www.theguardian.com
When Leonid Volkov, a longtime associate of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was brutally attacked with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania in March, it initially seemed yet another case of the Kremlin hunting down its enemies abroad. The assailant smashed open Volkov’s car window and struck him repeatedly with a hammer, breaking his left arm and damaging his left leg. Western officials and opposition figures assumed the attack, which took place a few weeks after Navalny’s mysterious death in prison, had been orchestrated by the Kremlin. Then, last month, Navalny’s team released an explosive investigation that cast doubt on that version of events. In the video, Maria Pevchikh, the head of Navalny’s investigation department, accused the wealthy businessman and outspoken Kremlin critic Leonid Nevzlin of hiring the men to beat up Volkov outside his home, claiming the attack was triggered by a personal dispute. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/) [Archive](https://archive.is/A7T1u)
www.theguardian.com
A 21-year-old woman kidnapped by Islamic State militants in Iraq more than a decade ago has been freed from Gaza in an operation led by the US. The operation this week also involved Israel, Jordan and Iraq, according to officials. The woman is a member of the Yazidi religious minority, which saw more than 5,000 members killed and thousands more kidnapped in a 2014 campaign that the UN has said constituted genocide. Silwan Sinjaree, the chief of staff of Iraq’s foreign minister, said she was freed after more than four months of efforts including several attempts that failed because of the difficult security situation resulting from Israel’s military offensive in Gaza. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/) [Archive](https://archive.is/24Etb)
kyivindependent.com
***This article contains descriptions of physical and sexual violence, which may be disturbing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.*** Ukrainian men detained by Russian and Russian-affiliated forces, including prisoners of war, regularly report that their captors, including penitentiary staff, engaged in sexual violence. Reports include rape, threats of rape, forced penetration with foreign objects, electric shocks to genitalia, and other forms of torture like those Lakhno experienced. The abuse is said to punish, intimidate, demoralize, or extract confessions. . . . A military psychologist who worked at Sanzhary Hospital, a Ukrainian state-run facility for former POWs, told me that about 80% of the former detainees she assisted had experienced sexual violence in Russian captivity. . . . Yet, the options for help are limited. Upon returning to Ukraine, POWs are entitled to four to eight weeks of government-funded medical and psychological treatment. While services are available, Ukrainian groups say they are far from sufficient. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/kyiv-independent-bias/) [Archive](https://archive.is/N8cGj)
Local police in the cartel-dominated city of Culiacan, Mexico have been pulled off the streets after the army seized their guns, officials announced Monday. The move came just one day after about 1,500 residents of Culiacan, the capital of the northern state of Sinaloa, held a march Sunday though the city’s downtown to demand peace after weeks in which cartel gunfights have killed dozens of people in and around the city. . . . Historically, the Mexican army has seized the weapons of local police forces they distrust, either because they suspect some local cops are working for drug gangs or because they suspect they are carrying unregistered, private sidearms that would make abuses harder to trace. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/) [Archive](https://archive.is/71kpp)
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I think the logic is that an attack on nuclear facilities would be -- and would be perceived by Iran to be -- more substantial. The US accepts that Israel is going to respond but is hoping that Iran won't escalate after the Israeli retaliation because they don't want war. They'd be less willing and, maybe, unable to back down after an attack on nuclear facilities.
