Meta and Lavender

A little-discussed detail in the Lavender AI article is that Israel is killing people based on being in the same Whatsapp group [1] as a suspected militant [2]. Where are they getting this data? Is WhatsApp sharing it? Lavender is Israel's system of "pre-crime" [3] - they use AI to guess who to kill in Gaza, and then bomb them when they're at home, along with their entire family. (Obscenely, they call this program "Where's Daddy"). One input to the AI is
| Israel | War, AI, Meta, Genocide, Israel

US and UK Unprovoked Strikes Escalate Yemen Crisis, Defying International Law

On January 11, after weeks of procrastination, US and UK forces launched a series of more than sixty air strikes against positions of the Ansar Allah movement, known as the Houthis, in Yemen. Officially intended to deter the Houthis from continuing their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, these and subsequent US strikes are a significant escalation in the current Middle East crisis, centered on Israel’s genocidal attacks on Gaza and its population. Initially described as “one-off,” the strikes have
| Yemen | Yemen, Palestine, Red Sea, Genocide, War, Law

Israel War on Palestinian Bedouin Communities in West Bank

Abu Najeh al-Omari is an 80-year-old Palestinian man. He spends most of his time crying and bemoaning that he and his family were forced to leave their Bedouin community east of Ramallah. “We dream about it day and night,” he told The Palestine Chronicle. Several months ago, a group of illegal Jewish settlers, protected by the Israeli army and police, forced him and his family to leave their house and their land. Al-Omari has lived in the Ain Samia area since the 1960s.
| Palestine | palestine,genocide,bedouin,israel

The Forde Report Lays Bare the Lie at the Heart of the Media’s War on Corbyn

For all the nuanced language of the long-awaited Forde report, there is one key finding that lays bare a carefully constructed lie. It was a lie that implicated not just the right of the Labour party but a great swathe of Britain’s political and media class. And it was a lie that underpinned much of the dominant narrative leading up to, during and since Labour’s disastrous performance in the 2019 general election. This lie was not that Labour under Jeremy Corbyn
| United Kingdom | Political,Media,Labour party

In Ukraine, Rival Worldviews Have Led to Unnecessary War

Whatever way one looks at it, Vladimir Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine has backfired. Geopolitically, the invasion unified and empowered Nato while increasing public support for the alliance across Europe. Militarily, the faltering attempt to seize Kyiv proved that regime change will require a permanent, large-scale Russian presence, which the Kremlin will struggle to sustain. Economically, the barrage of Western sanctions sent the ruble into free fall, creating a financial crisis that will be compounded by a costly war effort,
| Russia | News,Politics,War

Libya’s new PM to unveil transitional government

Libya’s Prime Minister-designate Abdul Hamid Dbeibah is set to name a transitional government on Thursday tasked with unifying the war-torn nation and leading it to elections in December. Dbeibah, himself selected earlier this month in a UN-sponsored process, will deliver his lineup to Libya’s presidential council, before it is submitted to Parliament for approval at a venue and date that have yet to be agreed, a member of his office said late on Wednesday. Libya last week marked 10 years since the
| Libya | News,Libya,Politics

Indian state demands damages, threatens to confiscate property over protests

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - India’s northern Uttar Pradesh state is demanding millions of rupees from over 200 people and threatening to confiscate their property as a penalty for damage done to public property during protests against the country’s new citizenship law. Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has suffered some of the most violent protests against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which gives minorities who have migrated from three neighboring countries a path to citizenship but doesn’t make the same concessions
| India | India,Politics,Religion,Ani-Muslim,Islamophobia

Thousands protest in southern Iraq, demand independent PM

Thousands of protesters have blocked roads and public buildings in southern Iraq, demanding the appointment of an independent prime minister as the latest deadline for choosing a new leader looms. Anti-government rallies have rocked Baghdad and the Shia-majority south since October 1, with demonstrators calling for a complete overhaul of a regime they deem corrupt and inefficient. "The revolution continues," shouted one demonstrator at a protest encampment in central Diwaniyah on Sunday. Protesters blocked off public buildings one by one in the southern
| Iraq | Iraq, Middle East, Politics

