Interesting Global News

This community started as a way to share what I found interesting and help promote the instance. I had no expectations of it growing to the size it is right now. As a result, the basic rules of the community are no longer seem to be enough to keep up with the activity. I'm grateful to people who post, comment and have honest discussions, but lately more and more discussions are going off into off-topic and leads to personal attacks.

I am of a strong opinion that discussions and disagreements on the merit lead to real conversations and stronger positions. But, all of that is lost, when conversations devolve into ad hominem attacks.

Likewise, I believe in evaluating each individual article or source on its own merit. As a result, all sources are welcome here, and each of you can evaluate what do you think about it. Voting and commenting should be used to express those thoughts, not report button.

Lastly, misinformation. The whole concept of misinformation is impossible to enforce. I'm just a single person, who is not a subject expert in every single field. Use your brain and do your own research, verify information with multiple sources. If you find something that can lead to immediate danger, report and include as much information as possible so that it can be appropriately evaluated.

New rules

1. English only: Title and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media posts: Avoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communication: All communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. Inclusivity: Everyone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacks: Any kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangents: Stay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may apply: If something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.

Thank you everyone who participates, and I hope you continue participating in the future.

> Russian forces have captured an intact guidance system from a long-range U.S.-made ATACMS missile and are studying the American military technology, Russia's RIA state news agency said on Monday.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/FHzJK

> Study came after suicide of Lt David Metcalf, who logged his symptoms, and examination of his brain by scientists

Archived version: https://archive.ph/8VxIe

> Years of brutal neoliberal capitalism combined with the left’s betrayal have led to widespread political demoralization.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/G9HS9

> Sweden is launching a groundbreaking new law, allowing grandparents to care for their grandchild and get paid.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/v5wCy

> Voters in the UK and abroad have either not received their ballots or have been left with too little time to return them

Archived version: https://archive.ph/bJnKI

> Reporting in Gaza has become nearly impossible with limited access to power, internet, and basics like food and water.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/ZA7yb

> Officials say a roadside bomb explosion in Pakistan’s volatile Baluchistan province has killed a woman and two children. Police blamed “terrorists” for Monday's attack.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/r6TjB

> Al-Shifa’s Mohammed Abu Salmiya alleges Israel tortured him across seven months of detention without charge

Archived version: https://archive.ph/laRM9

> Local media say a man in his 60s drove into people waiting at a traffic stop in South Korea's capital.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/yI7oj

> Police tracked down Larry Changa of the infamous Tren de Aragua gang in a small town in Colombia.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/f0J71

> The United Nations food agency says more than half of households in Yemen are not eating enough due to poor economic conditions and a monthslong pause in food assistance to millions of people in the rebel-held north.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/eygqL

> Absorption through skin could be ‘significant source of exposure’ to toxic forever chemicals, study shows

Study: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024003581

Archived version: https://archive.ph/9fCal

> A Pride march has been banned in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul. The LGBTQ+ community is often the butt of hostility in the country.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/2pXqz

> Hurricane warnings were in effect for Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/G3Zow

> Organized on the eve of the first round of parliamentary elections and after "an unprecedented anti-trans campaign", the Paris Pride March gathered several thousands people in the French capital, with the fight against transphobia as its main theme.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/tvJNm

> At least once a day, the hum of every fan, air conditioner and fridge across Egypt goes quiet. The lights go out and an expletive is muttered or hurled into the quickly-heating air.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/YwCwU

> Man-made crises in Gaza and Sudan leaving millions of people at risk, says retiring British diplomat Martin Griffiths

Archived version: https://archive.ph/PNiXI

> Suspected female suicide bombers attacked a wedding and funeral in Gwoza, officials say.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/dcPx3

> A Taliban delegation is attending a United Nations-led meeting in Qatar on Afghanistan after organizers said women would be excluded from the gathering.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/WVGLQ

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/317669

> Archived link > > On 21 June 2024, China issued alarming new guiding opinions under the 2005 Anti-Secession Law. > > The guidelines threaten to impose a maximum potential death penalty for a range of vaguely defined supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ activities. They allow Chinese courts to conduct trials in absentia and appear to apply to both Taiwanese nationals and foreigners alike, in an unacceptable escalation in Beijing’s assault on the freedom of expression of the people of Taiwan and the international community. > > Michael Caster, Asia Digital Program Manager at ARTICLE 19, commented: > >“In these new guidelines, Beijing is seeking to wield the maximum threat of in absentia death sentences to instill fear and gag independent expression on all things Taiwan. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with preserving cross-straits peace, as Beijing would have it. This development serves to further bully the international community into isolating Taiwan. The only acceptable response is to redouble solidarity and accelerate coordination and cooperation with Taiwan.