www.theguardian.com
Ukraine has said that its forces have withdrawn from the eastern city of Vuhledar, a defensive bastion that had resisted repeated Russian attacks since Vladimir Putin’s 2022 full-scale invasion. The military command in Kyiv said its troops left late on Tuesday. They had retreated in order to preserve personnel and combat equipment, it said, adding that Russian combat units had attacked from three directions and were close to “encircling” the city. The fall of Vuhledar is a boost for the Kremlin and comes as Russian troops advance across the eastern Donetsk oblast. In February they captured the city of Avdiivka, outside the regional capital of Donetsk, occupied in 2014. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/) [Archive](https://archive.is/izTFc)
*Israel seems ready to respond in a much more forceful and public way with Iran after Tehran launched its second massive missile attack on Israel this year, analysts and officials say.* After Israel invaded Lebanon to confront Iran’s strongest ally, Hezbollah, and Iran’s second massive missile attack on Israel in less than six months, Israel seems ready to strike Iran directly, in a much more forceful and public way than it ever has, and Iran has warned of massive retaliation if it does. “We are in a different story right now,” said Yoel Guzansky, a former senior security official who oversaw Iran strategy on Israel’s National Security Council. “We have a consensus in Israel — among the military, the defense experts, analysts and politicians — that Israel should respond in force to Iran’s attack.” To many Israelis, there is now little to lose: Iran’s efforts to strike the urban sprawl around Tel Aviv crossed a threshold that Tehran has never previously breached, even during its earlier missile attack in April, which targeted air bases but not civilian areas. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/X8sn4)
*Security analysts and former officials said the damage Israel had inflicted on Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militia, had stripped Tehran of much of its deterrence against a wider Israeli attack.* Israel has a freer hand to respond forcefully to Iran’s missile barrage on Tuesday than it did in April, security analysts and former officials say, when its retaliation for the previous Iranian attack was a largely symbolic strike against an air-defense installation in Iran. In April, Israel was worried that issuing too intense of a response would prompt Iran to order its proxy militias — particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon — to retaliate extensively. But after launching a bombing campaign that killed Hezbollah’s leader and other commanders last week, along with a ground invasion overnight Tuesday, Israel has weakened Hezbollah, stripping Iran of much of its deterrence against a wider Israeli attack, said Danny Citrinowicz, a retired Israeli intelligence officer who specialized in Iran. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/Slyyr)
www.theguardian.com
Israel has vowed to retaliate after Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at targets across Israel in a dramatic intensification of a conflict that appeared to be escalating out of control. “Iran made a big mistake tonight – and it will pay for it,” Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of his security cabinet late on Tuesday. “The regime in Iran does not understand our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.” The unprecedented Iranian salvo of more than 180 ballistic missiles came less than 24 hours after the Israeli prime minister ordered the largest ground incursion into southern Lebanon in a generation. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/) [Archive](https://archive.is/w5etx)
*The barrage of missile fire came after much debate among Iranian leaders, officials there say.* After days of sharp debate at the top levels of government, Iran’s senior military commanders prevailed, and almost 200 ballistic missiles were sent speeding toward the heart of Israel. The direct military strike on Tuesday came after senior military commanders of the Revolutionary Guards Corps convinced the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that it was the only course of action if Iran wanted to appear strong, according to three Iranian officials. . . . Iran’s senior military commanders had concluded that it was essential to establish deterrence against Israel — and quickly — to turn or at least slow the tide of its onslaught on Hezbollah. Still more important, they argued, Iran needed to act to prevent Israel from turning its attention toward Tehran. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/QyeLS)
*Intelligence agencies concluded that granting Ukraine’s request to use Western missiles against targets deep in Russia could prompt forceful retaliation while not fundamentally changing the course of the war.* U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russia is likely to retaliate with greater force against the United States and its coalition partners, possibly with lethal attacks, if they agree to give the Ukrainians permission to employ U.S., British and French-supplied long-range missiles for strikes deep inside Russia, U.S. officials said. The intelligence assessment, which has not been previously reported, also plays down the effect that the long-range missiles will have on the course of the conflict because the Ukrainians currently have limited numbers of the weapons and it is unclear how many more, if any, the Western allies might provide. . . . The findings may help explain in part why the decision has been so difficult for Mr. Biden to make, and show the internal pressures on him to say no to Mr. Zelensky’s request. U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters and internal deliberations, said it remained unclear what Mr. Biden would decide to do. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/A78wk)
Israel’s preparations to strike homes and buildings in southern Lebanon where it claimed Hezbollah was storing weapons included calling and texting Lebanese residents to evacuate areas that would come under fire, according to Lebanese and Israeli government officials. . . . The message was also heard on at least one Lebanese radio station, where Israel managed to seize control of the airwaves. Israel was able to send the calls and texts by hacking into Lebanon’s telecommunications systems, a practice they have perfected over the last decade in Lebanon and in Gaza, according to two Israeli intelligence officers. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/lUevn)
www.theguardian.com
