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Opinion: Small screen, big investment: TV episodes have become way too long


Just the messenger! Discuss.
in reply to Angelusz

Doesn’t really work. It’s a lot of cognitive strain to resituate yourselt within it that my body doesn’t have.

(I’m kinda suprised you thought I never would have considered that though 😂, like it’s the most basic thing to try).

Questa voce è stata modificata (2 mesi fa)


Robot performs first realistic surgery without human help: System trained on videos of surgeries performs like an expert surgeon


A robot trained on videos of surgeries performed a lengthy phase of a gallbladder removal without human help. The robot operated for the first time on a lifelike patient, and during the operation, responded to and learned from voice commands from the team—like a novice surgeon working with a mentor.

The robot performed unflappably across trials and with the expertise of a skilled human surgeon, even during unexpected scenarios typical in real life medical emergencies.



Google co-founder Sergey Brin calls U.N. ‘transparently antisemitic’ after report on tech firms and Gaza


cross-posted from: lemmy.ml/post/32908689

His comments came in response to a U.N. report released last month that alleged technology firms including Google and its parent company Alphabet had profited from “the genocide carried out by Israel” in Gaza by providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and military.

“With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides. I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues,” Brin wrote in a forum for staff at Google DeepMind, the company’s artificial intelligence division, where workers were debating the report, according to the screenshots.



Google co-founder Sergey Brin calls U.N. ‘transparently antisemitic’ after report on tech firms and Gaza


His comments came in response to a U.N. report released last month that alleged technology firms including Google and its parent company Alphabet had profited from “the genocide carried out by Israel” in Gaza by providing cloud and AI technologies to the Israeli government and military.

“With all due respect, throwing around the term genocide in relation to Gaza is deeply offensive to many Jewish people who have suffered actual genocides. I would also be careful citing transparently antisemitic organizations like the UN in relation to these issues,” Brin wrote in a forum for staff at Google DeepMind, the company’s artificial intelligence division, where workers were debating the report, according to the screenshots.




in reply to Davriellelouna

“utopia” is a bit of a push. But yeah it’s definitely one of the better places to be a renter.


Edoardo Verde Firma Musicalmente Il Premio Tonino Accolla


È firmata dal compositore Edoardo Verde la colonna sonora ufficiale dell’edizione 2025 del Festival del Doppiaggio – Premio Tonino Accolla, svoltosi a Siracusa, Noto e Ortigia dal 26 al 29 giugno 2025. Un riconoscimento importante per un artista dalla cifra stilistica raffinata, capace di coniugare profondità sonora, sensibilità narrativa e ricerca espressiva.
in reply to Paolo

Impossibile parlare di Edoardo, senza ricordare la figura del nonno Dino Verde – autore di alcuni dei brani più iconici della musica leggera italiana: da "Resta cu’ mme" a "Romantica", da "Piove (Ciao ciao bambina)" a hit indimenticabili come "Il ballo del mattone", "Una zebra a pois", "Buonasera buonasera", "Felicità tà tà tà". Una tradizione artistica che Edoardo onora con la sua personale voce musicale, capace di emozionare e raccontare, anche attraverso una semplice nota.


Renzo Pasolini e Jarno Saarinen. Due motociclisti uniti da un destino tragico


Renzo Pasolini, pur non avendo mai vinto un campionato del mondo, rimane popolare grazie al suo stile intrepido. È sepolto nel Cimitero Monumentale di Rimini, dove il suo casco e alcune testimonianze delle sue vittorie sono esposte sul suo sepolcro. Jarno Saarinen è ricordato come uno dei piloti motociclistici più promettenti e talentuosi della sua epoca. Rimane l’unico finlandese ad aver vinto un campionato del mondo di motociclismo su strada. Il suo stile di guida, in particolare la sua posizione del corpo e la capacità di far scivolare il pneumatico posteriore, influenzò futuri campioni.





in reply to sabreW4K3

He got banned for a ridiculous reason and still says

Nintendo support is amazing and will help get you back up and running


US issues sanctions against Francesca Albanese, UN official investigating abuses in Gaza


The Trump administration announced on Wednesday it was issuing sanctions against an independent official tasked with investigating human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza.

The state department’s decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, comes after a recent US pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post failed.

