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HaaretzHumanityIslamic World
Erased Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West Bank

Erased Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West Bank

Erased Israeli Settlers' Brutal War on Palestinian Communities in the West BankScroll downCredit: Avishay Mohar, B'TselemHagar ShezafShare on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on WhatsAppThese images appear again and again – from the ground, from the air, and on maps: dozens of Palestinian communities wiped off the landscape, while illegal Israeli settler outposts continue to spread across the West Bank.Since October 7, 2023, this phenomenon has intensified significantly. Unlike the war in Gaza, there is no discussion in Israel about ending this parallel campaign of dispossession.

35m ago
The GuardianImmigrationUSA
ICE’s tactics look increasingly like torture | Judith Levine

ICE’s tactics look increasingly like torture | Judith Levine

Plans for gloves that can deliver electric shocks underline the homeland security department’s sadistic practicesOn 11 August, the Associated Press that the Homeland Security Agency will spend up to $20m to equip its agents with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks to the skin of a person deemed uncooperative. The “conductive distraction and de-escalation devices”– branded Glove, for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter – will be supplied by their manufacturer, Compliant Technologies, through a .News of the acquisition inspired the editorial cartoonist Ann Telnaes to publish a of an agent wearing the glove, underneath which are a branding iron, an iron maiden, a rack, and other compliance technologies. AKA, instruments of torture.

12h ago
The GuardianHumanityGermany
Scrapping of Berlin swimming day for Black children becomes latest in long list of race-linked pool rows

Scrapping of Berlin swimming day for Black children becomes latest in long list of race-linked pool rows

Rightwing voices seize on plans to offer Black children an exclusive afternoon at an outdoor pool in the German capitalIt was meant to be an outing for Black children in Berlin and their families, offering them an exclusive afternoon at an outdoor pool set up by a local theatre.But the plans, slated for earlier this month, had to be scrapped after they were seized on by rightwing and conservative voices to whip up outrage, leaving organisers fending off racist emails and threats.

18h ago
The Free PressDiplomacy
This Is How AI Starts a Nuclear War

This Is How AI Starts a Nuclear War

Robert Wright has been talking about human nature and technology since before most people knew what a podcast was, going back to a video platform he co-founded in 2005 called Bloggingheads.tv. His new book, The God Test, makes an argument that stuck with me: AI isn’t dangerous because it might spontaneously turn on us, but rather because it’s about to test whether human beings can get past the tribalism that’s plagued most of our recorded history.

12h ago
The GuardianHumanityIndia
Disciples review – fresh-faced boys are sucked into a nightmare of extremism in India

Disciples review – fresh-faced boys are sucked into a nightmare of extremism in India

A prestigious school in the holy city of Varanasi and its controversial, dogmatic teachings are the subject of this shocking documentaryThe effect of political and religious indoctrination on young minds resembles a slow-release poison. Unfolding in observational vignettes, Pankaj Johar and Sunaina Kapoor’s thought-provoking documentary centres on Vidya Mutth, a prestigious Hindu school in the holy city of Varanasi, India, where sectarian beliefs are drilled into its students, all in the name of cultural preservation.The film opens with controversial speeches made by the school’s spiritual leader, Guru Avimuktesh, who advocates the abolition of religious freedom, and for Indian Muslims to either convert to Hinduism or leave for Pakistan. A prominent Hindu figure with a large following, he personally oversees the entrance exam, a sequence captured in dynamic handheld shots. While boys take the test, their parents look on with apprehension and anxiety; to be accepted would be an honour, not only for their child but for the whole family.

14h ago
The GuardianSex & IdentityJamaica
The Disappearers by Marlon James review – a scorching exposé of homophobia in Jamaica

The Disappearers by Marlon James review – a scorching exposé of homophobia in Jamaica

This Booker-listed epic set in Aids-era Kingston is a triumph – bitter, bawdy and ravishingly queer“A sense of sweep,” replied Marlon James, when asked what moves him most in literature. “Sweep isn’t just about external journeys, but internal as well. It can be over years and decades, or across land and sea.” If that explanation is still hazy, pick up his mighty new novel, which is longlisted for this year’s Booker prize and is tirelessly – sometimes exhaustingly – grand and peripatetic. Mounting a grisly exposé of Jamaican homophobia, this polyphonic 640-page doorstopper is an emotionally bruising narrative that roves “uptown, downtown, ghetto and gully” through Aids-era Kingston with sidetrack excursions to 1950s England and a closing leap to 2000s United States.The novel’s defining event is a gruesome mob attack on eight queer men who have clandestinely come together to work on bringing John Herbert’s 1967 gay prison play, Fortune and Men’s Eyes, to the stage. The goal, in the words of director Havelock Titus, is to shatter “the whole fragile myth of Jamaican male sexuality”. “Because prison,” he explains, “is the ultimate male institution and yet masculine sexualities that could never happen outside in the normal world flourish in there all the time.”

