World News

https://archive.ph/iaTbc

• China shows footage it says is of live-fire rocket drills
• China gives war games which started on Tuesday a code name
• Taiwan detects more than 10 warships in its 'response zone'
• China says aircraft carrier also involved in drills
• U.S. condemns China's actions

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz says the military will expand its operation in Gaza and seize "large areas" of the territory.

https://archive.is/2025.04.01-221630/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2025/03/31/schooled-by-trump-americans-are-learning-to-dislike-their-allies

When ordered out of Jabaliya in northern Gaza, Ihab Suliman and his family could only grab some food and blankets before making their way south March 19. It was their eighth time fleeing over the past 18 months of war.

“There is no longer any taste to life,” said Suliman, a former university professor. “Life and death have become one and the same for us.”

Daunted by the notion of starting over, some Palestinians are ignoring the latest evacuation orders — even if it means risking their lives.

President Claudia Sheinbaum had already shown a willingness early in her presidency to move away from former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s oft-criticized “hugs, not bullets” strategy. It focused on addressing the social roots of crime rather than directly confronting Mexico’s powerful cartels.

Sheinbaum’s security chief, Omar García Harfuch, is drawing on his law enforcement contacts — mostly from the former ranks of the Federal Police — to claw back security capabilities from the armed forces with a civilian force under his direct command.

The government has yet to formally announce the new National Operations Unit, known by its Spanish initials UNO, but its existence is an open secret among former members of the Federal Police, where García Harfuch started his career.

At least 232 journalists have been killed amid the genocide, a new Costs of War report finds.

The paper: News Graveyards: How Dangers to War Reporters Endanger the World

UNICEF revealed an average of around 100 children have been killed or maimed over the past 10 days as Israel broke the Gaza ceasefire.

Paraguay’s decision came after Brazil’s foreign ministry revealed that the administration of Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing predecessor of current President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had conducted espionage against the small South American nation.

Lula’s government insisted that it had halted the surveillance against Paraguay immediately after becoming aware of it, without elaborating on the nature of the operation or whom it targeted.

Brazilian news site UOL reported that the country’s intelligence agents had infiltrated Paraguayan computer systems to obtain intel on sensitive tariff negotiations related to the Itaipu dam on their shared border.

A Cornell University student facing deportation after his visa was revoked because of his campus activism said he decided to leave the United States. 

Momodou Taal, a citizen of the United Kingdom and Gambia, had asked a federal court to halt his detention. But he posted on X late Monday that he didn’t believe a legal ruling in his favor would guarantee his safety or ability to speak out.

“I have lost faith I could walk the streets without being abducted,” Momodou Taal wrote from an unknown location. “Weighing up these options, I took the decision to leave on my own terms.”

• The total deal value of US licensing of innovator drug candidates from Chinese biopharma companies has surged 280% since 2020.

• drug licensing agreements involving Chinese biopharma licensors has surged 66%, from $16.6 billion in 2023 to $41.5 billion in 2024

Bakeries in the Gaza Strip shuttered Tuesday after running out of flour and diesel to operate, as a month-long Israeli blockade on food and aid entering the territory remains in place.

Abdel Nasser Al-Ajrami, head of the Bakery Owners Association in the Gaza Strip, said the closure of remaining 19 bakeries — which relied on support from the World Food Program (WFP) — meant there were no more operating bakeries in the territory.

"We call on the world to pressure the [Israeli] occupation to open the crossings to prevent the famine from worsening in the Strip," Al-Ajrami said in a statement.

Dan Jarvis told lawmakers that any person or company "carrying out activity as part of any arrangement" with Russian authorities, including government agencies, armed forces, intelligence services and the parliament, will need to register with the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme from 1 July.

Anyone who doesn't sign up faces five years in prison.

Big US technology companies have been offered a significant tax cut by Keir Starmer in return for lower tariffs from Donald Trump’s administration as the UK braces itself for a global trade war.

The Guardian understands the UK government is willing to reduce the headline rate of its digital services tax (DST) in an attempt to placate the US president, while at the same time applying the levy to companies from other countries.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/60133446

• Under the proposed changes published on Tuesday, the EU would base compliance with the CO2 rules for 2025 on a carmaker's average emissions over the period 2025-2027, rather than just this year.

• The Czech Republic, a hub for car manufacturing, has previously said it would push for a five-year compliance period.

• Volkswagen and Renault are among those that have expressed support for extending the compliance period

cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/19213440

The Socialist Equality Party condemns the attack on the Youth Demand organisation and demands the release and dropping of all charges against its members and supporters arrested over last Thursday and Friday by London’s Metropolitan Police.

The raid on the group’s publicly advertised meeting at Westminster Quaker Meeting House, a little over half a mile from Downing Street, is a major escalation in the Starmer Labour government’s assault on democratic rights. Up to 30 police officers, some armed, smashed their way into the meeting at St Martin’s Lane, central London Thursday evening (March 27).

///

I just want to point out how the Quakers have been real OGs for the side of human rights, historically.

India and China have made "promising" beginnings to repair their ties in the last five months and a "durable base" for rebuilding the relations depends on a threefold formula of mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said

Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying the development of India-China ties was conducive for a stable and multipolar world

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/60113523

GERMANY IS REPORTEDLY seeking to deport two Irish citizens for taking part in pro-Palestine protests in Berlin.

Four foreign residents are reported to have been hit with deportation orders, including two Irish citizens – Roberta Murray (31) and Shane O’Brien (29).

Solidarity demonstrations will take place tomorrow in Berlin and Munich in response to the deportation orders.

MBFC

Summary

The EU and UK fined major carmakers nearly €600 million for operating a recycling cartel exposed by Mercedes-Benz, which avoided penalties for whistleblowing.

The European Commission fined 15 manufacturers and their association €458 million for fixing costs and limiting advertising of car recycling from 2002 to 2017.

Volkswagen received the largest fine at €127 million. The UK imposed an additional £77.7 million in fines.

Authorities say the cartel suppressed eco-friendly competition and misled consumers. All companies admitted guilt in exchange for reduced fines.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27991220

Lorenzo Tondo in Jerusalem, Malak A Tantesh in Gaza and Julian Borger
Tue 1 Apr 2025 14.17 EDT

"Dr Ahmed al-Farra, a senior doctor at the Nasser medical complex in Khan Younis, witnessed the arrival of some of the remains.

“I was able to see three bodies when they were transferred to the Nasser hospital. They had bullets in their chest and head. They were executed. They had their hands tied,’’ Farra said. “They tied them so they were unable to move and then they killed them.”"