US warns of Chinese disinformation. China says that’s disinformation By Mengchen Zhang, Teele Rebane and Heather Chen, CNN Published 3:20 AM EDT, Sun October 1, 2023

A US State Department report that accuses the Chinese government of expanding disinformation efforts is “in itself disinformation,” Beijing’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed Saturday.

The ministry shot back after the State Department issued a striking report this week in which it accused the Chinese government of expanding efforts to control information and to disseminate propaganda and disinformation that promotes “digital authoritarianism” in China and around the world.

The US report, issued by the Global Engagement Center on Thursday, alleged that China spends billions of dollars a year on foreign information manipulation and warned that Chinese leader Xi Jinping had “significantly expanded” efforts to “shape the global information environment.”

It also underlined US concerns about China as a main military compe

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/eastern-europe-and-former-soviet-union/rightsizing-russia-threat

Since Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine in February 2022, debates have raged in the West about how to properly respond to Moscow’s aggression. But those debates are limited by a lack of agreement about the goals of that aggression and, ultimately, what kind of threat Russia really represents. Arguably, understanding the Russia threat is a first-order priority: unless Western governments get that right, they risk either overreacting or underreacting.

Officials and scholars who have proffered their views of Russian goals tend to see them in quite stark terms. Many have made the case that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a maximalist whose ambitions go far beyond Ukraine. Others portray Putin as obsessed with Ukraine—or more specifically, obsessed with erasing it from the map. Such assessments of Putin’s intentions, however, are often unmoored from any consideration of his capa

Military intelligence: Special forces land in Crimea, conduct operation

by Elsa Court and The Kyiv Independent news desk October 4, 2023

Ukrainian special forces landed in Russian-occupied Crimea and conducted a combat operation, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced via a video published online on Oct. 4.

The video shows special forces using boats to land on a beach at night, where they unfurl a Ukrainian flag with the HUR emblem.

The operation involved a battle with Russian forces, who suffered significant losses, and Ukrainian forces have already returned from the operation, Hromadske reported, citing a HUR source.

"Unfortunately, there are losses among Ukrainian forces" as well, though not on the scale of on the Russian side, HUR spokesperson Andriy Yusov told Ukrainska Pravda.

"The special operation aimed at the liberation of Crimea continues," he added.

When or exactly where the operation took place was not made public.

Since the summer, there have be

Russian President Vladimir Putin didn’t invade Ukraine in 2022 because he feared NATO. He invaded because he believed that NATO was weak, that his efforts to regain control of Ukraine by other means had failed, and that installing a pro-Russian government in Kyiv would be safe and easy. His aim was not to defend Russia against some non-existent threat but rather to expand Russia’s power, eradicate Ukraine’s statehood, and destroy NATO, goals he still pursues.

Putin had convinced himself by the end of 2021 that Russia had the opportunity to safely launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine to accomplish two distinct goals: establish Russian control over Ukraine without facing significant Western resistance and break the unity of NATO. Putin has long sought to achieve these goals, but a series of events in 2019-2020 fueled Putin’s belief that he had both the need and a historic opportunity to establish control over Ukraine. Putin’s conviction resulted from the Kremlin’s failed efforts to f

25 September 2023Human Rights Russian forces in Ukraine faced new allegations of war crimes on Monday as UN-appointed independent rights experts published the findings of their latest report into Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.

Members of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that they have documented attacks with explosive weapons on residential buildings, civilian infrastructure and medical institutions, as well as torture and sexual and gender-based violence.

Rape allegations Commission Chair Erik Møse provided harrowing details on the findings to the Council, noting that in the Kherson region, “Russian soldiers raped and committed sexual violence against women of ages ranging from 19 to 83 years”, often together with threats or commission of other violations.

“Frequently, family members were kept in an adjacent room, thereby forced to hear the violations taking place,” Mr. Møse said.

‘Widespread’

Decrying Nazism – even when it’s not there – has been Russia’s ‘Invade country for free’ card Published: July 14, 2022 2.32pm CEST

Oleg Morozov, a member of the Russian parliament and an ally of President Vladimir Putin’s, made what sounded much like a threat in May 2022.

