• The Government has secretly allowed police forces to search over 150 million UK passport and immigration database photos with “Orwellian” facial recognition technology for 6 years.
• The number of searches of the passport database has “skyrocketed” from 2 in 2020 to 417 in 2023. 16 searches of the immigration database were made in 2023, increasing almost sevenfold to 102 in 2024.
• Campaigners to institute legal action, claiming it is an “historic breach of the right to privacy”.
• Former minister Sir David Davis MP says “It’s outrageous that parliamentarians and the public have been kept in the dark about this extraordinary surveillance system”.

What books or articles have you read recently that fundamentally shifted the way you think about the world, and how you interact with it (work, social, play, whatever)?

On Thursday, New York congresswoman Claudia Tenney, along with 15 other lawmakers, wrote to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking that he investigate whether Ireland’s proposed law violates US anti-boycott law.

The letter urges the Department of the Treasury to conduct a formal review under Section 999 of the Internal Revenue Code and consider adding Ireland to the list of countries that require or may require participation in international boycotts against the US or its allies. If added to the list, there is the potential that American citizens or businesses in Ireland would be subject to additional tax reporting rules.

In a statement, Ms Tenney said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement was "anti-Israel" and would "economically isolate America’s closest ally in the Middle East". She said the Irish legislation "aligns with the global BDS movement, which seeks to delegitimise Israel and create legal uncertainty for US companies operating abroad". "This proposed boycott is discriminatory, dangerous, and would violate US law."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/45696202

The vast majority of Israelis say they are not troubled by reports of famine and suffering in Gaza, a new poll released by the Israel Democracy Institute shows.

The survey shows that 79 percent of Jews in Israel were not troubled, or troubled at all, whereas 86 percent of “Arab” respondents were somewhat or very troubled by the reports about the war on Gaza.

The survey was conducted between 27-31 July.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34332272

ByJAMES GENN AUGUST 8, 2025 04:40
Updated: AUGUST 8, 2025 06:01

"The security cabinet approved the prime minister's proposal to defeat Hamas. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," Axios's Barak Ravid later cited the Prime Minister's Office as saying.

The statement did not use the term "occupation," rather using the term "takeover," due to legal ramifications for the civilian population in the enclave, Ynet reported.

The Security Cabinet also adopted five principles for ending the war, namely disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, both living and murdered, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, Israel maintaining security control over the Gaza Strip, and the existence of civilian government that is not controlled by either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/31615762

womp womp

The New York Times on Tuesday ignited a wave of backlash after revealing a framed photograph of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman displayed inside the New York City mansion of convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The article, which takes readers inside the late convicted paedophile's seven-storey Manhattan home, features surveillance cameras positioned above his bed and in adjoining rooms, taxidermied animals, and provocative artwork, including a sculpture of a bride clutching a rope suspended from the ceiling in the atrium.

The criticism escalated as people connected the image to long-standing allegations of Gulf-Israeli collaboration.

Sam Youssef, author and editor of American and International Affairs, asked: “Do you now understand why Arab rulers kneel to Netanyahu and the Mossad?”

U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods jumped to 50% on Wednesday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters in an interview that he saw no room for direct talks now with U.S. President Donald Trump that would likely be a "humiliation."

Brazil is not about to announce reciprocal tariffs, he said. Nor will his government give up on cabinet-level talks. But Lula himself is in no rush to ring the White House.

"The day my intuition says Trump is ready to talk, I won't hesitate to call him," Lula said in an interview from his presidential residence in Brasilia. "But today my intuition says he doesn't want to talk. And I won't humiliate myself."

Swiss politicians across parties are seeking to cancel an order of three dozen F-35A fighter jets from US defense conglomerate Lockheed Martin Corp after President Donald Trump imposed some of the world’s harshest levies on the country.

Paywall? https://archive.is/WB6xN

I've been doing a lot of research into Judaism. They seem to encourage asking tough questions and taking the answers seriously, which is good.

After reading a bit of the Torah, it got me thinking, why aren't there any references to people who could not have been known to its followers at the time? No mention of East Asians or Native Americans. Did God just forget about them when he talked through Moses? Or he thought they weren't important enough to mention?

Then it got me thinking some more. What about science? Wouldn't it be effective to convince followers of legitimacy if a religion could accurately predict a scientific phenomenon before its followers have the means of discovering it? Say, "And God said, let there be bacteria! And then there was bacteria." But there is nothing like that. Anywhere, as far as I can tell. Among any religion.

I'm not a theologian and I'm always interested in learning more, so any insights would be helpful.

Edit: A lot of responses seem to be saying "people wouldn't have had a use for that knowledge at the time" seem to be parroting religious talking points without fully understanding their implications. Why would God only tell people what they would have a use for at the time? Why wouldn't he give them information that could expand the possibilities of what they were capable of? Why does it matter if people had a word for something at the time? Couldn't God just tell them new words for new things? If God was only telling them things that were relevant to them at the time, why didn't He say so? Also, how come he doesn't come back and tell us things that are relevant now, or at least mention that he isn't coming back?

...

While the Swiss try to figure out how to deal with Trump and the US, the episode has cast a new light on the country’s relationship with the EU. That’s long been a divisive issue, with arguments about trade and economic benefits clashing with concern about immigration and sovereignty.

For the pro-EU voices, the chaotic back and forth with the US will give them fresh reason to push the benefits of ties with the bloc, particularly as it secured a far better 15% rate.

“This will undoubtedly strengthen the camp of those who argue that Switzerland needs to move closer to the EU,” said Rene Schwok, a professor of political science at the University of Geneva. “Their argument is that the EU is a much more reliable partner than the US and China.”

...

It’s not just the upending of global trade that is pushing the Swiss to rethink how it works with the EU. The director of the government agency responsible for military procurement said in June he’s seeking closer collaboration with European neighbors as global demand for weapons surges and the nation’s own defense industry falters.

...

Switzerland’s decision to embrace EU sanctions on Russia shortly after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a watershed moment. The European Commission had urged Switzerland to follow its lead on punishing the Kremlin, noting that although not an EU member state, it’s still “part of Europe.” Switzerland took the hint.

...

To be sure, Switzerland’s low unemployment, low inflation economy is robust enough that it could withstand the 39% U.S. tariff hit. If pharmaceutical exports were included at the unchanged rate, this would translate to a hit of at least 0.7-percentage point hit to the economy, according to Hans Gersbach at KOF economic research institute in Zurich.

...

[However], this may push the Swiss to reconsider the advantages of “splendid isolation,” [senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank Jacob Funk] Kirkegaard said.

...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/34316429

Thursday, August 7th 2025 - 10:33 UTC

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva harshly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump following the implementation of a 50% tariff on Brazilian exports. Lula called Trump “authoritarian” with “anti-civilizational” behavior and accused him of creating “problems where there were none.”

“A president must not humiliate himself before another president. I respect everyone and demand respect in return,” Lula told Reuters, rejecting the idea of a phone call with Trump. “He doesn’t want to talk, and I have no intention of doing so.”