16h ago
The GuardianDiplomacyIran
Iran vows to retaliate against countries that cooperate with fresh US sanctions

Iran vows to retaliate against countries that cooperate with fresh US sanctions

Test of US rhetoric will rest on whether nations such as India, China and Russia view economic threats as credibleTehran has vowed to retaliate against any country that cooperates with the US in what the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has billed as “the single greatest financial offensive ever marshalled against an adversary”.In advance of the US announcement, the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s single biggest trading partner in the Middle East, announced it was ending all trade with Iran, a move Tehran believes was coordinated between Washington and the UAE.

10h ago
The GuardianWar & ConflictUkraine
The Guardian view on Britain helping Ukraine: build the weapons independence Kyiv needs | Editorial

The Guardian view on Britain helping Ukraine: build the weapons independence Kyiv needs | Editorial

Moscow hopes western politics will weaken support for Kyiv. The UK and Europe’s answer should be to make Ukraine increasingly capable of defending itself aloneThe events of the past few days on Europe’s borders may mark a turning point in Russia’s war on Ukraine. While the political skies in Kyiv have for Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the military picture looks brighter. Ukraine can already send swarms of drones against Russian oil facilities, and airfields. Andy Burnham’s in Kyiv marks a step forward. Britain is releasing classified information on its components of , the French version of the Anglo-French Storm Shadow cruise missile, enabling its assembly in Ukraine. This is more than another weapon for Kyiv. Britain is helping Ukraine become less dependent on the western armoury.Moscow , but Britain should hold its nerve. Kyiv has been at the mercy of its allies, waiting to replenish weapons stockpiles and release sophisticated arms. Producing its own hi-tech armoury gives Ukraine greater freedom of action because western governments have let go. Two years ago it was different. Joe Biden waited until before letting Ukraine strike deep into Russia with US weapons. Yet thresholds once deemed dangerously escalatory have since been crossed without provoking a Russia-Nato war. Kyiv is now being trusted with something more consequential: a measure of weapons independence.

4h ago
The GuardianDiplomacyEurope
Burnham’s visit to Kyiv marks a renewal of badly needed support for Ukraine

Burnham’s visit to Kyiv marks a renewal of badly needed support for Ukraine

As well as pledging military help and diplomatic backing, the prime minister could be useful in dealing with the USSince moving into Downing Street in July, Andy Burnham – a foreign policy neophyte – has expressed strong support for Ukraine. But on Monday he saw the bitter human cost of the war up close for the first time, visiting Kyiv during his first international trip as prime minister. was the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave awards to the families of fallen soldiers. Relatives wept, hugging Ukraine’s president. Photos of young men in their prime were shown on a giant screen.

5h ago
The GuardianHumanity
Mark Ruffalo fires back at Paramount Skydance after it accuses him of using ‘antisemitic tropes’

Mark Ruffalo fires back at Paramount Skydance after it accuses him of using ‘antisemitic tropes’

Actor says highlighting role of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison in media company’s merger with Warner Bros Discovery has been ‘dishonestly framed as being anti-Israel’Mark Ruffalo has fired back at Paramount Skydance after the media company accused him of invoking “antisemitic tropes” in his criticism of its $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).The actor, who has long been outspoken against Israel’s military conduct in Gaza and for the rights of Palestinians, shared a statement on social media on Friday in which he highlighted the links between Paramount Skydance, run by CEO David Ellison, and Oracle, the technology company run by Ellison’s father, Larry.

19h ago
The GuardianHumanityAustralia
Australia has just 12,000 sea lions left – and ‘carnage’ may await them as bird flu takes hold, scientists warn

Australia has just 12,000 sea lions left – and ‘carnage’ may await them as bird flu takes hold, scientists warn

Virus has already caused catastrophic losses in pinnipeds in South America and sub-Antarctica, particularly among pupsGet our , or Scientists have warned deadly H5 bird flu could cause “carnage” for Australia’s seal and sea lion populations after detection of the virus in long-nosed fur seals in South Australia.SA on Saturday after a dead long-nosed fur seal found at Beachport on the Limestone Coast tested positive for H5N1.

