cross-posted from: https://lemmings.world/post/34564685

As above question.

Are they counted as 'digitally excluded' and how fucked are the actually digitally excluded residents?

Ukrainian officials among those concerned Russia is manufacturing crisis to keep hold of frontline plant

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/38101225

Imagine this: you walk into a public restroom in China, but instead of just grabbing toilet paper… you have to scan a QR code and watch an ad first 😅. Only then will the machine dispense a tiny sheet of tissue. Don’t feel like watching? You can also pay 0.5 RMB (about $0.07) for a bit more paper 💸. This system is designed to cut down waste — some people would abuse free paper before. Now, it’s all about “watch an ad or pay a coin.” Would you sit through an ad for free toilet paper, or just drop the 0.5 yuan? 👀 . . .

Source: China Insider on Instagram.

Comments

• Reddit.

Hello. 22M here. Majoring in Physics, 1st year. Looking for decent earning options, almost as a whole career, but I have no idea which way to go.

Let me tell you a bit about myself. I have a strong fictional imagination, basically a writer's mind. English is not my native language. But I've practiced one or two short stories in my own language.

I have created multiple plots for multiple stories. I've intentions to start writing soon on them.

Anyway, I have close to zero bit of knowledge about coding. I only know html.

I had the time to pursue further into other languages like python, C, C++, but I'm very weak in mathematics. So I didn't learn further coding. I also didn't learn much mathematics, which has put me in an almost degraded institution for honours.

My current mental state cannot focus on one thing to pursue, I don't know why. Sometimes it gets all motivated to write the story, and other times, it gets depressed thinking about how AI is taking all the jobs and I have to learn to code to battle against AI with my own AI.

So this is the overall depiction of my shattered mind and life. I also come from a lower-middle class family. So money is scarce.

I don't want to argue about my moral ethics that if I want to earn money quickly, I can do this or that over my innate talent etc.

What I want to know is, which way will first build a strong foundation of knowledge within me and will keep me going for the long run along with the money.

Because, if I have to learn to code, I also have to study mathematics, if I want to write, I also need to research for a long time before I can even layer the elements inside the story.

My laptop broke 2 years ago and I've been on my android since then. I'm going to buy either a laptop or a tablet soon.

And a tablet adds another way which is digital arts. I don't know how to draw at all. But, as I said, whichever way I choose, I'll have to spend a bit long amount of time to actually train myself to be sufficient on that path. So I have no problem getting introduced to such new ideas and paths and spending time to get along with them.

I also got stuck between the device choice. If I buy a laptop, I'll be able to learn to code and to write my stories. And if I buy a tablet, I'll be able to learn to be a digital artist and can also write my stories but no coding.

So, the way the world's economy is going, which way and which device should I go after?

cross-posted from: https://programming.dev/post/38112752

The Trump administration recently approached a coalition of U.S. investors set to take over TikTok's U.S. operations with an ask: Will the group make a payment to the federal government "in the low billions," according to a person with direct knowledge of the talks.

Comments

• Reddit— Private Front-End.

יש כאן דוברי עברית? בעיקרון r/Israel_bm וסרוגים הן שתי הקהילות הכי גדולות אז הייתי מניחה שגם פה יהיו

(Or maybe Israeli/Palestinian Arabic?)

This is a real thing Peter Thiel told a group of tech professionals recently.

In a four-part series of religious lectures in San Francisco, Peter Thiel — yes, that Peter Thiel — has argued that the End Times are nigh and that a biblical Antichrist — yes, that Antichrist — will come to Earth in the form of onerous government regulations placed on science, technology, and AI.

These are, incidentally, areas where the tech billionaire, venture capitalist, and cofounder of Palantir has a vested financial interest. [...]

Note: source uses a two-headline system; the submission uses the shorter of the two

Archived: https://web.archive.org/web/20250925211248/https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/785407/peter-thiel-antichrist-tech-regulation

European Broadcasting Union says vote required after several nations threaten potential boycott

Uncertainty reigns as Trump claims China approved TikTok deal.

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/64651

When the Tony Blair Institute was first accused of involvement in Donald Trump’s deranged and criminal ‘Gaza Riviera’ plan to drive out or kill Gaza’s Palestinian population and turn the Strip into a ‘riviera’-style beach resort, it tried to deny it – telling the Financial Times (FT) when approached for comment on a ‘slide deck’ outlining the plan that:

Your story is categorically wrong… TBI was not involved in the preparation of the deck, which was a BCG deck, and had no input whatever into its contents.

However, the FT subsequently confirmed that, while not ‘author[ing] or endors[ing] the final slide deck’, Tony Blair Institute staff were involved in the plan:

The Tony Blair Institute participated in a project to develop a postwar [sic] Gaza plan that envisaged kick-starting the enclave’s economy with a “Trump Riviera” and an “Elon Musk Smart Manufacturing Zone”.

The plan outlined in a slide deck, seen by the Financial Times, was led by Israeli businessmen and used financial models developed inside Boston Consulting Group (BCG) to reimagine Gaza as a thriving trading hub.

Titled the “Great Trust” and shared with the Trump administration, it proposed paying half a million Palestinians to leave the area and attracting private investors to develop Gaza.

While the Tony Blair Institute (TBI) did not author or endorse the final slide deck, two staff members at the former UK prime minister’s institute participated in message groups and calls as the project developed, according to people familiar with the work.

One lengthy document on postwar Gaza, written by a TBI staff member, was shared within the group for consideration. This included the idea of a “Gaza Riviera” with artificial islands off the coast akin to those in Dubai, blockchain-based trade initiatives, a deep water port to tie Gaza into the India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor, and low-tax “special economic zones”.

The Tony Blair Institute document also described Israel’s destruction of Gaza as:

creat[ing] a once-in-a-century opportunity to rebuild Gaza from first principles… whose assets could be sold to investors via digital tokens traded on a blockchain.

Trump does want Tony Blair to run Gaza

Despite its initial attempts to distance itself from the plan, the institute and Blair personally are now reported to be in line, not just to help implement the plan but to run the whole of Gaza. According to press reports (emphases added):

The White House is backing a plan that would see Tony Blair head a temporary administration of the Gaza Strip – initially without the direct involvement of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to Israeli media reports.

Under the proposal, Blair would lead a body called the Gaza International Transitional Authority (Gita) that would have a mandate to be Gaza’s “supreme political and legal authority” for as long as five years.

His and his institute’s plan for Gaza led non-profit news site currentaffairs.org to describe Blair as:

The monster we always knew he was.

The Tony Blair Institute has claimed that its planning has:

always been dedicated to building a better Gaza for Palestinians.

The foundation and its founder should be nowhere near Gaza. They should, however, be very, very close to the Hague.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

From Canary via this RSS feed

Title. Reposting because a few days ago my internet connection glitched...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/36751985

By Cathleen Gutekanst
(an activist living in Chicago)
September 27, 2025

CHICAGO, Illinois — On September 16, 2025, Joe Botello, an Elgin, Illinois, man born in the United States, was zip-tied, questioned, and had his front doors shattered by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. He was one of four men shown on a video released by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was present at the raid. Botello was let go later after showing proof of citizenship.

“I’m just blessed that I’m still alive,” Botello said. “I’ve been hearing it and seeing it through social media. But it never crossed my mind that it was going to happen here at the house … where I live.”

The raid came amid escalating threats by U.S. president Donald Trump that he would target this city by sending in federal troops to “fight crime.” While troops have not yet been deployed, an immigration crackdown by ICE is already underway. “Operation Midway Blitz” began in early September, mostly in Chicago’s suburbs with large immigrant populations like Elgin.