Brazil's Lula: Biden has no 'sensitivity' to stop war on Gaza.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Lula calls Netanyahu an extremist leader with no human sensitivity towards the Palestinians

Brazil, renowned for its cultural diversity and vast rainforests, is experiencing significant political transformation.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s return to power marked a departure from Jair Bolsonaro’s conservative government. This shift heralds a renewed focus on social welfare, poverty reduction, and inclusive growth, mirroring Lula’s previous term in the 2000s.

However, Brazil’s journey is mired in global challenges, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the war on Gaza. These issues raise important questions about Brazil’s role and position as a major global economy.

Interview

19m ago (15:00 GMT)

UN reports ‘dramatic increase’ in number of Palestinians detained

Since October 7, more than 3,000 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with 160 in the past six days – often without direct evidence of an offence, the UN Human Rights Office says. Six Palestinian men have died in Israeli custody during this period, a decades-long high. The surge in arrests, reports of ill-treatment, and failure to adhere to due process raise serious concerns about Israel’s compliance with international law, it said.

- Al Jazeera

3 min ago

Breaking: Israel-Hamas truce agreement appears to have expired with no immediate sign of extension

The truce between Israel and Hamas appeared to have expired Friday with no immediate sign of an agreement being reached to further extend the hostage deal to an eighth day.

It is not yet clear whether this means that fighting will resume in the Gaza Strip, which suffered extensive damage and loss of life during seven weeks of Israeli bombardment.

An hour before Friday’s deadline was set to expire Israel’s aerial defense system intercepted one rocket launched from the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military said. There was no indication of who launched the single rocket.

The truce, which started last Friday, was expected to expire at 7 a.m. local time (12 a.m. ET). An agreement to extend to a seventh day came down to the wire on Thursday.

Some context: Egyptian and Qatari negotiators had been pushing to extend the pause in fighting in Gaza for an extra two days to facilitate the release of further hostages and Palestinian prisoners, and to allow more aid into the strip, according to Egypt's State Information Service.

Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that a condition of any extension to the pause in fighting is that Hamas must release 10 Israeli women and children held hostage per day.

Under the terms of the deal, Israel freed three Palestinians for every Israeli hostage released.

As the truce expiration loomed both Israel and Hamas have indicated they’re prepared for fighting to resume.

“We should be prepared for a quick transition into full scale fighting at any point, today, tomorrow, at any moment. As soon as we maximize the move to return hostages we will resume fierce fighting across the whole Gaza Strip,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Thursday.

Hamas’ military wing on Thursday asked its forces to maintain a high-combat readiness posture.

In the seven-day pause in fighting, 80 Israelis — primarily women and children and some of whom are dual citizens — and another 24 foreign nationals have been released. Another Israeli dual citizen was also freed outside of the agreed-upon deal.

As of Thursday, 240 Palestinians had been freed from Israeli prisons — mainly women and minors.

-CNN

What are the odds Bibi the Baby Killer has dirt on Musk?

That DeSantis-Newsom debate was embarrassing. It doesn't make DeSantis look good at all while boosting Newsom's image even more.

International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was yesterday, on the 29th. Spotify Wrapped was also released yesterday. Usually it is released on December 1st.

Elma Abraham, 84, not given any of the life-saving medicine she needed and returning to Israel straight to hospital where she's in critical condition.

YOU BOMBED THE FUCKING HOSPITAL

Nitter

It's in a 3 tweet thread.

Somebody complains.

This is a bold face lie.

It's "bald faced lie" you dunce.

Dozens feared dead after apparent strike destroys Gaza refugee camp building - CNN

Dozens of people are feared to be dead in northern Gaza’s Jabalya refugee camp after an apparent strike destroyed a multi-story concrete building Saturday.

[Continues]

george santos' war against the US congress may have been cut short, but i will not let you refer to george without adding the title 'coronél' in front

"Humanitarian assistance, robust as it is, isn't enough. What you need is to get commercial goods in. And we have been discussing for some weeks now with the government of Israel how we move to phase two. Phase one is the sustained delivery of basic subsistence humanitarian goods through U.N. and other channels. We’re at that point now.

"But next point is going to commercial goods. That's where you start getting into the 300, 400 trucks a day. To get that volume of assistance in, inspection procedures will need to be increased and enhanced, and you're going to need to resort to commercial contracting within Gaza to meet the trucks coming in from Egypt.

