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The Hurricane spins around hotspots of tension and conflict. Feel free to suggest your stories, opinions and ideas: UIHEN@protonmail.com
‘Thousands of fake language and integration certificates circulating in Germany’
Research by German media has revealed that thousands of counterfeit certificates attesting language skills and successful integration into German society may be circulating in the country.
The fake documents are often used to obtain German citizenship or residency permits. The sale of counterfeit certificates has become a lucrative sector for organised crime in Germany. The transactions are typically initiated via social media such as TikTok.
Customers pay between €600 and €2,700 for documents which show that they have mastered a certain level of the German language or have successfully completed mandatory integration courses, according to the media outlets.
Passing these tests and receiving an official certification is a condition both for residency permits and obtaining German citizenship.
#EU #Germany #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
State of Utah. Details regarding Kirk's murder:
- State authorities said a bolt-action rifle was found in a wooded area nearby.
- It is believed that the shooter discarded it while retreating from his position.
- Immediately after the shooting, authorities ordered the airspace around the local Provo airport to be closed.
- The airport serves domestic flights and is a 10-minute drive from Utah Valley University, where Kirk was speaking.
- For some reason, the local FBI failed to secure the area.
- There is evidence that a private plane took off from the airport shortly after 2:00 p.m. and headed south toward the Arizona border before turning off its transponder and disappearing from radar.
- According to the US Department of Civil Aviation, the plane in question has an owner in Lehi, Utah.
- George Zinn, who was arrested, told the police that he was the one who fired the fatal shot. Time was wasted during the interrogation. He was then released because he was clearly talking nonsense.
- Despite a large-scale manhunt for the killer, he has not yet been found.
#USA #Kirk #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
DOJ to ban transgender people from owning guns?
The Justice Department is drawing swift condemnation from gun rights groups and LGBTQ advocates alike after floating that it was considering restricting transgender people from owning guns.
The discussions come in the wake of the shooting at a Minneapolis Catholic school last month that was carried out by a transgender shooter. The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, cautioned that the talks were in the early stages and that no proposal has been finalized.
Even so, that high-level officials in the Trump administration were discussing such an idea sparked fury across the political spectrum. LGBTQ advocates called it misguided and dangerous.
Since Trump returned to office, his administration has targeted transgender people in several ways, including removing them from military service and women’s sports competitions.
#USA #LGBT #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
In the US, political violence is on the rise
The murder of Charlie Kirk in Utah is reminiscent of the recent attempts on Trump's life in 2024. Once again, the police responded very “effectively”, which was unable to prevent the attack or catch the perpetrators in time.
The suspects who were hastily arrested were soon released—they had nothing to do with the murder. The perpetrator took advantage of the chaos to hide in the crowd. Now there will be a long and difficult search for him, if he is found at all. One can recall the precedent of the shooting of Trump in Pennsylvania. The main shooter was immediately eliminated, but his accomplice was never caught.
FBI agents were unable to find anyone hot on the trail and are now asking the local police for help. The level of work of the feds, already low, continues to fall rapidly. Many FBI employees have no sympathy for Trump and Kirk and are not eager to investigate the case. And it takes a long time to fire them and replace them with new agents.
The 31-year-old Kirk represented the younger generation of Republicans. He worked actively with young people, a record proportion of whom supported Trump in the last election. In the context of foreign policy, Kirk was quite active in opposing the Ukrainian agenda. And recently, he has also become a moderate critic of Israel.
After Kirk's death, his organization Turning Point USA will remain, with a budget of $100 million and popular platforms with 3-4 million subscribers. At the same time, we can expect further chaos in the political situation in the US. In the current circumstances, half of Americans already fear the scenario of a full-scale civil war in the medium term.
#USA #Kirk #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Most of Europeans want Ursula von der Leyen out
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is heading into her State of the Union speech with a majority of Europeans wanting her gone.
