World News

On May 13, José Alberto “Pepe” Mujica Cordano, who served as president of Uruguay from 2010 to 2015, died of cancer at his farmhouse in Rincón del Cerro outside the capital city of Montevideo.

If you’ve never heard of Mujica, that’s not surprising. Uruguay is a small nation of only 3.5 million people, squeezed between the comparatively behemoth countries of Brazil and Argentina. The country holds little political power within South America. Its major exports are beef, soy, and some of the best professional soccer players in the world.

But for a brief period after his election, Mujica was an international celebrity, the subject of glowing profiles by journalists and filmmakers from around the world. One writer for The New Republic even described the attention that surrounded him as a “global Mujica cult.”

“As chief of state and representative of Uruguay to the world, he was extraordinary,” says Adolfo Garcé, professor of political science at the University of the Republic in Montevideo. “When he was president, the world talked about Uruguay not only because of soccer.”

In some ways, Mujica’s international notoriety was understandable. It is easier to idealize political leaders who are not your own, distanced from the day-to-day compromises that tarnish even the most compelling political figures. But Mujica drew acclaim by behaving in a way that was, well, un-presidential. He refused to move into the presidential residence in the capital city of Montevideo. He preferred his small farmhouse at the end of a dirt road outside of town, surrounded by poor and working-class neighbors. His selected mode of transportation was not a stately black Mercedes, but a light blue Volkswagen Beetle that he drove to the presidential office each day. He gave away 90 percent of his presidential salary to charity causes and small entrepreneurs. The pomp and ceremony of high office was abandoned, as well as the usual retinue of fawning political aides.

archive.is link

In Gaza, where the echoes of conflict dominate daily life, education has become both a casualty and a symbol of resistance. Through shattered classrooms, broken internet connections, and the constant fear of displacement or death, students and teachers are striving to keep learning alive even when everything around them falls apart.

Here, education is no longer a pathway to opportunity; it is a fight for survival. Since the escalation of the genocidal war in October 2023, schools and universities across Gaza have closed their doors, been bombed and destroyed, and become shelters for displaced Palestinians. The lives, dreams, and mental health of thousands of students and educators have been transformed.

All of Gaza’s universities have been leveled by airstrikes. More than 85 percent of schools in Gaza have been completely or partially destroyed, according to U.N. experts. According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, three university presidents and over 95 university deans and professors, including 68 holding professor titles, have been killed in Israeli airstrikes.

Despite the destruction and genocide in Gaza, education is still resistance. And every student and teacher who dares to dream is a symbol of unbreakable hope.

Here are four of their stories.

A Norwegian man has spoken of the “unreal” moment he woke up to discover that a 135-metre container ship had crashed into his front garden.

The cargo vessel, the NCL Salten, had run aground just before 5am on Thursday after entering the Trondheim fjord on its way to the western town of Orkanger.

An astonished neighbour watched as the ship, which was travelling at about 16 knots (approximately 30km/h), headed straight for the shore into Johan Helberg’s garden, narrowly missing his house.

Helberg, who lives in Byneset, near Trondheim, awoke to his neighbour ringing his doorbell. He looked out of his window to see the ship’s bow.

“I went to the window and was quite astonished to see a big ship,” Helberg told the Guardian. “I had to bend my neck to see the top of it. It was so unreal.”

Brings new meaning to "shipyard."

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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/39140985

Calls for a more ambitious climate goal are rising as Earth hits several tipping points.

Archived version: https://archive.is/newest/https://arstechnica.com/science/2025/05/paris-agreement-target-wont-protect-polar-ice-sheets-scientists-warn/

Disclaimer: The article linked is from a single source with a single perspective. Make sure to cross-check information against multiple sources to get a comprehensive view on the situation.

archived (Wayback Machine)

Basically the biggest nationalistic party in our country lobbied against our nation's interests 🤡🤡
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archived (Wayback Machine)

There are 12 recognized Indigenous groups encompassing around 51,700 people across Putumayo, including the larger groups of Awá, Camëntsä, Inga, Kichwa and Siona. Among these communities, there are an estimated 350 Indigenous guards, each unique in their customs and centering mandates on protecting their communities, cultures and the lands under their stewardship.

