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The UK government and arms industry are both complicit in Israel’s killing of seven aid workers in Gaza, including three British citizens, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), has alleged. The workers were killed by a strike from a Hermes 450 drone manufactured by Israeli-owned company Elbit Systems. The drone is powered by a UK-made R902(W) Wankel engine, produced by Elbit subsidiary UAV Engines Limited in the UK.

Sandi, ‘UK is ‘complicit’ in Israel's killing of British aid workers in Gaza, says CAAT’, Middle East Monitor

#Middle East Monitor #Israel #Palestine #genocide #UK #Campaign Against Arms Trade #CAAT #Hermes 450 #Elbit Systems #R902(W) Wankel #UAV Engines Limited #Sandi

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“Trapped in a ghetto region like a Palestinian kid, Where nobody gives a fuck whether you die or you live…”

Immortal Technique, ‘The 4th Branch’

#Immortal Technique #The 4th Branch #Palestine #child rights #Israel

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In terms of where the buck goes, not stops, the IPL is more foreign than Indian. Currently the 10 franchises' total salary bill for 2024 adds up to USD 88,100,177, at Friday's exchange rate. Of that, USD 55,094,562 - 62.54%, almost two-thirds - has been spent on players from other countries. And that despite the 78 foreigners comprising just 31.97% of the 244 who make up all 10 squads. You might say the combined talent and skill of the outsiders is worth more than twice their weight in dollars. Let no-one say the IPL is only about India or Indians.

Telford Vice, ‘The IPL does strange things to people’, Cricbuzz

#Cricbuzz #India #IPL #cricket

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The professions that have suffered most in Cuba are those that, in their attempt to adapt to the whims of the government, have had their noble intentions brutally castrated, and arbitrarily reversed. Of these, there is no crime greater than the one committed against journalism - the medical equivalent would have been to tell doctors to allow patients to die, or to call cancer the common cold.

Carlos Manuel Alvarez, ‘The Tribe’

#The Tribe #Carlos Manuel Alvarez #Cuba #journalism #government control #mass media

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Honestly, I don't know whether the schools will reopen or not under this government which doesn't have a bit of thought or understanding for girls. They count the girls as nothing.

Tamana, who is among the 330,000 Afghan girls UNICEF estimates should have started secondary school this March

#Afghanistan #Taliban #female literacy #misogyny #patriarchy #Islamic extremism

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Naya, not her real name, is just 11 but is no longer attending school in her home province of Kandahar. Her father says the government has "abandoned" her because she looks older than she is. "She is larger than average, and that was the reason the government told us she couldn't go to school. She must wear the veil (hijab) and stay at home." He doesn't hold out much hope for the rules changing under the current regime, but was keen to stress one point: the idea the people of Afghanistan backed the Taliban's ban was an "absolute lie". "It is absolutely an accusation on Afghans and Pashtuns that they don't want daughter's education, but the issue is vice-versa," he said. "Specially in Kandahar and other Pashtun provinces (where Pashtun people live), a lot people are ready to send their daughters to schools and universities to get education."

'Afghanistan: Teen girls despair as Taliban school ban continues', BBC

#Afghanistan #BBC #Pashtuns #Afghans #female literacy #Taliban #Kandahar

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'Everything in life has a name. If you like men, you're a faggot. If you like women, you're a lesbian. If your husband dies, you're a widow. If your mother dies, you're an orphan. But if your son dies, what do you call it? There's no word for it, nothing. It has no name.'

Carlos Manuel Alvarez, ‘The Tribe’

#The Tribe #Carlos Manuel Alvarez

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Poetry gets mixed in with stories, with novels, with everything. Poetry is something that happens in bursts, it's like love. You have to write what you are feeling. This is your only chance; you don't get a second turn at life. That's the secret. It doesn't matter if no one else sees it. A creator risks his death, others risk their lives. Poets who seem transcendent today will be forgotten by tomorrow. It happens to every writer. Poetry is the mystery, the gift that has the words to beguile. But it is not a safe place. Today, people blow you kisses, they embrace you, but tomorrow… There is so much poetry out there. That's why you have to take the risk. A poet doesn't write for the present, for me, for you, for anyone. You are writing for your contemporaries, by which I mean for the future. For truth. If it turns out well, so be it. If it doesn't, it doesn't. Never lie. Never ever lie. The hand of the liar withers, says Alcides.