Security forces break up Hong Kong rally for China's ethnic Uighurs

Hong Kong riot police broke up a solidarity rally for China's Uighurs on Sunday – with one officer drawing a pistol – as the city's pro-democracy movement likened their plight to that of the oppressed Muslim minority. More than 1,000 people rallied peacefully in support of China's ethnic Uighurs, waving Uighur flags and posters in the city's financial district, marking the latest demonstration in over six months of anti-government unrest. A small group of protesters removed a Chinese flag from a
| Hong Kong | China, Hong Kong, Uighurs, Xinjiang

Opinion: East African Community unity hangs in the balance

The regional passport is a key element of the EAC's vision of free movement and free trade across the region. It will be used by citizens of the six EAC member countries (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda) where it will replace national passports. This flagship project to promote unity and trade between EAC members is already overdue, and compared to more ambitious plans, such as a common currency, it should be a relatively simple policy to roll
| Africa | News,Africa,E-Passport

Occupied Palestine: Israel reduces Gaza fishing zone in reprisal for protests

Tel Aviv: Israel’s defense minister on Saturday ordered a reduction of the fishing zone along the Gaza Strip’s coastline, in retaliation for clashes along the border fence with the Palestinian enclave. The fishing zone will be reduced to six nautical miles (11 kilometers) from nine nautical miles, a statement by Avigdor Lieberman’s office said. Restrictions on the extent of fishing zones along the Gaza shoreline form part of Israel’s economic blockade of the Strip, which has been in place for more than
| Palestine | News,Palestine,Israel,Occupation

Istanbul to host over 1K businesspeople from 49 African countries at Turkish-African forum

Turkey is set to welcome over 30 ministers and more than 1,000 businesspeople from 49 African countries at the 2nd Turkey-Africa Economy and Business Forum in Istanbul. During the event, which will be held on Oct. 10-11, about 3,000 bilateral business meetings are expected, as well as the signing of new cooperation agreements. Organized by the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) and Turkey-Africa business councils under the auspices of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in cooperation with the Trade Ministry and the African
| Turkey | Business,News,Africa,Turkey

Different Reasons To Get Sent to a Chinese Concentration Camp

There is a crisis in Xinjiang. The details are murky. The Communist Party of China has little incentive to reveal the inner workings of the vast system of surveillance and terror it has built to control the 12 million Uighur and Kazakh citizens of China’s westernmost region. From the party’s perspective, the further away the global spotlight is from its activities the better. But we now have a rough outline of what is happening to the people of the region. In
| China | China,Muslim,Uighurs

Escape from Xinjiang: Muslim Uighurs speak of China persecution

Istanbul, Turkey - In April 2017, Tarim, a 48-year-old businessman from Urumqi, the capital of China's Muslim Xinjiang region, received a phone call from the police summoning him to their offices in Aksu prefecture, 900km to the southwest. Tarim knew at once that he was in trouble and devised a getaway, keeping the details to himself. He had just a few hours to carry out his plan. Two days earlier, he was in Aksu for an attempt to rescue his sister Zohra,
| China | China,Xinjiang,Camps,Muslims

Aung San Suu Kyi must be held accountable for the Rohingya genocide

The scrupulously conservative UN has finally issued a report calling for the military leadership in Myanmar, including the Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing, to be investigated and prosecuted on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the ‘clearance operations’ against the Rohingya in Rakhine state. International observers and NGOs have been trying to draw attention to Rakhine state for years, and many of us have been calling the situation of the Rohingya a ‘slow motion genocide’ for just
| Myanmar | Myanmar,Burma,Rohingya,UN

The Troubled History of the Two-State Solution

Since 30 March, when ‘Great March of Return’ protests began in the occupied Gaza Strip, the Israeli army’s brutal crackdown on Palestinian demonstrators has prompted condemnation worldwide. On 14 May, Israeli snipers positioned across the other side of a fortified fence killed 60 Palestinians and injured many more – some 1,300 were hit with live fire. The bloodshed of 14 May occurred the day before Nakba Day, marked annually by Palestinians to remember the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian communities in 1948,
| Palestine | Palestine,Israel,History,Partition

