & Politics

If all the attacks on the U.S. missile defense radars were successful, this could potentially lead to a significant weakening of U.S. missile defense capabilities in the region and increase the likelihood of Iranian missiles reaching their targets.

cross-posted from : https://sopuli.xyz/post/41846085

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60271479

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cross-posted from : https://lemmings.world/post/42220440

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.ca/post/61366641

For a generation disillusioned by endless war overseas and financial hardship at home, China is starting to look like a promising alternative.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60266464

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Russia’s economy has entered a phase of contraction for the first time since March 2023, with a 2.1% year-on-year drop in GDP for January, compared to the same month in 2025, The Moscow Times reported on March 5, citing Russia’s Ministry of Economic Development.

Ilya Eliseev, a former university classmate of former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, is more than just a “wallet” holding the inexplicably wealthy civil servant’s luxury assets — he is also the owner of a firm that fulfills contracts for a sanctioned Russian company working in the field of missile production.

Sydney (AFP) – Australia’s online regulator warned porn websites they must block under-18s from Monday under sweeping new restrictions to protect children.

The Royal Mint Court Residents’ Association (RMCRA) has filed a High Court challenge to the UK Government’s decision to grant planning permission for the redevelopment of the Royal Mint Court site into a new Chinese “super-embassy”.

More than 200 people were killed on Tuesday in a landslide triggered by heavy rains at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s mining ministry said late Wednesday.

Global health body investigating reports that four medics are among the 1,230 people killed in Iran since start of war

Germany said Thursday it will not join US and Israeli strikes against Iran and ruled out supporting concrete measures aimed at regime change in the country, Anadolu reports.

Lawmakers cite ‘consistent pattern’ in which Americans are being killed ‘without justice or accountability’

Slovenian Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon on Thursday condemned attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran as “unacceptable violations of international law,” according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry, Anadolu reports.

Maiquetía (Venezuela) (AFP) – Venezuela and the United States are restoring diplomatic ties, the two countries announced Thursday, in a new sign of thawing relations after Washington ousted former president Nicolas Maduro.

Philippine authorities have apprehended three defense personnel who allegedly spied on behalf of China in what the country’s security agency has described as a “serious national security matter,” its spokesman said Thursday.

Guatemala City (AFP) – The government of El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, known for a harsh crackdown on street gangs and dissent, is holding dozens of political prisoners, a rights group charged Thursday.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60254376

The European Commission has agreed with the European Parliament to ban the sale of vegetarian whole foods under meat-sounding names such as “steak”, “bacon” and “chicken”.

Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council has approved transferring key leadership powers to the country’s interim three-member leadership council, including authority over senior military and security appointments and decisions on war or peace, spokesperson Mohsen Dehnavi said on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France will support the Lebanese army and called on Israel “not to expand the war to Lebanon”.

After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine four years ago, Finland joined NATO and has been accelerating and revamping its defense plans.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported on Thursday that Germany’s proposed amendment to the basic income program for job seekers would undermine fundamental human rights and violate the country’s constitution, urging parliament to reject the bill.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia has not received any requests for assistance from Iran, including military support, Anadolu reports.

In an interview with NBC, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran is “not asking for a ceasefire” and sees no reason to negotiate with the United States.

Trump wants to ‘pick’ the new Supreme Leader as if it’s some sort of a beauty pageant. Not sure if its delirium or plain idiocy

While there is an opportunity for Kurdish groups to make gains while Iran is under attack, there are greater risks of history repeating itself

Mexican officials met with FIFA to coordinate security for the World Cup, as Mexico looks to reassure visitors of their safety ahead of June.

In the first hours of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, up to 175 young children and school staff were blown to pieces at an elementary school. Others were maimed and burned, and will be suffering from their injuries for the rest of their lives. Even any comparatively fortunate ones with minimal injuries will surely experience permanent trauma from having witnessed something so horrific. Witnesses describe scenes of unfathomable horror, with limbs and blood strewn across classrooms. “People were pulling out children’s arms and legs. People were pulling out severed heads,” said a woman whose child was killed. The Guardian cites verified videos that show “children’s bodies lying partly buried under the debris":

Iran’s foreign ministry said that the United States and Israeli strikes are deliberately hitting civilian areas across the country.

The 1969 Creedence Clearwater Revival classic, Fortunate Son, was a protest anthem that the IDF are now disgustingly misusing

Trump was calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” who “does not have the cards” in the Ukraine war just a year ago.

A report presented to the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Council states that Israeli practices against Palestinians since 7th October 2023 may amount to genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

On the morning of 28th February, I woke to an emergency alert telling everyone in Qatar to stay indoors. Moments later came the sounds, blasts, intercepted drones, the unmistakable audio of a region entering war. I write from Doha, from inside a country that has spent years constructing the diplomatic infrastructure that made this region’s fragile stability possible. I am not a distant analyst watching these events through a screen. I woke up inside them.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday that he could not rule out his country taking part militarily in the ongoing Middle East conflict.

Exclusive: Member of working group behind questionnaire had no idea it would eventually be underpinned by ‘ridiculously simplistic’ algorithm

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60216737

British police arrested three men, including the husband of a sitting MP, on suspicion of spying for China. The news comes weeks after Keir Starmer traveled to Beijing in a bid to repair ties with the country.

“India should convey its deep concern and displeasure that you [the US] brought maritime warfare to our doorstep,” Former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) told India Today TV. The sinking of the Iranian warship “shows the Iran-US-Israel war has come to our doorstep”, he said.

