World News

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.

Last November, Israel’s official social media accounts shared a photo of a smiling Israeli soldier proudly holding a rainbow flag amid the rubble in Gaza, where over 10,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – had been killed in the weeks following October 7.

Written upon the multi-coloured flag – an iconic, decades-old symbol of LGBTQ+ pride – in English, Arabic and Hebrew, were the words “In The Name Of Love.”

The image quickly went viral. The soldier, a 31-year-old gay man, explained to the media that the Israeli military was “the only army in the Middle East that protects democratic values… it is the only army that allows LGBT people the freedom to be who they are, and therefore I fully believe in our goal.”

Meanwhile, on Instagram, Israel’s account described the image as an “attempt to raise the first pride flag in Gaza as a call for peace and freedom.”

But for many LGBTQ+ activists, and those struggling for Palestinian liberation, the incident represented an almost perfect example of “pinkwashing” – a term that refers to a state or organization’s attempts to use LGBTQ+ rights and symbols to distract or deflect attention from its harmful practices.

The Spanish government has a plan to prevent kids from watching porn online: Meet the porn passport.

Officially (and drily) called the Digital Wallet Beta (Cartera Digital Beta), the app Madrid unveiled on Monday would allow internet platforms to check whether a prospective smut-watcher is over 18. Porn-viewers will be asked to use the app to verify their age. Once verified, they'll receive 30 generated “porn credits” with a one-month validity granting them access to adult content. Enthusiasts will be able to request extra credits.

Viktor Orbán, Europe’s most pro-Russian leader, met Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Friday on a rare trip to Russia that drew strong condemnation from other European leaders.

Orbán’s visit to Moscow came days after he made a similar unannounced trip to Kyiv, as the Hungarian prime minister attempts to position himself as a peace broker between Russia and Ukraine.

Shortly after landing in Russia for his first trip to the country since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Orbán published a photo with the caption: “The peace mission continues. Second stop: Moscow.”

At the Kremlin, the two leaders held talks that a senior Moscow aide described as a “frank conversation” covering all issues related to Ukraine.

Speaking at a joint conference with Orbán afterwards, Putin signalled he was not ready to compromise on the maximalist demands he made of Ukraine last month.

Putin repeated his earlier ultimatum to end the war, demanding Kyiv cede more land, withdraw troops deeper inside its own territory and drop its Nato bid.

The main points were reported by the media on Wednesday: Even before Hamas responded to the Netanyahu-Biden proposal, the Prime Minister's Office already knew what it would contain. Hamas' flexibility came as a surprise to the man who said he supported the plan (which had been unanimously approved by the war cabinet) but who never expected to implement it. He therefore saw a clear and present danger to his government's survival – and that is priority No. 1 for Benjamin Netanyahu.

Thus, hours before Hamas' answer was due, an unnamed individual in the PMO describing himself as a "senior security official" rushed to hold a briefing for journalists in which he asserted that Hamas "refuses to budge on its principal point, which is to prevent Israel to resume fighting after the first phase, something that Israel will never accept."

The PMO has no security official, except for the military secretary who is not authorized to make such statements. Hiding behind this fake identity is fraud and hypocrisy of the most despicable kind. Journalists are forbidden from exposing this lie, but that is a story for another time.

While what occurred here was the political and malicious use of sensitive intelligence material, a stunt like this was nothing new for the prime minister. In his eagerness to put a spoke into the wheels of any deal, he arranged a briefing without even first convening or even calling the small forum that has replaced the war cabinet for fear that the majority would oppose his position. Such a majority exists.

An Iranian monarchist who filmed herself pulling the headscarves off Iranians in London fled to Israel after UK police announced they were investigating her.

The woman allegedly responsible is an Iranian pro-Israel activist called Bahar Mahroo, who later closed her Instagram and TikTok accounts and claimed she found the videos online. However, a reserve image search found no sources for the video, other than her Twitter account.

Israel has approved the largest seizure of land in the occupied West Bank in over three decades, according to Peace Now, an Israeli anti-settlement monitoring group. It is the latest step by Israel’s hard-line government meant to cement Israel’s control over the territory and prevent the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

This map shows the expansion of settlements and outposts from 1967 until now.

Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor emphasises that companies, including Autel Robotics—a Chinese electronics and drone manufacturer—must comply with international law. They should take immediate action if they know or reasonably should know that their products are being used for serious violations. Euro-Med specifically urges addressing the growing use of Autel Robotics drones by Israel in its ongoing genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.

Since the very beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine in February 2022, Autel Robotics has published statements deploring the use of any drone product to harm people or property. Despite this, Autel’s drones have been extensively employed for military purposes.

From the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Autel’s drones have proven to be popular on both sides. These drones have also been extensively utilised by the IDF in the Gaza Strip since the start of the attack on 7th October 2023. Initially used for surveillance and intelligence gathering, including indoor operations, they were later used to fire directly at Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and the elderly.

In addition to aerial and artillery bombardment and ground incursions, the Israeli army has escalated its deliberate killings and extrajudicial executions of unarmed Palestinian civilians in various parts of the Strip. This includes direct targeting with snipers, electronic-controlled quadcopters, and small drones in shelter centers, hospitals, streets, and populated residential areas.

Ever since the advent of nuclear arms, Europe has been protected by an American nuclear umbrella. It was the United States that promised NATO allies that any nuclear aggression by the Soviet Union, and later, by Russia, would be answered with a barrage of U.S. missiles. 

For seven decades, this arrangement allowed Western Europe to focus on recovering from the devastation of the 20th century’s two world wars instead of developing costly nuclear capabilities. Only France and the U.K. developed small national arsenals, and they were just a fraction the size of those controlled by the Cold War superpowers.

First, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine revealed that Moscow has grown eager to expand its empire by use of force. In the last three years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly engaged in nuclear saber-rattling to get his way. In recent months, he has conducted military exercises together with Belarus that include the use of tactical nuclear weapons, which has heightened anxiety in Europe, particularly in those countries bordering Ukraine or Russia. 

Second, after his election in 2016, former U.S. President Donald Trump changed the United States’ posture toward NATO, taking a far more transactional approach to the alliance by saying that the United States might come to the aid of only those countries that pay their fair share for defense spending. And just days after Macron’s speech in Sweden, as if on cue, Trump made that threat explicit, telling a rally of supporters in South Carolina that he’d already informed the president of an unnamed European country that the U.S. would not protect them from a Russia attack if they were in arrears.

The organizing committee for the Paris Olympics has unveiled backup plans for open-water events if the Seine River is deemed unsuitable for swimming.

Triathlon and marathon swimming events are scheduled to take place in the famed river running through Paris, but unsafe levels of E. coli have been detected in recent weeks, raising questions about whether the events could go ahead as planned.

Organizers on Friday confirmed they have backup plans: the triathlon and marathon which are scheduled to take place near the Alexander III bridge between July 30 and Aug. 5, could be postponed by a few days if conditions are unsafe.

“The potential for unseasonal weather events requires us to be cautious,” a statement from the organizers said.

TIL that a Chinese barge spent much of 2022-2023 illegally pillaging scrap metal from WW2 war graves in Malaysian waters.

A full report of the barges actions was compiled in this (pdf warning) maritime observatory report