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Guess sleeping is cancelled then

Two NOTAMs of... note

1. NOTAM over Russian airspace, this was claimed to be the source of last Oreshnik missile launch. Coincides with US embassy in Kiev warning of a "significant air raid" in the coming days.

2. Pakistan has closed its national airspace following indian ballistic missile attacks on a military airbase.

https://x.com/rawsalerts/status/1920928327541436714

Multiple dem congresspeople arrested by DHS at an ICE facility.

Hope you've made friends and exercised your rights if you live in the US.

https://youtu.be/FUi0YdGXle4 Spanish bombs by the Clash

I heard some architectural people cry about how the evul soviets oppressed the baltics with the riga tv tower, because it was “a monstrosity that dominates and overwhelms the medieval city of riga”. So I look it up, expecting a Le Corbusier Beton behemoth aaaaand its non-intrusive and looks like a spaceship instead.

Venezuela and Burkina Faso Strengthen South-South Cooperation - Telesur English

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro met with his Burkinabé counterpart, Ibrahim Traoré, to enhance South-South cooperation, continuing diplomatic efforts first established under Comandante Hugo Chávez.

For the past two decades, Venezuela and Burkina Faso have engaged in strategic partnerships in energy, mining, and education, forging 27 bilateral agreements across sectors including politics, scientific collaboration, military cooperation, security, agriculture, civil protection, and education.

Currently, both nations are negotiating 14 new projects, reinforcing their commitment to non-intervention, respect for international law, and opposition to unilateral U.S. sanctions. On February 7, 2024, Venezuela and Burkina Faso launched the First Joint Commission Meeting, where technical cooperation discussions advanced 22 projects, according to Foreign Minister Yván Gil. Diplomatic relations between the two nations were officially established on September 2, 2003, under Hugo Chávez’s administration, as part of his vision of fostering African solidarity and South-South diplomacy.

China reports bumper April exports ahead of crucial trade talks with US

Heron Lim, an economist at Moody’s Analytics, said that, while China’s trade with the US dropped 21 per cent year on year in April, it rose by an equal percentage with south-east Asian nations and 8 per cent with the EU.

India has targeted airbases in Pakistan. local source

CW: bombing

Russia and China pledged to use "all efforts to combat the growing attempts to rehabilitate the inhuman ideology of Nazism and racial supremacy" in the main joint statement on the occasion of Xi Jinping's state visit.

Russia and China also pledged to "continue to oppose the glorification of the Nazis and their accomplices, the resurgence of neo-Nazism, militaristic revanchism and practices that contribute to the escalation of various forms of racial discrimination, racism, xenophobia and associated intolerances". In the only explicit mention of the United States, the text criticizes attempts by the Americans and allies to expand NATO's presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

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If 'Merica so good, why didn't the Star and Stripes flew over the reichstag in 1945

The biggest and most influential union in Norway just declared they're in support of an economic boycott of Israel:

There were several levels to the boycott of Israel when the LO [Norway's biggest union] Congress voted today.

The majority resolution on a boycott of Israel prevailed.

It reads as follows:

"If the occupation does not end by September 2025, as the UN General Assembly has demanded, LO will work to ensure that Norway takes the initiative for an international economic boycott."

The resolution that prevailed also states that the Petroleum Fund, Norwegian companies and financial institutions "must refrain from trade and investments in companies that contribute to the maintenance of the occupation."

Is it just me or does the US heartily benefits from hostilities between India and Pakistan?

1. It greatly destabilizes two nuclear powers that both border with China.

2. None of the jets being shot down were build by the US and are build by rivals (France and Russia). China weapon good doesn't mean US weapon bad in true multipolarity.

3. It pushes India ever closer to the US, especially since India is forced to adopt a hostile anti-Palestinian stance by virtue of rampant Islamophobia within the country.

The new Pope Leo XIV singing "Feliz Navidad" in Peru.

Still sad we won't get Karaoke Sundays in The Vatican since Tagle lost the election.

Ansarallah/the Houthis in Yemen have launched another ballistic missile at Israel over the past two hours, targeting Ben Gurion airport. The Yemeni Armed Forces statement:

Israel states that the missile was intercepted by the Arrow 3 midcourse interception system, and that THAAD failed to intercept. Given that there are no pictures or videos of impacts or debris, it's likely that Arrow 3 was the system that intercepted the missile. However, Arrow 3 and THAAD have a very minimal overlap in engagement envelope. Arrow 3 intercepts ballistic missiles in the midcourse phase of flight, at ranges up to 2400km, and altitudes over 100km. THAAD instead is designed to intercept missiles in the terminal phase of flight, at ranges up to 200km, and altitudes between 40-150km. Such a statement has to be read in the current political context of a bilateral ceasefire between the USA and Yemen, excluding Israel.

I expect Israel to respond and bomb Yemen again, like they have done previously. These bombings, while having minimal impact on Yemen's military capabilities, have a large impact on civil society. Here are the before and after images of Sana'a international airport, bombed by Israel. Not much was left, the entire terminal, runway, and three aircraft completely destroyed:

Israel has presented a plan to take over humanitarian aid in gaza.

The Israeli aid distribution blueprint presented to UN humanitarians envisages only 60 aid trucks per day entering Gaza - “one-tenth of what was being delivered during the ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas which held from 19 January to 18 March.

“It's not nearly enough to meet the needs of 1.1 million children, 2.1 million people,” Mr. Elder insisted. “There is a simple alternative: lift the blockade, let humanitarian aid in, save lives.”

Of course, besides not getting enough aid in, it continues Israels use of humanitarian aid as a weapon, pressuring people to go south.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder insisted that the Israeli proposal to create a handful of aid hubs exclusively in the south of the Strip would create an “impossible choice between displacement and death”.

The plan “contravenes basic humanitarian principles” and appears designed to “reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic”, he told journalists in Geneva. “It’s dangerous to ask civilians to go into militarized zones to collect rations…humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip”.

If the Israeli plan were to happen, Gaza’s most vulnerable individuals - the elderly, children with disabilities, the sick and the wounded who cannot travel to designated distribution zones – would face “horrendous challenges” retrieving aid, the UNICEF spokesperson maintained.

Quotes from UN News, 2025-05-09
This is about the Geneva Press Briefing held today, a video of it is available on UN Web TV