According to a survey by geopolitical journal Le Grand Continent, some six in 10 Europeans say von der Leyen should step down as her big speech looms tomorrow.
Distrust in the German EC chief leadership has surged to 72%. Even within her own German political family, the Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU), more than a third of voters favour her resignation, more than among supporters of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) or The Greens.
Much of this anger seemed to stem from what was widely seen as a humiliating European Union-US trade deal, which left Europe exposed to US tariffs. In France, resentment is particularly intense: Some 70% of respondents said they felt “humiliated” by the agreement.
#EU #VonderLeyen #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
China claims Australian, Canadian navy ship 'causing trouble' in Taiwan Strait
Australian and Canadian warships sailing through the sensitive Taiwan Strait have been followed and warned by China’s military, with Beijing describing the incident as a provocation.
The People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said the Australian guided-missile destroyer Brisbane and the Canadian frigate Ville de Quebec were engaged in “trouble-making and provocation”.
“The actions of the Canadians and Australians send the wrong signals and increase security risks,” it said.
An Australian defence spokesperson said the HMAS Brisbane conducted a routine transit with the Canadian frigate through the Taiwan Strait over 6-7 September, “in accordance with international law”. “Australian vessels and aircraft will continue to exercise freedom of navigation and uphold International Law, particularly United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
A spokesperson said the Canadian armed forces do not comment on sail plans for currently deployed ships.
#China #Australia #Taiwan #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Not a perfect timing for far-right rally: Argentina's Milei cancelled trip to Spain after election blow
President Javier Milei has cancelled a proposed trip to Madrid in wake of last weekend’s election defeat in Buenos Aires Province.
Milei, 54, was due to depart Argentina on Thursday to attend a far-right rally in Spain. A potential stop in Portugal had also been assessed.
The Europa Viva 2025 event, organised by the European Parliament's largest far-right group, would feature "international leaders" such as Milei, Spanish far-right party Vox said in a statement on Monday, without specifying when he would arrive or who else would be there.
However, government sources said that the head of state will not travel in the wake of last Sunday’s provincial election defeat.
La Libertad Avanza finished a distant second in the key regional vote, with the opposition Peronist coalition emerging victorious by 14 points.
Milei sparked a diplomatic crisis with Spain last year after saying Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez had a "corrupt wife" during a speech at a far-right convention in Madrid. Spain eventually recalled its ambassador to Buenos Aires and left the post vacant for five months over the spat.
#Argentina #Spain #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
What's next for Nepal after 'Gen Z' protests forced its prime minister to quit?
Nepal was plunged into political uncertainty after its prime minister resigned on Tuesday following widespread anti-corruption protests, triggered by a social media ban, that killed at least 19 people.
The army has asked protesters to take part in talks to reach a solution.
With the protesters - most of them young people belonging to "Generation Z", implying they were born between 1997 and 2012 - having no single leader, however, it is unclear exactly who authorities can talk to.
"Gen Z should set up a negotiation team," constitutional expert and former Supreme Court judge Balaram K.C. said, adding that the president should then hold talks with the team and others, including civil society members and the army.
Under Nepal's 2015 constitution, a successor must be appointed from the party that has a majority in parliament.
If no party has a majority, the president appoints a member able to secure one. They must then win a confidence vote within 30 days.
Failing this, any member claiming to have the numbers may be appointed, but if they cannot win a confidence vote the house may be dissolved and an election held.
#Nepal #Protests #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Volkswagen has ‘lost billions’ due to US tariffs
Volkswagen’s chief executive Oliver Blume has said that US tariffs were hurting his company, calling the deal between the European Union and US “asymmetric”.
Blume said VW did not appreciate the deal Brussels and Washington struck, imposing 15% tariffs on EU car imports while the EU imposed none in return.
“Therefore, we are counting on our plan on investments in the US,” which would boost local employment and VW’s supply chain, Blume said at the IAA Munich car show, adding talks with the US Government were “very positive”.