Beijing (AFP) – China announced a seven percent boost to its defence budget for 2026 on Thursday as it steadily increases spending to counter the United States and enforce its claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60195609

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Beijing (AFP) – China has expressed its anger over Israeli-US strikes on Iran but, despite hits to its oil imports, will not risk its interests by confronting Washington and helping its long-standing partner, analysts say.

San Francisco (United States) (AFP) – The family of a Florida man who took his own life filed suit against Google on Wednesday, alleging the company’s Gemini AI chatbot spent weeks manufacturing an elaborate delusional fantasy before aiding him in his suicide.

Quito (AFP) – Ecuador on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of Cuba’s ambassador to Quito, telling him and the rest of his embassy staff that they had 48 hours to leave the country, the foreign ministry announced.

MEE has collected the names and ages of some of those killed in the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school strike

Secretary of War says decision comes as Iran’s air-defence has been destroyed, but report says US running low on precision munitions

Stores in 8 out of 10 Canadian provinces still do not stock American spirits on their shelves

The betting market on war is “worse than insider trading,” one lawmaker said.

Iran has launched about 500 ballistic missiles and several thousand drones at targets across the Middle East, according to publicly available data cited in the press. Considering that intercepting a single ballistic missile requires two PAC-3 missiles for the Patriot system—each costing more than $10 million—the total price tag is staggering: roughly $10 billion spent just to repel ballistic missile attacks.

Russia could halt gas supplies to Europe right now amid a spike ‌in energy prices triggered by the Iran crisis, President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday, linking the possible decision to the European Union wanting to ban purchases of Russian gas and liquefied natural gas.

“Our military has the necessary capabilities. Ukrainian experts will work on site, and teams are already negotiating this,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The AfricaMuseum in Tervuren (Flemish Brabant) is refusing to hand over geological archive material on Congo to an American mining company that wants to use the data to map valuable raw materials. ‘We want to digitalise the archives ourselves and not leave it to a private company,’ the museum says. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is increasing pressure through diplomatic channels.

It did not clarify where the attack came from, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.

The Arctic Metagaz burst into flames before sinking after what the Russian president described as a terrorist attack

Two government officials told The Intercept that the joint U.S.–Ecuador military action won’t just be a one-off raid.

Sources say that some of the attacks, namely on oil refineries, ports and civilian targets, were carried out by Israel to provoke Gulf states into entering war

PM says his country will not be complicit in growing conflict in Middle East ‘simply out of fear of reprisals from someone’

Some websites and social media accounts linked to Israel claimed the site was “part of an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base”.

In a 10-minute televised address Sánchez reflected on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza as well as the Iraq War more than 20 years ago and said “the government’s position can be summed up in four words: No to war”.

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60156327

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60155885

As families mourned the tragic loss of 180 schoolchildren in an Israeli attack on a girls’ school in Iran, First Lady Melania Trump led a UN meeting on children in conflict.

A Polish court on Tuesday sentenced three doctors to prison sentences over the 2021 death of a pregnant woman, which sparked nationwide protests and renewed scrutiny of the country’s restrictive abortion laws.

Olivier De Schutter says new economic agenda needed to tackle crises of rising inequality and ecological collapse

Tokyo (AFP) – The Unification Church lost an appeal Wednesday against a Japanese court’s order to dissolve the sect, which came under investigation following the assassination of ex-premier Shinzo Abe.

With much of the world’s oil supplies out of action, Russia could step in to meet demand in China and India

Iraqi security forces shot down a drone near Baghdad’s international airport on Wednesday, a day after a similar attempted attack targeted the same facility, security sources told AFP.

Amnesty report shows at least 116 cases of police brutality so far this year, as activists warn of ‘black hole of human rights violations’

Philippine lawmakers ordered Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday to respond to impeachment complaints against her after finding substance to allegations involving unexplained wealth, the misuse of public funds and making public threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

How the bloc responds to the war on Iran will have repercussions for how the grouping is seen by members and the world

Israel’s plan to strike Iran would put American lives at risk, Rubio said. Rather than confronting Israel, the U.S. joined their war.

Israeli settlers and occupation forces are terrorising, attacking, and displacing Palestinians in the West Bank

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signaled his country will eventually try to obtain its own nuclear weapons as Europe strengthens deterrence amid doubts over US commitment to defending the continent.

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Tehran has rejected the idea that European participation in strikes on its territory can be considered “defensive.”

Prosecutors say individuals in Belgium are raising money to buy guns and ammunition and directing attacks in an armed struggle in the Central African country.

The Russian-flagged liquefied natural gas tanker Arctic Metagaz is on fire ​in the Mediterranean, maritime security sources said ‌on Tuesday, while Malta’s armed forces said the vessel’s crew had been located safe in a lifeboat within Libya’s search-and-rescue ​region.

French President Emmanuel Macron has ordered France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to move from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean to protect allied assets during the ongoing war in the Middle East.

“Russia has turned torture into state policy and uses it as a weapon,” Ukraine’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, said.

Religious freedom group says 200 troops sent complaints of superiors using extremist Christian rhetoric to justify war

The United States and Israel are seeking to foment an armed uprising inside Iran using an armed Kurdish fighting force, which has been built up since the twelve-day war in 2025.

Palantir wants to see everything when it comes to surveillance, but when it comes to its own meetings, it seems they prefer the lights off

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Seoul (AFP) – North Korea has unveiled one of its first-known statues of Kim Jong Un, using the “highly unusual” sculpture to depict the leader as a smiling man of the people, an analyst told AFP.

Iran will hold a public farewell ceremony for Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Wednesday evening, according to state media.

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Just as the false claims of betrayal on January 3 are now easily disproved, so too are the claims of betrayal in the two months since.

Company will halt production of controversial paraquat weed killer by end of June as it faces thousands of lawsuits