Sent to Sorbonne University, Paris, at care of it's president

 

Clara Schumann: Piano Concerto in A minor

Piano: Michal Tal

Conductor: Keren Kagarlitsky

Israel Camerata Jerusalem Orchestra 

Jean-Luc Godard, giant of the French New Wave, dies at 91

Jean-Luc Godard, the French-Swiss director who was a key figure in the Nouvelle Vague, the film-making movement that revolutionised cinema in the late 1950s and 60s, has died aged 91. French news agency AFP reported that he died “peacefully at home” in Switzerland with his wife Anne-Marie Mieville at his side. Liberation, quoting an unnamed family member, reported that Godard’s death was assisted, which is legal in Switzerland. “He was not sick, he was simply exhausted. 

Bartók: Konzert für Orchester

hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Karina Canellakis

Life in Afghanistan & Iran and attack on Rushdie

‘They beat girls just for smiling’: life in Afghanistan one year after the Taliban’s return. 

Protests follow appearance of ‘tortured’ writer on state television, while human rights group warn forced confessions on the rise as hijab laws hardened

Forces said to have opened fire on crowds demonstrating over attack targeting Hazara community

Amini was on a visit with her family in the Iranian capital when she was detained by the police unit responsible for enforcing Iran's strict dress code for women. State television broadcast images on Friday purportedly showed her falling to the ground while arguing with another woman about her dress.

Allegations that 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh was beaten to death at a protest follow news of the similar death of 17-year-old Nika Shakarami

Iranian schoolchildren were being arrested inside school premises by security forces arriving in vans without licence plates, according to social media reports emerging from the country as protests against the regime entered their fourth week.

Demonstrations under the slogan “Women, life, liberty” are taking place in many major cities, including Rome, Zurich, Paris, London, Seoul, Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney, Stockholm and New York. (and the EU? and the USA? Where are the sanctions?)

after (the) murder of the young Iranian Masha Amini for not wearing the veil correctly, protests continue to spread throughout the country despite brutal police repression. According to the NGO Iran Human Rights, the death toll now stands at 215, including 27 minors. Among the latest fatalities would be Ashra Panahi, a 16-year-old student that, according to the teachers’ union of Aradabil -northwest of Iran-, would have been murdered on October 13 in a female institute in the city

Initially, it was mostly grown women who took to the streets, young and old. But then the demographic began to trend younger, with schoolgirls showing their middle finger to an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei or chasing an official from their schoolyard. Others were recorded chanting "death to the dictator!" – to the applause of the men looking on.

Authors, publishers and government officials around the world have expressed their shock over the attack on author Salman Rushdie. Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, said: “My thoughts are with Salman and all his family. A horrible and utterly unjustified attack on someone exercising their right to speak, to write and to be true to their convictions in their life and in their art.” Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand, says agent

Five lessons from the 19th-century Crimean war

The American purchase of Alaska was another legacy. After Crimea, the young tsar knew he could not defend this distant frontier and decided to sell it to a nation with a more realistic hope of populating it someday.

The Government Debt Iceberg

“Europe and the United States will soon begin to encounter fiscal constraints the like of which we have never seen before,” he writes. But the official numbers don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the true magnitude of the problem. A country’s national debt is, in effect, the accumulation of all the historical budget deficits. “It is therefore almost entirely a backward‐​looking measure,” Gokhale notes. It doesn’t take into account the future commitments that governments have made.

"Climate cataclysm bad enough to threaten the very survival of human civilisation"

Methane’s earth-warming power is some 83 times stronger over 20 years than the carbon dioxide that comes from car tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.

The crucial point, he argues, is that there is now no chance of us avoiding a perilous, all-pervasive climate breakdown. We have passed the point of no return and can expect a future in which lethal heatwaves and temperatures in excess of 50C (120F) are common in the tropics; where summers at temperate latitudes will invariably be baking hot, and where our oceans are destined to become warm and acidic.

About two thirds of Russia is covered in permafrost, a mixture of sand and ice that, until recently, remained frozen year-round. As permafrost melts, walls built on it fracture, buildings sink, railways warp, roads buckle, and pipelines break. Anthrax from long-frozen reindeer corpses has thawed and infected modern herds. Sinkholes have opened in the melting ground, swallowing up whole buildings. Ice roads over frozen water, once the only way to travel in some remote regions, are available for ever-shorter periods. The Arctic coast is eroding rapidly, imperiling structures built close to the water.