Albanese, a human rights lawyer, has been vocal in calling for an end to what she describes as the “genocide” that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the US, which provides military support, have strongly denied that accusation.

Israel has faced accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the ICC over its devastating military assault on Gaza. Albanese’s position has also been backed by leading genocide scholars and rights organisations.

#News




30 km/h limit data analysis shows that what matters for compliance is not the limit, but the features of the streets (from OSM data)


This study from MIT used geo data collected from cars in Milan, Italy, to check the effectiveness of 30 km/h zones in reducing speed.

The first conclusion is that the signs don't work: 85 percentile speeds are all over the place in 30 km/h zones in Milan, as shown in the figure below:

85th percentile speed profiles of the 30 km/h zones in the City of Milan.

The second step was finding correlations between speeds and street features extracted from openstreetmap. Results are as expected: narrow, short, curvy sections correlate with lower speeds, as do 1 lane vs more, one way vs 2 ways:

OSM features comparison between high and low compliance Zones 30. We report the features with the lowest 𝑝-values in the Mann-Whitney U test. All 𝑝-values are below 0.001.

The final step is also interesting: the authors made a model to predict the compliance of 30 km/h speed limit on streets that are 50 km/h at the moment. Useful for urban planning to understand if charging an area to 30 km/h would need structural interventions (like bumps, narrowing of the street...) or not:

Predicted speed 85th speed percentile with city-wide adoption of limit at 30 km/h

There is so much more in the article, I suggest to read it fully.

crossposted from: mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzione…


Milano, analisi del limite 30 km/h dimostra che quel che conta non sono i cartelli, ma com'è fatta la strada

Uno studio di #MIT sulle velocità rilevate, dimostra con dati concreti e analisi dell'infrastruttura da #openstreetmap, quel che già era noto: i guidatori adeguano la velocità alla loro percezione di pericolo, e non ai limiti imposti. Strade più strette, a senso unico, con incroci fanno rallentare. Non ci sono più scuse

@energia #sicurezzaStradale #zona30

senseable.mit.edu/papers/pdf/2…


Questa voce è stata modificata (2 mesi fa)

reshared this

in reply to Damage

This is Italy we’re talking about, our public officials want zero responsibility so they always set absurdly low limits.


Sounds good TBH. If they also narrow the roads/remove lanes to enforce it, put bike paths/public transit lanes in the free space, and fine anyone driving dangerously, then this is the recipe for a good city.



30 km/h limit data analysis shows that what matters for compliance is not the limit, but the features of the streets (from OSM data)


This study from MIT used geo data collected from cars in Milan, Italy, to check the effectiveness of 30 km/h zones in reducing speed.

The first conclusion is that the signs don't work: 85 percentile speeds are all over the place in 30 km/h zones in Milan, as shown in the figure below:

85th percentile speed profiles of the 30 km/h zones in the City of Milan.

The second step was finding correlations between speeds and street features extracted from openstreetmap. Results are as expected: narrow, short, curvy sections correlate with lower speeds, as do 1 lane vs more, one way vs 2 ways:

OSM features comparison between high and low compliance Zones 30. We report the features with the lowest 𝑝-values in the Mann-Whitney U test. All 𝑝-values are below 0.001.

The final step is also interesting: the authors made a model to predict the compliance of 30 km/h speed limit on streets that are 50 km/h at the moment. Useful for urban planning to understand if charging an area to 30 km/h would need structural interventions (like bumps, narrowing of the street...) or not:

Predicted speed 85th speed percentile with city-wide adoption of limit at 30 km/h

There is so much more in the article, I suggest to read it fully.

crossposted from: mastodon.uno/users/rivoluzione…


Milano, analisi del limite 30 km/h dimostra che quel che conta non sono i cartelli, ma com'è fatta la strada

Uno studio di #MIT sulle velocità rilevate, dimostra con dati concreti e analisi dell'infrastruttura da #openstreetmap, quel che già era noto: i guidatori adeguano la velocità alla loro percezione di pericolo, e non ai limiti imposti. Strade più strette, a senso unico, con incroci fanno rallentare. Non ci sono più scuse

@energia #sicurezzaStradale #zona30

senseable.mit.edu/papers/pdf/2…


Questa voce è stata modificata (2 mesi fa)
in reply to lgsp@feddit.it

I feel like this is a misleading title. The findings talk about speeds, not accidents, noise pollution and quality of life.
in reply to Gladaed

The title doesn't mentions accident ts either, but I added "for compliance" to be more clear
in reply to lgsp@feddit.it

Lol I mean it's Milan. Over there they honk at you if it takes you more than 0.001s to press the accelerator after a green light.


