Cross posted from lemmy.ca/post/70089273
Portugal formally recognised the Palestinian State today. The announcement was made by the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs Paulo Rangel in a statement at Portugal’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.
“Today, the 21st off September 2025, the Portuguese State officially recognises the Palestinian State”, claimed the Head of Diplomacy, asking for an immediate cease-fire, the release of hostages, and the re-instatement of humanitarian aid in Gaza.
Paulo Rangel stressed that this decision does not erase the ongoing humanitarian crisis, rather intends to contribute to the two-state solution. He also reiterated Israel’s right to existence and their security needs, as well as the condemnation of the terrorist attacks of 7 October and Hamas.
The Minister noted that the choice of venue to make the announcement symbolises the UN’s central role as the single path to achieve a just and long-lasting peace. He also recalled that the decision was taken following institutional consultations, confirming the convergence between the President of the Republic and the vast majority of the parties in Parliament.
Portugal thereby joins other Western nations, among which are the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, and becomes the 13th European Union Member State to formally recognise Palestine.
Controversy has always dogged the blond-haired, bombastic 61-year-old Ford. Since becoming premier in 2018, he’s overseen one of the most scandal-plagued governments in Ontario’s history—if not all of Canada. But like U.S. President Donald Trump, nothing really seemed to stick to him. He won two more elections over the past four years, the most recent one last year, giving him the sheen of being the Teflon Premier.
Now it seems his non-stick veneer has finally evaporated. In June, an Angus Reid Institute poll showed Ford was the most unpopular premier in all of Canada by a wide margin—with only 21 per cent support, which was 10 points below the next most unpopular premier. (Ford lashed out at the poll, calling it “fake.”) His unpopularity has seeped into the mainstream media, with newspapers like the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail running editorials and op-eds highlighting the litany of problems that have grown under his reign: Ontario’s overwhelmed and underfunded public services, severe housing crisis, and dire shortage of family doctors.
Ford once seemed invincible, sloughing off scandals. He used his impunity to create a system where corporations, the wealthy, and developers could donate to his party and pay his staffers-turned-lobbyists to get government contracts or laws that benefit them. But while Ontario’s rich made out like bandits, voters are perhaps realizing that Ford’s regime is immiserating their province while their lives are becoming precipitously unaffordable. Are years of corruption and authoritarianism finally catching up to Ford?
On May 4, 2026, Mamata Banerjee, the incumbent Chief Minister of West Bengal, lost her own assembly seat. Bhabanipur, the constituency she had represented for over a decade, went to Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party by 15,105 votes, 73,917 to 58,812. Statewide, the BJP won 207 of West Bengal’s 294 seats, ending the Trinamool Congress’s fifteen years in power across three consecutive terms since 2011, and making the BJP the first extreme right-wing party ever to govern the state.
The commentary that followed reached for the usual explanations: three terms is a long time to govern anything, the fallout from the RG Kar Medical College case had not faded, and Hindu voters had consolidated behind the BJP in ways they had not in 2021. All of this is likely true. It is also not the first time the BJP and the Election Commission have faced accusations of manipulating the vote in their favor: national opposition leaders made similar claims about the 2024 general election, under the banner of what became known as “vote chori,” or vote theft. None of it is the whole story. A careful analysis illustrates the increasing importance of vote suppression to right-wing politics as well as the perils of centralized administrative power, even in nominally independent bodies.
A brief orientation for readers less familiar with Indian politics. The Trinamool Congress is a regional party, not a national one; it governs only West Bengal, a state of roughly one hundred million people in India’s east, bordering Bangladesh. Banerjee founded the party in 1998 and has run the state since 2011, building a base heavily concentrated among Muslim voters (about twenty-seven percent of the state’s population) and the rural poor. Just like how the Prime Minister is the head of the central government, the Chief Minister is the head of the state government. The BJP is India’s governing national party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and has spent over a decade trying and failing to break Trinamool’s hold on Bengal. The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutionally independent body, roughly analogous to a combination of the Federal Election Commission and every US state’s chief election official rolled into one, which administers elections directly rather than merely regulating campaign finance. Its independence from the ruling party is a foundational assumption of Indian democracy, which is precisely why accusations that it has been used as a partisan instrument are as serious as they are.
In this clip from his “Thinking Out Loud” series, Double D discusses how the contradictions of capitalism are perpetuating the climate crisis. He examines how capitalism’s innate need for infinite growth directly contradicts with a finite planetary system. He rejects the ideas that “human beings are a virus” and suggests instead that the system of capitalism is a cancer which prevents human civilization from living in balance with its ecosystems. He advocates for the political willpower and solidarity that will be necessary to preserve the web of life and humankinds place within it.
Men in military fatigues identical to those worn by Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Forces (SDF) are reportedly prowling evacuated communities in Kumamoto prefecture to loot abandoned homes and businesses in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake.
An official at the prefectural government confirmed media reports of “fake SDF personnel” attempting to enter properties in affected areas, although she said the authority’s immediate priority was still to find shelter and provide food and medical care for those who had lost their homes.
