An investigation by one of Brazil's leading health research institutes has linked high intakes of ultra processed foods to greater rates of premature death.

For some countries like the US and United Kingdom, as many as 1 in 7 deaths could be attributed to ultraprocessed food consumption.

The study led by researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, based in Rio de Janeiro, analyzed data from eight countries, including nationally representative dietary surveys and mortality data.

tldr; Teheran uses criminal networks throughout Europe to silence Iranian dissidents.

" The Dutch intelligence service AIVD has accused Iran of being behind an attempted murder of an Iranian activist in Haarlem last summer.

Two of the suspects are known to police through criminal networks and are also wanted in connection with a failed murder attempt in Madrid in late 2023. That case involved former Spanish politician and vocal Iran critic Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the AIVD said.

The US will abandon its efforts “within days” to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine unless there are clear signs a settlement can be reached, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has said, as Kyiv says it has signed a memorandum with the US over a controversial minerals deal.

Meta faces a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.

The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa. It is also seeking a $2.4bn “restitution fund” for victims of hate and violence incited on Facebook.

In an international operation spanning 38 countries, German investigators said on Wednesday that they had dismantled "KidFlix", a major online platform for the distribution of child sex abuse images with 1.8 million users worldwide.

CHISINAU, April 2 (Reuters) - Moldova's prime minister said on Wednesday that Russian agents spent around 200 million euros ($217 million)- nearly 1% of the small pro-European country's GDP - on efforts to buy votes at its presidential election and EU referendum last year. The comments came on the same day Britain sanctioned Evrazia, a pro-Russian non-governmental organisation, saying it was responsible for attempting to rig the referendum in Moldova and destabilise its democracy.

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On March 31, the anniversary of Georgia’s 1991 independence referendum, thousands of demonstrators gathered on Rustaveli Avenue for a mass protest under the slogan “The People’s Spring is Coming.” President Salome Zurabishvili addressed the rally, declaring that the resistance must “take on a political format” in addition to the ongoing protests. She proposed the creation of a “Platform of Resistance” with the participation of the pro-European political spectrum to achieve two main goals of “the holding of new, fair elections” and “the release of all political prisoners.”

Note: This was covered by euronews too. civil.ge is a UN ngo afaik, should be ok

Ahmed al-Sharaa announced a transitional government on Saturday, appointing 23 ministers in a broadened cabinet seen as a key milestone in the transition from decades of Assad family rule and to improving Syria's ties with the West.

Syria's new Sunni Islamist-led authorities have been under pressure from the West and Arab countries to form a government that is more inclusive of the country's diverse ethnic and religious communities.

arch link

The Kremlin said Friday that the European Union’s refusal to lift sanctions on Russia demonstrates the bloc is not interested in an end to the war in Ukraine.

Moscow has demanded that the West remove sanctions from the state-owned Rosselkhozbank as a precondition for restoring a deal on the safe passage of Ukrainian cargo through the Black Sea

In case there still are some people thinking that Russia wants peace; here's their narrative.

• For context see Cavoks Post or link

Summary

• Europe is mobilising on a scale "not seen for decades" to be ready to sustain a peace deal in Ukraine, Keir Starmer says at a summit of Kyiv's allies in Paris
• European countries will deploy a "reassurance force" to Ukraine after a peace deal is secured, Macron says
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky calls on the US to be stronger against Russia and to react to Moscow's violations of agreements
• Leaders at the Paris summit agree that now is not the time to lift sanctions on Russia
• Moscow said a maritime truce in the Black Sea announced on Tuesday would only begin once Western restrictions on Russia's food and fertiliser trade are lifted - Zelensky insists this isn't part of the ceasefire agreement
• Ukraine's allies have accused Russia of playing games with peace talks - "a classic from the Putin playbook," Starmer says

France will provide €2 billion of extra military aid to Ukraine, President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday ahead of a summit aimed at boosting Ukrainian security. Speaking alongside Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris, Macron said Russia must accept a 30-day ceasefire offered by Ukraine “without preconditions”, accusing Moscow of still showing a “desire for war”.

The dream is becoming reality. At least for the media talking heads who take their orders at weekly meetings in the Kremlin. The US is aligning with Russia’s outlook, they say. Now, Russia can begin to imagine a just punishment for its old enemies in Europe’s democracies(..)

He [Sardaryan] urged Moscow to focus on fomenting “anti-war movements” that will block the roads and impede the functioning of freely elected parliaments across Europe, and “destabilize the situation in all the countries that dare to act against Russia’s interests.”

Note: this article by Center for European Policy Analysis is about what Russian (propaganda) media is saying, as a mean to analyse what's going on in Putin's head.

Also, in light of the implications of the content found in recent leaked US signal app group info, it reaffirms an anti-European sentiment ( Europhobia), which appears to be shared by Moscow.

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkish authorities detained several journalists from their homes, a media workers’ union said Monday, calling it a crackdown amid growing protests triggered by the jailing of Istanbul’s mayor, a top rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.(..)

The Disk-Basin-Is union said at least eight reporters and photojournalists were detained in what it called an “attack on press freedoms and the people’s right to learn the truth.” It called for their immediate release.

A total of 1,133 people have been detained since the mayor was arrested at his home, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said. As many as 123 police officers were injured in the protests, he said, adding that materials such as acid, firebombs and knives were seized.(..)

Sir Keir Starmer's plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as "a posture and a pose" by Donald Trump's special envoy.

Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a "simplistic" notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking "we have all got to be like Winston Churchill".

In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he "liked" the Russian president.

"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," he said. "He's super smart."

Sir Keir Starmer's plan for an international force to support a ceasefire in Ukraine has been dismissed as "a posture and a pose" by Donald Trump's special envoy.

Steve Witkoff said the idea was based on a "simplistic" notion of the UK prime minister and other European leaders thinking "we have all got to be like Winston Churchill".

In an interview with pro-Trump journalist Tucker Carlson, Witkoff praised Vladimir Putin, saying he "liked" the Russian president.

"I don't regard Putin as a bad guy," he said. "He's super smart."

Rural regions account for 43 percent of the world's population – estimated to be just over 8 billion, at the last count – and if the calculations in this new study are correct then the number of unaccounted-for people could potentially stretch into the billions.(...)

"We were surprised to find that the actual population living in rural areas is much higher than the global population data indicates – depending on the dataset, rural populations have been underestimated by between 53 percent to 84 percent over the period studied."(..)

ad: "Not everyone is convinced. Scientists who weren't involved in the study told Chris Stokel-Walker at New Scientist that improvements in satellite imagery and the quality of data collecting in some countries would make these discrepancies smaller."(..)

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in Istanbul on Friday in support of Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu – Erdogan's chief political rival – who was detained on Wednesday, just days before he was to be formally named as a candidate in Turkey's 2028 presidential election. The protestors marched despite a warning that authorities will crack down on "street terrorism".