R. Scott (i47i)

Even Joe Rogan is against Trump’s attacks on Iran: ‘It just seems so insane’

> Rogan has been critical of the president since he returned to the White House, speaking out about the Epstein files, Trump’s immigration crackdown and now the Iran war
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/joe-rogan-trump-iran-war-b2935893.html #JoeRogan #IranWar #immigration #DonaldTrump

Artificial intelligence: Polymarket partners with Palantir to monitor its sports prediction markets

> Online prediction market Polymarket is strengthening its monitoring of transactions with the help of Palantir, in the face of accusations of insider trading.

[French]
https://www.sudouest.fr/sciences-et-technologie/intelligence-artificielle/intelligence-artificielle-polymarket-s-associe-a-palantir-pour-surveiller-ses-marches-de-pronostics-sportifs-28222932.php #Polymarket #Palantir #insidertrading #gambling #artificialintelligence #AI

G7 to discuss joint release of emergency oil reserves

> Middle East war has triggered surge in crude prices that threatens global economy

https://www.ft.com/content/e1141f96-db3e-41ef-b978-0131e91f1d82 #IranWar #Iran #oil #economy #middleeast

8 March: The Women's Day 2026 demonstrations, live | Thousands of protesters march in Spain for equality and anti-war: “Feminism is pacifist”

> Thousands of people are demonstrating in cities and towns throughout Spain in defense of women's rights this March 8. In the main capitals, attendees began to gather and shout slogans shortly before 12:00. The Minister of Equality, Ana Redondo, who attended the protest in her hometown, Valladolid, has defended that “feminism is pacifist”. “8M is a day of vindication, because equality is at risk due to growing violence. Nothing that happens to a woman in the world can be foreign to us”, she said.

> This year, the protests have a global perspective in the face of “the rise of the extreme right and the international warlike climate”, detailed from the 8M Commission last Wednesday. The 2026 concentrations are planted before “a system of oppression against women that is structural”, explained the Madrid Feminist Movement (MFM). These two organizations call for marches that have been running through the capital since noon. For the fifth consecutive year, feminism is divided into several cities due to disagreements over the Trans law or the abolition of prostitution. However, they share the demand for real equality and an end to violence against women.

[Spanish]
https://elpais.com/sociedad/dia-de-la-mujer/2026-03-08/8m-las-manifestaciones-del-dia-internacional-de-la-mujer-en-directo.html #IWD2026 #InternationalWomensDay #Feminism #WomensRights #FeministStrike #MeToo #8M #WomenResist #Iran #Afghanistan #misogyny #FarRight #Fascism #Israel #DonaldTrump #prostitution #Spain #SpainIranBan

Supreme Court strikes down most of Trump's tariffs in a major blow to the president
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-strikes-trumps-tariffs-major-blow-president-rcna244827 #SCOTUS #POTUS #DonaldTrump #tariffs #MAGA

China To Introduce Zero Tariffs On Goods From 53 African Countries — Xi Jinping

> "Starting May 1, 2026, China will fully implement zero-tariff treatment for 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations," Xi was quoted as saying by the state-run China Central Television.

https://www.bernama.com/en/news.php/general/business/news.php?id=2524206
#China #ChinaAfricaTrade #ZeroTariffs #GlobalTrade #AfricaChinaRelations #XiJinping

Myanmar expels East Timor's diplomat over war crimes case

> Myanmar's junta has announced the ejection of East Timor's top representative in the country, after a rights group said Dili had opened a legal case against the military for war crimes.

> Myanmar's military, which took power in a 2021 coup, has for decades been accused of rights abuses, mostly targeting the nation's ethnic minorities.

> The nation is currently defending itself from prosecution at the International Court of Justice over allegations of genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2026/0215/1558656-myanmay-court-easttimor/ #Myanmar #Rohingya #Muslim #SouthEastAsia #genocide #Bangladesh #EastTimor

The fediverse now has a TikTok alternative called Loops by @dansup@mastodon.social. Open source, federated via ActivityPub, funded by NLnet and community donations instead of venture capital. You own your content and can self host. Beta is live and the iOS app just hit the App Store.

https://joinloops.org

#Loops #JoinLoops #Fediverse #ActivityPub #OpenSource #ShortVideo #TikTokAlternative #TikTok

