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☆ Pakistan army says 'terrorists' from Iran side kill four soldiers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

QUETTA, Pakistan, April 1 (Reuters) - Pakistan's army said on Saturday that attackers from Iran killed four of its border patrol soldiers. "A group of terrorists operating from Iranian side attacked a routine border patrol of Pakistani security forces operating along Pakistan-Iran Border," the army said in a statement. The incident took place in Kech district in southwestern Baluchistan province, which shares a long lawless border with Afghanistan and Iran. The army said Pakistani authorities were making contact with Iran to seek ways of preventing such incidents in future. The Baluch groups operate on both side of the border.

☆ Trump compares investigations into him to 'Stalinist Russia'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Trump told supporters gathered at Waco’s airport on Saturday that the investigations swirling around him were “something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show.”“From the beginning it’s been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another,” he said. “I’m not a big fan,” Trump said of DeSantis, accusing of him of plotting to slash social security. Several times Trump repeated the false claim that his election loss in 2020 was due to a systemic fraud orchestrated by the Democrats. He described some American officials and senior U.S. politicians - including Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell - as a bigger threat to America than China or Russia. “Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State,” Trump said.

☆ Trump casts 2024 contest in apocalyptic terms, slams prosecutors
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( Nathan Layne | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

“The Biden regime’s weaponization of law enforcement against their political opponents is something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show,” Trump said. Trump depicted the United States as a failed state whose economy was in freefall - a description at odds with the country’s record-low unemployment rate. Several times Trump repeated the false claim that his election loss in 2020 was due to a systemic fraud orchestrated by the Democrats. “Either the Deep State destroys America or we destroy the Deep State,” Trump said. Speaking ahead of Trump’s speech, Matt Schomburg, 45, said he believed the rally was a way to energize his supporters for the 2024 race.

☆ US State Department monitoring reports of kidnapped couple in Haiti
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PORT-AU-PRINCE, March 25 (Reuters) - A U.S. State Department spokesperson said Saturday the government is aware of reports of two U.S. citizens missing in Haiti, after media outlets said a Florida couple had been kidnapped. The couple was on a trip to visit family and attend a festival when they were kidnapped during a bus ride, the relative said, according to CNN. "We are aware of reports of two U.S. citizens missing in Haiti," the State Department spokesperson said. The security situation has devolved further in recent months with routine gun fights between police officers and the gangs. The group said ransom money was paid for the release of the captives, but a dozen had escaped on their own.

Companies Meta Platforms Inc FollowMarch 21 (Reuters) - A new lawsuit accuses Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) executives and directors of failing to do enough to stop sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation on Facebook and Instagram. Given the board's failure to explain how it tries to root out the problem, "the only logical inference is that the board has consciously decided to permit Meta's platforms to promote and facilitate sex/human trafficking," the complaint said. "We prohibit human exploitation and child sexual exploitation in no uncertain terms," it said in a statement on Tuesday. Zuckerberg, Meta's billionaire co-founder and chief executive, told Congress in 2019 that child exploitation was "one of the most serious threats that we focus on." Meta, based in Menlo Park, California, has long faced accusations that its platforms are a haven for sexual misconduct.

☆ Ron DeSantis is staying silent amid a push from MAGAworld for him to say or do something about a possible Trump indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

As MAGAworld rages about rumors that Donald Trump will be indicted, Ron DeSantis has stayed quiet. Ron DeSantis is facing immense pressure from the far-right wings of MAGAworld to help former President Donald Trump evade a potential indictment in New York. Posobiec told The New York Times that he was "taking receipts on everyone" who hasn't blasted a potential Trump indictment. Far-right influencer Stew Peters tweeted that DeSantis should send the Florida National Guard to protect the former president at the Mar-a-Lago resort. Once allies with DeSantis, Trump has over the last year increasingly launched personal attacks at the governor.

☆ 15 Best Dress Shirts for Men, According to Style Experts
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.wsj.com time to read: +10 min

Since dress shirts are a closet staple, there are also hundreds to pick from, making a trusted recommendation invaluable. “Hands down, it’s my top selling button-up dress shirt,” she says. Though it has the appearance of a traditional dress shirt, it’s actually made of a sweat-wicking cotton-polyester blend with four-way stretch. “Without a doubt, this is a favorite of each client that tries it,” Alexander says of the dress shirt he recommends most often. Soft silk pickAs an alternative to cotton or synthetic blends, silk is a luxurious option that’s lightweight and soft on the skin.

☆ China doesn't want Russia to lose in Ukraine. But Beijing's endgame is murky.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

China is becoming more involved in the Ukraine war, raising alarm in the West. As the West warns China could send weapons, experts are torn over Beijing's goals and endgame. But they agree that China does not want to see Russia lose, despite its claim of neutrality. China wants to see the war "prolonged without Russia being humiliated," June Teufel Dreyer, a China expert at the University of Miami, told Insider. A man watches a news broadcast showing military operations near Taiwan by the Chinese People's Liberation Army's (PLA), in Beijing, China, on August 3, 2022.