> Russia should start producing previously banned midrange missiles, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, as Moscow warned the United States that drone reconnaissance flights over the Black Sea risked a "direct" military clash.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/rHUHZ

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/309474

> Archived link

> Addition for clarification: The "South China Morning Post"(SCMP) is a state-controlled Chinese media outlet. Sometimes they appear to publish articles like this one that are, at least to some degree, critical of the CCP, although the article increasingly reiterates the CCP's stance as you read along. The post provides a rare glimpse into the Chinese propaganda machinery, however, which is why I posted it here. In general, however, one should be very careful using this source.

> - “Narrative construction and discourse building are essential if we are to effectively defend our rights and interests in the South China Sea – both in the present and in future,” Wu Shicun, founder of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told a seminar held in Hainan province last week. > > - Without naming any country, Wu said China faced “an increasingly arduous battle over public perception and opinion”, adding that “rival claimants” were “stepping up cooperation with extraterritorial forces in the study of historical and legal issues” concerning the South China Sea. > > - Beijing lays claim to much of the South China Sea, citing historic activities and records in support. > > - Its claims were rejected by the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague in 2016 in a case filed by the Philippines. > > - Beijing has dismissed the Hague ruling as “null and void” and continued to build up its infrastructure and troop presence in the South China Sea. But the Philippines and other claimants – which include Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei – along with the United States and its allies have repeatedly urged China to abide by international law. > > - Yi Xianliang, a former ambassador to Norway who previously served as deputy director of the foreign ministry’s boundary and ocean affairs department, also spoke at Tuesday’s seminar and dismissed the 2016 ruling as a “bad joke”. > > - But Yi warned “we have to ask why the ruling is flawed” and ask if it “will happen again and how we can prevent it from happening again”.

> The end of Chevron deference will touch on everything from broadband policy to climate change.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/WNE5v

> So-called cannabis clubs will be allowed to sell the drug legally in Germany starting Monday, but in practice it will be some time before the associations get up and running.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/imClj

> A United Nations agency said it has discovered five bombs in a wall of Mosul's iconic Al-Nuri mosque, planted years ago by Islamic State group jihadists, during restoration work in the northern Iraqi city.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/wGUTL

> Kenyan security forces shot directly into crowds of protesters on June 25, 2024, including protesters who were fleeing.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Bi5Cy

> Ultraconservative former Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who will face a reformist in a runoff for president, is widely recognised for his steadfast anti-Western stance.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/iZPW7

US, European and Arab mediators are pressing to keep stepped-up cross-border attacks between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters from spiraling into a wider Middle East war that the world has feared for months. Iran and Israel traded threats Saturday of what Iran said would be an "obliterating" war over Hezbollah.

> The policeman was wounded in the neck before shooting the attacker dead, officials say.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fa6m2

> Brazil’s massive Pantanal wetlands haven't technically entered annual fire season but already the number of blazes reported has broken records and is leading experts to predict this year will be the most devastating in decades.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/nknIL

> Rwandan-backed rebels seize Kanyabayonga, says official, already home to thousands driven from their homes by conflict

Archived version: https://archive.ph/Um3xv

> The water quality of the Seine river is still not good enough to serve as the venue for swimming competitions at the Olympics, a report said. The opening ceremony is also set to take place on the river.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/NtHqB

> A Swiss foundation must do more to trace the provenance of works in a vast art collection acquired in questionable circumstances during World War II, a team of experts said Friday.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/0yWWR

> Denmark will introduce a law to restrict the use of foreign flags on its territory, the justice minister said Wednesday.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/ttObs

> South African scientists on Tuesday injected radioactive material into live rhino horns to make them easier to detect at border posts in a pioneering project aimed at curbing poaching.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/HB5Z5

Archived version

The reaction of Chinese social media users to a spate of recent violent attacks has exposed widespread discontent about the nation’s downturn, as economic pressures mount.