Poland should be “in first place in the queue for denazification after Ukraine,” he said.

Just days earlier, pro-Putin Moscow city assembly member, Sergey Savostyanov, asserted that after Ukraine, Russia needs to drive alleged Nazis from power in six more countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Moldova and Kazakhstan.

Just a few months following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which was made under the false pretense of denazifying the government of that country, such claims might send chills down the spines of the people in those countries as well as of many keen observers of the region.

It could be argued that such claims of denazification “might be dismissed as the hyperbolic expression of one individua

Pope Says There Could Be Ways to Bless Same-Sex Unions

(VATICAN CITY) — Pope Francis has suggested there could be ways to bless same-sex unions, responding to five conservative cardinals who challenged him to affirm church teaching on homosexuality ahead of a big meeting where LGBTQ+ Catholics are on the agenda.

The Vatican on Monday published a letter Francis wrote to the cardinals on July 11 after receiving a list of five questions, or “dubia,” from them a day earlier. In it, Francis suggests that such blessings could be studied if they didn't confuse the blessing with sacramental marriage.

New Ways Ministry, which advocates for LGBTQ+ Catholics, said the letter “significantly advances" efforts to make LGBTQ+ Catholics welcomed in the church and “one big straw towards breaking the camel’s back” in their marginalization.

The Vatican holds that marriage is an indissoluble union between man and woman. As a result, it has long opposed gay marriage. But even Francis has voiced support

India has told Canada that it must repatriate 41 diplomats by Oct. 10, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Ties between India and Canada have become seriously strained over Canadian suspicion that Indian government agents had a role in the June murder in Canada of a Sikh separatist leader and Canadian citizen, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who India had labeled a "terrorist."

India has dismissed the allegation as absurd.

The Financial Times, citing people familiar with the Indian demand, said India had threatened to revoke the diplomatic immunity of those diplomats told to leave who remained after Oct. 10.

Canada has 62 diplomats in India and India had said that the total should be reduced by 41, the newspaper said.

The Indian and Canadian foreign ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said earlier there was a "climate of violence" and an "atmosphere of intimidation" against Indian diplomats in Canada, where th

Ahead of the vote, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that Moscow would view any move to join the international court as "extremely hostile" towards Russia.

The Armenian Parliament has voted to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, acknowledging the jurisdiction of the court.

"Sixty deputies voted in favour of ratification, 20 against. The decision has been made," Parliament Speaker Alen Simonyan announced on Wednesday, Russian state-owned media TASS reported.

Ahead of the vote, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov said that Moscow would view any move to join the international court as "extremely hostile" towards Russia.

Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that joining the court was in the interests of his country's security and not directed at Russia.

Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.

The three newly-minted Nobel Laureates have "demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy," the Academy said.

This year's Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier for their work on "experimental methods that generate attosecond pulses of light for the study of electron dynamics in matter."

Their experiments "have given humanity new tools for exploring the world of electrons inside atoms and molecules," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said as it announced the prize on Wednesday.

The three newly-minted Nobel Laureates have "demonstrated a way to create extremely short pulses of light that can be used to measure the rapid processes in which electrons move or change energy," the Academy said.

Both Agostini and L'Huillier are from France. He is a professor at the Ohio State University in the United States, and she is a pro

There have been reports of gunshots at a luxury mall in Bangkok's city centre, Thai police say.

Police told the BBC they were heading to the Siam Paragon mall and could not yet confirm if there were any injuries.

Locals on social media had reported an active shooter situation - a detail authorities have yet to comment on.

Footage on social media earlier showed shoppers running out of the mall, which has since reportedly shut all of its entrances.

People have also posted videos online which appeared to be taken from inside the shopping centre. In one video, four loud noises which sound like gunshots can be clearly heard in the busy mall.

Witnesses have also reported online that they had taken to hiding inside shops and bathrooms.

The nearby Siam metro station has also been closed, local media report.