Along with CO2, ships emit various global warming  pollutants, including black carbon (BC), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and nitrous oxide (N2O). These pollutants all contribute to global climate change either directly, by acting as agents that trap heat in the atmosphere, or indirectly by aiding in the creation of additional greenhouse gases... Black carbon, more commonly known as soot, is made up of fine particles created by the incomplete combustion of a carbon fuel source such as oil or coal. Aging engines and poor engine maintenance can also contribute to incomplete combustion. Black carbon is known to be a potent warmer both in the atmosphere and when deposited on snow and ice. Black carbon contributes to warming in two ways – through direct absorption of heat in the top of the atmosphere and by lowering the Earth’s albedo, or reflectivity. Unlike greenhouse gases, black carbon is a solid and not a gas and it warms by absorbing sunlight, rather than absorbing infrared or terrestrial radiation.

Fishing boats that trawl the ocean floor release as much carbon dioxide as the entire aviation industry, according to a groundbreaking study. Bottom trawling, a widespread practice in which heavy nets are dragged along the seabed, pumps out 1 gigaton of carbon every year, says the study written by 26 marine biologists, climate experts and economists and published in Nature

Paper production is highly energy intensive. Hakle used 60,000 megawatt hours of gas and 40,000 MWh of electricity every year.

Uber broke laws, duped police and secretly lobbied governments

The leak also contains texts between Kalanick and Emmanuel Macron, who secretly helped the company in France when he was economy minister, allowing Uber frequent and direct access to him and his staff.

‘A Dazzling and Powerful Force for Good and Change’: Friends and Colleagues Remember the Late Artist and Feminist Trailblazer Paula Rego

An innovative visual storyteller, Rego is known for the dark, fairytale-like quality of her figurative work, which is often Infused with political themes. She was also a noted activist, championing women’s rights and reproductive freedom.

Mysterious Group of Companies Tied to Bank Rossiya Unites Billions of Dollars in Assets Connected to Vladimir Putin

The Russian president, who cultivates a public image of abstemious patriotism, has been linked to a number of luxurious properties, including a vast palace on the Black Sea, acres of surrounding vineyards, a ski resort, and a villa north of St. Petersburg.

“It looks very compelling that Whyte has been acting as a proxy for Kostin,” said Tamara Makarenko, a veteran of the business intelligence sector extensive experience investigating oligarchs.

The family of Tatyana Golikova, the Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation for Social Policy, owns assets worth around $830 million, as Alexei Navalny’s team of investigators discovered. The list of real estate objects owned by the deputy prime minister’s family (Golikova herself, her husband Viktor Khristenko, and her stepson Vladimir Khristenko) features a house near Moscow with a floor area of 1,800 square meters, five villas in Europe, and several golf clubs. The investigators insist that she “earned” all this wealth by making vaccines for the national immunization campaign.

Music in the brain

“the existence of music-selective responses in the brain does not imply that the responses reflect an innate brain system. An important question for the future will be how this system arises in development: How early it is found in infancy or childhood, and how dependent it is on experience?”

Sibelius: Sinfonie 2

hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Susanna Mälkki

The faces of China’s detention camps in Xinjiang

A growing body of evidence documents the campaign of mass detention and forced assimilation in Xinjiang, begun under President Xi Jingping and his subordinates in 2017. The Chinese government has called the camps “vocational skills education and training centers,” but the Xinjiang Police Files and previous exposés by journalists, researchers and activists point to another conclusion. They reinforce allegations that the camps are part of a nationwide policy to promote conformity to Communist Party doctrine and majority Han cultural norms and crack down on expressions of cultural, political and religious diversity.

Anna Amalia of Prussia: Flute Sonata in F major

Alexa Raine-Wright (flute), Andrea Stewart (cello) and Rona Nadler (harpsichord)

Russian envoy to Poland hit with red paint at war cemetery

earlier in the war the Soviet forces had invaded Poland following a secret agreement with the German Nazi government, and carried out atrocities against Poles, including mass executions and deportations to Siberia.

