World News

Scientists believe they have recorded electrical activity in the Martian atmosphere for the first time, suggesting the planet is capable of lightning.

Lead author of the research Dr Baptiste Chide told news agency Reuters: "These discharges represent a major discovery, with direct implications for Martian atmospheric chemistry, climate, habitability and the future of robotic and human exploration."

China’s factory activity unexpectedly contracted in November, according to a private survey released Monday, as soft domestic demand continued to cast a pall over the world’s second-largest economy.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54104530

A former senior British officer has told a public inquiry that British special forces in Afghanistan appeared to commit war crimes by executing suspects and despite widespread knowledge in the chain of command nothing was done.

Several thousand people rallied in Croatia's capital on Sunday in an anti-fascist march protesting the rise of World War II revisionism and far-right views in the country.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54102427

China’s relentless siege of traditionally US-backed Taiwan has moved beyond crude military pressure (although that’s increasing). Its efforts to enforce the island’s economic and diplomatic isolation – and overthrow its pro-western, elected government – are augmented by spying, cyber-sabotage, mass surveillance and idiotic lies, conspiracies and disinformation.

Announcing a $40bn increase in defence spending last week, Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, warned the annexation threat was “intensifying”. In an echo of Ukraine, which faces similar pressures from Russia and is likewise unsure of US support, Lai said the most worrying scenario was that browbeaten Taiwanese would simply give up.

“Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s first preference is to win without a devastating, unpredictable war,” wrote analyst Hal Brands. “His method is encompassing, steadily escalating coercion … This is a classic ‘anaconda strategy’, meant to get progressively tighter until Taiwan yields. Isolation and demoralisation will ultimately produce capitulation, the thinking goes.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54078278

Leaving the EU has reduced Britain’s GDP by up to 8pc, according to a devastating US study

The latest such assessment comes in the form of a paper from the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). This concludes that Brexit has reduced UK GDP by 6pc to 8pc, far more than most previous estimates.

Investment is worse off by between 12pc and 18pc, employment by between 3pc and 4pc, and productivity also by between 3pc and 4pc. There have been few more devastating assessments than this.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday asked the country’s president to grant him a pardon from corruption charges, seeking to end a long-running trial that has bitterly divided the nation.

Netanyahu, who has been at war against Israel’s legal system over the charges, said the request would help unify the country at a time of momentous change in the region. But it immediately triggered denunciations from opponents, who said a pardon would weaken democratic institutions and send a dangerous message that he’s above the rule of law.

Netanyahu had submitted a request for a pardon to the legal department of the Office of the President, the prime minister’s office said in a statement. The president’s office called it an “extraordinary request,” carrying with it “significant implications.”

An Israeli attack killed two children in Gaza on Saturday, medics and relatives said, in violence that has persisted in the Palestinian enclave despite a fragile ceasefire.

The children's uncle said an Israeli drone fired on Fadi and Goma Abu Assi, brothers aged 10 and 12, while they were gathering firewood to help their wheelchair-bound father east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. "They are children...what did they do? They do not have missiles or bombs, they went to gather wood for their father so he can start a fire," Mohamed Abu Assi told Reuters as their funeral took place.

At the funeral, the children's father wept over the body of one of the boys whose white shroud had been peeled back to show his face.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

https://www.dw.com/en/gaza-israeli-fire-kills-2-palestinian-boys/a-74952358

Since the October 10 ceasefire, over 354 Palestinians have been killed in the largely devastated enclave, according to Gazan health authorities. Many of the deaths occur when Israeli forces shoot at Palestinians it accuses of crossing the yellow line set up during the ceasefire to mark territories still under Israel's control in the strip.

On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces said their troops "identified two suspects who crossed the yellow line, carried out suspicious activities and approached the troops in southern Gaza, posing an immediate threat," adding that the troops "eliminated the suspects to remove the threat."

https://archive.is/vpaGm

Thailand increasingly depends on its bigger neighbour for trade and security

The worst-case scenario is now a possible one: European troops fighting off an invasion largely alone.