"We know how it should be done. We hope that, after this pause concludes, that can be phase two of the humanitarian program."

Is this saying 'palestinians should buy their own goods', or is it saying 'we should give money to others to send goods'?

"sustained delivery of basic subsistence humanitarian goods" words mean nothing

A French youtuber got a hold of a fired Javelin guidance unit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11_5TB0-lNw

Anyone notice it seems like chuds are mad at Ireland lately? Like they are mad about them not joining in those riots?

Breaking: Gunter is a trainbro

A very thick smoke cover to remove the wounded and dead during a counterattack by a group of resistance fighters west of Gaza

https://nitter.cz/ytirawi/status/1730981499896271335

https://twitter.com/ytirawi/status/1730981499896271335

Footage from Beit Hanoun (first shot is missed)

Venezuelan voters have unsurprisingly approved all 5 questions of the Guyana referendum.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/04/venezuela-referendum-2023-results-guyana-region-claim-succeeds-sovereignty-essequibo

Throughout Sunday, long lines typical of electoral events did not form outside voting centres in Caracas. Reuters witnesses visited voting centres across the country – many had few or no people waiting in line.

Democracy is when you have to spend all day waiting in line to vote. Really though, direct democracy is a fundamental part of Venezuela's "socialism of the 21st century", built into the country's constitution. Is it so crazy to think they might be really efficient at it?

"Reuters witnesses" is a funny term to me, too. Like, does that mean "a random person in Venezuela who told Reuters something"? Why not take pictures/videos?

Your Tuesday Briefing

Over the last seven years, fossil fuel companies have pumped £150 million into British universities - with two thirds going to Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial College London - to spread fossil fuel propaganda and even fighting back against "anti-oil rhetoric".

Germany has been stuck in a budgetary crisis since mid-November, when the top German court struck down an accounting trick that opened a €60 billion hole in public finances. Scholz' government tried to transfer €60 billion of unused borrowing capacity from the pandemic budget to a climate and transformation fund that would also finance German industry modernization; and, as part of the scheme, the "debt brake" which prevents new borrowing, which was suspended during the pandemic, would be restored.

Niger's government has repealed a 2015 anti-migration law that curbed the smuggling of people through Niger into Europe, as people wishing to enter Europe often go through Niger to reach Libya and Algeria. The leadership repealed it because it "did not take into account the interests of Niger and its citizens", and thus erases previous convictions under the law. While it was somewhat effective in reducing migrant flows, it mainly had the effect of shifting those flows to much more dangerous desert routes that aren't being watched by authorities. Some residents of Agadez have welcomed the law, as they made thousands of dollars per month driving migrants through the desert. Obviously, Europe and human rights experts are rather unhappy.

Fiji is attempting to achieve rice self-sufficiency within the next two decades. China has previously helped in this regard, rejuvenating five local rice varieties in Fiji and introduced 16 Chinese rice varieties, and training over 4000 local agricultural officials anf farmers.

CropWatch, a remote agricultural monitoring system developed in 1998 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences for domestic use is now a global initiative, using satellites and ground stations to measure crop yields and environmental changes and publishing bulletins multiple times per year on global agriculture trends. China wishes to export the technology to even more developing countries in order to supplant Western monitoring methods, as those countries otherwise do not have the resources to set up their own monitoring systems.

Since the attempted coup in 2018, Nicaragua has been denied international funding, even from the ghoulish IMF - despite their good track record of using it properly and without corruption - as the US has tried to collapse their economy for committing the cardinal sin of being a left wing government trying to alleviate poverty. These sorts of tactics worked in 1990, but now, the country is better prepared, fought coronavirus and two hurricanes largely by itself, and has succeeded in cutting poverty down to 25%, lower than its neighbours except Panama, has 77 hospitals compared to 29 in Costa Rica and 18 in Panama, which are significantly wealthier, and is experiencing the highest economic growth in Central America.

The US and China have simultaneously pushed for their visions of what a global supply chain ought to look like:

China has launched its first international expo on supply chains, featuring various American tech giants and, in total, 20-25% of the registered overseas exhibitors came from America. Premier Li Qiang vowed efforts to build closer supply chain ties in all countries, in order to retain foreign investment despite de-risking rhetoric from the West. On one hand, this de-risking is largely illusory, as Chinese exports are merely going through third countries like Mexico before entering the United States. On the other hand, foreign direct investment into China is actually taking a hit, with China's first ever quarterly deficit in direct investment liabilities in 2023 Q3. Regardless, China unveiled a series of measures which include removing investment barriers in the manufacturing sector and opening up some parts of the digital economy, and also expanding visa-free entry to more countries.