☆ A regiment of drafted Russian soldiers who made video plea to Putin to stop them being 'slaughtered' are now mostly dead, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Drafted Russian soldiers made a video appeal to Vladimir Putin for help. Most of the soldiers in the regiment have died in Donetsk since recording the video, a report says. "Please help," the soldiers say in the video while in their uniforms with their faces covered. In the video, which was published by Telegram channel of the Siberian news outlet Lyudi Baikala on February 25, the soldiers directly ask Putin for help. The video was the soldiers' third such appeal, according to the Russian outlet The Insider.

☆ The fate of a post-2008 watchdog meant to protect Americans from another financial crisis is in the hands of a conservative Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | Jason Lalljee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court will take on a lower court's decision that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding structure is unconstitutional. CFPB was set up to prevent another 2008-like financial crisis and has cracked down on big banks and the student-loan industry. On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to take a decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in October that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) funding structure is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court won't hear the case until next term, though, meaning a final decision isn't likely until the spring of 2024. Created in 2011 under former President Barack Obama, the CFPB was intended to protect Americans from another financial crisis following the 2008 recession.

☆ Elizabeth Warren urges the Supreme Court to strike down Trump-appointed judges' decision to imperil funding for a student-loan industry and consumer-rights watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Jason Lalljee | Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The Supreme Court will take on a lower court's decision that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's federal funding is unconstitutional. Senator Elizabeth Warren advocated for the Supreme Court to strike down that decision. "If the Supreme Court follows more than a century of law and historical precedent, it will strike down the Fifth Circuit's decision before it throws our financial markets and economy into chaos." McHenry, who now runs the House Financial Services Committee, has hinted at seeking stronger oversight for CFPB for months now. And that's on top of a longer context of Republicans challenging the CFPB's funding and decision making.

☆ Brawling with elite, Russian mercenary boss wishes politician shot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Andrew Osborn | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"During the 1941-45 war, which is now being repeated, Stalin simply shot people like you. I think we're going to return to those times soon," he told Sverdlovsk governor Yevgeny Kuivashev, according to his press service. Earlier this week, he accused various regional governors of refusing to bury Wagner fighters with military honours, labelling them as lawless, corrupt bureaucrats. From eastern Ukraine, Prigozhin replied that he had stopped being a businessman a year ago and was now devoting his life to leading his fighters. "There is a ceiling (of growth) and mechanisms in place," said the source, who declined to provide more details.

☆ Ron Wyden’s Nullification Doctrine
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The idea that politicians can ignore a court order they oppose isn’t new, but it is radical. Yet last week Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden , who runs the Finance Committee, called on the Biden Administration to ignore a legal ruling even before it is made. “In the coming days a lawless Trump-appointed judge is expected to ban access to abortion medication nationwide,” Mr. Wyden wrote on Twitter after making the same point on the Senate floor. “I’m calling on the FDA to protect the safety of every woman in America by keeping the drug on the market no matter the ruling.”

☆ Pakistan's Musharraf, military ruler who allied with the U.S. and promoted moderate Islam
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/8] Pakistan's former President, Pervez Musharraf, addresses his supporters after his arrival from Dubai at Jinnah International airport in Karachi March 24, 2013. Musharraf, 79, died in hospital after a long illness after spending years in self-imposed exile, Pakistan media reported on Sunday. His father served in the foreign ministry, while his mother was a teacher and the family subscribed to a moderate, tolerant brand of Islam. Musharraf also successfully lobbied then-President George W. Bush to pour money into the Pakistani military. In 2006, Musharraf ordered military action that killed a tribal head from the province Balochistan, laying the foundations of an armed insurgency that rages to this day.

☆ ‘Nobody wants to come this way’
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Filed: February 1, 2023, 11 a.m. GMTTheir journey starts with a humanitarian visa for Brazil: one of the few remaining exit routes for Afghans fleeing Taliban rule. More than a year after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Kabul, the number of Afghans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to seek asylum in the United States has soared. Hundreds of people each month are risking their lives to get there on a human smuggling route notorious for kidnapping, robbery and assault. Eleven said they made it to the United States; Reuters has not been able to confirm the whereabouts of one person a reporter interviewed in Mexico. In recent weeks, Taliban spokesmen have said that Afghanistan is the “home of all Afghans” and that those who have left can come back.

☆ UN says Myanmar opium cultivation has surged 33% amid violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Opium production in Myanmar has flourished since the military's takeover in 2021. The so-called Golden Triangle area, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, has historically been a major production area for opium and hosted many of the labs that converted it to heroin. Most of the opium exported by Myanmar goes to China and Vietnam, while heroin goes to many countries across the region, Douglas said. The cultivation of opium had been trending downward in recent years before the military took control of the government in 2021. After rising slightly in 2021, that spiked in 2022 to an estimated 790 metric tons (870 tons), according to the report.

☆ Apple and Google are both at their biggest risk of disruption in over a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( Matt Weinberger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This year, Apple and Google will both face their first real tests in a very long time. Apple could finally open its walled garden, potentially disrupting the App Store juggernaut. Google has spent the last decade-plus guarding its advertising business; Apple has built as many moats around its all-important iPhone business as possible, happily collecting App Store fees and Apple Music subscriptions. Let's look at how this is finally the year that Apple and Google will face their most meaningful competition yet. If the App Store opens up and the iPhone doesn't become a toxic hellstew, perhaps Apple will reconsider its approach.