Traditionally unarmed, they legitimize Indigenous authority on their own territories, Yaiguaje explained. All generations and genders participate. Elders pass on ancestral knowledge, language and a sense of social responsibility to youth for their future roles as community leaders amid the industrialization of the Amazon and the pressures of individualistic and consumerist lifestyles.

“We are armed with spirituality, valor and courage,” Yaiguaje said. “We demonstrate respect to our community and our territory.”

Collective responsibilities vary. Territorial patrols take charge of mapping and monitoring environmental data, identifying medicinal plants and tracking animal welfare. Across different reservations, Indigenous guards may coordinate emergency response from pandemic logistics, to mutual aid after floods or landslides.

They are a mediator and buffer for conflict. Members of the guard may accompany community leaders and land defenders in public events or on errands to provide a sense of security amid the persistent threats to their lives. According to internal norms, they may act as an alternative to colonial carceral systems like police or private security to enact justice and reintegrate offenders, including former combatants from Indigenous communities.

Land is more meaningful than just a quantity of acres, Yaiguaje explained, and the Indigenous guard cultivates a spiritual sense of control over homelands that are fragmented across reservations. This sense of wellbeing is critical not only to sustaining the Siona’s cultural and spiritual integrity, but for maintaining morale in a fight against seemingly insurmountable opponents.

“Much of Putumayo has already been licensed for exploration or exploitation,” María del Rosario Arango Zambrano, Colombian human rights lawyer working with the Forest Peoples Programme explained. Companies that have entrenched in the Amazon basin have included Colombia’s Ecopetrol, China’s Emerald Energy, Amerisur and its Chilean successor GeoPark, and Canada’s Gran Tierra.

The fossil fuel economy is in a tenuous place as Colombia is intent on transitioning toward renewable energy. In 2023, Colombian President Gustavo Petro banned new oil and gas exploration in the country. Later that year, Colombia endorsed the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. Colombia has also pushed forward on enforcing a domestic fracking ban despite longstanding opposition from the oil lobby.

Acute global food insecurity rose for the sixth year in a row in 2024, according to the 2025 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC), a collaborative effort coordinated by the Food Security Information Network.

The report shows that climate extremes, conflict, forced displacement and economic shocks continue to drive malnutrition and food insecurity around the world, with disastrous impacts on those living in many of the most vulnerable regions in the world.

archived (Wayback Machine)

Plenty of farmland to go around.

Here in the Netherlands, citizens regularly tear up sealed surfaces and plant flowers in an effort to combat overheating and flooding. The government not only accepts this practice, which is known as tegelwippen — it actually provides support.

Tegelwippen is about more than just planting pretty flowers. As the climate crisis increases heat, drought and heavy rainfall, urban, concrete-covered areas can’t easily adapt to the changes. Buildings and sealed surfaces heat up and contribute to further warming of the climate. Yet more and more ground is sealed over, preventing rainwater from seeping into the ground. New houses are built, along with parking lots, roads, shopping centers, airports and commercial buildings. According to the European Environment Agency, between 2000 and 2018, around 6,178 square miles were sealed in the European Union, more than twice the area of the London metropolitan region.

Though the annual increase has fallen slightly in recent years, around 270 square miles are still added every year — the equivalent of over 90,000 soccer pitches. In Asia, the growth rate is even higher. And in North America, the area covered by impervious surfaces nearly doubled between 1985 and 2020.

The more cities are paved over, the greater their need for cooling and areas where rainwater can seep away and be stored. This is why in the Netherlands, citizens are taking matters into their own hands.