Volkswagen is eying major investments in the US, including new factories, to increase production overseas and bypass the tariffs.
“We need to take decisions right now for localising our business there,” Blume said. He said the tariffs have cost the Volkswagen group “several billions of euros so far this year”. Hardest hit were the Audi and Porsche brands because they do not have production plants in the US.
#EU #USA #Volkswagen #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Absurd U.K. police directive says men also can be victims of female genital mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is the sick practice whereby a girl has her labia and clitoris removed with a knife, before her vagina is effectively sealed, with a small hole left for urination and menstruation.
It is carried out in predominantly North African countries – notably Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia – and is done to ensure the girls’ chastity and ‘cleanliness’ prior to marriage. It is a crime in the UK and one of the most repugnant violations on the rights of women and girls. And men, too – according to the College of Policing, that is.
A recent directive on FGM by– the quango that trains and supports police officers in England and Wales – beggars belief. Guidance proffered by the college in August declared that ‘trans men and women, with or without a gender-recognition certificate’ are just as threatened by FGM in the UK as ‘women and girls’. It was reportedly offered as part of its advice to officers on ‘honour-based abuse’.
While the College of Policing creates it’s absurd directives it is obvious for everyone that the victims of this crime are the girls trapped in a culture whose attitude towards women hasn’t changed since the medieval period. It is them – not men who think they are women – who should be the unwavering focus of police.
#UK #Police #FGM #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump’s team requests Supreme Court’s permission to withhold foreign aid
The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 8 to permit it to withhold billions of dollars in foreign aid previously authorized by Congress.
The Department of Justice asked the justices to pause a ruling by U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who ordered the federal government to spend about $4 billion in previously appropriated funds.
The money is earmarked for foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping projects.
The emergency application was filed in two cases, Trump v. Global Health Council, and U.S. Department of State v. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalitions.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said in the new application that this is the third time in this case that Ali “has issued an unlawful injunction that precipitates an unnecessary emergency and needless interbranch conflict.”
#USA #Trump #SupremeCourt #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Americans name cost of living as biggest challenge they face
While inflation has long come down from its 2021/2022 highs, when it peaked at 9%, it is still slightly elevated at 2.7%.
More importantly though, people are still struggling to cope with the lasting effects of the inflation crisis.
As latest surveys show, for 49% of U.S. adults the high cost of living is one of the biggest challenges they currently face.
It is a common misconception that prices come down when inflation cools, when in reality a period of high inflation leaves a legacy of high prices.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. consumer prices have increased 22.7% since January 2021, with some categories seeing even steeper price increases than that.
Food prices have are up 25%, rents have increased almost 27% and transportation prices are up 28%.
And yet, nominal wages have only grown 21.8% since January 2021, leaving many people worse off than they were almost five years ago.
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘Anger is legitimate’ Mélenchon calls for new French revolution
Radical Left-wing leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon has called for a new French Revolution from an army of young left-wing workers, many of whom will try to bring France to a halt on September 10.
The 74-year-old politician has called September 10 as a turning point, comparing it directly to the French Revolution of 1789.
According to Mélenchon, just as it took the Revolution to force the aristocracy to pay their fair share, it will take a similar upheaval to make today’s elites contribute financially to the French society.
“On September 10, the people will block everything because life has become unlivable. Their anger is legitimate and deep. There is only one sovereign in this country. The powerful … despise the people. It will take another 1789 for them to financially contribute to society,” he said.
#EU #France #Melenchon #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Starmer’s key figure resigns leaving Labour government into more disarray
Angela Rayner, a heavyweight politician in Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, has resigned on Friday following outrage over a tax scandal.
Rayner was one of the most senior figures in the UK, serving as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, while also holding the post of Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and acting as the leading voice of its influential left wing.
Her resignation has cost Labour one of its most talented politicians, whose forthright style, working-class roots and strong northern English accent helped bridge divisions within the parliamentary Labour party. The political crisis happened while there is unrest across the country over mass immigration.