Carlos Manuel Alvarez, ‘The Tribe’

#The Tribe #Carlos Manuel Alvarez #poetry #Rafael Alcides

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In 2007 Apple launched its first iPhone and soon afterwards, smartphones — including the Nokia and the Blackberry — began to sweep the world. By 2013, smartphones were outselling traditional phones. Since then, one of the criticisms levelled at the technology is the distraction embedded in its design, and its command over our attention. Arguably, it's not technology conducive to boredom. But Trevor Mazzuccelli, associate professor of clinical psychology at Curtin University, says boredom is a useful "skill"; one that helps us to reflect on our actions and our surroundings. And it's not just adults who stand to benefit. Dr Mazzuccelli explains that boredom helps children develop important skills, including: The ability to tolerate less-than-ideal experiences, and to manage frustration and regulate emotions; creative thinking; problem solving, planning, and organisation; and independence and self-sufficiency.

‘Rosa Ellen ditched her smartphone for a dumb phone — and she isn't looking back’, ABC

#ABC #Rosa Ellen #Apple #iPhone #Trevor Mazzuccelli #Blackberry #Nokia

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In the first weeks of being smartphone-less, Rosa read. A lot. Sometimes (in the holidays, at least) she'd read a book a day. "I was just sort of voracious," she says. "Then I felt a bit bored." She realised her mental appetite had previously been sated with the smartphone by "dipping in and out of a whole lot of little things that didn't take much commitment". "Whereas I've learned that I can commit to one thing. And sometimes that requires being bored." In that boredom, she's experienced something wonderful. "I've been returning to some hobbies, like drawing," she says. But that's not the biggest plus. Rosa says she's lost the "constant temptation" and "physical itch" to pick up her phone, and with that, she says, "my focus returned".

‘Rosa Ellen ditched her smartphone for a dumb phone — and she isn't looking back’, ABC

#ABC #Rosa Ellen #smartphone

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We support Palestine becoming a formal member of the United Nations. The catastrophe in Gaza once again reminded the world that the fact that the Palestinian territories have been occupied for a long time can no longer be ignored. It is a tragedy for humankind and a disgrace for civilization that today, in the 21st century, this humanitarian disaster cannot be stopped. The international community must act urgently, making an immediate ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities an overriding priority, and ensuring humanitarian relief an urgent moral responsibility. The long-cherished wish of the Palestinian people to establish an independent country can no longer be evaded, and the historical injustice suffered by the Palestinian people cannot continue for generations without being corrected.

Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister

#Wang Yi #China #Palestine #Israel #Gaza #United Nations

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If someone beats me, pinches me, scolds me, I hurt. I feel hungry, I have to eat, I have to cover my shame with clothes. I too need to be with my loved ones. I want their affection. I want to experience pleasure. I long for respect. I want to live a life of dignity. I want to go to work as many women do. But who gives people like me love? Or respect? Who offers us clothes to hide our shame? When I am hungry who feeds me? If I want all of this, what am I to do? Did I come with a mission at birth, wanting to be a pottai? Did my parents imagine I would be one, when I was born? I did not imagine that I would walk endlessly on several roads, begging, doing sex work. Who is responsible for what has happened to me? Did I take to this profession, because I wanted to? I did not choose this profession on my own. I wanted to live with a man. I did not get all that I needed for my everyday life. Men use me only for sex, they are unconcerned about all else. I do not desire to do sex work, but I had come to accept it as my destiny.

A Revathi, ‘The Truth about Me’

#The Truth about Me #A Revathi #India #LGBTQ

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Historical analogies are never exact, but money and equipment can only do so much, and Russia has an estimated 350,000 troops in Ukraine. In Iraq and Afghanistan, moreover, US aid led to all-embracing corruption at every level as Iraqi and Afghan officials and officers saw that they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get rich quickly and with no risk. In 2003/4, the entire Iraqi military procurement budget worth around $1.4bn disappeared, supposedly spent on some outdated Soviet helicopters from Poland and on a contract for military equipment from Pakistan written on a single sheet of A4 paper in handwriting too illegible to read. In Kandahar in Afghanistan in 2009, there was a film studio that would make fake videos of US-financed projects buzzing with activity, though the workers were extras hired by the day and the plant did not exist. It was too dangerous for USAID officials to inspect projects personally in rural Afghanistan, so they relied instead on videos to show that all was up and running.

