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edition.cnn.com
Three Israeli border guards have been killed in a shooting at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the Israeli Emergency Services said Sunday. The manager of the crossing, Alex Chen, said the shooter was a Jordanian driver, adding that the crossing has been closed until further notice. “The terrorist shot dead three employees of the Allenby terminal at close range,” before being killed by a security guard, he said. All three land crossings between Israel and Jordan were closed following the attack, the Israel Airports Authority said. The Allenby crossing mainly serves Palestinians and foreigners, with Israelis not permitted to use it.
theintercept.com
In late August, the top-ranking U.S. military commander in Africa toured Libya — and had a cordial meeting in Benghazi with a notorious warlord: Field Marshal Khalifa Hifter. Left out of the AFRICOM announcement is any mention that Hifter is a notorious “warlord,” according to members of Congress, whose LNA, which the State Department lumps in with “other nonstate actors, including foreign fighters and mercenaries,” has been accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and gross violations of human rights. A 2011 revolution and NATO intervention, including U.S. airstrikes, toppled Gaddafi and plunged Libya into chaos from which it has never fully emerged. In the years that followed, Hifter renewed his long-dormant project to seize power in his homeland. In 2014, railing against the Libyan central government’s failure to beat back terrorists, Hifter announced a military coup that quickly evaporated. But the warlord’s fortunes changed after he launched a campaign to clear the eastern half of the country of Islamist militant groups like Ansar al-Sharia, which conducted the 2012 attack in Benghazi that killed U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Hifter forged a reputation for attacking terrorist groups, but critics questioned his commitment and effectiveness, casting his activities as a cultivated effort to curry favor, including with the United States. Over the years, Hifter’s LNA has been backed by Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
www.thepublica.com
A man in the capital city of **Uttar Pradesh**, India, has died after the driver of a private ambulance took him off of life support and threw him out of the vehicle so he would have the opportunity to rape his wife. According to The Times of India, the incident occurred late last month after the woman hired the emergency vehicle to escort her, her brother, and her husband home after he was discharged from a hospital in Lucknow due to financial limitations. Speaking with police, the woman explained that on the way home, the emergency vehicle driver asked her to sit in the front seat next to him to avoid being stopped by police. “I was forced to sit in the front seat, and then the driver and his companion started molesting me. I objected, but they did not listen to me,” she said, adding that her husband and brother sensed something was wrong and began trying to intervene from the back of the ambulance. As a result, the men stopped the ambulance near the Chhawani police station, where they “forcibly removed the oxygen mask from [the woman’s] husband and threw him out” of the car before locking her brother in the front and proceeding to molest her. In addition to sexually assaulting her, the woman also informed police that the men looted over $120 USD from her purse, jewelry, her identification card, and her husband’s hospital reports.
www.theguardian.com
> >Olivier Faure, the first secretary of the Socialist party (PS), said Macron's decision to name Barnier PM put him in the far right's pocket. > > > >"Macron and his friends could have chosen not to punish the NFP, to let it govern while accepting it would have to compromise because it would not have an absolute majority. Instead, he preferred to put himself under the control of the RN," Faure posted on X. > > > >A [poll by Elabe on Friday](https://elabe.fr/nomination-michel-barnier/) suggested 74% of French people thought Macron had disregarded the election result with 55% saying they believed he had stolen the vote. At the same time, 40% said Barnier was a good choice for PM.
In a statement to Anadolu, Daghlas said the autopsy results indicated Eygi’s cause of death was a gunshot wound inflicted by a sniper, specifically targeting her head. Eygi had been rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead upon arrival. Eygi, 26, a dual citizen of Turkiye and the US, had been actively involved in solidarity movements supporting Palestinian rights. Her death has sparked outrage and calls for accountability from both local and international communities.
> Global and country findings - **China’s lead continues to grow** - **China significantly strengthened its standing in the middle of the last decade** - The US is losing the strong historical advantage that it has built - **China has built up potential monopoly positions in scientific expertise and top performing institutions** - India accelerates: India now ranks in the top 5 countries for 45 of 64 technologies - The UK ranks in the top 5 countries for 36 technologies—a decline from 44 technologies in last year’s results - The European Union, as a whole, is a competitive technological player - Germany is the top-performing European Union country - South Korea’s performance shows that Japan has work to do - Iran excels at defence-sensitive technologies - Australia has improved in some technologies and slipped in others - AUKUS—the trilateral security and technology partnership involving the US, the UK and Australia28—closes the gap in some Pillar 2–relevant technologies, but not all > Technology monopoly risk metric results - **Scientific breakthroughs and research innovations in key defence technologies are increasingly likely to occur in China:** - **China’s research lead in advanced materials and manufacturing technologies grows** > Institutional findings: US tech companies, government agencies and CAS - Private-sector research is increasingly concentrated in US technology giants - Private sector research was more diverse between 2003-2007 - **The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is the global science and research powerhouse** - Government agencies and national laboratories feature prominently - Chinese companies play a relatively small role in the global research ecosystem
www.middleeasteye.net
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested across the country on Saturday for the eighth consecutive night with some clashes reported with the police. The demonstrations were ignited on Sunday last week after the bodies of six captives were recovered from the Gaza Strip. In Tel Aviv, the main site of the protests, organisers reported that over 500,000 people participated. Other significant demonstrations took place in Jerusalem, Haifa, Be'er Sheva, and near Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's private residence in Caesarea. Earlier on Saturday Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich expressed opposition to a captives-ceasefire deal, even if it allows Israel to maintain a presence on the Egyptian-Gaza border. Smotrich clarified that he seeks "a deal of surrender," but not one where Israel surrenders by leaving Gaza. Instead, he envisions a scenario where Hamas is forced to disarm and is expelled from Gaza, paving the way for a demilitarised Gaza to be rehabilitated. He has previously advocated for Israel to regain full control of Gaza and restore Jewish settlements there.