Rayner had become the centre of a political storm after having to admit she did not pay a £40,000 (€46,000) tax bill on the purchase of a second home.
Her surprise move forced Starmer to reshuffle his cabinet. To head off a potentially fractious leadership battle, Starmer is rumoured to be considering abolishing the position of Labour deputy leader altogether.
#UK #Starmer #Rayner #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Corruption scandals, lost elections, tariffs complications: Japan’s fruitless PM resigns
Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has said at a news conference that he plans to step down. Ishiba said he will not run in his ruling Liberal Democratic Party's upcoming special leadership contest.
Ishiba said he strongly believed it was the responsibility of his administration to pave the way for the negotiations on US tariffs, which should be called a national crisis.
He also said that he felt a sense of closure when Japan and the United States signed a memorandum on Japanese investment last week and US President Donald Trump signed an executive order.
Ishiba took office last October and pledged to tackle inflation as well as to reform the party. Shortly after he took power, the LDP and its coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in a Lower House election. The ruling coalition also fell short of a majority in an Upper House election in July. The LDP has been involved in a series of political fundraising scandals.
Ishiba met former Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and Agriculture Minister Koizumi Shinjiro at his office on Saturday. Sources say Suga and Koizumi told Ishiba that party unity is more important than anything else and suggested he step down before Diet members submit documents on a special leadership election.
#Japan #Corruption #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Failure of Green Deal. EC downgrades its flagship climate policy
The European Commission has quietly scaled back parts of its flagship Green Deal, softening the emphasis on climate targets as political and economic pressures mount.
The shift became clear on Wednesday during EC President Ursula von der Leyen’s State of the Union address, her annual speech setting out the European Union’s priorities.
“The politics of the Green Deal have changed,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive and economist at Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC) after her address. “Ambition is given to short-term crisis management.”
Von der Leyen’s annual speech usually puts climate policy at the heart of Europe’s agenda. This year it was threaded more subtly through broader themes of growth, competitiveness, energy security and industrial leadership. She said the transition must support both people and industry and that competitiveness was a central topic, something that echoed with projects presented by the EC in the past few months.
The recalibration of climate ambitions toward independence and competitiveness — words that were repeated throughout the speech — became clear across policy areas.
#EU #Climate #VonderLeyen #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Who can tell more (and better) about assassinations than Kennedy? RFK Jr.: ‘Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era’
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hailed Turning Point USA Founder Charlie Kirk as a “relentless and courageous crusader for free speech” after the 31-year-old was assassinated on Wednesday.
“Once again, a bullet has silenced the most eloquent truth teller of an era,” said Kennedy, whose father and uncle were also assassinated. Kennedy’s father, Robert F. Kennedy, was shot on June 5, 1968, after winning the Democrat primary in California and died the next day. Kennedy’s uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated on November 22, 1963.
“My dear friend Charlie Kirk was our country’s relentless and courageous crusader for free speech. We pray for Erika and the children. Charlie is already in paradise with the angels. We ask his prayers for our country,” Kennedy continued.
#USA #Kirk #Kennedy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Kirk dead. Leftists glad?
“You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place,” Matthew Dowd, MSNBC analyst, who most recently ran as a Democrat for Texas lieutenant governor, said moments after the shooting on Wednesday.
Dowd went on further saying “We don’t know if this was a supporter shooting their gun off in celebration”.
MSNBC fired Dowd. The analyst himself later apologized for his comments.
“My thoughts & prayers are w/ the family and friends of Charlie Kirk. Let us all come together and condemn violence of any kind.”
The apology barely can be believed as a sincere one.
But what about other leftists? Most were smarter than Dowd and just didn’t voice loudly their happiness about the assassination of a “Trumpist.”