Confartigianato Moda: "Perse 15 mila imprese dal 2019 al 2024"


Moreno Vignolini, presidente di Confartigianato Moda:

“Il settore tessile e moda, pilastro storico del Made in Italy, oggi vive una crisi che richiede risposte immediate, mirate e un’azione coordinata tra pubblico, privato e istituzioni”.

Si attendono interventi del governo. Forse.


in reply to fergrg

You too, just count your blessings, and think about what you have and don't focus on what you don't (or can't) have.

I like to lead a more minimalist life so I can retire, small cabin in the mountains, maybe put up a big tent for a bed and breakfast to cover my cost a bit. And just be busy with growing my own food, chickens, getting ready for winter doing repairs, hiking. Now with solar panels being cheap and batteries, going off the grid is a lot easier. And if you don't need much you can live very cheap.

Search for Martijn Doolaard on youtube and you know what I mean, although i want to keep it a bit simpler. 😁

in reply to Flagg76

Thank you for your suggestion. I didn't think of building a cabin. Our land is collective and we can't just build a house casually. That's why we have to save money to build a house. Thank you always, I hope we can all have a bright future~ 😘


Willie Nelson - Heroes (2012)


Willie Nelson la voce.
Chi "mastica" un po' di musica sa che Willie Nelson è una vera istituzione, una delle colonne portanti del panorama country. La sua è una carriera molto prolifica, con i suoi quasi ottant'anni infatti, nel suo portafoglio si trovano oltre sessanta album di cui una decina dal vivo che volendo fare una media è quasi vicino ad un disco all'anno, una "cifra" che molto probabilmente lo candida nel podio dei più attivi... Leggi e ascolta...


Willie Nelson - Heroes (2012)


immagine

Willie Nelson la voce. Chi “mastica” un po' di musica sa che Willie Nelson è una vera istituzione, una delle colonne portanti del panorama country. La sua è una carriera molto prolifica, con i suoi quasi ottant'anni infatti, nel suo portafoglio si trovano oltre sessanta album di cui una decina dal vivo che volendo fare una media è quasi vicino ad un disco all'anno, una “cifra” che molto probabilmente lo candida nel podio dei più attivi. In questo suo incredibile catalogo Nelson oltre ad aver riscosso parecchi premi (una quarantina circa) ha conosciuto il successo di critica e commerciale ed è stato spesso in cima alle classifiche di vendita, ma, nonostante questo, quello che lo ha sempre contraddistinto è la sua coerenza ed etica musicale. Anche se per definizione Nelson è un artista country, la sua musica è stata un caleidoscopio di influenze sonore, dal blues al folk, dal rock'n'roll a collaborazioni variegate, tutte e comunque sempre ispirate e non banali... artesuono.blogspot.com/2014/10…


Ascolta: album.link/i/515411344


HomeIdentità DigitaleSono su: Mastodon.uno - Pixelfed - Feddit




European (printer) paper manufacturers?


cross-posted from: lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/48660640

I'm looking for manufacturers of different kinds of paper to print on. So vinyl sticker paper, photo paper, normal paper, cardstock paper and so on. Do you know of any good European (EU) paper manufacturers that sell these in high quality and don't break the bank at the same time?
in reply to Tywèle [she|her]

We have Favini and Fabriano, but there’s also Mondi (UK but produces in CZ)



State of the Bird June 2025


State of the Bird June 2025


The State of the Bird is a recap of what has been happening in the project.

We used to do these quarterly as an interactive live stream, but we're nowdoing these as a monthly posts instead.

You can find the playlist with all of the old videos on YouTube.

Retrospective


Our last State of the Bird was June 9th 2025 and can be found here.

Like last month, things have been a bit slower due to summer but because of some other stuff we'll get into shortly.

Metrics


We have a number of metrics we keep an eye on which you can see below.

Contibutors


Our number of contributors continues to average around 3 per month and we are still seeing some casual contributors popping up from time to time.