edition.cnn.com
> According to the report, Murdoch, the 93-year-old patriarch, filed a petition late last year to amend the irrevocable family trust that would have given equal voting shares to Murdoch’s eldest four children. Instead, Murdoch wanted to grant exclusive control to his eldest son and chosen successor Lachlan, according to The Times. > >Lachlan, who is more politically aligned with his father’s conservative views than his siblings, took over as chairman of Fox Corporation and News Corporation last September. Citing the court documents, which CNN has not independently seen, the Times reported that Murdoch felt handing Lachlan control of the media businesses he founded would better protect their value following his death by maintaining its right-wing editorial bent. > >But the entire process has been completely sealed in Nevada, with even the existence of the proceedings kept in secret.
www.middleeasteye.net
>Saturday’s march was the 19th national demonstration for Palestine since the start of the war last October and the first time a pro-Palestine march has been held in the vicinity of the Israeli embassy in South Kensington.
www.politico.eu
the circus continues
www.scmp.com
> The People’s Liberation Army will take part in joint military exercises in Brazil, a rare step for the Chinese military in the western hemisphere. > A detachment of the PLA Marine Corps will travel to take part in Exercise Formosa 2024 at the invitation of the Brazilian military, the Chinese defence ministry said on Thursday. > The exercises, with a focus on joint landing and anti-landing combat drills, would “deepen friendship and cooperation between the Chinese and participating militaries and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security risk challenges”, the ministry said in a statement on its website. > Exercise Formosa is an annual exercise hosted by the Brazilian Marine Corps that last year also included the United States, Germany, France and South Africa. The US Marine Corps has been a regular participant in previous drills. It is not clear which countries will take part in the exercise this year. > In recent years, China has hosted military medicine forums, senior military officer seminars and defence forums for Latin American countries, but it is not common for the Chinese military to travel to the region to take part in operations. > This year has seen an improvement in relations between China and Brazil. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva announced in July that his administration planned to join the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s flagship infrastructure and investment project. > Also in July, Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun met visiting Brazilian army commander Tomás Ribeiro Paiva in Beijing. > Dong said during the meeting that the two militaries should “strengthen exchanges and learn from each other” to “jointly improve capabilities and take military relations to a new level”. > Brazil took part in Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac), a multinational military exercise led by the United States, from June 27 to August 1. [Archive link](https://archive.ph/OARwr)
thecradle.co
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) says world leaders pressured him not to apply for arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and defense minister on allegations of war crimes in Gaza, the BBC reported on 5 September. Karim Khan told the BBC, “Several leaders and others told me and advised me and cautioned me,” he said. Khan explained the ICC needed to request warrants for leaders on both sides of the conflict so that the court is viewed as applying “the law equally based upon some common standards.” “If one had applied for warrants in relation to Israeli officials and not for Gaza, [some would] say: 'Well, this is an obscenity' and, ‘How on earth is that possible?’” he said. Though several months have passed since Khan's application, ICC judges have not issued any arrest warrants.
www.bloomberg.com
https://archive.is/XzZ9S
>Asked later whether the task force would cross the Taiwan Strait on its way to its next stop in Manila, Shulz told reporters that to telegraph the ships' plans would violate operational security. > >While the U.S. and other countries have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy's first such passage since 2002. >Last month Germany joined the U.S.-led United Nations Command (UNC) in South Korea that helps police the heavily fortified border with North Korea and has committed to defend the South in the event of a war.
www.middleeasteye.net
An American activist was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the town of Beita, in the occupied West Bank, during a weekly protest against settlement expansion, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. The report said the 26-year-old woman was shot in the head, according to the report.
www.bbc.com
www.scmp.com
https://archive.is/OARwr
cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/2595239 > Major Russian banks have called on the central bank to take action to counter a yuan liquidity deficit, which has led to the rouble tumbling to its lowest level since April against the Chinese currency and driven yuan swap rates into triple digits. > > The rouble fell by almost 5% against the yuan on Sept. 4 on the Moscow Stock Exchange (MOEX) after the finance ministry's plans for forex interventions implied that the central bank's daily yuan sales would plunge in the coming month to the equivalent of $200 million. > > The central bank had been selling $7.3 billion worth of yuan per day during the past month. The plunge coincided with oil giant Rosneft's 15 billion yuan bond placement, which also sapped liquidity from the market. > > "We cannot lend in yuan because we have nothing to cover our foreign currency positions with," said Sberbank CEO German Gref, stressing that the central bank needed to participate more actively in the market. > The yuan has become the most traded foreign currency on MOEX after Western sanctions halted exchange trade in dollars and euros, with many banks developing yuan-denominated products for their clients. > Yuan liquidity is mainly provided by the central bank through daily sales and one-day yuan swaps, as well as through currency sales by exporting companies. > > Chinese banks in Russia, meanwhile, are avoiding currency trading for fear of secondary Western sanctions.
www.theguardian.com
This article is remarkable and I highly recommend reading it. Three notable paragraphs from it are very telling: >Sheffield crown court heard that Birley, a painter and decorator from Swinton, was involved in many of the worst incidents on that Sunday afternoon, including adding wood to a fire in a large industrial bin that had been pushed against an exit, and helping to place another bin on top of the one ablaze. > >Birley was also filmed throwing missiles at police, squaring up to officers while brandishing a police baton and throwing a large bin that crashed into a line of police with riot shields. > >He is the first person to be sentenced for arson with intent to endanger life after the 12 hours of violence in Manvers that left 64 police officers, three horses and a dog injured.