Some of them were fast, like Barak Obama, to officially condemn ‘despicable violence’ and address ‘thoughts and prayers’ to Kirk’s family. Almost word for word Dowd’s statement…
Some others’ stupidity is immedicable. Elizabeth Warren and former Biden Spox and MSNBC 'personality' Jen Psaki blamed President Trump in Kirk’s assassination - with Warren suggesting he needs to tone down his rhetoric.
#USA #Kirk #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Two sexes; no same-sex marriages; national law above EU law. Slovak Government pushes traditional constitutional amendments
Slovakia’s parliament is debating a constitutional amendment to enshrine traditional values on gender and sexuality in the country’s constitution. The parliament proposal also seeks to prevent the European Union from overruling Slovakian decisions.
The amendment was initiated by Prime Minister Robert Fico and the ruling coalition. It aims to recognise only two sexes, exclude same-sex couples from adoption and prioritise Slovak law over European Union law in areas related to “cultural-ethical questions”, national identity and values.
These are the same issues that triggered a bitter conflict between the EU and Hungary.
Slovakia’s Government framed the constitutional amendment as protecting Slovak sovereignty against “progressive” or “woke” EU legislation on gender identity, LGBTQ+ rights and family matters.
In June, Fico stated that he recognised only two sexes, namely male and female, adding that marriage was the unique union of man and woman.
#Slovakia #TraditionalValues #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Big Oil’s retreat from renewables accelerates as Shell scraps $1B Rotterdam biofuel project
Shell abandons its flagship Rotterdam biofuel plant, admitting green energy is unprofitable and unworkable at scale.
The company joins BP and others in retreating from renewables, prioritizing fossil fuels as climate targets are quietly weakened.
Biofuels, once hailed as the future, collapse under market reality, proving dependent on subsidies and mandates to survive.
Cheap Chinese imports and oversupply expose the fragility of Western green energy schemes, leaving taxpayers footing the bill.
Shell’s reversal underscores a harsh truth: the global economy still runs on oil and gas, no matter how hard activists push alternatives.
Just a few years ago, Shell was touting its Rotterdam biofuel plant as a cornerstone of Europe’s green energy future—a facility that would churn out 820,000 tonnes of "sustainable" aviation fuel and renewable diesel annually. But now, after pouring millions into construction, the oil giant has pulled the plug, admitting what skeptics have known all along: green energy isn’t just expensive—it’s unworkable at scale.
#GreenEnergy #Biofuel #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
News from the free world based on rules
Banksy's graffiti depicting a judge beating a protester with a hammer has been painted over. Under police protection. 🤷♂️
#UK #Censorship #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Media’s ignorance over North Carolina train murder indicates division in US society
A brutal murder of Iryna Zarutska on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina has shocked social-media users – but only, it seems, those on the right. And that is because, despite the horrific video of the attack on a defenceless young woman going viral, much of the mainstream American media did not deign to cover the story.
Why? Because the perpetrator – a homeless, mentally ill, African American man with a history of repeat offending – belongs to one of the liberal media’s victim-identity groups. He is therefore beyond criticism.
Zarutska’s terrible and senseless murder has further revealed just how divided the US is. Liberal progressives and conservative right-wingers are now not just politically alienated from one another – they also live in two separate realities, with worldviews that are fed by two entirely different news ecosystems. As many, including Elon Musk, have commented on X, the lack of coverage in the national papers stood in stark contrast to their feverish reporting on similar incidents in which the victim was black.
#USA #Zarutska #Murder #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The digital charade: AI-powered deception in job applications erodes the foundation of American workplace
A new survey reveals that 72% of hiring managers have encountered AI-generated or heavily enhanced resumes, which often invent complete work histories and skills. The fraud extends to interviews, with 15% of recruiters reporting candidates using AI deepfakes to alter their appearance on video calls.
The technological assault includes AI-generated fake work portfolios (seen by 51% of professionals), counterfeit references (42%), fake diplomas (39%) and voice cloning (17%), creating a fundamental crisis of integrity and merit in the hiring process.