Tegel means tile in English. Wippen means rocking or picking up. In the last five years, Tegelwippen has developed into a mass movement across the country. The aim is to unseal as many surfaces as possible, whether in private gardens, schoolyards, driveways, public squares or sidewalks, as in the Katendrechtse Lagendijk.

On April 28, Erika Mateo, a 24-year-old Guatemalan woman who was 9-months pregnant, was found wandering alone in the Arizona desert after crossing the Mexican border and seeking asylum in the US.

Mateo was immediately taken into custody and, after going into labor the following morning, was hospitalized at Tucson Medical Center (TMC) under armed guard by the Department of Homeland Security. She was immediately placed under expedited removal—a process to quickly remove her without the right to have her case brought before a judge.

After giving birth, Mateo was swiftly transferred into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who stood watch outside her hospital room. During her recovery she was denied access to her attorney, family and friends. Mateo stated that she refused to let go of her newborn baby, Emily, for fear that she would be taken away.

Mateo had traveled 2,000 miles to escape a violent and unsafe living situation in Guatemala, where she feared for her own life and that of her unborn baby. After crossing the US-Mexico border she was accidentally separated from her group and got lost in the Sonoran Desert. Mateo told USA Today that she feared she was going to die. “I walked and walked, but everything looked the same,” she said. “It was like walking in place. I would burst into tears pleading with God to help me find a way or for someone to find me.”...

Something a little lighter. Lighter than a witch, if you will.

A radar image of a speed offender caught in central Switzerland last month has revealed that the culprit was not only a duck but probably a repeat offender, local authorities have said.

Police in the town of Köniz, near Bern, were astounded when they went through radar images snapped on 13 April to discover that a mallard was among those caught in the speed trap, the municipality said on its Facebook page at the weekend.

The duck was caught going 52km/h (32mph) in a 30-km/h zone, the post said.

This is just all-around confusing. Iran working with Saudi is like the proverbial "cats and dogs living in harmony."

With the context of what Israel is up to, it makes some modicum of sense, but I think the larger point is to get the U.S. out of their business by presenting a regional solution. Expect more of this, as we've lost any pretense of rationality, let alone authority, in global affairs.

But hey ... free espionage jet from Qatar, right?

Iran has floated the idea of a consortium of Middle Eastern countries – including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – to enrich uranium, in a effort to overcome US objections to its continued enrichment programme.

The proposal is seen as a way of locking Gulf states into supporting Iran’s position that it should be allowed to retain enrichment capabilities.

Tehran views the proposal as a concession, since it would be giving neighbouring states access to its technological knowledge and making them stakeholders in the process.

It is not clear if Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, made the proposal in relatively brief three-hour talks with the US in Oman on Sunday, the fourth set of such talks, but the proposal is reportedly circulating in Tehran.

After the talks, Araghchi flew to Dubai where he spoke to the UAE’s foreign minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The UAE currently does not enrich uranium for its own nuclear programme.

The consortium would be based on Iranian facilities with enrichment returned to the 3.67% levels set out in the original 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers, which Donald Trump unilaterally ended in 2018.

As the White House convened its new World Cup task force, Vice President JD Vance threatened to deport World Cup tourists who come to the U.S. next summer. He then kicked it to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose face is already quite familiar to World Cup fans. A disgusting Homeland Security ad starring Noem has been airing during major soccer matches in Mexico. Her message to our World Cup co-host? "We will hunt you down," she says in the ad. "Criminals are not welcome in the United States."

A Kurdish militia group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the Turkish state for four decades said on Monday that it would lay down its arms and disband, a decision that could reshape Turkish politics and reverberate in neighboring countries.

The announcement by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known by its Kurdish acronym, P.K.K., came a few months after its imprisoned leader, Abdullah Ocalan, urged the group to disarm and disband. In his February message, he said the group’s armed struggle had outlived its initial purpose and that further progress in the struggle for Kurdish rights could be achieved through politics.