Sibelius' Symphony No. 7 | Leif Segerstam

Turku Philharmonic Orchestra

Pop Art Visionary Marisol Was All But Forgotten. Now, a New Exhibition Places Her on Equal Footing With Her Pal Andy Warhol

Certain artistic subject matter overlaps between the two as well—both make references to the Kennedys and Coca Cola. As a Venezuelan artist, however, Marisol’s handling of these themes hints at the very real political implications of American expansionism in South America. The totemic qualities of her sculptures, too, hint at Pre-Columbian traditions. Materially, the artists were diametrically distinct; Marisol’s works are made from the hands-on process of carpentry, while Warhol’s devoted himself to silkscreening, which detached the artist’s hand. 

Female artists dominate the Venice Biennale for first time

“was not a choice, but a process,’’ Alemani, a New York-based Italian curator, said this week. “I think some of the best artists today are women artists,’’ she told The Associated Press. “But also, let’s not forget, that in the long history of the Venice Biennale, the preponderance of male artists in previous editions has been astonishing.”

Civilian massacre at Borodyanka worse than Bucha

The foreign minister of the Czech Republic, current holder of the presidency of the Council of the EU, called for a “special international tribunal” after evidence of torture on civilians emerged from a mass burial site in Izyum in northeastern Ukraine

Ukraine says it fears civilian massacres worse than the one in Bucha will be discovered as Russian troops retreat from areas around Kyiv. The scene in Bucha -- which included the dead bodies of civilians lying in the street -- sparked accusations of genocide.

“Butcher of Bucha” ... Azatbek Omurbekov ...  leading the 64th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade ... “committing war crimes” in Bucha. The decorated military leader was blessed by an Orthodox priest in November, ahead of his deployment to Ukraine

‘Motorcade of shame’: outrage over pro-Russia displays at Berlin rally

Herbert Reul, the interior minister for the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia, said he was appalled by the demonstration and the fact it was allowed to go ahead with police protection. “In view of the atrocities and the pictures of the past few days, it is personally beyond me to see how someone can embrace war criminals in this way,” he said.

Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister of Poland, on Monday accused Germany of “standing in the way” of harder sanctions against Russia. “Anyone who reads the notes of EU meetings knows that Germany is the biggest impediment when it comes to more decisive sanctions,” he told journalists in Warsaw.

Drone composition

Drone composition encompasses a variety of music, all of which use long, slow-moving pitches as a vehicle for questioning how we perceive sound. Composers create these transfixing pieces by manipulating tape, layering acoustic instruments, and even inventing whole new instruments; but regardless of the nuts-and-bolts of their creation, the aim of drone composition is have us reconsider the role of sound in our day-to-day lives. The genre is garnering new attention thanks to the documentary Sisters With Transistors (2020), which sheds light on the work of female electronic musicians, many of whom were pioneers in the field of drone composition

Navalny: Putin critic given nine-year jail sentence in trial branded 'sham'

Despite being behind bars, he has called for protests against what Russia calls its special military operation in Ukraine. His supporters now fear that as a result, he might be placed in a maximum security prison as well as receiving an increased sentence. Russia's crackdown on any platform that contradicts the Kremlin's line continues. Meta, the company that owns Instagram and Facebook, has been declared an extremist organisation; more media outlets are regularly blocked and a new law that can lead to up to 15 years in jail for anything the authorities consider to be fake news about the military has led many independent journalists to leave the country. 

A project to track down and catalogue the vast wealth held outside Russia by oligarchs and key figures close to Russian President

Early in his presidency, Putin earned praise for bringing to heel the tycoons who had plundered Russia’s economy in the 1990s. Some signaled their loyalty to him, securing their wealth and their place in the new order. 

Venezuela Profile

Venezuela is a key transit country for drug shipments leaving Colombia for the United States and Europe. Foreign groups, particularly Colombians, have traditionally controlled Venezuela's drug trade, being attracted by poor rule of law and corruption. There is evidence, however, that beginning in the mid-2000s corrupt elements in the security forces stepped up their role in the business, forming a loose network dubbed the "Cartel de los Soles" (Cartel of the Suns). Corrupt members of the security forces have also been major providers of weapons to the black market

Tibet: mass detention; systematic surveillance; widespread torture

Millions in forced labour camps. And the attempt to erase a people’s history and culture. These abuses are the product of one man, Chen Quanguo. And worst of all, the world allowed him to carry them out twice.