This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.

onion video there a few tears

In Yalta, because of criticism of the Russian Federation, a couple from the Dnepropetrovsk region was brutally killed (video) Lyudmila Zhernovskaya 21:40, 01.10.23

The killer did not like that they called the peninsula Ukrainian.

In occupied Crimea, a man killed a married couple. He beat people with a bat because they “speaked badly of Russia.”

According to the Russian Telegram channel Baza , the murder occurred on September 29. A man came to the home of 66-year-old Vladimir and 58-year-old Victoria from the Dnepropetrovsk region, beat them with a bat and left. It is reported that before this he searched the house.

Later it became known that Russian police detained a 60-year-old man named Shavkat. He confessed to the murder, saying that the couple called Crimea Ukrainian, and also spoke badly about Russia and its leadership, so he decided to kill them.

The website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation indicates that the couple was killed by a handyman who was

UN Global Stocktake shows countries failing Paris Agreement climate goals 2023, London – Just five of the world’s biggest fossil fuel firms, BP, Chevron, Exxon, Shell and TotalEnergies, are set to spend $15 million every single hour between now and 2030 producing more oil and gas, according to new analysis of Rystad Energy data by Global Witness.

Published in early September, the UN’s Global Stocktake showed that governments are failing to deliver on their promise of keeping global heating below 1.5C under the Paris Agreement. This analysis shows how the oil and gas industry is continuing to pour vast resources into the long-term production of planet-wrecking fossil fuels, in the face of a climate crisis already destroying lives.

It shows that the five companies are forecast to spend a staggering $3.1 trillion by 2050, on both existing and new oil and gas extraction. This is one third more than the companies spent over the past 25 years ($2 trillion). When including not only known re

France to quit making cigarettes as last factory prepares to close The last remaining factory making cigarettes in France is set to close by the end of 2023, the site's owner told its employees this week.

Issued on: 01/10/2023 - 09:08

The Manufacture Corse des Tabacs (Macotab), on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, is the last to manufacture cigarettes in France since the closure of another in the centre of the country in 2016.

Around 30 employees work at the Corsican site, down from 143 in the early 1980s.

The factory makes cigarettes on behalf of industry giant Philip Morris, which recently signalled it was ending the contract.

Contraband packets have also cut into legal sales, according to the factory's owner Seita, the former French state-owned tobacco monopoly that is now part of the British company Imperial Tobacco.

Seita had already closed France's last tobacco processing factory in 2019, in the traditional growing region of the Dordogne in the south-west.

Some former f

Ukraine to build underground school in Kharkiv The school will become a bomb shelter, allowing children to continue safe full-time education even during Russian air raids.

BY SERGE HAVRYLETS 02/10/2023

Ukraine’s first underground school will be built in Kharkiv (eastern Ukraine), the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, announced on 1 October.

The underground school will protect children from Russian missile and kamikaze drone attacks. Kharkiv’s mayor promised that despite the Russian invasion, the city’s administration would not cut spending on education.

“Kharkiv will continue to invest in education. We will not cut spending on education this year or next, despite the lack of budget funds and the rather difficult task of balancing the local budget with the existing deficit,” Ihor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.

The underground school will become a shelter, allowing thousands of Kharkiv children to continue safe full-time education even during Russian air raids, Ihor Terekhov said. Accor

Three more vessels with agricultural products and iron ore leave Ukrainian ports "ECONOMICHNA PRAVDA" — SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2023

Three vessels carrying agricultural products and iron ore have left the Ukrainian Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi (South) sea ports, and five new vessels are headed to ports to be loaded.

Source: Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure, on Facebook

Kubrakov reported that the AZARA, YING HAO 01, ENEIDA bulk carriers (under the flags of Liberia and Palau) exported more than 127,000 tonnes of Ukrainian agricultural products and iron ore.

He added that the Velyka Odesa ports are waiting for five new vessels to be loaded. "The OLGA, IDA, DANNY BOY, FORZA DORIA, NEW LEGACY bulk carriers will export more than 120,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain to Africa and Europe," Kubrakov stated.

Background: Ukraine opened the registration for commercial ships and their owners to use temporary r