Lawsuit Alleges That WhatsApp Has No End-to-End Encryption A lawsuit filed in San Francisco alleges that #WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption contains backdoors allowing #Meta employees to access user messages in real-time. According to the complaint, internal tools allow engineers to view chats by User ID without a separate decryption step, bypassing the Signal Protocol protections the app claims to use. The lawsuit cites £whistleblowers who claim that workers can request access to specific accounts via internal tasks, gaining unlimited temporal scope to a user's history, including deleted messages. Meta has labeled these claims false and absurd. Technical experts note that while the Signal Protocol itself is mathematically secure, the integrity of end-to-end encryption relies entirely on the security of the endpoints. Potential vulnerabilities in WhatsApp include unencrypted cloud backups, metadata collection, and the fact that the client software is closed-source. Without the ability to audit the code or verify public keys through an independent directory, users must trust that the application is not exfiltrating plaintext data before it is encrypted for transit. The legal action highlights the ongoing tension between corporate privacy marketing and the technical reality of centralized messaging platforms. If the allegations of an internal "widget" for message access are proven true, it would represent a fundamental breach of the encryption standards Meta has advertised since 2016. https://it.slashdot.org/story/26/01/27/0550249/lawsuit-alleges-that-whatsapp-has-no-end-to-end-encryption #WhatsApp #Meta #Privacy #CyberSecurity #Encryption #DataPrivacy #E2EE #TechNews #Lawsuit #Whistleblower #DigitalRights #Messaging #InformationSecurity #SignalProtocol

‘Unpredictable’ policies: Rules-based trade with US is ‘over’: Canada central bank head

The era of rules-based trade with the United States is “over,” Canada’s central bank governor said Wednesday, echoing a stark warning from the country’s prime minister that President Donald Trump’s impact on global trade is permanent.

Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem made the comments during an interest rate announcement which held the key rate at 2.25 percent, citing “unpredictable” US trade policies.

Macklem has repeatedly warned that the bank’s efforts to forecast the Canadian economy had grown increasingly difficult given the tariffs imposed and threatened by Trump.

On Wednesday he made clear that he agrees with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who told the World Economic Forum last week that there would be no going back to a pre-Trump normal in the US-led international system.

“It’s pretty clear that the days of open rules-based trade with the United States are over,” Macklem told reporters.

In a speech that has captured global attention, Carney said “nostalgia is not a strategy,” urging middle-sized powers who have previously benefitted from the stability of US economic dominance to recognize that a new reality had set it.

More than 75 percent of all Canadian exports go to the United States and the country remains uniquely vulnerable to Trump’s protectionism.

Macklem said Canadian growth remains stunted by US policy.

[..] the most severe disruptions may be yet to come, Macklem stressed.

Trump has so far broadly adhered to the existing North American free trade agreement, which he signed and praised during his first term.

With the United States‑Mexico‑Canada Agreement (USMCA) still holding, more than 85 percent of all bilateral trade has remained tariff‑free.

But talks on updating that deal are set for this year and the Trump administration has indicated it could seek major changes, or may move to scrap the pact entirely, an outcome that would upend the Canadian economy.

“The upcoming review of the (USMCA) is an important risk,” Macklem said. https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/rules-based-trade-with-us-is-over-canada-central-bank-head-1408255488

#MarkCarney #Canada #MAGA #US #tariffs #USMCA #CANpoli #CDNpoli #TiffMacklem #trade #economy

European leader spoke of shock at Trump’s state of mind after Mar-a-Lago meeting

Slovakia’s prime minister told EU leaders at a summit last week that a meeting with Donald Trump left him shocked by the U.S. president’s state of mind, five European diplomats briefed on the conversation said.

Robert Fico, one of the few EU leaders to frequently support Trump’s stance on Europe’s weaknesses, was concerned about the U.S. president’s “psychological state,” two of the diplomats said. Fico used the word “dangerous” to describe how the U.S. president came across during their face-to-face meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Jan. 17, according to two of the diplomats. https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-florida-robert-fico-eu-summit-nato/ #Slovakia #RobertFico #DonaldTrump

White House, Slovakia deny report on Trump’s mental state

The White House and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday both denied a report that he had expressed concern about President Donald Trump’s mental health to other European leaders.

Politico, citing European diplomats, said that nationalist leader Fico had told counterparts at a summit last week he was worried about the US leader’s “psychological state.”

It also said Fico, a Trump ally, had used the word “dangerous” to describe how the US president came across when they met in Florida on January 17.

“This is absolutely total fake news from anonymous European diplomats who are trying to be relevant. The meeting at Mar-a-Lago was positive and productive,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to AFP. https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/white-house-slovakia-deny-report-on-trumps-mental-state-957410295 #Slovakia #DonaldTrump

Orange aviation alert: Russian volcano puts on display in latest eruption

A volcano in Russia’s far east on Wednesday spewed ash several kilometres into the sky, authorities said, putting on a spectacular display in its latest eruption.

The Shiveluch volcano is one the largest and most active volcanoes on Russia’s remote Kamchatka Peninsula, one of the most intense volcanic regions in the world.

Its latest eruption produced an ash column reaching nearly 9,000 metres (29,500 feet) above sea level, the local branch of Russia’s Academy of Sciences wrote on Telegram, accompanied by a video.

An orange aviation alert – one below the maximum red – has been issued for the area near the volcano, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT) said on Telegram. https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/russian-volcano-puts-on-display-in-latest-eruption-1618439037 #volcano #Russia #KamchatkaPeninsula #Russia #aviation #eruption