Day: November 12, 2023
Categories
NPR News: 11-12-2023 6PM EST
Our troops risked their lives to hand-deliver 300 liters of fuel to the Shifa hospital for urgent medical purposes.
Hamas forbade the hospital from taking it.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has been warning for weeks that its hospitals are running out of fuel. If so, why… pic.twitter.com/u6XaLvdr8x
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 12, 2023
Russia plans to block certain Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and protocols that are deemed by a commission of experts to pose a threat, state news agency RIA reported, citing correspondence from the digital ministry.
Demand for VPN services soared after Russia restricted access to some Western social media after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
A 2017 Russian law obliged providers of VPN technology to cooperate with the Russian authorities and to restrict access to content banned by Russia or be banned themselves.
Many VPN services remain widely in use throughout Russia and there has been a public debate among lawmakers about how much further to go in blocking VPN services that still allow access to banned information but also a host of other information.
RIA quoted a reply from the digital ministry to an address by lawmaker Anton Tkachev who had raised concerns about what he said were plans to essentially block all VPNs, a step he said would increase pressure on Russians by cutting them off from using some simple household appliances.
“On the basis of a decision by the expert commission… the filtration of certain VPN services and VPN protocols can be carried out on the mobile communication network for foreign traffic which is identified as a threat,” RIA quoted the ministry as saying.
RIA said that the ministry said that circumvention of restrictions on certain information was considered a threat.
German carmaker BMW said Sunday it is seeking clarity on operations at a Moroccan cobalt mine following a newspaper report citing irregularities that breach labor and environmental laws.
BMW has contacted local supplier Managem with a range of queries and requested additional information, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters.
“If there is any misconduct, it must be remedied,” the spokesperson said, adding there had been initial allegations in the summer against Managem but the documents provided to BMW had looked credible. Managem’s environmental certificates were up to date, he said.
Daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung’s Nov. 13 print edition will say its reporters have collaborated with broadcasters NDR and WDR in research finding serious violations of environmental and labor protection regulations at mines in Morocco, according to the advance online edition of the paper.
The report said that excessive levels of arsenic were found in water samples and that Managem was not complying with international standards for the protection of workers and acting against critical trade unions.
Managem is majority-owned by the Moroccan monarchy and operates several mines in several African countries.
Cobalt is needed for electric car batteries, among other applications.
By far the largest proportion of the world’s cobalt deposits are in the Congo, where child labor still occurs, particularly in small mines.
BMW no longer sources cobalt from the Congo, said the BMW spokesperson. A fifth of its intake came from Morocco, and the remainder from Australia.
Russia plans to block certain Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and protocols that are deemed by a commission of experts to pose a threat, state news agency RIA reported, citing correspondence from the digital ministry.
Demand for VPN services soared after Russia restricted access to some Western social media after President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
A 2017 Russian law obliged providers of VPN technology to cooperate with the Russian authorities and to restrict access to content banned by Russia or be banned themselves.
Many VPN services remain widely in use throughout Russia and there has been a public debate among lawmakers about how much further to go in blocking VPN services that still allow access to banned information but also a host of other information.
RIA quoted a reply from the digital ministry to an address by lawmaker Anton Tkachev who had raised concerns about what he said were plans to essentially block all VPNs, a step he said would increase pressure on Russians by cutting them off from using some simple household appliances.
“On the basis of a decision by the expert commission… the filtration of certain VPN services and VPN protocols can be carried out on the mobile communication network for foreign traffic which is identified as a threat,” RIA quoted the ministry as saying.
RIA said that the ministry said that circumvention of restrictions on certain information was considered a threat.
German carmaker BMW said Sunday it is seeking clarity on operations at a Moroccan cobalt mine following a newspaper report citing irregularities that breach labor and environmental laws.
BMW has contacted local supplier Managem with a range of queries and requested additional information, a spokesperson for the company told Reuters.
“If there is any misconduct, it must be remedied,” the spokesperson said, adding there had been initial allegations in the summer against Managem but the documents provided to BMW had looked credible. Managem’s environmental certificates were up to date, he said.
Daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung’s Nov. 13 print edition will say its reporters have collaborated with broadcasters NDR and WDR in research finding serious violations of environmental and labor protection regulations at mines in Morocco, according to the advance online edition of the paper.
The report said that excessive levels of arsenic were found in water samples and that Managem was not complying with international standards for the protection of workers and acting against critical trade unions.
Managem is majority-owned by the Moroccan monarchy and operates several mines in several African countries.
Cobalt is needed for electric car batteries, among other applications.
By far the largest proportion of the world’s cobalt deposits are in the Congo, where child labor still occurs, particularly in small mines.
BMW no longer sources cobalt from the Congo, said the BMW spokesperson. A fifth of its intake came from Morocco, and the remainder from Australia.
Ukraine’s intelligence directorate said on Sunday that an explosion in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol killed at least three Russian officers in an attack it described as an “act of revenge” by local underground groups.
The blast occurred during a meeting on Saturday of Russian officers in the city, a hub of Russian forces in the south, the directorate within the defense ministry said in a statement.
“This act of revenge, carried out by representatives of the local resistance, took place in Nova Poshta offices seized by the Russians,” it said, referring to the premises of a popular Ukrainian courier service.
There was no mention of the incident from Russian officials. Reuters was unable to verify the Ukrainian statement.
The intelligence statement said the meeting on Saturday at the local military headquarters was attended by Russian National Guard and FSB intelligence service officers.
“As a result of the explosion at least three National Guard officers were killed at the headquarters,” the statement said. “Information of other enemy losses is being clarified.”
The statement said police converged on the area and a burned-out car was later seen being towed through the town.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the south and east in early June but has encountered strong resistance.
Ukraine’s military has been increasingly active in attacking forces in Russian-held areas but does not always acknowledge the strikes.
Ukrainian forces staged a missile attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Russian-annexed Crimea in September. Ukrainian media said an attack last week on the occupied town of Skadovsk in Kherson region also targeted Russian officers.
Ukraine’s intelligence directorate said on Sunday that an explosion in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol killed at least three Russian officers in an attack it described as an “act of revenge” by local underground groups.
The blast occurred during a meeting on Saturday of Russian officers in the city, a hub of Russian forces in the south, the directorate within the defense ministry said in a statement.
“This act of revenge, carried out by representatives of the local resistance, took place in Nova Poshta offices seized by the Russians,” it said, referring to the premises of a popular Ukrainian courier service.
There was no mention of the incident from Russian officials. Reuters was unable to verify the Ukrainian statement.
The intelligence statement said the meeting on Saturday at the local military headquarters was attended by Russian National Guard and FSB intelligence service officers.
“As a result of the explosion at least three National Guard officers were killed at the headquarters,” the statement said. “Information of other enemy losses is being clarified.”
The statement said police converged on the area and a burned-out car was later seen being towed through the town.
Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the south and east in early June but has encountered strong resistance.
Ukraine’s military has been increasingly active in attacking forces in Russian-held areas but does not always acknowledge the strikes.
Ukrainian forces staged a missile attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Russian-annexed Crimea in September. Ukrainian media said an attack last week on the occupied town of Skadovsk in Kherson region also targeted Russian officers.