World News Non-US

https://archive.ph/PoeD8

China has taken a major step towards creating a commercial flying taxi industry, after regulators granted the country’s first-ever approvals for two companies to operate autonomous passenger drones.

The two companies – Nasdaq-listed EHang Holdings and Hefei Hey Airlines – obtained air operator certificates from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on Saturday, according to state-run news agency Xinhua. The move means that both companies are cleared to use unmanned aerial vehicles to offer commercial passenger services, including urban sightseeing tours.

The air operator certificate was the final regulatory hurdle both companies’ passenger drones needed to clear before being put into operation, given that they had already obtained the type certificate, production certificate and airworthiness certificate, according to a report by Citic Securities.

“We reckon that low-altitude tourism will be the beginning of this new business,” the report stated. “EHang’s urban sightseeing tours can accelerate the development of the industry.”

The militant group Hamas is expected to release the names of three hostages it will exchange for Palestinian prisoners this weekend, after it expressed its commitment to a ceasefire with Israel.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on February 14 that a Russian drone struck and “significantly” damaged the protective sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant but that radiation levels were normal after the incident.

German voters head to the polls this month for an election that will determine who the country’s new chancellor will be. The Feb. 23 poll is a snap election, following the collapse of center-left Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government last year.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19094765

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17357293

Self-proclaimed misogynist ‘brazen’ about refusing to pay tax on revenue from online businesses, court told

Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been accused of failing to pay tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses.

Devon and Cornwall police are bringing a civil claim against the brothers and a third person referred to as J over unpaid tax, Westminster magistrates’ court heard on Monday. The force is seeking about £2.8m in seven frozen bank accounts.

Sarah Clarke KC for Devon and Cornwall police said: “Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are serial tax and VAT evaders. They, in particular Andrew Tate, are brazen about it.”

It is claimed that they paid no tax in any country on £21m revenue from businesses online earned between 2014 and 2022. Clarke quoted from a video posted online by Andrew Tate, in which the self-proclaimed misogynist said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.”

The court heard he said his approach was “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”. The court also heard that the brothers had a “huge number of bank accounts” in the UK, seven of which have been frozen.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17351327

The six sources — all except one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a “no-go zone.” The testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that “images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.” Two of the soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17283212

SAO PAULO (AP) — The indictment of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia marked the far-right leader’s second formal accusation, with more potentially in store.

The indictment on Thursday by Federal Police, confirmed by two officials with knowledge of the case, followed another formal accusation in March against Bolsonaro, for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

Once Brazil’s Supreme Court receives the police report with the latest indictment, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze it and decide whether to shelve it, ask for additional police investigation or file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial.

It’s still early to say how likely the last option is, but the police indictment already marked a turning point in the case, said legal expert Renato Stanziola Vieira, president of the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17283165

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A man who stabbed South Korea’s opposition leader in the neck earlier this year was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday, court officials said.

The knife-wielding man attacked Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea’s biggest political party, in January after approaching him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan. After being detained by police, he told investigators that he wanted to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming South Korea’s president.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24473052

The controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate will be allowed to leave Romania while awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, a court has ruled.

Tate, 37, had been banned from leaving the country but will now be permitted to travel within the EU without restrictions while awaiting the trial.

The self-professed “misogynist influencer” was indicted in June 2023 along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian female suspects for alleged human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, allegations they have all denied.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/21820077