Patrick Cockburn, ‘Rishi Sunak’s bid to exploit the Gaza conflict is morally bankrupt’, inews.co.uk

#inews.co.uk #Patrick Cockburn #Russia #Ukraine #Iraq #Afghanistan #USA #Poland #Pakistan #USAID #Kandahar

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I am wary of the assumption by Western governments that vast amounts of aid to Ukraine will determine the course of the war. Despite much lamentation in the White House and the US media about the refusal of the Republican-controlled House to pass a $95bn aid bill for Ukraine, I think its beneficial effect is overestimated. The EU is providing a €50bn aid package, but I am suspicious of the belief that this will fend off Ukrainian defeat, or at least stabilise the battlefront where Russia has recently made significant but by no means decisive advances. Western experience in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere shows that aid does not automatically translate into enhanced military capacity. The Iraqi army, built up at vast expense by the US after the invasion of 2003, collapsed like a paper bag when a limited number of Islamic State fighters stormed Mosul and seized most of non-Kurdish northern Iraq in 2014. To the surprise and discomfiture of Washington, the Afghan army which they had trained and equipped, disintegrated in a few months when attacked by the Taliban in 2021.

Patrick Cockburn, ‘Rishi Sunak’s bid to exploit the Gaza conflict is morally bankrupt’, inews.co.uk

#inews.co.uk #Patrick Cockburn #Ukraine #Russia #USA #EU #Islamic State #Iraq #Afghanistan #Taliban

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Western powers have continued to support Netanyahu’s government, the most anti-Palestinian in the history of Israel, which is likely to fall apart as soon as the war is over, and has no incentive to bring the violence to an end. Israel’s declared goal, the total elimination of Hamas, is unattainable, say US intelligence officials briefing Congress, given that the death of so many Palestinians will only increase the armed resistance of survivors.

Patrick Cockburn, ‘Rishi Sunak’s bid to exploit the Gaza conflict is morally bankrupt’, inews.co.uk

#Patrick Cockburn #Benjamin Netanyahu #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #West #USA #Hamas #inews.co.uk

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Then there is the cost of private education. While unaffordable housing is a problem the world over, this is what makes Korea truly unique. From the age of four, children are sent to an array of expensive extra-curricular classes - from maths and English, to music and Taekwondo. The practice is so widespread that to opt out is seen as setting your child up to fail, an inconceivable notion in hyper-competitive Korea. This has made it the most expensive country in the world to raise a child. A 2022 study found that only 2% of parents did not pay for private tuition, while 94% said it was a financial burden. As a teacher at one of these cram schools, Stella understands the burden all too well. She watches parents spend up to £700 ($890) per child a month, many of whom cannot afford it. "But without these classes, the children fall behind," she said. "When I'm around the children, I want to have one, but I know too much."

Jean Mackenzie, ‘Why South Korean women aren't having babies’, BBC

#BBC #Jean Mackenzie #private education #South Korea #hyper competition

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One 28-year-old woman, who worked in HR, said she'd seen people who were forced to leave their jobs or who were passed over for promotions after taking maternity leave, which had been enough to convince her never to have a baby. Both men and women are entitled to a year's leave during the first eight years of their child's life. But in 2022, only 7% of new fathers used some of their leave, compared to 70% of new mothers. Korean women are the most highly educated of those in OECD countries, and yet the country has the worst gender pay gap and a higher-than-average proportion of women out of work compared to men. Researchers say this proves they are being presented with a trade-off - have a career or have a family. Increasingly, they are choosing a career.

Jean Mackenzie, ‘Why South Korean women aren't having babies’, BBC

#BBC #Jean Mackenzie #South Korea #gender pay gap #female unemployment