cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44552446

Six members of a Palestinian family went out for a ride in the car. Only two made it back home.
March 15, 2026

https://archive.ph/v1a7X

As they rounded a corner slowly, a few minutes from home, young Khaled and Mustafa recounted on Sunday, their mother, Waad, 35, asked her husband to pull over and take Othman from her so she could get something from her bag on the floor. Suddenly, the boys said, they saw laser pointers shining on their family from every direction, heard their mother scream, heard their father say “God is great” — and then heard a deafening fusillade of gunfire.

The Israeli police and military, in a joint statement Sunday morning, said that border police officers and soldiers, while on a mission in Tammun to arrest suspected terrorists, had “sensed danger” after a vehicle “accelerated towards” them and “responded by shooting.” They said the circumstances of the episode were being investigated.

Six members of a Palestinian family went out for a ride in the car. Only two made it back home.
March 15, 2026

https://archive.ph/v1a7X

As they rounded a corner slowly, a few minutes from home, young Khaled and Mustafa recounted on Sunday, their mother, Waad, 35, asked her husband to pull over and take Othman from her so she could get something from her bag on the floor. Suddenly, the boys said, they saw laser pointers shining on their family from every direction, heard their mother scream, heard their father say “God is great” — and then heard a deafening fusillade of gunfire.

The Israeli police and military, in a joint statement Sunday morning, said that border police officers and soldiers, while on a mission in Tammun to arrest suspected terrorists, had “sensed danger” after a vehicle “accelerated towards” them and “responded by shooting.” They said the circumstances of the episode were being investigated.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44528606

March 13, 2026

[weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can also be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Also:

• Cuba Confirms Talks with Trump
• Cuba and U.S. Already Had a Deal — Trump Killed It
• The Roots of Trump’s War on Cuba
• “Nuestra América” Convoy Prepares for Solidarity Trip
• Lula: Cuba Is Going Hungry Because of U.S.
• Jamaica the Latest to Cave in U.S. War on Cuban Doctors
• Ecuador Expels Cuba's Diplomats
• Former CBS Miami Anchor Challenges Hardliner Congresswoman
• Cuba Knocked out of World Baseball Classic
• DOJ Looking to “Pull a Maduro” on Cuban Leaders?
• Rubio’s Photo Op with Convicted Leader of the Proud Boys
• A Cuban American’s Call to Fight Trump’s Cuba Policy

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44528606

March 13, 2026

[weekly newsletter about Cuba (with YouTube video links) from the Belly Of The Beast news collective. Their videos can also be found at: https://peertube.world/c/cuba_botb_videos/videos]

Also:

• Cuba Confirms Talks with Trump
• Cuba and U.S. Already Had a Deal — Trump Killed It
• The Roots of Trump’s War on Cuba
• “Nuestra América” Convoy Prepares for Solidarity Trip
• Lula: Cuba Is Going Hungry Because of U.S.
• Jamaica the Latest to Cave in U.S. War on Cuban Doctors
• Ecuador Expels Cuba's Diplomats
• Former CBS Miami Anchor Challenges Hardliner Congresswoman
• Cuba Knocked out of World Baseball Classic
• DOJ Looking to “Pull a Maduro” on Cuban Leaders?
• Rubio’s Photo Op with Convicted Leader of the Proud Boys
• A Cuban American’s Call to Fight Trump’s Cuba Policy

[a new book chapter by Helen Yaffe]

My new book chapter discusses Cuban democracy and political institutions, demonstrating that the relationship between the ‘government’ and the ‘people’ is extremely permeable, and that popular support has been vital to the survival of the socialist state for nearly seven decades. It refutes the key tenets of ‘Cubanology’, an academic school politically opposed to Cuban socialism, including that Fidel and Raúl Castro have personally dominated policy, impeding democracy and repressing civil society; interpretations which shape international discourse on Cuba.

It identifies five distinct mechanisms of participation and representation in revolutionary Cuba: (1) the National System of Peoples’ Power; (2) neighbourhood representation; (3) mass organisations, (4) national debates and public consultations; and (5) democratic access to resources and opportunities. The chapter argues that Cuban democracy is fundamentally grounded in cooperation over competition, and that unity, solidarity and consensus-building are central to socialist Cuba’s resilience in the post-Soviet era.

March 14, 2026

Batoul and her loved ones were among the 773 Lebanese people – including more than 100 children – killed by Israel’s campaign in Lebanon since 2 March. They join a growing list of families completely wiped out by Israeli bombings, in a conflict whose death toll is rising faster than in any previous war in Lebanon.

Forty-one people were killed by Israeli airstrikes in Nabi Chit in the Bekaa valley in only five hours last Saturday, and 18 people died in a single night in the town of Sir el-Gharbiyeh on 8 March. The pace of death has stunned Lebanese people and left them struggling to keep up.

Leaving the regime undefeated could motivate Tehran to develop nuclear weapons and leave it in control of much of the world’s energy flows March 11, 2026

Yet 12 days into the war, Iran keeps firing missiles and drones across the Middle East, albeit at a slower rate. Iran’s ability to destroy with precision strikes some of the most sensitive and scarce U.S. military targets in the Middle East, such as radars for air-defense installations, didn’t go unnoticed. Should America abandon its Gulf partners after exposing them to existential danger, there will be inevitable repercussions in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

“This war hugely damages U.S. standing in the world, which means that China has much more scope to establish its own standing in the Middle East and the Global South generally,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.

“Meanwhile, everyone is observing that Iran has, at best, a middling military capability—and the Americans can’t take them out,” he said.

March 13, 2026

link to statement - https://mailchi.mp/c72f6dc4cdc9/stopstarvinggaza-6751479?e=7085bb33b2

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44506677

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

For years, the Cuban government has expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States. But Trump and Biden rejected dialogue and instead embraced a Cold-War era policy of hostility.

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed on Friday that Cuban and U.S. officials were engaged in talks.

Belly of the Beast went to the streets of Havana to ask Cubans what they think about the recently announced discussions between the governments of Cuba and the United States.

One message stands out: dialogue is a good thing.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/44506677

[a video about Cuba from the news collective Belly Of The Beast]

For years, the Cuban government has expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue with the United States. But Trump and Biden rejected dialogue and instead embraced a Cold-War era policy of hostility.

Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel confirmed on Friday that Cuban and U.S. officials were engaged in talks.

Belly of the Beast went to the streets of Havana to ask Cubans what they think about the recently announced discussions between the governments of Cuba and the United States.

One message stands out: dialogue is a good thing.

March 14, 2026

Others who spoke to the Guardian this week also had a shift in their attitudes towards the war, especially after the attack on oil depots, but also after seeing images of the country’s heritage sites damaged.

Among those that took the worst hits were Tehran’s Golestan Palace, dating to the 14th century, and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan.

“How will they rebuild … a priceless part of history?” asked a Tehran-based student. “And how will we bring back people who are dying? Is that it? Is the message from abroad that just because the regime doesn’t care, the world shouldn’t? Is the goal to erase our culture and history?”

March 13, 2026

Details about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers’ surveillance tools and arrest goals in the state have come to light in a federal lawsuit that compelled officers to answer questions under oath, offering a rare window into opaque, internal strategies that are generally kept secret and have been driving mass detentions and chaotic raids.

The class-action suit, filed by Innovation Law Lab, an immigrants’ rights non-profit, challenged ICE’s practice of detaining people without warrants or probable cause. Advocates said the tactic resulted in widespread racial profiling and unconstitutional arrests, and a federal judge sided with the plaintiffs, issuing a ruling broadly halting warrantless arrests in Oregon.