[chart type="bar" backgroundColors="#db3a83,#e76a2a,#4cdc8b" title="Contibutors" xAxisTitle="Time Frame" ]2025-01 | 2025-02 | 2025-03 | 2025-04 | 2025-05 | 2025-06Developers | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2Crazy Patch Writers | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0Casual | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1[/chart]

Review Requests


Review requests are what we call our code reviews and this is a look at how many were open and closed each month.

[chart type="bar" backgroundColors="#db3a83,#e76a2a" title="Review Requests" xAxisTitle="Time Frame" ]2025-01 | 2025-02 | 2025-03 | 2025-04 | 2025-05 | 2025-06Open | 92 | 72 | 78 | 44 | 26 | 20Closed | 88 | 72 | 82 | 43 | 22 | 25[/chart]

Issues


This is a look at the number of issues that were opened in our issue tracker as well as how many were closed by month.

[chart type="bar" backgroundColors="#db3a83,#e76a2a" title="Issues" xAxisTitle="Time Frame" ]2025-01 | 2025-02 | 2025-03 | 2025-04 | 2025-05 | 2025-06Open | 44 | 30 | 41 | 16 | 6 | 11Closed | 34 | 18 | 18 | 6 | 5 | 10[/chart]

Commits


This is a break down of commits to each project per month. In most cases a review request is just a single commit, but this chart helps to see what projects are being worked on.

[chart type="bar" backgroundColors="#ed207b,#9eb83b,#0088cc,#b3b5b4,#8c6238,#231f20,#f1592a,#ffea61,#bf1e2e,#0088cc,#57e389,#7f007f" title="Commits" xAxisTitle="Time Frame" ]2025-01 | 2025-02 | 2025-03 | 2025-04 | 2025-05 | 2025-06Pidgin 3 | 46 | 22 | 27 | 28 | 15 | 10 |Pidgin 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |GPlugin | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |HASL | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 |Birb | 12 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 |Xeme | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |Ibis | 16 | 10 | 27 | 11 | 0 | 0 |Hiya | 0 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 |Myna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |Seagull | 0 | 23 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 13 |Traversity | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |retro-purple | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 48 |[/chart]

Infrastructure


  • We've federated our Discourse server so all news and releases will automatically get posted via Activity Pub! Announcement


Pidgin 3
Retrospective


Not a whole lot happened with Pidgin 3 this month as we had our focus on other projects.

Updates


  • Disabled the SIP protocol plugin by default as we determine how to proceed.
  • Removed the old versioned API from the IRCv3 protocol.
  • Removed some unused purple_markup API.
  • Updated the flatpak to GNOME 48.


Releases


We did originally rlease 2.92.0 but I noticed immediately when I went to update the flatpak that I forgot to update the version in the metadata file so we had to cut 2.92.1 right away to address that.

Future Plans


  • Finish up the conversation persistence that we were trying to get into Experimental 3.
  • Determine how to proceed with the SIP protocol plugin. We're probably going to create yet another library to handle it.
  • After conversation persistence is done, we need to add persistence to the contact list as well.
  • Get Hiya to a usable state.

As always, you can view the burn down chart here.

Pidgin 2


We have decided that we're going to do a 2.15.0 release. The decision and announcement can be found here.

Retrospective


  • Added support to display protocols, loaders, and other "hidden" plugins in the plugins list but made them not unloadable.
  • Fixed log viewing for protocols that are no longer loadable.
  • Removed the "retro" protocols plugins. The ones that still existed have been moved to the new retro-prpl project.


Releases


None yet, we're trying to finalize some things before releasing 2.15.0.

Future Plans


We're still working on updating the versions of GLib and GTK for the windows build as well as creating an official pre-built development bundle/SDK.

GPlugin


GPlugin is our GObject based plugin library that is used in Pidgin 3.

Retrospective


No notable changes

Releases


None

Future Plans


GPlugin is pretty stable at the moment but there's quite a lot of maintenance stuff to get too, but it's not as high of a priority as the other stuff at the moment.

HASL


HASL is the Hassle-free Authentication and Security Layer library. It implements SASL in a modern and easy use way compared to the existing libraries.

Retrospective


  • We fixed our error domains which were not implemented in a way that would work in language bindings.