☆ Jan. 6 committee highlights: Panel votes on criminal referrals for Trump and others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Rebecca Shabad | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Jonathan-Allen-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +48 min

“By the time President Trump was preparing to give his speech, he and his advisors knew enough to cancel the rally. “Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. On far-right groups drawing inspiration from Trump: Trump has not denied that he helped inspire far-right groups, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, to violently attempt to obstruct the official certification proceedings on Jan. 6. "There is no question from all the evidence assembled that President Trump did have that intent." Share this -Link copiedInside the final Jan. 6 committee meeting The Jan. 6 committee met for what’s likely its final public meeting, with many of the usual faces present.

Pakistani Taliban militants detained at the centre had snatched interrogators' weapons and taken them captive on Sunday. Asif did not say how many militants were killed or how many hostages they had held. Residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead. The army operations forced the militants and their leaders to flee to neighbouring Afghan districts. There, Islamabad says, they set up training centres to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Afghan authorities deny.

According to a provincial government spokesman, the militants were demanding safe passage to Afghanistan. "We are in negotiations with the central leaders of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan," Mohammad Ali Saif, a spokesman for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provincial government, said. He said the authorities were yet to receive a response from the Pakistani Taliban, adding that relatives of the militants and area tribal elders had also been involved in initiating talks with the Islamists inside the facility. The militants in control of the interrogation facility had demanded a safe passage to Afghanistan, a TTP statement sent to a Reuters reporter said. It added the TTP had also conveyed the demand to Pakistani authorities, but hadn't heard back any "positive" response.

☆ 11 ancient sites that are mysteriously aligned with the sun on the winter solstice, in photos.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Archaeologists have found many ancient sites that line up with the winter solstice sun. Here are 11 sites that line up with the winter solstice, and what experts think about them. Newgrange, County Meath, IrelandPeople celebrating the sunrise at Newgrange on the morning of the winter solstice in 2018. ShutterstockOne of the most famous examples of ancient architecture lining up with the winter solstice is in Machu Picchu, Peru. "From the winter solstice the days are longer, which was a metaphor of the rebirth of the deceased," he said.

After a two-week standoff between protesters and construction crews building a border wall made of shipping containers, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Arizona, accusing it of trespassing on federal land. "Arizona has unlawfully and without authority failed to remove the shipping containers from lands owned by the United States or over which the United States holds easements, thereby damaging the United States," the complaint reads. In August, Ducey issued an executive order directing the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to fill gaps in the existing border wall in Yuma County using shipping containers. Important waterways are being damaged or altered by the placement of shipping containers on land that serves as important habitats and crossings, including for endangered species, he said. "Under the Clean Water Act, they have created a dam with those shipping containers and it just looks like a junkyard now."

☆ Mexico, the deadliest country for journalists in 2022: watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/File PhotoMEXICO CITY, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Mexico is the country where most journalists were killed in 2022, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said on Wednesday in a report that documented alarming evidence of kidnappings, assaults and arrests of media workers. The report registered 11 killings of media professionals in the Latin American country from January to Dec. 1, or nearly 20% of the global total, the report said. Freedom of speech advocacy groups have documented even more killings of media workers this year, making 2022 the deadliest year on record for journalists in Mexico. Worldwide, RSF reported 57 journalist killings, an 18.8% increase from 2021, driven mainly by the war in Ukraine. The organization reported 49 media workers went missing and other 65 were kidnapped globally.

☆ Russian opposition politician sentenced to 8.5 years in prison on fake news charges
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced in court to eight-and-a-half years in prison on Friday on charges of spreading “false information” about the army. Since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, Moscow has intensified its clampdown on public dissent, with most prominent opposition figures either in jail or exile. Days after the invasion, legislation was passed providing for jail terms of up to 15 years for disseminating “false information” about the military. In a defiant post on his Telegram channel, Yashin urged his supporters to continue opposing the war in Ukraine. “With this hysterical verdict, the authorities want to intimidate us all but, in fact, it only shows their weakness.

☆ Ilya Yashin: Moscow court sentences Kremlin critic to eight and a half years for spreading 'false information'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Anna Chernova Uliana Pavlova Sugam Pokharel Ivana Kottasová | Anna Chernova | Uliana Pavlova | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A Moscow court on Friday sentenced Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin to eight years and six months imprisonment, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti, in a blow to what’s left of the country’s opposition. It is unclear if Yashin’s prison sentence for spreading “false information” about the Russian army includes the time he has already spent in jail during court hearings. Yashin, pictured in a Moscow courtroom Friday, has been sentenced to eight years and six months behind bars. In closing remarks to the court on Monday, ahead of the verdict, Yashin made a statement addressing the judge, President Vladimir Putin and the Russian public. Navalny concluded by saying that he is proud of Yashin and that he and Russia will be free.

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