Credit Suisse leak unmasks criminals, fraudsters and corrupt politicians

They include a human trafficker in the Philippines, a Hong Kong stock exchange boss jailed for bribery, a billionaire who ordered the murder of his Lebanese pop star girlfriend and executives who looted Venezuela’s state oil company, as well as corrupt politicians from Egypt to Ukraine

The Wagner Group and its activities in the Ukraine invasion

The Wagner Group is said to be used by the Russian government in conflicts where plausible deniability is called for. The use of these mercenaries - described as "ghost soldiers" - also allows Russia more secrecy about its military operations abroad and the number of losses.

Over 100,000 ghost flights have flown over our heads this winter

Airlines are flying empty planes across Europe, with no people or goods in them. All because of a law the European Commission won't let go of. In a moment when we are racing to cut emissions and save our planet, this outdated law is like a slap in the face. Lufhansa, Air France, British Airways and other airlines are calling for a stop to this waste, and so are environmentalists.

How a network of enablers have helped Russia’s oligarchs hide their wealth abroad

close to 20% of the country’s wealth is stashed in offshore jurisdictions like Cyprus, the Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands — even the United States.

The Search for Gold (the portuguese)

"They (the portuguese) arrive here excited and with the hope of advancing their fortunes. The majority of them were either criminals or persons who at home had no more than what they earned with their hoe or by the offices they held. These men, who in Portugal were the scum of the masses and the despair of the elite, come to this enormous land of freedom to make themselves insolent and to play the role of nobles."

Note: Portugal had (part of) India, then Brazil, then the african colonies. The portuguese didn't care to develop themselves, cultural, cognitively, ethically (they even don't know what it minds...), and, consequently, sociological and economically. As a poor country Portugal joined European Community and got billions and billions of the European money, playing the poor, anytime poor... country card. Consequently the world forgets what the portuguese did and got, just because they are small and poor... After all the gold and the trillions of Euros, Portugal just lags behind almost all the new members that joined the EU decades after Portugal joined it. A people makes a country and neither trillions of euros nor trillions of gold bars changes the "character", the genetics of a people.

Russia’s Syria Intervention Paved the Way for its Attack on Ukraine

Media accounts report that long-range, nuclear-capable Tu-22M3 bombers and MiG-31K strike fighter jets carrying the latest Kinzhal hypersonic cruise missiles landed at the Russian air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia as part of the drills. Russian amphibious assault vessels docked at Tartous for refueling and maintenance before departing to the Black Sea for Ukraine-related military drills and deployment.

Why do some nations fail while others succeed?

"whether or not a nation succeeds or fails depends on how the people in that society themselves organize that society"

“Looking at what Portugal's score has been over the last 10 years, [this] shows a worrying stagnation"

Portugal, through 6 national and 10 regional programmes, benefitted from EU funding of EUR 29.4 billion under the 2014-2020 ESIF programmes. This represented an average of 2 820 euro per person in the 2014 population.

“Looking at what Portugal's score has been over the last 10 years, [this] shows a worrying stagnation, 

The key question now, though, is what will Portugal to address the still serious short-comings in the rule of law that still exist on its own doorstep. The Council of Europe has also been critical of Portugal over several years.

Domestic violence' Second most reported crime amounting to 8% of all crime. 84% of victims were female. 23% of cases there were previous incidence of violence. Tragically in 35% of cases these were witnessed by children. 78% victims and perpetrators current or formerly partners. 2019 – 29,400 cases up 11.5%

A commission investigating child sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in the Iberian nation has collected around 350 testimonies since it started its work... It has said that number was "just the tip of the iceberg". (it was Casa Pia, it is the  horrendous abuses inside/outside doors - and all of that know "stuff" is probably the tip of the iceberg)

Yet another less than transparent situation has been flagged by Público in the wake of the hugely embarrassing Abramovich probe. It now seems that, along with various Russian oligarchs and sundry business leaders...

The blaze – that was almost certainly the work of arson – has now devoured large areas of the Serra da Estrela natural park.

