By Nate Raymond
May 10, 2025 10:12 PM EDT

[article contains 5 nice photos :-) ]

Summary

• Öztürk returns home after release from immigration detention center
• Judge in #Vermont grants bail, citing substantial claims her rights were violated
• Ozturk urges public to remember detained women in Louisiana

A recent deal between an Emirati investment firm and a cryptocurrency company tied to the Trumps could endanger national security, Warren said.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren is urging a federal watchdog to investigate a recently announced deal between a Trump-backed cryptocurrency company and an investment firm tied to the government of the United Arab Emirates.

Warren and Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon sent a letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, on Monday outlining their concerns.

The deal in question concerns the Emirati investment firm MGX, the crypto exchange Binance, and World Liberty Financial, a crypto company that lists President Trump and his sons as members of its team.

Source: https://lemmy.world/post/29479317/16988308

Modlog: https://photon.lemmy.world/modlog?=&user=1071644

https://www.willywacky.com/en-us/products/aero-vanilla-bean-scoop-canada

By Reuters
May 11, 2025 12:39 PM EDT

https://archive.is/i56HN

Chemical companies are putting European assets up for sale as they review their operations in the region to cope with high energy prices and competition from newer plants in Asia and the Middle East.

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire owner of petrochemicals group Ineos, has consistently warned that Britain’s chemical industry is heading for extinction because of high energy prices and carbon taxes.

Source: https://lemmy.world/post/29479317/16989013

Modlog: https://photon.lemmy.world/modlog?user=14626897

In a lengthy statement to the Daily Mail on Monday, Australia’s richest person broke her silence following the Coalition’s wipeout on Saturday night.

“The left media did a very successful effort, frightening many in the Liberal party from anything Trump, and away from any Trump-like policies” she wrote. Referencing a trip to the US before last November’s election, Rinehart said she had met with former Democrat voters who had since turned Republican.

“Why are Americans getting it, and we aren’t?” Rinehart said.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/may/05/gina-rinehart-liberal-party-trump-australia-election-ntwnfb

Her full statement:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14678127/Gina-Rinehart-warning-federal-election-result.html

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/29773800

Bethan McKernan in Jerusalem and Malak A Tantesh in Gaza
Tue 6 May 2025 06.48 EDT

"No food or medical supplies have entered Gaza for nine weeks, and Israeli forces have now seized about 70% of the territory as military buffer or civilian no-go zones, pushing 2.3 million people and aid operations into ever-smaller areas – which are no longer designated as “humanitarian zones”."

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.today/post/28904943

Date: May 2025 Affected Regions: Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Tver, Tula, Nizhny Novgorod, Kaluga, Leningrad, Kursk, Mordovia (notably Saransk), and others. Confirmed Impact: Mobile internet partially or completely disabled across 30+ urban areas.

Official Narrative: "Security Measures" According to regional telecoms and unofficial channels, mobile internet services were intentionally cut off due to the threat of incoming Ukrainian drone strikes. Authorities cite "preventive action" and the need to limit open communications during heightened alert.

Reality Check: Tactical Blackout or Info Control? While defensive countermeasures against UAV threats are plausible, the scope and consistency of the outages raise questions. Independent observers and local reports suggest that the disruption may have also served to:

• Obscure real-time footage of military or infrastructural damage.
• Prevent citizens from coordinating information during attacks.
• Suppress potential unrest or panic in targeted regions.
• Mask technological vulnerabilities in regional air defense systems.

Strategic Implications:

• Operational transparency within the Russian Federation continues to decline.
• Digital infrastructure is increasingly weaponized as a tool of internal control.
• Civilian communication tools are deprioritized in favor of regime stability narratives.

The situation highlights a key paradox: While the Kremlin projects strength through cyber capabilities and digital sovereignty, it is simultaneously cutting its own population off from the global information sphere whenever reality threatens to contradict the official line.

Broader Context: These shutdowns occur alongside:

• Russia’s ongoing struggle with technological sanctions, including deteriorating access to Western telecom hardware.
• Failures of domestic tech replacements (e.g., the collapse of “Rossgram,” billed as a Russian alternative to Instagram).
• Escalating cross-border drone warfare, now reaching the interior of the country.

Sources:

• Local media reports
• Telecom user data (indirect confirmations from VK/TG channels)
• Internet monitoring watchdogs (e.g., NetBlocks, IsDown)
• Satellite imagery and OSINT (to be updated)

Hashtags: #Russia #UAV #DroneWarfare #InternetShutdown #DigitalAuthoritarianism #Censorship #InfoControl #CyberWarfare #FediverseReports #OSINT

The drones used by India in the latest attacks were identified as Israeli-made Harop MK 2 models, which are high-altitude surveillance UAVs capable of flying at up to 35,000 feet, beyond the range of most standard anti-aircraft guns.

The engine, produced by UK-based UAV Engines Ltd, was recovered intact with visible manufacturer markings. This marks the first successful interception of this drone model globally.

The latest escalation comes after the April 22 attack in Pahalgam, Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), which killed 26 people. India immediately blamed Pakistan-based elements for the attack, but provided no evidence. Islamabad has strongly rejected the accusations.

Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a birth certificate update ban as well as two DEI bans that explicitly included transgender people.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed three anti-transgender bills that had cleared the state’s Republican-controlled legislature.

One of the measures would have prohibited transgender individuals from updating the gender marker on their birth certificates—a process already mired in legal and bureaucratic hurdles due to existing law.

The other two bills targeted trans people in higher education and workplaces, continuing a broader pattern of attempts to restrict their rights in public life.

Hobbs, who has positioned herself as a consistent and vocal opponent of the anti-transgender agenda pushed by the right, has repeatedly used her veto authority to block similar efforts throughout her time in office.

Some pictures of the region.

Germany's domestic intelligence agency last week classified the largest opposition party, the AfD, as "confirmed right-wing extremist." This has intensified debates over whether or not to ban the party.

On Friday, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).

Now, there has been a first fallout: two AfD politicians and parliamentarians are not allowed to accompany Hesse's Minister for European affairs, Manfred Pentz, on a trip to Serbia and Croatia. Pentz explained that he could not expect international partners "to sit down at the same table with representatives of a party that has been confirmed as right-wing extremist."

Further measures also threaten the radical right-wing party: several federal states want to examine whether being a civil servant, including judges, police officers, teachers, or soldiers, is still compatible with being a member of the AfD.