The P.K.K. began as a secessionist group that sought to create an independent state for Turkey’s Kurdish minority. More recently, it has said that it sought greater rights for Kurds inside Turkey. It is classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and other countries.

In a statement on Monday, the group echoed Mr. Ocalan’s call, saying that it had “carried the Kurdish issue to a level where it can be solved by democratic politics, and the P.K.K. has completed its mission in that sense.”

A recent congress by the group’s leaders in northern Iraq had decided to end “the work under the name of P.K.K.’’

On May 3, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, called for the prosecution of leading European Union officials for complicity in the war crimes committed by Israel.

In a series of interviews and reports, Albanese accused in particular the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kalla. Albanese condemned the EU leaders for aiding and abetting gross violations of international law through their unconditional support for Israel. “The fact that the two highest figures of the EU continue business-as-usual engagements with Israel is beyond deplorable,” Albanese stated. “Immunity cannot equate with impunity. They will have to be judged before history does.”

In an interview with The Intercept Albanese reiterated: “I’m not someone who says, ‘History will judge them’—they will have to be judged before then.”

Length: 1:39:20

Immigrants, populism, border fences, electoral autocracy.

If you are interested about how and why Hungary is as it is, this is a documentary just released by Partizán, the most viewed Hungarian news outlet independent from the Hungarian government.

The subtitles are not autogenerated but hand-made by the news outlet.

The outlet has a decidedly leftist slant even by European standards, but are considered mainstream in Hungary.

Last December, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an Islamist militant group, launched a sudden offensive that sent shockwaves through the region. One by one, major cities began to fall—first Aleppo, then Hama, and soon Homs—as the rebels pushed their way closer to Damascus, Syria’s capital. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which had survived well over a decade of civil war thanks to the likes of Iranian and Russian backing, found itself increasingly unable to deter the rebels’ advances; Iran was tangled up in its own proxy battles with Israel, while Russia was stretched thin with its war in Ukraine. In other words, Assad was on his own. The rebels, it seemed, understood this, and so they seized their chance. Damascus fell in a matter of days, and Assad fled to Moscow.

Initially, the ousting of Assad—a ruthless authoritarian notorious for using chemical weapons on his own people and overseeing a network of brutal political prisons, like the infamous “human slaughterhouse” at Sednaya—was widely celebrated across much of Syria.

While HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa—now Syria’s de facto president—originated as an al-Qaeda affiliate with early ties to Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, their story is more complicated, especially today. Since Assad’s fall, Sharaa has undergone a strategic political makeover, rebranding himself as a moderate who promises to form an inclusive government that represents the country’s mosaic of different ethnic, religious, and linguistic groups. The move to distance himself from his jihadist past is a calculated political one aimed at convincing the world — particularly the U.S. and Europe—to lift sanctions on Syria, the harshest of which have been in place since the start of the civil war in 2011. The oil, construction, and banking sectors have taken an especially hard blow, which, in turn, has stymied efforts to rebuild both Syria’s infrastructure and economy. If Sharaa is successful in convincing global powers of his reformed government, it could give Syria a chance to address its hyperinflation and widespread poverty as well as regain the public’s trust.

And to be fair, Sharaa’s new government has made some notable moves as of late. It appointed several women to key positions, including Maysaa Sabreen as the first-ever female head of Syria’s Central Bank, Aisha al-Dibs to lead the newly established Women’s Affairs Office, and Mushina al-Mahithawi, the first woman to ever serve as governor of Suwaida.

Still, some remain worried that Sharaa’s new government might revert to the strict, conservative Sharia law–style governance it imposed while controlling Idlib during the war.

The woman I spoke to at the bar most definitely felt this way. She said that at least under Assad, women had the legal right to vote, access to education, and could work. HTS-controlled Idlib, however, was a different story. Women’s rights were largely erased. Political participation was nonexistent, while social and economic freedom was severely restricted. Education, too, was gender-segregated and revolved primarily around religious studies.

