Key Findings

•Crew lists obtained by reporters show that tankers carrying sanctioned Russian oil have been regularly departing the country's Baltic Sea ports with a pair of extra Russian crewmen.

•More than a dozen of these men were found to have links to Russian security organizations including the Wagner Group, paratrooper units, and Russia’s foreign intelligence service.

•European intelligence officers say these covert "vessel protection teams" have been deployed to deter authorities in the Baltic Sea from boarding or seizing the sanctioned ships.

•Russia relies heavily on the Baltic route to transport oil that remains a key income stream for its wartime economy despite Western sanctions.

I have always wondered why I was taught in school for so long and it turns out that apparently lots of other people were taught this too.

The only reason I can think if that we were raight that blood in the body is blue is because our veins look blue. But does anyone know where that myth came from or why kids are still being taught this today?

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/10980696

"Setareh Sadeghi, assistant professor of World Studies at the University of Tehran, speaks to The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal from Isfahan, Iran as her country defends itself against a vicious combined assault by the US and Israeli militaries."

"Sadeghi addresses the teachings and legacies of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and explains how his assassination has galvanized the Shia masses and united Iran in a battle for its national integrity. "

cross-posted from: https://ibbit.at/post/196812

By waging war in the Middle East, Trump is set to further strain one of his key voter bases.

From Foreign Policy via this RSS feed

The case has drawn national attention because the brothers, Antonio Yesayahu Gámez-Cuéllar, 18, and Caleb Gámez-Cuéllar, 14, travelled to Washington DC last summer after their high school’s mariachi ensemble, Mariachi Ono, won a state mariachi competition. Their congresswoman, Monica De La Cruz, invited them to the House floor, where she celebrated their accomplishment.

Late last month, the brothers and their parents, Luis Antonio Martínez and Emma Guadalupe Cuéllar, as well as their younger brother Joshua Gámez-Cuéllar, 12, were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), according to Texas representatives.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/56544079

European police agencies said on Friday that 22 people had been identified as being part of attacks involving a series of exploding parcels in ‌Europe in 2024, which the Russian military intelligence service was suspected of being behind.

Explosions occurred in courier depots in Britain, Germany and Poland with security officials suggesting they were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States.

Moscow has always denied allegations it was involved in any such operation, or other accusations of a wider sabotage campaign involving arson attacks aimed at destabilising allies of Ukraine.

'VULNERABLE' SUSPECTS Eurojust, the European Union's justice cooperation agency, ⁠said on Friday that a joint investigation by German, Polish, Dutch, British and Lithuanian detectives had identified 22 suspects in Lithuania and Poland who were suspected of working on behalf of Russia's GRU intelligence agency.

"The suspected perpetrators were recruited from Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and Ukraine and were often in a vulnerable socio-economic situation," the Eurojust statement said. "It is suspected that the acts carried out by these suspects were executed on behalf of the military-intelligence service of the Russian Federation."

At least you're not paying for the media🏴‍☠️

cross-posted from : https://lemmy.zip/post/60481861

The nation’s antitrust watchdog also ordered the carmaker to rectify its deceptive marketing practices. According to the authority’s investigation, the carmaker concealed the actual battery supplier for several models — the EQE and EQS EVs — and promoted as if all of the vehicles were equipped with batteries from CATL, the world’s largest battery maker.

Mercedes-Benz Korea and its German headquarters were already aware of the battery suppliers, but deliberately deleted information on Farasis in its sales guide here, according to the FTC investigation. The local subsidiary received education materials on the battery suppliers for each EV lineup from the German headquarters in May 2021.

If you can't safely take the Cybertruck to a car wash, I wonder how it will fare as a boat?

(Beirut) – The Israeli military unlawfully used artillery-fired white phosphorus munitions over homes on March 3, 2026, in the southern Lebanese town of Yohmor, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch verified and geolocated seven images showing airburst white phosphorus munitions being deployed over a residential part of the town and civil defense workers responding to fires in at least two homes and one car in that area.

“The Israeli military’s unlawful use of white phosphorus over residential areas is extremely alarming and will have dire consequences for civilians,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The incendiary effects of white phosphorous can cause death or cruel injuries that result in lifelong suffering.”

Great Britain has only two days of fossil gas stored after a decline in energy reserves, as more tankers carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) are diverted from their course to Europe towards Asia because of the Iran war.

Great Britain had 6,999 gigawatt hours (GWh) of fossil gas stored on Saturday, according to figures from National Gas, which owns and operates the gas national transmission system. This compares with 9,105 GWh a year earlier.

Maximum capacity is 12 days of gas, and current storage levels equate to under two days of reserves, leading to concerns that Great Britain could run out of gas if the crisis in the Middle East escalates further.

After becoming the first country to ban under-16s from social media, Australia has now gone further by implementing one of the world’s most comprehensive age verification regimes for underage users, covering AI chatbots, app stores, online gaming, search engines, messaging services and pornography sites. The rules are already drawing criticism from some firms: Aylo, the owner of explicit sites including Pornhub, has responded by blocking Australian users from its platforms entirely.

On Monday, the country implemented the Age-Restricted Material Codes, requiring designated platforms to introduce age verification measures, such as facial age estimation, digital wallets and photo IDs, for materials such as high-impact violence, pornography, self-harm material and dangerous content such as suicide and disordered eating.

Relevant story: https://mronline.org/2026/03/09/meet-the-coal-plants-that-trump-and-ai-are-restarting/