Ahed Tamimi and the power of Palestinian women

Ahed Tamimi, the 17-year-old Palestinian activist from the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank, is an icon of a rebellious young generation of Palestinians which has demonstrated it has little tolerance for Israel's persistent violations of their rights and freedoms. After spending eight months in jail for confronting Israeli occupation soldiers in her backyard, Ahed emerged even stronger and more determined to convey the pains and struggles of her people to the world. "The power is with the people,
| Palestine | Palestine, News, Ahed Tamimi

In China’s Far West, Companies Cash in on Surveillance Program That Targets Muslims

In the far western region of Xinjiang, China has created one of the world’s most sophisticated and intrusive state surveillance systems to target the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority. Part of what Beijing calls its anti-terrorism campaign, the system includes mandatory facial-recognition scans at gas stations and Wi-Fi sniffers that secretly collect data from network devices. Over the past two years, the technology has helped authorities round up an estimated hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other Muslims and lock
| China | News, Politics, Society, Religion

The ‘Great March of Return’ has Exposed Israel’s Brutality and Apartheid

Politicians’ mealy-mouthed condemnations and crocodile tears are the order of the day. Instead, people should answer the call from Gaza for solidarity protests, writes Kevin Squires. These words were spoken by Razan Al-Najjar, a 21-year-old Palestinian medical student and paramedic volunteering on the front line of the Great March of Return in Gaza. They would be some of the last words she ever uttered; on Friday June 1st she was murdered, shot in the chest by an Israeli occupation sniper while
| Palestine | News, Political

War of words between US and European allies after G7 fallout

The United States and its Western allies have swung into a war of words and threats, risking a diplomatic and trade crisis, after US President Donald Trump abruptly rejected a previously agreed joint statement in the wake of a fractious Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada. Minutes after the publication on Saturday of a communique that was approved by the leaders of seven of the world's most advanced economies - US, France, Germany, Japan, Britain, Italy and Canada -
| Unites States | News, Politics

Tariq Ramadan and France's Islamophobia

Professor Tariq Ramadan's case and the solitary confinement he faces in a French prison sheds some light on the differentiated treatment Muslim subjects receive in the legal system of the Western states. In this article, I am not defending or making any arguments for the charges levied against professor Ramadan – they are serious and require full and fair examination by the authorities and the courts as well as more responsible coverage from the media. The cause of sexual harassment
| France | News, Justice, Society

Israel Attempts to Smear Razan al-Najjar, Palestinian Medic It Killed, Calling Her “No Angel”

ISRAEL’S ARMY RELEASED a deceptively edited video on Thursday, hoping to tarnish the image of Razan al-Najjar, a Palestinian paramedic killed by Israeli fire in Gaza last week. According to witness testimony, al-Najjar, who was 21, was gunned down last Friday after she and other medics, walking with their hands up and wearing white vests, approached the perimeter that confines Palestinians to Gaza in order to treat a wounded protester. Video released by the health ministry in Gaza, said to show al-Najjar
| Palestine | News, Murder, Razan al-Najjar, Israel

The Colonization of Palestine: Rethinking the Term ‘Israeli Occupation’

June 5, 2018 marks the 51st anniversary of the Israeli Occupation of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. But, unlike the massive popular mobilization that preceded the anniversary of the Nakba – the catastrophic destruction of Palestine in 1948 – on May 15, the anniversary of the Occupation is hardly generating equal mobilization. The unsurprising death of the ‘peace process’ and the inevitable demise of the ‘two-state solution’ has shifted the focus from ending the Occupation per se, to the larger
| Palestine | News, Politics, History

An Encouraging Prediction About The Ebola Outbreak

When an Ebola outbreak was declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo this spring, there were all kinds of predictions about how the epidemic would play out. At first the outbreak was confined to a remote rural area, so the hope was it could be easily contained. There simply weren't a lot of people who could have come in contact with the infected individuals. Then a case was identified in Mbandaka, a city of more than 1 million, raising concerns that this
| Democratic Republic of Congo | Ebola, Health