The firefighters ... accused by the Public Prosecution Service (MP) of causing forest fires in Lisbon district, between 2017 and 2018, have appeared the Court

An investigation by Expresso describes three and four-storey Lisbon townhouses accommodating up to 1,400 immigrant residents. The immigrants are often not even in Portugal. They have paid ‘facilitators’ to help them on their way to receiving Portuguese residency.

none of the stories written explain whether or not Chenglong Li came to Portugal on a ‘golden visa’ – a regime that has come under increasing fire for opening the doors to potential criminals

A Dutch magazine revealed serious accusations of sexual abuse of minors by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, the former Apostolic Administrator of Dili, Timor Leste. According to De Groene Amsterdammer, an independent weekly news magazine, numerous people have come forward, under condition of anonymity, with allegations of sexual violence suffered at the hands of the bishop, now 74 years old, when they were still minors.  In January 2003, Belo left Timor Leste for Portugal. In June 2004, he was assigned as “assistant to the priests” in Maputo, Mozambique, where he also dedicated himself to teaching catechism. He has subsequently returned to Portugal

Portuguese barbarities

GNR soldiers filmed themselves torturing immigrants in Odemira

[On May 7, 1996, a detainee was killed, beheaded, and his body and head were hidden in different places at the GNR station in Sacavém.]

GNR agents filmed slapping young woman in Albufeira – and immobilising young man with knee on neck

images that show the victim talking to two police (PSP) officers near Setúbal train station, Nuno Jorge Pires being found about 200 meters ahead with a head injury that, according to the autopsy, may be compatible with a blow

witnesses say a group of about 15 men (in Bragança) approached Luis Giovani dos Santos Rodrigues and two of his friends armed with belts, sticks and other weapons. The report goes on to say that Rodrigues was beaten and left unconscious with bruises to his head. He spent 10 days in the hospital before succumbing to his injuries

Brazil Is Among Worst in Ranking of Countries Based on Environmental, Social and Anti-Corruption Indicators

Brazil was the third-worst country, with a score of 60% (the closer to 100%, the worse). Only the Philippines and South Africa performed worse, while South Korea (2%) and Chile (24%) took the top.

Holocaust Remembrance Day

On the morning of 27 January 1945 the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps still held some 7,000 prisoners. Over a million people deported to Auschwitz perished there. It is estimated that six million Jews were exterminated in the death camps.

Web of corruption around Isabel dos Santos still being untangled two years after Luanda Leaks

The Luanda Leaks investigation showed how dos Santos got access to lucrative deals involving oil, diamonds, telecoms and supermarkets often courtesy of government decrees signed by her father. She also benefited from insider deals, preferential loans and contracts fueled by public money.

Six journalists killed in Europe in 2021, 95 more in prison

In Europe, the number of murders of journalists has tripled this year compared to the previous two years. In 2021, the International and European Federations of Journalists have recorded six murders of journalists on the European continent: Hazım Özsu, shot dead in his home in Turkey; TV reporter Giorgos Karaivaz, gunned down outside his home in Greece; journalists Maharram Ibrahimov and Siraj Abishov, killed by a landmine explosion in Azerbaijan; crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, shot in the head in The Netherlands; and journalist Aleksandre Lashkarava who died after being severely beaten in Georgia

Artist Sarah Morris on Why She Started Painting Spiderwebs During Lockdown

Since the mid-1990s, Morris has honed a visual language of geometric, color-blocked paintings and installations that derive from the man-made structures and systems of cities around the world. She devotes entire series to individual locations (Los Angeles, Midtown Manhattan, Washington D.C., Beijing… the list goes on) and ponders the public transportation, architecture, and industries. 

Charting the Storm

German artist Benedikt Partenheimer (b. 1977) uses concept-led photography and subtle optical tricks to reveal the invisible effects of climate change. A new book from Hatje Cantz, The Weather Is Fine, gathers together a career’s worth of such images

Firm action to prevent portuguese police ill-treatment and ensure that cases are effectively investigated

The Council of Europe's Anti-Torture Committee (CPT) has recommended that the Portuguese authorities take firm action to prevent police ill-treatment and ensure that alleged cases are effectively investigated.

images that show the victim talking to two police (PSP) officers near Setúbal train station, Nuno Jorge Pires being found about 200 meters ahead with a head injury that, according to the autopsy, may be compatible with a blow

Accelerated mass loss of Himalayan glaciers since the Little Ice Age

Himalayan glaciers are undergoing rapid mass loss but rates of contemporary change lack long-term (centennial-scale) context.