Releases


None

Future Plans


We have been in the progress of implementing the SCRAM Mechanisms which will be included in the next release.

Birb


Birb is a library of GLib utilities that we use across all of our projects.

Retrospective


No notable changes

Releases


None

Xeme


Xeme is our XMPP integration library. It is the basis for both the Link Local Messaging (Bonjour) and XMPP protocols in Pidgin 3. It is still early in development and has not yet had a release.

Ibis


Ibis is our IRCv3 integration library. It has seen a lot of active development as it is used in the IRCv3 protocol plugin in Pidgin 3.

We are nearing known feature completion on it and expect to do a 1.0 release in the near future.

Retrospective


No notable changes

Releases


None

Future Plans


Continue working through the open issues and watching new IRCv3 specifications for things we should be including.

Hiya


Hiya is a new client abstraction library for mDNS. It was created to help make implementation of the Link Local Messaging protocol easier as we would have to abstract out the different platform implementations and by putting it in a library that abstraction can be used by other projects.

Hiya has not yet had a release.

Myna


Myna is a new integration library for Matrix. It is still extremely early in development.

Seagull


Seagull is a new library we created to make working with SQLite feel more like a GLIB/GNOME library and force usage of prepared statements with named parameters and other similar things.

Retrospective


  • Added aliases for columns.
  • Added support for binding objects.
  • Added support for retrieving columns from objects.
  • Added support for creating statements from resources.
  • Added API for date times, enums, and flags.
  • Fixed a bug were non prefixed parameters would match even though a prefix was specified.


Releases



Future Plans


We have a few features to fill out yet and a few ideas that need a bit more time in the oven.

More specific details can be found in our open issues.

Traversity


Traversity is a new library for traversing NATs. There are many different ways to traverse a NAT and the goal of Traversity is to hide that from developers who just need to traverse a NAT.

It is still early in development and has not yet had an official release.

retro-prpl


retro-prpl is a new repository we've created on GitHub. This repository contains all of the abandoned protocols that have ever lived in our code base and is meant to make them easier to study and for people to use with services like Retro AIM Server and NINA.

Retrospective


We've wrapped up just about all the development here and are just waiting for Pidgin 2.15.0 before releasing.

Releases


None

Future Plans


Right now we didn't add any support for protocol specific emojis because we completely forgot about them. Anyways we're looking at creating a custom emoji theme that will include everything for these retro protocols.

Closing


We hope you all are enjoying the new format and if you have any questions of comments please leave them below!

Discuss this on our forum.



Lithuania, Finland pivot to landmine production, potentially supplying to Ukraine, Reuters reports


Lithuania and Finland plan to begin domestic anti-personnel mine manufacturing in 2026, with some of the supplies potentially earmarked for Ukraine to counter the Russian threat, Reuters reported on July 9.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/kyivindepend…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



US | Trump announces 50% tariff on copper, starting Aug 1


It is the latest in a string of sectoral tariffs imposed by the US president.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



4 rich Africans reportedly wealthier than half the continent


The anti-poverty charity Oxfam warns that growing inequality in Africa is hindering democracy. The four richest Africans have more wealth than half of the continent's population.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/dw.com/en/4-…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



Sweden rejects EU plan to fund budget with tobacco tax


Stockholm says the proposal threatens its unique exemption for snus and undermines national tax sovereignty.


Archived version: archive.is/20250710042545/eura…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



Solar becomes EU’s largest electricity source for the first time


The Netherlands and Greece were the top solar record setters, while wind power also hit new highs in May and June.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/euronews.com…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

in reply to BrikoX

Good news! Hopefully the EU will have its energy independence sorted enough to stop importing from Russia as soon as possible.
in reply to Geth

Idk about other countries, but in Italy I'm quite sure the power infrastructure isn't ready to handle the enormous requirements of switching from gas to electrical heating
in reply to Damage

No-one is going to use direct electricity heating these days though. Heat pumps are the king
in reply to lauha

Well, unless you want to power the pump via pedals, the problem stands, even if greatly diminished.
in reply to Damage

Yes, but few kilowatts per house is not a big solar system.
in reply to lauha

Hilarious, you think the average Italian can afford a private/condo solar installation?
in reply to Damage

i mean, italy has not produced enough power to meet domestic demands since the 80s. they're the biggest electricity importer in europe. i don't know if the rest of the continent can handle them switching off of gas.
in reply to lime!