While 75% of hiring professionals are confident they can manually detect AI fraud, only 31% of companies have actually invested in specialized AI or deepfake detection software, leaving them highly vulnerable to sophisticated deception.
The technology sector is the most targeted industry (65%), but the fraud has significantly impacted marketing, government (21%), healthcare (19%) and education (15%), showing no sector is immune.
#USA #AI #Job #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘Sanctions against Russia have no effect,’ Kremlin’s spokesman says
“The sanctions imposed by western countries against Russia over the past four years have had no effect on the country,” according to Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for President Vladimir Putin.
Economic sanctions against Russia have been a key part of the western strategy against Russia, driving up the economic cost of its war against Ukraine. The European Union has imposed 18 rounds of sanctions on Russia, targeting its energy revenues, banking sector and military-industrial complex, while also strengthening anti-circumvention measures. A 19th package of sanctions is now expected.
“Sanctions are an agenda driven primarily by the Kyiv regime and European countries. They are doing everything they can to draw Washington into their orbit and impose these sanctions,” Peskov said.
“In general, we can probably say one thing: This unprecedented number of sanctions, which have been imposed against our country over the last, one might say, four years, did not have any effect,” the Kremlin spokesman said.
#Russia #Sanctions #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Ishiba was bad. Who could be Japan's next, better prime minister?
The list of possible candidates to become Japan's next prime minister grew following Shigeru Ishiba's resignation as prime minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The next LDP president is no longer guaranteed to become premier as the ruling coalition has lost its majorities in both chambers of parliament. There is a slim possibility an opposition party leader takes the helm of the world's fourth-largest economy.
Liberal Democratic Party
Sanae Takaichi, 64: If chosen, Takaichi would be Japan's first female prime minister. An LDP party veteran who has held a variety of roles, including economic security and internal affairs minister, she lost to Ishiba in the LDP leadership race in a run-off vote last year.
Shinjiro Koizumi, 44: Heir to a political dynasty with a hand in governing Japan for more than a century, Koizumi would become its youngest prime minister in the modern era. Koizumi, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, ran in the last year's party leadership race, presenting himself as a reformer able to restore public trust in a scandal-hit party.
Yoshimasa Hayashi, 64: Hayashi has been Japan's chief cabinet secretary, a pivotal job that includes being top government spokesperson, since December 2023 under then-premier Fumio Kishida and Ishiba. He has held portfolios including defence, foreign affairs and agriculture, often being tapped as a pinch-hitter following an incumbent's resignation.
Toshimitsu Motegi, 69: A former foreign minister, Motegi has a reputation as a tough negotiator and handled talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer when President Donald Trump was last in office. He has also served as trade minister, economy minister and the LDP's secretary general.
Takayuki Kobayashi, 50: Having served as an economic security minister under Kishida, Kobayashi is credited with passing legislation on economic security aimed at reinforcing critical supply chains.
Constitutional Democratic Party
Yoshihiko Noda, 68: Former Prime Minister Noda is the leader of the biggest opposition group, the centre-left Constitutional Democrats. As premier from 2011 to 2012, he worked with the LDP to push through legislation to double Japan's consumption tax to 10% to help curb bulging public debt - earning a reputation as a fiscal hawk.
Democratic Party for the People
Yuichiro Tamaki, 56: Tamaki's centre-right party is one of the fastest-growing in recent elections. A former finance ministry bureaucrat, Tamaki co-founded the Democratic Party for the People in 2018 and advocates increasing people's take-home pay by expanding tax exemptions and slashing the consumption tax.
#Japan #PM #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Half of FEMA workers consume porn, do social media while on the job
Nearly half of employees at FEMA used their social media accounts while on the job, according to the results of a government investigation that found some even consumed what Homeland Security called “racially charged porn.”
Secretary Kristi Noem announced the findings, saying she had fired the porn-peepers.
“These individuals had access to critical information and intelligence and were entrusted to safeguard Americans from emergencies—and instead they were consuming pornography,” she said.