Tibetan writer, intellectual and monk, Go Sherab Gyatso, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison

The sentence was handed down in November this year after Go Sherab Gyatso was found guilty of “inciting secession”, a state security crime that is frequently employed as a charge against Tibetans. The exact date of the ruling is unknown due to the secrecy around Go Sherab Gyatso’s detention and trial. He will serve his sentence in a prison near to Tibet’s capital, Lhasa.

Sakharov Prize 2021: Parliament honours Alexei Navalny

Alexei Navalny’s daughter Daria Navalnaya received the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize on behalf of her imprisoned father at a ceremony on 15 December.

Pandora Papers journalists face government backlash for investigating financial secrecy

Even as governments worldwide responded to the Pandora Papers with major financial reforms, other governments and their supporters responded with legal and regulatory crackdowns, legal threats and verbal attacks against the journalists who produced the blockbuster exposé of the offshore financial system.

The ‘Seikilos Epitaph’

The song explores themes of the transience of life and the passage of time. At almost 2000 years old, it’s believed to be the oldest surviving piece of music in the world.

Changes in permafrost in the 21st century

There is high confidence that permafrost temperatures will continue to increase, and that there will be increases in active layer thickness and reductions in the area of permafrost in the Arctic and subarctic 

New Research Directly Links Western Fashion Brands to Deforestation

the global garment industry’s role as a major polluter is often overlooked by consumers. But recent years have seen it described as “the world’s second most polluting industry”, after only oil, while according to the World Bank, it’s responsible for more carbon emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Celebrated Brazilian classical pianist Nelson Freire has died

Freire, who is remembered as one of the greatest pianists of the second half of the 20th century, passed away during the night on Sunday 31 October, in Rio de Janeiro

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed while filming Rust

authorities said assistant director Dave Halls had handed the weapon to Baldwin and announced "cold gun", indicating it was safe to use.

Detectives were nearly done with the probe ... but the investigation was stalled after Baldwin failed to turn over his phone records in a timely manner — and then handed them over to investigators on Long Island, which added an extra layer of red tape to the process. 

Total has known that burning fossil fuels was causing climate change since the 1970s

The oil giant knew their core business was causing global warming almost 50 years ago. They covered up the truth, funded misinformation, lied to their shareholders and the public. They made profit from pollution.

Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov win Nobel peace prize

Maria Ressa, the chief executive and cofounder of Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, were named as this year’s laureates by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee

The Pandora Papers

Millions of leaked documents and the biggest journalism partnership in history have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers.

The Causes of Climate Change

Scientists attribute the global warming trend observed since the mid-20th century to the human expansion of the "greenhouse effect" — warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.

Dza Wonpo in eastern Tibet has been the target of intensive surveillance, arbitrary arrests and searches

Tibet Watch has been documenting a worrying series of developments over the past year in the small township of Dza Wonpo in eastern Tibet, which has been the target of intensive surveillance, arbitrary arrests and searches.

Dza Wonpo is home to around 3,000 Tibetans, mainly from the nomadic community who have been forcibly relocated from their ancestral land. Since late 2019, the township has seen repeated crackdowns targeting locals, which culminated at the end of August this year. Over the course of two weeks, at least 121 Tibetan residents were rounded up and arrested by Chinese authorities.

This latest crackdown began with a military buildup on 22 August 2021, where more than 200 military personnel were stationed in the town. Following a series of mass arrests, reports have detailed the ill-treatment of detainees, who have been subject to interrogation, torture and forced to undergo political re-education

New evidence suggests spyware used to surveil Emirati activist Alaa Al-Siddiq

Even in death, there was little peace for Alaa Al-Siddiq. When the body of the 33-year-old Emirati activist, who died in a car accident in Oxford in June, was shown in a viewing to mourners at Regent’s Park Mosque, a number of her close friends stayed away. They wanted to avoid being seen paying their respects, for fear that the mosque was secretly being filmed, and that their association with the activist and researcher could be dangerous for themselves or their families at home in the UAE.