The context of the conversation is vast deployment of solar panels


Japan to raise bar on foreign driver's license conversion test


With more foreign drivers on the road, and the number of accidents involving them also on the rise.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



Czech president to unveil Ukraine reconstruction plan


Petr Pavel will present a comprehensive plan for Ukraine’s post-war recovery at Thursday’s summit in Rome, aiming to coordinate international support around investment, refugee return, and accelerated EU integration.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/euractiv.com…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



[Announcement] Path of Exile 2 Build Showcase - DwaneDibbley's Fartmaster


Something smells a little off in today's Build Showcase. DwaneDibbley shows us some creativity with his aptly named Fartmaster build where he marches across Wraeclast with his Ritualist and leaves foul gas and bodies of monsters in his wake. Check it out in the video below!

Video: Path of Exile 2 Build Showcase - DwaneDibbley's Fartmaster

For more information on this build, check out DwaneDibbley's write-up on the forum here.



[Announcement] Path of Exile 2 Unique Item Art


Path of Exile 2 is filled with tons of Unique Items, each with intricate designs. Take a look through today's news post, where our 3D artists show off some closer looks at some of their Unique Item designs.

Unique Items designed by Dane Brennand



Unique Items designed by Harrison Wakeley



Unique Items designed by John Kenneth Canonoy



July 12th, 2025 @ 4am UTC | CANVAS 2025


cross-posted from: toast.ooo/post/7950303

July 12th, 2025 @ 4am UTC


2025.canvas.fediverse.events/

✨ just as it was last year, the entire Fediverse is invited ✨

follow via microblog @canvas@fediverse.events

join the chat on matrix or on discord (bridged)

are you an app developer? check out the fediverse.events api 👀 (matrix room also linked there)

What’s Canvas?


canvas is a 48 hour event were anyone apart of the fediverse can contribute to a pixel canvas, one pixel at a time




US sanctions UN rights expert for Palestinian territories


Washington (AFP) – US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday announced Washington was sanctioning the United Nations special expert on the Palestinian territories, following her criticism of Washington policy on Gaza.

"Today I am imposing sanctions on UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt (International Criminal Court) action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives," Rubio said on social media.

In a subsequent statement he slammed the UN expert's strident criticism of the United States and said she recommended to the ICC that arrest warrants be issued targeting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Rubio also attacked her for "biased and malicious activities," and accused her of having "spewed unabashed antisemitism (and) support for terrorism."

He said she escalated her contempt for the United States by writing "threatening letters" to several US companies, making what Rubio called unfounded accusations and recommending the ICC pursue prosecutions of the companies and their executives.

"We will not tolerate these campaigns of political and economic warfare, which threaten our national interests and sovereignty," Rubio said.

While Albanese was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, she does not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.

The Italy-born expert released a damning report earlier this month denouncing companies she said "profited from the Israeli economy of illegal occupation, apartheid, and now genocide" in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The report provoked a furious response from Israel, while some of the named companies also raised objections.

Albanese has leveled broadsides against the policies of Israel in Gaza, and of US President Donald Trump, particularly the plan he announced in February to take over the Gaza Strip and resettle its residents elsewhere.

That proposal faced a rejection from Palestinians, Middle East leaders and the United Nations.

Albanese dismissed it as "utter nonsense" and an "international crime" that will sow panic.

"It's unlawful, immoral and... completely irresponsible because it will make the regional crisis even worse," she said on February 5 during a visit to Copenhagen.

US ally Israel on Wednesday commended Rubio's action against the rapporteur.

"Albanese has consistently undermined the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council by promoting false narratives and pushing for illegitimate legal actions that ignore the realities on the ground," Israel's UN Ambassador Danny Danon said.

in reply to xiao

Being sanctioned by fascists is the best endorsement one can get these days.




China moves to crack down on tour operators over ‘forced shopping’ practices


China is taking action against tour operators who force travellers to shop at designated stores.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.



Australia’s beef exports to the US surge despite Trump tariffs


Exports of chilled and frozen beef to the US jumped 23 per cent from June 2024.


Archived version: archive.is/newest/straitstimes…


Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.