Mere hours before this, not to be outdone, Biden inaugurated the first meeting of his supply-chain resilience council, announcing 30 new actions "to strengthen supply chains critical to America's economic and national security," to spur domestic production of medicine, for example, to create new tools to monitor supply chains, and in general derisk/decouple from China further.

Bleak.

Here's a quick round up of the day's events:

• Air strikes have been carried out around Gaza for the second day following the end of the week-long ceasefire deal on Friday

• People in Khan Younis say Israel has carried out the heaviest bombing on the southern Gaza city since the war began

• Residents in areas east of Khan Younis were earlier told by the Israeli military to evacuate further south

• The Israeli military says it has hit more than 400 targets since fighting resumed on Friday

• Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says nearly 200 people have been killed in the latest wave of Israeli strikes

• The overall death toll in Gaza has exceeded 15,200 people, the ministry also says

• Talks in Qatar to resume the ceasefire have collapsed and Israeli negotiators have been ordered to leave the capital Doha

• Around 100 humanitarian aid lorries have entered Gaza via Egypt, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent

• But aid agencies say it is not enough and warn the humanitarian situation on the ground in Gaza remains dire

.

- BBC

What do you think is the most full of bullets any air has ever been in history? I'm thinking about it and honestly it's a tough one

E: Fired bullets

Hirbawi opened their pre-orders, if anyone wanted to pre-order Palestinian shemagh. Ships in mid-January :)

I'm noticing an annoying trend of liberal female politicians from the Capitol City mimicking AOC. Really doesn't help win them votes from people that are already convinced they're importing American "woke culture" to culturally imperialize us. Probably explains why they get trounced by the far-right and DemSocs.

Myanmar rebels claim new ground in north as Chinese troops hold border exercises

Ethnic minority rebels fighting Myanmar's military junta said they had seized a key trading post on the northern frontier, across the border from where China's military was conducting exercises to improve combat readiness and emergency response.

A month of intense fighting between Myanmar's ruling military and an alliance of ethnic minority insurgents has displaced tens of thousands of people in the border region, according to the United Nations, with concern growing in Beijing about instability and an influx of refugees.

The rebellion has presented the biggest battlefield challenge to Myanmar's well-equipped military since it seized power in a coup in 2021. Emboldened by the northern offensive, pro-democracy militias increase attacks on security forces elsewhere in the country.

The "Three Brotherhood Alliance", as the insurgents call themselves, said they had conquered several towns and the Kyin-San-Kyawt border gate, one of five major trading zones in the township of Muse opposite China.

Late last week, in the same area, a convoy of goods trucks was set ablaze in what the junta called a "terrorist attack". The rebels denied responsibility.

The alliance said it was ready to take its operation to the next level on Monday, having launched coordinated attacks a month earlier to retake territory from the junta and counter the military's air strikes and shelling.

"Via the harmonious operations, the revolutionary forces have seized the junta military's outposts and strategic hills (from which they) were shelling the civilians, by sacrificing their blood, sweat and even lives," it said in a statement.

"We are implementing the objectives of each organisation, and our common objectives, in unity and step-by-step."

Border security, Myanmar's military has vowed to restore order and said it was coordinating with China to maintain stability. China's forces started combat exercises at the weekend that were due to run until Tuesday, which state media said aimed to "test the rapid manoeuvrability of theatre troops", their combat capabilities and readiness to secure the border with Myanmar.

Myanmar's junta said it was aware of the drills.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), a member of the rebel alliance, on Monday said it had attacked two military posts in Shan state, with clashes in three locations. The Kachin News Group on Monday posted video of what it said was thousands of people on motorcycles fleeing the town of Laukkaing in Shan State, fearing an intensification of fighting.

U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs last week said 335,000 people had been displaced by the fighting since the coordinated rebel offensive, and were among 2 million forced from their homes since the 2021 coup. Two videos on social media shared by a minister in Myanmar's anti-junta shadow government showed people gathering on one side of a metal fence covered in razor wire, appealing to Chinese security forces to release a man they said had been detained.