Sílvio Teixeira (19/11/1928 - 26/7/2016) - KarlOwn

 

Taliban ‘set woman on fire for bad cooking’

An Afghan woman was reportedly set on fire by Taliban fighters because they were dissatisfied with her cooking amid a wave of capricious attacks as the Islamists revel in their victory. The alleged incident described by an Afghan judge comes after the group attacked people waving the Afghan flag and a Germany charity was forced to close after Islamists went door to door hunting journalists and interpreters.

Does nothing sinister rotten and nasty ever happen in Portugal?

Portugal undermined its own institutions, as well as its international reputation, to protect not only its own corrupt politicians, but also another country’s corrupt politicians.

The auditors noted that the failure of the Angolan banks and their Lisbon branches to conduct due diligence obscured the origins of transactions, creating a perfect environment for money laundering.

Blatant violence and abuse inside doors

In Portugal, more than 12,000 children are exposed to behaviour that affect their well-being, namely domestic violence, and this is the reason for a 30% of the signs of minors in danger made to CPCJ.

The nurse, daughter and partner were detained by the PJ de Setúbal due to the death of three-year-old Jessica.

The couple hid Valentina's body in a forest area, in the Serra d'El Rei (Peniche municipality), and agreed the following day to alert the authorities to the child's "false disappearance". 

Rui Pedro Teixeira Mendonça was last seen riding his bicycle in Lousada, Portugal on March 4, 1998. When Rui didn't appear at a tutoring appointment later that day, a search began — but Rui never turned up.

Paedophile suspected of abducting Madeleine McCann ‘worked at apartments where she vanished'

According to German authorities, phone records place "Christian B." near the hotel complex where Madeleine disappeared on the evening of 3 May 2007. "We are still looking into who called him on the phone," (everyone remembers the bloody hell the portuguese did to Madeleine's parents, blaming them for her murder. The portuguese even asked the monster Christian B. to help them to solve the "enigma" of Madeleine disappearance!!!)

Maria Malveiro received the maximum sentence – 25 years in prison – for the murder of 21-year-old Diogo Gonçalves, while Mariana Fonseca was cleared of murder charges and handed a four-year suspended sentence for the crimes of desecration of a corpse, theft and fraud.

Statistics from the CoE that compare the situation in prisons across the 47 member states that it comprises, found that Portugal has a higher-than-average rate of overcrowding and also has an inmate death rate that is significantly above the European average.

Obviously shrinking (despite the trillions it got and stills getting from the EU)

The not so new terrorism

Online incel forums are steeped in extremist misogyny, with members regularly suggesting women should be raped and murdered. They encourage each other to rise up in a “day of retribution” or “incel rebellion”, when they will punish society, and women in particular, for their suffering, by murdering as many “normies” (non-incels) as possible.

The age of the female combat officer is coming

Air Force General Lori Robinson became the country’s first female combatant commander, and Admiral Michelle Howard became the first female four-star admiral. 

THE PEGASUS PROJECT

Through Pegasus, corrupt and troubled regimes across the world can gain access to vast troves of personal information on just about anyone they want. The spyware, sold as a crime-fighting tool, is already known to have been used against journalists, activists, and political dissidents.

Even Minor Volcanic Eruptions Could Trigger Global Catastrophe

"We need to move away from thinking in terms of colossal eruptions destroying the world, as portrayed in Hollywood films. The more probable scenarios involve lower-magnitude eruptions interacting with our societal vulnerabilities and cascading us towards catastrophe."

Major climate changes inevitable and irreversible

Within the next two decades, temperatures are likely to rise by more than 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, breaching the ambition of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, and bringing widespread devastation and extreme weather.

Easy to realise who are the most corrupt and poorest countries

Krystsina Tsimanouskaya who refused to fly home is granted Polish visa

The incident shows how Alexander Lukashenko’s tightening grip on Belarusian society has spilled over into the world of sport, where dozens of athletes have faced imprisonment or reprisals for even careful criticism of the government. The dramatic events are reminiscent of the high-profile defections of Soviet athletes at international competitions during the cold war, although there is nothing to suggest Tsimanouskaya was not originally planning to return to Belarus after the Games. Leaked audio has appeared to show a Belarusian team coach and a Belarusian delegation member threatening Tsimanouskaya with reprisals if she did not return to Belarus immediately.