Shanghai police reported a stabbing Wednesday morning in one of the city’s metro stations, which — like other subway lines in major Chinese cities — has security checks at its entrances. The suspect was detained after injuring three people and the case is under investigation, police said in a statement.

In a country where violence is relatively rare, the incident became a top trending item on social media platform Weibo, garnering some 164 million reads with users speculating on the attacker’s motive. Some suggested the culprit was a stocks investor, a group battered during China’s $7 trillion market meltdown earlier this year.

“The pressure of this economic environment is cascading down to everyone, who may be pushed to the brink by a slight change in circumstances,” one user wrote. “Don’t provoke or bully others; you don’t know where their limits of outbursts are. Don’t let yourself become a victim of the economic climate.”

Another user posted: “When the economy is bad, social problems grow, people are becoming more aggressive.” [...] Protests over the economy, especially the housing crash, have become more frequent and made up 80% of publicly recorded dissent last year, according to Freedom House’s China Dissent Monitor. Almost a third of office workers saw their salaries fall in that period, according to recruitment platform Zhaopin. [...] The Jiangxi attack was viewed more than 390,000 times on Weibo, with one user asking for tougher penalties as “the economy slows down, life becomes more torturing, and crazy people become more frequent.”

> A city council in South Korea said Wednesday their first administrative officer robot was defunct after throwing itself down some stairs, with local media mourning the country's first robot suicide.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/eGxhV

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/249116

> Here is the study (pdf) > > Although Chinese companies are seen as innovative, government subsidies that violate the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) are also thought to be behind the high competitive pressure. > > German firms estimate the probability of a trade war with China due to the Taiwan conflict in the next ten years to be high at around 70 per cent. > > The companies' approval rates for tariffs on subsidized Chinese e-cars and the possible prevention of sensitive technology transfer, which threatens to transfer high technology from German companies to the Chinese military, are also remarkably high. > > - Around 80 per cent of German companies consider tariffs on Chinese products, including e-cars, as justified or partially justified, according to a survey by The German Economic Institute in Cologne. The business community's high approval rates for a tougher approach towards China are based on threats its technology could be used by China for military purposes and the "extraordinarily high and widespread subsidies in China", which suggests that "the ability of Chinese firms to offer much lower prices is not the result of fair competition alone", the study authors says. > - "The use of trade defense instruments has nothing to do with protectionism," the study says, adding that "these instruments are legitimized by the World Trade Organization (WTO)". The aim of an anti-subsidy investigation is precisely to distinguish between fair and unfair (subsidy-induced) competitive pressure. > - "Given the lack of transparency of subsidies in Chinese state capitalism, [subsidy investigation] is a certain challenge," the researcher say. However, should the EU investigation infer subsidies that are higher than in reality, China would have the opportunity to provide evidence to the contrary. > - For now, however, "China's subsidization is a violation of the rules and ultimately a protectionist measure". The researchers add: "All too often, statements by high-ranking German politicians suggest that the EU and Germany are putting themselves in the wrong by using anti-subsidy measures. The opposite is the case." > - At least half of the companies (this also applies to the various depicted subgroups) state that Chinese competitors offering comparable products undercut their prices by more than 20 per cent. Chinese companies even enter the market with prices that are more than 30 per cent lower than those of the companies surveyed. This applies to 63 per cent of companies that feel strong competitive pressure from China, but also to 37 per cent of innovative companies, i.e. firms that continuously conduct research and development. > - China's subsidy regime has consequences for industrial employment in Germany, the researchers claim. Although Chinese companies are seen as innovative, government subsidies are also thought to be behind the high competitive pressure. > - The researchers add that in view of China's export offensive, it is "important to show that the EU is prepared, if necessary, to use its toolbox against Chinese distortions of competition and Chinese threats".

> Dairy farmers in Denmark face having to pay an annual tax of 672 krone ($96) per cow for the planet-heating emissions they generate.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/RSTBC