Another video showed displaced people scrambling for cover under a cloud of tear gas on Myanmar's side of the fence. Reuters could not independently confirm what took place, or when, but was able to verify its location at the Myanmar-China border.

Your Monday Briefing

Also available on the website.

Poland's Morawiecki has been appointed for another term as Poland's Prime Minister with a minority government, for some bizarre reason. He will probably very quickly lose a vote of confidence and be forced out and replaced with Donald Tusk and his party.

The worst storm in a century hit Crimea over the weekend, cutting power for half a million people and with some potential damage to Russian military defenses. It also affected Odessa and is expected to hit Kiev today.

Leaked documents reveal that the UAE is planning to seek oil and gas deals at the COP28 climate talks.

Something like a failed coup attempt seems to have occurred in Sierra Leone, with men in uniforms associated with former President Koroma shooting at/in barracks and freeing people from jails. Whatever happened, it was stopped relatively quickly with deaths and arrests, as well as a curfew.

Zambia restructured its $6.3 billion debt in June, of which about two thirds is owed to China. As part of this deal, China pushed for private bondholders to offer comparable debt relief. In November, China and other creditors shot down a deal with private bondholders that Zambia and the IMF deemed sustainable, as China wanted private bondholders to take a larger haircut. The restructuring deal is now in stalemate, and might discourage other nations from trying to pursue a similar path.

South Africa has returned to stage 6 power outages, the highest level of load shedding yet implemented - President Ramaphosa said that this was a shock to him.

The DPRK has said that it will continue launching satellites, and they are apparently restoring some demolished guard posts on the border.

The People's Liberation Army will conduct military drills near the Myanmar border as the situation inside Myanmar deteriorates, with the junta in charge taking significant Ls lately.

Indonesia and Malaysia, which account for 85% of global palm oil production, are deeply unhappy with the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (which will ban imports of cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm oil, rubber, soy, and wood if produced on land deforested in 2021 or later), set to begin at the end of 2024. They have accused the EU of "regulatory imperialism" and "crop apartheid", while other governments and producers in the region are being a little more diplomatic and worrying about passing the hurdles.

The Western double standards on Israel's war crimes in Gaza compared to Russia's much smaller war crimes in Ukraine have caused the periphery to become increasingly disillusioned with the West, with China stepping in as a leader figure with a consistent desire for ceasefires, thus boosting their soft power yet further - but there are limits, of course, due to America's global imperialism.

Ukrainian casualties + deaths + missing may total 400,000 for the war so far, based on estimates from analysing a statement by the Ukrainian military leadership, and General Zaluzhny reportedly does not have a plan for 2024, big or small, beyond taking 20,000 citizens per month.

Israel hijacked and captured MoTaz's drone

Israeli army intercepted our drone and moved to behind the Israeli line We were trying to film and show the destruction they made to the East of Khan Younis

West Bank raids continue under cover of darkness

Zein Basravi reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank

We’re hearing of raids in villages around Jenin where Israeli vehicles that were carrying out raids there were targeted with pipe bombs. There are confrontations north of Tulkarem. We’re also hearing of ongoing raids in Qalqilya.

At least 60 people were detained throughout the course of today. Sixty detentions a day in the occupied West Bank – in raids and at checkpoints – has become a daily average.

The number of raids is going up in intensity and frequency since the beginning of the war with most of these actions carried out at night under the cover of darkness.

- Al Jazeera

Intercepted Podcast: Month Two, Phase One of the Gaza War

"Hamas spokesman Abu Obaida is... perhaps the singular most popular figure in the Middle East."

What do you think of that statement? The interviewee Mouin Rabbani said that. I have no context because I only understand English so that was the first time I remember hearing or seeing Obaida's name. I only started paying attention to Rabbani a few days ago when I noticed Norm Finkelstein retweeted him a bunch of times.

---

I'll leave this stuff here.

Mouin Rabbani (@MouinRabbani)

Abu Obaida (Hamas)

Abu Obaida (Arabic: أبو عبيدة, romanized: Abū ʿUbayda), also spelled Abu Obayda, Abu Ubayda and Abu Ubaydah, is the nom de guerre of a Palestinian militant who is the spokeperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist Palestinian political and military organization Hamas.

The Copenseethen interpretation of quantum mechanics