It’s by no means clear the Europeans would succeed. Romanian and other European officials at the exercise in Cincu, about 260 kilometers (162 miles) north of Bucharest by road, voiced concerns about how long it would take for NATO allies to make it to the front.

French four-star General Philippe de Montenon said he’s confident Europe could prevail, even without the US on side. “The direction of history is a progressive disengagement of the United States from the European continent,” he said.

archive

https://archive.is/ZgJat

Swiss voters on Sunday decisively rejected a call to require women to do national service in the military, civil protection teams or other forms, as all men must do already.

Official results. with counting still ongoing in some areas after a referendum, showed that more than half of Switzerland’s cantons, or states, had rejected the “citizen service initiative” by wide margins. That meant it was defeated, because proposals need a majority of both voters and cantons to pass.

Voters also heavily rejected a separate proposal to impose a new national tax on individual donations or inheritances of more than 50 million francs ($62 million), with the revenues to be used to fight the impact of climate change and help Switzerland meet its ambitions to have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

The 29-year-old Afghan national has been detained over the shooting of two soldiers in an ‘ambush style attack’ in Washington on the eve of Thanksgiving

MILAN (AP) — There is no backup stadium if the main ice hockey arena for the Milan Cortina Winter Games is not ready on time.

Construction on the arena that is set to welcome NHL players back to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade is behind schedule and its completion is going right down to the wire.

A test event at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena — the new, 16,000-seat venue on the outskirts of Milan — had to be moved, and new test events aren’t scheduled until Jan. 9-11.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/46485447

[...]

While Chinese investment has helped revive Zimbabwe’s lithium industry, ZELO [the Zimbabwe Environmental Law Organisation] found widespread concerns over poor labour standards and environmental violations, particularly among medium- and small-scale Chinese operators across the lithium, gold, coal and chrome sectors.

Reported issues included non-compliance with Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) regulations, dust pollution, water contamination from mine effluent, low wages, inadequate protective equipment and allegations of worker abuse and discrimination.

The report warns that such malpractices have contributed to the perception that Chinese companies have a poor human rights and environmental record in Zimbabwe. It says this presents reputational risks for the country’s lithium exports at a time when global supply chains increasingly prioritise strong Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) standards.

[...]

ZELO's latest study, 'Mine to Market for Critical Minerals: Zimbabwe’s Lithium Supply and Value Chain Situational Report', finds that Chinese companies now control most major lithium mining and processing operations in the country.

[...]

Although Australian and British companies also operate in the sector, ZELO says Chinese dominance has created an imbalance that weakens competition and reduces Zimbabwe’s bargaining power.

“This imbalance restricts the Zimbabwe’s ability to derive optimal value from its lithium resources,” the organisation said. “It also exposes Zimbabwe to external risks linked to fluctuations in Chinese global investment or commodity demand.”

[...]

Data from the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ) highlights the stark value gap between raw and refined lithium. A tonne of lithium concentrate with 4%–5.5% Li₂O content sells for between US$300 and US$600. By contrast, refined lithium hydroxide or lithium carbonate can fetch more than US$26,000 per tonne.

ZELO says this disparity underscores the need for Zimbabwe to prioritise domestic production of high-value, refined lithium products instead of exporting low-value concentrate.

[...]

ZELO recommends increased investment in beneficiation, production of industrial by-products such as sodium sulphate anhydrous and alumina silicate, and stronger local content rules to promote skills transfer and technology adoption. It also calls for tighter enforcement of labour, safety and environmental regulations and strategic partnerships with non-Chinese investors to diversify markets.

[...]

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54065072

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/54067289

Some residents of the flood-hit island of Sumatra resorted to looting, seeking food and water to survive, authorities said Sunday.

The floods, which hit nearly a week ago, have killed 303 people — with the number expected to rise as more bodies are recovered — and displaced thousands. The deluges triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut off parts of the island, and downed communication lines.

The challenging weather conditons and the lack of heavy equipment also hampered rescue efforts. Aid has been slow to reach the hardest-hit city of Sibolga and the district of Central Tapanuli district in North Sumatra.