Bill Gates defence of free speech seen as hypocritical after his support for suppression of truth on Covid vaccine
Bill Gates told CNBC any “solution” would involve “rules” for online speech, but he said he isn’t sure what form those rules would take or who would enforce them. Similarly, he told CNET “systems and behaviours” should be in place to target “misinformation.”
Mali turns into ‘meat grinder’ for Wagner whose elite fighters were butchered in Sahel that’s upset Russia’s Africa campaign
By cross-referencing public information with online posts from relatives and fighters, speaking to seven relatives and using facial recognition software to analyse battlefield verified footage, the news agency was able to identify 23 fighters missing in action and two others taken into Tuareg captivity after the ambush near Tinzaouaten, a town on the Algerian border.
Pope Francis arrives in East Timor where half of nation’s citizens are expected to attend Mass on Tuesday
East Timor, a half-island nation north of Australia, gained independence from Indonesia in 2002, after a brutal, decades-long occupation. Francis is the second pope to visit, following John Paul II, who came in 1989, in a trip that gave the country’s independence movement an historic boost.
Conflict, creditors and a car crash: How Ukraine clinched a wartime debt restructuring
Eclipsed in scale only by Argentina and Greece, the restructuring of more than $20 billion of debt will save Kyiv $11.4 billion over the next three years – crucial for both its ongoing war effort and its International Monetary Fund programme.
Ukrainian women volunteer to shoot down Russian drones at night while their men battle on frontlines
When the air raid siren bellows in the dead of night, the women in arms rush to duty. Barely two months since joining the mobile air-defence unit, 27-year-old Angelina has perfected the drill to a tee: Combat gear fitted, anti-aircraft machine gun in place, she cruised behind the wheel of...
Rising Catholics priest shortage linked to sex abuse scandals and loss of moral commitment in Vatican
There were 2,466 diocesan priests in Indonesia in 2022, up from 2,203 in 2017, according to Vatican statistics as of December 31, 2022, the last year for which data is available. That number is supplemented by even more religious order priests, such as Jesuits or Franciscans, whose numbers reached 3,437 in 2022.
El Must in trouble with Brazilian Supreme Court over non-representation in the Latin American nation
In his decision on Friday, Judge Alexandre de Moraes’ cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”
Flowers of Good: Brazilian women spearhead campaign for medical marijuana for sick children
In drugstores, a 30 millilitre bottle (1 fluid ounce) of the CBD that Murillo’s paediatrician prescribed for his condition costs as much as 900 reais ($180) – more than half Silva’s monthly wages as an office assistant. Since June, she has spent zero on Murillo’s CBD medication. Twice a day, she drips the oil into the boy’s mouth and each bottle lasts about 45 days.
French police arrest Telegram CEO Durov for unfiltered content, lack of moderators and cooperation with police
Russian lawmaker Maria Butina, who spent 15 months in US prison for acting as an unregistered Russian agent, said Durov “is a political prisoner – a victim of a witch-hunt by the West.” Durov’s arrest led news bulletins in Russia.
Affective polarisation is fuelled by negative campaigning that’s become a staple of modern electoral messaging
One potential explanation for the intensity of partisan political hatred in the US comes from a 2022 study published in the British Journal of Political Science. Examining data from 20 Western democracies since the mid-1990s, it found that people’s anger over political disagreements on issues like migration, religion and LGBTQ+...
