News 8/4/25

Posting mode: Reply [Return]
Name	3 _B9JnlC-S@M8s⛄;XQ]⚳*wF>^p<bYWz0xhvtfa⛏Oq☥T⛑LH2kc.{\6#♾}r`j&
Email
Subject	Spoiler Image
Comment
Captcha Tor Only
Flag
File
Embed
Password	(For file deletion.)

File: 1754424553599.jpg ( 120.05 KB , 1192x670 , pflp_wave_by_pierretrudank….jpg )

News 8/4/25 Alternate Timeline News Anon 2025-08-05 (Tue) 20:09:14 No.490827

Dockworkers in Italy win against arms shipment to Israel
Italian port workers secured a significant win in their ongoing resistance to militarization and arms transfers, as shipping operators decided they would not unload military cargo destined for Israel from the vessel COSCO Shipping Pisces – returning the containers to their point of origin instead. The announcement came just days before a planned 24-hour strike on August 5 in Genoa, launched to protest the use of Italian ports for arms shipments such as this.
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/08/04/dockworkers-in-italy-win-against-arms-shipment-to-israel/

Brazil supreme court judge orders house arrest of ex-president Jair Bolsonaro
According to the ruling on Monday by Justice Alexandre de Moraes, Bolsonaro breached a ban on using social media which was imposed last month, when he was also ordered to wear an electronic ankle tag. Moraes wrote that as demonstrators took to the streets in several cities across the country on Sunday in support of the former president, Bolsonaro used the social media accounts of allies to share messages containing “clear encouragement and incitement to attack the Supreme Federal Court, and overt support for foreign intervention in Brazil’s judiciary”.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/04/brazil-jair-bolsonaro-house-arrest-supreme-court

Sudan accuses UAE of bringing in Colombian mercenaries to support RSF
Mercenaries have been spotted on both sides, with reports of Colombian fighters first emerging in the western region of Darfur late last year and corroborated by United Nations experts. This week, the Joint Forces, a coalition of armed groups in Darfur aligned with the army, reported more than 80 Colombian mercenaries fighting on the RSF's side in the North Darfur state capital, Al-Fashir.
https://www.newarab.com/news/sudan-accuses-uae-deploying-colombian-mercenaries-back-rsf

ANC NEC to grapple with alliance partner SACP's decision to contest municipal polls on its own
As the African National Congress (ANC)'s national executive committee (NEC) rolls into its fourth and final day, it will have to grapple with its alliance partner, the South African Communist Party (SACP)’s pursuit of contesting next year’s municipal elections on its own. This follows yet another public salvo from the communist party on Sunday, accusing the ANC of being arrogant and relegating its concerns to a permanent discussion of no consequence.
https://www.ewn.co.za/2025/08/04/anc-nec-to-grapple-with-alliance-partner-sacps-decision-to-contest-municipal-polls-on-its-own

Ivory Coast opposition slams arrests as part of political crackdown
Interior Minister Vagondo Diomande said the arrests were linked to an incident in Youpougon, a suburb of the capital Abdijan, where attackers set fire to a bus and assaulted police. He released a video showing a man saying he was a PPA-CI member confessing to the attack, though the opposition party has condemned it.
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/ivory-coast-opposition-slams-arrests-part-political-crackdown

Israel-Gaza: The International Criminal Court in turmoil
This has been the darkest year for the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it opened its doors in The Hague in 2002. Never before had the institution faced such strong headwinds. The US imposed sanctions on four judges and the chief prosecutor, the British national Karim Khan, while threats, intrigue, and pressure from Washington mounted on state parties. The objective: to annul and prevent any arrest warrants against Israelis, including those targeting Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant, issued on November 21, 2024, and to close the ongoing investigation into crimes committed on Palestinian territory.
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/08/04/israel-gaza-the-international-criminal-court-in-turmoil_6744041_4.html
https://archive.ph/hUcnV