7h ago
The GuardianHealth AlertsAustralia
How do you vaccinate 1,000 tiny penguins against bird flu in the wild? It’s ‘really tricky’ but there is a way

How do you vaccinate 1,000 tiny penguins against bird flu in the wild? It’s ‘really tricky’ but there is a way

Phillip Island’s ‘iconic’ little penguins get first bird flu vaccinations in what is thought to be largest program of its kindGet our , or More than 1,000 little penguins have received their first dose of bird flu vaccine in Victoria, in what is believed to be the world’s largest vaccination program involving wild birds.Catherine Basterfield, the chief executive of Phillip Island Nature Parks, said vaccinations began early last week and were ramping up.

15h ago
The GuardianHumanityAustralia
Fur seal’s death marks first Australian mainland mammal fatality from spreading H5 bird flu strain

Fur seal’s death marks first Australian mainland mammal fatality from spreading H5 bird flu strain

Seal found dead at Beachport in South Australia presages ‘significant losses’, minister warnsGet our , or A long-nosed fur seal has died from H5 bird flu in South Australia, marking the first confirmed case in a mammal on the Australian mainland. The seal was found dead at Beachport on Wednesday on the state’s Limestone Coast. It marks a fresh escalation in the spread of the virus days after the South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, events on offshore islands involving more than 1,000 greater crested terns.The federal agriculture minister, Julie Collins, said the seal death was “not unexpected” as the virus begins to spread through the country.

1d ago
The GuardianNature DailyAustralia
‘Devastating’: Western Australia fears a black swan moment as bird flu threatens flagship species

‘Devastating’: Western Australia fears a black swan moment as bird flu threatens flagship species

The state’s bird emblem is an indicator species for H5N1, with high visibility populations and low survival rates. Experts are warning of ‘significant mortality’Get our , or When the black swans start dying, Western Australians will know that bird flu has truly arrived.The birds are an “indicator species” because once they are infected with the H5N1 virus they are more likely to die than survive, according to the University of Queensland virologist Kirsty Short.

2d ago
The GuardianHealthcareCongo
After 100 days of the deadliest Ebola outbreak, it can be stopped. Here’s how | Jean Kaseya and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

After 100 days of the deadliest Ebola outbreak, it can be stopped. Here’s how | Jean Kaseya and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

Ebola is a disease that spreads through communities, so we need to listen to communities if we want to halt its spreadEach time we travel to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), we go first to listen. In Bunia, we have met dozens of community representatives: survivors, women, young people, local organisations, health workers and leaders from affected areas.Their message was direct: involve us. We know our communities. We know where families seek care, how information moves and why trust is breaking down. Give us the means to help drive the response. They were right.

10h ago
BBCSex & IdentityUSA
Kanter Freedom ejected from WNBA game over player row

Kanter Freedom ejected from WNBA game over player row

Enes Kanter Freedom and Natasha Cloud argue during the Chicago Sky's defeat Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from Sunday's Women's NBA match between the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever after becoming involved in a verbal altercation with Sky guard Natasha Cloud. Sitting at courtside, Kanter Freedom stood up with his arms outstretched and took steps towards the court after Cloud began pointing and shouting at him during a timeout.

9h ago
The GuardianSex & IdentityUSA
Enes Kanter Freedom ejected from WNBA game after confrontation with Natasha Cloud

Enes Kanter Freedom ejected from WNBA game after confrontation with Natasha Cloud

Former NBA center criticized WNBA’s transgender policyCloud yelled and pointed in his direction after scoringFormer NBA center Enes Kanter Freedom was ejected from Sunday night’s Indiana Fever v Chicago Sky WNBA game after he was confronted by Sky guard Natasha Cloud late in the third quarter.Freedom was sitting along the baseline. He had on a black shirt that read “WOMAN. Noun. Adult human female.”

18h ago
The GuardianWar & ConflictUSA
Stars and Stripes publisher could be fired before planned retirement, sources say

Stars and Stripes publisher could be fired before planned retirement, sources say

Max Lederer, longtime head of the US military news outlet, says his ‘philosophy of leadership’ differs from defense’sThe long-serving publisher of the Stars and Stripes could face an early dismissal just days after the taxpayer-funded military news outlet’s reporting revealed deteriorating conditions aboard the USS aircraft carrier, according to a news report.Pentagon officials have discussed firing Max Lederer ahead of his scheduled retirement next month, , which quoted anonymous sources. Lederer, the publisher of the military daily for 19 years, had previously cited fundamental differences with the Trump administration for his decision to retire soon.

4d ago