For context: I'm not from a western background. I'm Asian.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/45982251

Two months after her new sentence of four more years in prison, Zhang Zhan - the blogger and Christian human rights activist who first reported on the pandemic in Wuhan - has been moved without warning to a new detention facility with no possibility of contact with her family.

This was discovered by her lawyer, who went to visit her at the Pudong Detention Centre in Shanghai and was told that it was impossible because she had been transferred. Only after Reporters Without Borders – which awarded her the Press Freedom Award in 2021 and has been following her case for some time – made the news public did the local authorities announce that she is now in the Women's Prison, also in Shanghai but in the Songjiang district.

According to what Zhang Zhan's mother was told, she was sent to this new location for a month of “education” and visits are not allowed.

After already serving four years in prison, on 19 September, in a closed-door trial in a Shanghai court , Zhang Zhan was again convicted on charges of disturbing social order and provoking quarrels for travelling to Gansu province to meet human rights activist Zhang Pancheng, who was arrested for participating in protests in defence of workers who had been treated unfairly.

‘We are deeply concerned about her situation,’ said Antoine Bernal of Reporters Without Borders. ‘The international community must not remain silent. It must call for an end to this shameful persecution of this heroine of journalism.’

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39099089

The news comes in the wake of Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s, formerly known as Prince Andrew, summons deadline today, and pressure is mounting on him to respond.

The survivor accused Trump: “He had to have known something. He had to have had an idea. 

“You know, he always boasted about their friendship, but I never knew how close or how involved they were.”

The anonymous victim was speaking exclusively to Channel 5 in the United Kingdom (Channel 5)

She said, “he had pictures of them at his house together,” which she says she has seen. 

“They were friends… I don't know how he couldn't have [not known].”

The statement from the Infrastructure and Transport Ministers' meeting: https://www.infrastructure.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/itmm-communique-21-november-2025.pdf

The same statement from WeRide on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/werideaustralia/posts/pfbid0KpgL2Xxi54XVQNk557nVm9SXCFwVvtu6VtW7GbMSDcCRkwYKh2imTuAFSRfAni65l

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with top congressional leaders of both parties Wednesday morning, before an hours-long session with corporate CEOs and billionaires at the Kennedy Center in the afternoon.

The events confirm that President Trump spoke for the entire US ruling class, Democrats and Republicans alike, when he welcomed the bloodstained monarch to the White House and denounced any mention of bin Salman’s role in the gruesome murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

...

There is nothing surprising about the welcoming of the Saudi despot and mass murderer to the US Capitol. The House and Senate have given standing ovations to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on at least two occasions during the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has addressed a joint session of Congress twice—even as he pursued policies of entrenching his authoritarian Hindu-supremacist regime and threatening nuclear war against neighboring Pakistan. British Prime Minister Tony Blair addressed Congress at the height of the US-British war of conquest in Iraq, in July 2003.

More importantly, American presidents themselves address Congress on a regular basis, and the war crimes committed by these presidents in this century alone (wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, drone missile assassinations from the Middle East to the Caribbean), dwarf those committed by any visiting monarchs, dictators or prime ministers.

After his brief session schmoozing with the congressional leadership, bin Salman travelled across town to the Kennedy Center to resume the real business of his trip: wooing and being wooed by corporate CEOs and billionaires, with Trump presiding over the scene like the head pimp at a house of ill repute.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/55526923

Home loan borrowers are paying the price as competition heats up with cash back deals, one broker says.

ANZ is offering a 1.5 percent cash back incentive to new loans, up to $30,000, until mid-December.

That is about twice the normal cash back that new home loan borrowers can get.

Cunningham said the cost to the banks meant that fixed-term home loan rates were about five or 10 basis points higher than they would be if the cash backs were not offered.

He said ANZ's cash back offer was the highest ever seen in the market by a huge margin.

"Anything above 1 percent is very unusual so that is incredibly aggressive.

"The flip side is that the fixed interest rates will be a bit higher than otherwise for all borrowers. Not really fair, but it's par for the course."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39268294

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39268288

November 5, 2025

Far too little aid is reaching Gaza nearly four weeks after a ceasefire, humanitarian agencies said on Tuesday, as hunger persists with winter approaching and old tents start to fray following Israel's devastating two-year offensive.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/53472208

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/39266968

After the fascist and Nazi regimes were defeated in 1945, European post-war historiography largely overlooked right-wing extremism. New research now shows how extremists rebuilt cross-border networks in Europe and the part Switzerland played.

For more depth on the usages of Fascism and it's history, context etc. see this link about this new book. Facsism" by Princeton History Prof Federico Marcon.

The faster we recognise it, the better we can counter it.

https://archive.is/IiCN4

Although environmental groups allege that, with a combustion engine and a large battery, plug-in hybrids are often more polluting than advertised, many see them as a greener interim option for people who are not ready to switch to electric vehicles.

However, the European car industry may have already lost the war before it has even begun. While car groups are lobbying hard for Brussels to loosen the region’s 2035 petrol ban to allow PHEVs and other technologies, Chinese brands are already starting to win over consumers with their plug-in vehicles that are cheaper and have longer ranges.

“Today, the European automakers are still not on par with the Chinese on plug-in hybrid technology,” Pedro Pacheco, an analyst at Gartner, said. “If the market were to pivot towards plug-in hybrids in 2035 in Europe, it will still fall into the hands of the Chinese.”