Gaza posts blocked on social media under UK Online Safety Act, report finds
BBC Verify found that content on X and Reddit has been restricted on X for those who have not verified their age on the sites. The content includes topics from the war on Gaza and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to parliamentary debates on grooming gangs. The report highlighted that a video posted to X of a man in Gaza searching for his family members under the rubble of buildings destroyed by Israel had been restricted, despite not showing dead bodies or graphic images.
https://www.newarab.com/news/gaza-posts-blocked-social-media-under-uk-online-safety-act

Syrian democracy campaigners wary of upcoming 'selected' elections
Nawar Najma, spokesperson for the Higher Committee for People’s Assembly Election, told Rudaw last week that two-thirds of the parliament would be elected by "electoral bodies", themselves formed by subcommittees whose members would be selected by his department after "extensive consultations". Each electoral body would be composed of roughly 50 people who would elect a member of the parliament. He added that a "basic condition must be that they absolutely do not support, neither in word nor deed, the defunct [Assad] regime". "They must also have no affiliation with any of the security forces or the army to ensure the neutrality of the military apparatus and the interior ministry as well," he said.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrian-democracy-accused-elections-after-announcement-third-parliament-be-appointed

Thailand’s parliament proposes phoney amnesty bill
Common to all three bills were exclusions for those charged or convicted under the draconian lèse-majesté law, Section 112 of the criminal code, which illegalises any criticism of the monarchy. The BJT added a specific clause banning support for amnesty for lèse-majesté. Section 112 is often used as a catch-all for the state to violate democratic rights and intimidate protesters with potential jail terms of up to 15 years.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/08/04/inlg-a04.html

Julien Assange joins pro-Palestinian march across Sydney Harbour Bridge
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched across Australia's iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday. The crowd included WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who moved back to his native Australia last year after his release from a high-security British prison.
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250803-assange-joins-pro-palestinian-protest-on-sydney-harbour-bridge
https://archive.ph/ZL1L2

Alternate Timeline News Anon 2025-08-05 (Tue) 20:11:04 No.490828

FEMA to Deny Grants to States and Cities That Boycott Israeli Companies
The policy underscores how the Trump administration has linked its stance on Israel to unrelated federal funding, including billions of dollars in research grants for colleges and universities. But the move to restrict FEMA grants may be largely symbolic, because no states — and only a handful of cities — have enacted laws or policies that prohibit state agencies from doing business with Israeli firms.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/us/politics/fema-will-deny-disaster-funding-to-states-and-cities-that-boycott-israeli-firms-under-new-grant-rules.html
https://archive.ph/VXcYu

Raven Software gets its union contract with Microsoft three years after voting to organize
Workers voted unanimously to ratify the first contract between the company's Game Workers Alliance-CWA (GWA-CWA) members and Microsoft. This contract includes a guaranteed 10-percent wage increase over two years, along with additional raises through "merit and promotions." It also eliminates crunch time, with a requirement to give employees seven days' notice for mandatory overtime. There will be no excessive overtime on back-to-back weeks and "no mandatory overtime of any duration for the majority of weeks in a quarter."
https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/raven-software-gets-its-union-contract-with-microsoft-three-years-after-voting-to-organize-150133353.html
https://archive.ph/QsFZn

State Department may require visa applicants to post bond of up to $15,000 to enter the US
The proposal comes as the Trump administration is tightening requirements for visa applicants. Last week, the State Department announced that many visa renewal applicants would have to submit to an additional in-person interview, something that was not required in the past. In addition, the department is proposing that applicants for the Visa Diversity Lottery program have valid passports from their country of citizenship.
https://apnews.com/article/state-department-visa-bond-d532b186abf6e39c621d1bd0995d7509

'Unconscionable': Trump Admin Blasted for Plan to Ban Abortions at VA Hospitals
On Friday, the VA proposed a rule that would "reinstate the full exclusion on abortions and abortion counseling from the medical benefits package," and the Civilian Health and Medical Program. The document says the VA would continue treating ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages, and would allow abortion care "when a physician certifies that the life of the mother would be endangered if the fetus were carried to term."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/veterans-affairs-abortion