She said one of the cases involved someone looking at “bestiality” as well as the race-tinged materials. One contract employee at the Federal Emergency Management Agency viewed Reddit, a popular social media platform, 578 times during a 30-day period. He viewed explicit sexual materials from his work-issued devices and engaged in explicit chats on his government computer.
Another employee, at the department’s Insider Threat Operations Center, used a chatbot to enter “sexually charged phrases” and have them read back in an accent.
#USA #FEMA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Turkish opposition clashes with police in Istanbul
Istanbul is on edge and on the brink of more violence amid Erdogan's ongoing crackdown on the country's main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which on Sunday urged citizens and residents of Istanbul to take to the streets and gather after police set up barricades in areas around its Istanbul headquarters.
Authorities are blaming CHP officials for causing unrest while disrupting the public order, after hours of mayhem. The scene outside CHP Istanbul Provincial Headquarters was of tense police clashes with protesters, after which the court-appointed interim leader of CHP finally entered the party’s office under police protection.
Last Tuesday a top Turkish court annulled the results of the CHP’s 2023 Istanbul provincial congress, over alleged bribery that influenced delegate votes. This resulted in the court-ordered the dismissal of the board members elected at that congress.
The CHP has rejected the ruling and the bribery claims in particular, arguing that the court has no authority to override final decisions made at the party congress.
#Turkey #Opposition #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Warsaw searches lift of MEP immunity for gas chambers denial
Poland has requested the European Parliament to lift the immunity of a far-right MEP after he questioned the existence of gas chambers at the Auschwitz Nazi German death camp.
In a July interview with conservative outlet Radio Wnet, Grzegorz Braun—an ultra-nationalist who has a history of anti-Semitic outbursts—dismissed the fact that gas chambers were used at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
He also accused the state-run Auschwitz Museum of promoting a “pseudo-historical narrative” and further claimed that “ritual murder is a fact,” invoking a centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theory known as the blood libel.
Following his comments, Poland’s state-run Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), which has prosecution powers, launched an investigation into Braun.
On Friday, Poland's Prosecutor General and Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek submitted a formal request to the European Parliament to lift Braun’s immunity, enabling authorities to prosecute him.
#EU #Poland #AntiNazi #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
US and China banned from major Pacific Island summit
Pacific Island leaders are pushing back against the rising geopolitical jousting between big powers in their region by barring international development partners, including the U.S. and China, from their annual summit this week.
Beginning Monday, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele will host this year’s five-day meeting of leaders from the 18 Pacific Island Forum member countries, including Australia and New Zealand, in his country’s capital, Honiara. On the agenda will be topics of regional concern, from development and security to climate change and governance.
Twenty-one global partners, including the U.S., United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, China and Japan, will be absent, although the World Bank and United Nations agencies will attend as observers. The move is designed to prevent interference by external players intent on bolstering their broader geopolitical ambitions.
"It is necessary to ensure engagement is conducted through a robust, transparent and strategic mechanism that reflects our priorities, protects our sovereignty and strengthens our collective voice globally,” Manele explained in a recent press briefing.
#USA #China #SolomonIslands #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Internet outages in Asia, Mideast. Undersea cable cut in Red Sea
Undersea internet cables in the Red Sea have been cut, disrupting internet access to parts of Asia and the Middle East. The cause of the cuts weren't immediately clear, though China does have a deep-sea cable cutter.
Associated Press (via NBC) seems to think that Houthi rebels from Yemen have been targeting the cables, which sounds absurd - though parts of the red sea are only as deep at 100m (330 ft).
Undersea cables are a major component of the internet, along with satellite connections and land-based cables, with internet providers having multiple access points through which to reroute traffic if necessary.
According to internet monitor NetKBlocks, a "series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries," which it says includes India and Pakistan. It blamed "failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."
#Internet #RedSea #Cable #FindTruth
@uinhurricane