Jason Arday, the black academic who resigned last week as a professor at the University of Cambridge, has been found dead at his home in south London.
The Metropolitan police said officers were called to Arday’s address by the London ambulance service after 3pm on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “A 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next of kin have been informed and are being supported by officers.
“At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s central south command unit. A file will be prepared for the coroner.”
The body was believed to be that of Arday. At this stage, police are understood not to believe anyone else was involved in the death.
London ambulance service was the first emergency service at the scene. The person discovered inside the home was found unresponsive.
Arday’s family said in a statement: “Jason was subjected to a campaign of sustained abuse for more than three years since he accepted the role of professor at Cambridge University by those who would leave no stone unturned in their quest to undermine him."
Dockworkers unions in France, Greece, Basque Country, Turkey, Morocco, and Italy are calling an international day of action “against war and militarization” on October 30. They are demanding an end to “the genocide of the Palestinian people” and the “US-Israeli wars of aggression in the Middle East and against Iran.”
“Each union will decide the most appropriate form of mobilization according to its national circumstances, starting from strike action and from a shared commitment to prevent the loading of death and destruction,” reads a joint statement from the unions, which was sent to Workday Magazine and In These Times on July 31.
Together, the unions represent workers at 40 ports in Europe and the Mediterranean, according to the statement. Their call for an escalation emerged from a meeting of the port workers unions held in Istanbul in May. The announcement also expresses “full solidarity with the peoples of Cuba, Venezuela and Sudan,” and declares that “ports must not be used for the transport of arms, ammunition, military equipment or troops destined for war zones.”
Chinese authorities have evacuated more than a million people from their homes in eastern China including Shanghai, as Typhoon Dolphin made landfall.
It packed maximum wind speeds of 150km/h (94mph) when it first slammed into Yuhuan in the Zhejiang province at 17:30 (09:30 GMT) before making a second landfall in the city of Wenzhou about an hour later, meteorological authorities said.
The typhoon halted transportation across the region – 1,400 flights were cancelled in Shanghai alone.
Chinese authorities had earlier issued their highest-level red alert for Dolphin, but by Monday morning they downgraded it to a tropical storm.
The storm is moving inland within China, and authorities are still warning of torrential rains, severe flooding and the risk of landslides through to Wednesday.
Heavy rain was forecast on Monday for the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and the city of Shanghai.
William Orbit, the British music producer whose dreamy yet propulsive style invigorated work by Madonna, Blur, All Saints, U2 and more, has died aged 69.
A statement on his social media, attributed to family and friends, said he died at home on 23 July. “He will be greatly missed by us and by so many whose lives he touched through his music, friendship and kindness,” the statement read. No cause of death was given.
Orbit was most famous for his collaboration with Madonna on her 1998 album Ray of Light: his strikingly original backings, rooted in trip-hop, jungle and techno, marked a new chapter for one of pop’s greatest stars, resulting in hits such as Frozen, The Power of Goodbye and the giddy title track. It had multi-platinum sales across the world, won Madonna three of the five Grammy awards she was nominated for in 1999, and has become seen by many as Madonna’s single greatest studio album.
But his work stretched far beyond one client, spanning Blur’s exploratory, emotionally scarred album 13, All Saints’ UK No 1 Pure Shores, Pink’s UK No 3 new wave hit Feel Good Time and more. He was credited as a guest artist on the latter, and released a raft of albums and singles under his own name: his electronic twist on Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, aided by a trance remix by Ferry Corsten, reached the UK Top 5 in 1999.
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on Donald Trump closing down the White House to the press and going silent as Iran makes another major move to put the screws in as it continues to defeat Trump.
Spain’s two tiny enclaves on the north coast of Africa have long been a flashpoint in its relationship with Morocco, which the territories border.
The only such European territories on African soil, they include the autonomous city enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as Plazas de Soberanía – a group of rocky islands off the Moroccan coast, which include the Chafarinas Islands, Alhucemas Islands and Penon de Velez de la Gomera.
While Spain says it owns these enclaves, Morocco does not recognise Spain’s sovereignty over them and has been demanding their return since independence from France in 1956.
The territorial dispute has resulted in long-standing political tensions between Spain and Morocco.
Last week, after more than 50,000 migrants surged over the border into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, those tensions between Madrid and Rabat intensified. While most have since returned to Morocco, several thousand remain in Ceuta this week.
So why does Spain have these territories at all and what does their future hold?
The enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, along with a few islets off the coast of Morocco, constitute the last vestiges of the Spanish colonial empire.
Ceuta first came under Portuguese rule in 1415 before becoming part of Spain in 1580, while Melilla was conquered by a Spanish nobleman in 1497. Ceuta remained under Spanish control after Portugal regained independence in 1640 following a long war.
In brief: US President Donald Trump stated in an interview with Real America’s Voice that the critical minerals deal signed with Kyiv allows the US to access Ukraine’s rare earth resources “at any time” and take “pretty much whatever we want,” valuing the agreement at over $300 billion. The bilateral deal, signed in April 2025, actually establishes a 50/50 revenue-sharing recovery fund managed by the US Development Finance Corporation and Ukraine’s PPP Agency.