Texas Democrats who left state prevent vote, for now, on Trump’s efforts to add GOP House seats
After dozens of Democrats left the state, the Republican-dominated House was unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers required to do business. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has made threats about removing members who are absent from their seats. Democrats counter that Abbott is using “smoke and mirrors” to assert legal authority he does not have.
https://apnews.com/article/us-election-2026-texas-redistricting-136cfeddc717f9fc69337bd3d39b1819

OP/ED Alternate Timeline News Anon 2025-08-05 (Tue) 20:14:39 No.490829

Misusing the Children: The UK Online Safety Act, Privacy and Censorship
The United Kingdom can always be relied upon to supply us with the eccentric, the admirably dotty, and the odd extreme bit of adventure in policy. Lately, those mad protectors and censors with their shields of false virtue and hollow intellect have decided to launch an assault on the users of the Internet. In this, they are joining the platoons of hysteria from such countries as Australia, where age verification restrictions on platforms are all the rage. It’s all about the children, and when adults start meddling with children, all sorts of trouble arise. Much in line with the foolish, and potentially dangerous efforts being made by the eCommissioner (not a misspelling) in Australia to impose “industry codes” of child safety, the UK Online Safety Act (OSA) is being used to blanket social media, search engines and virtually any other site of service with age verification restrictions. The OSA lists three categories that are said to be harmful to children: primary priority content, priority content and non-designated content. Primary priority content is a British favourite of the repressed classes: pornography, and content that supposedly encourages suicide, self-harm, or various behaviours and disorders with eating. (If only there was a form of pornography that might encourage good eating habits.) Priority harmful content covers abuse relevant to race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, disability or gender reassignment and any content that incites hatred against such people. To this, among others, can be added bullying, the promotion of “serious violence, and depiction of serious violence” whether authentic or fictional. To make things even more expansively ludicrous, the regulations cover content that is non-designated (NDC), which might as well be the entire body of knowledge and existence on this planet and beyond seen by the regulators of the day as dangerous. Examples are skimpy, and do not mention the enriching apple in the Garden of Eden offered to Eve by the opportunistic serpent. Something, however, is “NDC if it presents a material risk of significant harm to an appreciable number of children in the UK”. What a triumph of insufferable vagueness.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/04/misusing-the-children-the-uk-online-safety-act-privacy-and-censorship/

Who Gets a “Right of Return”?
The Forward has been running a series of articles about a group in northern Arkansas that owns adjacent tracts of land that Jews and non-whites are forbidden to purchase or live on. On Thursday, the attorney general of Arkansas said this was legal. The details are complicated — mostly focused on the fact that there’s been no purchase or sale or business transaction yet, so nothing formally violating the law — but the significance of this story for thinking about Israel and Zionism is not. The Arkansas group is called Return to the Land, and it is part of a larger national movement. Focusing on people’s proof of “ancestral heritage,” it seeks, according to its mission statement, to “put land [in the United States] BACK [my emphasis] under the control of Europeans.” The parallels between this movement and Zionism are striking. Both movements claim that they are movements of return; hence the “back to control of Europeans.” Both movements style themselves as the original owners/stewards of the land, with no reference to its previous indigenous inhabitants. Both movements focus on some proof of lineal descent. Even more striking than the question of ownership of land is the question of whom the land can be sold to. While I would imagine anyone reading these articles in the Forward would be horrified by this Arkansas movement, what exactly do supporters of Israel think the Jewish National Fund (JNF), which many of us raised money for when we were children, is? It owns 13 percent of the land within the pre-1967 borders of Israel, and in the last few years, it has sought to purchase land in the West Bank. More important, the JNF has refused to sell the land it owns to Palestinians. That is not some sub rosa practice, never talked about openly; it is part of its charter and part of the claims it has made in court. The JNF has argued, “The loyalty of the JNF is given to the Jewish people and only to them is the JNF obligated. The JNF, as the owner of the JNF land, does not have a duty to practice equality towards all citizens of the state.”
https://jacobin.com/2025/08/right-of-return-arkansas-zionism

Unique IPs: 1