Israeli warplanes carried out dozens of strikes across southern Lebanon late on Thursday, hours after Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, threatened “tough retribution and just punishment” for the wave of attacks that targeted the organisation with explosives hidden in pagers and walkie-talkies. The Israeli military said it had hit hundreds of rocket launchers which it said were about to be used “in the immediate future”. The bombardment included more than 52 strikes across southern Lebanon, the country’s state news agency NNA said. Three Lebanese security sources told the Reuters news agency that they were the heaviest aerial strikes since the conflict began in October. As Israeli jets roared over Beirut in a show of force earlier in the day, Nasrallah threatened retribution against Israel “where it expects it and where it does not”. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/) [Archive](https://archive.is/dFcxl)
*The Israeli government did not tamper with the Hezbollah devices that exploded, defense and intelligence officials say. It manufactured them as part of an elaborate ruse.* In Lebanon, as Israel picked off senior Hezbollah commandos with targeted assassinations, their leader came to a conclusion: If Israel was going high-tech, Hezbollah would go low. It was clear, a distressed Hezbollah chief, Hassan Nasrallah, said, that Israel was using cellphone networks to pinpoint the locations of his operatives. . . . Israeli intelligence officials saw an opportunity. Even before Mr. Nasrallah decided to expand pager usage, Israel had put into motion a plan to establish a shell company that would pose as an international pager producer. By all appearances, B.A.C. Consulting was a Hungary-based company that was under contract to produce the devices on behalf of a Taiwanese company, Gold Apollo. In fact, it was part of an Israeli front, according to three intelligence officers briefed on the operation. They said at least two other shell companies were created as well to mask the real identities of the people creating the pagers: Israeli intelligence officers. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/LvRTo)
Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other officials briefed on the operation. The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment. The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/new-york-times/) [Archive](https://archive.is/MSEPQ)
abcnews.go.com
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday asked the warring factions of the Sinaloa cartel to act "responsibly” so no one else gets killed, after a week of escalating violence nearly paralyzed the Sinaloa state capital, Culiacan. . . . The exchange Friday during the president's morning press briefing is the latest in a series of instances where López Obrador has downplayed the clashes between factions of the Sinaloa cartel. The president, who leaves office on Sept. 30, has repeatedly refused to confront cartels, laying out various justifications for his “hugs, not bullets” strategy offering opportunities to youths so they won’t join cartels. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/abc-news/) [Archive](https://archive.is/XsQ9K)
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In what universe? It's reporting based on dozens of interviews.
euromaidanpress.com
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has firmly stated that Ukraine should be allowed to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory, despite threats from Moscow. This stance comes in the wake of Ukrainian forces occupying parts of Russian territory for the first time since World War II, and Ukrainian officialls asking Western partners to remove restrictions on the use of Western long-range weapons so that Ukraine can degrade Russia’s logistics and airfields in the rear and bring the war to an end faster. “Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau declared at a news conference in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/euromaidan-press/)
euromaidanpress.com
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has firmly stated that Ukraine should be allowed to conduct long-range strikes inside Russian territory, despite threats from Moscow. This stance comes in the wake of Ukrainian forces occupying parts of Russian territory for the first time since World War II, and Ukrainian officialls asking Western partners to remove restrictions on the use of Western long-range weapons so that Ukraine can degrade Russia’s logistics and airfields in the rear and bring the war to an end faster. “Canada fully supports Ukraine using long-range weaponry to prevent and interdict Russia’s continued ability to degrade Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure, and mostly to kill innocent civilians in their unjust war,” Trudeau declared at a news conference in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/euromaidan-press/)
The U.S. State Department announced new sanctions on Russian state media Friday, accusing a Kremlin news outlet of working hand-in-hand with the Russian military and running fundraising campaigns to pay for sniper rifles, body armor and other equipment for soldiers fighting in Ukraine. While the outlet, RT, has previously been sanctioned for its work to spread Kremlin propaganda and disinformation, the allegations announced Friday suggest its role goes far beyond influence operations. Instead, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, RT is a key part of Russia’s war machine and its efforts to undermine its democratic allies. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/associated-press/)
kyivindependent.com
Forty-five Indians tricked into joining the Russian military fighting in Ukraine have been released, with 50 more yet to be discharged, NDTV reported on Sept. 12, citing the Indian Foreign Ministry. Moscow agreed to discharge Indian nationals who were illegally inducted into the Russian Armed Forces during a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin in July. An Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that efforts to bring back the remaining 50 citizens who are still on the battlefield are underway, NDTV wrote. Earlier media reports revealed various schemes to lure people from third-party countries, including India, to Russia under promises of lucrative jobs or other opportunities only to pressure them into enlisting. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/kyiv-independent-bias/)
www.theguardian.com
A campaign is under way to drive the UN relief agency for Palestinians, Unrwa, out of existence, its commissioner general has said, days after 18 people were killed when Israeli jets bombed an Unrwa school in Gaza. Philippe Lazzarini said in an interview that the Israeli government was seeking to close down the agency, having failed to persuade western donors to stop funding it on the grounds of allegations about links between Unrwa staff and Hamas. “This deliberate attempt to eliminate Unrwa and prevent it from operating would have devastating consequences for the multilateral system, the UN and the cause of a Palestinian transition to self-determination,” Lazzarini said. [MBFC](https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/the-guardian/)
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hi how are you
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His voice makes me want to stab my ears but he's unravelling and it's kind of glorious.
