Interesting Global News

After a years-long legal saga, Wikileaks says that founder Julian Assange has left the UK after reaching a deal with US authorities that will see him plead guilty to criminal charges and go free.

Assange, 52, was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information [...]

Assange will spend no time in US custody and will receive credit for the time spent incarcerated in the UK.

[He] will return to Australia, according to a letter from the justice department.

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The Russian division of the Bank of China has suspended operations with Russian lenders sanctioned by the United States in order to avoid being hit with secondary sanctions, the Kommersant business newspaper reported Monday, citing industry insiders.

The Bank of China’s Russian division — which specializes in yuan payments between Russia and China — is the second-largest Chinese banking subsidiary in the country [...]

Experts [said that this] would likely increase fraud risks given the subsequent shift to opaque intermediaries to process payments between Russian and Chinese entities.

“This is not very good news for the Russian market,” an anonymous industry insider was quoted [...]. “There will be additional costs both in time and the price of processing payments.”

"But the most important problem is that payments go beyond the banking sector, resulting in the state having less control,” the source added.

Deaths of babies under 28 days old increased by over 10 percent between 2021 and 2022.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/aVK1v

A former Israeli minister imagined the campaign as a military unit that conducts PR missions abroad.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/0kTDQ

The private operator of Puerto Rico’s power grid has confirmed the deferral of $65 million worth of maintenance and improvement projects in the U.S. territory.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/UECfi

At least 22 people have been confirmed dead while eight others were injured, local authorities say.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/U1Kst

The United Nations chief has launched global principles to combat online hate and lies and demanded that big tech companies use their power to reduce the harm they are doing to people and societies around the world.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/LCU9B

The new AEB rules are impractical and costly, the group argues.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/GfIng

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Lai Ching-te once again called on China to accept the existence of Taiwan, a self-governing democracy that is claimed by Beijing but where its courts have no jurisdiction.

Democracy is not a crime and autocracy is the real “evil,” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said Monday after China threatened to impose the death penalty in extreme cases for “diehard” Taiwan independence separatists.

China, which views Taiwan as its own territory, has made no secret of its dislike of Lai, who took office last month, saying he is a “separatist,” and staged war games shortly after his inauguration.

On Friday, China ramped up its pressure on Taiwan by issuing new legal guidelines to punish those it says support the island’s formal independence, though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction on the democratically governed island.

Asked about China’s move at a news conference at the presidential office in Taipei, Lai first reiterated his sympathy for recent flooding in southern China before responding.

“I want to stress: Democracy is not a crime; it’s autocracy that is the real evil. China has absolutely no right to sanction Taiwan’s people just because of the positions they hold. What’s more, China has no right to go after Taiwan people’s rights across borders,” he said.

According to China, anyone who does not uphold “reunification” is therefore a Taiwan independence supporter, Lai added.

“I also want to call on China to face up to the existence of the Republic of China and have exchanges and dialogue with Taiwan’s democratically elected, legitimate government,” he said, using Taiwan’s formal name. “If this is not done, relations between Taiwan and China will only become more and more estranged.”

Taiwan said that since Thursday, there has been a sharp increase in Chinese military flights as Beijing carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” near the island.

From Thursday to Sunday, Taiwan says it detected 115 Chinese military aircraft operating nearby, getting as close as 31 nautical miles from the southern tip of the island.

Taiwan has said that for the past four years China has carried out regular military activity around the island as part of a “gray zone” pressure campaign.

Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. He has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed.

China says any move by Taiwan to declare formal independence would be grounds to attack the island.

The government in Taipei says Taiwan is already an independent country, the Republic of China, and that it does not plan to change that. The Republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war against Mao Zedong’s Communists.

Lai also faces domestic challenges, as his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in parliament in the same election in January that brought him to power.

Speaking at the same news conference, Lai said he would ask the constitutional court to stay a package of contested parliament reforms the opposition has passed and consider whether they comply with the constitution.

The opposition says the reforms, which among other things criminalize contempt of parliament by government officials, are needed to bring more accountability, but the DPP says they were forced through without proper discussion.

The fluctuating policy has targeted a huge range of items, as tracked by an Israeli human rights group. The latest version of the blockade is nearly total

Archived version: https://archive.ph/S2tpJ

Bezalel Smotrich says he aims to establish sovereignty over occupied territory and thwart a Palestinian state

Archived version: https://archive.ph/q9zIg

A senior official with the U.N. health agency says the reconnected U.S.-built pier off the coast of the Gaza Strip cannot supply Palestinians with anywhere near the level of aid they need.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/431hJ

Responding to the publication of a new report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health calling on governments to move away from punitive responses to drugs and to instead take an approach grounded on harm reduction and human rights ahead of World Drugs Day on 26 June, Erika Guevara-Rosas Amnesty International’s Senior […]

Archived version: https://archive.ph/CDcnK

A Malaysian minister says police have detained eight people with suspected links to the Islamic State militant group and and thwarted possible threats against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the nation’s king and other dignitaries.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/XVDtB

Unidentified gunmen in Dagestan kill 19 police officers and civilians in coordinated attacks.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/G22yG

The warehouse seen in satellite images was used to launch Iranian-made Shahed drones and train people, Kyiv said.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/wA79M

Global funding in the cultured meat industry dropped by 75% in the last year. Singapore sees its chance to become a world leader, backing local and international firms.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/l9Ndj

ProPublica identified a group of connected political nonprofits — with names like American Breast Cancer Coalition and National Coalition for Disabled Veterans — that appear to be funneling more than 90% of donations to fundraisers.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/YV6x0

Moscow’s renewed assault on Ukraine’s energy grid has seen worst rolling outages since full-scale invasion began

Archived version: https://archive.ph/8g24H

Military says conduct seen in video from occupied West Bank city of Jenin ‘does not conform’ to its values

Archived version: https://archive.ph/nOfUz

It’s been nearly three months since the U.S. government announced an outbreak of the bird flu virus on dairy farms. The World Health Organization considers the virus a public health concern because of its potential to cause a pandemic, yet the U.S. has tested only about 45 people across the country.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3HEIK

Civil liberties group calls for hate crime charges against suspect in alleged racist attack at apartment complex pool

Archived version: https://archive.ph/9CMHB

As awareness grows of the toll noise has on children's health and learning, some cities show the way to quieter roads and classrooms.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/LGph8

The heads of major Christian denominations in Israel say that local governments across the country are demanding they pay property tax, violating a longstanding arrangement in a manner they say reflects growing intolerance for Christians in the Holy Land.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/nHxz2