The odds were against Edgar Feuchtwanger reaching the age of 100. He was born on 28 September 1924 into a time of poverty and political turmoil in post-first world war Germany. He was also born into a Jewish family in a society that was about to turn to National Socialism, an ideology that would ultimately be responsible for the murder of 6 million Jews. In 1929, when Feuchtwanger was five, something happened that made his long life even more unlikely. He got a new neighbour: Adolf Hitler.

In October that year, Hitler moved into the grand second-floor flat at Prinzregentenplatz 16 in Munich. His previous flat, on the other side of the Isar, the river that divides Munich, had become too small. Munich to him was the “Capital of the Movement”, a title he awarded the city officially in 1935. From 1929 on he lived in nine rooms in this corner building, with its long balconies and baroque facade. His staff moved in with him, and, soon, devotees and high-ranking SS officers were flocking to the flats nearby. Diagonally opposite, at Grillparzerstrasse 38, with a direct view of Hitler’s flat, lived the Feuchtwanger family.

Edgar Feuchtwanger, whom his parents called Bürschi, grew up in a respected and wealthy family that employed a chef and a nanny. His father, Ludwig, was a publisher and lawyer; his mother, Erna, a pianist. Intellectuals of the early 20th century were constantly in and out of the family home: the writer Thomas Mann; the lawyer Carl Schmitt, who later became a Nazi legal theorist and party member. And, of course, Ludwig’s brother, and Edgar’s uncle, Lion Feuchtwanger, the author of the novels Jew Süss and Success.

It's rather crazy to read about his story in an era where the U.S. is just disappearing anyone they don't much care for.

I'm not going to say the story backs the hed. Nonetheless, this isn't what you want to read happening. Selecting the correct excerpt is usually an easy task.

Here, it isn't.

The full story should be read, but the best I can do is this:

For the former US secretary of state Antony Blinken, Donald Trump’s indifference to alienating allies is an act of vandalism. He said diplomats around the world were asking: “What the fuck is going on?”

Blinken said America had spent 80 years building up trust, strong economic partnerships and military and political alliances, and if that was then taken down in a matter of 100 days it would be incredibly hard to rebuild.

“It means countries look for ways to work around us, to work together but without the US,” he said. “The possibility that what will be said today will be reversed tomorrow, and will be reversed again, means they simply cannot count on us. Joe Biden used to say it is never a good idea to bet against America. The problem we now have is people are no longer betting on America.”

I don't think anyone is arguing that there's any remaining U.S. hegemony, but this is stark. Get ready for everything you've known about the postwar era to go away. What comes next? Likely not anything good.

Seriously: Read the full piece. This is a five-alarm shitshow, and we're worrying about Barbie imports.

During Friday’s mass with cardinals, Leo began his homily in English, before switching to Italian. In the English passage he quoted words from the psalms, saying “I will sing a new song to the Lord, because he has done marvels”.

“Not just with me,” he continued. “But with all of us, my brother cardinals, as we celebrate this morning, I invite you to recognise the marvels that the Lord has done, the blessings that the Lord continues to pour out upon all of us.”

Switching to Italian, he said he hoped the church could “illuminate the dark nights of this world”. He said he would be a “faithful administrator” of the church, and that it should be judged by the holiness of its members and not “the grandeur of her buildings”.

In a later passage referring to evangelisation, Leo said there were many settings in which the Christian faith was considered “absurd, meant for the weak and unintelligent. Settings where other securities are preferred, like technology, money, success, power, or pleasure.”

He added: “These are contexts where it is not easy to preach the gospel and bear witness to its truth, where believers are mocked, opposed, despised or at best tolerated and pitied. Yet, precisely for this reason, they are the places where our missionary outreach is desperately needed.”

It's almost like he's familiar with American evangelism and the backlash thereto.