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According to the joint statement, they will now "be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran," and work towards sanctioning Iran Air, the country's flag carrier.
"Entities and individuals involved with Iran's ballistic missile program and the transfer of ballistic missiles and other weapons to Russia" will also face sanctions.
. . .
The U.K. released a statement detailing which Iranian individuals and organizations had been sanctioned by both London and Washington.
These include Brigadier General Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari, the Iranian Defense Ministry's director general for international relations, Second Brigadier General Ali Jafarabadi, the head of the Space Command of Iran's Aerospace Force, and Majid Mousavi, Deputy Commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards.
The U.K. also announced sanctions on five Russian cargo ships "for their role in transporting military supplies from Iran to Russia."
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- “Boogaloo” has been co-opted and carries an unfortunate connotation these days.
I'm nowhere near ready to give up the fight on this one. Those bastards can pry "[Anything] 2: Electric Boogaloo" from my cold, dead hands.
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They said the same thing when he was repeatedly lining up troops along Ukraine’s border.
Who's 'they'? The US warned the world repeatedly that Putin was planning an invasion. They spent a month prior to the full-scale invasion herding skeptical cats in Europe trying to get everyone on the same page.
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I follow my own Pixelfed account on Mastodon and will often boost posts. I have a pixelfed.social account though. It's probably a federation issue on your specific Pixelfed instance. I've moved the Mastodon account a bunch and I've had problems on specific instances. I was never able to see my Pixelfed posts from fedia.social (ice shrimp), for example.
I was also able to search, follow, and see your Pixelfed posts from mastodon.social.
Edit: Your two newest photos from Aug 31st aren't actually showing up on m.s. and I can't see them on pixelfed.social either.
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The only information provided by the F.S.B.’s press service has been about criminal cases opened against Western and Ukrainian journalists, who followed the troops onto Russian territory without following Russian customs procedures and getting passport checks.
Always good to end on a comedic note.
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Yeah, it seems like a risky play for the NDP. They're unlikely to be more powerful post-election. If it looks like the Cons are gonna win, people are more likely to vote strategically for the Libs to keep them out. It seems like they have a lot to lose. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out over the next few weeks.
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It seems like a bad time to call an election. I'm a bit skeptical we won't be looking at an election very soon though. Singh released what is a basically a campaign video earlier today, so it seems like they think it'll be soon 🤷♂️
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It's fine. It might be gross or sickly sweet, depending on how long it's been fermenting.
Auto-brewery syndrome is super rare. It's caused by conditions that allow brewing yeast (and other fermenting microbes) to live/thrive in your gut when they shouldn't. Nutritional yeast is also living brewing yeast, though it's dormant and not actively fermenting when eaten. You will get a bunch of B complex vitamins from the yeast!
But beware, my friends used to call green beer 'fartzens,' after the original Hefefartzen that we drank way too early.
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They aren't really polling well. The best realistic scenario is probably the current one -- Libs in power with the NDP holding the balance and making awesome demands. They're most likely to have way less power after the election. I don't really get what Singh is seeing in the tea leaves here.
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We were just too jealous of you Americans and all the election fun you're having. We want some too! It's topple time.
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To do that in the short term, the Fediverse probably just needs more money. The competitors have a fuckload of it and can introduce features way faster because of it. I think Mastodon's been "exploring/planning" quote posts for like 18 months and haven't even begun working on it. I'd love to have user-controllable, optional algorithmic feeds in Mastodon (not replacing the main reverse-chron feed) but I can't imagine it existing in less than 5 years.
Mods cracking down on the plague of 'polite' harassment (ex. passive-aggressive FYIs about CWs) wouldn't hurt. It's not as bad as it used to be but it's chased a ton of people away.
I think in the long term the Fediverse has an advantage. The only real goal Fediverse services have is to get better for users. At some point, Bluesky and Threads will have to make money or die. I don't think they have a way to do that without damaging the user experience.
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lemmy.caHe/Him
Sneaking all around the fediverse.
Also at breakfastmtm@fedia.social breakfastmtn@pixelfed.social